Fire Loong

Lunar New Year fell on Feb 13. 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.

The soil at this hour holds moisture, like a valley that fogs at dusk, the sort of place a large thing turns over in. A lamp under a cover keeps the wind out and turns its light inward. People like this were usually sheltered, by family or by a position, and have not taken much weather. Their mind is bright, they read people well and look after them, but the flame does not go outward. Set them in the open and do not write them off; they learn to build a shield fast.