#I don’t think it is a pinnacle of the magical girl genre itself

[arihi]

I love media that is unabashedly itself. I don’t want all my movies to be grey-toned and quiet and realistic, I like when a movie knows it’s a movie and there’s movie dialogue. I had this thought while watching Bottoms, but I think it does generally apply at large. Symphogear is my favorite show especially in later seasons when they really lean into the whole ridiculous nature that is summoning a giant sword the size of a skyscraper while in space. It’s ridiculous!! It’s silly! And I love it. Is that just camp? Am I describing what that is?

Don’t get me wrong, I love really deep introspective pieces and I’ll be the first person to tell you sometimes I look for meaning in a work a little too hard, but deep down I feel happy when I’m seeing something over the top, unapologetic. Just truly and deeply fun to me! I don’t know. This post brought to you by listening to the Symphogear soundtrack during lunch and being unable to hide my big cheesy grin on my face because it makes me so happy.

[asilverspring]

17, 1, 2, and follow me on goodreads if u have 1

1. book you’ve reread the most times? already did this one but i remembered some more so: gone girl, sharp objects, where’d you go bernadette, me talk pretty one day, this is where i leave you.

2. top 5 books of all time? in no particular order:

1. sharp objects. i read this when i was 14 and at least once a year since and i adore it every time. i love everything about this, the creepy southern gothic atmosphere, the fucked up relationships, the narrator’s voice. my favorite genre of anything is insane dysfunctional family and this is like the pinnacle of that. amma crellin i love you.

2. when you are engulfed in flames. i’ve read all of david sedaris’s books and love all of them but this is probably my favorite, i’ve always loved the long essay about quitting smoking at the end. his books and 30 rock are honestly the basis for my sense of humor.

3. a feast for crows. it really should be the entirety of asoiaf, but i’m being literal. i don’t know if this book in and of itself is in my top five, but asoiaf has to be and this is the best of the series. it’s the jaime/brienne/cersei book, it’s the gender treatise, it’s no chance and no choice. i just love it.

4. master of the senate. this might be a little recency bias but this really is once of the best books i’ve ever read. the insanity of starting the third volume of the johnson series with 100 pages of the history of the senate in which johnson is never mentioned! it gave me a better understanding of the workings of the senate than any class i’ve ever taken and for a 1000 page book about the inner workings of the senate it’s incredibly engrossing and readable.

5. the story of a new name. again this is a stand-in for the whole series but this one is my favorite by a hair. it’s still a of a coming of age but more mature and a bit darker than the first book. and i loved the centerpiece of the soap operatic trip to ischia, something about the change in setting adds to the drama, though it’s still grounded in the neighborhood culture that makes the series.

17. top 5 children’s books?

1. mrs piggle-wiggle. never met anyone else who’s read these books but they are so special to me. it’s so important to teach your kids that if they don’t behave you will secretly give them unlicensed drugs from the lady down the street to make them behave. i think about the crybaby who nearly drowned in her own tears all the time. also all the kids have names like pergola wingsproggle which is fun.

2. the half magic books. my favorite was the first one where the kids find a coin that grants wishes but only by half so like they wish to go to a desert island and end up in the desert or wish to disappear and end up like half there, sort of incorporeal. i don’t fully remember the plot but i loved it.

3. little house on the prairie. technically not really children’s books but my mom and i read them together when i was 5 so i’m counting it. just really lovely books, taught me that bismarck was the capital of north dakota.

4. percy jackson. the original series not the spin-offs. i read it when i was 7 and that’s what got me really into mythology. it’s fun!

5. from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler. this book is so fun and charming and forever made me want to live in a museum.

and i don’t have a goodreads but i do have a storygraph, idk if you do but mine is silverspringsmp3

[kitsunekat9]

You're probably not gonna answer this, but I'll try anyway: Why do you hate Adrien?

Hi anon! Believe it or not, I actually used to like Adrien. When the show first started, I thought he was sweet, funny, and tried his best. But as the show progressed, he just became worse. He started acting entitled to Ladybug, becoming demanding and whiny whenever he didn’t get what he wanted. (EX: throwing tantrums when Ladybug turned him down. I’d go into detail but plenty of other people have already made great posts about his numerous misbehaviors and failures as a hero, so I’ll leave it to you to read those posts for the specifics.)

The thing about Miraculous is that it’s marketed as a girl power superhero show. Given what it’s set itself up as, since he’s the male lead, Adrien is supposed to be supportive of the female lead. (Think Sailor Moon, and how Tuxedo Mask, even if he didn’t like her civilian side at first, was always encouraging of her heroine side and reminded her of her own strength when she felt discouraged.)

Part of my hatred for him is aimed at the writers, especially Astruc, because they’re pushing this narrative of Adrien being absolutely perfect and the pinnacle of romance for a male lead. Astruc has even said that Adrien is perfect and that Marinette is always in the wrong even when the problems in the show are clearly not caused by her nor are her fault. And for a show that’s supposed to be about girl power? Propping up the male lead while constantly putting down the female heroine is completely anti feminist.

Miraculous was inspired by Asian culture and the super heroine magical girl genre. The way Astruc and his team are allowing Adrien to get away with absolutely atrocious behavior while simultaneously making Marinette look (and feel) pathetic is disrespectful to the source they claim to be paying homage to.

Of course Marinette has her flaws. But it’s harder for me to judge her harshly for that because she’s written by a team of male writers who don’t understand teenage girls and have no empathy for teenage girls either. Marinette is a bit of a spaz with her anxiety and she can be more than a little creepy with her crush. But a lot of her misbehavior is egged on by the people around her. Her extreme actions like stealing Adrien’s phone and breaking into his room to give him that hat gift are encouraged by her friends like Alya and the girl squad. She’s basically stuck between a rock and a hard place; if she doesn’t take her friends’ “advice” on what to do about her crush, then they’ll be angry at her and she’ll potentially lose her friendships. Everyone likes to pity Adrien because he was isolated before going to school but people forget that Marinette didn’t have any friends before either and was severely bullied.

Marinette’s circumstances make her far more sympathetic to me than Adrien. She’s a working class, mixed-race girl trying her best to balance her duties with her relationships and no matter what the situation is, she’s wholly dedicated to her duties as a hero. Meanwhile, Adrien is a rich white boy who’s more concerned about possessing the girl he likes rather than being responsible for protecting Paris. Someone else on tumblr has said it before: “as a hero, even if you feel your situation is unfair or you’re being mistreated, if you have the power to save someone, then you have the responsibility to act upon that power and step up to be a hero.”

When Marinette wanted to give up being Ladybug after Stoneheart, it was because she thought she wasn’t good enough to be a hero. Adrien, on the other hand, thought he was too good as a hero and deserved to know all of Ladybug’s secrets, even though they were Master Fu’s orders and not hers to tell. Marinette is fundamentally selfless, while Adrien has shown time and again that he is selfish.

Admittedly, I can sometimes be harsh on Adrien. But his fans, the fandom, and the creators’ worship of him are only making my stance on him stronger. I can’t tolerate a male lead who acts the way he acts. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and you’re welcome to disagree with me, but I won’t be changing my mind. Thank you for being respectful when you sent me the ask, and if you’ve managed to read this far, thank you for your time. I wish you all the best and hope that no matter what your opinions are, your fandom experience is still at least enjoyable. Fandom is for each fan individually to curate and I hope that even if you block me or anyone else, you can keep enjoying yourself and having fun online.

P.S. I hate him is actually just my salt tag. I’ve used it to hate on Bakugou from BNHA too. I’m just particular about my tag system and didn’t want to write salt because I already have too many tags starting with ‘sa-’ so it’s easier for me to come up with a different tag.

[bobohu4eva]

Pink Lace - Chapter 6

Characters: Baekhyun x Reader (feat. EXO members)

Genre: College AU, stripper AU, fluff, smut, slow burn

Summary: Baekhyun, a philosophy professor with mysterious wealth, got himself completely fucked over a girl who can’t let him into her life.

Word count: 4.3k

Warnings: sex work, mentions of sexual assault, adult themes/situations, eventual smut

Tag list: @smolbeanmika @leave-me-in-the-summertime @totallynerdstuff @bbhmystar @nana-banana @kimyhappy @thegreatandi @geniusloey @deligxt @baekswifey @bbhyun506 @lovebuginlove @bellamendoza @baekyeonoreo @bobohumyonlyboo

Masterlist

You didn’t sleep. It just wasn’t possible, not when your mind was still going 500 miles per hour replaying every little detail of your time together in Baekhyun’s office. The way he sucked on the sensitive skin on the side of your neck, how you felt him dig into your hip as he’d sandwiched you between himself and the wall. Your entire stomach felt like it might leave your body if you didn’t get a hold of yourself. What end it would come out of, you had yet to decide on. 

The night dragged on and on and eventually you gave up, knowing it wasn’t going to happen. Sleep was not an option when your brain felt like it was running a marathon with you powerless to stop it. The thought just would not stop. Your own hormone filled brain had you by the balls.

Eventually you dragged your groggy self into the shower in an attempt to wake back up. The second you felt the hot water pour over your skin, you felt some of the tension in your muscles dissipate. It was like you could finally breathe deeply again, the heat forcing your body to relax, at least physically.

 By the time you were out of the shower it was around 5:00am. When you stepped out and began to dry yourself off you noticed the trail of dark purple marks going all the way from your neck down to your collarbones. Damn genetics for making you bruise so easily. You internally cursed yourself for letting him leave marks on you at all, but of course that had been the last thing on your mind in the moment. Mia would immediately have something to say when she saw them too, and you were not ready to recant the events of the night prior out loud to her. 

Seeing as it was already the early morning you decided it would be best to just get ready and get out of the house so you wouldn’t have to face her yet. You did your usual routine, and decided that after all the stress you’d been through in the last several hours, you’d treat yourself to breakfast at your favorite bakery. It was a quaint little place only a few blocks away that had amazing croissants and coffee and you figured it would at least temporarily help block out the crippling thoughts of his teeth grazing against the skin of your neck. Why the fuck did it have to feel that good?? 

You didn’t bother trying to cover the marks. It was far too warm still to wear anything like a turtleneck and you knew they were too dark for concealer to work. Damn his beautiful lips for creating something so visible yet so blasphemous.

After finishing your usual morning routine, you headed to the café and ordered your favorite. 

Croissant in hand, you were flipping through a book, sitting and enjoying your coffee when you heard your name, and looked up to see a familiar man, tall and slightly dorky looking, gazing down at you. 

“Yeah that's me, Chanyeol, right?” You asked.

“Yeah...” He stared down at you with an unreadable look on his face, and you wondered if he would force you to talk to him. You had only met Chanyeol once before, the first night he brought Baekhyun to your work. “Can I sit down?” 

“Uh... I guess. How do you know my name?” 

In all honesty you really did not want him to sit down with you. Of course he would want to talk about Baekhyun. You’d have rather poured your hot coffee down your pants than talked to him in that moment. This was exactly what you’d come here to avoid but the universe just had not been on your side lately. 

“Baekhyun told me. I’m glad I ran into you, I’ve never seen you here before, I always get my coffee here in the morning.”

“Well I’m usually not much of a morning person.” You replied, eyes on your coffee as you raised the mug to your lips, hoping it would magically invigorate you with the energy to have this conversation. It didn’t. 

“I actually need to talk to you about him.”

You immediately groaned in frustration. “Does this have to happen right now? I’m trying to have a relaxing morning and I’d really rather not talk about him right now.” You looked at him with a face that more or less said ‘please for the love of god just leave me alone’ but unfortunately for you he was quite determined, so he sat down across from you anyway. This stranger was really about to ruin your desperate attempt at a peaceful morning. 

“Just.. please be careful with him.” He started. “He’s the best person I know and he’s been through a lot recently. I don’t know what your intentions are with him but he likes you a lot and I don’t want to see him get hurt even more than he already has been.” 

You sighed. You could see where he was coming from. Anyone would be worried about their friend if they were in his situation. He probably thought you still only wanted Baekhyun’s money, that you were just the stripper who hit the jackpot with a guy who’s rich and nice. It was a realistic thing to be worried about. Customers like him were definitely the most profitable and girls would string them along all the time knowing how attached they were and take their money anyway. The more they thought they actually had a chance, the more they were generally willing to spend, too.  

“If you think I’m just using him for his money, I’m really not. I don’t know how much he’s told you, but last time he paid me I even tried to give it back.”

“Yeah he told me about that, so I figured you weren’t all bad, but still. And he talks to me about you a lot. It almost makes me regret bringing him to the club in the first place. If you end up screwing him over I’ll feel like it’s my fault too you know. That’s why I knew I had to say something when I saw you.” 

“You’re a good friend. But you really don’t need to be worried.” 

He raised an eyebrow, obviously not convinced. “Does he know you’re seeing other people?” 

You gave him a puzzled look, but quickly understood when his eyes drifted down to the marks decorating the skin of your neck. You knew he was only asking to protect his friend, but the accusing look on his face irked you anyway. Blood was already rushing to your cheeks at the thought of having to tell him where they’d really come from. 

“I, um, I’m actually not seeing other people...” You crossed your arms over your chest, slumping down into your seat in a subconscious effort to hide. By now you knew you were probably red all over, easily giving you away. The feeling of dread made its way back into your stomach, and your croissant didn’t even seem appealing to you anymore. “You haven’t talked to him since last night have you?” 

 His eyes went so wide you worried for a moment that they might pop right out of his skull and roll across the table and into your lap. 

“Did he..?” You nodded slowly, desperately trying to avoid giving him any of the thrilling details. “You guys slept together? You didn’t just come from his place did you? You didn’t just leave? I swear to god if you-”

“No!” You quickly clarified. “We didn’t sleep together, and I never went to his house, we just, um..” Your guts felt like they were about to end up on the table again, but Chanyeol was still looking at you expectantly. “I needed help with an assignment so I went to his office last night... we kissed, but that’s all.” 

“Quite some kiss it seems...” He said staring at the path of blue and purple that went all the way from below your ear to the hem of your shirt. And oh how he was right. It really had been something. Never in your life had a kiss affected you as much as Baekhyun’s had. Of course it had been much much more than just one little kiss, but there was no way you were going to say any more. The feeling of your stomach desperately trying to escape your body was too strong and you liked this café too much to get kicked out for vomiting all over the booth. 

“I thought more was gonna happen but he kind of threw me out of his office before we could, you know...” 

“He threw you out?” 

“Yeah, like grabbed my arm, dragged me into the hallway, and slammed the door behind him.” 

“Jesus what a dumbass.” You heard him whisper. “Do you like him the same way he likes you though?” You hesitated for a moment, but nodded again, and immediately noticed how his face lit up. “You know I really thought you were just going with it for the money. I’m glad you actually care about him as a person.” 

 “I mean I’ve known him a while now, how could I not...” You found yourself staring down at your hands as you fidgeted nervously, avoiding eye contact with the man in front of you. “Even if he wasn’t my professor now, he’s still just a good guy. I’ve never had a customer like him before. As dumb as it is, I’d be stupid not to like him, he makes it too easy.”

At that point Chanyeol was smiling widely back at you. “He’s an amazing guy, and he’s crazy about you. You won’t regret it.” A smile plastered itself onto your face as well, satisfied with his comment. “You know at first when me and the other guys found out he was coming back to see you every weekend we gave him so much shit.” 

You laughed, because you could imagine it perfectly. It honestly was quite stupid of him to get involved with a stripper of all people. You saw how many times guys would try to start something real with you or the other girls at your work only to leave with a broken heart and empty pockets, but that was just a part of your job. When you were first starting out you’d feel bad for them sometimes, but eventually you got used to it. These men weren’t exactly the pinnacle of society anyway, you told yourself. It didn’t help that those guys were always willing to spend more money too. They were really just screwing themselves over. It’s silly to expect anything real from a woman whose job it is to take money in exchange for temporary affection. Technically Baekhyun was also just another one of those stupid men who got themselves in too deep with someone completely unattainable, only now you actually liked him too.

“He is an idiot for that, for sure, but I’m just as much of an idiot for liking him back so I guess he won.” You laughed together, and you were beginning to feel much more at ease with him and with the conversation, thank heavens. 

“Thanks for letting me sit down, you really have no idea how much of a relief this is.” You rolled your eyes, you hadn’t allowed him to do anything, he’d just done it anyway. “I was so worried I got him into something that would hurt him even more. Women tend to really fuck him over.” 

His last statement puzzled you. Was he talking about Baekhyun’s ex? Sure what she did was awful, but had things really ended that badly? From the brief talk you’d had with him about her he didn’t seem to be that affected anymore but that was only one conversation. 

“Can I ask what the deal is with his ex?” Chanyeol leaned back, crossing his arms. His brows were furrowed, looking agitated by your question. “Sorry if that’s too far but I feel like that’s kind of important and I know almost nothing about her.” 

“She’s fucking bitch is all you need to know.” He scoffed. “They were together for 4 years and the whole time she treated him like a doormat. I never liked her. But it’s not really my place to talk.” 

“Oh... Sorry for asking, It’s just I found some pictures on Facebook when I looked him up. They looked really happy, she’s really pretty too.” You felt slightly embarrassed at your own words, but the curiosity was killing you. 

“Sure she looks nice but she’s a goddamn demon on the inside and they definitely weren’t happy, although she loved to make it look like they were so their families would keep being supportive. He deserves someone who actually gives a shit about him as a person, and not just what he can offer them. He cares about the people around him too much sometimes. Even when she’d treat him like shit he’d make excuses for her, saying she was dealing with things too, or some other bullshit.” 

Your heart ached. “Was he really upset when she left?”

You heard him let out a disappointed sigh, and knew the answer was yes. “Of course he knew she was only trying to use him for his money at that point, he’s not stupid, but when you’ve spent years of your life trying to make something work it still sucks when it ends. His parents really liked her too, they would get onto him all the time about why he hadn’t married her yet or given them grandkids. Thank god he didn’t. I think that’s what made it really sting when she left though. She didn’t just betray him she betrayed them too.” 

“What a bitch...” You were in disbelief that anyone could treat someone as wonderful as him so cruelly. The idea of him having possibly married her made you feel sick all over again.

“Yeah, she’s pretty much a megacunt. Thank god you seem to have a conscience.” He joked.

“I’m not gonna hurt him if I can help it. He’s so sweet I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself if I did.” 

“Well I’m glad to hear it.” He gave you a deep-dimpled smile and you laughed. “I’ll leave you alone now, I have work to get to, but thank you again for talking to me.”

“No problem.” You smiled back. “Hopefully you like me better than her already.” You joked. 

“That doesn’t take much” he laughed “but yes, definitely.” He got up and waved you goodbye, leaving you to enjoy the rest of your breakfast. 

In the end you were glad you’d run into him. You hadn’t given much thought to what Baekhyun’s friends might think about you, but it was a relief that the person closest to him didn’t just think you were using him for his money anymore. Obviously everything about your relationship with Baekhyun looked terrible on paper, and being able to explain your intentions made it feel like there was weight lifted off your chest that you hadn’t even known was there. 

~

Baekhyun woke up to his phone blowing up with messages from Chanyeol. Unlike you, he’d slept like a baby once the excitement of the evening had worn off a bit. 

Chanyeol: (7:23am) Just got done talking to your new gf, you seemed to have a fun night. About time you finally made a move on her.   

Chanyeol: (7:46am) You better call me when you wake up and tell me what the hell went down though. 

Chanyeol: (8:37am) Dude you’re killing me 

Baekhyun groaned when he read the messages, mind immediately thinking about all the embarrassing things Chanyeol could’ve possibly told you. Of course he talked to his best friend about you all the time, but you didn’t need to know that. His hands felt clammy as he began typing out a response

Baekhyun: (9:04am) What the hell did you guys talk about??? 

Chanyeol: (9:06am) She didn’t need to say much, you made things pretty clear with the way you attacked her neck, that shit looked intense. Good for you bro. 

Baekhyun quickly dialed his friend’s number, and not even one ring in he picked up. 

“What the fuck?” Baekhyun started, a bit too loud for how early it still was. “Why were you talking to her? What did you say to her? I swear to god if you told her some dumb shit I’m gonna-” 

“Relax! You know I’m a good wingman! I ran into her at the café and just wanted to make sure she wasn’t still leading you on for the money or anything so we talked for a little while. But she seems to genuinely care about you, I think she likes you a lot actually.” 

Baekhyun felt his heart skip a beat at his friend’s statement. Of course he figured you liked him after what had happened in his office, especially since you’d said it to him directly, but the fact that you had discussed your feelings for him with his best friend made it feel even better. He still thought that maybe you’d regret it in the morning, or it was just hormones that led you to act the way you did.

“What did she say?” 

“Well at first I thought she’d let someone else mark her up like that so I called her out, but then she told me what happened in your office last night. Well, sort of.” 

“Sort of?” 

“She didn’t seem to really want to talk about it in detail so I didn’t make her, but any girl would have to be crazy about a guy to him them maul their neck like that. I thought y’all had gotten into some weird BDSM shit at first. And why the fuck did you kick the poor girl out of your office? Are you dumb? You were totally about to get some.” 

“Because we were in my office.” 

“So? That’s pretty hot if you ask me.” 

“I just... I like her too much to end up fucking on the desk in my office like some sort of horny animal. I need to do it right, she deserves that much.” 

“That’s up to you, but man you must have some serious self control. She’s really hot.” 

“Watch it buddy.” Baekhyun said, trying to sound as threatening as one can over the phone. “What else did she tell you?”

“That was pretty much it about last night, she did ask about Jisoo though. I’m telling you she’s into you if she wants to know about your ex.” 

Even just the mention of her was enough to sour Baekhyun’s good mood. 

“What did you tell her about her?” 

“That I think she’s a massive bitch, obviously. And that you deserve better than that.”

Baekhyun stayed silent. He knew Chanyeol was right of course, she wasn’t a good person and he was better off now without her in his life but the way he talked about her still bothered him. 

“You don’t have to call her a bitch every time she comes up, I know she’s far from perfect but she’s still a person you know.” 

“Why are you even defending her? She fucked you up. And you actually seem to have found a girl who isn’t going to step all over you this time. So don’t ruin it.” 

“I’m not going to. Or at least I’m gonna try my best. I like this girl a lot.” 

“I know, you never shut the hell up about her. And she likes you enough to be stressing about your ex, so relax. She’s into you.” 

A small smile pulled at Baekhyun’s lips. After all this time, you really did like him. How fucking cool was that? The hottest girl at the strip club, who he’d fallen head over heels for like some dumb kid, was into him for real now. 

“Thanks bro, I needed to hear that.” 

“I know, I’m the best. So when are you asking her out?” 

Baekhyun felt stupid for not having considered that yet. Technically he was still just your professor/customer with benefits, but that definitely wasn’t the title he wanted to keep forever. 

“Shit I don’t know... Where do I even take her? What do I do? I haven’t had to do this in years.” 

“She’s a college student, I’m sure a nice dinner would impress her enough. You just have to do better than those greasy kids she goes to school with.” Chanyeol suggested casually, but Baekhyun wasn’t having it. 

“I want to do something special, not just some lame dinner. I’m sure she’s had plenty of college boys take her out to expensive restaurants with daddy’s money before. I have to do better than that.”  He was pacing now, trying to think of what the hell people even did for first dates aside from get food or see a movie. 

“Do something different then, drive her out into the country and prepare a nice picnic or something and watch the sunset together, girls love romantic shit like that.” 

“First I have to ask her out though, maybe I should bring some chocolate and flowers too. I want it to be perfect. And for her to say yes.”

“I know you’ll do great, don’t worry about it too much, she already likes you anyway. She’s gonna say yes. Just don’t say anything weird and she’ll totally fall in love with you.”

“I hope you’re right.” 

“I’m always right.”

It was getting later and later in the morning and Baekhyun needed to actually start getting work done, so he ended the call there. 

He had come up with some ideas for the date throughout the day, but they would all require quite some planning. He was going to do whatever he could to make sure you were thoroughly swept off your feet, he wouldn’t accept anything less than that. 

First though, he had to make sure you’d agree to go at all. 

~

The rest of your Thursday was spent more or less successfully getting Baekhyun off your mind with various school work and other mundane tasks. You’d stayed on campus, still avoiding Mia but eventually your classes were over and you needed to get back home. You knew you’d have to face her eventually anyway and at least now you’d had enough time to chill out about it a little.

Unfortunately for you Mia was in the living room when you entered the apartment, and within seconds her eyes traveled to your neck and she squealed with delight. 

“Y/N!!! PLEASE TELL ME YOU FINALLY GOT SOME DICK.” 

“Sorry to disappoint.” You responded, cringing and taking your shoes before going to sit with her on the couch. 

“But something happened! Tell me everything!!”    

So you did. Right down to his dick stabbing you through his pants and how he kicked you out of his office. Unlike Chanyeol, you knew she wouldn’t leave you alone until she knew everything, and in great detail, so you didn’t hold back. 

You felt all the emotions from the previous night rushed back to you as you got into the intricacies of the kiss itself. This was exactly what you knew would happen, and why you’d been avoiding it. The whole time Mia just stared and nodded, seemingly fascinated by your thrilling tale. You were thankful she hadn’t made fun of you at all for how flustered you were getting while talking about it. 

When you were finally done retelling everything, she didn’t speak. Instead she pulled you into a tight hug. 

“You like him a lot, I can tell. And he has a lot of respect for you if he had enough self control to make you leave before more could happen. I think he could be really great for you.” She pulled back to look at you, keeping both hands on your shoulders. “And I’ve never heard you talk about a guy like that before.” 

“I don’t think I’ve ever liked someone the way I like him. He’s not some college boy, he’s a real man. It just feels different. Much more... real.” 

“Do you want something real with him? More than just a fling?” You nodded. “Do you think he’ll ask you out on a real date?” 

“I hope so.” 

“I hope so too. I’m sure he’ll come up with something amazing for you guys.” She smiled, lightly punching your shoulder in excitement. 

You felt elated to finally have gotten everything off your chest. Talking about it really hadn’t been that bad, if anything it only strengthened how you felt for him.

“I’m really lucky, aren’t I?” You asked, letting yourself fall backwards to lay across the couch. 

“Duh. You found a super cute, nice, and rich guy who thinks you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. Any girl would envy you.” Her eyes went wide, and you could practically see the lightbulb manifest itself and flicker on over her head. “He has hot friends right?” 

You laughed, amused by her usual boy craziness. “Yeah, he has some pretty cute friends but I don’t really know any of them, give me some time and I’ll report back to you if any of them are available.” 

For some reason, you didn’t tell her about your conversation with Chanyeol. Maybe it was what he’d said about Baekhyun’s ex that was still hanging in the back of your mind, but it didn’t seem like something you needed to bring up to her now anyways. 

“Well, please do let me know.” She responded, grinning, getting up from the couch and making her way into the kitchen. 

“Aye aye captain.” You shot a thumbs up at her from the couch, giggling. 

She ended up cooking dinner for the both of you, and you spent the rest of the evening collectively fantasizing about what sort of extravagant outing he’d take you on once he asked you on an official date. 

You couldn’t wait.  

Next Chapter

A/N: Just wanna say I love Jisoo and used her name purely to convey the characters appearance! She in no way represents the real Jisoo who is obviously a wonderful girl :)  also if the spacing is weird on mobile I blame the fact that I wrote this on my laptop 🥴 sorry

[reconditarmonia]

Dear Yuletide Writer

Hello, lovely writer!

I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things).

General likes:

-- Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

-- Loyalty kink, whether commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms, and the trust associated with it. Sometimes-but-not-always relatedly, idealism. I guess the two combined might be, in general, the idea of nobility of character and what that means.

-- Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

-- Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff.

-- Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

-- Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

-- Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

-- Eucatastrophe.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; Christmas/Christian themes; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex.

Fandom: Dòu Máah Dáan | Peking Opera Blues (1986) 

Characters: Tsao Wan

This film is so much MORE than I ever dreamed. More hilarious, more shippy, more dramatic. I think what I want most from this fandom is something on a similar emotional scale - not necessarily something where the plot itself has a national or international scope, but something that has room for opera slapstick, corpse puppetry, and torture; material concerns, and high aspirations; saving each other’s lives, and having sleepovers. Thematically, I’m really interested in the way the film shows friendship and familial love sometimes dovetailing with ethics and ideological goals and sometimes conflicting with them, and in the various ways women can find, or seek, their own independence.

Tsao Wan is the only character I’ve put in my request. I was fully expecting to come out of the film with femslash ships, and instead I have a big OT5 and a huge crush on Brigitte Lin (okay, that part I could see coming), so I’d be happy with any combination of the main five, including the two men, who were not nominated, as long as Tsao Wan is there. Some combination possibilities: how do any of them meet up again after the events of the film, whether by chance - do Bai Niu and/or Sheung Hung happen to be making a tour stop somewhere Tsao Wan has a mission? does Tsao Wan and Ling’s work take them near Tung’s village farm? - or intentionally - how would a new opera about Tsao Wan and Ling’s exciting adventures be created by Bai Niu and/or Sheung Hung, in terms of research and role creation? Or maybe Tsao Wan needs Bai Niu’s skills for a mission. In fact, maybe she needs everyone’s skills for a mission. Recruitment road trip! Some solo possibilities: what was Tsao Wan’s time in Europe like? Was she involved in any political activity there? What does she do post-film as History continues? In anything set post-film, I’d like to know that all five characters are important to each other, even if they’re not actually in the fic and/or sexually involved.

If you want to get really plotty, I love heist and con stuff like Leverage, Ocean’s Eleven (remake), and The Italian Job (original), where there’s a Plan with steps and roles, and then it plays out. If straight-up casefic isn’t your style, it could be fun to throw some shippy tropes at this canon (fake marriage where Tsao Wan is pretending to be the husband? hurt/comfort or sickfic? hell, I’d read accidental baby acquisition), but tropey stuff is not necessary - I’m just trying to throw out some ideas to get things moving. Ideally there’d be at least a figleaf of plot in the background, even if it’s not casefic.

Fandom-specific DNW: Explicit references to torture are still a hard DNW (I covered my eyes during the scene in question when watching the film), but I recognize it’s part of canon and consequently might be part of the world of the fic. If someone is tortured or creatively executed in your story, it’s fine to mention it but I do not want to know how.

---

Fandom: Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Characters: Bathsheba Everdene

I didn’t nominate this and it didn’t occur to me that it would be in the tagset, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it! One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in the other nominated characters or other major characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. I’d also love to read something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting), or something in which the land, superstition, and ritual were more overtly magical.

---

Fandom: 月刊少女野崎くん | Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Characters: Kashima Yuu, Nozaki Umetarou

Pick a trope. Have them fuck it up.

That’s one of the things that makes me love this canon - the simultaneous send-up of and indulgence in tropes, in a very good-natured way. (Another way I’ve described its genre: “nothing happens, but very dramatically.” Everything is shocking or devastating or the pinnacle of bliss.) Kashima and Nozaki are two of the characters whose propensity to do this is most likely to set a story in motion, due to Nozaki’s experimentation/observation for his manga and Kashima’s princely self-fashioning and going 120% on everything; I also love Kashima’s bifauxnen-ness, acting talent, and earnest failboating, and the way that Nozaki could have been written as a tall-dark-handsome-stoic cipher guy and instead is just as quirky as anyone else. That said, this is an OR request, not an AND, and I’d also be happy to read stories about pretty much anyone from the nominated tagset (except Mikoshiba or Mayu; I don’t know Mayu very well because I originally got into this through the anime, and Mikoshiba just isn’t my fave, although I have no objection to his appearing in the story).

There are all sorts of lists out there of common shoujo(/romcom/fanfic) tropes if you’re not sure where to start. And, because Nozaki is all about subverting gendered characterization and role-boxing, and also about people trying to make their lives conform to narrative, go ahead and apply those tropes to whichever characters you feel would be the most interesting or fun. Feel free to pick non-high-school-setting ones, too, if there's magical/historical/high-society shoujo you want to see them tackle, or to take a play that Kashima (and whoever else) is involved in as a jumping-off point.

As you may have gathered, I love the way the canon plays with romance tropes, but I would prefer no overt Shipfic. If you’d like to include a ship, whether slash/femslash or het, I’d like for it to be handled without much seriousness, and for friendship with characters who aren’t part of the ship to be a significant part of the fic, as per canon. I do really like the show’s variety of friendships between characters of different temperaments, interests, and sexes.

If you’re really getting a “why don’t you just rewatch/reread the canon, reconditarmonia” vibe off this, which I’m kind of giving myself, you could try sex comedy future fic? Give them magical powers? What I’m most interested in, wherever you go with this, is the playing-with-tropes thing.

Fandom-specific DNW: I love Hori and Kashima’s relationship, but I’d strongly prefer that her feelings for him not be written as overtly romantic. High levels of ambiguity/intensity/tropey-ness are fine and great.

---

Fandom: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

Characters: Any (Alice “Wazzer” Goom, Jack Jackrum, Magda “Tonker” Halter, Maladict, Polly “Ozzer” Perks, Tilda “Lofty” Tewt)

Give me all the loyalty kink for this fandom. Characters rescuing each other from peril, risking their reputation or position or ethics to defend each other, accomplishing the impossible or sacrificing things without even thinking twice because one trusts the other’s orders or judgment. Or A not going off the leash or into danger to defend B because B said not to, to protect A’s conscience or life or reputation. Can be romantic or platonic - I ship Polly/Mal and Tonker/Lofty, but I would also be delighted with Polly&Jackrum, Wazzer&Polly, or other non-romantic twosomes or moresomes in situations of loyalty and trust. Maybe Polly sends Mal on a dangerous mission, or Tonker is captured after she and Lofty burn down another place where women and girls are being abused, or Polly protects Jackrum’s secret/s from someone who could reveal them, or Wazzer ends up in the field again with the general’s retinue and Polly and Mal rescue her from danger (or vice versa!!). What strengths or sacrifices do they have at their disposal for each other?

Pratchett-esque voices would be great. He’s really, really good at sucker-punching the reader with sincerity in an overall satiric mode, and I think that style lends itself well to this sort of thing.

I’m not going to lie, Polly is my fave. I like that this could have been a generic coming-of-age or women-in-war story, where the protagonist learns that she’s brave or worthwhile and then the crisis is past, but instead Polly learns that she’s a cunning bastard and a hell of a sergeant, and being a one-off hero in a country that’s at peace and making slow social progress isn’t good enough for her. That said, just because I’m better able to articulate what I like about Polly doesn’t mean I’d be less excited for fic about anyone else! I think that’s something I’d want to explore for any of the characters who enlist in the course of the story - what are these women good at? What lets them fulfill their potential? What do they want when their hand isn’t being forced? Or for Jackrum, who’s already gone through that whole process by the time the story begins, any more backstory would be fabulous.

If you’re going the Polly/Mal route, I also love ludicrous levels of sexual tension in a military context (I think it’s the unavoidable proximity + the presence of others making it hard to act on it).

Fandom-specific DNW: vampire romance tropes (such as turning and/or immortality) as focus; non-female pronouns/headcanons.

--

Fandom: Simoun (Anime)

Characters: Any (Aaeru, Dominuura, Halconf, Mamiina, Neviril, Paraietta, Plumbish Priestesses, Rodoreamon)

Simoun somehow ended up being a really weirdly meaningful show to me. I loved how all these women got to be flawed and fucked-up, noble and loyal. How, in the mold of all my favorite epic shoujo anime, it starts off beautiful and fine and then Shit Gets Very Real and that’s actually one of the themes of the show - we had a little debate a few weeks ago on FFA as to whether or not Simoun was a military canon, and the fact that circumstances have remade a team of priestesses in fancy quarters and magic flying machines who are there to pray to God, put off their choice of sex, use their talents, maintain or claw their way into a social position, into a military force involved in a war - that’s an idea that the characters themselves struggle with in the show. (Neviril’s scene in the hearing is one of my favorites.) How everyone gets character development, in the sense of learning and changing, and even what seem like annoying mandatory straight subplots actually end up serving that thematic or character development, to say nothing of the more focal relationships between the leads (not just Neviril and Aeru, but also Mamiina and Rodoreamon, Neviril and Paraietta...)

I’d really like to read a fic where an individual character’s development or two characters’ relationship is similarly tied in to plot developments; it doesn’t have to be a plotty fic as such, but I was very interested in the way the developments of the war and the pilots/priestesses’ actions in it precipitated changes in their relationships. So how might Neviril and Aeru’s relationship develop in the other world (what are they doing?), or Mamiina and Rodoreamon’s on the Messis when they’re not the narrative focus before Mamiina’s last mission and the braid thing? (Or if this is more your speed, dig into that and see how a character grows or the relationship between characters develops when that’s not being moved along by outside events in the same way, especially if they’re aware of that being an issue. When Neviril and Aeru are outside the normal flow of time, or Paraietta and Rodoreamon are civilians, for example.) I’m also interested in all the permutations of loyalty we see in the show - like loyalty to a position over loyalty to a side (as with the Plumbish priestesses’ siding with our Sibyllae), loyalty that develops before liking or friendship, the devoted loyalty to Neviril. I like the show’s military themes despite its magical-girl visuals. I think this is also a canon where it would make sense for sexual first times to be part of a fic - what does that mean for the characters you choose?

I should also say that due to all the magic and timespace warping in the show, I am more than okay with post-canon fic that gets characters back together who were separated by canon, if that’s what you want. You can resurrect Mamiina, or have Neviril and Aeru visit the main reality/timeline again. Or play with timespace even more - time loop fic? (Edit: This didn’t even occur to me until I found out about the IF post, but this fandom might lend itself to interactive fiction, too.)

[dumpsterfireblog]

JENN’S *FUN* TOP 10: WEEK OF 7/24

A shit-ton of k-pop artists have had comebacks recently, which is simultaneously exciting and very overwhelming. I can really only handle a couple at a time (because I’m old and frail and overstimulation will likely cause a heart attack and subsequent death), so I purposely staggered listening to them. The ones that I have heard so far haven’t disappointed, even if there’s a stylist or two out there that need to be crucified asap. In any case, that makes this particular week’s top tracks a little stacked towards k-pop. Complaints can be sent straight here.

1. Red Flavor (빨간 맛) - Red Velvet

Is it too early to say that Red Velvet saved summer? It’s pretty rare for me to love a girl group song at first listen (it usually takes a few repetitions for the full Earworm Effect to sink in). Red Flavor somehow managed to dig itself so far back into my head that I would hear Irene’s voice (“ 빨간 맛... 궁금해 Honey~”) constantly throughout the day, sometimes even when I was listening to other songs. That’s right, Red Flavor bullied its way onto the #1 spot of this list. I love how summery and upbeat this track is, not to mention how goddamn catchy it is. SM taking me on a wild LSD trip with the music video was just the cherry on the cake. The song definitely has major Happiness vibes, but I hated Happiness. I don’t know. I’m fickle.

2. Palette - IU

Basically a sequel to IU’s 23 (which, until now, was indisputably my favorite song from her), Palette came as a pleasant surprise when I stumbled across it in May. I’m a big fan of the relaxed, yet self-assured mood of the track... enough to have listened to it multiple times before every job interview I’ve gone to in the past two months. Her breathy vocals might not be the pinnacle of technique, but it sure sounds good to me. GD also ‘softens’ his rap to match the song, and it all fits quite naturally. The only problem I can find is that IU claims that she’s 25, even though she looks the same as when she was 15. Immortal vampire or not, I like the direction that IU is going with her music and I hope she manages to escape the ‘idol’ sphere and make it as an artist.

3. Really Really - WINNER

I’ll be honest, I know next to nothing about WINNER except that they were picked from a YG survival show and that both 센치해 and BABY BABY have gotten stuck in my head for extended periods of time. Really Really surpasses both of those songs by a long shot. What can I say? It’s a catchy song. A house track that’s chill enough that I can listen to it on repeat without feeling exhausted, yet interesting enough that it never gets boring is a gem to find. Plus the “널 좋아해” - pause - chorus drop make my ears happy every time I hear it.

4. Get Used to It - Ricky Montgomery

I wasn’t exactly sure which Ricky Montgomery song to put on this list, because I’ve been listening to This December, Get Used to It, and Last Night on a continuous loop. Get Used to It represents everything I like about Ricky Montgomery. It’s bouncy, quirky, and catchy as hell. It’s also just light enough to be a song I can listen to in the background without even realizing that I’m humming along.

5. The Eve (전야)- EXO

EXO finally made a comeback this week with The War, and everyone is in a craze about the cocoa puffs. After a full listen of the album, I would actually say that I prefer The Eve over their actual title track. I much prefer the chill side of EXO ( 으르렁 is still my favorite song from them) and this pleased my little ears more than the aggressively hype Ko Ko Bop. It also manages to be a little moody when it gets to the chorus, which was a nice twist. From the pop rock intro to the strangely enjoyable sax sample (to D.O. saying “What’s the situation”... not that I’ve been replaying that recently), The Eve is the true standout track on their album to me. Kai’s hair was fixed for the live performance of this, so that automatically gives the song a point over the rest.

6. Dinosaur - AKMU

I’ve been rooting for AKMU ever since their audition on Kpop Star, and I can only really think of one song that I’ve ever disliked from them since (and even then, it was because it was too generic but not particularly bad.) When I saw the teasers for their comeback, I didn’t know what to think. Was it a spoopy song? Their pictures made it look like they were in a horror movie or something. Even with that in mind, Dinosaur still caught me off guard. The song is a departure from the siblings’ usual heavily instrumental/acoustic sound and a foray into the magical world of EDM. But AKMU can’t just do EDM the way everyone else does it. Unlike some of the other songs in this genre, Dinosaur doesn’t overload you with unnecessary synth sounds and keeps itself simple, light, and refreshing. It’s fitting for both the summertime and the song’s theme of childhood dreams and innocence. Suhyun’s clear voice cuts through the music and it lifts your mood just listening to it. All in all, AKMU continues making good music, which isn’t really a surprise.

7. 4 O’Clock - RM & V

I completely missed this song when it was released during BTS Festa (Bless me Jinsus, for I have sinned) and finally got around to listening to it once I caught up. 4 O’Clock (or ‘Your Poem’) is nothing short of beautiful. There are so many good things about this song: V singing in his natural baritone (AMAZING), the absolute poetry that are the lyrics, Vocal Monster making a late appearance... the only downside is that this is meant for a different season. My favorite part has to be when V imitates the call of a mourning dove while singing “Where are you” because it gets me sentimental as shit. This is definitely something that fits the mood for staring contemplatively out of your window at 4AM, feeling soppy about nothing.

8.  Let’s Get Breakfast - Walter Mitty and his Makeshift Orchestra

This song has always been a treat to listen to, and it’s just a pity that it’s so short. Let’s Get Breakfast is a sweet and fluffy song that is also incredibly addicting. Its simplicity is also a strong point, with just a voice and acoustic guitar helping the song keep its authenticity and charm. I know literally nothing about this band or any other song that they’ve made, but I’ve never felt like I needed to know more... only because this song can keep be occupied enough to not need anything else.

9. As if it’s Your Last (마지막처럼) - BLACKPINK

Another comeback that’s a summer bop. I heard a lot of people complaining that this wasn’t as hard-hitting as they expected, but YG did announce beforehand that this was going to be the first ‘PINK’ song that the group released. The chorus of 마지막처럼 sounds more like old-school kpop than anything else, and that’s not a bad thing. Lisa gets another iconic rap segment to add to her resume, and Jennie makes sure that you know she can sing. This isn’t my favorite song from BLACKPINK, but it’s fun and easy to listen to. I found myself putting it on whenever I wanted something to fill the silence.

10. Leave Out All the Rest - Linkin Park

When I heard that Chester Bennington committed suicide, I didn’t really know what to do but go back and listen to all of the Linkin Park songs that I had grown up with. They were all painfully relevant, but Leave Out All the Rest was the one that I ended up listening to the most. In a way it was me mourning a part of my childhood, so it only makes sense that this makes it on the list.