Chenqing 100

Moving back the Qixi prompt moved this one back as well, since the Hungry Ghost Festival was celebrated on August 18th this year. However, the entire seventh month of the lunar calendar was Ghost month prior to the arrival of Buddhism in China, considered the scariest month of the year, and there are observances for the ghosts of the dead throughout. People burn incense and make offerings of food, paper money, and paper effigies to appease both ancestors and enemy ghosts alike. They also float paper lanterns on rivers and lakes to guide ghosts back to their respective spiritual realms and dispel bad luck.

In the world of MDZS/The Untamed, this month would likely see an uptick in resentful energy activity requiring the intervention of a cultivator, since the gates of hell are opened at the beginning of the month to release the souls of the restless dead, and not shut until the end of the month. Water activities are considered especially perilous, since water ghosts lie in wait to drown people as a means to transmigrate. Interestingly, it's also recommended to avoid wearing the colors black and red, since both are especially enticing to ghosts.

This is one of our recurring annual prompts, which means that drabble sequences and drabble series are allowed, since these prompts have multiple or more complex concepts associated with them that warrant exploration in these longer formats. These formats are explained in this post, while the standard drabble formats are explained in the community rules.

You have until midnight your time on Friday, August 30, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple standalone drabbles per entry in addition to drabble sequences and series.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

This week's prompt is: minor sect.

You have until midnight your time on Friday, August 9, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple standalone drabbles per entry in addition to drabble sequences and series.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

In honor of the triple-digit temperatures that are SOP 'round these parts in July, this week's prompt is: fan.

You have until midnight your time on Friday, July 19, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple standalone drabbles per entry in addition to drabble sequences and series.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

This week's prompt is: barefoot.

You have until midnight your time on Friday, July 5, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple standalone drabbles per entry in addition to drabble sequences and series.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

Since I missed it last week, this week's prompt is in honor of Duanwu, or the Dragon Boat Festival, which is held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, traditionally held to be the most poisonous day of the year. So, the theme is: poison. Remember, this doesn't have to be literal poison; it could be the poison of gossip, of intrigue, of betrayal, of resentful energy, of intolerance, the three poisons of which Jiang Cheng is master, and so on. Alternatively, you might focus on antidotes to these various poisons, since combating ill health and fortune is what Duanwu is about.

You have until midnight your time on Friday, June 21, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple drabbles per entry. Please review the community rules for what drabble forms are allowed.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

Apologies for missing last week. This week's prompt is: cliff.

You have until midnight your time on Friday, June 7, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple drabbles per entry. Please review the community rules for what drabble forms are allowed.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

This week's prompt is: new growth.

You have until midnight your time on Friday, May 17, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple drabbles per entry. Please review the community rules for what drabble forms are allowed.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

Our final week of National Poetry Month brings a prompt of two lines from the poem "Receiving Yan Bojun's Letter," by Li Ye, as translated by Peter Levitt and Rebecca Nie: "it's just my sorrow replying to the silver hooks/of your writing."

You have until midnight your time on Friday, May 3, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple drabbles per entry. Please review the community rules for what drabble forms are allowed.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

This week's prompt is two lines from "Advice to a Neighbor Girl" by Yu Xuanji, as translated by Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung: "It is easier to get priceless jewels / Than to find a man with a true heart."

You have until midnight your time on Friday, April 12, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple drabbles per entry. Please review the community rules for what drabble forms are allowed.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.