#fallingsun

Hi Shona! Ooh yes of course~

#5: codependency

This one's an original work about a sentient bodhisattva idol (but not literally because I abstracted the worldbuilding) and it's mostly just vibes right now. I'm still working through what I want the story to be, but here's a little snippet:

A heretic has come into town. I hear this from the Ammas and Abbos, who gossip with their heads pressed together in between kowtows, as if being closer to earth will keep them from the ears of heaven. It comes in bits and pieces, whispered between lines of prayer. "He's a killing devil," says Amma Mae, hand clenched around a stick of incense like it's an imperial edict. "Everywhere he goes, disaster follows." "I hear he goes into every town's temple and cuts down its Saint." Amma Doh casts a surreptitious glance at me, then presses her palms together and murmurs a hasty prayer of apology.

#17: shangguan qian doesn't know how to be a mother

Shangguan Qian doesn’t know how to be a mother, nor does she want to be one. This beast growing in her belly is a seed taking root, growing with each passing day to choke out the life around it. Every day she lays her head, promising herself that tomorrow—tomorrow she will weed herself of this sapling. It isn’t until she’s two months in and her smaller dresses stop fitting her that Shangguan Qian admits to herself that she’s keeping the child. She goes to a large city, because fewer people blink at husbandless mothers there, and finds a midwife who doesn’t ask questions. She watches herself swell over the months—her belly, her feet, her breasts—until, on the eighteenth of the first month as the first of the spring rains begin, Shangguan Qian is holding a squirming thing to her chest, barely two palms long.

i'm so glad that you specifically have asked about that one!! that fic is the one i've been referring to as bodyfic here. it was born from two specific moments in canon:

the moment where yanhui asks tianyao what his favorite food is and he tells her he doesn't like to eat

the moment where tianyao eyes the fish that yanhui is cooking

my thought process went like this: if he doesn't like to eat why is he eying food?? what if he needs to eat while he's unable to nourish himself like a dragon would??? what if he has to and hates eating the whole time????

and voila! a fic was born! bodyfic explores the time before canon when tianyao is thrust into life with a fundamentally changed body. there is heavy emphasis on the trauma and self-loathing related to that. it's dual perspective, switching between tianyao and nainai. he is Not Eating Enough and nainai is trying desperately to keep him alive, while grieving for A'Fu the first.

funnily enough, the eating disorder was my first and most driving thought about the fic and it's the part i'm having the most trouble writing 😅 but i'm deeply deeply enjoying diving into the other implications of the change in tianyao's body. if we are going to trace influences, your work would have to be on the list!! you don't shy away from tianyao's hard feelings about his body in if all encounters are reunions long overdue (link for anyone who hasn't read it) and that absolutely feeds my fascination with this. (hey i. really love if all encounters are reunions long overdue. like. so much)

now for a snippet! here is tianyao and nainai meeting:

omg i don't mind at all ty for reblogging all the sets and spreading the lingzhao agenda!!

Fellas, I think it’s time to introduce the special cases of the -sun and -moon suffixes. Meet Fallingsun of Birdclan!  In this set of clans, Sun and Moon are suffixes given to exemplary cats~ Sun is for warriors and Moon is for medicine cats. Using these two as prefixes for your kits is seen as arrogant and disrespectful to your warrior ancestors. With that being said, while most cats get renamed into having the suffix sun, Fallingsun got it right out of his apprenticeship. Aside from being an all-round good apprentice, he managed to subdue and kill an eagle all on his own.  As a young warrior, he was passionate and eager. But since then, he’s lost that younger enthusiasm. Fallingsun feels disappointed by his clan’s lacklustre approach to warrior life and he feels like he was unfairly robbed from the deputy position. He believes that Russetstar should have made him the deputy instead of Owleyes. Fallingsun is forgetting what drew him in to dedicate his efforts as he once did as an apprentice. This has kinda caused him to be an absentee father in his kits’ lives. Mate: Windyfur Kits: Redpaw | Lionkit, Rainkit Apprentice: Cuddlepaw

Bunnyears- A cheerful and observant cat. Bunnyears has particularly great hearing and will often show off their skills. When they aren’t joking or showing off they are keeping a careful ear out for trouble, often volunteering for being on watch as they feel it would be selfish of them not to use their gift to help their clan, 14/10

Honeymilk - A gentle and caring cat. Honeymilk spends more time in the nursery then anywhere else, offering company to the queens and an extra parental influence to the kits. Honeymilk is very popular in their clan and cats will often go to Honeymilk for advice and company, 15/10

Fallingsun - Am optimistic and adventurous cat. Fallingsun always be the first to volunteer for patrols outside the territory, they love exploring new places and trying new things. They will often spend their spare time forming new techniques for the clan to use, they are often pretty complex but work very well, 15/10

Pineshiver - A delicate and cautious cat. Pineshiver always treads carefully, both literally and metaphorically. They will never enter a situation without fully assessing the risks, they are scared of death and will take every measure they can to avoid it, 15/10

Watervapor - A skilled and intelligent cat. This cat can overcome anything life throws at them, the skills and knowledge they have gathered over the moons have left them extremely adaptable, often thinking of simple yet creative solutions for problems, 14/10

Sweetthroat - A cheerful and chatty cat. Sweetthroat will talk your ear off if you let them! But when needed they are also a good listener and when a cat confides them with a problem they will often think of a solution, always thinking their thought process out loud, 13/10