#PLUS CHEN LOOKING SO FUCKING PRETTY

[le-trash-prince]

4 minutes EP 8 thoughts

Last episode 😔😔😔 I’m gonna need Spare Me Your Mercy and Petrichor to come soon so I can get my Sammon fix

A version of Tyme with bedside manner??? Was this what he was like without the revenge plot taking up all of his brain?

love that the clock changed time as soon as she left

This domestic af montage of them being all soft is destroying me…

UH THROWING WHY DONT YOU STAY IN HERE WAS FUCKING SAVAGE???

love that Tyme can feel the rain on his face. Love that his connection to Great kept him from walking towards the light

Faisah spent this whole show sitting around sipping wine and I respect that

I must say I’m very surprised to see Tonkla and Korn run into each other’s arms kissing like this.

Korn’s face looking betwern Tonkla and Win dbfjfjfjf

Tonkla “Oh yeah did I mention I shot your brother. By the way I cheated on you too.”

Well I sure did not expect Tonkla to take a bullet for Korn. Win you done fucked up

Oh Great’s gotta live with knowing his actions led to his brother’s death…

The fuck kind of art exhibition???

GREAT JUST RAN OFF AND LEFT HER COLLAPSED ON THE STAIRS SHFJJFF I shouldn’t be surprised at this point…

Praying that Nan is somehow still alive and getting vengeance on Warit 🙏

Tyme to Manee: you can die anytime you like, but not in this bed

Tyme to Warit: you can die

ok fine sure doctors shouldn’t murder their patients 🙄

Well I still have questions… but I didn’t come here expecting answers ig 🤷‍♂️ at least Great and Tyme survived, plus Great’s parents and Warit and Title went down. I would’ve been frustrated if none of the Sriwat cargo stuff got resolved in the end. I would like to know who tf had kidnapped Warit (Nan’s vengeful spirit in my heart).

Also the art exhibition lady??? Did she just give them future seeing abilities??? Coz Tyme had the OOBE but he never saw the future the way Lukwa and Great did. Anyways that’s lady Jinta in my head.

The bar for worst BL dad is pretty high (Tony Chen when I catch you) but Great’s mom might get worst BL mom in my book lmfao she really did not give a shit

Overall I think the series was fun ride. There were some things I felt could have been improved upon, but when is there not? The series had a lot of really great visual storytelling, some wonderful performances, and I think a nice story about how Great and Tyme had this brief but meaningful connection that they both felt could have gone better under different circumstances, and the way that connection saved them. Sometimes you don’t need an earth shaking romance to feel that with someone. Sometimes you just find someone you want to have a peaceful life with.

Anyways Spare Me Your Mercy, Petrichor come soon please 🙏

[slimeclimbtime]

performance fits from boys planet i would wear on a daily basis

imma be real i fucking love all the damn outfits from this show so i'm just gonna show off some of my favs here! in order of appearance on the show!

1. Dongyeol (Xiao) - Very Nice

this is honestly the only fit i'd wear in public bc the suspenders are too much for me in the other outfits but it works here with the turtleneck and the oversized t-shirt on top! and the jeans just really sell the look overall. i think g group had fits that were more cohesive but none of them were my taste lol

2. Haru (LMR)

i like all of the g group colors but haru seems to make it work just a little better than jay for me (most likely bc of the white shirt), the headband is just so cute and I can't rock headbands like that but the rest of the outfit is just so comfy looking

3. Sungmin (Jerome) - LMR

K group's LMR outfits were just as equally good and sungmin's got the least like..bulkiest outfit which works great for layering, and the patterned shirt is just a nice plus for me, very like 2000s-core i love it so much

4. Osuke - Hot Sauce

okay tbh i would wear EVERYONE's fit in g group hot sauce bc all of them are SO GOOD! but i narrowed it down to osuke's because the streetwear/racecar vibes of this one are perfect, it's simple, and we're similar in height so i know it'll look good on me :)

5. Itsuki - Danger

the mix of bad-boy tech-wear type pants and then the academia-esque tops with the vest and tie, it just all goes well somehow? the monotone colors work great here for some reason idk why it just scratches an itch in my brain

6. Junseo - Danger

i almost went with yugeng's version but i think junseo's looks a little better, mainly bc of the long-sleeves. the converse really set this outfit btw which is why i cropped it in. i think i just like turtlenecks

7. Ricky (Back Door)

minus the goggles and i'd wear it. this is def a fit that you have to wear together tho, hard to mix and match this one bc it needs that cohesive white or else it gets messy. i feel bad for this team bc ricky was the only one with a decent fit

8. Jeonghyeon (GGANG)

i almost put junhyeon but i would 1. not wear an abs shirt and 2. his fit feels a little too "american high schooler" for me to really call it an idol fit LMFAO??? but jeonghyeon's fit here is actually really nice bc they didn't give him tin foil and the vest helps his shoulders and it just looks super nice. also the arm band :D

9. Jianyu (GGANG)

i know i just slandered the tinfoil but i think with this fit i'd wear it. i still think this is the best fit of the group (minus the green shoes bc the green don't match), the green mesh top is actually pretty nice and the thin vest works wonders, chen jianyu you will always be pretty as fuck

10. Keita (ZOOM)

i really like this fit and it makes keita stand out well; it's a little bulky especially since keita and i are pretty much the same height so i can well imagine how this would look on me, but the colors work nicely and the hat is just super cute!

11. Yujin (LAW)

im just glad they kinda covered up the v neck with the fishnet top LOL but i like the jumper-esque thing it's got going on, harnesses are a bit much but the stud belt really makes this work LOL good accessories too

12. Mingyu (Man In Love)

i think the simplistic fits for man in love work way better than the feel special ones (in terms of concept) and i'd wear all of them but if i had to pick one it's mingyu's easily. the green sweater is a good soft color and it just looks extremely comfy. also mingyu looks so happy

13. Ricky (Rush Hour)

just get rid of the tie and im sold

14. Jingxiang (Rush Hour)

the big hoodie and black sleeves look REALLY good and the chain on the pants really adds a nice touch. also this screenshot is hilarious bc of ricky's face lol. jingxiang however is tall so idk if i could pull this off

15. Jihoo (Limousine)

definitely another "i'd wear all of them but if i had to pick one" scenario, the caustics pants are actually a lot nicer than i expected. i think i have something for short-long sleeve combos now that im looking at it

16. Daeul (Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms)

definitely needs the beret to complete it but the outfit is just so sweet looking! the white on white somehow works and younger me always dreamed of having a white jean jacket so i would totally wear this!! the hoodie just adds on a nice layer on top too

17. Seowon (Supercharger)

(im ngl i had to do a double take when taking this screenshot, like that's SEOWON???) also this is pretty much just ricky's rush hour fit but dark mode/on steroids, so pretty much similar reasoning there. i just love this one for some reason (fun fact: he rips the rips on his pants LOL)

18. Ollie (Supercharger)

im not gonna say anything just that i've just started to notice a pattern with my choices here

19. Keita (Switch)

if you mixed junhyeon's ggang fit with itsuki's danger fit and them splashed a bunch of highlighter ink on it this is what you'd get. i think this one works best bc its more monotonous and also not blaringly loud (like kamdens pink fit that’s nightmare fuel). also, it's cute!

20. Hanbin (Switch)

the headband and the blue jacket saved this fit ngl bc those green pants don’t exactly work for me LOL but i'd wear everything else!

21. Matthew (Say My Name)

it's definitely the least like "uniform" uniform on the stage, and the extra layers make this seem like it'd be extra comfy in the winter :)

conclusion: i like streetwear and jackets a little too much LOL. if you didn't see a stage here that means i didn’t wanna wear any of their fits lol

[autistic-sidestep]

questions about suranga ! why did they pick their name / do you think it fits them ? what is their gender & sexuality ? what are their (romantic) relationships like ? what is their motivation, either in general and/or to pursue villainy ?

alright let's go!

The name ‘Suranga’ when i originally looked it up while trying to name him meant something like divine? It apparently also means orange, which is funny cos of his arrogance and daring stats lol, though he was more of a bluestep when i first made him, so yeah, oddly fitting. As for why he picked his name, I think I decided it was a name someone he almost came to see as a parental figure in his pre-vigilante days would’ve given their kid, if they’d been able to have one. In some ways, that was his way of honoring them and it was the first thing that could be his (if also something residual from farm training and people-pleasing to need someone else to pick).

he could’ve gone for something more common but then again, it wasn’t a name he was intending to share with anyone else until ortega, otherwise, he was always giving fake names. whether suranga actually believes he still deserves his name, though, honestly varies with his self-loathing levels. this guy has so many complexes lmao.

Genderwise, it’s kinda a mess? At first seeing ricardo on the news gave him some gender revelations, starting to id as a binary trans guy and staying stealth with the rangers (and it was def comforting to know there was a fellow trans man on the team, even if he and sentinel were never close) but it didn’t fully feel right? Then post second escape and through puppeting yasmin he gradually realizes oh, the whole girl thing isn’t so bad when it’s on his terms (or close enough), yoink, my gender now. As yasmin he’s a lot more confident, so he basically trials things he’d never be able to do as himself through her and post-debut, he gets a little bit bolder with his own body.

i’m ultimately imagining whatever mess in books 3 or 4 happens if ace gets their body back like this:

suranga: sorry abt the whole bodystealing thing thanks for the gender tho

ace: ???

Obv with the whole maintaining two different identities thing (without even factoring in argos post-debut), the Autism™, and never really having a stable sense of self thanks to cuckoo training (plus SO MUCH TRAUMA), it’s hard to actually pinpoint what his gender is, at best i’d say something like uh, genderqueer/genderfluid?

Sexuality is similarly a very big mess. He’s definitely aspec/some kind of aroflux, and his ongoing secret crush on ricardo is a jumble of ortega being his first real friend (and not letting anyone else close enough to have other points of reference), and being a simultaneously touch averse AND touch starved mf, and also the gender confusion triggered by ric before even meeting him (‘do i want to be him or be friends with him??’) so suranga’s whole ability to determine if it’s romantic/sexual attraction or platonic feelings is very very fucked. With ortega specifically they used to be very close (he thought the world of him tbh), but with ricardo hovering since their reunion he’s trying to keep him at arms length, because he’s very aware how well ortega can read him. He can’t help but go back to ortega in spite of his efforts to stay away, partly because he wants ortega to stop and/or help him but doesn’t know how to ask, or if he can.

He’s honestly very clueless on the chen attraction thing. There’s the baggage from having known eachother back before, but also post-heartbreak he can better relate to chen (which includes a mutual hatred of stairs!) because of the chronic pain/fatigue problems he’s had to deal with, and spoon is also a big factor - he does prefer cats, and his own cat Fred in particular that stayed with elena after HB,, but getting to hang out with spoon is pretty good too.

As yasmin, he becomes very fond of mortum, but he’s not sure he’d call it romantic attraction, though they might’ve flirted a bit at the start. Suranga really enjoys the doctor’s company and respects her a lot, in part cos it’s so fun to nerd out over tech stuff, and there’s none of the baggage that comes with ortega. he’d rather not compromise that friendship by stringing her along, so I think he makes it clear at the gala on the feelings? i’m still working out his canon route, but for sure he tells mortum the truth in retri. 

Also his flirting as yasmin bleeds over into his argos persona when he fights with argent. he def likes playing with fire lol. Romantic relationships are a big ????

However, in general relationship terms, he’s pretty familial with rosie and his crew, in part cos the dynamic reminds him a lot of the rangers in his sidestep days, and old habits are hard to shake. 

Motivation tends to vary, but the underlying principles are that he’s very very tired and bitter and just wants to feel like he’s in some control of his life again/not powerless - the argos suit is in part a mobility aid, because it lets him do what he could as sidestep, and more. argos gives him a lot of freedom and at times euphoria, but also huge guilt, just as he does with yasmin. he's following the path of least resistance (fate motive), even if that’s driving himself (further) into a self-destructive spiral. at least it’s by his hand instead of someone else’s?

Basically he’s swinging between these two modes: 

He also does a lot of joking to deflect from when he accidentally lets slip he’s not doing well  (which is. all the time) which is probably best summarized by an excerpt from the Hoots scene:

Faulty logic aside, there’s a lot of anger at himself, especially his past self for his naivety and getting careless (as much as he tries to bury it, he’s still a hero at heart), but also at the Farm, but it’s not like he can really touch them. I have a soft spot for the outsider scar cos that’s the first one i ever got, and the whole disconnect from the rest of the world feels very very fitting, and coupling that with the suicidal scar (so suicidal from rebirth → outsider into retri), though I have tried him out with puppetmaster too, and maybe some parts from the hunger scar can work too?

idk if he'll actually remain driven enough to stick to being argos, but it sure is fun watching him be a trainwreck about it

this has been a (semi-coherent) ramble about suranga thanks for indulging me <3

[killerandhealerqueen]

ao3 wrapped [writers edition] - 3, 6, 12, 27, 28, 29 Sass, darling, here I am again. Please, and thank you very much!!! ♡♡♡♡

Jin, my beloved! Always happy to answer your asks and talk about my fics

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Oh...this is a hard one...but I'd say 恨君不似江���月 | Killer and Healer. It's my Killer and Healer rewrite, it's my baby, it's my beloved, I think it's the work that I'm most proud of because I'm taking my beloved drama and giving my characters the HAPPY FUCKING ENDING THEY DESERVE (absolutely fuck you, ep. 37). Also, it's a relatively new fic but SPY x FAMILY. It's my Killer and Healer spy x family au and I'm having so much fun writing it. So much fun, my god

6. Favorite title you used

Ooo, this is really hard because I like all of my titles...I'm always proud of my titles, so I'm gonna go with all of them

12. How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?

*nervously laughter* Uh...in my tumblr prompt folder I have...10, plus my Demon Hunter x Fox Spirit fic, plus the three WIPs I'm currently working on now: SPY x FAMILY, 灵魂档案 | The Spirit Files, and 恨君不似江楼月 | Killer and Healer

27. What do you listen to while writing?

Anything and everything. Honest to god. Anything and everything.

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

Obviously gotta go with my baby 不似江楼月 | Killer and Healer as well as my other fic Hand in Bloody Hand. But I'm proud of all of the works I wrote this year

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Gah....this is so hard...but I'm gonna go with this line from my 不似江楼月 | Killer and Healer that I added in to the scene where Chen Yuzhi is saying goodbye to "Keying" in the morgue because my brain came up with it and I thought to myself (with tears in my eyes) "Oh, this is going to fuck everyone up, including myself. Actually, I'll just include the short passage up to the line (I've bolded it for your convenience):

Back in the morgue, Chen Yuzhi continued to look at Keying’s burnt body before he reached into his pocket and pulled out her little butterfly clip, staring at it for a moment before he carefully and gently placed it into Keying’s hair, his hands trembling the entire time.  Once the clip was in her hair, he smiled weakly.

         “There…don’t you look pretty, A-Ying?” he murmured before he reached up to gently stroke her hair.  As he stroked her hair, more tears streamed down his cheeks and he shook his head, trying to stop himself from crying, before he let out a shuddering breath and leaned down, placing the gentlest of kisses to her forehead.

         “Goodnight, A-Ying.  Sleep well.  Gege loves you” he whispered before he pulled away and carefully covered her face with the sheet.

(I hurt myself sometimes with my writing, you know)

ao3 wrapped [writers edition] | send me asks

[livinglifeonpause]

BP Intros

Okay, watching the 90 second intros before watching anything else.

......................................................................................................................

Grouping these into PASS:

K - HAN SEO BIN (18, 5'8")/P - ? - okay, this one was fine. lets see more of this kid plz. reporter.

K - JANG JI HO (20, 5'8")/P - ? - his cute is cringy. pass. idefk.

K - PARK GWAN YOUNG (23, 5'7")/P - ? - cutie. cutie with cute energy. 4 seasons.

K - OH SUNG MIN (23, 5'11")/P - ? - ohhhhh, I hate it. but he’s really cute. dressed as a damn dog. ((This is another OnePact kid!))

K - KIM MIN HYUK (25, 5'11")/P - ? - good at doing what he’s here to do. karaoke

K - JANG MIN SEO (18, 5'8")/P - ? - weird intro, but good guitar skills ***ohhhh, he left before the show due to an injury

K - HONG KEON HEE (19, 6'2")/P - ? - that was many things. but i wanna see more things.

K - LEE HOE TAEK (31, 5'7")/P - ? - Hui! I never understood why he was on this show. like, this ain’t it for him bro.

K - CHOI WOO JIN (19, 5'7")/P - ? - cutieeeeeee, i hope he makes it. protect him.

K - SUNG HAN BIN (23, 5'10")/P - ? - he seems talented despite the schtick

K - PARK GUN WOOK (19, 6'0")/P - ? - Jellyfish - i think he’s handsome, but?? whys he so dramatic?

K - LEE SEUNG HWAN (24, 5'10")/P - ? - why didnt he just sing normally bro?? he’s got a real nice voice!

K - JEONG I CHAN (23, 5'10")/P - ? - is he a Sim?? That’s creative! and his voice! here for him.

K - KIM MIN SEOUNG (20, 5'8")/P - ? - omfg, i was kinda on board, but him being so awkward at the end sold me

K - KIM JI WOONG (25, 5'10)/P - ? - what a weirdo vampire schtick. but i think he’s handsome.

G - CHEN YU GENG (26, 6'0")/P - ? - i mean, he’s pretty! ***WHY THEY CALL HIM “CRAYON”

G - CHEN JIAN YU (26, 5'10")/P - ? - i’m cackling! do they not explain it for these kids? this one is cute, im here for him.

G - ZHANG SHUAI BO (22, 6'0")/P - ? - i hate it. but he’s cute so meh.

G - CONG (23, 5'8")/P - ? - he’s endearing and I want good things for him

G - KRYSTIAN (24, 5'10")/P - ? - weird, but the awkward ending was endearing

G - YUKI (22, 5'8")/P - ? - he’s v cute but v awkward

G - JAY CHANG (23, 5'9")/P - ? - (i mean he is the whole reason I’m watching this show) - i get why ppl think he’s corny though

G - SEOK MATTHEW (22 5'7")/P - INDEPEN - he brought a picture of his familyyyyyy, you have to support him!

G - MIN (24, 5'9")/P - ? - bitch had a whole ass oxygen mask! hahaha!

G - FENG JUN LAN (25, 5'10")/P - ? - this bitch dgaf. i like that. plus he already said he’s gonna suck, sooooo

G - WUMUTI (25, 5'9")/P - ? - (forgot this bitch was on here…) - oof his makeup. he do have a pretty ass voice though…

........................................................................................................... And FAIL:

K - LIM JUN SEO (19, 5'10")/F - 143 - omfg are they all this chaotic? i caaaaan’t.

K - JUNG MIN GYU (24, 6'1")/F - ? - bitch has a whole ass powerpoint? again, I can’t. he got a square ass jaw.

K - CHOI JI HO (20, 6'0")/F - ? - mr dj did not utilize his time well

K - JUNG SE YUN (16, 5'8")/F - oh come on, he’s 12. don’t put him on this show maannnn.

K - KIM TAE RAE (22, 5'8")/F - WakeOne - weird forum for an acoustic bop bro

K - BAK DO HA (21, 5'11")/F - WakeOne - ew. but maybe he’s cute.

K - LEE DONG GUN (19, 5'10")/F - ? - homie wont stop movinggggg

K - JEON HO YOUNG (19, 5'10")/F - ? - he too random????

K - KUM JUN HYEON (22, 5'11")/F - ? - his jaw is octagon. radio dj.

K - JANG YEO JUN (19, 5'10")/F - ? - look at his fucking flair. i dont really want to talk about his flair.

K - JUNG HWAN ROK (22, 5'9")/F - ? - isn’t harry potter dead yet? he didn’t need that schtick **oh this kid ends up leaving before it starts

K - LEE JEONG HYEON (22, 6'1")/F - WakeOne - wouldn’t it be hilarious if he couldn’t do the rubix cube??

K - CHOI SEUNG HUN (16, 5'7")/F - ? - nahhhhh, he too baby.

K - CHA WOONG KI (22, 5'8")/F - ? - what?

K - SEO WON (23 5'7")/F - ? - bruh, just sing. or dance. or something. or keep showing them veeneers.

K - JUNG HO JIN (21, 6'0")/F - ? - eyebrowsssssss. he go by “Dien??”

K - PARK HYUN BEEN (19, 5'10")/F - ? - woah. carrying costume

K - PARK HAN BIN (22, 5'9")/F - WakeOne - do other thiiiiings

K - JEON WOO SEOK (21, 5'8")/F - ? - i don’t understand what this was?

K - LEE DONG YEOL (25, 5'9")/F - ? - naurrrrrrrr

K - HAN YU JIN (17, 5'10")/F - ? - um, he awkward

K - KIM GYU VIN (20, 6'0")/F - ? - Jellyfish - um, he boring

K - HAN YU SEOP (20, 5'8")/F - ? - I’m not sureeeee. like the dumb ending though!

K - PARK MIN SEOK (22, 6'0")/F - WakeOne - meh voice, meh presentation

K - LEE YE DAM (21, 5'5")/F - ? - why he talking like that? I do want to see him dance more though…

K - PARK JI HOO (18, 5'9")/F - ? - naurrrrrr cutie, naurrrrr

K - YOON JONG WOO (24, 5'9")/F - ? - i just. dont have anything to say ((oh, he’s from OnePact))

K - MUN JUNG HYUN (19, 6'0")/F - Wake One - but he didn’t do any facial expressions??

K - JI YUN SEO (19, 6'0")/F - ? - tiny ass head

K - YOO SEUNG EON (20, 5'10")/F - ? - no, he doing too much, pretty pretty princess

K - LEE DA EUL (20 5'7")/F - ? - 143 - he’s wittle!

K - LEE HWAN HEE (26, 5'9")/F - ? - he faked that

G - OSUKE (21, 5'4")/F - ? - oh god, the face paint. brooooo.

G - CHEN REN YOU (20, 6'0")/F - ? - he honest didn’t know why the door was closing! hahaha!

G - TOUI (21, 5'11")/F - ? - oh, he’s even speaking japanese!

G - RICKY (20, 6'0")/F - ? - shrug. pass.

G - CHEN KUAN JUI (23, 5'9")/F - ? - flexible huh?

G - WANG ZI HAO (23, 5'10)/F - ? - he did the whole ass dance, but like meh

G - NA KAMDEN (23, 6'0")/F - ? - that was alot

G - WEN YE CHEN (24, 6'0")/F - ? - that was creative at least

G - NICE (24, 5'11")/F - ? - oh bless his little cookie heart. naur.

G - KEI (18 5'7")/F - ? - kei, i kinda wanna punch you

G - WINNIE (25 5'7")/F - ? - he needs a new hair color and new pants

G - ANTHONNY (20, 5'8")/F - ? - the nasallllly voice

G - DONG DONG (23, 5'9")/F - ? - why he put the bandaid on his nose though??

G - YUTO (19 5'7")/F - ? - his head wayyyy too big for his body

G - OUJU (20, 5'7")/F - ? - like what?

G - YUTAKA (25 5'7")/F - ? - he does not have a beautiful choice

G - HIROTO (22, 5'9")/F - ? - naur sweetie, naur

G - QIU SHENG YANG (23, 5'10")/F - ? - puppy in a monkey costume, oh sure sure

G - HYO (22, 5'8")/F - ? - noooooo, he’s 12

G - TAKUTO (16, 5'5")/F - ? - oh noooooooo, he’s 11!

G - WANG YAN HONG (25, 5'10")/F - ? - his face was -_- the whole time he was dancing, omfg *WHY HE CALLED DALE

G - OLLIE (18, 6'0")/F - ? - willy wonkNO

G - ICHIKA (31, 6'0")/F - ? - i got nothing

G - LIN SHI YUAN (25, 6'0")/F - ? - he didn’t even move!!

G - ZHANG HAO (24, 5'11")/F - ? - is that a tv screen??

G - CHEN LIANG (24, 6'1")/F - ? - the “singing” while dancing sent me (aka “Felix”)

G - RIKU (19, 5'11")/F - ? - cute concept for a skinny baby

G - ITSUKI (18 5'7")/F - ? - sir, go back to theatre

G - HARUTO (19, 5'7")/F - ? - that was alot. of nothing.

G - DANG HONG HAI (20, 5'11")/F - ? - why his face look like that tho

G - CAI JIN XIN (20, 6'2")/F - ? - okay.

G - YANG JUN (25, 5'9")/F - ? - he should just be an actor…

G - XUAN HAO (28, 5'11")/F - ? - he had a kazooooo

G - KEITA (23, 5'5")/F - ? - what even was that? he has cute eyes though.

G - BRIAN (22, 6'1")/F - ? - he cant really sing tho, can he?

G - HARU (18, 5'6")/F - ? - he got alot of eye makeup on

G - MA JING XIANG (20, 6'2")/F - ? - concept? round face? hair?

………………………………………………………………………………………

okay, there were 95 videos. i’m not trying to search for the other 3. on to episode 1!

Oh, they left before it even started… wait, how many fucking left?

? - JO EUN WOO (19, 5'8")

? - YEOM TAE GYUN (21, 5'9")

? - TAO YAUN (24, 6'0")

[sidesteppostinghours]

WIP its-not-Wednesday-but-close-enough

tagged by @autistic-sidestep! thank you for the tag :D i have,,, so many wips rn. pulp stop starting a million projects challenge. all of these are very rough, and a lot of them feature other steps, but i wanted to share a few :]

for writing, ive got these:

“What the hell, man!” Mitchel hisses. He’s let go, but he hasn’t bothered lowering his voice. Too loud, but real. Caine groans, pulling themselves up from the mattress. At least it wasn’t the floor– this could’ve hurt a lot worse. They wince at the throb in their shoulder as they reach for the wall, probing for a light switch. When he flicks it on reality re-establishes itself once more.  It’s Caine’s room, familiarly bare-bones. There’s only a singular twin sized bed in one corner of the room and a desk just across, with a heap of laundry they haven’t bothered to do taking up the chair. Mitchel stands on the mattress in the middle, both parts pissed and bleary eyed. His cheek is a lightish colour that’s a telltale sign it’s going to bruise, and a portion of his blanket stubbornly clings onto his shoulder. There’s no threat in here, or at least nothing more threatening than Mitchel annoyed. The knowledge doesn’t stop the blood pounding in their ears.

-caine wakes up and gets jumpscared by @hyper-pixels mitchel. they react to this calmly.

Marshal Steel has hair stuck in his finger joints. That's the first thing Daniel noticed when he came in to work this morning. Steel has his civilian hands on, which is normal when he has admin work. Those civilian hands will usually have hair in it too, mostly from Spoon. That's also normal. What's not normal is the colour; because instead of the odd tufts of grey fur Daniel's used to seeing scattering Steel's joints, this is a single, longer strand that he's sure wasn't left on purpose. Because the hair strand is brown. Suspiciously similar to Ortega's own brown hair.

-herald is suspicious that his boss is having another secret relationship with a pretty old man, but its none of his business! not at all. thats why hes eavesdropping on them from the breakroom pantry.

“What are you two talking about?” Ortega jerks, nearly spilling coffee all over Wei, tearing a curse out of him as he yanks his head to the direction of the voice.  Speak of the devil. Caine glances between the two, head cocked. When did he get here? Ortega doesn't remember inviting him, and nobody told him he was coming either. Not that Ortega isn't happy to see him, but the timing… “Dios mio, Spot, how long have you been standing there?” he mutters. He gives his coffee a once over, but nothing's spilled.  He turns back to Caine and double takes. The poor guy looks like he's just run a marathon– he's drenched in his own sweat. He's not wearing his raggedy sweater, for once. Instead, he's got a skintight suit with a simple white tee over it.

-a multi-pov fic featuring the same conversation, but told from the perspective of ortega, chen, and caine. trying to practice voices with it, and so far its been fun digging into each of them!

as for art wips:

-arde and vera based on the song "the villain i appear to be"! i actually made this today after playing the new revelations demo lmfao. i do not remember what arde looks like 😔 im so sorry ive done you a disservice

the next two have blood+mild gore in them, so im throwing them under the cut!

-cyrus gets Fucked Up by a dream version of fawn from @villainsidestep, based on this absolutely vile(/pos) soul read of him:

because why not fuck him up even more??

-mitchel painting i have yet to put down colours for that i am lovingly dubbing "cannibalism (NOT ROMANTIC)". chew it out with your teeth mitchel!!!!

ill be tagging everybody mentioned in the post, plus @idlenight, @disastersteps, and maybe @euelios if you all wanna give this a shot?

[achillesunly]

Everyone in the show ships it part 397652

I can't physically express how much I love this show

[nonbinarykai]

Okay you know what, I’ve held this back far enough

Why I hate canon Kailor sm

Tw:// misogyny ment, incest ment

Im not gonna tag Kailor on this for obvious reasons plus this is kinda a long post, I don’t mind fanon Kailor mostly because tbh I don’t think it’s really a big thing and most I have seen of it is fine. Don’t read this if you like Kailor and don’t want to hear it bashed

Okay listen, s4 is my favorite season out of all ninjago, but if theres one thing I hate about it the most is Kailor. This ship has always been really annoying to me throughout the show, and I’ve hinted towards that in my blog. But why?

1. It’s basically jaya redone

Kailor brings nothing new or interesting to the table because honestly? It’s literally just the same dynamic as jaya. Socially awkward guy simps for usually unimpressed girl until she eventually caves in and they start dating.

Not only has this already been done before with jaya, but is also completely out of character for Kai to do.

While I admit seeing Kai as a flustered dork is kinda funny, once you realize the context of the situation that they’re in it’s pretty clear that Kai would never actually do this.

Reminder: Kai JUST found out his dead friend is alive and is forced to recognsizle with friends in order to get him back

Usually when Kai is presented in a situation like this, what he normally does is set himself dead first on the task at hand and usually ignores any distractions. He’s mostly distance and seemingly uncaring

((note this is after Zane died and Kai ran away from the ninja because of cole and jays bickering, knowing him he wouldn’t be the most excited to be back. His arc should have revolved around coming to terms with lost friendships due to death or distance but that never happens)).

What Kai DOESNT do is immediately fall head over heels for a girl he JUST meet to the point where even when he sees his DEAD FRIEND ALIVE AND WELL he completely ignores that for a girl he meet less then a week ago

This is something JAY would do, not KAI, Kai is a loyal friend who do anything to save his friends, he cherishes them and would fight god to help them with anything they need, he doesn’t forget them for someone new

It also does skylor unjustice as well, but we’ll get there when we get there

2. It adds nothing to the characters and is otherwise never mention again

You know how bad you fuck up a relationship if the best aspect of it is how it’s rarely on screen

Even considering the fact Kailor is just jayas dynamic, the connection between skylor and Kai feels completely non existent or one sided

Most of Kailor revolves around Kai simping for skylor

They have no common interests, common goals, they rarely actually talk outside of lloyds plan to overthrow chen

The whole relationship feels forced every time it’s brought up because of how disconnected they both are to eachother, Kai only likes skylor because she’s hot and that’s it, nothing else about her is actually interesting to Kai in anyway ((again sort out of character for him in this situation))

Skylor and Kai don’t form any genuine bond with eachother, it feels hallow and empty

Let’s compare this to lava, wait no that would be to easy, let’s compare this to pixane

Pixal and Zane both genuinely like and respect eachother, they both share bonds outside of being robots, they both care about eachother enough to know when they’re uncomfortable or need help

Kailor is barely mentioned past s4 and most of it in s4 is Kai being a creep

Oh yeah let’s get to that

3. It’s really really creepy

Im sorry I don’t find incest jokes funny ninjago, it’s just really uncomfortable and creepy

Hopefully this goes without saying but Kai thinking skylor is hot, figuring out they might be related and no longer finding her hot, and then finding out they aren’t and thinking she’s hot is really weird and creepy

Not to mention scenes like, Kai looking into her room without her knowledge or consent

Or Kai fighting people for her when it’s not necessary

Or him trying to impress her everytime he sees her

This isn’t cute or funny, it’s gross, privacy invading, and overall just very creepy and uncomfortable and most definitely not healthy

Again, this is REALLY out of character for Kai, Kai knows when to back off and respect people’s privacy

Literally the season before this he didn’t get involved in the love triangle probably because he knew that would make Nya’s situation worse

So for him to suddenly become this privacy evading perv is so grossly out of character for him and makes the whole relationship feel off and unhealthy

And finally

4. The whole thing is misogynistic

During this entire thing skylor doesn’t get a choice in the show once, she follows the commands of her dad before Kai tells her not to like her dad and follows his lead.

She doesn’t come to disliking her dad by her own thought, she was told to by Kai

She doesn’t get to do anything that SHE actually wants to do until LITERALLY the VERY END

She’s told by guys around her what she should do constantly, even without her being a love interest that’s just screams misogynistic to me ((Afab speaking anyways))

Everything about her character, down to the way she talks, who she’s allied with, and even sometimes how she looks is determined by male characters

Conclusion

If canon ships were shrek movies then kailor is easily shrek the third, a constant tired unfunny mess that caused everyone to think that these ships were shit ((to be fair Jaya is kinda bad to but at least it tired to get better))

There’s nothing redeeming about it to me, every time it’s viewed in a romantic setting it makes me groan or upset

What’s even more frustrating is how people constantly say lava can’t be canon because of it

Im going to go on a side tangent so you can just skip this part as it doesn’t add any actual substance to my argument

But it’s so frustrating to see people say that

Cole and Kai have had a much healthier relationship and would be a lot better for there characters

But no, this stupid misogynistic creepy ship where one side isn’t even consententing to it half the time is the one that has to stay canon because “it’s what the creators intended”

Lava isn’t the superior possibly canon relationship because it’s gay, it’s superior because it’s closer to a healthy working relationship in show then kailor has been ((fanon lava and kailor doesn’t count here because they’re isn’t any better fanon ship, Im just talking about in show))

But no it can’t be canon and it’s unfair for people to want it to be canon because tommy created this rlly shitty straight relationship for Kai instead

TLDR; fuck kailor

[mondothebombo]

The Ninja’s Love Languages

For anyone who doesn’t know, the five love languages are...

Words of Affirmation

Physical Touch

Quality Time

Gifts

Acts of Service

I had this idea last night at 4 am and i’m gonna try and make sense of it so here we go...

Jay

Physical Touch

-this one’s super easy

-hands down this is 100% jay

-when isn’t this boy clinging onto someone (esp. nya and cole)

-i mean just look (there’s so many more but i got lazy, feel free to add on)

-his first response to comfort/fear is a hug, a hand on shoulder, etc.

-and when you think abt it it makes sense

-cuz first of all just look at his parents, ed and edna

-the most affectionate and loving ppl on this goddam planet

-they showered him w/ undying love and support his whole life, ofc this kid’s gonna turn out the same

-but then if you also tie in his abandonment issues and fear of being alone and it makes even more sense

-we find out abt those mainly in s12 when he talks abt his birth parents to unagami, but looking at what happened to him in s6 when he was alone for so long on the misfortunes keep and nya dying to top it off...

-he lost all his friends not once, but twice (and that’s not including all the separate times the ninja have died) plus he feels like his birth parents abandoned him, w/o him even rlly knowing for sure what happened

-so it makes sense he’d be more comfortable showing his love by clinging onto someone, giving a hug, high-fiveing, etc.

- i hope this made sense i’m so sorry

Nya

Acts of Service

-this also makes sense

-we all know nya is a very independent person, and she doesn’t usually like all the touchy feely stuff

-this is especially shown w her and jay’s relationship

-( i didn’t want to make this all abt jaya i’m sorry)

-we know they both are two very different ppl.

-nya’s strong and independent, while jay is a lot more sensitive

-you’ll notice in the earlier seasons nya almost never initiated the affection w jay, he always the first to mention it, also coupled w the fact that she’s never told jay “i love you” (at least not yet) and we can pin this on her childhood

-she and kai didn’t have it great as kids, they basically raised e/o and the only times nya ever heard “i love you” was from kai

-so if she wasn’t used to saying it growing up, why would she immediately jump to it now that she’s a teenager/young adult? even w someone she does love

-she expresses her love in what she does and says.

-the main example i can think of atm is this

-jay’s freaking out abt catching her for the dance move and with 100% confidence she just says “i trust you” and then fucking yeets herself at him

-there’s other examples of this w the others too

-she builds their mechs and vehicles, back in the earlier seasons she always made sure the boys were taken care of when they got back from missions, she was always the cavalry, she sacrificed herself for jay back in s6 when they were at the lighthouse, and kai mentions she’s always taken care of him

-not to mention how she adopted lloyd back when he first came in

-i could go on

-does this make sense?? i hope it does

Cole

Words of Affirmation

-i had a little more trouble thinking abt cole but now that i’ve decided i’m pretty sure WoA suits him best

-cole didn’t have the best childhood either

-we now know his mom, Lilly, died when he was fairly young, judging by the flashback, i’d estimate around 10-13 y/o

-we know it wasn’t too long before wu found him

-and she showered him in love much like jay was

-just in the flashback she tells him how proud she is of him and how much she loves him

-(also look how quick he was to try and justify why he got in a fight to avoid getting yelled at when his mom mentioned him getting in trouble bc he didn’t want to disappoint her)

-now we don’t know what Lou was like before his wife died, but we know he was definitely not as loving towards cole afterwards

-Lou ignored Cole due to his grief most of the time, coupled w him wanting Cole to follow in his footsteps, and their relationship overall sucks until after the royal blacksmiths ep

-so it all falls the same that Cole would want to keep seeking out the words he got from his mother in his relationships w others (especially authority figures)

-just look at all the times he absolutely lights up when getting praised by wu or even the others

-plus thx to day of the departed, we know he’s afraid of being forgotten

-hearing the others say they love him and want him around would appease that

-staying on this train, we have...

Lloyd

Words of Affirmation

-i was tied between this one and acts of service, but then i decided

-lloyd’s life, esp his childhood, has absolutely sucked

-he was abandoned at a very young age at darklys which we know the other boys there weren’t kind, and then when he finally gets a home and a family, the weight of the world is now on his shoulders bc he’s a prophesied savior

-morro’s possession says enough on its own

-the list goes on

-then we get s8-s10

-harumi goes and absolutely destroys his trust in everyone and everything

-(after she told him she loved him)

-but also...

- then boom. yeeted through a wall

-he’s been abandoned, rejected, and used his whole life

-why wouldn’t this kid need words of affirmation??

-the other ninja have been the one staple in his entire life, and after everything he’s gone through, he definitely needs to hear that they love him and want him around every now and then

-this kid’s also emotional (who can blame him)

-he always puts all his cards on the table, more so in s11 and onward

-and we’ve seen how he always gives encouraging words to the others, mainly while they’re fighting

Zane

Quality Time

-i had trouble w zane’s too lol

-but i think this fits

-this nindroid is the purest being ever

-don’t get me wrong, zane can definitely be a smart ass and sassy when he wants to, he’s not all innocent, but u catch my drift

-let’s look at his past too

-he was all alone and by himself, he didn’t even know who he was until he found his true potential

-and he gets a family, ppl who live and care abt him

-then he sacrifices himself and dies

-when he was imprisoned on chen’s island, he was alone

-then decoded happens and we find out he’s got intense trauma from that

-he thought he was alone in his internal battle

-then boom

-he’s the fucking ice emperor. alone for decades, committing genocide

-and when he finally snapped out of it, that had to of destroyed him

-he’s spent so much time being alone and facing so much trauma, that he always gravitates towards being in groups

-we’ve seen him and pixal spend time working together in the workshop, he enjoys family meals and cooking for everyone, he’s been shown to not like it when the others occasionally fight, and an overall loving guy

-he prbly doesn’t realize it, but he’s the glue that holds everyone together

-this one was so jumbled

and last but not least...

Kai

Gifts

-now not only does this fit his personality, it also makes sense with his bad childhood

-we all know kai is a very cocky and prideful person. he’s always showing off, flaunting his good looks, and can be sometimes arrogant

-ofc under all that is a very kind and loving big brother and friend

-but bc of this he’d not only love getting gifts from fans and the others, but giving them as well

-kai, like nya, didn’t have a good childhood

-he’s not an emotional person and he was never used to saying “i love you,” instead he had to take care of his sister while trying to run a business

-his way of showing love is giving things for his family

-there’re aren’t many instances of this in the show, but the gift giving doesn’t necessarily have to be smthg physical

-he’s sacrificed himself for the others on several accounts, he offers advice when needed, giving pep talks, helping raise lloyd, he even helped jay propose to nya, those things can be considered as gifts too

(again i’m sorry if any of this isn’t coherent i just had some thoughts. pls feel free to add on if i missed smthg)

The point of this is that these kids love each other and have different ways of showing it💙💜🧡💚🤍❤️

[byuntrash101]

Betcha, you're gonna be mine

Pairing: Idol!Baekhyun x You

Genre: Idol!AU, smut 🖤

Tags: mild dom/sub dynamics, deepthroat, some dirty talk, a little plot (not much)

Raiting: 18+

Word count: 3.4k

Summary: Working at KBS is fun and exciting especially when EXO-CBX is having their debut stage here.

General Masterlist

Tag list: @lovebuginlove @ohh-baekhyun @bobohumyonlyboo @smolbeanmika @making-me-blush @wooya1224 @yixing-jaehyun @baekklove @lalalala-lav @deligxt @xofanfics @byunsugar @dixnysustae @to-all-the-stories-i-love @artisticcgroove @myexoobsession​

A/N: the inspo for this comes from this gif right here. If you wanna be tagged plase tell me I well gladly add you. Plus feedback is greatly appreciated ^^ my asks are ALWAYS open💖!!

Betcha, you’re gonna be mine

You’re heading to the studio, it’s a regular Wednesday to you. Regular as could be as you ride your bike to the studio, just like you do every day. It’s nice and sunny out, still a bit chilly like it should be, it was early in the morning and spring was just starting.

You park your bike just outside and go through the glass doors of the KBS building. You greet your colleagues and smile. Everyone looks excited and just a tiny bit nervous today. Because today isn't so usual after all... EXO-CBX are doing their debut stage today.

Everybody is excited to see EXO because they are always funny and professional, without mentioning great performers. Basically they are a joy to have a on the set.

You, too, are kind of excited. But for you it’s usual since it’s a brand-new exciting job.

As a sound engineer, you know exactly what to do before the idols come in. You get the mics ready and pair them, check the sync with the monitors, make sure the mixing programs runs smoothly… You are so focussed on the job that you don't even notice Minlee, your best friend, creeping up beside you.

“Hey y/n, Chen Baek Xi is at hair and makeup” she says with a bright smile which doesn't keep you from jumping at the sudden outburst from your colleague.

“Awesome," you answer, holding your chest still slightly in shock. "The mics are ready”.

At this moment, the celebrity trio comes from hair and makeup. Still pretty focused on the monitors you don't pay much attention to them as you pass the three mics to Minlee.

“They’re there please mic them” you hand the mics without even looking at her because you spot something weird on the mixing program and you’re already trying to fix it.

Minlee gives you a nod and goes on her way. She approaches Baekhyun and smiles, presenting the mics. He lifts his gaze and recognizes her.

“Hey! Minlee!” he says smiling. Minlee giggles.

“Hi, she says, I have to mic you please turn around.”

He does as she says. His gaze sweeps the room, he nods and smiles at the familiar faces. Then, his eyes land on you. His smile fades away as his eyebrow lifts to let appear an intrigued look.

“Hum, Minlee, who’s this?”

“Huh?" She turns around to see you still occupied with the program. "Oh, it’s Y/N. She started working here around 2 months ago.”

“Huh, OK.” He says nothing more. But from this moment he is incapable of letting go of the thought of you. He observes you as you are busy on the computer. You don’t even notice his piercing eyes on you. An sly smirk progressively curling up his lips.

Baekhyun is not the timid kind. There’s a reason why he got as far and as quickly as he did in his career. Of course, talent and hard work was a big part of it. But Baekhyun’s secret was knowing exactly what he wanted and never missing the chance to cease the opportunity. 

And at the exact second, he laid eyes on you, you became exactly what he wanted. And the opportunity was right now.

As soon as he was done with Minlee and the mics he stepped down the stage and walked nonchalantly to where you were sitting now since being crunched over the monitor wasn't exactly the best thing for your spine. He stood just right in front of you.

“Hi” he simply says, flashing his charming smile.

Your eyes slowly leave the computer to meet his eyes. Dressed in this expensive suit, hands in his pockets, red shiny hair perfectly sitting on top of his head, smiling and looking down at you. You looked at him in awe. He chuckled, satisfied his entrance had the desired effect.

“You are new here, right?” he smiled again, being even more ravishingly handsome, which you really thought wasn’t possible.

You quickly regain your composure by slightly shaking your head, smiling back politely at him.

“Yes, I just started a few months ago”, you replied as you got up. Thinking that somehow the sitting position puts you at a disadvantage… But how wrong you were… because now you stood right in front of him. Dangerously close. Despite not being the tallest, he was still a good bit taller than you which you didn’t expect. You tried holding your chin up and looking indifferent, trying to ignore the frenetic thumping of your distraught heart. But that was nearly impossible.

“Oh, you did” he said slowly as he took a step in your direction, closing in the distance between the two of you. Out of instinct you tried stepping back but your calves were already pressed up against the chair you were sitting on a few seconds ago. He was so close that you were scared he was going to feel the heat burning in your cheeks. He smiled, flashing his glistening teeth.

“Yeah, I was just thinking that I never saw you before. And there’s no way I would have missed a beautiful face like yours” He said tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. Feeling is fingers against your skin sent a shiver down your spine, making you weak in the knees. You couldn’t get your eyes off him, his presence was so alluring. The way his eyes pierced right into yours, the way his lips curled up in a flirty half smile, the way his deep honey voice sunk into your very being.

It felt like the world stopped. Time frozen still as you locked eyes with him.

Like there was nobody else around. Nobody else to see when he inched his lips closer to yours as his warm breath tickled your cheeks.

“Baekhyun!” Jongdae shouted from across the stage. Suddenly you were brought back to reality. Baekhyun closed his eyes and tilted his head slowly, pinching his lips. Looking annoyed he turned around and took the stares back to the stage.

You shook your head trying to collect your thoughts. You reached for your water bottled and gulped it down to cool you off. It worked to some extend and you were able to focus on the recording.

Right after CBX proceeded with the prerecorded stage for the music show of the evening. The whole time you couldn’t keep your eyes off Baekhyun as he was singing, dancing and of course flirting with the camera. No doubt, he was good, very good!

As soon as the performance was over Minlee took your headset off and smiled at you.

“Y/N, did I have a stroke, or did I saw you and Baekhyun flirting right before the recording?” you almost choked on your saliva.

“N-no, we were j-just talking” you stuttered. Minlee sighed.

“Y/n, you should go for it.” You almost choked, again.

“What are you saying Minlee?”

“Maybe this opportunity won’t present itself again y/n!”

“But…” you couldn’t finish your sentence that Minlee took you by the arm.

“Alright let’s get their mics” she pulled you to the three idols. Minlee rushed to Minsoek and Jongdae.

“Can you take care of Baekhyun please Y/N?”

“Y-yeah” you whispered almost. You walked to Baekhyun.

“So, you gonna take care of me? Huh?” he said lifting his arms and an evil smirk on his face.

“yes” you replied as simply as possible. He let out a soft chuckle.

“I can’t wait” he said licking his lips and making sure his eyes were locked onto yours.

You procced to wrap yours hands around his waist and untangling the wires. Your hands going up to his ears and unhooking the mic. The whole time Baekhyun didn’t even blink once. Like he was trying to memorize every detail of your face.

Your job done you were about to swiftly escape Baekhyun’s hypnosis, but he caught your wrist and pulled you in closer. Whispering in your ear.

“Let’s not lie to each other and continue what we were doing in my dressing room.”

You were about to politely decline but he interrupted.

“You can’t lie to me y/n” he then let go of your wrist and left the set. Your eyes followed him until he disappeared in the hallway. Hearing your name being whispered like this gave you chills and sent the butterflies in your stomach flying around. You didn’t even know how he came to know your name, but you didn’t care.

You brought your fingers to your lips. What should you do? Baekhyun was right… you … wanted him. But this kind of … meeting was a first for you, you were always a good girl. Never once in your life you thought you would be able to do that but… you addressed a puzzle faced to Minlee. To which she responded with an excited smile. She gives you a hand gesture to urge you to follow him.

“Well fuck it” you thought, and you proceeded to also disappear in that very same hallway.

Once in front of the door you knocked carefully. The door opened right away. He was there, standing right in front of you. He had taken his blazer off, his tight white shirt was letting you see how broad his shoulders actually were.

“Ah, y/n, you almost made me wait.” He motioned to invite you in. So you did and closed the door behind you. 

The room had no windows, the only light source came from the vanity mirror. The atmosphere was intimate… Suddenly you realized what your visit here implicates. You feel your heart jump up in your throat and your stomach sink to your feet. 

He walked slowly towards you. Soon, your back was pressed against the cold wooden door. Except this time, Baekhyun placed his hand on the door, near your head. His face was getting dangerously close to yours.

“You really are pretty,” he softly whispered, analyzing your face once again. His breath tickled your cheek.

“T-thank you,” you stupidly replied, unable to think of anything else.

You could feel the heat radiating from his body. His lips were so close yet so far.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked, tilting his head, like he wasn’t going to wait for your answer, but he did nonetheless. You nodded slowly unable to speak, your eyes fluttering between his lips and his unwavering dark orbs.

Finally, the last millimeter was no more, your lips met. You felt his free hand wrap around your waist and pulling you even closer. His breath was getting irregular as the kiss got deeper. His tongue and yours dancing with each other.

His lips drifted to your neck as he trailed his way to your collarbone. Nibbling on your skin and leaving his mark. His hands passed underneath your shirt making their way to your breasts. You gasped for air. Baekhyun’s hands were roaming your body like they were familiar with it, like he knew by heart every mole, every birthmark, every freckle, every sensitive spot. He knew exactly what to do.

Soon, lust clouded your judgment,making all your worries and your bashfulness vanish. You started to become more daring and started to unbutton his shirt. Baekhyun smiled at your newfound confidence. He helped you with your quest, taking the shirt off his broad chest and  sending it across the room. For a brief second your eyes landed on his perfectly sculpted body. He took your breath away with every glance at his smooth skin.

He lifted your own shirt over your head. Kissing your neck, he unhooked your bra with a dexterous and swift movement.

He took a step back to admire your details. You felt his gaze burn into your body, exploring you. You should have felt embarrassment, but strangely you didn’t. 

You, too, took the time to look at him. Now you could clearly see how broad his chest and shoulders were. His silky skin still glistened from performing under the heat of the spotlight earlier. He was lean and his abs were toned. His body was close to perfection. No, it was pure perfection, along with the rest of it. You exhaled deeply.

He licked and bit his lip. His breath was still a little short but he looked hungry, ferocious...

“Take the rest of your clothes off for me baby” his soft honey like voice contracted with the commanding tone. You felt your cheeks getting warmer as you unzipped your pants. Slowly you rolled the denim off your skin. Revealing the black lace underwear you decided to wear this morning.

Baekhyun brought his fingers to his mouth, playfully flicking his tongue at his fingertips.

“That too” he motioned with his chin to your underwear. You slowly took it off too. Being completely exposed like this to him. Showing yourself so vulnerable in front of him. All of that... It pleased Baekhyun. Greatly. A mischievous smirk stretched his lips.

“Get on your knees baby” he said quietly but firmly, hand on his growing bulge. You did as he said. He pulled a chair from underneath the vanity and sat on it, whipping out his member. You bit your lips witnessing such a lustful sight. Arousal building up in between your legs.

“Come here baby girl” he called you. You crawled to him, still on your knees. He licked his lips and smiled looking down on you, revealing his pearly teeth.

“Good girl” he whispered as you reached him. He brushed his thumb on your lips before pushing it in between your teeth. You playfully opened your mouth and started to lick the tip of his fingers. He let out a satisfied chuckle.

“Come on baby girl don’t make me beg for it” he said pointing at his bulging member. You nodded and approached closer.

His dick was red, slightly twitching from all the teasing and kissing, obviously longing to be touched. You carefully wrapped both your hands at the base. You approached your lips slowly and took a look at Baekhyun. He had a pained look on his face, eyes fixed on your mouth, eyebrows deeply knitted. Clearly those were the longest seconds of his life. You kissed the pearly tip that was already oozing precum. A small string linked your lips and his tip. You licked it all off. The salty taste filled your head. He was biting his bottom lip and holding in his breath, looking down on you and stroking your hair gently.

You took him passed your lips. He let out a muffled groan throwing his head back, his eyes tightly shut. You continued to swallow him till you felt him tickling the back of your throat. With slightly teary eyes you slowly moved your head back. We repeated the same movements, making him languish for more. He chuckled.

“You like to tease me, huh?” you looked up at him. He was smiling, but almost in a threatening way. He looked impatient, hungry, reckless.

“Don’t tease me too much, okay baby?” he said, ever so slightly, thrusting his hips, forcing open your mouth. He twirled your hair around his fingers firmly holding it, pulling it with just enough force to coerce you. The heated sting on your scalp made you meekly moan.

“You’re a good girl right?” he growled in a whisper. His dominant behavior lighted a fire inside you and you started sucking him vigorously. He sighed in pleasure.

“Yes baby girl, you know how I like it, right?”

Encouraged by his deep moans you gave him your everything. Forcing his girthy length even past the back of your throat and stroking with both your hands the parts you couldn’t reach with your mouth. Baekhyun groaned loudly, biting lip. You liked the effect you had on him.

“Hmmm. S-Slow down baby, I might c-cum.” He said a painful look on his face, his lips swollen and red from trying to restrain himself.

You felt him throb in your mouth and pulling your hair to force your tongue off his cock. You looked at him, his face was flushed, his bangs were stuck to his forehead with sweat.

“You don’t want the fun to end here, right baby?” he said out of breath. You shook your head. He got up and took off his pants and underwear.

“Sit there, baby,” he said, pushing to the side the empty plastic coffee cups, makeup palettes and brushes. You placed your butt on the cold wood of the vanity. Legs crossed. Baekhyun approached you, he swept his hair back, slightly soppy.

He admired the curves of your body once more. One hand stroking his cock, he looked at you with a menacing evil glint, shooting a shot of electricity down your spine.

“Tell me what you want baby girl” he said in a rough, husky voice. You smiled teasingly, pulling your lips in a half smirk. You spread your legs slowly, provoking him. Revealing your sopping and quivering center.

“I want you inside of me Baekhyun” you said in a pleading tone. “I’m all wet and ready for you”. Baekhyun chuckled.

“Good girl”

Baekhyun took a step closer and playfully rubbed himself against your folds. You let out a small whimper. Baekhyun looked at you right in the eyes and smiled as he slipped into you. This time you couldn’t help but to moan loudly, sighing in pleasure as you felt his warmth inside you.

He started out slowly but quickly picked up the pace. You felt the pleasure radiating in your entire body. This full feeling soon clouded your head and you couldn’t think about anything else, malong your mind completely blank.

“You like that baby girl?” he asked looking at you.

“I love it. You feel so good inside me” you whined in pleasure. Your hands desperately searching for some kind of grip to hold you in place as Baekhyun slammed his hips into you forcefully. Making your messy hair jump to the rhythm of your skin clashing.

“Yes baby” he said in a groan.

You could feel yourself coming closer and closer to your release. Your breath was hectic as tension started building in your legs and you threw your head back in a lingering moan, trying your best not to be too loud.

You lifted your head back to look at Baekhyun. Him, too, seemed close. His hair was damped, droplets of sweat forming shiny wet paths on his broad chest. His expression was rough, his eyebrows were frowned and his jaw slightly pushed to the front.

Baekhuyn notices your legs shaking.

“Y/N are you gonna cum?” he said in one short breath. You nodded. He smiled devilishly before laying his hand on your throbbing center and circling your clit with his thumb.

As soon as you felt his fingers on you, you knew your orgasm was closer than ever, goosebumps running across your body, your legs shaking irreplaceably.

“What’s my name baby? I want you to say my name when you cum” Baekhyun said in a low husky voice, half groaning, half moaning.

Hearing his hoarse voice combined with his skilled fingers and rough trusting was enough to send you over the edge.

“Baekhyun!” You shouted planting your nails in the wood of the vanity. Your entire body shaking, giving in to the pleasure he was gifting you. You closed your eyes shut as your walls clenched around Baekhyun's thick length, desperately twitching in a powerful and long-lasting orgasm. The sensation spreading to your entire body, it was a first for you. Still cumming you managed to open one eye to look at Baekhyun.

His face was bright red, droplets of sweat dripping alongside his ears. His expression was rough, wild. His eyebrows deeply furrowed, and his mouth half opened, inhaling and exhaling rapidly. His thrusts were stronger than ever. Finally, you felt him release.

“Oh baby” he said in a low moaning voice, his nails digging into the side of your thighs. He delivered long ropes of thick and sticky cum inside you.

He started to move slower and slower. Before pulling himself out. Drenched and out of breath he looked at you still dazed and laying on the vanity. He was smiling happily, almost innocently, turning into a completely different person than the one that was relentlessly fucking you seconds before that.

“Y/N, I can’t wait for our next comeback.” You looked at him, he was a mess -a beautiful one at that-, and you too probably.

“Me neither”. You said smiling too.

General Masterlist

[dangermousie]

2020 End of Year Post - cdrama edition

This is only going to cover cdramas that aired in 2020; if I had to make a post about all the cdramas I watched this year, I would still be doing it in three months...

Overall it’s been a fairly decent cdrama year (certainly better than the very lacklustre kdrama year.) It’s no miracle that 2019 was (so many excellent dramas!) but overall pretty solid.

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

44 The Legend of Jing Yan - the worst cdrama I have seen this year, and possibly the worst drama of 2020, period. The hero and heroine were both uncharismatic, incapable of acting and saddled with such shrilly moronic characters, the only suspense was how they haven’t both perished long since from forgetting to breathe. Nor was anyone in the rest of the cast much better; the screenplay was written by a lower mammal and the cinematography was the best a third-rate wedding cinematographer could offer. Stay the HELL away from this one.

43 Unicorn Girl - the only unicorn about this bland yet irritating piece of pap was the fact that I was supposed to believe the leads are hockey players.

42 Autumn Cicada - I like spy stories, Allen Ren, and Republican Era settings. I can tune out Communist propaganda with the best of them. Yet, the propaganda ate the story to such a degree that there was nothing left; pre magic change Pinocchio was less wooden then this narrative.

41 You Complete Me - no you do not.

40 Skate into Love - the only positive thing I can say about this is that at least it’s better than Unicorn Girl, if for no other reason that only one of them is supposed to be a hockey player.

39 Irreplaceable Love - how do you make a story about fake siblings with a mad mother falling for each other boring? I don’t know, ask the makers of this.

38 Eternal Love Rain - I hate to rain on their parade, but these two actors cannot act, have about as much chemistry as a piece of bread, and are trapped in a story perfect for entertaining the mental abilities of the leads of Jin Yan.

37 For Married Doctoress - ummmm, you could do worse I guess. It only made me break out in mild hives. The sadistic ending did make me laugh though.

36 Dance of the Sky Empire - why you get Xu Kai and waste him in this insipid mess of a story is beyond me.

35 Love Designer - it’s inoffensive except to my sense of entertainment. There is nothing wrong with it but oh God is it bland.

34 Love a Lifetime - It felt like a lifetime watching this, but I didn’t love it. The story is incoherent, the actors have no chemistry and it’s all an epic waste of time.

33 Love is Sweet - so sweet it gave me diabetes. I like Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu, but there is literally no plot. I don’t need to sink into a plotless morass to watch pretty people engage in PG-rated make-outs. I am an adult with access to stronger stuff if I am thus inclined, though to be fair they could get x-rated and I still wouldn’t be able to sit through so many episodes of plotlessness for that.

32 Fake Princess - I love Zhao Yi Qin, but the guy needs to pick better projects. The female lead in this one has the voice and personality that can strip paint but the story is also doing nobody any favors.

31 The Changan Youth - I lost my brain checking this out. I had to go and read a dense treatise on medieval coinage or Mayan farming to try to recover it.

30 My Dear Destiny - kinda cheesy fun. It honestly shouldn’t be as low except it really feels like community theater.

29 Handsome Siblings - why is the Nic Tse version so good and this one so bad? True mystery for the ages. Chen Zhe Yuan is the sole reason this isn’t lower, because that kid tries SO HARD to make this drama bearable and almost succeeds. I can’t wait to see him in Sha Po Lang which actually will give him something to do.

28 In a Class of Her Own - see my comment on The Changan Youth. But at least Song Weilong is gorgeous to look at.

27 General’s Lady - inoffensive, pretty and so utterly pointless.

26 The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion - those two leading actors are a no go to me but at least they considerately acted with each other instead of ruining two dramas for me. It’s very pretty though.

25 Jiu Liu Overlord - it’s a mess and I bailed, but I placed it this high merely due to the fact that Lai Yi finally gets a leading role and he’s sexy as fuck and I am shallow. Whoever styled Bai Lu should never work again except at a circus, however.

24 Cross Fire - not my genre and Luhan will always look too much like my cousin for comfort, but it’s a surprisingly gripping and dark drama. I liked it!

23 God of Lost Fantasy - if you want to watch a mediocre wuxia/xianxia, this is not a bad choice. Probably better than Legend of Fei actually, because at least it doesn’t have an A-list cast to waste and gives us Sheng Yilun himbo and shirtless.

22 Renascence - the insane cuts (it went from 70 eps to 36!!!) made a fairly cheesy story into a total mess. But I had a good time until I finally bailed mainly because of the male lead (Chen Zhe Yuan yet again carrying a not-good 2020 drama on his shoulders; the guy should be nicknamed Atlas) and the insane but in a fun way story. The female lead (both the character and the actress) were not up to par but oh well.

21 Legend of Fei - only this high because objectively there is nothing I disliked it. But there is nothing I liked either. The most uninspired drama on the list. If you could eat cardboard, this is what it would taste like.

20 Ever Night 2 - compared to EN1, it’s a waste of film. On its own merits, it’s not very good (the cast replacements are uniformly inferior and Dylan Wang is so wrong for Ning Que I cannot even put it into words; the script is useless.) But it had some parts I loved so very VERY much (all the shippy stuff was perfection) so I don’t feel too bitter.

19 Castle in the Sky 2 - a lovely if not too complex fairy tale. It is inferior to its prequel because it doesn’t have Zhang Ruo Yun who elevated it, but it’s still a solid bit of fun.

18 The Great Ruler - it’s very high fantasy, very pretty, and surprisingly involving.

17 (tie) Legend of Two Sisters in the Chaos - the secondary couple steals the show but the rest is not too bad if not too involving.

17 Legend of Awakening - a solid bit of fun with a seriously BDSM streak (theme this year apparently - but come on, the lead’s powers only activate when he’s in extreme pain!) It’s a bit generic and the costuming is done by a blind person, not to mention the OTP is a NOTP, but the rest of relationships (romantic and platonic) are wonderful (I live for the found siblings story in this one) and I like most of the characters.

16 Consummation - a rare modern cdrama I liked; a sweet coming of age story (and love story) even if wrapped in a pretty weird virtual reality concept.

15 Oops the King is in Love - this is how you do a low budget, sweet, silly piece of fluff. Our heroine pretends to be a eunuch and crosses paths with a powerless young king and they are adorable, even more so than the drama.

14 Song of Glory - pretty solid, though draggy and I didn’t love the toothpaste filter. But A+ cast, excellent leading couple chemistry, Li Qin being a BAMF and a leading man (Qin Hao) who is actually an adult.

13 And the Winner is love - objectively kind of a mess (and the heroine has the brainpower of a gnat), but the OTP chemistry is excellent and Luo Yunxi fighting and flirting with a fan as finally a leading man is worth the price of admission.

12 Miss S - snazzy and snappy and stylish and whatever else starts with S.

11 Eternal Love of Dream - I don’t know if it would work for you as well if you weren’t a hardcore shipper for this OTP in Three Lives but I was and this was such a darling, wonderful, shippy delight; plus I love this type of high fantasy.

10 (tie) Maiden Holmes - solid and sweet and a wonderful OTP. Proves that functional doesn’t have to mean boring. If you watch one cross-dressing drama this year make it this one.

10 Qin Dynasty Epic - srs bsns history epic. I am not far into it but it’s so good and smart and visually stunning (if you love battles, this one is for you.)

9 Love Lasts Two Minds - I adored this so much more than I should objectively have, but it’s so beautiful (and no I am not just referring to Alan Yu’s face) and the OTP has wonderful chemistry and the story is solid, and the whole trope of her memory being wiped but falling for him all over again while he’s constantly and utterly devoted is a fave; plus he’s in pain and semi-dyng for most of it so sluuuurp (happy ending, don’t worry)

8 To Love - yes, a modern drama is this high! But it involves intensity, tragedy, genuine adults and sexiness that is Lin Gengxin. And there is an actual plot and darkness OMG!

7 Legend of Xiao Chuo - so beautiful, so fun, so full of gorgeousness of Shawn Dou. Plus, Liao is a rare setting for a cdrama and there are a lot of characters and stories I liked a LOT. Less ship content than I wanted but more than I expected.

6 The Romance of Tiger and Rose - so so delightful. I was literally laughing out loud. I have no idea if it will work as well if one isn’t a seasoned watcher of period cdrama/reader of web novels, with bonus for watching/reading Goodbye My Princess, but it was a complete delight for me (and yes, I shipped for real, as well. Best of both worlds.)

5 Twisted Fate of Love - Jin Han gets a leading period drama role! And he’s enjoying it to the hilt, excellent as a smart, twisty bastard who is also charming and so madly in love with heroine. Sun Yi is beautiful and tough and her chemistry with JH is on fire, the story never drags, and it’s so twisty and fun and just awesome.

4 Love In Between - the most underrated drama on this list. It has no big names or big budget, but it’s wuxia that’s clever, driven, tragic, hopeful and so beautifully shot. Three separate (amazing) OTPs, a leading man who is so not typical (a doctor who cannot fight and who never acquires this ability) and who is intense and smart and damaged, a heroine who puts her quest ahead of her emotions, an unhealthy degree of involvement by yours truly. This is a drama Fei should have been.

3 Love and Redemption - such a lovely, addictive, utterly romantic fairy tale. I was obsessed with it for a reason. All the tropes you love and some you didn’t know you did, a star-crossed OTP to the nth power (and a secondary OTP I hardcore love), a twisty yet coherent plot, some insane chemistry and so much whump and hurt/comfort they must have bought blood packets in bulk.

2 Go Ahead - yes, I can’t believe it either. A contemporary slice of life cdrama made it this high on my list. But the way it feels so real, the found family perfection, the characters I love and loathe, the perfect cherry of a wonderful OTP that hits my narrative kinks on top, and just a perfect storm of loveliness all around with this one.

1 The Wolf - is that any surprise to anyone who’s checked out this tumblr for the last couple of months? Tragic, intense and gorgeous; so romantic and angsty and passionate it made me lose my mind (though some of it was gone the moment the camera panned to Darren Wang) - all my favorite tropes and then some; this is a drama that may not be perfect but it is 100% and then beyond perfect for ME.

FAVORITE DRAMA

The Wolf - I have seen objectively better cdramas; even this year. But it has been literal years since I have been this hardcore obsessed, this utterly pleased, this emotionally catered to and devastated at once. A beautiful dark fairy tale that manages to own me despite the storytelling gaps due to censorship, it took me for one of the biggest emotional roller coaster rides of my drama watching career. Visually gorgeous, poetic, intense, and so romantic it took my breath away, this is not just my favorite cdrama of 2020, it’s my favorite drama this year period, and the one cdrama this year to make it into my permanent Top 10 cdramas list.

WORST DRAMA

Legend of Jin Yan - see my write up for it for why as I refuse to waste more time on this stupid mess.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Wolfie, The Wolf - he is such a haunted, tormented, complex, dark mess; loving and violent, severely damaged and with a hidden yearning softness, longing and aloof. And the amount of charisma and sheer masculine sex appeal Darren Wang brings to the role is insane and not something I see much of in a cdrama. Plus, that character arc with its rapid fall and slow painful redemption is A++++

Runner Up:  Sifeng, Love and Redemption - has a male lead ever loved more utterly and selflessly, suffered more thoroughly and beautifully, and managed to have such chemistry with both his leading lady and his leading man (that his leading lady temporarily turned into) at once? The answer is no.

Almost made the cut - Feng Xi, Twisted Fate of Love, Han Shuo, The Romance of Tiger and Rose, Qing Ci, Love in Between.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Xiao Qian, The Romance of Tiger and Rose - so funny, so much the reason this drama was such a delight. I adore her beyond words.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Murder Daddy, The Wolf - I am sad the censors robbed us of seeing him die on screen. He was fully human but nonetheless managed to be the worst monster in a drama full of literal ones.

Ling Xiao’s Mom, Go Ahead - I hate her so much I don’t want to look up her name. She abused the kid, the disappeared and came back to abuse him some more. I mean she literally gave her child mental health issues. She is the WORST.

FAVORITE SHIP

Xing’er x Wolfie, The Wolf - are you kidding me? Who else could it ever be for me? They destroyed each other and saved each other, sworn enemies and childhood lovers, soulmates and epic messes, they couldn’t live with or without each other. The longing, the passion, the intensity, the angst, the epicness. LIKE THERE ARE NO WORDS!!!!

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Si Yuan, Shen Manqing, Love in Between - I loved them as much and often more than the main OTP. So much angst and passion and a happy ending! She is a seeming sect darling (except the sect is horrible and also sexist so her only worth is as a marriage candidate) and he’s an information broker who is actually one of the members of a destroyed sect that’s blamed for the massacre of her family. That chemistry and yearning is insane. The scene where she touches his face when he’s unconscious was in serious running for my favorite scene of 2020.

NOTP

Legend of Awakening - I have never seen a couple that didn’t just have no chemistry but exhibited actual revulsion towards each other before watching Chen Feiyu and Cheng Xiao try to act as lovers in this one. It was almost entertaining to be honest.

FAVORITE SCENE

It’s a tie and both are from The Wolf. One is a sequence where Wolfie marches to the walls alone, seeking death at Xing’er’s hands and the whole sequence with the battle and rescue follows. The other is the intercut between Xing’er going to her wedding and Wolfie going to his execution, and the auto-da-fe being intercut with her wedding.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Wolfie, The Wolf - Ummm have you seen this tumblr lately, it’s basically a drool shrine to the man.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Yelü Yansage, The Legend of Xiao Chuo - I have loved this actor since The Myth and he continued to competently steal every scene he was in.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

To Love - come out of the coma, dammit!!!!!!!

NEEDS A DIRECTOR’S CUT

The Wolf - duh. It started out as 59 eps and got cut to 49. I reaiize some stuff is never gonna get put in due to censorship, but some of the stuff that got cut got for time reasons because they were deluded and hoping to get a TV broadcast so ep count had to be under 50. I mean I doubt the censors would care if they kept scenes of Wolfie building her a swing or whatever. I really really want a director’s cut the way Goodbye My Princess did even if like with GMP it’s only three extra eps. Hell, I will take extra three minutes, as long as those three minutes are Darren Wang shirtless or with a sword. Ahem.

NEEDS SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

The Song of Glory - it’s a fairly solid drama but honestly it didn’t need to be as long as it was and kind of got draggy and I got lost interest. (I could have gotten snarky and said all the dramas I didn’t like needed scissors taken to them in their entirety but decided to play nice.)

TOO MANY SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

There are a number of dramas I could complain about with regard to this (hi there, darling The Wolf!) but this award goes to Renascence - poor Renascence was never going to be a masterpiece, but it had the potential to be a bit of good cheesy fun until it had its run time cut by more than half and became an incoherent piece of insanity.

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Dumb shrill innocent heroine who can’t tie her shoes - see basically all the cdramas I didn’t like this year.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Male lead torture - I mean it’s always open season on that in cdramas, but between Love and Redemption, The Wolf, Love Lasts Two Minds, Love in Between and so on, it was a banner year!

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Legend of Fei - what a waste of that cast; what a waste of our finite time on this Earth. What a waste of my intelligence to hope for something better and stick with it for a dozen eps. I have had stale wonderbread that had more personality than this drama.There is absolutely nothing that stands out about this drama in any way,  from half-dimensional characters, to actors who are sleepwalking, to a plot that moves at the speed of an arthritic snail, to uninspired cinematography and direction, to lack of any chemistry between anyone in the cast. If paint-by-numbers was done by a group of particularly linear robots, it might come across the same way as this drama.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

The Wolf - honestly, I did not expect it to come out AT ALL EVER let alone to become my favorite drama of 2020. I was not familiar with the leading man (hahah), I liked Li Qin but wasn’t yet obsessed with her, and Xiao Zhan was excellent in The Untamed but I was hardly going to follow him from drama to drama (and I don’t do SLS any way.) And the trailer was enjoyable but unlike seemingly everyone, I didn’t think it was going to be some epic masterpiece. And then it came out and while it wasn’t objectively an epic masterpiece, it pulled out all the favorite tropes, shippy and narrative kinks from the deepest darkest recesses of my id. And I fell harder than I have in years. 

2020 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

None. Covid Year gave me PLENTY of time

BEST NON-2020 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2020

Novoland Eagle Flag and Joy of Life - they are in my Top 10 dramas from anywhere now. They are quite different except being smart and giving me protagonists to obsess over.

ETA: Also The Untamed because @idlewilds3 pointed out I actually watched it in 2020 even though I didn’t think so because this hellyear has lasted about three decades.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2021

I am gonna limit it to dozen and leaving out ones that aren’t necesarily supposed to air next year (Joy of Life 2, Love in Flames of War, Novoland Princess from Plateau.)

Monarch Industry, Novoland Pearl Eclipse, Silk Washing Stream, Dream of Changan, Sword Snow Stride, Wu Xing Shi Jia, Ancient Love Poetry, Immortality, The Long Ballad, Mirror Twin Cities, The Imperial Age, Fall In Love

[tigerkirby215]

5e Irelia, the Blade Dancer build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Jessica “OwleyCat” Oyhenart. Made for Riot Games.)

FINE I’LL MAKE IRELIA GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!

Irelia is my least favorite champion in League. She’s not my most banned (Shaco) nor is she the champion I complain the most about, but she is absolutely the champion that I look at and constantly think “this character actively ruins the game for me.” I’ll admit that Irelia’s role in the Sentinels of Light story was pretty interesting but you’re still not going to make me like Irelia, Riot!

I’m not going to bore everyone with a long-winded rant about my hatred for this character and how what I thought was going to be a nerf actually made her S tier (joy to the fucking world I now actually have to ban her) but I will say this: there are no champions who I won’t make a genuine build for if I take the time to make a proper blog post about them... Except Talon, but that’s because Talon has one of the most boring kits in the entirety of League of Legends.

GOALS

Step. Two. Whirl. Lift! - What? Do you think that a champion with literally unlimited dashes is unfair?

Perfection of form - We’ll also need to weave our blades around us like a dress, slicing at foes and protecting yourself in one fluent motion.

Remember the Placidium! - When in doubt just use more blades.

RACE

Irelia’s a human... but making humans all the time is boring. Irelia has an innate magic and I’d consider being in-tune with Ionia’s spirit a connection to the Fey. So I decided to make her an elf for the sake of this build, more particularly an Aereni High Elf from Eberron for the innate Expertise.

A regular High Elf works too if your DM doesn’t allow Eberron races; the only thing that really changes with the Aereni High Elf is that you get Expertise in a skill. Valenar elves are also cool for the Double Scimitar.

You can also make Irelia a human but there aren’t many feats I want for her except maybe Mobile, but I felt like being an elf was more fun to grab other feats.

As an elf you have +2 to your Dexterity score, Keen Senses for proficiency in the Perception skill (gotta watch those wards!), and the Fey Ancestry of Ionia grants you advantage against charms and immunity to being put to sleep magically. Instead of sleeping you can spend time in a Trance meditating to regain strength. You only need 4 hours in a trance to rest, and are fully aware of your surroundings while doing so.

As an Aereni Elf you get Expertise in one skill of your choice: we’ll be taking Performance because... well you are a dancer. As a High Elf you learn one Cantrip from the Wizard list, and we’ll actually be taking Prestidigitation to aid in our performances. Oh and you’d normally be increasing your Intelligence by 1 but we’ll instead be increasing your Wisdom because... well it fits Irelia more. (No big loss if you increase Intelligence instead though.) And you can learn one language of your choice: pick whatever you think would inspire fear into the heart of Noxians!

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - A dancer is meant to be beautiful first and foremost.

14; DEXTERITY - Of course dancing takes nimbleness. "When no one's around, I dance for myself."

13; WISDOM - This is where the +1 from our race is going! Keep in-tune with the natural world and Ionia’s spirit.

12; CONSTITUTION - You are still a top laner with just... way too much sustain. (Feel free to swap this with Wisdom for more HP but less roleplay.)

10; INTELLIGENCE - Nature is an intelligence skill and military tactics are good to learn, but we simply need everything else more.

8; STRENGTH - You swing your blades with the rhythm of the natural order. Which is to say Riot doesn’t like buff ladies.

BACKGROUND

A dancer is a type of Entertainer. You get proficiency in Acrobatics but since you already have expertise in Performance feel free to grab Nature to become more in-tune with the world around you. You also get proficiency with a Disguise Kit and an instrument of your choice: pick whatever you think suits you and make your own Ionian war hero!

You feature By Popular Demand makes you known as both a dancer and a war leader! You can perform in exchange for a place to rest for you and your allies, and people will remember your dance and treat you with respect.

(Artwork by Bo “chenbowow” Chen. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

What? Did you expect this to just be 20 levels of Swords Bard? Honestly Rogue serves as a better recreation of Irelia’s abilities, at least at early levels. That and I want proficiency in 4 skills, so take Insight, Persuasion, Intimidation, and Slight of Hand proficiency to lead and dance with grace. You also get Expertise in two of those skills: Acrobatics is a must but since we’ve already got proficiency in Performance you may as well grab Persuasion for good relations with Ionia’s people.

You also get Thieves’ Cant to speak in the way only other performers can understand, “performers” in this case being other Rogues. But of course the main skill you get is Sneak Attack, giving you an extra d6 of damage if you have advantage on your attack or an ally is near the enemy you’re attacking.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

I always love when I get to recreate League of Legends dashes by just... letting you use the Dash action a lot. Second level Rogues can make Cunning Actions to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a Bonus Action. Keep it simple stupid and weave around your foes on the battlefield.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Third level Rogues get to choose their Roguish Archetype, and to dance around the battlefield while slicing down foes the Swashbuckler is a great choice to keep your rhythm in check. Your Fancy Footwork will allow you to attack a foe before slipping away without provoking Opportunity Attacks while your Rakish Audacity will allow you to add your Charisma to your Initiative to always be the first on the front line.

Rakish Audacity also lets you Sneak Attack a foe who is alone on the battlefield as long as you don’t have disadvantage and they don’t have an ally within 5 feet, letting you hit them for an extra 2d6 with your blades.

Now may as well be a time to ask: Dual Wielding or single weapon? Since you’re not going to be getting a shield I’d say carrying two blades is worth it for the potential to deal more damage when needed. You can also use your Dual Wielding attack to activate Fancy Footwork more often to evade more enemies. Just be mindful of when Dashing or Dodging would be more useful.

LEVEL 4 - ROGUE 4

4th level Rogues get an Ability Score Improvement and Dexterity controls most of what we do right now, so a +2 to DEX would be beneficial.

LEVEL 5 - ROGUE 5

Normally I wouldn’t go out of my way to grab level 5 in Rogue just for the sake of Uncanny Dodge, but here’s the thing: it’s literally Irelia’s Defiant Dance! Take less damage from an attack you saw coming before striking back with your 3d6 Sneak Attack.

(Artwork by Michelle Hoefener. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - BARD 1

Now it’s time for those 20 15 levels in Swords Bard! Multiclassing into Bard gives you proficiency with one musical instrument (pick your fancy) and one skill of your choice: I opted for Arcana because... well you’re fighting with magical floating blades. (Or at least you will be in due time.)

As a Bard you can inspire your allies as a Bonus Action thanks to Bardic Inspiration, letting them add a d6 to their Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, or Saving Throws. You have a maximum number of Inspiration die equal to your Charisma modifier, which come back after a Long Rest... for now.

But of course as a Bard you get Spellcasting! You learn two cantrips from the Bard list such as Message to communicate on the frontline, and Vicious Mockery which is sure what I fucking feel playing against an Irelia one-trick smurf account. You can also learn four leveled spells like Faerie Fire to mark your foes, Command to strike fear in the hearts of foes, Heroism to strike vigor in the hearts of allies, and Healing Word; because healing is always good to have.

LEVEL 7 - BARD 2

Second level Bards have dabbled in a little bit of everything: healing, damage, healing, mobility, healing, crowd control, oh and I think Irelia does need some more healing. Regardless Jack of All Trades will let you add half your proficiency bonus to any skill checks you aren’t already proficient in. (This also includes Initiative which is important to mention!)

If you use Tasha’s rules you can also grab Magical Inspiration to make your allies’ spells either heal more or do more damage thanks to your Inspiration. Oh and speaking of spells you can also grab Longstrider for more speed on the battlefield.

Oh and you get Song of Rest, the ability I always mock for scaling poorly. But it will help your allies recover after a hard battle!

LEVEL 8 - BARD 3

Irelia has many magical blades because she went to the College of Swords. Along with Bonus Proficiencies with Medium Armor and Scimitars (neither of which Rogues have for some reason) you can pick up a Fighting Style: I personally opted for Two-Weapon Fighting to get more attacks in but Dueling is also a perfectly fine.

Of course the main appeal of being a Blade Dancer is your Blade Flourish: When you attack on your turn you move 10 feet faster until the end of the turn, and if you hit you can use a Bardic Inspiration on a Blade Flourish:

Defensive Flourish lets you roll your Bardic Inspiration to add to your damage and AC.

Slashing Flourish lets you roll your Bardic Inspiration to add to your damage, and do that extra damage to any other creature of your choice (that you can see) within 5 feet of you.

Mobile Flourish lets you roll your Bardic Inspiration to add to (guess what) the damage. You can also push the target up to 5 feet away from you, plus a number of feet equal to the number you roll on that die. Immediately afterwards you can use your reaction to move up to your walking speed to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the target. It’s not quite a Dash, but it’s certainly a Bladesurge!

You can only use one Blade Flourish per turn though. Additionally you get Expertise in two skills like Insight and Nature, to know the spirit of both people and the world around you. And finally you can learn a second level spell like Hold Person for a stun before you do your full combo.

LEVEL 9 - BARD 4

4th level Bards can grab something a little better than Flash; the Fey Teleportation feat! Along with a +1 to your Charisma you learn Sylvan, but most importantly you can cast Misty Step once per Short or Long Rest to get out of a dangerous situation! It unfortunately doesn’t add the spell to your spell list (like Fey Touched from Tasha’s Cauldron) but being able to regain your mobility spell after a Short Rest is extremely useful!

Speaking of spells you learn one more Bard spell, and one more cantrip! For your cantrip take Mage Hand to grab blades from afar, and for your leveled spell take Calm Emotions. It perhaps isn’t the most practical and there are certainly better options, but it’s fitting.

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 10 - BARD 5

5th level Bards get a Font of Inspiration, letting their Bardic Inspiration charges come back after a Short Rest. That’s nice because your Bardic Inspiration (and Blade Flourish die) also increases to a d8.

You can also grab a third level spell like Hypnotic Pattern, to stun an entire army with your blades.

LEVEL 11 - BARD 6

6th level Bards can finally turn their Vampiric Scepter into Blade of the Ruined King, giving them some Attack Speed for an Extra Attack. You can still only use one Blade Flourish per turn, but at least now you can attack twice with your action or up to three times if you make a Two-Weapon Fighting attack.

You can also grab another spell but there’s not much I want from third level, so instead I’ll talk about Countercharm, which is dumb and bad. You spend an action to give yourself and nearby allies advantage against Charms and Fears. Or you could fight through the fear and slay your foes... or cast Heroism or Calm Emotions.

LEVEL 12 - BARD 7

7th level Bards can learn 4th level spells like Dimension Door to teleport into lane or back to base, and Freedom of Movement for some Tenacity.

LEVEL 13 - BARD 8

8th level Bards get another Ability Score Improvement. We’ve been investing more in Bard so more Charisma would be nice for more Blade Flourishes and better spellcasting.

You can also learn another spell but again: don’t really want anything, so we’re going to wait for...

(Artwork by Jana Schirmer. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 14 - BARD 9

9th level Bards get to pretend that Song of Rest is a useful ability that scales well, especially when multiclassing. I mean, at least it’s a d8 now!

You also get 5th level spells like Animate Objects. Hey: it only took us 14 levels to get your blades! You can also grab Rary's Telepathic Bond (ty Tasha’s) to keep to team chat with everyone.

LEVEL 15 - BARD 10

10th level Bards get Expertise in two more skills: take Arcana to further your connection to Ionia, and Slight of Hand for the specific hand movements to manipulate your blades. You also see your Bardic Inspiration increase to a d10, which also means your Blade Flourishes deal a d10 of damage!

Additionally you get Magical Secrets from any class so you can use your unique brand of blade magic. And by far the most blade-like spell you can grab (at this level) is Steel Wind Strike, to dash through multiple foes for a big burst of damage!

Additionally we will be grabbing Blade of the Ruined King (finally) with Spirit Shroud; yes it’s a bit of a low-level spell but it serves as a great damage boost to your melee attacks and also keeps enemies close for you to fight them. And finally you get one more cantrip: Mending will help you keep your outfit in check.

Also if you want you can replace Message with Prestidigitation now that you have Rary’s Telepathic Bond.

LEVEL 16 - BARD 11

11th level Bards get 6th level spells: you can lean into your lessons as a dancer and take Otto's Irresistible Dance to force your foes to keep up with the rhythm or die trying. "Okay, I'm warmed up."

LEVEL 17 - BARD 12

12th level Bards don’t get extra spells, but they do get another Ability Score Improvement: more Charisma means more Bardic Inspiration die (for more Blade Flourishes), better spells, and more initiative so capping that out would give you more bang for your buck overall.

(Artwork by Art of Maki. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - BARD 13

Hey remember when I said Song of Rest is a useful ability? Well it’s a d10 now!

At least you can learn Forcecage to take Noxians as prisoners of war to be properly judged... As long as they don’t have a filth bucket in their cell.

LEVEL 19 - BARD 14

14th level Swords Bards as masters of their blades, and can perform a Master’s Flourish using a d6 instead of one of their Bardic Inspiration.

You also get two more Magical Secrets, and hey we can finally grab your ult! Take Blade Barrier to cut the armies off with your Vanguard’s Edge. Alternatively if you need to go back to base take Word of Recall to recall back to your fountain. Which is to say: I had no other good spells to give you.

LEVEL 20 - BARD 15

15th level Bards see their Bardic Inspiration die (and their Blade Flourish die) increase to its maximum size of a d12! And you can cap off the build with an 8th level spell, but in all honesty there isn’t many spells I want from 8th level. So use that slot to upcast and take Hold Monster instead to finally be able to stun Wukong.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Grace bends where strength breaks - You have a variety of ways to deal consistent damage between competency with swords, Blade Flourishes, and powerful spells.

I move to unsung melodies and unbeaten rhythms - +12 to initiative and the ability to move between enemies you attack freely means you’re guaranteed to be on the battlefield fast and able to put yourself in a position to fight with your allies.

Never stop learning; there's always a form you don't know - It was not my intention but turns out Bards and Rogues get a lot of skill proficiencies. +17 in Performance and Persuasion, +16 in Acrobatics and Slight of Hand, +14 in Insight, and +12 in Arcana and Nature. Not to mention Jack of All Trades helping you with all the skills you don’t have proficiency in.

CONS

Each form has a name known only to the wind - So your Dexterity isn’t maxed out, which means you’re a little lacking in both AC and hit chance. Honestly level 5 of Rogue isn’t that good, even if Uncanny Dodge works well as Defiant Dance. 4 / 16 would’ve been better for another ASI.

Stay ready, and there is no need to get ready - Most of your fun spells are accessed at a very high level, with your lower leveled spells dedicated more to utility. You’re a sword fighter first and foremost but seeing as your Charisma is maxed it would be good to use your high Charisma.

We are sharpest where we break! - Low DEX and no Shield (no Shield spell and two-weapon Fighting) means that your AC isn’t the most impressive. That along with 120 health means that a few bad hits can put you in the danger zone. Sure Uncanny Dodge gives you a reliable way to soak up damage but a good surprise hit will quickly put an end to you.

But you don’t need to worry about weaknesses when you’re probably smurfing anyways. Dash, dance, and decapitate foes in a graceful death of a thousand cuts. Keep your style and inspire the commonfolk to take up arms to protect their homeland. Just don’t get too out of line, or Riot might nerf your movement speed by 5.

(Artwork by Bo “chenbowow” Chen. Made for Riot Games.)

[chalkrevelations]

Street Dance of China S3, Ep 3. It sounds like maybe I should step up my pace on these, as they’ve announced the captains for S4 now? (Yibo back, Lay Zhang back, plus a couple of new guys I don’t actually recognize yet.) When is this going to air because it is just LAUGHABLE that I can keep up with 3+ hours of this a week. Particularly if I’m going to keep obsessively re-watching Word of Honor AND try to finally finish Killer & Healer in the miniscule free time I actually have for teevee. There’s certainly no way I can watch and dither on about 3+ hours/week worth of dance show in realtime before January, at least.

ANYWAY, this ep, we get a recap of everyone falling out after the captains’ cypher, and we learn who got the final extra towels and passed through to the next round: Lu Jiao Ni, who we barely see, on Team Jackson Wang; Yuan Ye (as promised) and A Li (who we barely see) on Team Lay Zhang (ETA: Wait, we find out later that A Li isn’t even on Lay’s team, she’s on Yibo’s - he wouldn’t move her on, and she gets one of Lay’s towels instead); Bullet (as promised) on Team Wang Yibo; and Xiao Ming (as promised? maybe? as we’ve barely seen this guy?) on Team Wallace Chung.

This week: Out of 400 people, we’re down to 105. Not all of these faces are familiar, and I suspect I don’t really need to learn 90 percent of the unfamiliar faces. I … am going to go out on a limb and make a guess that one of the dancers whose name has been bolded in one of the past two episode recaps is going to be the ultimate winner, because I have umpty SYTYCD episode reactions on my LJ, and I suspect I know how this works. I wouldn’t even put money on any of those five bolded names in the previous paragraph, quite honestly. Anyway, now it’s time to start culling down to 60. We bring out the team captains, and my first reaction is “MY EYES” because wth are some of you wearing? Wow. Yibo’s shoelaces are all over his jacket. Wallace looks like he rolled a flasher on the street for his trenchcoat. Lay Zhang is wearing a baggy pink jumpsuit, and I guess, OK, it’s easier to maneuver bathroom breaks in one of those when you have a dick, but that’s definitely a fashion trend that should have stayed back in the ‘80s. I guess questionable fashion is an international phenomenon.

There’s also an empty chair for the promised Mystery Guest, and there’s a game with clues, and a lot of guesses from our captains about who the Mystery Guest will be, and Jackson does A Bit through the whole thing. I don’t know whether to be entertained or annoyed by him. He’s the only one without some egregiously questionable fashion choices (so far) this episode, so maybe he gets a pass. Anyway, I don’t have the pop cultural context to understand the guesses, and I also don’t have either the pop cultural context or the knowledge of this area of dance to grok the Mystery Guest’s identity, but he’s Huang Bo, and apparently he had more than 1000 dance performances in the 1990s, so he must be at least as old as me and Wallace, if not older. Yibo takes the opportunity to make the – very NON-politic – remark that maybe HE wasn’t even born yet at the time? That … is not the way to win friends and influence people, Infant. Also, the Mystery Guest is NOT the person Jackson kept doing A Bit about. The reveal is all very dramatic, and he does a lil’ bit of choreography from of each of the four Extant Captains’ videos before he takes off his mask, and they act appropriately impressed, and there are some girls with short shorts among his backup dancers, so that all happened. The show obviously wants me to be very impressed by him. Show also tells us he’ll have a special skill that will be very important and at least leads us to believe that he’s going to be the “life-saver,” so the audience immediately curries favor, or at least plays at it.

Next up: Rules. Eliminations this week involve contestants self-selecting into groups of anywhere from one to five people and performing for a panel of all the captains. Teams pull a number out of a hat for performance order. Thumbs up from all four captains, you go to the next round. Abstentions from all captains, you go home. Thumbs up from some and abstentions from others, you face the possibility of a call-out from other contestants, whereupon you have to dance for your life battle to find out which of you stays and which of you goes. Oh, and we’re only going to keep going until the 60 available seats are filled, and then we’re done. If you’re number 35, you’d better be prepared to battle someone earlier and kick their ass, or you’re fucked, you don’t even get to dance. I’ve said it before: Audentes Fortuna adiuvat. Only wait, ETA: There will be some last minute BS rules fuckery, in a way that is clearly intended to save someone in particular, which I feel some kind of way about - and it is not really the way that almost everyone on the show seems to feel - but I guess we’ll get to that later.

And cue ridiculously long nattering, so we’re going to cut here.

First group is Lin Meng (Team Wallace), Teng Zai (Team Lay), Bing - of the infamous motorbike flirtation - and Dian Men (both Team Yibo), along with a dude we haven’t actually seen yet, Tang Qian (also Team Yibo). Your lack of even B-roll so far is concerning re: your chances in this competition, Tang Qian. I’m just sayin’. Anyway, this is a powerhouse group, and at least Lin Meng and Teng Zai are familiar with each other because they’re from the same crew, and Xiao Bao remarks from the audience of contestants that these guys are going to go through, no matter what. They’re going to do a totally popping routine. My sound drops out at the beginning which … yeah, makes them look even more like a boyband at the beginning, in their matching baseball uniform shirts. So, here’s the thing, they’re a little muddled, they don’t move smoothly around each other on stage - their dance moves are coordinated, but they’re not moving in space like a group that understands each other. (Somewhere in here, my sound comes back, and Yibo already can’t hold still to the music.) The other thing is, though - all of these guys are very good at what they do, they finally hit their stride a minute or so in, and when they do, they hit it hard. I’m frankly surprised they don’t get passed right through to the next round, but Jackson abstains on the vote, and when called upon to explain himself, it turns out he just wants to see them battle. I can understand the impulse, Jackson, but this is already super stressful on all the dancers, and it doesn’t escape my notice that you’re the only one of the four captains without a dog in this particular fight, so a little bit you look like you’re doing this just because you can. Remember this, because it will set a bad example for an 11th -hour vote. Anyway, there’s the chance for a callout, which no one takes because the entire audience is convinced this group is too good to beat. Five of 60 seats taken.

Group two is Shen Kai Xiang – the Jack Ma lookin’ dude. He’s flying solo. He gets to stand around uncomfortably for a while onstage while Special Guest Huang Bo does A Bit making fun of all of the captains’ speech patterns and accents and pronunciation, except Yibo’s, because Yibo apparently never talks. Ha ha. (I’m also wondering if there’s some socio-cultural stuff underlying some of this that I’m not cued in enough to fully understand.) Huang Bo then tells the contestant that Jackson has probably fucked him over by praising him too effusively (he came from Jackson’s team, and Jackson already is displaying a tendency to rhapsodize about how everything is “ART”), so all the captains now will have inflated expectations that Shen Kai Xiang is surely only going to fail to meet. I’m beginning to suspect that Huang Bo’s Special Guest Superpower is not “lifesaver” but “kind of annoying asshole.” Maybe it’s to take that particular spotlight off of Chick. ANYWAY, Shen Kai Xiang FINALLY gets to perform, and he gets a little bit of a slow start, but he packs in a lot of elements and gets a LOT of good air in his moves once he gets wound up. He’s lyrical and super emo about it. I’m kind of “eh” on him – technically, he’s good, but I’m not particularly connecting with him, which I’m willing to admit could be a me thing, as everyone else seems super-impressed. Three captains pass him through. Yibo does not and explains this decision as personal preference – he likes more “underground” styles, more battle styles. Huang Bo brings back the issue of too-high expectations to help explain why Shen Kai Xiang isn’t being passed directly to the next round, even though Yibo just explained his decision and that is literally not the reason he explicitly gave. Anyway, Shen Kai Xiang gets no call outs, which seems to surprise Yibo, and we’re at six of 60 seats taken.

In quick succession, we move through Liang Hua Jie – we don’t see much of him, but we learn that while Wallace likes his musicality, Yibo doesn’t like his face (OK, doesn’t like his facial expressions, which, what can I say? I get this. If I’d had the power to unilaterally send home Lacey Schwimmer on her season of SYTYCD, I’d have done it, that’s how fucking annoying I found the way she’d mug for the camera the entire time she danced. Like I couldn’t even watch her dancing, because I was too distracted by what she was doing with her FACE the whole time.); Jian De Chao (wait, is this Chao from the first episode?) & Chen Zui – who, from what we get to see of them have some good flow and move pretty well together, but can get a little bit mushy in their moves, and Yibo likes their skills, but Lay thinks they don’t feel like a group, which what? Incorrect; and a group that’s dubbed themselves Purple Storm Show, which includes Alex from Jackson’s team and four other people who I can’t even catch – we barely see their performance, and Lay likes them, but Jackson thinks they’re flat. I can’t tell if any or all of these guys were sent through to the next round or sent home, but if they didn’t make it, then  :(  because I liked Alex, and he got hit in the eye for this, he deserves better than to get sent home because his team can’t get it together. We still have no group that’s been passed through by all four captains.

And then, next up is another powerhouse team: Gongsu Wu Ming and Hei Zai (Team Lay), George and Xiao Ming (Team Wallace), and (Xiao) Bai (Team Jackson). Yibo is skeptical about an all B-boy group, and don’t make me fight you, Yibo, because an all B-boy group is like my dream come true (sorry, poppers; sorry, lockers; my heart truly belongs to the B-boys, they are my favorite). We learn they added a flip at the last minute – an assisted flip, with a couple of them flinging George into the air over the other two of them. Wu Ming thinks that George is the only one of all the competitors who could do it, but George – who has a little more skin in the game than anyone else, as the guy who could potentially land on his head wrong - is a bit concerned about whether they’re going to pull it off. They start, and they’re all good, a little bit muddled before they hit their stride, but the slo-mo cartwheel is great, and from there, they’re off and running. This is why I like the B-boys – I know it takes a lot out of you to do this, but there is nothing – nothing­ – like the magnetic energy they can generate when they’re in their performance headspace and everything is flowing. This is a performance, and Wu Ming has talked a little bit about wanting to step up breaking, and if this is the sort of thing he wants to do, I’m all for it – give him the platform now. I’m going to take just a minute to single out Bai and say that he’s better when he’s not doing A Bit like he did in his initial performance for Lay Zhang – he’s much more electric here, and someone else’s choreography may make the difference. Jackson, Yibo, Lay – they’re all out of their seats, none of them can hold still in the face of this. We get to the end, and unfortunately, everyone else is kind of cluttered and mushy moving into position for the flip – that is not a way to go out guys, DO NOT DO THAT at the last minute – but then George f’kn NAILS the flip, so that’s thankfully the last impression they leave. The captain’s faces are a picture. (Except Wallace, who’s suddenly too cool to give us anything, apparently.) FIRST ALL-PASS. George’s assessment: “Not bad.” :facepalm: OK, Mr. Cool Guy. They also cut in a post-interview bit with Bai about the performance, and he notes that they all know each other, they’ve been battling each other for like, a decade, now. Dance together more, guys.

Moving on, we fortunately have another very strong group to follow them: Gai Gai, Wang Tao and Huang Xiao, all from Jackson’s team, and you can tell he badly, badly wants to start in on the ART! bit but he (loudly) keeps his mouth shut about this group until after the performance. The only one of these three we’ve seen so far this season has been Gai Gai, but they all dance in the same group together, and they seem to be well-known by a lot of the other competitors, particularly Huang Xiao, both as a dancer and a choreographer. They say they’re doing jazz, although I’d be more likely to call this contemporary, if I was going to put them in a box. They are gorgeous – lyrical, fantastic dance vocabulary, amazing choreography, beautiful musicality, and the way they move together as a unit is … :chef’s kiss:  I think Huang Xiao may be the best of the three, technically, but there’s something ineffably charismatic about Gai Gai that’s pulling focus a bit – just a bit – more than the other two in this performance. If there’s a weak link, it’s Wang Tao, and really, that’s only by comparison with the other two, which is a really high bar. We get some shots of the audience of competitors worrying about Yibo’s reaction, given his preference for the old-school battle dancers and an apparent “strictness” with urban dancers and related genres, but these three also get an All-Pass to the next round, and Yibo talks to them a little bit about the choreography and his (complimentary) reactions to the performance before they leave the stage.

And then. Oh, dear. Then we get a group of three – Da Mao, A Li and Tall(? Maybe? It looked like he was going to get out of this anonymously – probably lucky for him – but then the subtitles threw up this name on him at the last minute) – who are the only krumpers who’ve made it this far. Lay Zhang is really promoting them, because he really wants to see a bigger krump presence, and he’s really nervous about their performance, and he really, really should not have pinned his hopes on these three, because I hate to say it but they are a hot fk’n mess. They are … not good. I can’t believe any of the three made it this far, and in fact, we learn after their performance, while everyone is sitting in a kind of stunned horror (and y’all, I am not exaggerating for effect there), that Yibo did not pass A Li on from his team, that she got one of Lay Zhang’s final extra battle towels. I mean, there’s an obvious gap in the quality of this performance compared to everyone else we’ve seen. There’s also a lot of pacing around and standing around instead of dancing. They’re trying for the attitude, but they’re not managing it. They do manage to get an embarrassed reaction from Chick, which says something all on its own, as I wasn’t aware that he had any shame. Other competitors also are doing the embarrassment-squick cringe in the audience. Lay Zhang is literally hiding behind his clipboard. This is the first All-Out we get, where they’re directly eliminated – not even Lay can bring himself to vote “yes” on them. Now, all the krumpers are gone, and Lay is visibly sad and frustrated, but as we appear to move to a little bit of a break, Yibo displays the most emotional intelligence of anyone there and asks Lay to teach him how to krump, to distract him and get him actually doing the dancing he enjoys for a little bit. It’s also a chance for Yibo to learn a new thing, and he talks about his chance to improve in a little interview bit from later on that’s cut in here. I mean, yes, that actually was kind of a sad attempt at krump during the cypher, my dude, so this can only help you, but you also are being an extremely good guy, giving your fellow captain some emotional support right now. Thumbs up.

Next up, we have AK Dong (Team Wallace), also flying solo, and they give us a little heart-tugging B-roll about how he doesn’t have a team with him there, so he’s going it alone. He’s fantastic right out of the gate - good musicality, clean and precise, and he’s got a nice texture to his performance, it feels … full even though it doesn’t feel as big and expansive as some of the other dancers. Unfortunately, Lay doesn’t agree with me (incorrect), says he wants a performance that’s more elegant and “balanced,” and is the single holdout vote, which opens my dude up to a call-out challenge. This is the guy who looks like comedian Hank Chen, which has overshadowed his dancing twice now, because he had to listen to it from Haung Bo when he came out to dance, and he CANNOT catch a break, because now he gets challenged by three teams, including Bouboo’s team, which also includes Klash, Bullet and Colin (all Team Yibo), plus Boris (Team Lay), who we’ve only seen B-roll of so far although he speaks good Chinese, despite being from … I’m not sure where, but not China? AK Dong complains about how Boris looks at him with innocent eyes and tells him that they have no option other than to challenge, which is true (ETA: insofar as we know at this point), because they’re #36, and the 60 slots would almost certainly fill up before they even get a chance to dance. This team wins the bottle spin against the other two challengers, and I mean. :hands: This is a slaughter. They’re five-on-one, and they’re all really good at what they do, they make it look effortless, and AK Dong’s face is going to kill me. Wallace actually does vote for him, but the other three vote for the team, and that’s five more seats filled, and AK Dong eliminated, and I’m annoyed (although not as much as I’m gonna be) because I liked him, and I would have liked for him to get a chance to dance without having to listen to the Hank Chen nonsense at least once.

Next, we have Li Yue & Sha Sha, who appear to dance together on the regular. They have a kind of sultry number put together as the Green Snake and the White Snake that is … hm. I don’t know if we’re classifying this as urban or jazz for the purposes of the show, but it’s another piece that fits more into my contemporary box, if we were classifying them for most of the Western dance spaces I’ve seen. They’re good, as befits this stage of the competition, but a little inconsistent, technically. Also, I don’t find them particularly exciting to watch – I feel like something’s missing, although I can’t quite put my finger on what. I’m not sure their flow is consistent, and they’re probably not helped by following Gai Gai, Huang Xiao and Wang Tao. They get three yes votes from Lay, Yibo and Jackson, although they are … enough to maybe make Yibo a slight bit uncomfortable, being the shy and fragile homosocial forest creature that he may be, or that he may be getting edited as, who knows. Huang Bo pokes at Lay Zhang about his reaction to and vote for them. He also basically says that Wallace didn’t vote for them because Wallace wasn’t turned on by them, because Wallace is still doing his imperturbable cool-as-a-cucumber routine. Wallace’s hold-out vote opens them up to a call-out, and several groups come down to challenge, including – bad luck for Li Yue and Sha Sha – TI, who win the bottle spin. This group includes choreographer Zheng Jian Peng, as well as Su Lianya, who I didn’t realize was a TI member, both Team Wallace, along with … oh my god, Wei Ming, who’s the “Sir, what are you doing?” guy from Episode 2 when Wallace was giving out towels to poppers like candy, and I’m kind of pleased he’s made it this far, just based on that moment, alone, never mind any dancing skills. Rounding out the group are Long Long and Wei Lin, both from Team Yibo, and I think we got B-roll of Wei Lin at some point during Yibo’s eliminations in the first couple of eps. I know nothing about Long Long at this point. At any rate, everybody in this group is so good, I can finally see how they got their rep – fantastic musicality, and a great job of working as a unit. They feel like a team, even when they don’t manage to be quiiiiite synchronized. I’m not really feeling their costumes. Su Lianya continues to be a standout, even in a group that sets the bar this high. Wallace’s composure finally breaks when the other team captains evince interest in poaching her, and oh my god, he still has the hair elastic that he held for her at her initial performance, that they said would be a token of their vow to go all the way in the competition together. OK, I give Wallace a lot of shit, but this is actually kind of adorable. He literally pulls it out of his pocket to tell the other captains they can’t have her and to plead with her to remember their promise to each other. TI gets three votes and moves on. (Lay, still apparently captivated by the snake ladies although not enough to bald-facedly vote for them in the wake of TI’s performance, abstains.)

Next up are Tao and CiCi, and OK. I’m going to be honest here. I think they’re leveraging the “couple” schtick for all it’s worth, and good for them, it looks like they can pull it off, because I think some of the amazed reaction we get from the captains and from the audience is influenced a lot by their coupleness, but at the same time, I think some of the amazed reaction we get from the captains and from the audience is actually influenced by their coupleness rather than their dancing. I mean, Su Lianya and Wei Lin are in the audience of competitors clutching each other’s hands and crying, and it seems to be just as much about Tao telling CiCi out loud that he loves her just before the music starts and the fact that they kiss as part of the piece, if not more than it’s about their actual dancing. The show is also really pushing me on this, because whereas, with everyone else, it tosses up closed captions that tell me what moves are happening (in addition to dialogue subs), now I’m getting things like “heaven-made match.” They’re good, but I think they actually also suffer a bit from following the Gai Gai/Huang Xiao/Wang Tao powerhouse, because I think we’re unlikely to get anything on the lyrical side of things that’s going to match up to that for the rest of the day. Tao and CiCi are better than Li Yue and Sha Sha were, and it is pretty badass the way she manages to make herself so small and compact she literally disappears behind him for that last little bit, and if they’d won the bottle spin on the last callout, they would have won the challenge, I have no doubt. But. :hands: I think the show has actually done that thing Huang Bo accused Jackson of earlier and set my expectations too high. I’m’a sound like Yibo – or like Yibo normally would, because he also seems to get suckered into the overwhelmed reaction for this – and say that I think Tao was better in the less lyrical style when he danced with Yibo and Bing in the Ep 2 towel battle. They get an All-Pass from the captains and talk about their inspiration for the piece, which apparently is a couple who confessed their love to each other the day before the girl had to go into COVID quarantine, and well, now I guess I feel like just a little bit of an asshole for not appreciating the COVID love story properly? Anyway, the captains then keep asking them intrusive questions about their relationship, and Huang Bo mocks Lay for apparently never being in love so he won’t understand what it’s like, and I’m cringing in my seat a little before Jackson gets us back on track and Tao and CiCi finally go sit down.

Then Huang Bo takes the chance to go over to the contestants who haven’t performed yet and stress them out about how few of the 60 available seats are left. I mean, I guess it’s part of competition, but come on, dude.

ANYWAY, next up, we have a group calling themselves Team Wake Up – it’s the waackers, and this group includes Xiao Bao and San Jin from Team Lay, along with a guy we haven’t seen yet, Tu Zi; Meng Di from Team Yibo; and Gao Shi Yu, who we also haven’t seen, from Team Wallace. They start working it, and I’m like, oh wait … and then they hit the Cat Walk, and I’m like, oh shit, and a light bulb finally goes off, because I’ve been super-fk’n slow, but now they’ve shown me what this genre is about, and I’m interested to see what they do here, because a lot of this performance could be straight off the floors of the ball scene. The entire group is pretty good, although I do think Gao Shi Yu is the weak link, she’s not quiiiiite up to the standard of the rest of them. They move well as a group, though, good coordination, sharp and clean, fantastic musicality, high energy all the way through, with EXCELLENT attitude, which is half the battle, because if you’re not confident for this kind of thing – or if you can’t at least fake it flawlessly – you might as well not even be out there. They all do lose a little bit of focus when they’re in the background as they break out for their individual moves, and they fall apart a tiny bit near the end. Also, Meng Di’s belt is off-center, and I know that sounds super picky, but it kept distracting me, so I wish that hadn’t been the case. Xiao Bao is definitely still the standout here – he takes the lead from the minute they come out, with the mic, and never really relinquishes it. We finally get to see San Jin perform, and his extension could be better. Tu Zi must be lacking in the charisma department to not have shown up before this, because he’s better than I expected. Before they started, the group that Xiao Jie and Yang Kai are in together – who still haven’t performed – were debating if they should challenge this group, but Xiao Jie advised waiting to see how good they were, and then after the performance is all, “nooo, we should not challenge,” and props to you for not just writing off the waackers, my man, because they get an All-Pass, and there’s not even a chance for a callout. Before we move on, Wallace clams he’s learned some waacking during the show, and the other captains (led by Jackson, who calls him gege) make him demonstrate, and the contestants, who know what side their bread is buttered on, applaud.

Available seat check. Yibo participates in further stressing out the contestants by saying “Like, a dozen?” All y’all need to be challenging whatever chance you get. Now I bet you’re sorry you didn’t challenge Shen Kai Xiang back at the beginning, aren’t you?

Next up is our group of X-Crew representatives, hop-hop, and Yibo is excited. I almost expect him to do a little dance in his seat. Yang Kai helpfully lets me know that this group is from the top hip-hop crew in China. Oh, hey, that’s Qin Yu, from Team Wallace, the guy who Gongsu Wu Ming immediately recognized as the weak link in one of the towel battles and got up on; the guy who subsequently got taken out by Teng Zai, My Beloved. Qin Yu, the guy we hadn’t even had B-roll on, and still don’t. I wonder if I’m reading too much into that. He’s joined by Flea (which I’m assuming is a direct translation, as it doesn’t sound like “flea” when he says his name?) and Ding, also from Team Wallace - neither of whom we’ve seen before, I think - along with Ting and Lei Xiao Yang from Team Jackson. This is also the first time we’ve seen Lei Xiao Yang. I … feel weirdly unconfident about the famed X-Crew, given we haven’t seen more of them before this. Then again, we’d only seen Gai Gai from her group, so maybe this is a BigSurprise!edit … Ting comes out hard and heavy, and I actually think this is the best performance we’ve seen from her so far. She spends a lot of time out in front on this one, and I don’t think I got from her initial appearance or from her towel battle performances just how good she actually is. Overall though … I am … not that impressed with this group. They start out strong, but then they get sloppy. They have trouble working as a unit, which is surprising from people who supposedly have experience dancing together. They’re all very good, but they’re not synchronized. A lot of their solo showcase bits lack complexity, and that is an understatement. Qin Yu still has some of that nice fluidity along with his pretty face, but he’s not balanced, and he absolutely does not have the finesse he needs to pull this off. They all do move into the end strong, together again, hard, power behind their moves - almost everything from the slo-mo move is good - but … it’s a little late, y’all. That took way too long to get back together. And then, they inexplicably descend into … it’s not even sloppiness, it’s an utter hot mess during, like, the last 15 seconds of the performance, which is absolutely not the final impression you want to leave. And … wow. Shit. There are captains who actually agree with me on this. Sometimes you see the expected top dancers allowed to slide some in these early rounds of competition shows, but not this time – Wallace and Yibo both vote yes, but Jackson and Lay both abstain, and Jackson … wow. Wow. Is disappointed in them and expected more. Despite the fact that he’s like, 12, and that he’s done this to past groups just because he wanted to see them battle, a little bit this actually has a vague feeling of your dad telling you how much you’ve let him down. The audience is shocked, but I’m glad to hear someone say it. It was a good - if spotty - performance but certainly not the best we’ve seen.

So, we have a callout, and the group with Xiao Jie and Yang Kai, which also includes some guys named Shen Zi Hao, Xiao Zhi Bin and Oscar, pounces. And that is a very deliberate word choice, because these guys are on X-Crew like a lion on the trailing gazelle. They’re in their Men In Black suits (ETA: Wait, no, I think maybe they’re Agent Smith suits), and the audience of other competitors is losing it. Xiao Bao is very excited about Xiao Jie. Both Yibo and Jackson look like they’re in actual physical pain, to be forced to make the choice that’s coming up. Ting looks like she’s getting ready to throw up – she’s accepting this with less equanimity than she did the possible results of her initial performance, at least on the surface. I … am dreading losing her, actually, because I suspect that’s what’s getting ready to happen, and I am so so sorry, baby, that you worked so hard to carry your crew like that and they couldn’t keep their shit together. On the one hand, I’m impressed they’re pitting this level of competition against each other so early. On the other, I feel Jackson’s and Yibo’s pain. God. God. The Xiao Jie-Yang Kai group is here to f’kn battle. This is shaping up to be a slaughter. They are fast, clean, precise, great musicality, complex moves, super performance. They’re synchronized, high energy, fantastic animation – which could be a little cheesy, but they’re confident and fearless enough to pull it off - fun and interesting. They are maybe a little bit too gimmicky to be perfect for my taste, but I’m not the one voting them through, and what they’ve come up with is perfect for the audience that matters – the captains, the majority of which are 20-something-year-old boys – and knowing your audience, and performing for them, is a skill, too. BIGGEST (and frankly, only) ISSUE: Somebody fucked up a move, right at the beginning … I think maybe Yang Kai? (ETA: Yah, it was Yang Kai, ugh, what a time for that to happen.) If you’re going to fuck up, best to do it at the very beginning, I guess, and then give this performance afterward, to mitigate it as much as possible, but that one misstep gives the captains enough excuse put off a decision they really don’t want to make, like it’s not just going to make it worse to kick the can down the road a few minutes. Split vote, 2-2 (I thiiink, Yibo and Jackson for X-Crew, Lay and Wallace for the challengers?), which throws it to a further battle. Ting and Xiao Jie, one-on-one, and both of them are feeling the pressure of competing for their entire team instead of just themselves. Two rounds, hiphop and locking. So, each of them is better in their specialty. Ting’s got some fantastic, precise moves for the hiphop round. Xiao Jie is not as good in this round; I do notice he’s got a more directly confrontational style when he’s battling. I feel like she’s doing more waacking than locking in the locking round. Overall, she’s cleaner, more precise, he’s got a little bit more energy. I wouldn’t want to make this decision, frankly. I think Ting was better technically, but Xiao Jie might be the better performer – better at all that other stuff that adds up to stage presence. I do wonder how much of the captains’ decision is influenced by the groups, and who the captains are or aren’t willing to lose, even though it’s supposed to be based on this 1x1 battle. Just looking at who the show has put emphasis on already, we’ve got Ting vs. Xiao Jie AND Yang Kai, and I don’t know that they’re going to want to let that one-two punch go. Wallace votes Ting and X-Crew. Yibo and Lay vote Xiao Jie and the challengers. Jackson, the coward, abstains. Looks like Ting and X-Crew are going home, and this is the first cut that I’m genuinely upset about seeing. Ting feels bad for letting her crew down, but they let you down first, baby, or you wouldn’t even have been in that position.

Available seat check: 12. Dancers left: 27. Well.

We’re coming up on two hours now, and there’s clearly some kind of drama we want to get to, because we whip through the next few performances – few names, limited time spent on them. The ones who do make it through are likely cannon fodder in the next couple of rounds. There’s a group of four in khakis that gets sent through to the next round; Yibo liked their moves. Guy named Zhan Ke in a suit goes through to the next round. We’ve turned into a clip show now, and the screen literally says “ … ” at one point as each group of competitors gets 3 seconds of airtime. Cut to three seats left out of the 60. There’s about seven people left, and … that includes Chick. I have a sinking feeling this guy is going to be the real focus, at this point. He’s paired up with some dude named Long, and they have lost the bottle spin on callout after callout after callout, so they’ve never had a chance to challenge, and now, look at these morose motherfuckers, still sitting in the bleachers. I almost feel bad for them.

So, three seats left, and the next group is three people: Yang Qi aka “Apple” from Team Jackson, Lin from Team Lay and Bobo from Team Wallace. Urban dancers. I lose sound on them right at the beginning, but they’ve got some nice sharp moves, good choreography, they work well as a unit. Solid performance, if not the best we’ve seen. Apple’s got the best technique, I think. Audience likes them a lot. We get a cut to Chick and the other competitors who haven’t danced yet as we count down for the vote, and they are all dying. Three votes yes. Yibo abstains. Huang Bo is so prepared for this group to be sent right through that he starts clapping and congratulating them, and Yibo has to be all, “Wait, no. Not yet.” The captains give their reasoning: Jackson says that he felt their power, emotion, speed all deserved full marks. Yibo agrees.

Yibo agrees.

…

...

…

Their faces in response, y’all. Their little WTF faces as he explains that he really just wants to see the other dancers, too. Oh my god, Yibo. You can’t just say that out loud. Are you serious with this, you can’t even make up a thing to fake critique them on? Cut to a later interview with Bobo, who’s been the least able to school his face journey in response to this: “Wang Yibo, I won’t forget.” Also, Bobo says, you’re not even hot. (lol) Joking aside, the group goes on to make all the correct noises about sure, it’s a competition, you face competitors, it’s what happens, because what are you gonna say? Meanwhile, to be completely honest, I’m probably the person who’s been least able to school their face journey in response to this, because come on, Yibo. It’d be one thing if you were making some kind of statement about the way they set this up from the beginning, with all competitors unable to participate, but I’m pretty sure you’re actually doing this to give Chick another chance, because you have been inexplicably all up on his jock since he showed up, what is it about this guy? I don’t get it. At all.

So, we get a callout, and everyone left challenges, of course, because this is probably the last chance. The audience is rooting for Chick. I still don’t get it. Bottle spin ends up on … Zhao Hai Jie, from Team Wallace, who we’ve never yet seen perform. Here’s the thing: If he can win this battle, then he only takes one seat, leaving another two seats available. However, he is NOT going to win this battle, not without ripping off any figleaf of fair competition that the show may have, because he’s just not that great. If he wins, there’s no way around the fact, right in your face, that it’s a strategic vote. He does not win. Four votes for Apple, Lin and Bobo. Sixty seats filled.

HOWEVER, just in case you were worried there may be any integrity here, director Lu Wei comes ambling out to say, hey, you know those rules we have in place? Well, fuck ‘em. Who cares. Let everybody left battle, and whoever wins that battle can have a seat along with the 60 other people. I’m going to translate this one, because despite the limitations of my Level 1 Duolingo Mandarin, I have umpty SYTYCD episode reactions on my LJ and I feel like I’m pretty fluent in Dance Show BS: “We really want to keep somebody who’s left, so there’s going to be some chicanery on our part.” They really do not want Chick to go home, y’all. I know it’s him. It’s super extra obvious they’re desperately trying to save him, at this point. And I am here to tell you that if Chick ends up on this show and Ting goes home, there will be nothing on this earth that could possibly resurrect Chick from the Pit of My Dislike.

Anyway, we get Dai Dai from Team Lay, who describes herself as a fusion dancer and is pretty good for the first 40 seconds or so of her music and then completely loses the thread and kind of falls apart. The captains do not seem impressed. Possibly they also know we’re just killing time until we get to Chick. Up next is Su, who is Very Dramatic. He doesn’t say what team he’s from, but given Wallace’s reactions, I suspect he’s from Team Wallace. I suspect Yibo’s not going to like his face. His performance goes increasingly off the rails as he goes on. He’s got a lot of goodwill from the audience of competitors, but no. This is not a winning performance. And then we get Chick & Long, literally the last to perform. Chick spends the entire time doing A Bit. Long, who anyone barely remembers is even there, does 2/3+ of the dancing. Everyone – everyone – is apparently vastly entertained by Chick, and I just … :hands: Fine. He’s a character, but I have yet to see anything in three episodes, across, like, 7 hours, that lets me see whether he can really dance or not. Yibo literally tells Jackson, “He doesn’t have many tricks, but he’s got a ton of ideas” and later says he’s a B-boy without a power move. Anyway, one vote for Su (Wallace), three votes for Chick and Long. We’re at 62 dancers, and I cannot believe I’m going to be subjected to Chick’s continued clownery when Ting has to go home.

Thank GOD we’re activating the Special Guest Host Powers, the first of which is “REVIVE,” i.e., bring someone back who was eliminated. Yibo is immediately like, omg, the hip-hop group. Then we do Yet Another Bit where the captains cater to Huang Bo so that he’ll take their advice on who to revive, and it goes on too long when we are, my god, two hours and fourteen minutes into this. Meanwhile, Yibo reiterates, the hip-hop group. Yeah, Yibo, this I approve of - if I gotta watch you fall all over yourself over Chick, you need to get Ting back for me. So, we’re finally getting the captains’ actual recommendations: Jackson says the hip-hop group, possibly feeling bad about the fact that he’s the one who spiked their chance the first time around? Yibo is all, me too! Yes! That one! It’s kind of adorable. Also, yes, Yibo, you need to get Ting back for me. Lay says Li Yue and Sha Sha, the white and green snakes. Wallace recommends a popping group that I don’t even know if we saw perform? At any point in the past 7+ hours of three episodes? Wallace, are you high? Anyway, THANK GOD, Huang Bo brings back the X-Crew group. We’re at 67 dancers.

Second Special Guest Host Power is … “battle?” So, we’re setting up Qiang Qi Da Zhan, aka Seven to Smoke, which they’ve apparently done in past seasons? Each captain picks two people – eight total – to participate. Twenty minutes total. Increments of 30 seconds each to battle. And I guess you have to accumulate seven points in various battles. We don’t get to hear the captains’ picks, but I can see that AK Dong is called back for this one. Also, I spot one of the krumpers. (:eyeroll: Really, Lay? Because I know that was you.) We see some clips of this. We see AK Dong get to six points. He … maybe gets his seventh point? Anyway, he says in the last interview clip that he’s here. I guess we officially find out the Seven to Smoke results next ep?

Also next episode: Divided into two groups and battling by genre for the next elimination. Five rounds. Also looks like captains might get a chance to poach from other teams. Also some wacky fuckery with the dancers’ heads that looks like it’s going to be stomping all over my embarrassment squick, argh.

Finally, we get a peek at hotpot, and it sounds like they ended up with 70 dancers, so three people managed to get seven points in Seven to Smoke? And somebody’s mom is apparently coming to hotpot, but I’d have to watch the actual hotpot show to find out whose mom, and we’re out.

[nightswithkookmin]

Imo there is enough to support the possibility of a romantic relationship, but you are writing full on narratives with impossible specificity. You know what confirmation bias is but some young impressionable people dont yet . Forgive me but misleading with ' alt facts' can hurt someone even if you dont mean it. I think you are a good person not looking to hurt anyone. But the way you postulate without any evidence makes your actions a little but like those of a charlatan. Peace and kindness

All these kind words you spew...

It feels more like an advice than a question so I'm not sure how to respond to it...

Let me just say thank you? I never quite understood what the brouhaha was about with my posts but after talking to a few people, 'on the other side' lol and reading your Ask, I think I'm starting to get a better sense of what the problem is.

Something about young impressionable minds or people?

Let the council of elders know, those are not my audience please. I cater to a much more mature audience- at least so far. The people that I interact with and engage with on my posts on and off Tumblr are very mature and not impressionable at all.

They are People with brains who can tell an opinion from fact and can engage in deep complex controversial conversations without throwing up, shedding tears or cussing through to the heavens.

If there are 'impressionable people' reading my blogs- they do so at their own risk. If you know any such people or they run to you with my theories kindly point out to them it's just theory because that's what my opinions are.

I think the best thing you can do is to advice such people to grow up if they are going to sit at the adult table or not read my posts at all. I think you need to learn to hold the right people accountable for their actions.

The best I can do in this case- to hold myself accountable, is to put up a disclaimer on my posts to let people know what it is that they are reading- something I do quite often. But I will make conscious efforts to put up those disclaimers each time henceforth. Thank you.

That I write full on narratives with impossible specificity:

Is this Latin for, 'you write fiction get the fuck outta here?' Chilee.

I don't even know what you mean by this exactly so I may not be able to respond to it to your satisfaction. Bare with me.

So what if I write fiction? What is wrong with writing fiction? Do you hate fiction writers? I don't get what the hate is with these complaints honestly. Do you want me to put up a disclaimer stating my blogs are fiction? Would that help? I would glady do it.

If it helps you sleep at night think of my blogs as fiction- a rose by any other name. I've been keeping up with Shakespeare. Lol.

I don't think it's that deep. Listen, you gotta understand that just because we both 'ship' Jikook don't mean we are on the same team...

Most alt shippers I know and who read my posts and engage with it are not even Army to begin with, for your information. They could care less about these shipping politics of yours. Have you thought about that?

Some simply ship JK and JM and support them because they believe they are members of the LGBTQ plus community not because they are part of BTS.

There are different communities out there who are also into Jikook- for very different reasons. You gotta respect that.

To you, Jikook is just a ship within BTS that may or may not be real, but to some of us they have very much outgrown that description...

They are a brand of their own, a power couple and members of the LGBTQ plus community- Gay Icons extraordinaire. I think we take very different stock in Jikook. So stop trying to fit us all into one box.

It's disrespectful to try and control the way that people perceive their OTP and support them. Jikook don't just belong to Army Jokers, they belong to different communities outside Army. Are you aware of that?

And please don't confuse the intersect. I am an alt-shipper yes but I just so happen to be an Army too. But if I wasn't an Army, I'd still pretty much 'ship' and support Jikook- make no mistake. There are quite a few of us running around these streets, you know?

So you have every right to want to gatekeep your Army Jikook- but you have to do that without infringing on other rights of other 'Jikook communities.'

Throughout my blogs I have tried to shed light on what altshipping is because I thought it would help bridge the gap but clearly that hasn't worked. Sigh.

Misleading alt facts

Do you not know what it means or you are just being ironic?👀

Why is it ok for you to believe and proclaim that JK and BigHit lied about JK dating the Tattoo artist but it's not ok for me to believe JK is telling the truth when he says he didn't date her and that BigHit saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone- hence why they didn't press charges against the shop for breach of privacy like they had said they were going to do. Instead, they had asked the shop to keep calm till the scandal died down on it's own?

You start your piece off with the whole, 'there is enough evidence to support a romantic relationship' between JK and the tattoo shop lady- I assume.

For context, this Ask by this anon is in response to my recent post/ answer on the tattoo girl scandal where the topic of discussion was on BigHit, JK and the tattoo artist and not Jikook perse.

A statement that is in direct conflict with JK's statement, BigHit's and the lady in questions, all denying that there was a romantic relationship between her and Jungkook- and somehow I am misleading who- who now with my theory??? Chileee.

Do you see the problem here? Double standards- the hallmark of bigotry. Lmho. You are literally doing the very thing you are accusing me of. Making confident assertions and claiming you know more about JK and the Lady's relationship and even have 'enough evidence' contrary to BigHit, JK and the Tattoo artist's statements denying the rumors- at least when I theorize I admit I'm being delusional. What's your excuse? When you say charlatan are you referring to yourself? You must be. Lmho.

Now I'm confident in my comprehension skills and intelligent enough to know when you make an assertion like this- it is your opinion and you are just stating your opinion. If you are not then honey you'd be opening yourself up to some serious litigation... goodluck I guess. Lol.

You are allowed to form an opinion about a topic. There is nothing wrong with that. If to you, JK and this person dated that is fine. I am not going to cyber bully you, stalk you, throw slurs at you, harrass you, dox you, slid into people's Dms to spread hate and lies about you just because I don't agree with your opinion. And for the record, I don't agree with your opinion. Hehehehe.

I have stated my opinion on the matter. I said I think JK and this person did hang out, go on dates but that there was no romantic sexual relationship between them because I believe that would have had much serious consequences and effects on Jikooks dynamics no matter how much they tried to keep a cool facade. Whoever felt cheated on would have acted more insecure than usual post the incident- how does this make me a charlatan? Are you saying it's wrong it have an opinion? Chileee.

Now if you can produce 'evidence' of them having sex or even kissing, then I will gladly change my mind on the topic and not sweat it.

Jikook have done way worse questionable things in 7 good years and people still don't believe they are dating. Jk hangs out with a female friend a few times in less than a month and suddenly he is dating her? Lmho.

You don't need me to tell you people are more eager to accept a heterosexual relationship than wrap their heads around the fact that two male idols are gay and in a gay relationship with eachother. Don't you just love it when homophobia meets heteronormativity and stinks? I do. Lol.

I mean this is a fandom that thinks JK is 'too touchy' and doesn't respect his boundaries- they practically swear JK is cheating on Jimin with every member any time he hugs, kisses, wings at within the group. You think they will be 'objective' about JK hanging out with a girl? Even if it happened once?

You said something about confirmation bias.... I will not touch it. Lmho.

This is not the first time JK has gone on a date with a girl. This is not the first time he has 'dated a girl', he has hand girls on his laps or whatever- what is a back hug? I think people need to stop defining Jikook's lives by their own standards. If a backhug is intimate to you. Thats you. If you think a grown ass man cannot hang out with a female friend, that's equally you.

You think if he thought it was inappropriate and risky he would do it 'in public?' Get with Kpop Idol dating culture. Lmho.

Do you know the lengths they go through to keep their relationships a secret? Especially non celebrity girlfriends? Chen from EXO got married and where is his wife? They keep their flings tighter than Trump keeps his toupee on his head. Lol.

They hide them not out of shame but out of love and the need to protect their loved ones. These idols have family members who have their restaurants and businesses shut down because they want to keep their privacy.

You think JungKook's girlfriend would- on her own, issue a statement regarding a scandal that Jungkook's agency had specifically directed her and her shop to keep quiet about and lay low till it blew away on its own? And later, started liking couple posts about her and JK? If they were dating, certainly JK would have dumped her after that move. In my opinion.

You think JK would let his fandom drag the person he is in a relationship with to the extent she loses her Job- when in his Itaewon gay pub scandal BigHit referred to the issue as his private affair immediately it happened? They could have kept the same energy with her, no?

They handled his gay pub scandal much better, with much respect and consideration for his privacy- if he dated her sorry but she mustn't have meant much to him at all. And if I were her I would have dumped him for that shit and not stay liking couple posts about us. Damn- But do you.

Taehyung was in a scandal with a girl too- did you see her liking posts and shit and going out of her way to do the most? Did you see how BigHit handled that scandal?

Nothing wrong if JK is 'dating' her or had 'dated' her and whatever person he decides he wants to be in a relationship with I will support him- that's why I support Jikook.

But your opinion is equally valid my guy. Just don't call me a charlatan for mine. You believe they dated, I believe they didn't- and to your impressionable young minds, I hope you are not selling them anything contrary to BigHit and JK's statement. That would be very irresponsible of you. Lol.

What else did you say?

Oh postulating without evidence...

Next time I write a theory based on my observations about Jikook, remind me to break off a piece of my brain and attach it to it- I guess that way people would finally understand when I say things like 'I think' 'in my opinion' 'I feel' 'I believe' that these are just my thoughts and opinions and not facts.

Let me leave you with this:

Peace and kindness. Namaste.

Signed,

GOLDY.

[killerandhealerqueen]

I live for your head cannons <3 if you’re able (as I’m currently rewatching killer and healer ughhhhh so soft for my boys) could you do one where yuzhi decides to try on yuelou’s shirts or that amazing black uniform he wears and seeing him get caught??? UGHHHHH THE CHIEF LOOKED SO GOOD <3

Honestly, who isn't soft for them? Also, yessss, Jiang Yuelou in his black police uniform is just *chefs kiss*

Like look at that!!! Look at him!!! GORGEOUS!

Now, I don't believe that Chen Yuzhi would try on someone else's clothes...that doesn't seem like him. But Jiang Yuelou dressing him up? Oh absolutely. So we're gonna go with that.

Anyways, onto headcanoning

Jiang Yuelou is required to attend a end of the year police banquet and he's allowed to bring a plus one so he decides to bring Chen Yuzhi

When he asks Chen Yuzhi to attend as his plus one, Chen Yuzhi is stunned before he frowns and states that he doesn't have anything super nice to wear to attend the banquet and wouldn't it be weird for two men to attend?

Jiang Yuelou assures him that 1) he's taken care of Chen Yuzhi's outfit so he doesn't have to worry about that and 2) no one's going to care if Jiang Yuelou brings him; they're practically married at this point

Chen Yuzhi hums before he asks about Keying, what should he do about her? Jiang Yuelou shrugs and says she can come too, most officers bring their children to the banquets

Chen Yuzhi nods before he heads to Keying's bedroom to tell her to get ready for the banquet and to wear her prettiest dress; he'll help her with her hair when she's dressed

He then heads back to their bedroom and looks at Jiang Yuelou with a raised eyebrow

"So? What am I supposed to wear?"

Jiang Yuelou just smiles and heads over to the wardrobe before he pulls out a garment bag and walks over to Chen Yuzhi, holding it out to him. Chen Yuzhi frowns and takes the bag, looking at Jiang Yuelou in confusion, but Jiang Yuelou just motions for him to go try it on

Chen Yuzhi huffs and heads to the bathroom to try on whatever outfit Jiang Yuelou got for him. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuelou is waiting in the bedroom, a small, almost pleased with himself smile on his face

When Chen Yuzhi returns to the bedroom, he walks in, dressed in his very own black police uniform, tailored to fit him perfectly. He then looks at Jiang Yuelou with big, doe-like eyes

"Yuelou, what--"

"I thought it was only fitting that the Commissioner's husband wears the same uniform that he does"

Chen Yuzhi shakes his head as he motions to the uniform

"Yuelou, I can't wear this, I'm not--"

Jiang Yuelou steps forward and grasps his shoulders, smiling fondly at him

"You can and you will"

He then turns Chen Yuzhi towards the mirror and smiles as he stands behind him

"You look very handsome, Yuzhi"

Chen Yuzhi jabs him gently in the ribs before he looks over his shoulder at him

"Do I really?"

Jiang Yuelou hums and smiles as he presses a kiss to Chen Yuzhi's cheek

"Mmm. You're going to make everyone at this banquet very jealous"

Chen Yuzhi laughs and jabs Jiang Yuelou in the ribs again, just as Keying walks into their bedroom, dressed in a pretty pink frilly dress

"Gege, will you do my hair?"

Chen Yuzhi and Jiang Yuelou look over at her and both men smile fondly before Chen Yuzhi walks over to Keying and kneels down before her

"Don't you look so pretty"

Keying grins brightly as Chen Yuzhi stands to his feet and looks over at Jiang Yuelou

"I'm going to go do her hair. We'll be ready soon"

Jiang Yuelou nods and both Keying and Chen Yuzhi head out of the bedroom to do Keying's hair while Jiang Yuelou quickly changes into his uniform and looks at himself in the mirror before he smiles. They really will be the "power couple" of the evening

Chen Yuzhi, Keying, and Jiang Yuelou then attend the banquet and when they enter everyone starts whispering and Chen Yuzhi knows it's because they're both men but Jiang Yuelou gives 0 fucks and just takes Chen Yuzhi's hand as the three of them walk into the banquet

Keying then heads off to play with some of the other kids that are there while Chen Yuzhi and Jiang Yuelou make small talk with the other police officers, Jiang Yuelou's hand around Chen Yuzhi's waist the entire time

Chen Yuzhi, of course, gets many compliments about his uniform and how good he looks in it and he's blushing the entire time while Jiang Yuelou is preening like a cat because damn right his Yuzhi looks good in uniform

The night and banquet goes very well and later that evening, as Chen Yuzhi and Jiang Yuelou lay in bed, Chen Yuzhi pokes Jiang Yuelou in the side

"You're very proud of yourself, aren't you?"

Jiang Yuelou chuckles and presses a kiss to Chen Yuzhi's forehead

"Maybe"

Chen Yuzhi rolls his eyes and sighs as Jiang Yuelou looks at him

"You did look very sexy in that uniform, Yuzhi"

Chen Yuzhi narrows his eyes and pinches him

"Not tonight, Jiang Yuelou"

Jiang Yuelou hums and pulls Chen Yuzhi close as he tucks his head under his chin

"Yes dear"

[luhanvirus]

Fanfiction gray blue eyes

Jin Ling noticed that he was spending a lot of time with Ouyang Zizhen when he was walking his dog and a pretty boy whistled him loudly. 

N/A: Idk what I’m doing, I just saw memes about Jin Ling x Lan Jingyi and I fell in love with the ship haha. A-Yuan is a Wen in this AU.

For the #CultivaTober2020, sorry if my English sucks.

Day 21: Calamity .

Jin Ling noticed he was spending a lot of time with Ouyang Zizhen when he was walking the dog in the nearest park, his uncle Jiang Cheng was sick of viewing him all day in bed just because his only friend isn't in the city for the weekend.

"Get out the house and do something!" he yelled at him after the lunch.

A fucking winter Sunday’s afternoon.

What the hell?

Jin Ling was considerating go the weekends to uncle Jin Guangyao's house. Uncle Cheng has been his favorite uncle since he has memory, but sometimes the man is too intense for someone like him and uncle Yao was more chill than him. He wouldn't judge him because he wanted to stay in his room because he was bored without his best friend around.

After all, Ouyang Zizhen is his childhood friend. So every time he isn’t here annoying Jin Ling with his fanfics or fandom wars, Jin Ling has nothing better to do.

Pathetic, he knows.

But who cares?

Jin Ling never was good doing friends in first place, but he liked Zizhen kind personality when they met in Rusong's birthday and when his uncle Yao encouraged him to befriend with the other boy they became inseparable.

At first, it made happy his uncle Chen, who was delighted with the idea that his nephew would have a good friend after his parents death.

Now, Jin Ling didn't know if his uncle Cheng was annoyed that Zizhen was his only friend or what.

Rusong doesn't count as a friend, he is family. His only cousin.

Perhaps he should talk to this guy who lives the next block and ignore his uncle Cheng advice to not talk with that neightboors, he liked his black leather bomber jacket and quiet personality. Plus they go to the same school, they shares English, History and Sports classes. Even Teacher Lan Qiren loved the guy.

Well, Teacher Lan Qiren liked everyone but Jin Chan.

Jin Ling was pondering about this match when he noticed that Fairy destroyed the lotus pond in garden again. Crap.

Uncle Cheng will kill him.

"Sometimes I don't know if you love me or you hate me." Mumbled Jin Ling as he takes Fairy with him, looking around before to go outside the house.

Unfortunatelly, Wen Yuan wasn’t at home when he passed out of his house.

You could notice this because the house was silent as a crypt, usually when Wen Yuan or his Dad were in the house someone played the flute and other instruments all day. Jin Ling swears he could hear them from his room sometimes.

Geez the man was musician or something like that.

However, he decided to go to the park. Hoping the snow could cover Fairy’s calamity before his uncle Cheng noticed anything. His uncle would love dogs dearly, but it was his lotus pond.

Uncle Cheng loved that lotus pond.

Jin Ling sigh, suspecting that the park was less crowded at this hour.

He wasn’t a fan of winter, neither the snow. Cold was burning his cheeks and Fairy paws, but Jin Ling take the route to the south where were stablished places for dogs. Yet the dog-friendly drinking fountains were already frozen, he knew this place was beautiful in Spring, but now were just the trees and the snow. Not fragrant flowers around.

Yunmeng was so different in winter, thought Jin Ling. Lost in thoughts when someone whistles at him loudly.

Jin Ling twitched.

He looked over at the sound, a part of him was offended while the other really liked what he saw. A pretty boy wearing running at him, wearing white clothes and blue headphones hanging in the neck. Gods, the boy had the most glossy black hair that Jin Ling has ever seen in his life. He just couldn’t stop noticing the perfect way than an hair bangs framed his handsome features and those fanfiction gray blue eyes… Damn Zizhen! Fucking fanfics he read all day!

Nevermind. He was rude.

“Excuse me?"

The pretty boy frowned, blushing when he noticed the misunderstanding and said "Sorry, I didn't wanted to... that was for your dog!"

What?

Jin Ling looked at Fairy and cocked an eyebrow.

Well, people liked huskies a lot. Since his uncle Yao give him a dog for his birthday, he always get stopped by people who wanted to pet Fairy when he go to walk his dog.

“Really?”

"Yeah." The pretty boy said as a beautiful smile rested easily on his lips when he whistled again at Fairy and the dog just wagged the tail friendly.

Fuck, even Fairy liked him.

“Maybe it could be rude from me, but would you let me pet your dog?” He asked, using all his charms when he looked right into Jin Ling's eyes.

Jin Ling tried to control his heart, but he couldn't.

Why is my heart racing? He wondered. He couldn't fall in love at first sight, right?

“You don’t have to do if you don’t want it.” Added the boy, noticing his uncomfortable behavior.

”I don’t mind, go ahead."

The pretty boy didn't hesitate to bent and stroke Fairy's ears, enjoying the fluffy fur. "She is so fluffy. What's her name?"

"Fairy."

"That's a cute name for a dog, did you chose it?"

If Jin Ling didn't fell already for his fanfiction grey blue eyes, he fell in that moment. "Actually, it was my uncle idea."

"Seems like your uncle has an original way to name dogs."

Jin Ling grinned.

He was going to say something more when a voice interrumpted them, breaking the spell.

“A-Yi, we are leaving!”

“Ugh, that's my Dad. See you next time!” He said as he got up and runned to the other side of the park, but Jin Ling wasn't sure if he was talking to him or his dog.

The pretty boy waved bye into distance, smiling.

But Jin Ling don’t waved bye back, he was this skilled with people.

Specially with the people that he liked.

. 　   ·  ✦

His phone beeps that night.

Zizhen was bored, he knew that. Zizhen didn’t get along with the sons of his father’s friends in the parties.

Jin Ling read the message, raising an eyebrow.

Zizhen:

Missing your grumbling ass ︶︿︶ 

. 　   ·  ✦

For wednesday, Jin Ling can’t stop thinking about those fanfiction gray blue eyes or the kissable lips. He had this awful feeling like a hundred of golden butterflies were flying in his stomach every time he thought about the pretty boy in the park.

Gods, he became this such of weirdo.

Sure Zizhen will have a good laugh at his expense when he noticed that his friend had a big fat crush on a pretty boy named A-Yi.

Well, it wasn’t a name. But it was something.

His crush was so overwhelming that he decided went to Wen Yuan house without knowing what he could talk with the guy, they barely knew each other. Maybe Jin Ling didn’t wanted to talk much and just needed Wen Yuan’s Dad loud music so he can’t hear his own thoughts about how that pretty boy made him feel.

When he went inside the house, Wen Yuan’s Dad looked surprised that his boy take a someone at home. He even stopped drinking alcohol before to talk.

He introduced himself with a bright smile “Wei Wuxian. Wine?”

“Dad, please no.”

“A-Yuan, your friend needs it more than me”, Wei Wuxian pointed his face.  “Look at him! He seems too devastated to be that young.”

Jin Ling frowned, understanding why his uncle Cheng told him to no talk with the neighbour in first place.

He was so gross.

“Okay, okay. Your old man wouldn’t shaming you in front of your boyfriend.”

“Oh my God, Dad. Why are you like this??” Yuan blushed, really ashamed while his father seemed to have a good laugh at his own son expense. 

“Forgive your old man, little radish. Old habits never dies.”

Yuan put a hand to his face. “Sorry, Jin Ling. I swears he’s not like that all the time.”

“I'm going to pretend that I don't hear it.” Jin Ling mumbled, without knowing if he was going to regret coming to Wen Yuan house or not.

“I got the feeling that your face was familiar, are you A-Cheng’s boy?”

The question caught Jin Ling off guard.

“Do you know my uncle?”

“He never talked about me?? What a friend!” He complained, taking another sip of wine “We were childhood friends, best friends actually.”

Jin Ling doubted, seriously.

However, later Wei Wuxian show him an old photo where a younger version of himself was here with Jin Ling's mother and uncle. It were just the three of them, smiling at the camera in Jin Ling's grandparents house.

Jin Ling looked at the photo, admiring how pretty was his mom at that age.

The three of them seemed so happy that Jin Ling wondered what happened, why he didn’t knew this man and why his uncle Cheng told him never speak a word with him.

And for a moment, his mind stop thinking about some fanfiction gray blue eyes.

Well, until monday when he went to school and the Teacher Lan Qiren introduced a new student. The pretty boy, Lan Jingyi.

Fuck, he had a crush on Lan Qiren grandson.

He was really fucked.