#and i would like this story less if it wasn't messy actually

[qilingxiong]

okay the thing is that everything i said about li lianhua and being a ghost and tying up every loose end before he leaves, is that that's what li lianhua hoped would happen. it is.... not the reality.

[radiance1]

Okay guys.

Dragon Danny, this time not eastern.

BUT HEAR ME OUT, HEAR. ME. OUT.

He's made of....

GOO!

Not just any goo, obviously. But ectoplasmic goo :3

This au is gonna be disconnect from both the Ghost King and Ghost Prince headcanon I should say. Instead of being king of all ghosts, he's basically like...

A mega Blob ghost.

King of the Blob ghosts, even.

Like, basically the equivalent of those giant slime monsters or that King slime boss from Terraria but a dragon!

Whenever he's in dragon form, he can choose if he wants legs or not, if he doesn't, he basically just moves like, well, a snail. Obviously faster than a snail, but still. He doesn't leave a trail behind most of the time though, because he actually needs that stuff thank you very much and leaving a trail behind is pretty messy obviously.

Whenever he uses legs he just walks as any other two legged creature.

Because of his unique biology, he can basically shift between Eastern and Western dragon form at will. He can manipulate his body far more than that, but anyways.

So, Danny has outlived his friends and family, so there isn't much for him to really, well, do anymore. Like, at all.

The GIW was and still is persistent as ever though. Even if he's outlived the original members that were gunning for him.

Apparently, becoming a goo dragon and ascending to his status as King of the Blob ghosts bumped up both his valuableness and his threat simultainously.

Which he guesses is fair because if he saw a guy turn into a giant dragon and he doesn't have a positive relationship with he would see him as a threat too.

So, how did this lead to him being locked up inside of a heavily fortified base created explicitly for him to be contained within.

Well, funny story that (It's not).

He was just minding his business, having recently broken out of another containment facility by the GIW to try and contain him, and he went back to the forest near Amity Park to just chill as he always did.

A few... weeks? Months? He honestly couldn't remember, he was confronted by the GIW. Didn't take them seriously, got this gas/liquid thing shoved inside of him, knocked out, then woke up in contaiment.

Which is basically a giant hole in the ground.

Except that it's a high-tech hole in the ground.

Something, something, ectoplasmic suppressors or whatever that leave him less able to manipulate his own ectoplasm, which is a bummer. He can still manipulate it, of course, just to a far less degree than he could've before, along with that liquid that'll be pumped into him via some metal round in the ground directly below him whenever he gets too rowdy.

Well.

Consider him effectively contained.

So, time passes, how much he couldn't tell you since his concept of time is warped after living for so long plus, it's not like anyone there would really tell him if he asked now would they?

However, today seemed to be an exciting day, because something was happening.

He could see it in the way scientists scramble for an exit and how the guards run through his area. Of course, some still stay to 'guard' him, since he thinks he's some kind of priceless item.

A scientist's words, not his, but being referred to as priceless is nice.

And then wouldn't you know it?

That one scientist that said they would do their best to help him actually pulled through with their words! Thanks, Henry, he has decided that he will not kill you!

(He wasn't going to do it anyways, but it's fun to scare people.)

With both the guards gone, the ectoplasmic suppressors down, and no one to stick that liquid shit into his system.

Well.

You can say he finally gets to go apeshit.

And a dragon is a formidable foe any day. Add to that a rampaging, bored of his mind, petty, dragon that's able to manipulate himself however he wants?

Even better situation for him, how the facility is seemingly being raided right now!

Danny then, no warning, shoves Henry inside of himself. For protection, and then continues his rampage.

Meanwhile, the Justice League, the ones raiding said facility, is currently here because of the Anti-Ecto Acts.

A set of laws they do not, and will not, stand by.

[snapscube]

In Dawntrail did you enjoy a different character playing the main role, or do you prefer when the player character is leading the narrative?

this is definitely a major point of contention in the fanbase rn and i can generally see valid feelings/criticism on both ends of the spectrum. i myself do fall somewhere in between the most extreme takes on this. i won't go into too much detail about actual events but ill tag this as spoilers anyway just in case. ok so my thoughts are:

firstly, i like Wuk Lamat a lot. i don't think she deserves even half of the pure unfiltered ire that she is receiving from a large subset of the community rn. the amount of people who have already turned being a wuk lamat hater into an advertised personality trait really frustrates me. i really enjoyed seeing her personal journey through the story and i was overall very satisfied by her inclusion. however, i do not think the story was perfectly paced or balanced, and i definitely do understand where people are coming from when they say that they could have used a little less of her in the forefront. honestly it did kind of ultimately disappoint me that we missed out on a lot of potential interaction/development with someone like Krile, who in spite of being promised a big breakout role in this expansion still somewhat felt like a SLIGHT (i have to stress slight) afterthought. she did get some notable moments of development and emotion, but i feel like there could have been more.

okay but, your question is about our role as a player in the narrative. i hold the opinion that for THIS EXPANSION SPECIFICALLY, the warrior of light taking somewhat of a narrative backseat actually made a ton of sense and fit the themes of the narrative as well as the promise of a somewhat breezy summer vacation for our heroes. now, i will say this: i really do not agree with the idea that the WoL should be in a mentor role indefinitely because our story is done developing and we need to give the spotlight to "the next generation" of heroes in the world. i appreciate the SENTIMENT of this, but like for me personally.... i don't want Pella's story to be done, yknow? i definitely would be disappointed if this was the DE FACTO role she played in every expansion past this. but i don't even think that is factually what's going to happen. we're currently in a setup phase! and, again, bringing it back to this narrative and the themes within, a lot of Dawntrail about the experience of entering unfamiliar places and learning about the customs and the traditions of people already within it to best help them without unwelcomely trampling on their culture in the process. i think a story like that is the PERFECT time for the WoL to take a bit of a backseat. wuk lamat is also somewhat unfamilar like us yes, but Tural is still her home and she is about to be tasked with leading it. i feel like centering our character in that equation would feel.... really disingenuous? it was kinda frustrating sometimes when it felt like hey.... there's a situation happening right now that can be solved by skilled combat and you have a literally god killer standing right here doing a frown emote, but at a certain point i could chalk it up to growing pains or necessary suspension of disbelief in the interest of the overall emotional hook of the narrative. a lot of those moments could be explained away with enough thought about the character motivations and culture at play, though sometimes it does feel like a stretch. again, far from a perfectly written MSQ. it starts slow and it's messy and it throws a LOT of stuff at you that doesn't always pay off like you expect or want. but i dunno! i think we're gonna see some really interesting stuff come to the forefront in the future, and i think especially now knowing that much of the playerbase thought we took TOO much of a backseat here CS3 will probably adjust their focus accordingly next time. so i can't be too upset really about the stuff i wasn't into. the rest of it was great imo!

[ofswordsandpens]

just finished episode 6…. truly don’t know how to feel about these changes. would love to know your thoughts bc i’m just kinda baffled by some changes tbh

Mixed feelings as always:

Percy's dream slapped. I loved Kronos's actor. It felt perfectly eery. No notes.

No percabeth late night convo on the truck. This doesn't surprise me given we sort of did that on the train already, but now there's just another iconic book moment that we'll get bits and pieces of, but never actually get to see in its entirety/original setting.

I did vibe with the glass prism tool for the iris message and it was pretty cool. The Percy + Annabeth argument was great but I'm gonna be honest, Luke being like "you're arguing like an old married couple" was laying it on a tad thick to me idk idk. I know I'll probably be in the minority there lol but I think it would have liked the line better if Percy and Annabeth got more embarrassed to his statement but they both reacted to it like :/ so it just felt heavy handed on the show runners part more than anything

Lotus Hotel vibes? Lackluster. Uninspired. It just didn't capture that outrageous paradise for kids feeling from the book because they turned it into Hermes' hangout so there's a whole bunch more adults than kids. Basically felt like if you took the movie's version and turned down the energy of it by a mile lmao. (Which is also ironic given RR's post about it today).

And of course the kids immediately know what's happening so like. No fun mystery. No Percy figuring it out. Just them being like "omg we need to be careful" and then immediately separating from Grover lmao.

Okay. LMM's Hermes.... it wasn't bad. Thankfully there was no singing. He was fine. It's more or less that turning the Lotus story line into a Hermes' storyline was like an "okay, I guess we're doing this" thing. I mean I guess we finally introduced something for the non-book reader's to pick up on that Luke might not have the best relationship with his dad (and consequently the gods). But like, nothing about this storyline is something that isn't introduced later on in the books. Nor was it better or more interesting than the original lotus storyline in the books.

Again, its the constant replacement of everything fun and silly and absurd in the book and turning it into a very serious moment, is just like, killing the energy. Seriousness is good. Silliness is also good. The book balanced it greatly. The show struggles here.

Glad we got a Pan mention tho!! Finally!

But um 4 pearls, so no dilemma about who to save. A part of me is relieved because the show's created like 3 other sacrifice convo scenarios so its gotten bit reductive, but Sally being a part of the equation is an entirely different dynamic and now that dilemma is theoretically gone. (unless he loses one of the pearls?)

And Percy's missed the deadline?? Right?? So like? I really don't know what we're doing anymore. In the book the deadline was pretty strict lol. Here I guess the deadline was like, a loose suggestion? Percy's walking into the middle of the god's battle field with master bolt in his hand? Idk.

Overall things in the show feel messy and way less cohesive. They seem to know that certain things from the book are important but not necessarily why, or they'll introduce events or plot points strangely late or way too early.

[luvrhischier]

losing game // trevor zegras

part 2

pairing: trevor zegras × reader

word count: 3.1k (might have gone a little overboard)

a/n: based on the song arcade by duncan laurence. lyrics are in bold italics (jumped around a lot and changed some lyrics to fit the story). no use of y/n.

a/n two: this is my offering to hockey tumblr pls let me in (f1 offering coming soon maybe idk).

warnings: mentions of sex but no actual smut (bc i suck at writing it), alcohol, angst with no happy ending

You watched as he collected his clothes and put them back on. Turning to you when he reached your bedroom door.

“Bye, babe. See you later.” He winked and left.

Silence ringing inside my head.

You sat up, one hand clutching a blanket to cover your bare body, the other running through your now messy hair trying to tame it. It didn't help. After ten minutes of complete silence and staring off into space you finally dropped the blanket and stood up. You walked over and stared at yourself through your full length mirror, examining your body and all of its features in the lightly lit room. You began to wonder why he didn't feel the same. Of course he wasn't obligated to, but still it made you feel like there was something wrong with you.

A broken heart is all that's left. I lost a couple of pieces.

You both had agreed to this. Friends with benefits in private, best friends in public. Nothing more, nothing less. However, now you felt a small piece of your heart get chipped away every time you hooked up.

Jamie had warned you both that this wasn't a good idea and that it would probably end in disaster, after he accidentally walked in on the two of you, but neither you listened. Both swearing that the two of you would never be anything more than friends, who occasionally hooked up. Now you wished you had listened.

The way Trevor now made you feel was unlike anything you had ever felt. Before he grew to understand your body, even better than you did, and what made it fall apart in those moments of tangled limbs, lips moving in sync, heavy breathing, and extreme pleasure, the two of you were just each other’s best friend. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly. You never wanted anything more until a few months in and you hated yourself for it. You couldn’t help it though Trevor's fun and loving nature carried over into those moments of close intimacy. It made your stomach to erupt with butterflies.

You finally silenced your thoughts and rummaged through your dresser for new clothes. You then picked up the clothes you formerly wore, the pieces scattered across your bedroom floor, tossing them into your laundry basket. You sighed deeply and returned to lay in your bed. You quickly stood up again as small tears began to build in your eyes. You didn't want to lay in the bed you just sex on. In fact, you didn't even want to be in your room. His scent was everywhere. His cologne was all over your bed and the smell began to spread around you like wildfire. You knew it wasn't going away anytime soon, it never did.

You collected yourself and headed to your bedroom door when you saw a crumpled up shirt hiding in a corner of your room. You picked it up and instantly realized it was Trevor's. It was the shirt he was wearing underneath his hoodie and he must have forgotten about it. You tried to stop yourself from taking off your old tattered tee and putting his shirt on instead but you failed. You stood there in shameful silence before finally heading to your living room.

You noticed a glass slightly filled with water sat next to the sink, Trevor must have stopped to get himself a drink before he left. You just wanted to take a nap so you left it there as you went to lay on your couch.

You opened Netflix, just playing a random show you knew you weren't really going to watch, you just wanted to end the silence that flowed through your apartment and sleep.

────

You opened your eyes slowly, trying not to be blinded the bright light coming from the t.v. You didn't want to sit up, you just wanted to lay there until you sank into the cushions. You finally checked the time, 8:56 pm, you had slept there for over six hours. You felt your heart stop when your phone began to ring and the screen showed Trevor's name and a picture of the two of you from years ago. You didn't want to pick up but your fingers didn't listen to your heart or your brain.

“Hey babe.” God you hated that nickname so much, it made your heart both shatter and melt.

“Hey Trev,” you groggily mumbled as you stood up heading back to your room. You looked over at your bed and flashbacks from earlier played in your head. Trevor laying on top of you, his lips on your neck, and his hands roaming your body. You shook your head trying to wipe away the memory.

“So, Jamie and I spontaneously decided to throw an end of season party since everyone's here and I wanted to call to see if you'd come,” he sounded happy, excited, and a little hopeful.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun,” you tried to sound as happy as him but you failed and you knew Trevor noticed, he always did. You used to love that he knew you so well, but now it just hurt because he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, notice your true feelings for him.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Nothing I'm totally fine. I just woke up from a nap and I um...” You paused, trying to think of an excuse. “I just need to take a shower and get ready. Bye, see you soon,” you heard him start to say something else but it was too late, you had ended the call. As soon as you hung up Trevor called again. You let out a frustrated groan before hitting decline. You quickly put your phone on do not disturb before he could try to call again and tossed it on your bed, you then went to your closet. You just stood there and looked at your clothes, too lazy to actually look for an outfit. You sighed and decided to take a shower before picking out an outfit.

You stepped in the shower and just stood there for awhile, letting the water run down your body hoping that it would wash away any remaining trace of him.

The hot water felt nice against your cold body but it only reminded you of the warmth you felt when you were with Trevor and you hated it.

Once you were finished you returned to your closet to finally pick an outfit. You didn't feel like getting too dressed up so you opted for something simple, a pair of leggings and a random top. Your breath hitched when you saw what top you had randomly grabbed. It was one of Trevor's team USA jerseys. You didn't even know you had this, he had been looking for it for ages.

Once again you tried to stop yourself from putting it on but you once again failed. You stood there in another shameful silence. You looked at your phone to check the time, 10:05 pm. You sighed before grabbing a random pair of shoes and your keys.

The drive to Trevor and Jamie's house was a quiet one, no music, just the sound of your car tires on the road, passing cars, and your quiet breathing. When you got closer to his house you could see a long line of cars parked along the street and what seemed like never ending groups of people walking through the door. A tiny voice inside your head begged you to turn around immediately and drive back home but it was too late. You had driven all the way here.

You were hit with the smell of booze as soon as you got out of the car. A small part of you wanted to throw up but the rest of you wanted to drink until you blacked out and forgot about him.

The music was loud and people were everywhere making it hard to walk through the crowd full of drunk kids with sweaty bodies. However, the kitchen was less crowded. Vodka was the first thing you saw so that's what you filled your cup with.

You heard a loud and dramatic gasp followed by a familiar laugh and turned to see Jack rushing towards you with open arms.

“I missed you so much!” He beamed and hugged you tightly. You could tell he was a bit drunk by how his words were starting to slur together.

“I missed you more, Jack,” you laughed. “Jack, sweetie you’re suffocating me,” you jokingly muttered out.

“Oops, my bad,” he laughed as he pulled away. He noticed the cup in your hand and grabbed it before taking a quick sip. Before you could jokingly get on to him Luke walked in. You knew he must have been his turn to be on ‘watch drunk Jack duty' by the look on his face.

“There you are! I swear I'm going to a harness and leash so you can’t wander off and I don't have to run around while having a heart attack trying to find you,” he said, slightly out of breath from running around the house and through the sea of people, trying to find Jack. Jack just smiled and shrugged his shoulders causing Luke to roll his eyes. He looked over at you and smiled. “What's up, I missed you!” He exclaimed towards you before pulling you into a quick hug.

“I missed you too,” you smiled back. Before he could reply you both turned to where Jack was once standing only to find that he had wondered off again. Luke rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

“I have to go find him again before he does something stupid,” he said begrudgingly. “I'll come back once I find him. I wanna hear about how annoying Zegras has been this season,” he joked while he ran off to find Jack once more.

The mention of his name made your heart feel like it was being ripped out of your chest and squeezed right in front of you. Wanting to distract yourself you looked around and skimmed over the crowd. You didn't want to admit that you were looking for him, but you were. You were about to take a drink of the vodka in your hands when you finally found him. You cursed every single higher being for the sight in front of you. There he was in the corner talking, dancing, and obviously flirting with some blonde girl. Their hands were all over the other’s body and they were close, too close, it made your body go numb. You felt completely defeated.

We were always a losing game.

Now your heart felt like it completely stopped working. You watched as she leaned in to whisper something in his ear with a giggle. The smirk that broke out on his face could've been seen from a mile away. Your cup slipped out of your hand and you felt it splash everywhere. You looked down and let out a shaky sigh. Quickly you grabbed the roll of paper towels and fell to your knees to clean up the mess, but it became harder and harder as your eyes started to blur with tears. You heard mumbling through the ringing in your ears but you didn't look up. You just sat there on the floor furiously cleaning up the spilled alcohol.

You finally looked up when the person shouted your name and placed a hand on your shoulder, snapping you out of your trance. There stood Nico and Quinn. When they saw the tears running down your face both of their eyes filled with worry.

“What's wrong?” Nico questioned as he crouched down next to you.

“I spilled my fucking drink and I have to clean it up.”You continued scrubbing the floor.

“You've cleaned it all up,” he said softly. “You can stop now.” He gently grabbed your hand to stop you.

You looked at the floor and saw that he was right. The alcohol was gone but now it was being replaced with your tears spattering on the floor. You fully sat down on the floor and Nico followed.

“Okay, everyone out of the kitchen now!” Quinn shouted to the few people still standing around you, whispering to each other as they obviously gossiped about your breakdown. You watched as everyone listened and quickly walked away.

Quinn joined the two of you on the ground.

“Why are you crying?” Quinn asked as he scooted over to sit right next to you. You didn't want to say it was because of Trevor. You knew that no matter how much the two of them playfully argued and fought Trevor was like a third younger brother and, though he'd jokingly never admit it, he loved him. He didn't deserve to be burdened with your problems. But deep down he knew and you knew that he knew because of the look on his face.

He wrapped his arm around your shoulder and you let out, in your opinion, a pathetically loud sob as you buried your head into his chest. Quinn didn't even care about the tears and makeup that were most definitely staining his shirt, he just cared about being there for you.

“He's over there with some girl.” you stuttered as you began to hyperventilate. “And I know I shouldn't be acting like this because we're supposed to be just friends but it hurts so fucking bad. God, this is so embarrassing. I'm so fucking stupid. I hate myself!” You lifted your head

“I need you to take some deep breaths. You need to breathe.” Nico softly said. “Breathe.” He took a deep breath of his own so you could follow along.

“Alright, who told me everyone to leave the kitchen?” Jamie interrupted as he entered the kitchen. You looked over and saw that Jack and Luke had walked in too. ‘Fuck!’ You cursed in your head. It was hard enough crying in front of Quinn and Nico, now all of your closest friends were standing there watching you sob on the floor. You watched as they all quickly sobered up.

One by one they all sat on the floor with you. All of them extremely worried. You wanted to somewhat keep your composure so you didn’t freak them out, but you couldn’t hold it in anymore you just let it all out. You knew your makeup was probably a mess and your jersey, his jersey, was covered in tears and running mascara.

“He's over there, with some girl, and they're all over each other and I'm over here crying. God I'm such an idiot!” You hiccuped. You wiped your eyes with the sleeves of his jersey. All of them instantly knew who you were talking about. “You were right Jamie. I should have listened to you. It’s okay you can say ‘I told you so’…" 

“I would never do that,” he said gently.

You watched as Quinn stood up, Jack and Luke quickly followed.

“Be right back.” Quinn mumbled, trying to hide the anger in his voice. You saw the three of them clench their jaws and ball their fists. Before you could protest they were gone. Now it was just you, Jamie, and Nico. They both scooted in closer and engulfed you in a hug.

“I guess giving us up didn't take a lot to him, huh?” You forced a chuckle trying to lighten the mood and joke but neither of them laughed or even looked slightly amused. You sighed. “Deep down I saw the end before it even began, but I still carried on.” You lowered your head.

You heard someone softly say your name and you instantly knew who it was. Trevor. He had that the slight roughness in his voice, the roughness he got after a one too many drinks and you hated that it was still sending shivers down your spine.

“Please look at me.”

You don't know how or where you got the courage, maybe it was because your friends were there to support you and protect you, but not only did you look up, you stood up and marched straight up to him. 

“Babe-”

“Don't call me that! I think you have made it clear that I am not really your ‘babe' so stop torturing me by saying that!” You angrily interrupted. You knew that now everyone was staring at the two of you and the scene you were making.

“What's wrong? Talk to me. Why are you crying?” His eyes were soft and you wanted to let this whole thing go and forgive him but you knew you couldn't, your heart couldn't take this anymore. He took a step towards you as his hand came up and tried to caress you face but you pushed his hand away.

“You! You're what's wrong with me! You’re why I’m crying!” You spat. “I stupidly fell in love with you and loving you is a losing game and I got addicted to it. But now l'm done with your games, I have to be because now I need to go and put myself back together. So game over. I'm getting off of this emotional rollercoaster. I am completely drained because I've spent all of the love I had on you!” Tears streamed down your face like a waterfall and you didn't care you needed to say this before you lost the courage and let him back in. “I know I was nothing more than a quick fuck to you but to me you were everything and more. So this,” you gestured between the two of you. “Whatever this is between us is over and so is our friendship. Because if I stay I'II let you back in and I will shatter into a million pieces and I will never be able to put myself back together again.” You walked past him and quickly headed towards the door.

You didn't want to stop but you remembered what you were wearing. You looked down and saw his now tear stained jersey. You turned around and Trevor was right behind you causing you to run face first into his chest, you quickly pushed him away and saw his eyes filled with hurt, panic, and tears.

“Can we please go up to my room and talk about this?” He pleaded. “I can't lose you...”

You softened for a second before regaining your composure. You didn't answer him, you just pulled his jersey over your head and threw it at him, not caring that you were now shirtless in front of all of these random people.

"Goodbye, Trevor.”

[absolutebl]

Okay, FINE, the shows you should watch for BL's QUEER AF roots

You ready to go hunting?

Many of these are difficult to find. Also many of the images of them and their posters have been block/banned by tumblr, so, no screen grabs for you! (Good times.)

I don't necessarily *like* any of these, but if you are queer and in this fandom and need to dialogue around BL's queerness - these are going to provide a foundation for you. They are important for various industry, reputation, directorial, and cultural reasons. As seeds often are.

Trigger warnings throughout.

The true beginnings:

Boys Love, Japan's 2006 movie is a REALLY rough start featuring a journalist + hot model = murder gay, mild necrophilia, cheating, abuse, rape, and suicide for love. Start as you mean to go on, why don't you, Japan? Is it queer... maybe? Is it BL... honey, I am very sorry to inform you, this started BL.

Note: Yoshikazu Kotani is famous in og BL circles since he acted in 3 early BLs, both Boys Loves and then Same Difference. Also he v tall and hawt.

Eternal Summer, Taiwan 2006 - unlike Japan, Taiwan did NOT start how it would, eventually, go on. But what a messy way to start. A high school story of 3 besties in a love triangle, self discovery, and sexual awakening that fucks it all up.

No Regret, Korea 2006, is a very unhinged queer catastrophe piece about a lost gay man who ends up a host and then almost a murderer because of both his job and his identity.

Note: This is the directorial feature film debut of Lee-Song Hee-il Korea's (so far as I know) first openly gay director who specialized (to this day) in queer content.

The Love of Siam, Thailand 2007, this was Thailand's queer awakening, sure they would backpedal for YEARS after, but in 2022 they began to remember what this movie was (and did) and overtly referenced this quiet little masterpiece. This movie is sad but stunning in that way that the best queer works from Thailand can be (like Present Perfect or ITSAY.) It has Thailand's quintessential softness around theme and character, which you'll understand perfectly when highlighted against the backdrop of the early 2000s works from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Thailand will never lose this soft style and it's one of the most attractive qualities of Thai BL: it's never very harsh with us or its characters. This movie very easily COULD have been quite harsh indeed.

I thought long and hard about including Rice Rhapsody AKA Hainan Chicken Rice (Hainan ji fan) on this list and finally decided it doesn't really qualify. Still let me mention Hong Kong's 2005 movie. It is amazing, fascinating, and very rough going for an ostensible comedy. It wasn't the actual beginning because few saw it and Hong Kong never really picked up or ran with BL let alone QL, but it was hella queer. It's also hella homophobic.

Just Friends? (2009 Korea) - this is Korea's first (kinda) upbeat version of a BL featuring already established boyfriends, one of whom is on military leave, trying to decide on coming out, family life, and the future. All of these are themes Korea will pretty much never tackle again, retreating as they would to their bubble. But what a fun little offering this little show was and is to this day. You should watch it.

Like Love 1 AKA I Love You As A Man: Part 1 - China's 2014 offering is actually pretty classic early form live action yaoi with things like whipping boy, a university setting, rich/poor jock/nerd pairing, hard grumpy/sunshine and a very odd title. It's pre-censorship with an HEA, also explicit, yeah China once did that. This is a lot less queer that it is classic BL and classic Chinese romance, neither of which have any kind of connection to reality. But hey, that's what I'm here for. But it's important to note the drifting away from queerness beginning to occur.

Love Sick - Thailand's 2014 "boys in blues shorts" high school set soapy (in all ways) offering is widely considered the true beginning of Thai BL and by default, eventually, BL as we know it today. (As the biggest producer they somewhat dictate taste and trends in the genre.) This is one of those BLs that owes almost nothing to yaoi, although it started a number of tropes that are now endemic to Thai BL. What it is, instead, is a well scripted story of bisexual self-discovery and the inherent chaos of loving someone of the same gender for the first time, all wrapped up in hormones, existing relationships, and communication issues. It is high school queer angst at its messiest. Nothing is going to be easy for these boys because queer isn’t easy but also because life isn’t easy… welcome to adulthood sweethearts. Is is overtly queer? For 2014 Thailand? Sure is.

Love Next Door 2 a movie from 2014 and one of Thailand’s early very high heat pieces, it’s odd, but sexy I guess? Some unexpectedly decent queer rep including femme characters getting screen time + HEAs. (Part one from 2013 has the same high heat content and features the same lead character (and actor) discovering he is gay with the sex worker next door, but isn't as good nor is it relevant to this installment.)

A few other unknowns, for the queer babies

Wait For Me at Udagawachou AKA Udagawachou de Matteteyo - from Japan in 2015, this is a story about two boys in high school one of whom is a repressed outsider and the other who has a terrible secret (body dysmorphia & cross dressing). When the first boy discovers what's up with the second one, his reaction is very much fetishization. "Oh Japan must you?" kinda started for me with this show. But in this case, Japan, weirdly MUST. This is the ONLY show laboring under (and testing) a pointedly straight lens (or is it?) and identity examination (yes but which boys' identity? that's the question) that I've EVER seen even edge into the BL genre. It is crazy queer, even as it mostly focuses on the fetishization of identity from an outsider's perspective. I WISH more people in fandom would watch it so I could at least talk to someone about it.

The Lover (BL Cut) Korea's 2015 series had multiple couples in an apartment complex, one pair of whom is a BL romance between a Korean man and a visiting Japanese tourist (played by a Kpop idol). It's comedic, slapstick sexy only (no kissing), but basically starts up Korea's bubble and use of idols in BL. It's kinda fascinating to watch them dodge around and still represent gayness in what (is sadly destined to become) a very Chinese way, but which Korea in pursuit of Hallyu and market share would morph into the bubble.

Mr. X and I from China in 2015 is a compilation piece and, I think, the first of this kind of multiple narrative shorter grab bags AKA "Sampler Pack BL." Two of the stories are very queerly sad, but the third is CLASSIC BL of the kind that would become China's best (and last) true BL, Addicted.

Sweet Boy, (Thai 2016) Chimon's first gay role and it is quite sad, oddly sexy, and similar to Dew the movie or My Bromance (just so you know what you are in for) but the acting is on point. When Thailand goes dark, this is how they do it, but this is rough going for baby queers because that's the darkness it is exploring. Our old thematic friends: the pain of self discovery and coming out into a homophobic environment and unfriendly reality, and the cost of being the one able (and willing) to stay in the closet.

Method (Korea 2017) this movie is a May/December actor/idol pairing, that should have been everything I wanted in life but is more about the older character cheating on his wife and their weird “artsy” relationship and frankly, I hated it. And I don’t say that lightly. Is it queer? Who tf knows, but is sure has some interesting things to say about the nature of PERFORMATIVE queerness.

Red Balloon is Taiwan's 2017 precursor BL to their biggest and most famous prestige piece Your Name Engraved Herein. If you're making a choice, choose that instead, but this series certainly paved the way for it to come into existence. Both shows tackle the pressures of culture and social structures on self acceptance and identity and the loneliness inevitably caused by conflict between the two.

(As indeed does Life Love On The Line, Present Perfect, Grey Rainbow, Tropical Night, My Sky, and many other queer meets early BL pieces that revolved around coming out and family acceptance.)

China's 3 2017 "they tried to censor the gay... and it went HORRIBLY wrong":

Beloved Enemy,

The Fairy Fox,

Mr. CEO is Falling in Love with Him.

Honestly these 3 are basically the uncanny valley of BLs.

The Novelist AKA The Pornographer series (2018-2020). Messy psychological machinations, gaslighting, fetishization, sexual corruption, and more good times from "well, what did you expect?" Japan, but also no holds barred queer, just well and truly fucked in the head (and arse) about it.

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese AKA Kyuso wa Chizu no Yume wo Miru (Japan 2020) - Drama llama queers so queer and so dramatic it's like Japan is trying to PROVE something: obsession, cheating, break-up, reunion, then break up again, all of it explicit. This show is just SO JAPANESE. I can't even, but you should watch it and you'll know exactly what I mean. Something like My Personal Weatherman owes it's lineage to this kind of BL. If you like Japan naked, boney, emo, and smoking (hot & ciggy) you will love this, and should watch it. It's objectively amazing, I can't stand it, but I NEED people to talk about it more.

More Queer Stuff about BL from moi

BL Linguistics & Queer Identity - I Am Gay versus I Like Men 

Will BL Get More Honestly Queer? 

Actually gay, not BL gay - the idea of “by queers, for queers, about queers,” the BL bubble, sanitized gay, and a queer lens

Queer lens (from the director) and chemistry (from the actors) in BL (A Tale of Thousand Stars)

Touch & Daisy in Secret Crush On You - Queer Coded Language and 3rd Gender Identity

BL in Taiwan & Gay Marriage

Debating Queerbaiting in BL ( + Devil Judge… is it queerbaiting?) 

BL Actors and the Assumption of Queerness - outing actors, coming out, being out, more:�� Is that BL actor actually queer?

So is it really fetishization? straight women loving bl 

Some BL fans are sasaengs, and it’s a problem in this fandom 

BLs That Highlight How Society Treats Queers

10 BLs That Are Honest to a Queer Experience 

If you like these kinds of shows try the "Moody Arthouse Smackdoodle" section of this post too.

Happy watching!

(source)

[josukegappyhigashikata]

Not every character is meant to be likeable: Jake Disventure Camp.

So, as of late I've been seeing people dislike and be annoyed at Jake and like... yeah! He is meant to be exasperating but I don't think that's bad writing at all.

Meanwhile I would absolutely never call Disventure Camp a perfectly written show I will say that it has had very good character writing with having delivered some high notes on both of the previous seasons so now I wanna talk about Jake's writing in All-Stars.

First of all, Jake's writing? Very consistent. Jake's title was the naive one and yeah he is naive. He is paranoid as hell, he is gullible as sin, he is easily tricked by others, he is so easily manipulable to the point of characters pointing that out and all of those traits have been consistent with Jake through his seasons. The newest trait found was Jake's jealousy over Aiden but that jealousy was born over his paranoia and naivety which are both part of his established traits.

Also, something to be mentioned is that just like Ellie, James and Riya he has a context and background for those tough edges. We know that Jake's family life is not the best both from the show and from extra material, we also know that he was in a toxic relationship that he later got cheated on which was the breaking point of the relationship. Living with a family that you feel that you're always waiting for a mess to happen, which is implied his parents don't accept his homosexuality, would have easily made someone paranoid which now with a toxic relationship and one of the actual worst things happened to him? Jake is always waiting for something bad to happen and when that bad thing happens he thrives in his own victimization. Meanwhile this was seen in his season this has been more focused on the latest season and not only that but it has been less sympathetic towards him how easily he falls into those spirals of negativity.

Jake has had a lot of focus on All-Stars but also he is one of the characters that has his arc not be resolved at all, just like how Alec, Aiden and Gabby didn't have their arcs finished on their seasons by having other characters take priority over them. Now it seems they're taking their time to finish almost all the arcs they didn't give a proper conclusion to.

Now, I will say that I don't adore how he is a grown ass man being coddled by women which now Ashley was used for his development even though I know a character like Ashley wasn't made like Grett or Jake where they really thought of making them deep characters. It's still no excuse to have a female character that had already not had a lot of time to shine just be a stepping stone for a male character but it has a reason for it even if I dislike it.

Is Jake a dislikeable character? For some people? Yeah, he is very much dislikeable but also the traits he is disliked for are things that are written to be traits you see as negative. You're not meant to say: "Oh, yeah. It's fine that Jake is a stupid dumbass that gets clouded by his feelings at any moment." because it's obvious that his arc is overcoming those flaws in his character.

You might find Jake dislikeable and that's alright but I don't think that's bad writing, it's also not wrong if you like him since not only is he an entertaining character in his own messiness (which is that messiness why I find him an entertaining character) but he is a sympathetic character with what we know of him.

You're not meant to like every character, sometimes characters start dislikeable and you're meant to see them grow out of their flaws which after the tenth episode of All-Stars it seems that's where Jake is going.

Ever so often you have to take a step back and ask yourself: "What are the creators trying to convey with this story? Is it me not liking certain traits of a character an intended outcome?"

[fivelakesinwriting]

would you be up to writing a smut for andrew again? maybe the reader just came back from UTBOH premier (his new show) and seeing him as a dilf just made her need him to put a baby in her

Author's Notes: I actually already had something like this already written! Thank you for requesting. I'm so sorry it took me so long to get to - I'm trying to get through old requests when I can! I'm hoping the wait was worth it and that you enjoy xoxo

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of drinking, established relationship, talk of pregnancy, smut* (unprotected sex, biting, some spanking)

Requested: Yes, old request!

*My work is not to be transferred, copied, translated or reposted to any other sites without my permission. And you do not have permission. Please see my masterlist for all other works and warnings. Thank you! xoxo

Andrew knew that she liked his work, and had been looking forward to this project, but he didn't know she would have this reaction. Especially after he propped her up on the vanity 10 minutes before their town car showed up. He thought he had done a better job at easing her desire a little bit.

"You're so sexy as a Daddy. Fuck, I want your baby so much." She wept in his ear before she sank to her knees in front of him seconds after their hotel room door shut.

"Come back up here. Slow down, little lady. Holy fuck." Andrew breathed out as she unzipped his slacks and reached for his manhood as he tugged her upright again.

"I don't want to go slow. I want to go fast, make a baby. I want to bounce on your thick, beautiful -" She groaned as he covered her mouth with his hand, his eyes narrowed down at her.

"How much champagne did you drink?" Andrew murmured as he pulled his hips back, not letting her rub him over his briefs. He removed his hand from her pouty lips to let her reply.

"One glass. I swear, just the one. I just saw you up on that screen and I just felt something. I know that wasn't the point of the story, and that's wrong of me. But I saw you with those kids and I got stupid." Her eyes were heavy, but not with alcohol, they were heavy like after he'd fuck her into the mattress and she'd ask for one more roll around.

"Stupid?" He repeated softly as he trailed his fingers over her chin down her throat, over the tops of her breasts.

"Yeah. I got that fuzzy headed feeling, but it was less sweet and tender than earlier. I just wanted to rip your clothes off and ride you like an animal. Bite you, lick you, scratch you up and let you cover me in -"

Andrew grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her in for a hot, messy open mouth kiss. He slipped his tongue in her mouth with a moan as he lifted her thigh up around his waist with his other hand. He let her unbutton his shirt as he started his trail of kisses down her throat to her chest.

"You want to go for a little ride, lovey?" Andrew growled as he nipped at her chin, breathing heavily against her lips as she worked her hand into his slacks to palm his stiffness.

"Yes, please. I need you so naked and deep inside of me. Wanna bite you all over." She whispered as she pressed her hand to his full thickness over his briefs.

"What has gotten into you? Fuck." He groaned as he grabbed her thighs and lifted her up, carrying her to the bed while she kept her hand in his pants. He dropped her to the bed as carefully as he could before he shrugged out of his suit jacket and tore off his tie.

"Next time." He growled as he balled up his tie and pitched it to the end of the bed.

"You wanna tie me up, baby?" She breathed out as she reached for his belt buckle and tugged him close, legs around his waist.

"More than anything. Wrists behind your back, to the headboard, or wrists tied to your beautiful ankles. But you requested a ride around the world first, lovey. Leave these shoes on for me?" Andrew breathed out as he ran his hands up her smooth legs underneath her dress. His hips were hers as she tugged his belt through the prongs then wrestled his slacks and briefs over his backside.

"Whatever you want. Baby!" She giggled as he crawled into bed and flipped them over. He unzipped her dress, pawing her breasts as she rocked over his hard leaking manhood.

"Take this off, lovey. Oh, so beautiful. And these panties can just be destroyed. We don't need them." Andrew breathed out as he bunched her dress up around her waist then pulled it off her body. He rooted his fingers in her panties and ripped them at the seam, revealing her wet treasure to him.

"Put Him in for me, baby?" She whispered as she pressed down to her hands on the mattress and kissed his cheek, the beard scratching her lips.

"Need my help, lovey? Oh, there we go. Is that good, lovey?" Andrew grunted as he held himself steady and eased inside of her as she bit and nibbled down his scruffy neck. He ran a hand over her hair as he settled inside of her, his breath stuck in his throat as her tight walls clenched around him in the hopes of making him part of her.

"S'good. So full." She whispered into the crease of his neck as she started to rock her hips on top of him.

Once she had adjusted to his size, her little hole stretched to its limit with his thick length, she sat upright and held his shoulders for leverage. She lifted her hips up then down, tantalizingly slow, watching him lick his lips.

"If you're gonna ride like that, put your knees here." Andrew breathed out as he grabbed the backs of her knees and spread them out as far as they could go, letting her clit rub his abs.

"Oh, baby." She gasped, falling back down to her forearms on the mattress at the sensation, pleasure coursing through her body as he hit her gspot and her clit rubbed his stomach.

"Better, yeah? That's my girl." Andrew huffed out as he grabbed her thighs then pawed at her ass cheeks before doling out a firm smack that made her moan. That loud, slutty moan he loved to hear when she really let go for him.

"S'good, lovey? Take what you want, it's fucking yours." He growled as he smacked her ass again then reached for her hair and tugged hard, exposing her neck.

"Do it. I know you want to, Andrew. Bite my neck and fucking claim me." She rasped out as she scratched the nails of her left hand down his chest, red marks across his skin.

Andrew growled from deep, deep in his chest as he surged forward to sink his perfect white teeth into her neck. His girlfriend pressed her nails into his chest, little crescent moon shapes embedded over his heart as she sobbed his name, rolling her hips like a cyclone on top of him.

"Gonna make me cum, lovey. So wild right now. Slow down." Andrew croaked as he pulled his fingers down her back to her hips, trying to cease her movement.

"But you feel so good." She sobbed out as she sat up, running her hands through her hair as she bounced in his lap, her back arched.

"I wanna last longer, make you cum." He groaned as his fingers pressed into the flesh of her hips in a weak attempt to anchor himself.

"S'okay, baby. I'm there with you." She breathed out as she dropped to her forearms on the mattress and pressed her forehead to his, her fingertips running over his bearded jawline.

Andrew wrapped his arms around and flexed his arms into the small of her back as he brought them both over the edge. Her toes curled in her shoes while she pulled his hair, breathing his name in his ear.

"Fuck. I'm definitely fine with doing that over and over again to have a baby." Andrew sighed contently as he released his arms from around her body and rested them over his head.

"I'm so shocked." She grinned as she looked down at him with bright, but tired eyes, her body weak on top of him.

Andrew chuckled as he buried his face in her neck, placing soft kisses down to her shoulder. He rolled them over in the bed, tugging her snuggly against him as he tucked them under the blankets. They fell asleep, both dreaming of their future together and starting a family.

Please let me know what you think - comments and messages are welcome! I hope you all enjoyed xoxo

[yuurivoice]

Seth's clearing up the fact that what the listener did doesn't bother him because if he didn't it would be iffy...?

????

Is this a statement, a question, opinion? I think you missed a part. But...

...sorta? Seth clearly consented to it in the audio prior, but the re emphasis on it being okay so that he'd then go onto reveal that he's got a thing for listener (and vice versa) just seemed like the most convenient way to connect those dots while also tackling what would probably be a very real concern.

But it wasn't a case of dubious consent I felt needed retconning, though in an alternate, slightly darker version of things you could go the route where Wolfie manipulated listener into thinking Seth was a consenting party but it was actually a lie. Which I think makes for a really spicy and intense love triangle but it's not really something I feel like pursuing when there's absolutely a segment of the audience who would balk at anything other than the healthiest, most correct, most okay sex happening otherwise it's a clear endorsement by the author rather than a fucked up little love triangle that's messy and horny.

I don't have the time to deal with that, and I find reassurance and consent equally sexy and less dramatic of a story to tell so that works for me. 😂

[dr-spectre]

Ranting about the Splatoon Fandom Wiki....

I wanna quickly make fun of the Splatoon fandom wiki because like most fandom wikis, it's covered with ads unless you use an adblocker, is poorly formatted, poorly structured, has less info than Inkipedia, doesn't update frequently, has missing information, and genuinely is less "professional" than Inkipedia. It also just copies and pastes info from Inkipedia too so there's that as well... I'm not exactly sure how fandom wiki works and how the moderation works but it seems scattered and not good enough by any means.

Like Callie's page for example has this weird ass paragraph that says Callie was left unstable after Splatoon 2??? And it contains a lot of errors and a very weird subjective piece of text in what is supposed to be an objective as possible page, cause you know, ITS A WIKI!!!

She wants to splat shielded Octarians over and over again because that's just in line with her character, she's energetic and silly, she doesn't give a fuck that you need to go behind them to attack them better, she's just gonna splat them up front with her roller, that's just who she is, she represented team Show No Mercy in Splatoon 1 for a reason. Also that dialogue is cut off from what she actually says to further paint this idea that Callie is some broken unstable girl who was a victim of kidnapping and forced brainwashing, for some fucking reason i don't know. I can't even seem to find the original dialogue they stated because THEY DON'T LINK SOURCES!!! HOW DOES A WIKI NOT PROVIDE SOURCES TO THEIR QUOTES!?!?? WHAT!?? I tried checking Inkipedia and even they don't have this dialogue from Callie, so idfk man. All I know is that the dialogue was cut off. Ugh...

From my memory i don't even recall Callie having a new facial animation where her pupils shrink, or it's just so incredibly minor that it's not worth bringing up at all. She also wasn't smiling to hide her panic when her grandfather was kidnapped and insulting Mr. Grizz what the fuck? She was frowning when Cuttlefish dried up and died for a moment!! She was UPSET! and didn't hide it at all! What the hell?! Also facial animations in Splatoon work by the characters swapping between different mouth presets in quick succession, you can see it for yourself when you watch the Idols perform and sing, their mouths don't move smoothly and it makes sense because their language is just gibberish and clipped together audio clips. You can't animate that smoothly unless you spent an INSANE amount of time to animate their mouths incredibly smoothly to match the intentional gibberish and messy vocals. And you gotta do that for EVERY. CUTSCENE. IN. THE. STORY. MODE. That's why the developers just do the cheaper and simpler option to save on time, money and labour.

The "Plenty!" line in response to Shiver's "what is wrong with you?" Is most likely a reference to her quote on quote "airheaded" personality and a subtle nod at her putting the shades back on again and again.

Callie does seem to have mental health issues but it wasn't caused by some "brain warping evil shades oooo", it was due to various things prior to that. Waking up very early in the morning every single day and working non stop, getting harassed by paparazzi, being incredibly lonely and having a strained relationship with someone you used to care about would fuck up anyone's mental health and cause you to overthink and make bad decisions, like join the Octarians and end up wanting to adopt their ideals due to not wanting to go back to your old life and having to deal a fractured relationship with a family member that you think insulted you multiple times on live television, and those feelings and that darkness inside your heart get further amplified by hypnotic shades that cause the restraints in your head to finally break through. But i digress....

Another BIG issue with the fandom wiki is that it's not updated at all, it's extremely outdated, you can check for yourself, find your favorite Idol or character and see if they have the latest info on them, chances are, they don't.

Marina's page is missing Side Order information and new songs.

Shiver's is missing a LOT of gallery and Splatfest information. (No info on Suffer No Fools and "What would you do at world's end?" Splatfest)

Same with Frye. (Frye has the most up to date info on her Splatfest wins and loses yet Shiver doesn't? Huh?)

DJ Octavio's page spreads the incorrect narrative that he uses music to directly control Octarians which has been proven false.

Inkipedia gets it right by saying it's more like propaganda and military marches.

(Although i have my own personal issues with how sometimes Inkpedia talks about Hypno Callie but at least they bothered to include the god damn relationship chart in her page.)

Yeah the Splatoon fandom wiki is just.... bad man. it's awful. It's dogshit. Sometimes i see it as the top result when i search for characters and other Splatoon related content, i don't want casual fans and newcomers to go on that website which has false and outdated information. Please give all the support you can to Inkipedia. It's incredibly rich in information and updates fairly quickly. As a game wiki it's insanely well put together and one of the best wikis out there. It's amazing. If you want to do a wiki scroll and you're mildly interested in Splatoon then it's a great place to get lost for a while and spend some time in.

I just wanted to do a little ranting is all right now. I know that a large majority of people in the community don't like the fandom wiki and Inkipedia is superior by 10000000x but. I just wanted to rant a little. Get my thoughts out there. I'm too attached to a certain cephalopod woman to let poor information about her slide under the radar.

[omgthatdress]

Everything I know about the royals comes from Tumblr memes and one bonus episode of a totally unrelated podcast but now I'm morbidly curious, so: what's up with William? And the Middletons? Or if that's a longer story than you want to explain, do you have recommendations for where to read about this that is likely to be fairly accurate?

I don't have any facts I just have pure fucking speculation if that's okay. :)

Like I've been saying for a long-ass time the one thing I absolutely LOVED about The Crown was its portrayal of generational trauma. It very skillfully showed how being a shitty husband who cheats on his wife and treats his kids like garbage was passed down from Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark to Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh to King Charles and then to Prince William. Hell, it probably started long before that but holy shit THE CYCLE OF DYSFUNCTION AND ABUSE BE REPEATING ITSELF.

And if you really want to dig into it, well.... I think he and Harry followed a pattern that a LOT of siblings of bitter and messy divorce fall into, one kid sides with the mom, one with the dad. It's been said a LOT that Harry was Diana's favorite son, so it probably started with that. And OF COURSE William is gonna side with Charles because well... he's the heir. They have that shared trauma.

And then there's the way the whole "heir and spare" thing absolutely perverts any relationship they might have had as brothers. Charles managed to have a decent relationship with his siblings, I think, because first of all, Anne was a girl, and then Andrew and Edward were significantly younger than him and Anne, so there wasn't this unnaturally massive imbalance of power between them. One of the reasons I've come to believe the monarchy should be abolished is because of how badly it damages the structure of a family in a way that no one should have to deal with.

I think Diana might have been able to guide William into being a better person if she'd have lived, but idk. It may be wishful thinking. His relationship with her became kind of strained when he was a teenager and she was going on TV to tell the whole fucking world about her sex life. I think Diana did the right thing exposing the family like she did, but I can also understand how a 13 year old boy would be absolutely humiliated by that.

THEN there's the whole way he was a MASSIVE heartthrob as a teenager, and was intensely sexualized for it. Like it will absolutely mess with you when you have girls screaming and throwing themselves at you when you're still trying to figure your own sexuality out. It will also massively inflate your ego and convince you that the whole world loves you and there's nothing you can do wrong.

SOOOOOO

as for his relationship with Kate. She's much harder to pin down because she hasn't spent her entire fucking life in the spotlight, and the Middletons are sill granted a certain degree of privacy that the Windsors aren't. I don't think they're as absolutely fucked up as Diana's family was but I still definitely think her mom was a major driving force behind her staying with William.

I think there actually was some initial mutual attraction and that they may have even actually been in love. Buuuut then he waited ten years to propose to her, during which he cheated and they broke up and got back together. Honestly, I don't know what Kate's damage was with all of that, whether or not she was able to convince herself that William wouldn't be another shitty husband, or if she was willing to put up with his bullshit if it meant she would be queen.

Diana was more or less picked out as a bride for Charles because it was assumed that she would be a meek and beautiful wifey who never caused any problems. I mean, she was 19 and he was 32 for fuck's sake. She very much wanted to be queen. BUT what everyone wasn't counting on was that Diana would *gasp* have some serious emotional needs. She was deeply traumatized by her own parents' incredibly bitter divorce, overwhelmed and deeply lonely in her position as princess, and on top of that, suffering from bulimia and then post-natal depression. She needed love and support and Charles spent the whole marriage balls deep in Camilla.

Kate had a much more stable upbringing and had more than a few months to get to know both William and what her role as a princess would be. Ultimately, the vibe I get from her is that she's willing to be the perfect meek beautiful wifey who puts up with William's bullshit if it means she can be royal, which is exactly what Diana was supposed to be.

And I don't mean that to knock or belittle her. She's good at it. She looks incredibly happy when she's doing that. It's her career. It's an exchange I can actually really understand making, especially when your only other prospects involved working for your parents' party company.

But I could be extremely wrong about all of this Maybe she's absolutely miserable but she feels like she has no other options and worried about losing her kids and is terrified of what happened to Diana. It's hard to know, and I wish The Crown would have at least committed to *something* rather than just brushing all of this off.

[bloodyshadow1]

so I've taken time to digest the vengeance saga, I still not sure if I like it as a whole. The music is fantastic as always, but I'm not sure how it works as a musical. as songs, theyr'e great, as a narrative it's messy

not sorry for loving you- I don't like how it tries to make us feel sympathetic to Calypso when the last time we saw her she was keeping odysseus prisoner for 7 years and sexually abusing him. He was going to kill himself if athena didn't get him off the island and suddenly they're cool. It's a beautiful song, but again doesn't work in the whole of a narrative for me

Dangerous- Overall fine, a bit too much exposition but the silly nature of the song fits epic as a whole. That being said, I think there were better ways to set up the other songs in the saga. Reusing the wind bag seems unnecessary and a messy Chekhov's gun. Why not use Hermes' sandals that he gave Perseus, it would have amounted to the same thing and would have been less dumb as a jetpack wind bag giving him the ability to defeat a god.

Charybdis- a song that I like, but the actual monster doesn't really fit the narrative and is defeated as an afterthought in the story. The ending is really good, but it kind of feels filler to me as a song

Get in the water- like dangerous the whole thing is pretty solid, we the whole song release before so not many twists and turns, but a good song

600 strikes- this is the song I have the biggest problems with, a lot of it has to do with the animatic. No hate to the artist, but the idea of the windbag as a jetpack letting odysseus defeat poseidon is stupid, I just can't get around it, it soured a lot of the saga for me personally. It wasn't even silly, it was ridiculous to me, like the monster april fools joke, but this is real. It just felt like a clumsy chekhov's gun and deus ex machina in one. Even worse than that, I hate the idea that all a mortal needs to do, even one with divine blood can just hulk out and defeat a god. Mortals can do a lot, they can wound, even defeat gods with other gods help, but to be able to curbstomp Poseidon of all gods like that alone just bothered me. There are ways that it could have worked, but Jorge didn't. I don't mind the torture scene, it's just how Odysseus beat Poseidon that bothers me

I'm just mixed on the saga so much, it is good music, but as a saga in the musical, I just think things could have been done better. It's probably my least favorite saga story wise in the musical. I know others differ, but to each their own

[djuvlipen]

I have a sincere question. All of those Europeans shared stories of Roma people stealing from them, vandalising, committing social aid fraud, making their children beg on the streets, and seriously abusing their relatives. My question is: is it true that Roma communities are as dysfunctional as portrayed in that Reddit post? And what are the reasons for this dysfunction?

no we don't spend our time stealing and vandalising and we don't commit social aid fraud lmao if we did I would be less poor 😌 we don't do those things more than the rest of the working class, the thing is that Roma are disproportionately concentrated in the working class and those crimes are poverty related, right? So Romani poverty is more visible. And the reason we are so impoverished (about 80% of European Romani people live below the poverty line iirc) is because of the centuries of slavery and social marginalisation we went through, and because each time we had money there was another massacre against us during which Europeans took our money and assets. Like the only thing I know for sure about my family during the Holocaust is that before, we had money, after we had nothing.

For children begging, that's a result of that intergenerational poverty created by centuries of exclusion and marginalisation. Like I begged in the subway once as a teen, that wasn't because I was Romani but because I had no money. However Romani children beggars are even more visible because a lot of them are also victims of human trafficking, and Romani people are among the first victims of human trafficking in Europe.

And for the intrafamily violence, yeah there is a lot of that. I am not excusing it of course, I got some of it myself. A lot of Romani people have untreated mental illnesses and we have a lot of intergenerational trauma and no coping mechanisms so our families are messy.

You can see that all of the things you listed, they are the biggest stereotypes associated with Romani people in Europe, except that they are all poverty-related and a result of anti-romani racism. But instead of acknowledging their responsibility, Europeans blame our living conditions on us. They say 'roma actually love being poor, that's their culture', they essentialize it that way because it's easier for them than to properly acknowledge how badly they treated us

[jerzwriter]

Money, Money - Tobias x Casey HC

It took me three years to write the story of how my messy kids finally got their act together and ended up together. By the time they did, they had a solid foundation of friendship underneath them, and they were so in love. I imagine the honeymoon period was intense; however, nothing is perfect, and transitioning from friends to so much more comes with its challenges. So, I decided it's time to finally write those stories, too. I think this one would take place about a month after they got together. I hope you enjoy it!

Book: Open Heart (Late Book 2 Timeline) Pairing: Tobias Carrick x Casey MacTavish (F!MC) Rating: Teen Words: 2,500 Summary: Tobias and Casey are finally together, and madly in love; things are going smoothly until Casey learns something about her new boyfriend... and she's not pleased. How will they work it out?

A/N: Above, also, participating in @choicesjunechallenge2024 - “You’ve got to make up your mind.”

Tobias x Casey Masterlist Open Heart Masterlist Full Masterlist

It was a perfect Sunday morning in the roomie’s cozy Boston apartment. At least, Jackie thought so. With two of the five roomies working – and Bryce conspicuously absent – the place was quiet for a change. Even better, Sienna and Aurora had prepared a delicious breakfast to enjoy for no more than a promise to do the dishes. Sitting at the table in her raggedy old t-shirt, shoveling homemade waffles into her mouth was as good as it gets.

“These are so good,” she drooled.

“Thanks,” Sienna replied proudly. “I saved this new recipe for our next girls’ day.”

“Girls’ day less one,” Aurora clarified.

“I know,” Sienna frowned. “I’m really happy for Casey, but I miss her since she's dating Tobias. I feel like she’s never here anymore.”

“Because she’s not, and we all know why that is,” Jackie snickered.

“I know,” Sienna chuckled. “I was just hoping she’d be home a little more often.”

“There are five people in five bedrooms here... Tobias has five bedrooms for the two of them at his place. Can’t say I blame her,” Aurora shrugged.

“Yeah, and the upside is, if they go there, we don’t have to hear them,” Jackie added. 

Aurora raised her glass of orange juice in agreement, but Sienna wasn't sold.

“Still, I’d be willing to sleep with earplugs once in a while to see Casey more often."

“I would, too,” Aurora agreed. The two women turned to Jackie, seeking to make it unanimous, but she stalled.

“All right! And that speaks to how much I love her. I'd do it once in a while as long as I could mock them both in the morning."

"Well, that goes without saying," Aurora smirked.

“Good!! I’ll talk to her!”

“Sienna!” Aurora laughed. “We're just making conversation. I didn’t think it was an actual offer!”  

“Well, why not?” Sienna asked. “She’s only home about two nights a week now. If I happen to be working those nights, I don’t see her.”

“You act like you don’t work with her!” Jackie pointed out when the women were interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming shut.

“I’ll grab the bat,” Jackie whispered.

“IT’S CASEY!” Aurora shouted. “Put the bat down, Jackie!”

“Casey! We were just talking about you! Did you eat? I can make you more waffles if you....”

But Sienna came to a halt when Casey stepped brusquely into the kitchen. With her coat still on, breathing heavily, her nostrils flaring; it was clear that food was the last thing on her mind.

“Casey?” Sienna asked cautiously.

“What did Carrick do?” Jackie snapped, still twirling the baseball bat in her hands. “I’ll kill him!”

“Jackie! Why do you automatically assume Tobias did something!” Aurora scolded before turning to Casey. “So, what did he do?”

Casey glanced at each of her friends in astonishment. After taking a shaky breath, she exclaimed, "He's rich!" Her coat fell in a crumpled heap on the kitchen floor as she turned on her heel and stormed into the living room. She threw herself onto the couch, repeating, "He's fucking rich!"

“Uhm, this is news to you?” Aurora asked.

“And... that's a bad thing?” Sienna followed.

“Leave her alone, guys,” Jackie said with what momentarily appeared to be sympathy. “It’s easy to see how she could have missed it. You know, a five-bedroom townhome in Boston, the $80,000 Jaguar and $90,000 Genesis. It’s pretty hard to tell he’s not just your average dude struggling to get by.”

Casey's eyes went wide. “That’s how much those cars cost!”

Jackie pinched the bridge of her nose with disgust. “Sometimes I question why I’m friends with you.”

Sienna glared at Jackie as she sad beside Casey. “I think what Jackie’s trying to say... in her very Jackie way... is... how didn’t you know he was rich?”

Casey leaned forward, holding her head in her hands. “Obviously, I knew he was well off. I’m not that dumb! But I figured he had successful doctor kind of money. I didn’t know he was loaded, old-money, practically 1% kind of rich!”

“Casey?” Aurora questioned. “He’s a Carrick of the DC Carricks...he is 1% kind of rich. Or at least his family is. How did you not know that?” 

"Aurora, you're rich. That might matter to people in your family's social circle. But I was a poor kid from South Philly. Back-to-school shopping meant digging through a Hefty bag of my older cousin's hand-me-downs. The Carrick family wasn't exactly on our radar."

“But you’re into politics,” Aurora countered. “His last name is Carrick. He's from DC. It never crossed your mind?”

“It’s not the most common surname, but there are more than a few Carricks in the world. So, no,” she said on the verge of tears. “It never crossed my mind.”

“Oh, boo-hoo-hoo,” Jackie interrupted. “You’ve met a hot guy who worships the ground you walk on, gives you the most incredible orgasms of your life, and he’s filthy rich. My heart aches for you, Case!"

Sienna shot Jackie another silencing glare. “What Jackie’s trying to say... in her very Jackie way... is.... how exactly is this a bad thing?”

"Guys, you know me. My family was poor; my mom's medical bills nearly destroyed us. I despise how the capitalist system works. It nauseates me that the richest 0.1% of Americans control $20 trillion in wealth while the bottom 50% only control $3.7 trillion!"

“How does she know those stats?” Jackie whispered.

“Jackie! Stop,” Casey interrupted. “The bottom line is, I’m in love with the enemy!”

“He’s not the enemy,” Aurora said with a roll of her eyes. “Really? My family is wealthy. Does that make me the enemy, too?”

“No,” Casey said, abashed. “It’s just that amount of wealth and the power that comes with it... it makes me very uncomfortable.”

“So at least no one can say you're in love with him because of his money,” Sienna offered. “That’s a good thing. But are you are in love with him, right?"

“Of course! You know how much I love him!"

“Then wouldn’t holding his wealth against him be as messed up as if he held your lack of wealth against you?” Sienna replied.

“He can’t help what family he was born to,” Aurora added. “Trust me, I know.”

“I see your point,” Casey agreed. “But it makes me so... uncomfortable. How would I even fit in in that world?”

“You fit very nicely into his world," Jackie noted. "And isn't that all that matters?"

“What will his family think of me?” Casey worried.

“You won’t know until you meet them,” Aurora stated. “But from what I hear, his mom is so happy he’s settling down, I think you’ll do just fine!"

“Have you discussed any of this with Tobias?” Jackie asked.

“No... not really. He told me he was one of the Carricks, and I sort of had a panic attack and rushed out of his place.”

“Wow," Jackie sputtered. "You handled that like a champ!”

“Jackie!” Sienna scolded. “Casey, we're always willing to listen to you, but the person you need to talk to is probably sitting home stressing out right now.”

“Yeah, his very expensive home,” Jackie offered.

"I feel like an idiot," Casey sighed. "What do I say to him now?"

"You'll figure it out," Aurora smiled. "But if I were you, I'd go back over now, don't let this fester."

~~~~~

Twenty minutes later, a weary Casey stood at Tobia's front door. Leaning against the frame, he met her with tender eyes but remained silent.

“May I come in?” she muttered, reaching to touch his hand.

“You want to?” he questioned.

“I’m here, aren't I?"

He kicked the door open, and Casey walked through, heading straight to his living room. Tobias poured two glasses of water, handed one to Casey, and then sat beside her in silence, waiting for her to speak.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“All right, but from where I stand, you have nothing to be sorry for... but I wouldn't mind an explanation.”

“Tobias, I didn't know that you were one of the Carricks. I knew you were well off, obviously, but I never thought you were, like, old-school money, and... that's difficult for me."

“Really," he half-chucked, placing his water on the coffee table. "That’s a selling point for most...”

“Well, I’m not most,” she sighed. “Tobias, I haven't gone into detail about my family, but I grew up poor. My dad had to work three jobs to keep a roof over our heads when my mom got sick, and her medical bills nearly left us on the street. I know what it’s like living in poverty and the inequities that come with it. It dictates how safe your neighborhood is if you can eat healthy foods, and god forbid you to get sick; it can literally determine who lives and dies. The system is so fucked up, and I hate it.”

“All right,” he replied calmly. "But I can see those things too.”

“Can you? Because you see those things as a spectator, I grew up in the game. I know what it's like to attend an inner-city school. My parents tried to shield me, but I'd hear my mom lying in bed in agony, and they'd put off going to the hospital because they just couldn't afford another visit. It shaped my worldview and I've wanted to do what I can to make things more equitable."

"I know," he interrupted. "And that's one of the things I admire about you."

"But, don't you see? I've always been distrusting of those with vast wealth; I'm very uncomfortable with the concept, and this isn't easy for me."

Tobias fidgeted beside her. "So, does this change how you feel about me? Do you still want to be with me?"

"Tobias, of course not! I love you, and that doesn't change, but I'm frightened. How will this impact us?"

“Personally, I don’t think it has to impact us at all unless we allow it to."

"I think that's a little naive," she said, her face beginning to falter. "Think about it, will I fit into your world?"

"Casey," he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her close. "You are my world."

"Tobias," she sighed.

"No, let me finish. You mean everything to me, I couldn't care less what you have or don't have. What matters to me is you and the person you are. And while I'll admit, I'm spoiled and like some luxuries, have you exactly seen me hitting up country clubs? I'm much more comfortable at a local bar or at a Red Sox game."

"Yeah," she snickered. "With your season tickets to the Red Sox."

"One of the luxuries I like," he sighed. "But that doesn't make me a bad person, Casey."

“You know, even before this, I should have seen it. How do we mesh our existence? Tobias, I shop at the discount racks at TJ Maxx. There are weeks I have $40 in my pocket until payday... the inequity between us is....”

“It’s not a problem for me.”

"But do you see, it would be easier for you," she replied with tears in her eyes. "Like if you wanted to go on vacation with me, I can't afford to go. I probably won't be able to for a long time."

"And you think I'd ask you to pay?"

"And you think I'd be OK with not paying?"

"Casey," he began, his tone turning serious, "you're the woman I love, and it's obvious you're not gold-digging here," he chuckled softly. "We can discuss how we'll handle this more, but no one has ever meant as much to me as you do. I know we're still new, but there's nothing I wouldn't do for you, and I don't expect anything in return, and I'm not about to use my money as a power play. I see you as my equal in every way, and if I haven't shown that well enough, then that's on me, and I'll do better. But please, Casey, don't let this come between us."

"Oh, Tobias," she sighed. "You've never done anything to make me feel like I'm anything less than your equal. This… this is on me. You must think I'm a reverse snob."

"Nah," he chuckled, standing up to pour them something stronger. Casey accepted the drink with a smile.

"I think you have valid concerns. Inequity within relationships can be a big thing. But I'm confident we could work through it. As I said, you're my equal."

“What about your family? Will they accept me?”

"Funny you should ask," he chuckled. "You assume my entire family is rich. My dad's side was the Carricks, but my mom's side sounds a lot like your family growing up. I was immersed in both worlds, which came with its own challenges. But I'm not blind or indifferent on this topic. As for the Carricks," he snorted and took a long drink, "We can talk all about the joys of growing up a Carrick one day. I honestly don't care what anyone thinks; you are the person I want by my side."

"You sure?"

"Casey, the family that matters to me, I know they'll love you. And even if they didn't, it wouldn't change how I feel."

Tobias shook his head and began to laugh, catching Casey by surprise.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm just thinking... I always worried someone might want me for my money. I never thought someone would dump me because of it."

Casey looked up with concern. “Oh, Tobias. No! No, no, no,” she said, hugging him tight. “I’m not leaving you. That never crossed my mind. I love you too much. But how do we make this work? We are bound to have different ideas, and what if we have a family of our own one day? This will really matter."

"Family?" He smirked. "You want a family with me? I can't even get you to officially move in with me."

Casey rolled her eyes. "I'm here all the time."

"Unofficially. I have yet to see a change of address form."

Casey playfully shoved him, and he dramatically fell back, giving her the opportunity to jump on top of him. Feeling better, she took a deep breath and nuzzled against his chest.

“Do you give a lot of money to charity?”

“Yes,” he chortled.

“Would I think it’s enough?”

“Probably not, but we can discuss that.”

“You better believe we will be if we end up... you know.”

“No," he teased. "I don't know. If we end up what, exactly?"

“Shut up," she laughed. "I love you, Tobias, and I’m sorry if I overreacted.”

“I’m sorry for being ignorant about how much this would mean to you. You're right, I’m sure there will be things we’ll have to bridge, but I think we can do anything together, baby."

"So do I," she grinned.

“Now... about this family of ours."

“Oh, God," Casey covered her face, which was turning bright red.

“Don't worry, I'll let that go for now. But, I would love to introduce you to my existing family... what do you say?”

She shifted into an upright position, her eyes meeting his. “Can I wear something from TJ Maxx?”

“You can wear whatever you want.”

“Then I suppose I should bite that bullet.”

“Nice," he smiled. "I’ll make arrangements shortly, but until then," he paused, pulling her close for a long, lingering kiss. "Can I give you something else to bite?"

Casey let out a squeal as he began to tickle her. Jumping to her feet, she rushed to the stairs. "I'll race you to your bedroom!"

"Bedroom?" he challenged. "We're all alone. We don't need to go to the bedroom."

"Bedroom!" she hollered, her voice echoing down the stairs.

"Then bedroom it is," he grinned. "I'm right behind you!"

(And a good time was had by all! lol - Thanks for reading!)

@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

Tagging others separately.

[laufire]

if you're willing, would you mind sharing more of your thoughts on mia/jason? B/c i personally can't see mia wanting anything to do with him (based on the green arrow arc), but i am open to having my mind changed if you have a case for it

sure!

I'll preface this by saying that although I ship them, I don't have A Plot for them yet, the way I do for other of my jason rareships, and thus I have yet to ~envision how I'd personally have it go down. but these are my thoughts on them at the moment.

first of all... the green arrow arc isn't this HORRIBLE, TEERRIBLE, AWFUL thing that happened to mia, or this irredeemable evil jason did, and I'm always baffled whenever I see it talked about that way. like. mia is not a normie kid living her normie life in a slice-of-life teen story. she's a freaking SUPERHERO that risks her freaking LIFE on the regular. jason is this dude one, maybe two years older than her that didn't even want to seriously harm her.

she obviously wouldn't walk out of that encounter with kind thoughts about him. he was an asshole! he wanted to scare her! (and he had a GOAL re: sidekicks and the danger they're exposed to and a point to prove about it, which I always feel is handwaved). but like, jason is not a static character, or not doomed to be at least. he'd have to sincerely apologise, saying that yeah, he was a shit, that was a shitty thing to do, he was projecting some stuff on hers and ollie's relationship that wasn't even true and he's ready to compensate her for it. and again, these are... not normal people. like sorry but I just don't think what jason did in that arc garrants an eternity of hate and enmity to them.

and obviously not hating him forever/seeing his actions for what they were and not more/being able to forgive them in the face of a sincere apology and amendments isn't the same as actually seeing jason as a romantic prospect! but it's a first step into a less than hostile dynamic.

and within that context, I could see mia thinking back on some of the things jason said in their confrontation, about them being alike (also, winick wasn't been subtle in his parallels here, but I've seen people being VERY obtuse about this part of the scene añsldkf). I haven't read mia in a team context/with lots of peers her age yet, but even if she's more likely to find people with commonalities/messed up childhoods among child heroes, common ground is still something to be curious about, to bond over. and such very specific common ground would be something I think she'd value.

I haven't reached that arc yet, but I know mia has also killed, once, in circumstances where she thought she had no other choice. and she doesn't want to do that anymore, she wants to be a hero and stay on the path and raise above. those are things that I find interesting in conjunction to a dynamic with jason, in particular. the way it would lead both to conflict and to a different level of understanding.

also, there's always this sense in posts against these ships where I feel like... mia doesn't have to be perfect. she can be messy and make questionable romantic choices and maybe they pan out or maybe they don't, but it could be something actually fun to explore with her character, to see her in a context like that. less in the "bad boy attraction" sense because really, past aesthetics jason does not fit that role in a romantic sense, but as in getting to explore other sides of her character through a romantic relationship, especially as a character with both a history of sexual abuse and with HIV. and I'm sure there are other candidates for that, both canon and fanon, but it just happens that the first thing I read with her was the Jason Being A Menace arc and that I looooove a meet ugly, especially if it comes with a "recognition through the other (derogatory)" bonus.

anyway. I'm not trying to convince anyone because I'm perfectly happy in my rowboat-sized ships and it's nothing to me if other people disagree or judge me for them lol, but thanks for the chance to talk about them a bit!

[confessionsofareindeer]

Not to like totally rant but like let's get this out of the way, Season 3 Heartstopper Spoilers:

They kind of ruined the show a little for me with this sad ace rep., the carnival scene takes out the depth of Tori and Micheal's relationship, it makes it look like they're just dating, it cuts out their queerness and just makes them look like a messy straight couple. They barely had any screen time, which is fair, they're just Charlie's sister and the guy that's always around her, (no one even seems to know Micheal despite them having had class with him in the comics, but whatever, Solitaire erasure it is) I wasn't expecting to see all of Solitaire played out on my laptop for me, but I wanted some sort of complexity around aceness and maybe a reference to its existence. But instead, you're telling me a group of queer teenagers needed a fish analogy to understand aromanticsm? Really? In school I only had to tell the cis boys and the girls who stared at me funny what it meant, not my friend group that is majority LGBTQ. I thought this was supposed to be a dreamscape to actually show me and my friends, not-a-water-everything-down-for-the-straights-and-alloscape, that comes with every other story, this was made by a queer person who is aro/ace so why did we end up like this, why did I bother having hope?

I really respect how the storyline made room for Darcy and Elle had trans and non binary identities and that they were expanded upon in the show, I love it really and I think that it felt like things my friends would actually talk about. We have a slight reference to Darcy having an unlabeled gender but even this feels wrapped up as they come out as non binary, I wish it was just all less clean cut, less perfectly fit so that everything works out, do their's and Tara's sexualities shift to reflect changing Lesbian identity in a more inclusive world? Do they decide to be unlabled or does the idiotic queer discourse not exist for them? Can we have people who don't particularly lean one way or the other, or who reject this modern idea that we should fit into the straight designed trap of conformity for the heads to comprehend something outside their simple world of the nuclear family? I want sexualities nuances to be explained like gender's was. Micheal talks about it, so why is there not a large discussion or plot around it? WHy does it end up a somewhat hollow scene?

Maybe my friends and I are weird and philosophical, but we'd spend lunch arguing about this sort of stuff, so I really wish they'd show it, I have the backing of the kids who loved Perks of Being a Wallflower and Catcher and the Rye (don't ask me about that one I haven't actually read it, on principle) that found Solitaire, and all the depressed outsider protaganists a little too relatable for our own good, that maybe Tori and Micheal shouldn't have even kissed in the book because people are only ever going to misinterpret it. So now looking at the show, I guess of course this happened. Tori and Micheals story meant something to me and so yeah, I'm going to be a melodramatic whiner on Tumblr about it.

(1/2)