straightforwardly | 289 | a trio of fic recs + ghost paintings

► I’d originally intended to make a recs post for good horror fics I’ve read recently, in honor of the season, but when I was looking over my spreadsheet just right now, it turns out… I’d actually already recced all save two of the ones that I had in mind? And two recs do not a themed post make. So, instead, have a trio of MDZS/CQL fic recs, two of which I would consider horror or featuring horror elements, and one which was just a very, very good read.

Arranged by wordcount, from shortest to longest:

to quench a flame (MDZS/CQL, Wei Wuxian & Jiang Yanli, 1.7K)
“Shijie, you’re really going to make me a sword?” Wei Ying asks. “I’m down by the swordsmith’s a lot—” because be it swords or bells, seeing how things are made is pretty neat— “and I’ve never seen you there. Do you do your apprenticeship somewhere else?”

An awkward silence falls. “Wei Ying,” Jiang Cheng says, finally. “Jiejie is a forge, not a swordsmith.”

In which every spiritual sword must be tempered in the living qi of a golden core.

The Disappearance of Madam Wen (MDZS/CQL, Madam Wen, 2.0K)
You are the young wife of Sect Leader Wen, and you're on the verge of discovering something important. About your husband, yes, but also about yourself.

— I don’t know how to talk about this one without spoiling it, so all I’ll say is that it absolutely nailed the ending.

it burns as it moves you (MDZS/CQL, Jiang Yanli/Wen Ruohan, 47K)
Jiang Yanli’s engagement is broken. In the wake of this, Wen Ruohan senses an opportunity.

(Jiang Yanli, who is still standing there, a lotus seed pod between her fingers, silent as the grave, thinks that perhaps this is how a fish felt, in a woven rush trap — not yet dead, but already on its way to dying.

Not yet dead, but certainly trapped within the small boundaries that had reduced its world to nothing, alone with panic until someone comes to strike the killing blow.

Jiang Yanli is a child of Yunmeng's waters. She has, in the past, been the one to put her hand in the rush trap and drag the fish from its final prison.

She had, in the past, been one to gut said fish in a single stroke along its belly and pull out its innards.

She knew how to not spoil the meat.)

— Very, very well-written, with a superb Jiang Yanli characterization. The Wen Ruohan characterization is also incredibly compelling, but JYL and her journey is at the heart of this fic, and it’s done so, so well.

Also—not until I was typing these recs up did I realize that all of these fics feature Jiang Yanli, Wen Ruohan, or both. Unintentional secondary theme!

► The other day, I shared some little 3D ghost paintings I made on a discord server I’m in, and a comment someone made made me realize that I could share them here too.

They were inspired by this short video (link is to instagram)—but essentially, the ghosts themselves are pieces from an egg carton, cut in half and painted white, while the backgrounds are cereal boxes that I cut up and painted. This was a pretty fun semi-spontaneous project to do! I only needed to buy the purple and black paint; everything else I already had. The three ghosts are now hanging on the wall in my entrance way, greeting me and delighting me each time I come home. All in all a success, I’d say <3

► Going to leave this entry off here, but for accountability purposes I’d like to note that in the near future I’d very much like to make gaming thoughts posts for: Seasons After Fall (which I beat earlier this week), Pokémon Scarlet (which I’m nearly finished with! <3), and the games I’ve been playing with my brother this year. And, as always, I also have more High Rollers: Aerois thoughts to share at some point as well. But that’s for another time. ♥

289 | a trio of fic recs + ghost paintings

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