Clever Manka is dressed and undressed

Guardian/adjacent:
Different sorts of wings.
Guardian characters in flower language.
Fanart: the mouth on this chibi should not be allowed. Happiness looks good on them. Ghost King. Possibly the first Ye Zun art I've seen that made me laugh. Don't cry, baby. This is also what I do to babies. Chibi anniversary art! I feel like there is A LOT going on here and most of it makes my heart hurt. I think I remember posting the line art version of this but now it's finished and I love it a lot.

I so much appreciate naye and wrote_and_writ coming through for me on the links while I was on Twitter hiatus. Thank you both so much!

If you haven't yet done so, please see this Open Letter to the OTW. To sign, click the link under the Sincerely, closing. You can use your legal or fandom name. I decided to use my fandom name since that's how most people know me. After signing, I finally made the energy to write my own letter: 

Dear OTW Board of Directors,
Complaints about racism-based harassment on AO3 have been voiced on various media platforms over the years. Many people have written about this. Most make better arguments than I can about the need for change, not just vague promises of it. More educated voices than mine can explain why neutrality hurts the most vulnerable members of any community. People trained to deal with issues of racism have far better ideas than mine on improving the racially hostile atmosphere on AO3.

Now is an opportunity to acknowledge the OTW’s failure to act appropriately regarding past issues and commit to doing better in the future by honoring and attending to the voices of Black, Indigenous and People of Color.

I’ve made missteps regarding my own privilege. Trust me, it gets easier once you admit you were wrong instead of digging the same hole deeper. Apologize honestly, and take immediate, tangible, visible steps to improve. It feels great. I promise. Please try it.

Exactly one thousand characters y'all (from the original draft of 2,224). I had to make the final concession of dropping the Oxford comma on Black, Indigenous and People of Color but oh well.

I was already planning to watch Sungkyunkwan Scandal but this vid made me decide to start it this weekend.

Yesterday I did a deep dive into my old Twitter posts to find this one because I remembered it out of nowhere. I used to be marginally active on Twitter when I still had energy to be funny. Sometimes introspective. I used to go places. And do things. Like my job ( alas, my job), attend protests, or perform. My dreams continue to be great, at least. And some things don't change. Dang I really wish I'd thought to make this my pinned tweet back when I posted it. Oh, also I think the company iHerb might be run by Nazis. I sure can tell when I started to get super sick again. I'd spent around eight years in a sort of remission before I took a turn for the worse and never bounced back. It was soon after the-Toast shuttered, just before the 2016 election. It's been a rough few years. THANK FUCK FOR FANDOM (the parts not swarmed by racist shit anyway).

Made my first bid on equalityauction and now just waiting to get outbid so I can bid on something else. lol thanks, undeadrobins!

Today's another Guardian collection on my Tumblr, if you wanna check that out.

Guardian and Guardian-adjacent on Twitter:
Fanart: Zhao Yunlan with Shen Wei's glasses. Battle couple! 
More ReFa stuff: Hands. Chibi fanart (with a close up of hands). And let's just...watch the ad again, shall we? 
Rehearsal for the Guardian Premiere Press Conference. How do I still want to bang Bai Yu even with those slippers and bucket hat?

There's a fic about Zhao Yunlan dancing for Shen Wei and I'm so sorry I don't remember who wrote it or the title but there was discussion (or maybe this was someone's post? sorry, apparently I'm high) about what idol choreography he'd memorized and I suggested (I think) Taemin's Press Your Number (I know it was something by Taemin bc omg Taemin's choreographies) but uh, I'd like to revise that.

Am becoming less inclined to write my own sex worker AU as I see more great stuff coming out from other people. I'm relieved that none of the ones I've read yet do the sex work is shameful/incompatible with being in love thing. This clears one plot bunny off my farm and makes it more likely I'll actually get to the Garage Mechanic AU which I have now decided is going to be Zhubai instead of Weilan. Partially because of glymr 's delightful fic and also because I kinda wanna smash together Bai Yu's mechanic photo shoot with spoiled rich playboy Zhu Yilong from the ReFa ads. That might be my next fic after Deconstruction. And after my History 3 fic which will be my focus the next week or so. Wanna post that by the end of the month if possible, so I can hop on this challenge

Twitter:
Fanart: can anyone translate this domestic scene? A laughing happy sketch.
In yesterday's meltdown over Zhu Yilong's ReFa ads, people might've missed out on these lovely pics of Bai Yu.

The ReFa ads finally made it to Tumblr. Speaking of the ReFa ads, here's a new pitch to get people into Guardian.

My hair looked real good yesterday. That's about five days post-wash and putting hand cream in it every other morning.

In fantastic news, my friend from China that I haven't heard from in several months emailed me. She's in town! She left China right before travel restrictions hit and sequestered herself until she felt she likely wasn't infected. Poor thing! We have a lunch date for next Friday. I can't wait to see her and I hope I don't squash her with massive hugs (she's like half my size, seriously not even exaggerating).

Two of the promised art cards went out yesterday to naye and jo_lasalle . I hope to be able to make the others in the next couple weeks.

Fifth chapter of Ghost Story went up this morning. It's a big one, y'all. A lot happens and it's 13k words, so... settle in, I guess. Also, thanks to a discussion on Twitter, I've added the rape/non-con major archive warning to the fic.

Twitter:
So Tender!
Fanart: Domestic bliss. Portraits. Wrist kiss. Tongue! I still want a Guardian Inception AU instead of a Zhubai one but I will never not love these.
Love how we're all falling apart (in various ways) over those ReFa ~face massager~ ads.
Zhu Yilong lookin' good in suits again.
"Packing your stuff for a house move and finding an old picture you took w ur first boyfriend 10 yrs ago. Wondering how he is, if he’s married, if he ever got his dream job, if he ever thinks about you on rainy Saturdays" *insert crying emoji here*
Why aren't we writing Shen Wei biting his nails? I need to correct that immediately. It's a terrible habit, but such a good tell for otherwise hidden stress. *looks for where to insert nail-biting in Deconstruction*

Untamed:
Actor Training!
Never over this performance, tho, srsly.

Thanks go to bonibaru for retweeting general fandom things like:
Why people like slow burns.
and
Resonant asks for "a story that has multiple sex scenes and does a good job of having each one do something a little bit different."

Twitter:
This is SW and ZYL's second meeting, I think? And omg ZYL already has it so bad.
They 100% deserve each other.
Bai Yu. Screen door. Hurricane. I AM TELLING YOU.
Listening to Flying through Time, now. AGAIN.
That ass, those thighs. Eternal blessings on Guardian's wardrobe department, for real.
Zhu Yilong's L'Oreal interview at Cannes really was a delight.
Inordinately pleased that I wasn't the only one all #WEILAN! at this Foxes in Love comic.

Ghost Story's fourth chapter is up and I'm real excited to see what people think of this one.


I'm gonna try making lotion bars today because I am tired of buying body cream. Winter is brutal on my skin and I usually have a stockpile of these ready to go in the freezer, but I... well, I didn't make more when I ran out late last season and I'm suffering, y'all.

Twitter:
Fanart: Shen Wei wakes in the night.
A beautiful Zhu Yilong thread of gifs containing Zhu Yilong being beautiful.
This person was tweeting about Guardian back in September but I hadn't seen any of them. Two of my favorites:
If you watch ANY of the episodes of Guardian and drink a shot everytime Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei look at each other you will end up in the hospital.
That feeling when you are very seclusive and had to shake hand with a stranger.
Yes, I do have a gun kink in addition to my smoking kink and yes I did bookmark that gif.
How about we all take another look at Zhu Yilong perusing the fridge with his back muscles displayed in high relief. Or the beloved ponytail softly swaying in a breeze.

Untamed:
Remember I said I loved modern/mundane AUs? <3
I'm here for this Nie Huaisang/Jiang Cheng fic.

Got an email from the Herbalism Program instructor (should I start referring to her as HPI? or should I just use her real name, idk, it's a pretty distinctive name...) and I'm starting to get anxious. She's (obviously ) an outdoorsy person and (obviously) most of these people are outdoorsy people as well and you all know I am not an outdoorsy person. At all. Large chunks of my life passed where I literally only went out of doors to 1) get to work, and 2) smoke. And now I don't do either of those things, so... ergh. I can't deny a little bit of anxiety over knowing I'm going to be spending so much time out of doors. I mean, I knew, but it hadn't sunk in until I read the words "Our agenda that first day will start with introductions, maybe outdoors" and this is for the last Saturday of March. Y'all, back when I smoked, I didn't even smoke outside until April.

I gotta buy some different clothes for this. Fuck.

Fatigue lifted sufficiently to touch up my roots today. This was supposed to happen on Saturday. Since I'm allergic to black hair dye (whoo, there's a story), I regularly put myself through the six hour ordeal of a henna and indigo two-step process. It looks great and I get compliments on my hair all the time, but it's Some Work. Oh, vanity.

Got another 500 words of Deconstruction down yesterday, despite Monday's writing marathon. I just...really needed to reconnect with my guys in that story? LOLOL omg I've become one of Those Writers and while I'm not embarrassed or apologetic, I am amused. (also, Shen Wei's about at the nadir of his emotional journey in this fic and ngl it's pretty horrible fun to write)

ETA: I've been coloring my hair with henna+indigo two step for over a decade and I think I've got it pretty well down. If anyone ever wants suggestions on using henna and/or henna and indigo to color their hair, please feel free to ask!

Twitter:
I often click on a Tweet's Google Translate option for the lulz but I am rarely so rewarded as I was with this one.
Choose Your Fighter!
Get me you a man who can do both. (or does it all)
Have some more Zhu Yilong whump (as Luo Fusheng).
More casual/candid shots with the beloved ponytail.
Fanart: a sweet moment on the couch.
Love Shen Wei being the BCE in his civvies.

Fan's list of Chinese honorifics and pet names.

Physically, things are not great. Fatigue levels are real bad and I'm not sleeping well. It was better when I went to bed at 11p but I've been so tired the past week I haven't been able to stay up past 9:30 or so, and I'm back to waking up at 3a. Gonna take it extra easy today, see if that helps me stay up later. I don't plan to change out of my pajamas or speak aloud to a living soul any more than absolutely necessary.

Also, it's snowing, so extra motivation to stay curled up on the couch with tea and blankets. The cat refuses to sit next to me, though. I think she's still upset about yesterday (and the pain meds I keep giving her every 12 hours)

Twitter:
I cannot sufficiently articulate how absolutely unprepared I was for A-line shirt wearing long hair Bai Yu.
Toot toot!
Fanart: Pop-art style. Kisses! Chibi kisses! Caught kissing on the lawn! Shen Wei past and present.
King of the slow blink.

The art of acting like a spoiled child. (this is actually a brilliant cultural technique and short but educational)

More heartbreaking thoughts on Dr. Li Wenliang, who defied authorities to let people know about the coronavirus. People continuing to try to help their fellows makes me feel better about humanity.

According to the Guardian prologue, the planet where the story takes place is called Seastar (in the subtitles I remember, anyway), and I understood that term to be separate from Haixing which is (as I interpreted it) the word for the China-nation equivalent. Is this an accepted standard? McKitterick thought Haixing was the name of the planet which, once he said it, doesn't seem an unreasonable assumption. Where does fandom stand on this? It's kind of important for how I phrase things in Deconstruction.

Twitter:
Bai Yu Heart Hands.
Fanart: Hugs.
Back on the swooning like Victorian maidens train.
Why is this method of tying people up so prevalent in Chinese media and why hasn't the rest of the world followed suit? 
You're pretty when you cry.

Tips on making Chinese food.

I don't feel guilty about not being the friend I used to be, but I dislike it a lot. This thread and the responses resonate hard.

( Fun and exciting images under the cut )