〖 all my fears chase me » 〗

[Snowflakette]

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and they'll break me down, down so low.

username;; snowflakette
name;; 霪雨 (yín yǔ)
meaning;; continuous rain



index | 壹. 貳. 叄. 肆. 伍. 陸. 柒. 捌.

.

[Snowflakette]

An archer with nimble fingers and agile feet. Born into a noble but not very prosperous family,
Yin grew up with great expectations from everyone around him. Due to their competitive nature,
skill was an important aspect of their family. He was constantly trying to prove himself as the
“better” twin. Little did he know, there was little need for validation; his parents always thought
he was preferable to his younger twin brother Yin Feng. Of course, this biased judgement between
two identical youngsters would eventually raise a ruckus. However, no one anticipated it would cause
so much harm.

—

henceforth, I will be referencing yín yǔ as simply "yin" and his twin brother yīn fēng as
feng to avoid any confusion! here are their respective names in chinese hanzi: 霪雨 and 陰風.
I use traditional chinese spelling, hope that's not too confusing! ♥

[Snowflakette]

"hey— who is the person on the left?"
“诶—— 這左邊的人是誰啊？”



(click the picture!)

"...ah, sorry, it must be a very painful memory."
“哦，抱歉，不會是很痛苦的記憶吧。”
.

[Snowflakette]

Yin Yu heard the footsteps and finally looked up from the novel he had been burying his nose in for the past half hour.

“There you are. Why’d you come home so late?”

He glanced out the window from which he could see a bright red sunset about to be swallowed by the vast hills miles away from their village. Two hwamei birds chirped cheerfully, perched somewhere within the tree outside his window. Yin made a mental note that the clouds were exceptionally beautiful that day.

“Sorry. Went to play by the river with Xiao Ruo. He said some of the tadpoles grew legs today!” Yin Feng exclaimed as he entered their shared room, casually flicking a nub of dirt off his shoulder.

“Father said to return before the sun came down, Feng.” Yin pointed out.

“But the sun hasn’t come down yet, see? There’s still a tiny bit showing.” The younger brother grinned.

Yin rolled his eyes comically and surveyed the lad from across the room. With his disheveled hair and dirty face, people wouldn’t be able to figure out they were twins. “Come with me to the bathroom,” he said, putting down his book, “We gotta get the mud out from your hair.”

Later that evening, the two went back to their little corner of the family siheyuan after dinner with their family. Their cousins were visiting for the next few days, and Yin was eager to spend even more time in his room to avoid conversation and had miraculously convinced Feng to join him for the night.

Yin was setting up his table to practice his calligraphy while Feng sat on his bed, frantically writing his near-neglected homework.

His brother always thought calligraphy was Yin’s hobby, but it was much more than that. Yin began working on calligraphy after his classmates ridiculed him for his bad handwriting. It was a joke, of course, but Yin believed he had to polish his handwriting or he’d lose all authority. Perfectly normal for a twelve year old to worry about. He remembered running home and taking out his dusty brushes and inkwell before even taking off his shoes. When it comes to academics, he was noticeably different from his classmates, much more competitive and determined to do well. His family only encouraged this behavior, wanting him to ditch his passion for “useless” archery and focus on literature. It persisted until later on, when his brother stepped in and talked his parents out of it.



“Hey— Yin.”

“Hm?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“...You woke me up to tell me that?”

Feng shuffled around in the top bunk. A few moments later, he was sitting on Yin’s bed.

“Read me a story.” Feng requested. Yin glanced at the antique clock on his bedside table.

“Feng, it’s 11. Go back to sleep.”

“Please,” the younger brother begged, “We don’t have school tomorrow.”

Yin had archery classes at 6 AM sharp on Saturdays, and he knew if he showed up yawning his mentor would be very disappointed. Even so, he’d hate to turn down his brother.

“Fine... What do you want me to read?”

“This one!”

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霪雨聽到腳步後，終於半個小時後把頭從書裏台了起來。

“回來啦。你咋這麼晚才到家啊？”

他瞥了一眼窗外，那裡正呈現出一片鮮紅的夕陽，彷彿即將被遠離村莊的廣大山丘給吞沒。 兩隻畫眉鳥高高興興地啁啾，棲息在窗外的大樹某處。霪自己注意到那天的雲層異常地美麗。

“抱歉。我去跟小若到河邊玩了。他說有些小蝌蚪張腿了耶！” 陰風進入共用的屋子時歡快地講著，順便隨便甩掉肩膀上的一團泥。

“風，爹都說了要在太陽下山前回家啊。” 霪說道。

“太陽就是還沒下山嗎，你看？還露出來一點。” 弟弟咧嘴一笑道。

霪說笑著翻了個白眼，從房間另一拐角看了看弟弟。從他蓬亂的頭髮和髒髒的臉看，大概一眼看出出來他們倆是雙胞胎。“快跟我到廁所去，” 他把書放下說道，“咱們得趕緊把那頭髮裡的泥洗掉。”

當天晚上，兩個兄弟和家人一起吃晚飯後回到了四合院裏屬於自己的小角落。他們的表兄弟姐妹接著幾天會探訪他們家，所以霪迫不及待地想待在屋裏來避免交談，並且還竟然說服了弟弟來陪他。

當風正坐在床上著急寫幾乎被忽視的作業時，霪則在桌子前準備練習書法。

他的弟弟一直認為書法只是霪的愛好而已，但是遠不止於此。他的同學們嘲笑他難看的字之後，霪開始刻苦練習書法。雖然同學說的只是個笑話，霪覺得他必須在書法上進步，不然他將會失去自己的權威。一個十二歲小孩擔心這種事很正常啦。他記得當時跑回家，還沒拖鞋就拿出家裏舊的畫筆和墨瓶。在學術方面說，他與其他同學完全不同，他更具有競爭力，更加有決心做好。他的家人只是鼓勵這行為，希望他能放棄對“無用”的射箭的熱情。這一直持續到後來，當他弟弟與父母談這事時才停止了。

———

“嘿— 霪。”

“嗯？”

“我睡不著。”

“...你把我叫醒來說這個？”

風在上鋪翻了幾下。過了一小會兒，他坐在了霪的床上。

“給我將個故事吧。” 風要求道。霪瞄了下床頭櫃上的舊表。

“風，都十一點了。繼續睡覺去。”

“拜託了，” 弟弟求道，“我們明天又不用上學嘛。”

霪星期六早上六點還有射箭課，他知道如果他報道時顯得疲勞，他的老師就會對他非常失望。即便如此，他也不願拒絕自己弟弟。

“好吧...... 你想讓我講哪個故事？”

“這個吧！”

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Once upon a time, there was a little warlock boy named Liang who made differences in the world one potion at a time. He delivered the potions around his village. If someone was sick, he fetched them the potion that would make them feel better. He did not do this alone, of course. His brother was the one that made the potions for him to deliver. They worked together as the best team!

One day, Liang’s brother fell victim to a strange illness. Liang met his first problem - he didn’t know what to do to cure him. None of the magic potions he had seemed to cure his illness.

“Brother, brother, what do I do?” He asked, with tears in his eyes, “I can’t find the right medicine for you.”

“It is an odd illness,” His brother replied, “I think you should seek advice from the deities. They know what is beyond our mortal realm.”



───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

“What’s a mortal realm?”

“It’s where we are. We live in the mortal realm because we are humans, Feng.”

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

So, Liang went on a journey to find the deities for help. After visiting the elders in the village and helping them run some errands, he learned how to summon the deities.

Liang walked up a green hill and found a fancy, shining temple. He prayed and burned incense, and wishes for the deity of medicine to hear him.

“Dear deity of medicine, how do I cure my brother?” He asked.

Suddenly, a voice spoke. It was Shennong, the Divine Farmer, speaking through his statue.

“I understand your problems, young boy. You will need to find an ancient hazel tree in the mystic forest. When it bears fruits, take one and give the juice to your brother. The fruit contains every ingredient you will need.”



Liang ventured to the forest with his trusty backpack. While walking through the trees, he picked up many flowers that dropped from the trees and put them in his bag.

On his way, a hare was crying by the rocks. Liang stopped to ask the hare: “Mrs. Hare, what’s wrong?”

“A bird took my son, but they dropped him! He’s stuck on that tree there.” The hare pointed with her ears. Liang followed where the hare was looking at, and saw a baby bunny perched on the branches, too scared to go down.



“Don’t worry miss, I’ll help you bring your son home.” Liang said before putting his bag down. He climbed up to the top of the tree swiftly and the bunny jumped into his arms. Liang began his descent but on the way down accidentally scratched his knee. He knew this would make walking hurt a little, but he did not tell the hare. The hare thanked him many times as the bunny returned to her.

“Where are you going now, little boy?” The hare asked, to which Liang told her about his goal.

“I see. I wish you the best on your journey, little boy!” The hare and her son waved him goodbye.

Some time later, Liang came across a bird lying on the floor.

“Are you okay, Mr. Bird?” Liang asked.

“Little boy, I’m hurt. A deer accidentally stepped on my wing and I cannot fly right now.” The bird replied weakly.

“Oh dear,” Liang exclaimed, “Is it okay if I carry you?” The bird nodded and Liang carried him near a bush so he would be safe from other deer walking by.



“I hope your wing heals soon! In the meantime…” Liang took some flowers and wrapped petals around the injured wing, “It will cover the wound and stop it from bleeding. I’m sorry, but I don’t know how else to help...”

“You’ve helped so much, little boy. Continue your journey, I will stay here until my love returns.” The bird thanked him, and allowed Liang to carry on with his travel.



───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

“Wait, he’s just going to leave the poor bird by himself?”

“I don’t know. What else could he do…?”

“Hm. I was thinking… You should draw a few animals to keep him company while he waits.”

“In… in the book?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────



On his way, Liang helped out more animals. He resolved a fight between a raccoon who was fighting with a squirrel, helped a wood mouse hide from a snake, and freed a stag who had his horns stuck in a tree. They were all very grateful.

After some time, Liang finally reached the ancient hazel tree. Its branches glimmering and its leaves waving although there was not a breeze. Liang walked closer to the tree and his stomach dropped.

The hazel tree did not bear any fruits.

“What is going on? I don’t get it…” cried Liang, “Shennong told me there would be fruits…”



Liang sat down by the tree, tears falling down his cheeks. He looked up at the sky and asked, “Oh, what do I do now? It’ll take way too long to find all the single ingredients… By then my brother will get more sick.”

“Don’t worry!” A sudden voice shouted.

All the animals he helped on his way were gathered in front of him. Each of them held different herbs. The hare had echinacea petals, her son held a beautiful chamomile flower, the bird, with the help of the stag, held a ginseng in his beak. They each had an ingredient that when mixed together, would become like the fruits of the hazel tree!

Liang was crying, this time from joy. “How did you all know?” He asked as each of the animals handed him an ingredient.



“Mrs. Hare told us. After you helped, each of us pitched in and looked around for the ancient hazel fruit’s ingredients. We've found them all, for you!” One of the animals said.

“Thank you all so much-- really, how can I ever repay you guys?” Liang exclaimed through tears.

“You don’t have to repay us anything. You helped us all so much already.” They said.

After thanking all the animals once again, Liang rushed home to mix all the herbs together. He gave the potion to his brother, who recovered very quickly.

“You did it, Liang!” His brother exclaimed, “You found the medicine to cure me. How did you do it?”

“I heard about an ancient hazel tree from a deity, but it didn’t bear the fruits I needed. However, I managed to get everything with the help of some animals after I helped them.”

His brother nodded as they left to deliver medicine to the people around their village. Outside their house, a miniature Shennong statue stood watching. Little did Liang know, Shennong already knew the hazel tree wouldn’t bloom at this time of year.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Yin finished the last sentence and closed the book.

"We're all done, Feng."

His twin brother stirred, already fast asleep on Yin's bottom bunk.

Yin sighed and put the book back into their shared bookshelf. Not wanting to disturb the snoozing Feng, he climbed onto his brother's top bunk to sleep for the night.

"Goodnight, brother."

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從前，有一位名叫樑的術士小男孩。 他用魔藥來幫助大家。他在他的村莊里送魔法藥水。如果有人生病了，他就會給他們藥水，給他們治療。當然，他並不只是一個人做這些的。 他的哥哥給他製造那些藥水。他們兄弟倆是最好的團隊！

有一天，樑的哥哥不幸得了一個奇怪的疾病。樑遇到了他的第一個問題 - 他不知道怎樣治好他。 似乎沒有任何一種魔法藥水可以治好他的病。

“哥哥，哥哥，我該怎麼辦啊？” 他含著淚水問道，“我找不到適合給你的藥。”

“這是一種奇怪的疾病，”他的哥哥回答說，“我想你應該向神靈尋求些建議。 他們知道的東西遠遠超過我們的凡界。”

———

“凡界是啥呀？”

“那就是我們所處的地方。 我們在凡界，因為我們是人類，風。”

———

所以，樑開始了尋找神靈的旅程。問了村里的長老並也幫助他們辦了一些差事之後，他學到召喚神靈的方法。

樑走上了一座綠色的山丘，找到了一座奇特而閃亮的寺廟。他祈禱並燒香，希望醫療神能聽到他的聲音。

“親愛的醫療神，我怎麼治好我的哥哥那？” 他問道。

突然，一個聲音從一個地方說話了。神農通過他的雕像跟小男孩溝通。

“我懂得你的煩惱，小男孩。你必須在神秘的森林中找到一棵古老的榛樹。 當它結出果實時，取出那果汁給你的哥哥。榛樹果裏含有你需要的每種成分。“

樑背著他可靠的背包冒險到森林去了。穿越樹林裏時，他撿起許多從樹上掉下來的花朵，收到包裡。

在路上，有一隻野兔在石頭旁哭泣。樑停下來問兔子：“兔太太，怎麼了？“

“有一隻鳥帶走了我的兒子，但他們拋掉了他！ 他現在被困在那棵樹上。” 野兔她的耳朵來指。 樑跟著兔子看著的地方，看到一隻小兔子棲息在樹枝上，害怕地不敢下去。

“太太別擔心，我會幫您把您的兒子帶回家。” 樑說道，然後把他的包放地上。他迅速爬到樹上，小兔子跳進了他的懷裡。樑開始爬下樹，但不小心劃傷了他的膝蓋。這會使行走更不適，但他沒有告訴兔子這件事。 當小兔子回到她身邊時，兔子媽媽多次感謝了他。

“你現在要去哪兒啊，小男孩？” 野兔問道，樑跟她講述了他的目標。

“我知道了。祝你旅程一切順利，小男孩！” 野兔和她的兒子向他揮手告別。

過了一會兒，樑遇到了一隻躺在地上的小鳥。

“你還好嗎，鳥先生？” 樑問道。

“小男孩啊，我受傷了。一隻鹿不小心踩到了我的翅膀上了，我現在無法飛行。” 這隻鳥微弱地回答道。

“哦，好可憐啊。” 樑說道，“我可以拖著你嗎？” 小鳥點點頭，樑便把他帶到附近的灌木叢，這樣他就可以安全地躲開其他的鹿了。

“我希望你的翅膀可以很快癒合！與此同時......” 樑拿出了一些鮮花，用花瓣包扎了受傷的翅膀，“這樣可以覆蓋傷口，止血一點。對不起，我不知道還能怎樣幫忙......”

“你已經幫了很多了，小男孩。繼續你的旅程吧，我在這裡休息，等我的愛人回來。” 小鳥感謝他，讓樑繼續他的旅行。

———

“啊等等，他要離開那隻可憐的小鳥？”

“不知道。不然他還能做什麼......？”

“嗯。我在想...... 在他等待的時候，你應該畫幾隻動物陪伴他吧。“

“在書裏畫畫......？”

“是啊。”

“好吧。”

———

在路上，樑幫助了更多動物。他解決了一隻松鼠與一隻浣熊之間的鬥爭，幫助了一隻木鼠躲過了一條蛇，並幫忙釋放了一隻被困在樹上的雄鹿。他們都非常感激。

過了一段時間，樑終於到達了古老的榛樹。 榛樹的樹枝閃閃發光，樹葉沒有風也在飄揚。 樑走近樹，他發現了一個很不好的事。

榛樹一個果實都沒有結。

“這到底是怎麼回事？我不明白......” 樑哭道，”神農跟我說這裏會有水果......”

樑坐在樹旁，淚水從他的臉頰上掉了下來。 他抬頭望著天空，問道：“哦，我現在該怎麼辦？ 一個一個找成分需要太長的時間...... 到那時我哥哥會病得更嚴重了。“

“別擔心！” 一個突然的聲音喊道。

他在途中幫助的所有動物都聚集在他面前。他們每個人都持著一個不同的草藥。野兔拿著紫錐菊的花瓣，她的兒子拿著一朵美麗的洋甘菊花，鳥在雄鹿的幫助下來了，嘴裡喙著一個人參。每一個動物都拿著一個重要的成分，全部加起來就有像榛樹果實的效果！

樑哭了起來，但這次是由於喜悅而哭的。“你們是怎麼知道的？” 每隻動物都遞給他一個成分時，他問道。

“兔子太太告訴我們的。你幫助我們之後，我們每個人決定環顧四周尋找古老的榛子果的成分。我們為你找到了所有這些！” 其中一隻動物說道。

“我非常感謝你們 - 真的，我該怎樣報答你們呢？” 樑淚流滿面問道。

“你沒有必要報答我們。你已經幫助了我們所有人啊。” 他們說。

再次感謝所有的動物之後，樑趕回家把所有的草藥混合在一起。他把藥水喂給了他的哥哥，他很快就康復了。

“你做到了，樑！” 他的哥哥驚呼道，“你竟然找到了治療我的藥。你到底是怎麼做到的？”

“我從神靈那裡得悉一棵古老的榛樹，但它結果沒有結我所需要給你的水果。然而，我幫助它們之後，我在一些叢林動物的幫助下獲得了一切需要的成分。”

他的哥哥點點頭，與樑一起給村里的人們繼續送藥。在他們家外面，一個微型的神農雕像站在旁邊觀察。樑並不知道，神農當然已經知道榛樹在這個時候並不會結果子的。

———

霪講完最後一句後，合上了書本。

“我講完了，風。”

他的雙胞胎兄弟在夢中動了下，已經在霪的下舖床上快速睡著了。

霪嘆了口氣，把書放回了他們倆共享的書架上。他不想打擾深深入睡的風，所以他爬上他弟弟的上鋪去睡覺。

“晚安，弟弟。”

.

[Snowflakette]

a hidden wrinkled piece of paper. it appears to be lyrics of a song.


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[ VERSE ONE ]
I hoped you’d be there when I’m at my worst.
it happened so blinding, so unrehearsed.
and I’ve blocked the whole world out,
but you still see through my lie.
even though I promised
you
that I wouldn’t cry.


[ CHORUS ]
but the rain keeps pouring,
tears keep falling.
life was fleeting,
they’re never believing.
I can’t become who they shaped me into,
‘cause half a soul is half too few.

[ VERSE TWO ]
I can’t run from my problems,
but there’s nowhere to call home.
my thoughts getting louder,
are you speaking in my head?
I swear they’ll follow me wherever I roam.
noiseless commotion, but that’ll never last
long.
and I miss you so…

[ CHORUS ]

but the rain keeps pouring,
tears keep falling.
life was fleeting,
they’re never believing.
I can’t become who they shaped me into,
‘cause half a soul is half too few.

[ BRIDGE ]
time won’t heal fatal shots, no,
and these feelings will be the death of me
I’m stuck pointless dazing,
pathless wandering.

[ CHORUS ]
and the rain keeps pouring,
tears keep falling.
life was fleeting,
they’re never believing.
I can’t become who they shaped me into,
‘cause half a soul is half too few.

[ OUTRO - SPOKEN WORD ]
MAN: that boy - he doesn’t speak
when we try to talk to him.
what’s going on, anyone know?
WOMAN: but why did he do that?
nothing wrong with conversation.
there must be something odd,
past trauma perhaps?

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fall is the season of reflection and change.
.

[Snowflakette]

"rumours."
“謠言。”



(click the picture!)

here’s a summary of the story if you’re curious!

basically yín yǔ and yīn fēng were two normal brothers, they grew up together, always had each other’s backs and were very close, but kind of drifted apart when they got older. feng talked to his brother less after he noticed that whenever he told yin about his day, yin would never reciprocate with his stories. yin was more withdrawn and kept to himself, working to master his archery to impress his family (even though they discouraged him from it). during one of his practices, he nearly shot feng's best friend xiao ruo on accident, as he was just passing by. feng, thinking yin did it on purpose (since yin never really liked ruo anyway), stopped talking to yin entirely.

one day feng accidentally sealed himself to a demon that had no ulterior motives save for wrecking havoc (yin doesn't know why he did this, but it was very unlikely he just stumbled upon a scroll capable of summoning demons). yin witnessed the transformation and was rightfully very, very afraid. his parents prompted him to use his bow and arrows to do something about his brother. they met under a hazel tree and feng, no longer himself, had the intent to harm, getting close to him only to damage his left eye. on the spur of the moment yin grabbed his bow and arrow he brought with him. he aimed for the arm, hoping to push the demon back, but due to his injured eye and left arm (his main/firing arm) he ended up killing feng. he felt great remorse but everyone in town praised him, telling him he did the right thing and saved the town. he was very quickly sick of how everyone painted him as a hero.

after burning his last incense stick and leaving a last flower on feng's grave, yin left the town. the only things he took with him were a satchel of his own money, his bow and arrows and a golden hair clip he found that feng was going to give to him before everything happened. he traveled to a town where he could go unnoticed except for a very interesting individual, who he later learns is an actual god among mortals.

.

[Snowflakette]

screams,,,, it's time to analyse my own work



looking back, I definitely think his small paws were what inspired me to begin with the whole nimble-fingered archer concept, which led me to a story taken place in medieval style (not necessarily imperial) china with elements of fantasy and folklore, because cultural representation :ok_hand:

this led me to develop a story with these primary themes!

- the recurrence of immortal deities/gods.
- the concept of “rain keeps falling, tears keep falling”.
- and of course, yin and yang

theme one:

in the short children’s story I wrote, I mentioned liang sought shennong (神農), which directly translates to divine farmer, for advice on how to cure his brother. shennong is a chinese deity in traditional chinese religion (I actually,,,, don't know much about chinese folklore save from the stories I learned back in primary school so I had to do some research aha). although liang's story is mostly fictional, temples dedicated to this god do exist in real life! I believe there's one in taipei, taiwan. yin tells feng that they live in the mortal realm because they are humans, which gives some sense of foreshadowing and situational irony since feng becomes ""immortal"" or at least inhuman later on.

I also initially planned to do a piece with hyacinth revolving around the lines “I remember god at the liquor store, he asked me what I’m always running for” from this song! I was listening to blackbear's newest album and the song really caught my eye (or ears???). this led me to develop the part of the story where yin left the village (what I'm always running for) and passed cinth who settled in the mortal realm for a while.

theme two:

I can't remember exactly where I picked up the idea, but the quote itself is a lyric from this song. I was inspired to write my own song from this which takes place after yin left his village and was reflecting on his past (the design reminded me of fall and I decided to do something with that!). this one's more so symbolic than having an impact on the story ahhh, yin's name is 霪雨 which means continuous/non-stop rain, and there's mentions of tears throughout the stories (liang cries when he thought he couldn't save his brother, yin tears up when confronting his possessed brother... which both happens beneath or by a hazel tree). there's that one shot where feng looks back at yin with ripples of black water as well, though that's a bit more abstract aha.

theme three:

yin and yang! the most iconic theme throughout this story. if you're not familiar with the yin and yang symbol, yin yang (陰陽, directly translates as dark bright) is a concept in chinese philosophy that describes how opposite forces (such as lightness and darkness or fire and water) can compliment each other. I didn't dive into the specific meanings behind the two sides, but more so focused on the theme of duality! yin yu and yin feng are twins who were pretty similar in childhood, but grew up very different. also! fun fact, yin feng's "yin" has the same hanzi as yin yang aha. there's also hints of duality throughout the animatic, like when the tadpoles swimming in a way similar to the yin yang symbol and when the leaves from the hazel tree were falling when yin was confronting feng (feng's leaves were darker while yin's were lighter). in the end, feng dies with his hair down like yin’s, emphasising on how similar they are.

—

there's also a minor subtopic of great expectations (favouritism from yin’s parents, his parents asking him to defeat feng with his archery skills; the same people who thought his passion for the sport was useless). then there's also the recurrence of hazel trees throughout the story (liang sought an ancient hazel tree bearing a mysterious healing fruit, feng died under the hazel tree he was standing in front when yin found him, a single leaf from a hazel tree falling when yin arrived at the hotel, etc.) in my story they kind of represent an important act and the beginning/end of a major change!

honestly I think most of my inspo for themes and quotes comes from songs since I pretty much listen to them nonstop when working aha. the ones that particularly spoke to me are linked in the post below! additionally, through some more research of asian culture I found more inspo to further and add to the plot (ex/ one incense stick is burned to honour a dead family member). although I looked up some traditional chinese furniture for reference, a few of the furniture in the animatic (ex/ shelf, antique clock) were inspired by real items in my grandfather's house!

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.

[Snowflakette]

CREDITS
(and more talk about inspo??)

research pages: xxxxxx

images used for inspo: xxxx

songs used for inspo: xxxxxx

all art and writing by me!
story translated into chinese by me.

big thank you to marsh for looking over my writing in the second and third part. <33

the storybook idea is inspired by a chapter in a taiwanese horror game called devotion.

liang is a real kal! his “real” identity is clem and this story isn’t canon ;o;

big thank you to csmintcat for letting me use their kal goodnight as liang’s brother!
I love this man and his goatee,, I'm sorry I couldn't get another drawing of him waah

yin yu and yin feng’s names are from a classical chinese literature, 岳陽樓記 (translates to renovation of the
yue yang building) by an author in the northern song dynasty. their names are from this quote in the book:

若夫霪雨霏霏，連月不開，陰風怒號，濁浪排空

which roughly means:
the excessive rain falls thick and fast, even lasting for the entire month.
the chilly winds howl hard, the turbid waves capable of rushing up to the sky

(quoted and taken from here)

and that one scene of demon feng falling after getting hit and returning back
to normal is inspired by that one scene from into the spider-verse!

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OUTRO

collapses onto the floor

hi! to whoever's reading this, if you've read everything and reached here, thank you so much. <3
I hope you liked this entry!! I had tons of fun doing every part and this was a very pleasant experience!

finally, I wish the best of luck to all the other entrants! <3

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[Snowflakette]