#nirvanainfirefest

But MCS doesn’t like any of those, and maybe it’s because he doesn’t know the city very well, so Mu Qing drops hints at every opportunity: “Well, that’s that, give yourself some time to think about it, but for now, why don’t you come back to ours for some tea, I mean, it’s only FIVE MINUTES AWAY, AND ALL--”

But MCS still isn’t interested. For a Qilin prodigy, he sure is slow. But then it occurs to Mu Qing that maybe MCS is rejecting them all because he doesn’t think there’s any chance that his feelings could be returned and doesn’t want to make things weird. (Mu Qing can’t imagine a world in which every man would not be madly in love with his sister, because plz, just look at her, so quite obviously the problem isn’t that MCS lacks interest, Pfft, the very idea.) So Mu Qing hints harder: “Why don’t you come back to ours for some tea, I mean, my sister is always SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU, AND ALL--”

Nothing.

Still, Mu Qing rallies and stretches himself to properties within a ten-minute carriage ride, and then everything within a twenty-minute carriage ride, and is extremely put out when MCS finally buys a house of Meng Zhi’s choosing, which is a full thirty-minute carriage ride from the Mu Residence. But an accomplished rider, which Nihuang is, can make the trip on horseback in twenty, so Mu Qing guesses it’s okay, and proceeds to subtly encourage his sister to get out more, see more of Jinling while they’re here, he’s heard that there’s a good tea house on X street, and hey, doesn’t Mr Su live in this area? We should totally go visit--

(At which point he excuses himself to play with Feiliu in order to provide them with as much ~alone time~ as he can, obv.)

But increasingly, it seems like their visits coincide with Jingyan’s. Mu Qing understands that MCS is a popular guy and that he’s got to expect to run into visitors who’re there to curry favour from time to time (like Prince Yu, so it makes sense that Prince Jing goes too, he guesses), but now it’s almost like Jingyan is always there. (And what the hell, doesn’t it take like, an hour to get from his house to the Su Residence?) And despite Mu Qing’s (many) hints, Jingyan just doesn’t seem to get that he’s third-wheeling Mu Qing’s sister and messing up her budding romance, here - Mu Qing needs to do something about that. So he recruits Jingrui and Yujin, (who are not really convinced that MCS/NH are the OTP, but will concede that it’d be nice for Nihuang-jiejie to have someone, and MCS’s pretty high-grade, as potential candidates go, so if she really does like him--), to help him in distracting Jingyan at the Su Residence, again freeing up MCS and NH for ~alone time~.

What Mu Qing doesn’t know is that the reason Jingyan is spending so much time at the Su Residence (apart from, you know, strategising to reopen to the Chiyan case) is one Meng Zhi. Meng Zhi, who has seen MCS and Jingyan together, seen how much happier they are in each other’s company, which is still not quite as happy as they were when they were Jingyan-and-Xiao-Shu because of the secret between them, but you know what would fix that? If there was no secret between them. Meng Zhi has promised MCS that he’s not going to tell Jingyan anything, but maybe, he thinks, maybe if they just spend enough time together, Jingyan will realise it for himself, he’s a smart lad. Surely--

So whenever he sees Jingyan around the Palace (which is more and more these days), he starts to casually mention reasons that Jingyan should go. He heard that the Su Residence got a mail delivery the other day, maybe some of the information will be useful to Jingyan (it won’t). MCS has been cooped up at home under the weather lately, so maybe Jingyan should go and see him because he’s certainly lonely (he isn’t). Jingyan used to play in the forests outside Jinling as a child, didn’t he? He should take MCS to see them, since he knows them so well and MCS hasn’t seen them yet (also a lie).

Somehow, and Meng Zhi is actually not sure quite how, he manages to recruit Gao-gonggong to the cause (actually Gao-gonggong wants to encourage Jingyan develop good relations with the famous strategist, and strengthen his influence at court, but whatever, the result is the same), and then there’s a second person casually dropping hints around Jingyan. 

(”The wind was very strong last night, wasn’t it, Your Highness? Not an issue in the Palace, of course, but I hear that the smaller residences in the city are a lot more susceptible to this kind of storm-damage.”  “Really? I have a friend who lives in such a residence. Perhaps I should call in, to see that everything’s all right.”  “Perhaps you should, Your Highness.”)

Mu Qing has heretofore been comforting himself with the thought that, at 20 minutes’ ride, they’re closer to MCS than Jingyan is, and therefore, it’s more convenient for them to visit. (So if his sister would just co-operate, already, they could ramp up their efforts, visit EVERY DAY, and MUSCLE XIAO JINGYAN OUT.) But then, during a rare MCS-visit to the Mu Residence, while MCS and NH are strolling ahead, chatting about something, he overhears Li Gang scolding Feiliu: “It’s not enough that you sneak out to steal flowers from Prince Jing’s garden every day, now you’re going to steal flowers from the Mu garden, too?! Feiliu--”

And something about this doesn’t sit quite right with Mu Qing, because he knows that Feiliu doesn’t like to be too far from MCS’s side, and sneaking out and wandering an hour out from home every day doesn’t sound like him at all. So he pulls up a city map and ERMAHGERD, THEY’RE NEIGHBOURS, FEILIU JUST JUMPS THE BACK WALL AND HE’S IN JINGYAN’S GARDEN. JINGYAN is the one who lives closer to MCS, he is in fact the one who lives CLOSEST to MCS, they’re practically living TOGETHER, and this is definitely not an accident.

MENG ZHI, HOW DARE YOU EXCLUDE MY JIE JIE!!!!!

Paranoia IGNITED, Mu Qing revises his opinion of Jingyan’s social insensitivity re: MCS/NH into a DELIBERATE ASSAULT-STRATEGY re: MCS’s virtue. So whenever they’re at the Su Residence, what’s actually happening is this:

But what Mu Qing sees is this:

UNACCEPTABLE.

So he changes tactics and starts to wheedle MCS into coming out with them, to tea houses, music halls, restaurants, shows, everything. His goal is to secure MCS and NH some alone time somewhere where Jingyan can’t just JUMP THE WALL and interrupt at ANYTIME (just as well he doesn’t know about the secret tunnel). It’s useful for MCS to be seen out having leisure time, and it also gives him a good cover for whatever movements he needs to slip under Banruo’s nose, so he agrees to most of Mu Qing’s proposals.

Meng Zhi notices MCS spending more and more time away from Jingyan while Jingyan still hasn’t discovered the secret and is Not Happy. (And don’t think he doesn’t know it’s because of you, Mu Qing, you little shit, how dare you 弄坏我们的好事.) So he changes tactics as well and begins to encourage Jingyan to visit at night, since he does know about the secret tunnel and there’s no way Mu Qing can intrude on them with his entourage then.

But MCS being dragged out by day and incessantly disturbed by night ignites the wrath of the co-captains of the “MCS Should Stay at Home and Rest at Night” ship, Dr Yan, Li Gang and Zhen Ping, who promptly designate Mu Qing and Meng Zhi as Su Residence enemies #1 and #2, and then also leap into the behind-the-scenes-manoeuvring fray.

And then it’s WAR.

INFORMATION

This is a prompt-based fanwork fest. 

Fest Schedule

1 June 2016 - Prompting opens

9 June 2016 - Prompt list closes

11 June 2016 - Claiming opens

1 August 2016 - Posting begins

15 August 2016 Reveals

Since our beloved drama is Chinese, we will be using CST (which is kind of fair since it is probably nobody’s timezone)

What fanworks are allowed?

All fanworks are welcome, including the following:

fanfic (in any form)

fanart, fan comics 

fanvid

fanmix

gifsets

The above is not a conclusive list. If you have an idea, but are not sure about whether it will be allowed, send us a message/chat.

Are there restrictions on pairings?

All pairings are welcome. Gen is welcome. You want to write an entire fanfic about Mei Changsu’s sass? We want to read it.

How do I submit a prompt?

A prompt post will be up shortly. Please comment with your prompts on that post. There is no limit on how many prompts you can submit.

You can submit a prompt even if you are not creating a fanwork for the fest.

How do I claim a prompt?

Once the Prompt list closes, mods will collate all of the prompts and make a list. A Claiming Post will then be put up. 

To claim a prompt, you will need to message this tumblr. Different fanworks can claim the same prompt, but fanworks of the same kind cannot - ie an artist and writer and claim the same prompt, but two fanfic writers cannot. It is first come first serve, we suggest that you do not start working on the prompt until you receive confirmation from a mod that the prompt is yours.

Guidelines for prompting and claiming will be set in the individual posts. 

Is this an Anonymous fest?

Yes. While the prompting part will be open. We do think it will be more fun if the submissions are kept secret until the reveals. 

Once the fest is over, the writers/artists/creators will be revealed! 

Please do not post your fanwork anywhere else before the reveals. Once the reveals are up, you may cross post anywhere you like.

How do I post?

For fanfics, mods will be creating a Nirvana in Fire Fest collection at AO3. 

For fanarts and other fanworks, please email us your submissions. We will be posting them on this blog so that the submissions will remain anonymous until the reveals. As noted above, once reveals are up, you can cross post anywhere you like.

More information on posting will be in a separate post.

What if I finish early?

Message/Chat us and claim another prompt!

What if I need to drop out?

We understand life happens. Just send us a message/chat so that we know. We can then open that prompt up to other people.

What if I have FEEELLLSSS about my submission?

#nirvanainfirefest we want to read all your rants. We like reading about your feels as much as Lin Chen likes good looking people. 

PIMP this fest

Tell your friends.

Even if your friends are not in fandom, tell them anyway (drag them into fandom)