Fandom nonsense: wuxia, xianxia, danmei, baihe, Kinnporsche. Also languages, writing, history, orchids. Yi Citizen. In my 30s.
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katzenfabrik/pseuds/villainousfriend


One of my fandom pet peeves is portmanteau ship names, or sm(oo|u)shnames. I refused to use them entirely in fandoms previous to CQL/MDZS—which, to be fair, was only the Vampire Chronicles and Machineries of Empire. I was a latecomer to participatory/transformative fandom.

When I got interested in Chinese media fandom, I admitted to myself that smushnames feel a lot less awful here. With Chinese languages being syllable-based, it makes much more sense to combine a syllable from each name than it does to grab a handful of letters from names written in a Latin script. It might not always make sense: I guess you could translate 晓薛 xiaoxue [1] as 'dawn wormwood', but would you? You also run into interesting questions of which character to take, and which order to put them in. [2] Still, at least it's not Spirk or Spuffy.

Fanlore informs me that I am not alone in disliking smushnames. It adds, however, that they were partially popularised because of technical restrictions on Tumblr tags, so now I'm stuck, because the adaptation of fandom to its platforms and vice versa is one of my favourite things to learn about.

My only [3] love, sprung from my only [4] hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late!

[1] Picked only because I mentioned it on a recent post.
[2] My attention span is too short for me to have a fixed opinion on who tops, sorry.
[3] No.
[4] No.



Day three of DecRecs and I am going off the prompt list already, because I had already thought of what I wanted to write before consulting it. 😅

KinnPorsche The Series contains three romantic relationships: mafia heir Kinn/bodyguard Porsche, mafia heir Vegas (Kinn's cousin)/bodyguard Pete, and mafioso-cum-pop star Kim (Kinn's brother)/high schooler Porchay (Porsche's brother). I have been voraciously reading fanfic for all three pairings since the summer—plus rarepairs! rarepairs are my jam, don't get me wrong!—but my bookmarks still suffer from a dearth of kimchay. I am picky about kimchay because, to my reading, it's not actually a cute ship about a pop star and the fan who gets to kiss him? I mean, there's the lying, and the stalking, and the violence, and all that other good stuff. Don't leave that stuff out!

Anyway, here are some kimchay fics that I liked enough to save, loosely grouped into three categories.

The vibes could be better, tbh

  • lessons in shooting sparrows, by violetsky
    Chay's world has changed completely. He doesn't know what he wants, but he knows he and Kim had a real connection, once.
  • Kotov Syndrome, by majestictortoise
    Part three of an ongoing post-canon series, and nearly got put into the next section, because it's about Kim and Chay starting to work things out between them. This story has enough of Kim being fucked up for Theerapanyakun reasons that I kept it here, however. Includes a conversation about strawberry crêpes that is absolutely canon for me now. (Also, I learned a new chess term from the title.)

The vibes are gonna be all right in the end

  • the kind of superstar that would only steal your heart, by phnelt
    There is stalking! There is Chay coping with being an ex-BNF for his ex-'boyfriend' and being unable to tell his fandom friends why! There is a very sweet explanation for why Kim ended up living out Kinn's childhood dream, and a motorbike ride!
  • A Safe Place, by 99_9
    Again, this fic is part of an ongoing, post-canon, ensemble series, but it stands on its own. It's mostly about Kim growing up as a lonely, anxious kid in a world of sometimes-hidden, sometimes-open violence, and his relationships with his brothers and Chan. I also really like how 99_9 develops Chay and Kim's physical relationship in this series.
  • An Elegant Mechanism, by Laughsalot3412
    An omegaverse canon divergence WIP, which I'm filing in this section for the tags It's gonna be healing all the way down fam, Sit down shut up get loved. The omegaverse aspects of this fic are extravagant, with characters' scents speaking a thousand words in each breath, and alphas and omegas having access to powerful abilities. In KinnPorsche fics in general, I find Porchay can be written as too emotionally well-rounded to be quite realistic; this fic frames his emotional literacy as the mixed-blessing outcome of trauma that's not apparent on the surface, and it's great.

The vibes are downright wretched and it's never going to be okay

AKA the kind of fic I am always seeking for this ship, sorry boys.

  • all I see are wings, by queerebrum
    Another omegaverse AU, two short fics in a series with the potential for more. Kim is not doing well at all in this story, and if he's making it other people's problem, he doesn't care. Read the tags (which include Kim's Canonical Disregard for the Consequences of his Actions and kinn 'disappointed but not surprised' theerapanyakul).
  • Love's a Two-Way Dream, by giraffeter
    "The Kimchay Atticwife Fic." Beautiful prose, a plot as finely carpentered as Nampheung's hidden apartment, and wonderfully observed voices for the two POV characters, Chay and Kinn: this fic is one of the darkest things I have read. It manages both to keep up the tension all the way to the end and to deal with the consequences of the story's events, a rare combination.

That's it! I am always excited to receive fic recs, and this time I am outright requesting them. :)



  1. @Forestofglory posted a list of DecRecs prompts for those of us who like to be a little bit more constrained, which definitely includes me. (Quiet in the back.)
  1. I also like @Essay's suggestion to call DecRecs a fest or a celebration, rather than a challenge, because reccing is enjoyable! There is certainly a lot of space for me to improve at it, but the act of sharing things I like, and think you might, is at base a pleasure. (Have you read Forest's thoughtful post at LadyBusiness, Reccing as Critical Practice? It really made me think about what a good rec is and can do.)

Today I am taking the prompt Ghost, and reccing a collection of stories that actually have very little to do with ghosts, except that they are co-written by one.

Yes. Yes, A-Yao is staying in his ex’s best friend’s apartment while said best friend is on an impromptu skiing trip with said ex because said ex needs to clear his thick fucking head. No, Mingjue doesn’t know that A-Yao is crashing at Xichen’s and ideally he will never find out.

Just the Way You Are is a unique modern AU for MDZS, in that the bulk of the story's action takes place on an artificial island in the Pacific Ocean. ("Just like in Distress!" I thought, gleefully, when I realised this.) I wouldn't necessarily classify this collection of fics as SF, despite the setting. JTWYA's characters are as tied in to our world as their island home is connected to the rest of the planet, through intercontinental travel and real_ghost's meticulously observed outfits and interiors.

Starting with the relationship drama described in the blurb, real_ghost and wayofcloudbrain have built out their universe spiderweb-wise until almost every MDZS character has a place in it. In the process, it's become an exploration of class and privilege, of the unexpected shapes family tends to take, and of yearning romance, self-deception and promiscuity. It's also bitingly funny! I am a fool for the mix of bone-dry observational humour and everyday absurdity in this series.

JTWYA itself is a WIP, at 14 chapters so far, but the collection contains (so far) ten other complete side stories, in every mood from scorching erotica, to the revelatory optimism of a new relationship, to the banal awfulness of being Jin Zixun. Jinzhu and Yinzhu are feminist porn directors; Su She is a driving instructor for juvenile delinquents; Xue Yang, reformed (?) delinquent and plastic surgeon, has the most horrifying pet name for nipples. This island is well worth a visit, and perhaps even an extended stay.



@Forestofglory has come up with the challenge of recommending one thing each day in December, and I want to join in!

Today was a long work day, so I'm going to be easy on myself and rec something easy. This is Black Clouds Gathering, the first full-length album by the atmospheric black metal band Vallendusk:

All of their albums are fantastic, honestly, but Black Clouds Gathering was the first one I heard and it makes me enormously happy whenever I listen to it. The space Vallendusk conjure up with their music feels legendary and mysterious. Please do check it out!