Metal Loong

Lunar New Year fell on Feb 8. Anyone born before that date belongs to the previous year (Rabbit).

People born in a Loong year let small things slide and refuse to compromise on big ones. There is usually a version of events in their head one size larger than the current one, and their eyes light up when they describe it, pulling the room along. Presence is real: they do not raise their voice, and people simply look over. The unseen cost is that they judge themselves brutally, remember only the missing tenth of a nine-out-of-ten job, and get faintly uncomfortable when someone praises them. They are also the one who quietly covers the bill and acts like it was nothing.

Geng is iron not yet ground to an edge, Chen the loong that holds water and turns cloud. The metal is kept in earth and looks like wax, not yet a tool. People like this have a hard base but have not reached temperature; much of what they can do is still growing. They dislike being rushed toward a shape and slow down when pushed. Given time they form themselves; used too early, they look like half-finished work. They are poor at selling themselves; the work is set out where anyone who knows can see it.