I've spent a few hours on this story, reading and then re-reading it again. So beautiful, so well written, so poetic! Wow, I just don't even know how to gush over this because it's some thing so completely different from anything you've written before. It's like "Game of Thrones" meets "Arabian Nights"... but more unique and original!
The beautiful, mischievous, but stubborn Changmin, and the honorable, brave, and lovable Emperor Yunho! I love their dynamic! The background history you shared with us, laid the groundwork having Changmin imprisoned in an iron box the same way a genie is imprisoned in a lamp. And yes, I am guessing that in this story, Changmin is an all powerful genie, child of fireless smoke, not immortal but the fact that they can live for centuries and have such powerful magic, yet tethered, weakened and enslaved by iron, was so nicely planned on your end!
I love the years they spend together, getting closer, so intimate with Changmin consuming Yunho's dreams. That whole concept is mind-boggling on it's own! Such trust, such closeness, such oneness! And the noble integrity of Yunho, not wanting to enslave Changmin, but only using one wish, which stubborn Changmin brought on himself, Yunho asking Changmin to remain behind, for his own safety. *cries* Such chivalry! I was gushing!
We were all on pins and needles, hanging by a thread when Yunho fell in battle and was dying. I knew Nasr would come back to play, that one was pleasantly predictable, but what I didn't anticipate was Changmin becoming human, a child of dust! OMG! What a spin!
The last line just had me smiling so broadly, because it encapsulated the entire story, using something so graphic, something so tangible, just like the rest of the story, parts you could see, feel, taste, with all of your iron, sunshine, water, earth, silks, wind... and yes, dust. >.<
You're a genius. You truly write HoMin like no other. Thank you for giving us this story. Probably best fanfic I'll ever read.
Thank you for the lovely long comment ^^ About 60% of my usual yearly writing output is historicals, but this year I've written barely any, which feels a little strange! So it was nice to go back to the genre, even if this is mostly pseudo-historical and a mix of the Byzantine and the Ottoman. 1001 Nights was definitely the inspiration (I'll take your word for it on 'Game of Thrones', I haven't seen it/read it!), and all the djinn lore is true - they fear iron (btw the iron box is this one in the medieval church in our village!) and won't go in a room where there's citron, and for all their fiery birth they love water.
The only bit I invented really was the taking of the dreams, and that came from the 'Do Dream' interview a few months ago where they were asked to describe themselves and Yunho said he was chasing his dream and Changmin said he was 'stealing the dream of the boy next to me', which I thought was a very ambiguous (and rather profound) thing to say. So the whole story came from that comment!
The beautiful, mischievous, but stubborn Changmin, and the honorable, brave, and lovable Emperor Yunho! I love their dynamic! The background history you shared with us, laid the groundwork having Changmin imprisoned in an iron box the same way a genie is imprisoned in a lamp. And yes, I am guessing that in this story, Changmin is an all powerful genie, child of fireless smoke, not immortal but the fact that they can live for centuries and have such powerful magic, yet tethered, weakened and enslaved by iron, was so nicely planned on your end!
I love the years they spend together, getting closer, so intimate with Changmin consuming Yunho's dreams. That whole concept is mind-boggling on it's own! Such trust, such closeness, such oneness! And the noble integrity of Yunho, not wanting to enslave Changmin, but only using one wish, which stubborn Changmin brought on himself, Yunho asking Changmin to remain behind, for his own safety. *cries* Such chivalry! I was gushing!
We were all on pins and needles, hanging by a thread when Yunho fell in battle and was dying. I knew Nasr would come back to play, that one was pleasantly predictable, but what I didn't anticipate was Changmin becoming human, a child of dust! OMG! What a spin!
The last line just had me smiling so broadly, because it encapsulated the entire story, using something so graphic, something so tangible, just like the rest of the story, parts you could see, feel, taste, with all of your iron, sunshine, water, earth, silks, wind... and yes, dust. >.<
You're a genius. You truly write HoMin like no other. Thank you for giving us this story. Probably best fanfic I'll ever read.
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The only bit I invented really was the taking of the dreams, and that came from the 'Do Dream' interview a few months ago where they were asked to describe themselves and Yunho said he was chasing his dream and Changmin said he was 'stealing the dream of the boy next to me', which I thought was a very ambiguous (and rather profound) thing to say. So the whole story came from that comment!
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts :)
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