Whine!

[mumblemumble]

Writing is still a struggle. I thought maybe ~the muse~ had returned from the war, but I seem to be unable to actually work on this fic. I have a few scenes in my head that just need to be written down, but then I open the doc and just close it again.

If you have any prompts you could throw at me, just to see if something short and manageable comes out, that would be very nice of you! Just words or lyrics or what have you, or specific things in existing verses, or a ship and a kink, or anything really.

❤️

(In other news, I made a picspam thread over on Twitter about my favorite Zhu Yilong photographer and the amazingly thirsty shoots they do together. Picking just a few examples was the hard part.)

Comments

[trobadora]

*hugs* I know the feeling; it's so frustrating when the writing refuses to work!

Thank you for the picspam, I didn't realise these were all the same photographer! He really knows what he's doing, OMG. That second shoot is one of my all-time favourites, and so is (of course) the one with his Mo Sanmei hair (OMG OMG *fans self* seriously!)

Prompt, if you feel like it: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, clothed sex. :)

[mumblemumble]

*hugs!*

I'm still hoping the muse will return eventually. Fingers crossed!

Oh, I went on a whole journey when I realized they'd done several shoots together, and then I just kept finding more. (I rarely see a photographer directly credited, unless a magazine posts about a shoot and credits everyone. You just kind of have to dig around.)

That second shoot is such a classic! The mood lighting, the artfully tipped-over lamp, the face! And I love the Mo Sanmei shoot; it was such an unexpected look for gentle, handsome Zhu Yilong, but they just really made it work. (🔥🔥🔥)

(That is a very good prompt, thank you, I am thinking about it. <3)

[trobadora]

That journey of yours is a delight! Thank you so much for sharing. This is a fantastic discovery; I had no idea the photographer had worked with Zhu Yilong so much. I really love his work; he knows what he's about. :D

The mood lighting, the artfully tipped-over lamp, the face!

Yes! And the one shot where he looks directly at the camera, OMG. (See my icon, LOL.)

And I love the Mo Sanmei shoot; it was such an unexpected look for gentle, handsome Zhu Yilong, but they just really made it work. (🔥🔥🔥)

You say it! If anyone had asked us in advance I bet we'd have said the look wouldn't suit him at all, but he really (really REALLY) pulls it off, and the pics are glorious. Unf.

(ZYL is always hottest to me when he's not going for cute and/or gentle, but for intense - and he's so, so good at it. *flails*)

Fingers crossed for your muse indeed!

[marycrawford]

My go to prompt for when I'm stuck is WHAT IF SNOW? but it may not work for anyone else. (Snowflakes caught in Shen Wei's eyelashes. That image alone.)

Goddamn those photographs, thanks for the link. I can't get enough of them and I think there may be some new ones at the end of your list - new to me, that is? Wow.

[mumblemumble]

Oh, that is a lovely image. Aesthetically pleasing, but also: always a good reason to cuddle for warmth. 😊 *tucks it away*

The shoot where Z1L is lying on the floor with his fingers on his lips came out in August, and I had my suspicions about who the photographer was before Meng Yinan posted about it. The mind still boggles. It's so sexual, Jesus.

I've been working on an overview of photographers who have worked with Z1L, just because I became kind of invested, but it's been stalled for a while. (Finishing things is generally a problem right now.) You can see where I lost interest after being done with the MYN section. 😄

[marycrawford]

Ha, I can totally see why you stopped working on the overview, once you had the best come first - but I love that you made it and downloaded it in a flash.

MY really seems to bring out the dangerous side of him, wow. I love all those pics a lot, and the August one is 🔥.

[mumblemumble]

MY really seems to bring out the dangerous side of him

Oh man, that made me think of this part in lunarriviera's fic:

“Wait,” he says, when you start to leave, to give him some privacy. He throws back the covers and beneath them is gloriously, blindingly naked, still lying on one side, then he twists somehow, canting his hips, and does something inexplicable with his face that you’ve seen a hundred times but that still mystifies you. You realize he’s posing. “Take a picture.”

🔥🔥🔥

(I might just shorten everyone else's sections in the Google doc and declare it a perpetual WIP, and thus done, at some point. 😄)

[marycrawford]

That fic series is a blessing and a joy and I love that quote. He would be so dangerous and so spellbinding, and I am so invested in the photographs we will never see...

[clevermanka]

Some things from my plot bunny file (including inspiration source for ones I didn't come up with):
Accidental aphrodisiac

SW cooking for himself and imagining feeding ZYL all sorts of things (could be angsty, could be an established relationship where ZYL is out of town)

Knife play

For metaphorical knives: SW makes the first move in an attempt to fuck the memory of their meeting back into ZYL inspired by Boni's unfinished Guardian vid for the song "The Chain"

Alternative ending where they collapse on ZYL's bed to sleep for twelve hours and when they wake up ZYL is like "I can't believe you didn't make us shower first." Inspired by this manip (cw blood)

Fingers crossed your muse returns soon! (maybe she's out drinking with mine? if so, please have yours tell mine to come home)

[mumblemumble]

Ohhhh, all of these are amazing! The knife one, wow. And that vid did things to me. I never really contemplated Shen Wei making the first move, but now I really, really want to. 😳

Thank you so much for these, I'm tucking them all away! So far, no words are happening, but they're bound to return eventually, right? RIGHT? I hope at least our muses are having fun somewhere! Drinking to world peace and discussing important meow meow topics. 🍷

[clevermanka]

SW making the first move and the "They're just sleeping it off" one top my wanna-write list and I'd love to see your take on either of them. Because yes, our muses have to return someday. THEY HAVE TO.

[mumblemumble]

THEY WILL. 😤

[elenothar]

*hugs*

Apparently my go-to inspiration is 'hair' at the moment, so maybe hair braiding, hair combing, longer hair, ponytails... anything along those lines

For a more specific prompt, not at all inspired by my own life: higher education verse, Shen Wei is in grading hell and Zhao Yunlan brainstorms ways to make it more *fun* and/or ends up distracting Shen Wei with all his talk of what they'll do once he's done

Oh, and, third idea - the discord was talking about Dixing sex toys the other day, and I was immediately curious what you'd do with the concept ;)

[mumblemumble]

FUNNILY ENOUGH, the Higher Education installment I was trying to work on will have two of those things, if all goes well. Maybe I can add some hair petting for the hat trick. 🫡

But ahhhhh, I think the writing brain just wants to be left alone for a bit. I'm trying not to force it. Eventually! Something will shake loose!

😬🤞

*hugs!*

[elenothar]

No pressure at all to use any of the things if the writing brain wants to be left alone - let it marinate in its own juices for a while XD

[tinny]

Oh, yes, those new pics. We all felt it immediately, that that was the same photographer. <3 (Okay, chances are high, since they did so many shoots together. But it was so easily seen in the way he looked and posed, not only the tie-touching. What did me in is the way he crossed his legs in most of them. The Vulnerability, omg.)

Thanks for the thread! \o/

If you have any prompts you could throw at me

I'm still caught up in your photographer verse, so anything to do with that would be my fave thing right now. But you already got a lot of prompts, and I suck at coming up with them anyway. <3

[mumblemumble]

I was previously like, oh come on, not everything can be MYN, there are other photographers and they can put Long-ge in a corner and dim the lights, too. Get a grip, mumble! But no, apparently it is always MYN. 😄 It's a nice thought that Z1L considers him a comforting/calming presence and that's why he took him along for both Golden Rooster nights. Nervous bb! (Another nice thought is that they found some ways to combat stress behind closed hotel room doors, ahem.)

I love lunarriviera's Unnamed Photographer 😶 series! I'd like to take some credit for putting the idea in her head, but the execution is all hers. <3 I did have an idea set in the verse, though. Or some AU combination of quiet verse and hers. >.> So, maybe?

[tinny]

It's a nice thought that Z1L considers him a comforting/calming presence and that's why he took him along for both Golden Rooster nights. Nervous bb! (Another nice thought is that they found some ways to combat stress behind closed hotel room doors, ahem.)

I already have two ships for z1l, I can't handle plot bunnies for a third. /o\ But, yes.

[and to be quite honest, I did look at the pics from that one shoot where he has his legs crossed most of the time, and noticed that you can't see his crotch in a single one of them. So much for not getting any plotbunnies.]

d like to take some credit for putting the idea in her head, but the execution is all hers. <3

Ooops, I'm very sorry. Yes, it's her series. It occurred to me after I posted my comment that I might have jumbled something in my brain there. (Since you're the one who has all the photographer knowledge, I thought it made sense. Oops.)

I did have an idea set in the verse, though. Or some AU combination of quiet verse and hers. >.> So, maybe?

I'm always for playing in other people's verses. I love remixes. So if I inadvertently supported you in that thought, yes, please? I stand by my love of the series.

[mumblemumble]

I already have two ships for z1l, I can't handle plot bunnies for a third. /o\ But, yes.

But three is such a nice number. 😏 (My solution to this problem is a growing polycule, although that won't work in all situations. But Zhu Yilong quietly collecting boyfriends is a nice thought! 😊)

And no worries! I also love the series and have been screaming a lot with Sam about all the MYN content post-Golden Roosters. You can consider me the research department. 😄

[tinny]

My solution to this problem is a growing polycule

Ha, lol. Yeah, that works up to a point. :D

I just love one-on-one true love scenarios. I have no idea why I end up writing threesomes all the time, then, lol. :D

But Zhu Yilong quietly collecting boyfriends is a nice thought! 😊

Hee, yes. (And one girlfriend. I am very fond of Jia Ling.)

Kind of relatedly, but not, I had the very unpopular idea to write about everyone being brokenhearted last week. Like, I was seriously considering writing a story from every partner's pov after z1l left them. In the order that I shipp(ed) them with him. (Why, muse, why? I don't even want to read that, let alone anyone else.)