jianghuchild

[jianghuchild]

She took it, felt the guilty smoothness of the cardboard and slipped it into her pocket. She didn’t regret it. She made the right choice. She wasn’t sorry she wasn’t a better person. In this place, better people died. A year ago the sky broke, and Val’s still picking up the pieces. She has her apartment, her lab work, and her big-eyed students. Sure, her leg still doesn’t work right. Sure, she’s dreaming things she can’t be dreaming. Sure, she died under that rubble, but forgetting is close enough to healing. Right?

SWITCHBACK isn't quite the longform sequel to The Long Way Home I've been meaning to start writing for two years. But it's the one that gave me brainworms, so it's the one we're getting.

[jianghuchild]

you said you were stuck in a time loop, which was fine. i feel like late-stage capitalism has us all in a time loop, ammiright? you came barging in at 5:33. in the morning. i hadn't even processed the idea of coffee.

but you had this look of utter panic in your eyes. terror like the ocean. you grabbed my cheeks. im in a time loop.

i don't know why in movies the first reaction is to deny it. when someone is panicking like that, it's not appropriate to ask them to calm down. it didn't matter if i believed it, what mattered was that you believed it so much that it was consuming you.

so here we are. i pour you some of the dark roast. "you look like utter and entire hell," i say.

you push your fingers into your eyes. "you always say that."

i try to think of something funny to say that i wouldn't have said on previous time loops, but jokes don't land without the proper timing (lol). "remind me to think -"

"-yeah, of a joke that only works in the future. and before you say anything, i know you're pissed i just stole your punchline." you bolt the coffee, which is wild. it's very hot. you don't seem to notice.

i blow on mine to cool it down. i both am very pissed at you and also i can't see you in this amount of panic without wanting to help. but i'm also not really sure what we are, not since i saw you kiss her like that, no offense. it just was like, kind of rude when you knew i liked you.

and besides. i'm just like, barely a person. i write omegaverse fanfiction. i love the concept of a time loop, but what the fuck am i gonna do? send an alpha in there? i open my mouth.

you point at me. "you're about to ask why me. and then say some disparaging shit about yourself. i'm just a nerd who plays dnd or something. that self-own is slightly different each time." you sigh. "i know you think you can't really help me. i don't know who can help me. i only came to you because you fucking believe me." you check your watch, sigh, and throw your head back. you cover your eyes with one hand. "i've come here on 26 separate revolutions," you say. "you have believed me every time. and yeah, i have no idea how you fit into this but i just -" you sigh again. "i just like fucking talking to someone about it."

"do you need more cof-" i start, but you're already holding the empty cup out. i frown at it. "you're not getting any more until you promise not to bolt this one like an animal."

you laugh a little and sit up, pushing your hair out of your face. "okay, that's new dialogue. but to be fair to you, i'm not usually this rude. i'm still pretty new at all of this." you check your watch again. another sigh. i guess you're cruising for a personal best in the Sigh Olympics.

i almost tell you im not an NPC but i've played enough video games to know i'm very much an NPC. i pour you another cup. "so what happens in the loop?"

"really bad explosion." you mutter into the mug. you put your elbows on the table (rude) and bury your face in your arms like an angsty teenager. one hand floats up while you talk, because evidently you literally can't talk without your hands. "i have to save the day and there's this bomb and i have no bomb training and it keeps moving, you know."

"do i die?"

you peek up from your arms. "yeah. bigtime. you keep trying to run or stay or do anything and you always super die."

"oh."

"to be fair, like, everyone dies in it though.... so you're in good company."

i hate that you make me laugh. i hate that being around you always feels tingly and strange, this electric tension between us. something that is evidently (given how you stuck your tongue down a stranger's throat literally 3 days ago) (well. 3 for me) super one-sided. i take a sip of my coffee and close my eyes.

i die today, i guess. a little spark of panic starts at the top of my hands and starts whipping up my wrists.

"shit," you say. you look at your watch and jump to your feet. "i have to go. if i can come back, i will. i am still trying to figure out when is best to do everything, you know? the order of stuff. maybe morning isn't good for us."

i look up at you and think about how you keep kissing me in the back of my car and in alleyways and in the dark. and i can never fucking get a read on you. and i also think about how incredibly panicked you look. how broken. how long have you been doing this? "i don't want to die," i say.

you glance downwards. "well, you're not really dead, you'll come back in the loop."

"but i will have died." my hands are shaking. i am trying really hard to stay calm.

you push your hands through your hair again. "i really have to go. i will have this discussion with the next version of you, though. it is like, something i am thinking about."

"but i don't get a next version," i say. i don't really have the language for this, because i haven't had 26 tries with you. i only have my memories: you, a week ago. drunk and telling me you loved me in my ear. you, kissing her anyway. you, months ago, throwing up on my birthday, whispering to me i ruin everything i touch, always, over and over. please don't ask. i can't ever fucking have that be you.

i run my finger along the rim of the mug. "i don't want to die in this one."

you seem baffled by this. "i get that but - time will reset, you'll be fine, you won't even remember we talked about this."

"but i know now." i stand up too. "i have to live the rest of this day knowing i could die. knowing i probably am going to."

"you could always die, to be fair."

i feel my hands get out of control. "earlier, you said i always say a different insult about myself. what if you're just going through different parallel universes and those are all just different - but real - versions of myself? what if you're not in a time loop, you're in a fucking universe loop?"

"if it helps, i've wondered this too. also, you're hot in all of them. if that helps."

i point at you. "no flirting. i'm trying to figure out if i die today."

"who's flirting?" you catch my wild hands and give me that long, perfect smile. like we're in this together. "i won't let ya die." you check your watch and sigh again. "well. maybe not this time."

i grit my teeth. you are so not making quips at me while i try to explain the existential dread i'm having. "does the time loop reset if i fucking kill you?"

"honestly i don't know how long it continues after i die, because i just wake up. it could be that the loop goes until the explosion for everyone, and we're all in the loop, or it could be that when i die, the loop restarts. when i die i wake up, is all."

i pull away from you and stalk into the kitchen and start doing all 3 of my dishes. "okay, first, you know i was joking. and secondly, this is exactly my point. you don't know if this is just a parallel universe. maybe in the ones where you died, the explosion happened and nobody reset and it's just you travelling." i have to stop and push my heel into my eyeball. "... how often have you died?"

i look at you. you look at me. you give me this very sad, halfway smile and a little what can ya do shrug. something in that action seems so old and weary that i want to burst into tears.

"i have to go," you say. "really. for real. there's this family of five i save from getting into a car crash. and i know it's like oh but we're all gonna die in the explosion anyway, what's the point. and..." you shrug again. "it matters to me, is all. at least i saved them for now. at least i saved anything."

you pad over to me and wrap me in a tight hug. you always seem so tall against me. i feel your cheek rest against the top of my head for a moment. for a second, it's just us, and the space is warm, and my heart is a little broken hare.

you leave me there, and i stand in my stupid badly lit kitchen with my stupid mugs. i think about you. i start texting my mom that she needs to get out of the city, but it feels pointless.

i don't know what to do. tomorrow is the same day for you. but i have to prepare to die in my today.

[jianghuchild]

An introduction to Grimm: New Blood

New Blood is my sequel fic which takes place about 25 years after the defeat of Zerstörer. It follows the kids of the original main cast, as well as a few other original characters.

The main characters include Kelly and Diana of course along with the triplets (who I named Freddy, Laurel and Hazel). There’s also Selene (nicknamed Lennie) who is Hank’s adopted daughter who is also a grimm, Morgan who is the Hank/Wu of this story who has no idea wesen exist, and Percy and Tim who I won’t say too much about for now.

The original cast do show up, but they’re not really the main focus.

This fic’s main plot surrounds the Royal Families, the Verrat and goes deeper into the history of the grimms, along with some other stuff. There’s original wesen, and plenty of lore to explain stuff the original show never got around to.

This fic entirely came about because I wanted a grimm sequel, couldn’t really find anyone else who had written one, and decided to write it myself. There’s so much the original show left unanswered, so I’m attempting to answer a lot of the big ones, wrap up certain storylines and also dive deeper into aspects I think could do with some more detail.

Here is the link to part 1 if you are interested!

Feel free to ask me any questions on the story and characters. I’d love to talk more about this story, although if it’s spoilers I won’t answer.

But yeah, those are the basics. I’ll probably do posts explaining some more on the characters, what the original cast are up to and stuff like that. I’ll also do a post when I post the new version.

[jianghuchild]

In the late 1970s a glowing orb appeared in the sky. Every day at about 5:00 Greenwich standard time, the orb would go somewhere new, shoot out something similar to a laser, and kill one person. Every day, always at the same time, always exactly one person.

The person killed by the orb seemed completely random, with almost fifty years of studying it we've been able to find no rhythm or reason to who it kills. It kills the old, the young, the rich, the poor, the urban, the rural, anyone. Every human on earth seems to have an equal chance of being killed by the orb. It's a headline the few times someone of note is killed by the orb: Britain famously lost a Parliament member to the orb, Brazil to this day remains the only country where a head of state was killed by the orb while in office, there was a short lived sitcom in the 1990s called Freinds that ended halfway through its first season due to the orb killing one of the main actors on set. However, these are outliers, on any given day the person who dies via orb is very likely to be someone you never heard of. There are billions of people on earth, and only one is killed by the orb every day. In almost fifty years only a little over 18000 have died because of the orb, which is nothing in the face of the sheer amount of humans that exist.

When the orb first appeared people were horrified. Both the US and USSR thought it was a weapon from the other side. Almost every religion made some claim of it being proof of their beliefs, oftentimes claiming it was divine punishment. Atheists claimed it was proof no loving God could exist. People were so very apocalyptic and horrified by it, they thought of it as part of the end times, because when it was new that's really how it looked.

However, it's been long enough so that's changed. Most people have lived their entire lives in a world where the orb exists. The orb isn't that scary a concept. People know their odds of being killed by it are low and that it's not going to end the world or anything. The orb has become normal, and we've accepted that the orb is just something that kills people the same way cancer, or heart attacks, or natrual disasters, or car crashes kill people. In the nineteen eighties there were efforts to find a way to stop the orb, but it's since proven to be extremely difficult, and it's as distant and nebulous as finding a cure for cancer. When a community is struck by the orb you'll see that community in mourning, but it's not a global thing anymore.

So people grow up learning about the orb, as part of science, like anything else. A lot of gen z remembers learning about the orb from Magic School Bus. It's just something normal. There are a few people with an orb hyperfixation, and a few cults that give the orb importance but it's not most people's concern. The orb is how we first confirmed that interdimensional objects existed and are possible. A lot of people theorize dimensional studies wouldn't exist without it, meaning without the orb we might not have thermitizers or grand drives, we might not even have a moon base without the orb. Some have even rather tastelessly claimed that the orb has saved more lives at this point that its taken with all the knowledge it's given us.

Which is why I regret to inform you, that just last week, without warning, the orb killed two people in one day. And for the past seven days it's been killing two people instead of just one. Nobody knows why.

[jianghuchild]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare, Hamlet - Shakespeare Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Benvolio & Horatio, Benvolio & Roseline, Horatio & Original Female Character, Roseline & Tybalt, Benvolio & Mercutio, Juliet Capulet/Romeo Montague, Hamlet & Horatio Characters: Benvolio, Horatio, Original Female Character, Roseline, Lady Capulet, Mercutio, Romeo Montague, Juliet Capulet, Tybalt, Hamlet Additional Tags: Screenplay/Script Format, Sequel, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning Summary:

HORATIO: With such reckless bloodshed, and such reckless hate, I wonder if there will not be restless spirits abounding.

AGATHA: That is callous.

HORATIO: That is why I did not say it.

AGATHA: But it is not wrong of you to wonder. I have wondered myself at things I have seen in the time since the deaths began.

HORATIO: I will keep a watchful eye.

AGATHA: See that you do. I shall keep one myself.

(or, it’s the days after the funerals of Romeo and Juliet, and something is stirring in Verona).

[jianghuchild]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: White Collar (TV 2009) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Neal Caffrey/Kate Moreau, Peter Burke & Kate Moreau Characters: Kate Moreau, Peter Burke Additional Tags: Roleswap, Alternate Universe, kate & neal swap places for s1, Episode Tag, Canon Rewrite Summary:

Kate spends a week putting all the pieces of her escape plan in motion. On the day of her escape, she slips into the off-limits staff bathroom, changes into a guard uniform, and cuts off her long hair, letting it fall shapelessly around her ears. She’ll make it something presentable when she finds Neal, when she knows he’s safe. Vanity isn’t important right now, no matter how proud she’s always been of her hair, how much she loved when Neal would run his fingers through it when they were alone. It will grow back.

(or, Peter Burke caught Kate Moreau in that storage facility four years ago, not Neal Caffrey).

[jianghuchild]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 长月烬明 | Till the End of the Moon (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Li Susu | Ye Xiwu/Tantai Jin | Devil God Characters: Li Susu | Ye Xiwu, Tantai Jin | Devil God, Chuntao (Till the End of the Moon) Additional Tags: Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Ambiguous/Open Ending Summary:

“Alright,” she begins, because she has to start somewhere. “I’m not Ye Xiwu anymore. My name is Li Susu, and I’m from the future.” Tantai Jin gapes at her, having lost his fear in favor of confused shock. “I know, I know, it’s hard to believe. Let me get through the whole thing and then you can get mad at me for playing tricks on you,” she says, waving her hand dismissively.

(or, Li Susu goes back in time again when Ye Bingchang suffocates her in the dungeons).

[jianghuchild]

不谓侠 - Not Called a Hero by Xiao Yiqing | song translation

(for @vyther15 so I can prove to him that this is Thee Yu Shisan song)

(btw I took a lot of reference from this analysis)

Listen:

Lyrics and translation:

衣襟上别好了晚霞

Sunset is pinned on my lapel

余晖送我牵匹老马

Its rays send me off on an old horse

正路过烟村里人家

As I pass by a family in a green-smoke town

(green smoke commonly refers to a mundane, peaceful village scenery)

恰似当年故里正飞花

It's just like back then, when flowers drifted in my hometown

醉过风喝过茶

I've gotten drunk on wind, I've tasted tea

寻常巷口寻个酒家

I've sought inns in ordinary streets

在座皆算老友

Everyone seated here is an old friend

碗底便是天涯

The bottom of my bowl is the edge of the world

天涯远无处不为家

The world's edge is far, nowhere is not home

蓬门自我也像广厦

I'll make a mansion out of a hut

论意气不计多或寡

In terms of ambition, no matter great or small

占三分便敢自称为侠

Having three-tenths, I dare to call myself a hero

(xia refers to the lone rogue swordsman trope, popularized in contemporary media by Jin Yong)

刀可捉拳也耍

I can hold a sabre, I can throw my fist

偶尔闲来问个生杀

Occasionally in my leisure I'll ask after a death

没得英雄名讳

I haven't a hero's name

掂量些旧事抵酒价

But a few old stories pay for my wine

向江南折过花

I've picked flowers in Jiangnan

(Jiangnan is a region of provinces known for its scenic beauty; fun fact, it's also my home region)

对春风与红蜡

I've turned my face to spring wind and red wax

(red candles are used on wedding nights)

多情总似我风流爱天下

They were romantic like me, having many loves for the world

人世肯相逢知己幸有七八

I'm lucky to have known seven or eight self-knowers on earth

(zhiji: one who knows the self, can be romantic or platonic)

邀我拍坛去醉眼万斗烟霞

Who've invited me to drink and see the sky with them

向江北饮过马

I've taken horses to drink in Jiangbei

(Jiangbei: lit. "north of river," as opposed to Jiangnan, "south of river")

对西风与黄沙

I've turned my face to west win and yellow sand

无情也似我向剑底斩桃花

They were heartless like me, whose sword cut down those peach flowers

(referring to the Jiangnan flowers, i.e. romantic entanglements)

人世难相逢谢青山催白发

It is hard to meet on this earth, and I thank that the mountains stand, though my hair rushes white

慷慨唯霜雪相赠眉间一道疤

How generous that only frost and snow gifted me a scar between my brow

过三巡酒气开月华

Three rounds later, the air of wine blends with the moon

浓醉到五更不还家

I'm drunk past midnight but I won't go home

漫说道无瑕少年事

I'll speak of the stories of my youth

敢夸玉带宝剑青骢马

When I wore jade on my waist, holding a sword and riding a green horse

(qingcongma: a horse flecked with white and black; qing can be nebulously understood as green, dark blue, or black depending on context)

眠星子枕霜花

I sleep among stars, pillowed on frost

旧茅草也比神仙榻

Even straw cots may compete with the beds of gods

交游任意南北

I'll travel as I wish north to south

洒落不计冬夏

Whether winter or summer, I'll greet friends with wine

算冬夏豪气未曾罢

Count the years, but my boldness has not fallen

再砥砺剑锋出京华

I'll resharpen my sword and return to the capital

(i.e. fighting for his country when he is called)

问来人胸襟谁似我

I'll ask a passerby, whose heart is like mine?

将日月山海一并笑纳

That I can take in the sun, moon, mountains, and seas?

只姓名不作答

He'll ask my name but I won't answer

转身向云外寄生涯

And turn around, sending my heart to the edge of the world

不必英雄名讳

I don't need a hero's name

记两个旧事抵酒价

As long as I have a couple old stories to pay for my wine

向江南折过花

I've picked flowers in Jiangnan

对春风与红蜡

I've turned my face to spring wind and red wax

多情总似我风流爱天下

They were romantic like me, having many loves for the world

人世肯相逢知己幸有七八

I'm lucky to have known seven or eight self-knowers on earth

邀我拍坛去醉眼万斗烟霞

Who've invited me to drink and see the sky with them

向江北饮过马

I've taken horses to drink in Jiangbei

对西风与黄沙

I've turned my face to west wind and yellow sand

无情也似我引剑锋斩桃花

They were heartless like me, whose sword cut down those peach flowers

人世难相逢谢青山催白发

It is hard to meet on this earth, and I thank that the mountains stand, though my hair rushes white

慷慨唯霜雪相赠眉间一道疤

How generous that only frost and snow gifted me a scar between my brow

当此世赢输都算闲话

When victory and defeat become merely small talk

来换杯陈酒天纵我潇洒

Come exchange a cup of old wine, heavens allow me to be carefree

风流不曾老弹铗唱作年华

The romantic never ages, for I sing my years

凭我纵马去过剑底杯中觅生涯

Let me take my horse and seek the world's edge at my sword's point and in my cup

当此世生死也算闲话

When life and death too become small talk

来换场豪醉不负天纵潇洒

Come exchange great drunkenness so that heaven didn't allow my carefreeness in vain

风流不曾老弹铗唱作年华

The romantic never ages, for I sing my years

凭我自由去只做狂人不谓侠

Let me go free, and I'll be only a madman, never called a hero

[jianghuchild]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 长月烬明 | Till the End of the Moon (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Xiao Lin/Ye Bingchang, Tantai Jin | Devil God & Xiao Lin, Ye Bingchang & Tantai Jin | Devil God Characters: Xiao Lin (Till the End of the Moon), Ye Bingchang Additional Tags: Ficlet, Scheming, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Summary:

“Husband,” Ye Bingchang says, folding her hands primly in her lap. She’d ensured the kitchens brought his favorite foods today, in order to make her request seem less demanding. Xiao Lin sets down his chopsticks. “Yes?” “I…” she hesitates. It had seemed like such a good plan when she had thought of it earlier this week, after a gloating visit from her sister had reminded her. “I’d like to get Tantai Jin out of my family’s home.” Xiao Lin blinks at her. “Is he not happy?”

(Or, Tantai Jin doesn’t ruin Ye Bingchang’s wedding and so she decides to help him out.)

[jianghuchild]

嗵嗵 Thunk Thunk | DOUDOU - lyrics translation

Listen:

Lyrics:

Translation (my attempt):

[Verse 1]

Gods, oh gods open your mouths

That I may know who I am

It pushes me toward the sky

Skips the dust and ash

Can't never rest, never rest

The nigh sky flies on my back

Come bacchanal, bacchanal,

Never to fall down

[Verse 2]

Sun, oh sun, would you let me know

Why is it, why is it

That regrets overflow

Night sky, night sky, please tell me

What should I do, should I do

So that my soul won't break

[Chorus 1a]

Thunk! and it falls down

Fruit goes Thunk! and it falls down

At my feet the flowers bloom

Su su, su su su su su

(rustling noises)

Thunk! and it falls down

Bone goes Thunk! and it falls down

Now I can, now I can

Become a child again

[Verse 1] [Verse 2]

[Chorus 1b]

Thunk! and it falls down (Hearts tremble in their shells)

Thunk! and flowers bloom (Lift my head to see skylight)

Thunk! and it falls down (Life floats empty, empty)

(from Zhuangzi: Ingrained Ideas: "His life seems to float along; his death seems to be a resting.")

Become a child again (The wind takes me wandering)

[Verse 1] x2

[Verse 1a]

Gods, oh gods open your mouths

That I may know who I am

It pushes me toward the sky

Away from dirt and dust

Can't never rest, never rest

The nigh sky flies on my back

Come rest your heart, rest your heart,

Never to fall down

[Verse 1]

[Outro]

Fly over crops

Fly over neon lights

Fly over gravestones

Fly over rubble piles

Fly over crops

Fly over neon lights

Fly over gravestones

Fly over rubble piles

[jianghuchild]

hii!!

about a year-or-so ago I came across the project you were working on (Painted Devils), and I was super intrigued by it and looking forward to supporting you guys when it eventually drops 🙏

I noticed the Tumblr hasn't account hasn't been active in quite some time so I wanted to check in on you and inquire whether it's still in progress? I don't think any IF project has quite peaked my interest the way Painted Devils has!

Regardless of whether you are or aren't working on it anymore, I'm hoping you're doing well 🩷🩷 Thank you for your time <33

Hey hey! Thank you very much for the continued interest despite our radio silence! Everyone at @painted-devils-if has gotten crazy busy between work, grad school, and research, so I'm sorry to report that this project may take a bit longer than we're all hoping. That being said, we have certainly not abandoned the project, and we are determined to get it done, no matter how long it takes.

[jianghuchild]

Consider: Post-canon Zuko wakes up in the body of his childhood self, the morning of That War Meeting. Would he still speak against the plans, knowing his fate? What do you think he would do differently the second time around?

"Turned away at the doors, Zuzu?"

"Shut up, Azula," her brother sulked. But sulked weirdly, after staring at her too long and too wide-eyed, not like she'd surprised him but--

But like he hadn't expected her to be there. At all.

He turned away. ...He turned back. "Hey, Lala? Do you think you could help me practice that one set?"

He didn't meet her eyes.

She narrowed hers. "Which set?"

"The one I'm bad at."

She scoffed. Pushed away from the wall she'd been leaning against. "That's all of them, Dum-Dum."

He didn't shout or stomp or yell about the nickname. His lips twitched.

"It's okay," he said. "If you're afraid you won't be a better teacher that my instructor..."

It was the most obvious manipulation ever.

Perhaps if he proved an adequate firebending student, she'd work on his courtly survival skills next. Honestly, it was good that not even Uncle Gets-Cousins-Killed had been fool enough to take Zuko into that war meeting. She could only imagine how terribly that could have gone.

"Keep up," she said, and turned her steps towards the training grounds.

He did. There, and during the katas she ran him through.

Azula kept her eyes narrowed.

"Hey," he asked, "do you know how to bend lightning yet?"

As if he could have missed it, if she'd been able to get more than sparks. "I will soon," she said.

"You will," he agreed, and flowed through his next set. The one she'd only just mastered.

Father didn't notice how weird Zuzu was being. Uncle never noticed anything. Zuko ate dinner and asked a servant for seconds and didn't stutter or flinch or lose his appetite when father asked, coolly, what he'd done with his day. Azula's shoulders tensed, because one mention of how she'd squandered her own training time teaching him--

"Azula hogged the training grounds. For hours," Zuzu scowled, exactly like a petulant thirteen year old.

Exactly like he hadn't been acting all day.

By the time Father was looking her way, Azula had her usual smirk in place. "I'm sure there would be room for both of us," she said, "you're not afraid of a little friendly fire, are you, brother?"

Zuko sulked. And ate his seconds, like he was enjoying each bite. There was something in his eyes, like a joke no one else was getting.

---

Father died that night. A heart attack. There were the faintest of burns to either side of the treacherous organ; the royal physician hypothesized that he'd grabbed at his chest, fingers burning hot in his final moments; so hot they'd only exacerbated the problem.

The royal physician would never have been brought any victims of lighting strikes. Those that occurred in the capital did not generally require a doctor in the aftermath.

Zuzu ate a hearty breakfast.

He didn't order seconds. Azula gave him points, at least, for not being tacky.

---

The sages named Iroh as regent.

They named Zuko as Fire Lord.

"No," the tiny Fire Lord in his perfectly miniaturized Fire Lord robes said, sitting at the head of his war council. "We're not doing that. And I'll be reviewing all recent battle plans, as well. What's this I hear about a division of new recruits being deployed to the front?"

He did not mention how he'd heard of the 41st Division. No one asked.

"Prince Iroh, surely--" one of the generals tried to appeal.

The young Fire Lord's regent was looking as startled as the rest of them, for a moment. Then he sipped his tea, and smiled.

"Your Fire Lord is correct, of course. A change in our leadership--a change the other nations may mistakenly view as weakness--will necessitate a change in our strategy."

"Now," said their lord, "what, exactly, is our overall objective in this war?"

War, the new Fire Lord decreed, was not an end unto itself.

---

The new Fire Lord continued to have time, to pretend to be trained by her. Azula watched him. Adjusted her footwork. Did not tolerate, and was not offered, any commentary on who was teaching who.

"What did you do with my brother?" she asked, as they flowed from one set to the next. As her hands, poised to throw fire, just so happened to be pointed his way.

He missed a step. It didn't look like an act.

"I'm, uh. Right here?"

She didn't bother to dignify that.

He didn't bother to look worried about her hands, one movement off from a true attack.

He looked around, then grabbed her sleeve, and tugged her further from any walls that may hide ears. The royal family's private training grounds were wonderfully large, and wonderfully open.

"It's me," he said. "It's still me. Just. More of me? Longer of me?"

She narrowed her eyes. A familiar expression, by this point. "Explain."

"...I found the Avatar," he said. "And this is definitely his fault, but--but I guess it started at a war meeting, when I was thirteen."

Azula listened. It was a very Dum-Dum story.

[jianghuchild]

I was going through my notes and stumbled across an old scrapped idea with a 54-year old demon-slaying monk, except it's sci-fi so the demons are computer viruses that have downloaded themselves onto human bodies. He lives in monastery at the top of a mountain, which is really just a massive supercomputer. There are also immortals in the story, which are humans who have "cultivated," i.e. uploaded their souls into computers. His youngest disciple-sister is a computer demon that took over their master's dead body. There's a prophecy (a predictive matrix) about her destroying the world so he's supposed to kill her, but also she technically hasn't done anything wrong yet, and plus she's family. It ends with the characters finding out that the computer demons are formed from stardust, and therefore the truest way to achieve godhood is not to upload into computers but into the stars.

[jianghuchild]

Drinking Song for the Socially Anxious

♠️Alice in Borderland ♥️Alternate Universe - No Borderlands ♦️The Borderland's are a D&D campaign ♣️Chishiya/Niragi if you squint

[jianghuchild]

Okay bc you just messaged me on discord, I want to know more of the inside scoop on the Leena fic for the director's cut ask game <3

Ooh, good choice! Fun fact about that one (spoilers), I always knew Leena was going to die. For the longest time, it was the one scene that constantly played in my head as I fell asleep.

I just think there's such a neat tragic element to the fact that, by the time Leena looks for Ben, he's already dead; and by the time she sees him, she's already dying. Almost as if, despite how much they would have enjoyed each other's presence, they are destined to miss each other.

A bit of the reverse happens in the sequel (still in progress), but I'll keep that to myself for now <3

[jianghuchild]

It's tiiiiiiiiime! For the end-of-year Director's Cut ask game!

Ask me for additional lore or meta about any of my fics this year, whether that's a specific question or just a fun fact about any of my fics. Fics can be found on my ao3 or my tumblr masterlist.

Thank you @vyther16 for the tag!

Idk who to tag, but feel free to propagate. Go forth, my succulent buds.

[jianghuchild]

惊鸿一面 A Stunning Meeting - Xu Song ft. Huang Ling | annotated song translation

So... new (old) obsession just dropped. How are Huang Ling and Xu Song so good and this Fox x Scholar thing? What the hell is this MV. I need a million more of it. (Please watch it.)

Anyway, here's my attempt at sharing it with everyone:

[Verse]

[Him]

翻手为云 覆手为雨

I turn my hand for clouds, turn again for rain (idiom: to be changeable, mercurial)

金盆洗手 止风雨

Wash my hands in a gold basin (idiom: to repent from one's old ways), stop the storm

不恋红尘 却难舍回忆

No worldly desires, yet loath to release my memories

每一段都有你

Each scene has you in it

[Her]

年少初遇 常在我心

Our first youthful meeting is often in my heart

多年不减你深情

Many years haven't diminished your deep affection

江山如画又怎能比拟

Rivers and mountains are like a painting (idiom: describes the beauty of the natural world), but how can it compare

你送我的风景

To the scenery you gave me?

[Chorus]

[Her] 柳下闻瑶琴 起舞和一曲

I heard the yaoqin (aka guqin) beneath the willow, rose and danced with it

[Him] 仿佛映当年 翩若惊鸿影

It seemed to reflect that year, that stunning silhouette

[Her] 谁三言两语 撩拨了情意

Who teased my affections with a few words?

[Him] 谁一颦一笑 摇曳了星云

Who swayed the stars with every frown and smile?

[Her] 纸扇藏伏笔 玄机诗文里

Paper fans hide foreshadowing, mysteries in poems and essays

[Him] 紫烟燃心语 留香候人寻

My truest feelings kindle violet smoke, leaving a fragrance that waits for someone to find

(possibly a reference to Li Bai)

[Her] 史书列豪杰 功过有几许

History lists so many heroes, what of their triumphs and losses?

[Him] 我今生何求 惟你

All I ask for in this life, is you

[Verse]

[Him]

年少初遇 常在我心

Our first youthful meeting is often in my heart

多年不减你深情

Many years haven't diminished your deep affection

[Her]

江山如画又怎能比拟

Rivers and mountains are like a painting, but how can it compare

你送我的风景

To the scenery you gave me?

[Chorus]

[Her] 柳下闻瑶琴 起舞和一曲

I heard the yaoqin beneath the willow, rose and danced with it

[Him] 仿佛映当年 翩若惊鸿影

It seemed to reflect that year, that stunning silhouette

[Her] 谁三言两语 撩拨了情意

Who teased my affections with a few words?

[Him] 谁一颦一笑 摇曳了星云

Who swayed the stars with every frown and smile?

[Her] 纸扇藏伏笔 玄机诗文里

Paper fans hide foreshadowing, mysteries in poems and essays

[Him] 紫烟燃心语 留香候人寻

My truest feelings kindle violet smoke, leaving a fragrance that waits for someone to find

[Her] 史书列豪杰 功过有几许

History lists so many heroes, what of their triumphs and losses?

[Him] 我今生何求 惟你

All I ask for in this life, is you

[Bridge]

[Him]

远山传来清晨悠然的曲笛

A leisurely morning flutesong descends from a distant mountain

晓风掠走光阴

The dawn wind steals away time

残月沉霜鬓里

The waning moon sinks into my frost-coloured hair

[Her]

有了你

Now that I have you

恩怨都似飞鸿踏雪泥

My grudges are like great sparrows trampling muddy snow

[Chorus]

[Her] 柳下闻瑶琴 起舞和一曲

I heard the yaoqin beneath the willow, rose and danced with it

[Him] 仿佛映当年 翩若惊鸿影

It seemed to reflect that year, that stunning silhouette

[Her] 谁三言两语 撩拨了情意

Who teased my affections with a few words?

[Him] 谁一颦一笑 摇曳了星云

Who swayed the stars with every frown and smile?

[Her] 纸扇藏伏笔 玄机诗文里

Paper fans hide foreshadowing, mysteries in poems and essays

[Him] 紫烟燃心语 留香候人寻

My truest feelings kindle violet smoke, leaving a fragrance that waits for someone to find

[Her] 史书列豪杰 功过有几许

History lists so many heroes, what of their triumphs and losses?

[Him] 我今生何求 惟你

All I ask for in this life, is you

我今生何求

All I ask for in this life

[Both]

惟你

Is you