I would like to start the next chapter please

[clevermanka]

Guardian/adjacent:
I love hands touching faces SORRY NOT SORRY.
Alice in Wonderland Guardian AU yes please.
Bai Yu smiles like the sun (and that last pic is absolutely Elsewhere's Auberon).
Fanart: High school romcom. Kissing. Sunday morning bedhead (naked) Zhao Yunlan. Chu Shuzhi is gonna get him back for this someday. Beanbag AU (bc I can't imagine Zhao Yunlan wearing sneakers for anything other than that ONE time he took Da Qing jogging).
Never over Shen Wei covering Zhao Yunlan with his suit jacket.
Screenshots of passed-out Shen Wei. From behind (such a behind).
Apparently People’s Square station in Shanghai ships Zhubai.
There needs to be a HS AU with Zhao Yunlan as a fencer. This would explain his (canon) adeptness with the feather duster.
Zhu Yilong being shamelessly pretty with BARE ANKLES.

I've got more (Twitter was hopping yesterday and this morning) but that's a long enough list.

Oh except this thread on diminutives.

Finished Ghost Story's DVD commentary yesterday so now I'm, like, done done with it. I'm entertaining the idea of writing one-shots for it now, but they won't be the saaaaaame. Ghost Story and I have been through a lot together. I've been heavily involved in it (writing, revising, posting) through a break-up, developing a different relationship with the person I broke up with, adjusting to life without employment, turning fifty, and now a world-wide pandemic. I have a lot of feelings that are unrelated to the story but are still wrapped up with it. Also it's my first novel! I gotta figure out how to channel these feels into a fic bc we all know how I feel about actually processing my own emotions. Or does that count as processing? That'd be great if it does. Someone tell me it does!

Yesterday I entered my fourth week of isolation. I've taken one walk around the block, and once accompanied McKitterick to pick up some Indian take-out. I need to spend some time away from this house, but between allergies and my honest fear of encountering other human beings, that's not a real option. McKitterick's practical assistance through all this has been invaluable, but I know I'd be psychologically weathering this better if I was actually alone. As dogs are my witness, if I ever again get to sit for hours in solitude at a coffee shop I shall not take it for granted. REALLY MISSING THAT FRONT PORCH OF MY OLD HOUSE FROM GHOST STORY RIGHT NOW.

My wrist is still bothering me and I should probably use my limited keyboard time to take undeadrobins up on the generous offer to try meta-ing my way out of the block with Deconstruction.

Comments

[undeadrobins]

I shall await your email with bated breath!

(also, I might use you to brainstorm some more of the Alice in Wonderland AU, if you're up for it!)

[clevermanka]

I would love for this to be a mutually beneficial exchange, yes!

[starandrea]

I gotta figure out how to channel these feels into a fic bc we all know how I feel about actually processing my own emotions. Or does that count as processing? That'd be great if it does. Someone tell me it does!

IT DOES it's literally the only way I process my emotions ♥ by explaining them in fictional characters

[clevermanka]

[trobadora]

OOoh, I would love a Wonderland AU.

Screenshots of passed-out Shen Wei. From behind (such a behind).

Look at his back! :D

Apparently People’s Square station in Shanghai ships Zhubai.

OMG, that is delightful!

I gotta figure out how to channel these feels into a fic bc we all know how I feel about actually processing my own emotions. Or does that count as processing?

It totally does! That's (part of) what fic is for. *g*

[clevermanka]

That's (part of) what fic is for.

[wrote_and_writ]

I was just texting my best friend about that face-on-hand thing and why it is so appealing, and we haven’t figured it out but we dig it nonetheless.

Oh, to sit in a coffee shop and watch people or read and ignore people. I’m never going to think my routines are boring again. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[clevermanka]

In general, I like the selfies that include my hands more than I like the ones that don't. It gives the face a sort of...idk, context?

Oh, to sit in a coffee shop and watch people or read and ignore people.
The small pleasures we'll never again take for granted!

[moodsong]

Yes, prossessing emotions through writing is still processing.

[clevermanka]

Seriously this is the best news I've heard all day.

[winter_blossom]

Never over Shen Wei covering Zhao Yunlan with his suit jacket.

Ah, what a scene that was! Zhao Yunlan looked so cute (his face when asleep could be in the dictionary under the phrase "deceptively innocent," lol) and Shen Wei looked so...uncomplicatedly happy and peaceful, which is such a rare look on him.

High school romcom.

Another thing that's oddly missing from the fandom. I would read the hell out of a HS/college AU for these guys! (Even better if it's a Hogwarts AU.)

Chu Shuzhi is gonna get him back for this someday.

Ahaha what a great little comic!

REALLY MISSING THAT FRONT PORCH OF MY OLD HOUSE FROM GHOST STORY RIGHT NOW.

Aw, but that porch! All the nice times they had there in Ghost Story (especially the scene from the epilogue!) made me develop such fond "memories" of it <3

[clevermanka]

I would read the hell out of a HS/college AU for these guys!
SAME. Something soft and normal in These Trying Times.

[redheadfae]

Oh my, diminutives look like they could go hilariously wrong for a non-native speaker!

As much as I get anxious over Jay going out to shop, I also treasure the minimal alone time, sucking it up like that last drink you throw down before leaving when you aren't done with it.

I also very much miss just sitting/soaking with you.

[clevermanka]

I think many things in Chinese could go hilariously wrong for a non-native speaker! 🤣

[nnozomi]

It is making me giggle that even while full-on smoldering (with bare ankles), Zhu Yilong still ends up clutching a pillow like a shield...

Would be very interested in your Ghost Story feels, as a fic or otherwise. You get (one gets) finished writing something long and you miss the characters, and the you who was writing them...

[clevermanka]

Zhu Yilong's pillow shields never cease to charm me.

I do miss them! I didn't think I'd miss the me who wrote them bc 2019 was not a great year for me, but good lordt 2020 is a mess.

[brandywine28]

Face touching feels so forbidden now! I thought I was into it before, but, man. I had no idea.

[clevermanka]

SAME. Give me fingers in mouths. PLEASE.

[jo_lasalle]

It's a big step to wrap up a story that's been with you for so long and through many upheavals. Congratulations on finishing it, even though it's hard.

if I ever again get to sit for hours in solitude at a coffee shop I shall not take it for granted.

We barely ever go out for dinner, because we're lazy and I'm cheap, but knowing I can't has been on my mind for days somehow.

I'm sorry the isolation is getting to you like that. It has been a while now, hasn't it?

[clevermanka]

Yep, I just started my fourth week. And AGREED. It's the knowing I can't leave that's the worst. Also the not knowing when it'll really end. And the lack of kissing. =\

McKitterick and I are still getting along (mostly, miraculously) but being isolated together is not an easy thing while still navigating the delicacy of a former romantic relationship.

[naye]

AHHHHH I CANNOT WAIT to read Ghost Story - we've got a four-day weekend coming up for Easter and I am so hoping having a free stretch of time will get my brain into reading mode again!

Also mmmmmm morning after pic is so nice and I hadn't seen it before - thank you! And that thread on diminutives is going straight into my resources sheet. :D

[clevermanka]

At this point, I hope your reading brain comes back even if you're never inclined to finish Ghost Story! That must be so frustrating for you. POOR THING. *crossing fingers*

[tinny]

Thank you thank you thank you! Your posts are always the last stop before I go to bed, and that was an amazing haul today. <3

[clevermanka]

Sweet dreams!