#but yeah s2 won't be until a long while from now so

[calqlate]

THE LOVE & DEEPSPACE MLS AND THEIR KDRAMA ML COUNTERPARTS

INCLUDES: rafayel + sylus + xavier + zayne

WARNING(S): might be ooc bc i don't really keep up with the lore so there might be some inconsistencies (oops) (pls be gentle) (it's 10pm here and my brain is running on adrenaline) + contains some canon lore drops ig

MASTERLIST + caleb ver.

NOTE(S): i will never stop inserting my fandoms into kdramas bc i love seeing worlds collide. anw pls partake in this brainrot with me 🤩

— RAFAYEL

ryu sunjae from lovely runner - they are both absolute losers for their respective lovers. i can picture rafayel in that one scene where sunjae was blowing kisses towards sol's house. no matter how hard his beloved tries to cut him out from their life to save him, he will always find his way back into their life.

jeong guwon from my demon - similar to sunjae, guwon is also another loser for his wife. (tbh i can imagine rafayel as a down bad simp for his lover; cue thomas sighing and shaking his head.) i can picture rafayel in the scene whereby guwon and dohee were doing that tango while fighting off their enemies too?!?!

lee yeon from tale of the nine-tailed - continuing the loser boy train, we have yeon as the final dude to add in this group. (specifically yeon from s2, bc the way he wanted to go back to his timeline so badly to see jiah matches rafayel's "the only person i'll ever love is my lover" energy.) their backstories also match in the sense that yeon never stopped searching for jiah and rafayel never stopped waiting for his bride.

— SYLUS

myulmang from doom at your service - not me choosing myulmang bc they both made contracts to their beloveds [clown emoji]. but nonetheless they're similar in the sense that they won't think twice about eliminating someone who hurts their lover.

shin wooyeo from my roommate is a gumiho - again, another contract situation. wooyeo is a "classier" version of sylus imo, and one who uses less pet names. if sylus were the ml in this kdrama, he would defo keep an even more watchful eye on his beloved so that she doesn't go about losing his fox bead. (aur naur iw to write a gumiho au for sylus now...)

lee youngjoon from what's wrong with secretary kim? - similar to youngjoon, sylus will never let his lover leave. they want to leave his mansion? he will try 101 (legal) ways to make them stay. they will find snacks they like in their room more often. they will find new (and expensive) clothes in their wardrobe. heck, even an all-expenses-paid vacation! he wants to keep them close to him; he's afraid of them upping him to leave.

— XAVIER

goo yeonjun from a time called you - like yeonjun, xavier has literally went back in time to save his beloved. he wants to see then safe and sound, and as long as they're happy, he's happy. as long as they're alive and breathing, he's fine with not being by their side. just watching them live their life is enough for him.

haru from extraordinary you - totally not projecting my all-time fav kdrama on him (or am i?) but xavier and haru have similar mannerisms and personality traits. yk how in the first few episodes danoh was dragging haru around and this guy just remained silent and followed along until one day he just started speaking? yeah that's the same with this guy. the person he likes could yap all day and he would willingly sit and listen.

moon seoha from see you in my 19th life - similar to seoha, xavier loves once in his life and he will only ever love his little star. he would never get over their death and if he's the one responsible for their death, he would be all the more upset with himself. he would throw himself into work all day and refuse to love again, thinking he shouldn't be able to fall in love ever again since he took his beloved's one chance of staying alive and happy away.

— ZAYNE

moon suho from black knight - they're both so overprotective of the one they love. the way suho essentially told sharon that haera is the only woman he would ever love is something i can picture zayne doing. if someone is out there trying to harm his beloved, you'd best believe zayne would do his best to prevent that from happening, even if it means giving up his own life.

lee suhyeok from bora! deborah - when zayne loves, he loves hard. like suhyeok, he's clumsy at expressing his affections, choosing to keep everything to himself and wait until he's 100% certain it's the right time to say whatever he wants to say. and sometimes, that can lead to disastrous endings (see also: suhyeok getting dumped on the same day he went to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend). both men are careful to a fault, all the more so with their beloved because they're scared of losing someone precious to them again.

yoo jihyuk from marry my husband - zayne, like jihyuk, would willingly stand aside and watch the one he loves fall in love with someone else. he would be supportive and wouldn't try to fight for their affection. his motto is "if they're happy, i'm happy" and he can live being an unmarried old man as long as he sees them happy.

© CALQLATE. all rights reserved. please do not copy, modify, repost, or translate my works on any platform.

[markantonys]

Do you think they will give Rand a teacher because they keep reinforcing that he needs one each season?

yeah, it does feel like we have to be building up to that for s4! though i'm curious what angle they'll take on it, because s3 rand really didn't seem to have any problems with channeling besides lack of self-control (and heck, even s2 rand had done a pretty good job teaching himself quite a lot of different weaves), and i wouldn't have thought he needed a teacher until moiraine suddenly was seeking a teacher for him in 3x08. even then, his big storm was such a contrast to any of the other channelings he'd done so far, where it was effortless for him to grab the power and pull off a huge weave AND he seemed quite calm and in control of himself and like he was mastering the power rather than letting it sweep him away (despite egwene being worried). so i don't really know what sort of lessons might be in store for rand next season! maybe he'll just want to deepen his knowledge base and learn some more advanced things, including weaves from the age of legends that have been lost.

brief book-spoilery teacher speculation below

as of right now, the most likely scenario to me seems like asmodean as the 8th forsaken and rand's teacher, and taim as his own character who gets raised to a forsaken later, with my reasoning being that i think liandrin's ambitions of becoming a forsaken are in fact setup for taim to do so successfully later (with liandrin herself failing at it in s4).

however, you all know my love for demandred, so i won't give up hope for him until he's pried forcibly out of my hands! if he were to be the 8th, taimandred would be the most likely way to use him, and we could have rand building the black tower while also getting lessons himself from taim, which could be a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone type of thing that allows black tower formation + rand getting tutored to be merged into a single storyline. it does get rid of the tastiness of rand deliberately choosing to learn from a forsaken, since he wouldn't know yet that taim is actually demandred, but on the other hand, we kinda already hit the "rand deliberately choosing to ally with a forsaken" beat with lanfear in s2-3. and i maintain that as much of a fan-favorite as asmodean is, demandred as taimandred would have a lot more long-term use in the story. asmo is only in 2 books and has already missed out on the lion's share of 1 of those books' activities! though the show could always have him survive longer than he did in the books and do more things.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Tillie uploaded a few previews of Book 3 on her Instagram. Most of them were on her story though so they might be gone now. I posted them on reddit (ew) if you missed them and wanna see :)

She always gives us teasers when I'm at work and can't post about them right away, but yes, I saw them!

There are 8 pages for Clementine Book Three soooo I'll share them here under the cut and give my thoughts for anyone interested.

So... Olivia's havin' a real tough time.

If you'll remember from Book Two, whether because you read it or because you read my in-depth review/analysis of it: Olivia's pregnant with a little Amos Jr.

Or, as I like to call the baby: AJ 2.0

I know the baby's not going to be named AJ... but god, wouldn't that be so funny?? Everyone else would be so mad but I'd be so happy.

Anyway, I knew this would be a big thing in this book since obviously, but also because Tillie Walden was pregnant while she was working on these books. Given how she creates her stories, and how she's talked about how giving birth completely broke her... I think it's gonna be a lot.

We see how Olivia's struggling to cope with the pain she's in to the point where she's just like "God, kill me, just kill me--" which is a big oof.

And like... the fact that we're starting the story off like this? I see that "Chapter One" there, this is the opening to the final book in the trilogy.

And honestly...?

I'm so here for this.

Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm the weirdo here... but I'm actually a little excited to read this whole thing because yes, give me the horror of a visceral natural childbirth within the zombie apocalypse.

We kind of got that with Rebecca in S2, but y'know what? Crank it up to an 11. If you're gonna go there, then go there. Book One could've given us cannibalism but didn't. Book Two could've given us frankensteined walkers, but didn't. Give me something.

I don't know if I've just embraced that yes, these Clementine comics aren't good successors to the games. Yes, the Clementine here doesn't feel like the same Clementine we knew. Yes, the clemricca romance is not great. Yes, and I don't care anymore. I do not have the energy to be angry about it.

I mean, yeah I care that this is how they're choosing to continue Clementine's story, but it's so far removed from the games that as far as I'm concerned, her story ended a long time ago. This is just a "what if" spin off, and no amount of "no, it's canon" is ever going to change that. Besides, it helps me view these comics as their own thing, as well.

Also, wait a minute... counting heads, I see Clementine, Olivia, Ricca, Fen, Saa, and Derrick... and one unknown person. With glasses.

Gasp, but that's Ricca's thing.

Like... this is a lot.

This is so much.

God, Olivia's sobbing and vomiting all over the place, she's begging them to kill her just so that the pain will go away... but it looks like they're in a safe location with a midwife, so... at least there's that.

But yeah, Olivia's gonna pop out that baby and I wonder how graphic it's going to get.. Like, it's already pretty scary to see them trying to roll her over and pin her down so that the midwife can push the baby over the pelvis on the next contraction... gaaaahhhh--

However, it's questionable if both Olivia and the baby survive given the whole "Clementine suffers a loss unlike anything she's ever faced" thing from the book's description. The obvious bet is that Olivia will die and the group will have to take care of the baby, but who knows?

Speaking of, I'll also share these from the article that posted the pages:

I don't know what else to say about these pages; we're in a new location with new characters, Olivia's having a baby and it's brutal... I'm interested to learn more about The Gardener and what the supposedly safe place is, but we won't know until July.

And yes, I've already preordered my copy because of course I have. When it does come out, you can expect another in-depth review/analysis of it in the "I read it so you didn't have to" style... AND I plan of doing a separate essay that's an analysis of the trilogy as a whole, explores the clemricca romance, dives into Tillie Walden's other works and what they can help us to understand the trilogy better, etc.

This is also another reminder to not be a prick. Leave Tillie alone. If you want to be mad about the comics, that's fine, but leave her out of it. Post about it on your blog, or go be butthurt on reddit.

But yeah, what do y'all think? Let me know!

[ephemeralgalaxies]

y'all getting a whole ass series of these at this point

Aight it's been a LONG WHILE since Ben has been mentioned in TPP, so when I tell you I REALLY wasn't expecting this one :')

(yes I am relating this line to Nureyev bc everything is plot foil plot foil plot foil)

When Nureyev (Glass) finds out about Juno's brother being dead, he eventually apologizes in a moment of calm for asking about Juno's past. In which Juno offers up information that their mother, in fact, killed Ben... and this is what he says about that info:

s1ep2

Nureyev (Glass): "I'm... so sorry, Juno."

Juno: "I'm not telling you so you'll be sorry. I'm telling you that, so you won't ask me anymore goddamn questions about it. Just— drop it, alright? It's done. It's over."

Nureyev (Glass): "...of course! If that's what you'd like."

Having this mirrored with the s5 phrase of them ending their relationship together (yeah y'all know the one)

s5ep14

Nureyev: "I do not want to see you anymore, Juno."

Juno: "...what?!"

Nureyev: "You said it would just take those words to excise you from my life entirely, didn't you? Well, I've said them. I have no interest in seeing you any longer. None. I am done. We are finished. Do you understand me?"

Juno: "...yeah, I— get you... So, I guess I'll just go now."

Just something about how finale these two moments are in which both Nureyev and Juno are pushing back this great loss as if it isn't destroying them inside, just once again them acting SO SIMILARLY without realizing. And also how both immediately agree to the other's terms. Even if Juno is aching to process Ben's death, even if Nureyev is aching to keep Juno by his side. They both back off from the other.

In fact, it isn't until Nureyev backtracks when Juno tries to leave that Juno starts to question how much Nureyev really meant it. Juno assigned the conditions, yes, but he does know Nureyev. Enough to know that he'd played this game before, especially in protection of someone.

And whether it be with Ben and the mental fuckup of whatever the heck s2's The Monster's Reflection or with Nureyev and his fear of being understood/loved, Juno knows that sometimes, your business with someone just isn't over yet.

[bluemagi]

Re. Jumping ship and multishipping

I've been thinking a lot about this these past few weeks, since a certain hot pilot swooped in and stole my heart. I've seen people giving other people shit for "giving up" and jumping ship, for multishipping or even just for liking and enjoying a character. And it's just weird to me how people are so obsessed with controlling other people's behaviors. Just the other day I saw a TikTok where the creator was saying that people who "jumped ship" to Bucktommy were just fetishising because they want to see two guys kissing. Which is just... a terrible take on so many levels.

I was a Buddie shipper too. I enjoyed their on-screen relationship, I saw the signs that there might be more than friendship, and I hoped that something might happen. But I have also been in fandoms for at least 20 years by now. I've been through queerbaiting, I have been through shipbaiting, I have been through relationships I previously loved being destroyed by what happens on screen. I know that nothing is promised and that we have to have realistic expectations. Our interpretations of things are usually not what the writers/actors/directors/editors intend, and so we can always hope, but we have to know that we probably won't get what we want.

I think I grew a bit bored with the Buddie ship around season 5. I was watching queer representation in other shows, like Tarlos in Lone Star, and I couldn't see 911 ever go there, especially as time went on and nothing happened, there were no obvious signs. I didn't think they would ever make Buck or Eddie queer. I still enjoyed the show for what it was and would watch when I had the time, but I wasn't obsessing over it anymore. I would watch the show and hope that either one of them would get an interesting love interest (I actually sort of liked Natalia at the end of season 6), and until that happened, I would just enjoy Buddie outside of that, in fan fictions and Tumblr discourse.

So imagine my surprise when they finally did it, when they actually made Bi Buck canon. Since Tommy had been on the show before, we already knew a lot about him, and we could also read into the difference between s2 Tommy and s7 Tommy and see that there had been a lot of development there. So yeah, I was immediately interested. The more I saw, the more interested I became. So while I can still love and appreciate Buddie, it is far more interesting to me to have actual substance with an on-screen relationship, rather than having to try to interpret and read into every interaction to see if it can relate to Buddie.

But, back to jumping ship and multishipping. I've been thinking back through my fandom history, and I realized that this is something I have gone through several times before, in one way or another. I started out with soap operas, and in those, everyone cheats and nobody is ever happy for long, so jumping ship back and forth happens. Suddenly a character is killed, only to come back to life several years later. They completely change personalities, they change faces (new actors), so things change a lot. I suppose that might be why multishipping and jumping ship is not really an issue for me. It just make sense that you can change your mind about something when more content comes out. It's sort of like a relationship. You can be happy and in love for a while, or for a long time, but things change, people grow, and suddenly that relationship is not right for you anymore.

So I was thinking back on my previous experiences with jumping ship and multishipping, and I just scribbled down some thoughts on them. Starting with....

As The World Turns - Nuke vs. LuRe

I think one of the first times I jumped ship, was from Noah/Luke to Luke/Reid in As The World Turns. An American soap that ended in like 2011. Nuke were one of the first gay male couples on American day time TV, and if you have the time, please go read about them on Wikipedia, because their story is absolutely ridiculous and overdramatic, as most soap couples are. And since this was in the 00s / early 10s, they barely shared any kisses or intimacy. At certain points we were counting the days between their on-screen kisses, and I think we went 200 days without an on-screen kiss while they were in a romantic relationship on the show, and the first time they had sex, I think they just kissed and fucking jumped on the bed or something. It was just ridiculous. But it was representation, which there was not a lot of back in those days.

Then, my beloved Reid Oliver came into the picture. He was out and proud, he was confident, successful, unapologetic, he was just very interesting. Luke/Noah was young love, riddled with insecurity and drama. Luke/Reid was more confident, more adult. And also, it was an option! Back in those days, there were barely any queer characters on TV, and now there were three guys in one show. At the point when Reid came on to the show, I was already finding myself growing tired and annoyed with Nuke, and Noah specifically. So when he showed an interest in Luke and they began their relationship, I happily jumped over.

I was then punished by the show's cancellation and that fucking train, but that's beside the point.... Moving on!

Days of Our Lives - Will, Sonny and Paul

Now this was a fun one! I remember watching Days back when I was in elementary school. My friend and I would go home together from school and watch it before doing home work. I was better in English and in reading than her, so I would be reading the subtitles out loud to her so she could keep up with what was happening. I think Days actually helped me to learn English much better. So I remembered all the drama with Sami, Carrie, Lucas and Austin, and with baby Will. And it was a bit shocking to me when suddenly baby Will was an adult (or I guess in his late teens) and was coming out of the closet. This was around the same time as ATWT, I believe, around 2010, so again, there wasn't a lot of representation on TV.

Also, side note, this was before streaming was a thing, and I lived in Norway, so we didn't even have access to everything. I had to buy DVDs to watch stuff like Queer as Folk and The L Word.

Anyways, Will and Sonny became a couple, and with that, the first male same sex couple on the show. It was the only real option, so of course I shipped it. I am again reading the Wikipedia page for this couple, and their story is quite insane. They recast the role of Will at one point, and I didn't love how the character changed after the actor was changed. So when Paul came on the show, I was immediately drawn to him. His back story was interesting and the actor had amazing chemistry with everyone. So I shipped him with both Will and Sonny (and both versions of Will, tbh). And again, you simply must read the Wikipedia article about this. It was just pure insanity.

Supernatural – Dean, Cas, Benny

We cannot talk about shipping without talking about Destiel. It is simply not possible. I'm not even going to explain anything, because we're on Tumblr, everyone knows Destiel. So unsurprisingly, I am a Destiel shipper. I can't remember when I first started shipping them, but it must have been quite early. Probably not in season 4 when Cas first arrived, but probably in season 5.

So Destiel is an example where I haven't jumped ship, but instead, I have multishipped. Cas has unfortunately not really had any real love interest outside of Dean. I honestly can't even think of any, apart from that random woman he married when he had amnesia, which... just no, dude. But Dean however, he has had some options, and I haven't hated them.

Lisa, I loved her back in the early seasons. And when he went to live with her after season 5, I didn't hate it. I knew the chances of Destiel ever happening were slim to none, so I could enjoy Dean and Lisa together on screen while enjoying Dean and Cas in fan fictions.

Later, we met Benny. And I immediately loved him. He was so interesting, he had such an interesting relationship with Dean, and I was so mad when he died. Again, Dean was never shown to be anything but straight, so again, chances of anything happening here was also slim to none. But I could happily enjoy fan fictions and content on them, alongside with Destiel.

Other honorable mentions:

I was considering writing a whole section about Robron from Emmerdale, but I realized that I am still so pissed off about that whole thing, so I don't think I'd be able to articulate anything good from that. So instead I will just use this as an example of an on-screen couple that I absolutely loved, but that I ended up hating and abandoning due to what happened on screen. I jumped that ship straight into the ocean, and swam far far far away.

Klaine! The couple that got me into Tumblr in the first place! I loved Kurt from the first season, and I was so intrigued when Blaine came into the show (I was also a huge AVPM fan, so that just made it all the better). And I really enjoyed them together for the first couple of seasons. But thinking back, I think I fell out of love with them quite early on. Their stories didn't hit the same, it got boring. I was actually more interested in Karofsky by the time I stopped watching the show, which was probably part of the reason why I stopped watching. It was quite the unpopular opinion back then. Maybe still? I have no idea.

Gallavich! I loved Shameless back in the day, and Mickey and Ian were among my favorites. But at a certain point, I got fed up with it all and stopped watching. The on-and-off stuff got boring, important things got swept under the rug, and I didn't like the treatment of Mickey. Anyway, I gave up and stopped watching. It was only years later when the show was ending that I caught up and found out they actually ended up together. Which was amazing, but still left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Anyways, my point is that there seems to be this opinion now that if you ship a couple, you are stuck with them for life. Jumping ship, or even multishipping, is seen as a betrayal, as something horrible. Shipping Buck and Tommy apparantly means that we hate Eddie, and that we don't care about the beautiful friendship and relationship Buck and Eddie have. But that is simply not the truth. At least not for me, or for most people I have seen discussing this.

At this point in time, I am going to enjoy the beautiful on-screen relationship that is Buck and Tommy, and I am excited to see where it goes. If that relationship ends, and somewhere down the line, Buck and Eddie finally end up together, I will probably be happy (as long as it is done right, like Oliver Stark himself has said).

[hozaloza]

Logan thing I literally noticed by accident

Okay-- so,

We all know Logan's parents are out of the picture.

It's pretty obvious.

So, I'm now gonna talk about something completely different but it's still relevant to Logan.

So... you notice how their noses are literally the same in shape? Also, their skin tones are EXTREMELY close to one another. One last thing to note is that the eye shape is also pretty similar. (Note that the hair color may not be the same, since it's likely Ryan has black hair due to his eyebrow color... But parents with blonde or brown hair can have a kid with black hair, as long as both parents have the recessive gene, or someone in the family had the gene.)

This is pretty farfetched, but I honestly like the idea of Ryan being Logan's dad already, so now that I accidently made this connection while swooning over Ben's dad just makes my stupid lil au even truer.

Although, it's too farfetched for him to be his dad, so I'm making the safe bet that he's just related to Logan, like perhaps an uncle. It could explain why he doesn't really say anything about Logan, or there wasn't any hint that he was his dad. It could be that he left his family a little after Logan was born, so he would never know how he looked like after some time passed.

(fast pass spoilers here!) He also probably doesn't know the names of the kids (obv), so he won't realize Logan is his nephew for a bit until someone mentions his full name around him, and he's like "Hol' up-- That sounds like the name my sibling gave to their kid--" He also wouldn't care for the parents either, therefore he doesn't know his mom and dad are being kept here. Once he realizes that Logan's his nephew, he'll realize his parents are here. Because if the parents got kidnapped as well, Logan's guardians would also be here.

(end of fast pass spoilers)

Now, let's circle back to the first thing I talked about.

I may have an idea on what could've happened to Logan's parents because of the Ryan thing...

Since I was looking for pictures of the grandparents in all s2 episodes, I happened to be reading over the dialogue. When I read this at first, I was like "hm, great words spoken by James." Then I realized, "...WAIT-- WHAT IF THIS WAS THEM SELF-REFLECTING ON THEIR OWN MISTAKE WITH THEIR OWN KID--" And yeah, that's how I came up with this dumb little theory:

What if by possibility, Logan's parents were in danger, and whoever was the child of Mary and Jame's tried telling them about it, but they didn't believe them. So, trying to keep Logan safe (he was just a few months old at the time), they left him at their parents house, lying about needing to run some quick errands with their spouse, and never returned, possibly dead. Mary and Jame's heavily grieve the lost of their child. They already had one run off (Ryan left them after Logan was born, there was a huge fight about his alcoholism problem), and now their second child was missing, possibly dead.

They raised Logan as a sort of apology to their own child. And because of the trauma, they were really protective of Logan.

Now, this could also explain why Mary and Jame's were the first to believe the kids. The situation reminded them of their own kid, and they realized that there could be a chance the gang was in danger, obvious evidence being Tyler. So, to make sure the other parents didn't make the same mistake they made, they stepped up and encouraged the other parents to believe the gang.

Again, this all could be pretty far-fetched, but there's always the chance of it being right. (I also realized Ryan may have seen Mary and James, but never hinted at saying they were his parents, but then again maybe it's either too soon to reveal that, or he couldn't exactly notice since it was likely from a distance.)

That's all I have for now. Bye bye 🧖

[aishangotome]

Main Story S2 Chapter 4-01: A Withering Daffodil (凋亡的水仙) | Light and Night 光與夜之戀

Charlie - Anesthetized (局部麻醉)

♡———♡

The scorching sunlight made the glass windows feel hot. Summer's last wave of heat made a surprise comeback, and today the air conditioning in the Wan Zhen Building was turned down to eighteen degrees Celsius again.

Sitting right under the vent, I shivered and pulled out my blanket, wrapping myself into a ball until my icy hands and feet gradually warmed up.

Mao Ge: Y/N, this little bird blanket of yours is so cute! Do you have a link? I want to buy one.

Li Manman: Look, this little bird on hers even has Y/N's name on its head. It must be a custom design.

Li Manman: Why don't you just go to Goose Shopping and find a store to customize one? Just write "The cutest Jiang Lai in the whole world."

That Jiang Lai would probably never use it at the company... I was just about to speak when Hao Shuai cut in first.

Hao Shuai: Count me in! I want to get one too. What should I write... "The strongest abs on Earth," how about that?

Everyone: .....

Li Manman: I think "The most conspicuous show-off on Earth" suits you better.

Mao Ge and I laughed at the same time. Only Hao Shuai didn't care about being called a "show-off"; he was just anxious that no one noticed his abs.

Hao Shuai: Seriously, I really worked them out! You guys can feel them if you don't believe me!

He grabbed Manman and Mao Ge's hands and pressed them onto his abs. The two of them, not expecting this, hurriedly backed away.

Li Manman: "Earth" isn't worthy of you! "Strongest in the universe," please spare us.

My colleagues dispersed. I turned my head, and the fluffy little bird on my shoulder was staring back at me.

Manman guessed correctly; this was indeed a custom design. Some time ago, a certain young master stayed at my house and ruined one of my blankets by using the washing machine improperly. He vowed to compensate me with a unique one.

Several days later, he mysteriously brought this one over and solemnly introduced me to the little bird named Charlie on it, saying that this way, every time I saw the blanket, I would definitely think of him.

He was right about that.

I couldn't help but glance at the phone on my desk again. The casual conversation with Charlie Su had stopped five minutes ago.

Charlie (SMS): So busy today, won't be able to come back for dinner. You (SMS): OK! Charlie (SMS): Fiancée, why didn't you ask me where I'm eating? So sad. Charlie (SMS): Okay, if you don't ask, I'll tell you anyway, even though I'm so sad right now I can barely speak. Charlie (SMS): It's the hospital cafeteria. How about that? Aren't you very relieved for me?

I was amused by him. This kind of conversation was no different from before, as if the chaotic night a week ago, with several simultaneous surgeries, had never happened.

Ye Lin's heart transplant surgery ended, and Charlie leaned against the wall and slept like he was in a coma for thirty minutes. Just as I was hesitating whether or not to wake him up, he stood up unsteadily.

He had stood up, but his consciousness wasn't very clear. He couldn't even open his eyes and reached out to grab my hand.

Charlie: I want to change clothes.

You: Okay, go ahead. I'll wait for you here.

Charlie: No. My hand is numb, I can't exert any strength.

He muttered, holding onto me and refusing to let go.

You: You don't want me to help you change, do you?

Charlie: Just take pity on your poor fiancé and help him out.

Charlie: Or take advantage of the situation, strike while the iron is hot. Now is the best opportunity.

You: You're the one taking advantage! My character is very noble.

Charlie: We've lived together for so long. Can you honestly say you've never peeked when I was changing?

You: No, absolutely not!

That time I peeked at his muscles on the balcony doesn't count. Who told him to come out of the bathroom without a shirt on? Yeah, that's right.

Charlie: I don't believe you. Unless you come with me to change and let me see your self-control.

While speaking, and somewhat confused, I was led by him into an empty changing room.

As soon as the door closed, Charlie shamelessly took off his surgical gown. The dim light illuminated the beautiful lines of his body.

I covered my eyes to the side. The rustling of clothes rubbing together, the sound of the locker door opening, the sounds around me were infinitely magnified, and time stretched on.

You: Are you done yet?

Charlie: No way, my hand is numb, you can't rush me.

I waited for a long time again, until I heard a burst of laughter that grew louder.

Taking my hands away from my eyes, I saw Charlie already dressed neatly, leaning against the locker door, yawning, and looking at me with a smile.

You: You were already changed, weren't you? You deliberately made me wait so long!

Charlie: Not bad, only about ten minutes.

I knew it! I wanted to lunge forward and punch his shoulder to show my resentment, but he caught me in a hug.

You: Didn't you say your hand was numb? You lied to me again.

Charlie: Ouch, it hurts so bad! Only a kiss from my fiancée will make it better.

You: Stop acting!

Charlie "followed my good example" and, after leaving the changing room, leaned on me even more exaggeratedly, half-dragging himself along. It took all my strength to finally pull him to the parking lot, and I was completely exhausted.

You: Charlie, are you overtired and acting up?

Charlie: What's "acting up"?

You: It's when a kid is sleepy but doesn't want to sleep and keeps bothering others to do this and that with them.

He chuckled softly in my ear.

Charlie: Then will you indulge me?

His warm breath brushed against my face. I felt my legs go a little weak, but Charlie supported me and helped me into the passenger seat.

He got into the driver's seat and was about to lean over to help me buckle my seatbelt when he suddenly stopped.

Charlie: Wait a minute, isn't there something you forgot to do?

You: What...?

He leaned halfway over, staring at my face. In the dim parking lot lights, I caught a glimpse of his ears seeming slightly red.

Charlie: Praise me. The surgery went smoothly. Isn't your fiancé amazing?

You: Amazing!

Charlie: Sounds a bit perfunctory.

You: Sigh, I'm so sad. I was clearly praising you very seriously, but my fiancé doesn't seem to appreciate it.

I imitated his tone and sighed dramatically. Who knew his eyes would light up?

Charlie: What did you just call me?

What? I was stunned, only then realizing I had gone too far, and Charlie already had a smug smile on his face.

Charlie: I. Heard. That.

You: You didn't hear anything!

Charlie: Sigh, I didn't expect it. Calling me so familiarly, you must have practiced it a lot in private.

You: You're slandering me, I didn't!

Charlie: Say it again and I'll drive.

He completely ignored my attempts to argue, lost in his own imagination.

☼ Light: Say it again.

☾ Night: Deliberately be contrary.

-

☼ Light: Say it again.

I glared at him, and he looked back innocently. We were at a stalemate. Occasionally, people passing by the parking lot would cast curious glances at the car that hadn't started for so long.

Ten seconds, twenty seconds... In the end, I gave in first, poking his arm with my finger, but he shook his head, indicating he wouldn't accept that.

I took a deep breath and mumbled that address. Charlie was satisfied this time.

Charlie: Buckle up. Today, I'll let you experience what royal treatment is like.

Royal treatment... I have no complaints about his driving skills, but with his luck, won't he really slam on the brakes because of one red light after another? I hope not.

The car started. Apart from the engine noise, there was a moment of silence inside.

Charlie was already looking ahead, giving me a focused profile.

I thought of the dream I had just seen with my ability. Two identical teenagers in a fire, the older brother giving his shoes to the younger one.

The emotions conveyed in that dream were too complex for me to distinguish clearly—longing, fear, confusion, mixed with a sharp coldness, like self-blame.

And the sentence he said, "I can't listen to you this time."

It seemed I hadn't really praised him properly yet. I took hold of his hand resting on the gear stick.

You: I've always known you're the best Doctor Charlie in the world. You worked hard today.

Charlie looked at me, not as happy as he had shown just now, but rather a bit dazed.

Charlie: What if I'm not the best Doctor Charlie in the world?

His expression suggested he had something very important to say to me.

I didn't speak, waiting patiently.

But he hesitated for a moment, then just turned his head, seeming to mutter something like, "Forget it, I shouldn't be so modest."

I instinctively grabbed his wrist.

He looked somewhat puzzled, the shadow of his falling bangs swaying restlessly.

You: Actually, just now...

My words stopped there. I didn't know what to ask.

Charlie: Just now what?

You: Actually, just now... actually, just now I wanted to say, should I drive? You must be very tired after the surgery.

Charlie paused for a moment, then suddenly leaned over and gave me a hug.

Charlie: It's so good to have you by my side.

Charlie: Buckle up, fiancée. We're about to set off.

The car traveled through the late-night streets. The city's neon lights were made even more hazy by the darkness of the night. In that blur, I unknowingly fell asleep.

The next day, when I woke up, it was already a new day. All sorts of affairs rushed towards me: the new products for the time-travel series, promotion plans, market collaborations...

Charlie was still incredibly busy as well. Even though we lived under the same roof, we barely saw each other for days.

This morning, I was vaguely woken up by him. He said he wanted to have a formal farewell with me. He had received a message that he needed to fly abroad.

The dream from that night, and the matter of the twins, were glossed over like this. I didn't get another chance to bring them up.

I sighed, picked up my phone, took a picture of the little bird blanket draped over me, and sent it to Charlie.

He must be busy, as he didn't reply immediately like he did earlier.

Across the ocean in the research institute, the morning sunlight had just spread across the window frames. The laboratory at this hour was usually busy and quiet, but today it felt slightly different.

An untouched lab coat hung in the changing room, and faint sounds of commotion drifted from the lounge.

Colorful ribbons hung all over the room. Charlie stood among several researchers and opened the champagne in his hand. With a "pop," the gushing bubbles showered the people present from head to toe.

Charlie: Welcome to the biggest celebration of the century!

Just this morning, the lab called to tell Charlie that there had been a breakthrough in the research and development of the DEA antidote.

The researchers had been waiting for a long time and eagerly raised their glasses, clinking them against the champagne bottle in Charlie's hand. After they dispersed, Charlie pulled at his collar, soaked with champagne, and looked at his old friend standing by the door.

Charlie: Kellerman, you should really be glad I wore this shirt today.

Kellerman: Why? Is there something special about this shirt?

Charlie: No, it's the most ordinary shirt in my wardrobe.

He turned his head to look at himself in the window glass and sighed with emotion.

Charlie: To still be this handsome even when dressed like this.

Charlie: I didn't mean to steal the spotlight, forgive me.

Kellerman seemed to have long been accustomed to this.

Kellerman: I know. Even when you stay up for days and sleep on the floor, you're still the most handsome.

Charlie: Even you noticed? Actually, I originally planned to keep a low profile today.

Kellerman: You're the one who rushed to open the champagne and you say you wanted to keep a low profile?

Charlie shrugged innocently.

Charlie: I was just livening up the atmosphere, don't you understand?

At this moment, a researcher poured two glasses of wine and came over to clink glasses with him, but he waved his hand.

Charlie: My fiancée is very strict. I absolutely don't drink alcohol outside, otherwise I'll have to kneel on a washboard when I get home.

Kellerman: You clearly just can't drink alcohol.

Kellerman said, taking a sip himself, a slight flush and an unstoppable smile on his usually calm face.

Around them, this celebration party had long become a carnival. Someone picked up a guitar and played, someone else harmonized by clinking forks and bottles.

Someone was singing "We are the champions" off-key, and someone else was grabbing everyone who passed by, wanting them to listen to the latest poem he had written for the DEA antidote.

Kellerman: Everyone is very excited and can't wait to do something to celebrate...

Charlie smiled, looking at the scene in the room.

Charlie: I know. I'm just as excited.

As he said this, bright yet calm flames flickered in his pupils.

Kellerman was familiar with this look on him, ever since they were doctors together a long time ago. Most people would choose to relax and then fall asleep after completing a major surgery, but Charlie was different.

He would return to his desk after an all-night celebration, reviewing everything that happened in the operating room alone, the successes and the failures, and then post the results in the office the next day.

It was the same after they successfully isolated the components of DEA and discovered its side effects.

Charlie paid out of his own pocket to send the researchers and their families on a beach vacation. Impeccable food, fine wine, and scenery made it hard to imagine a better vacation.

But he himself didn't attend. It wasn't until everyone put on their lab coats again and returned to the lab that they discovered the entire lounge floor and sofas were covered with papers.

They were densely filled with the discovery and experimental methods of several gene targets and several lead compounds for the production of the DEA antidote.

And Charlie was sleeping soundly in the only empty space in the corner of the sofa, his face covered with a piece of paper with a sentence written on it in capital English letters.

-- LET US START CHANGING THE WORLD.

Kellerman took a sip of champagne and looked towards the center of the room. Charlie had already quickly blended into the celebrating crowd.

He could keep time with every beat of the music, dance any style, and even make drinking a can of cola look like savoring fine wine.

Then, just as Kellerman had predicted, after greeting everyone, Charlie returned.

The sounds in the room coincidentally stopped at a certain moment. Kellerman and Charlie looked at each other and smiled.

Charlie: Are you all done having fun?

Charlie: Now we should go take a look at it.

They did a quick clean-up in the bathroom, disinfected themselves in the changing room, put on their work clothes, and entered the laboratory.

A small bottle sat on the continuously running equipment. The liquid inside was still slightly cloudy. This was the solvent of the lead compound that could block the side effects of DEA.

In the process of making a drug, finding the lead compound is the most crucial and often the most difficult step. Kellerman was fully prepared for this, but—

Kellerman: Following the steps you gave us, we found it in two months.

Charlie: Bravo! It seems there weren't too many detours in my steps.

Kellerman: It's not just that there weren't too many; there were no detours at all. Two months, just think about it.

Kellerman: The structure of DEA is perfect, and you found its weakness with almost no mistakes.

Kellerman: It's like you created it.

Kellerman sighed, his eyes filled with admiration and a hint of envy.

Kellerman: Charlie, you really are a genius.

Charlie: Genius.

Charlie repeated softly, but this time he didn't follow it up with his usual exaggerated self-praise.

In fact, a hint of helplessness appeared on his face.

Charlie: Kellerman, your tone just now was very much like my university supervisor's.

Kellerman: Supervisor? Dr. Echino?

Charlie: No, it was the temporary supervisor assigned to freshmen when we first enrolled.

Charlie: In my freshman year, I applied to him to enter hospital internship two years early.

Freshman, early internship... These two keywords reminded Kellerman of a widely circulated legend among medical students back then.

There was a medical school freshman who had only been enrolled for half a year and had the wild idea to apply for clinical internship. At that time, he hadn't even completed the basic courses, so the school naturally wouldn't agree.

The freshman then found all the relevant books for all the courses, placed them on the dean's desk, and asked him to randomly pick a passage for him to recite. If he didn't make any mistakes, he would pass his application.

The ending of this legend varied, but Kellerman never expected the protagonist to be right beside him.

Kellerman: So you were that freshman... My God, so did you end up reciting the randomly chosen passage?

Charlie: Of course. No matter which passage he picked, I could recite it.

Charlie: There was no other way. Who told me to want to follow the rules back then?

Kellerman sighed inwardly. Indeed, it was only back then. Later on, no one loved breaking all sorts of rules more than him.

Charlie: But the price was also very heavy. I had no entertainment for half a year. Later, when I went to a bar, the bartender saw me and asked who I was.

Charlie shook his head, seemingly still having lingering fears about that experience.

It wasn't just entertainment; he probably didn't even have time to sleep. Kellerman remembered the thick textbooks from their student days. Medical school was a particularly cruel place. Even if you studied diligently according to the curriculum, many people still failed the exams.

Kellerman: This proves that you were—

Charlie: Proves that I wasn't a genius from the beginning.

Charlie didn't look at Kellerman's puzzled expression again.

The equipment on the operating table continued to run. He leaned over to observe carefully and found that the color of the liquid had deepened compared to before, which meant that this compound was not stable enough.

In addition to this, after the compound screening was completed, there were still a series of problems to face: determining the best drug molecule model, safety evaluation, optimization of preparation technology...

He closed his eyes for a moment. In the dark vision, the figures of two silver-haired children appeared.

They sat side by side in a sandbox, covered in fine sand. One of the children had a thick medical book beside him and smiled very gently.

Silver-haired boy: Jiujiu, do you want to take a guess? How many days will it take me to memorize this entire book?

The child called Jiujiu looked at the contents of the book and found that there were few words he recognized. Only his older brother would enjoy reading such a boring book.

Jiujiu: I think, hundreds of days.

Silver-haired boy: I think it's three days. Do you want to make a bet?

The boy held out his little finger, and Jiujiu agreed without hesitation.

-

The scene froze on the moment the two children hooked their little fingers together. Charlie opened his eyes, and Kellerman was looking at him with a hint of worry.

Kellerman: You still have to go back to Guangqi this afternoon, don't you? Why don't you rest for a bit now?

Charlie: No need. I'll write down the next step of the plan for you.

Charlie: Once everyone wakes up, we can start the experiment.

Charlie glanced at the researchers who had passed out on the floor outside and smiled. There was a time when he had envied them, being able to do things step by step and being able to rest freely without worry.

But from what point did he accept and get used to another kind of life?

As Charlie, his time was never enough.

However—he opened his chat history with the girl and found that he hadn't replied to her message yet. He immediately rummaged through his flight pack and found a fleece blanket. This was a matching custom-made one to hers.

He took a picture of himself wrapped in the blanket and found that the lighting wasn't very good, and there was even a drunk's foot in the corner. Charlie took several pictures from different angles before finally picking out a satisfactory one and sending it.

.

.

.

.

.

S2 Chapter 4-02

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[lucianalight]

You say the show characters weren't divided to "good" and "evil" but they are still stripping people and putting collars their necks which personally I find pretty messed up. This is my problem and why I can't bring myself to watch season 2 because everything I end up seeing seems like the TVA is still doing horrible things and not treated with the weight it should. Like, there's torture scene, but it's supposed to be okay because turns out it wasn't really physical? Like thats still torture that crosses the line way past grey in my opinion.

It's these two images for me is why I can't be asked to see any of the TVA as just grey especially it's asked while Loki is still called a villain. He didn't do a fraction as bad as they did.

If what I saw was Mobius owing up to being wrong about believing in the TVA and how his glorious purpose hurt people instead of seeing Loki say he invaded New York because he was mad at Thor and Odin, maybe I wouldn't still mad at the show

The actions are wrong, it doesn't matter who they're against what justification they have for using them. I rather have a story the condemns those actions and finds a better way than one that keeps the system with only a promise that now they'll only target the bad people

What I've been trying to say and said before in my s2 review, is that the narrative is neutral this time. It just shows you the story and leaves you to decide for yourself how you want to judge characters and their actions. That's sth very important for me in a story. I always have an instant knee jerk reaction to any blunt sort of message/framing even if it's a good one. I hate it when I feel like the writer is holding up a sign and telling me "look look it's a bad/good action or you should love/hate this character". No, thank you very much I can think for myself. The writer's feelings towards the characters can also bleed through so you understand when a character is treated by distaste and another with adoration.

These were the most important issues I had with s1. Because it stopped me from doing what I love most, in-universe analysis. Sth the fandom were doing before TR. No one told us, what happened to Loki before Avengers, we were shown clues. No one told us the reasoning behind every sentence of the characters and what they meant. But we analyzed every single action and expression. We put the pieces of puzzle together and built the picture. I was happy doing just that, until with TR the in-universe analysis didn't make sense so we had to look what caused it from out-universe pov.

Now with s2 having that neutrality I want, I don't care what the creators wanted to say as long as the characterization and actions make sense and are consistent with how I see the canon material. That's why Loki's line about New York didn't make me angry.

That hatred and dismissal toward Loki we felt in TR, IW and S1 is also gone. So having that irritating narrative of s1 out of the way and a better writing, the characters look grey to me. Which means like any other human they do bad things and good things. I didn't got the feeling that any of wrong actions are framed as sth good. Not putting collar on people(they were actually uncomfortable), not the torture scene(which I hated as I explained in my review) and not what TVA was doing all this time. In fact one of the few instances of framing in the narrative is that their atrocities were acknowledged.

The promotions of S2 were terrible though. I have no idea what they were thinking. None of the trailers were interesting and who would buy TVA merch? They're not even aesthetically beautiful and why would anyone want one of those creepy posters anyway? Although that's what happens when you sideline your main character in s1 and then you have nothing except creepy totalitarian merch for promotion smh. So yeah I get what you mean.

The ending also wasn't like now they're targeting the bad guys. It was shown that they won't interfere with what happens in timelines unless one of HWR's variants start a war and their intervention was needed. I haven't watched ant-man 3 but I assume they were referring to it when they said one of his variants made trouble but it was handled and their intervention wasn't needed. So they just intervene when the people of a timeline can't handle sth themselves. I also got the impression that they were changing their whole system to sth new.

In the end I hope it's been clear that by posting about the series, I'm not insisting, encouraging or recommending others to watch it. Because I know what Loki means to us. And Because I've seen many of my mutuals didn't like s2. Some did. S1 still makes me as angry as the first time I watched it but I liked s2(that doesn't mean I won't criticize it though). No two people are ever gonna agree with each other on everything. So it's ultimately a choice everyone need to make themselves.

[twotangledsisters]

You said you'd finished writing S2, congratulations! Can I ask what you're most excited for in S3 or is that too spoilery?

Thank you so much! I am very proud to be this far ahead in writing it's always a relief!

And of course you can ask anything, and this questions comes at the perfect time because you do not understand how much I need to just ramble about something I love right now!

But you're also right it's hard to talk without spoilers so I'm going to try my best to talk about my fave bits... briefly. Without giving too much away! Obviously if you wanna go in completely blind, do not continue reading!

1.- Caine! She's kinda chilling in the current fic... On some involuntary sideline no action time. But she will be back in S3 full force! She'll get a new weapon at least temporarily, there's a scene where she sits on the floor with Hamuel in her lap, she's just as sassy as ever and she just has a good arc for the start of S3.

2.- Edmund... I am still not 100% sure about how I'm gonna handle him. I do know where he goes to at the start. But if you know me and you've been following for a while you know I don't quite enjoy how quickly the show glossed over how terrible Eugene's childhood was and how hard it must have been to get back to Edmund who is like 'yeah I knew where you were this whole time, I know you were heading down a bad path cause of the wanted posters. What did I do about it? ....' Like... I love Edmund, there needed to be more than one episode to mend that father-son relationship. Trust me... He gets an earful about that, but he gets that in S2.

3.- Lore, worldbuilding, prophecies... I have so many plans. So many plans. Some of these plans we've been getting foreshadowing for since forever, others we're gonna start getting foreshadowing very soon. I am excited! Especially diving deeper into the capabilities of the sundrop, moonstone and how they came to be.

4.- Getting darker. Up until now I've tried to keep things... Relatively tame. Please ignore The Great Tree for this statement. But things get serious in S3, there are character who won't make it out alive, and I don't means character like Weasel who I doubt anybody shed a tear for. I think my writing when allowed to get dark can be really good, take the finale of Princess, Pirate, Prosecutor for example!

5.- Frederic and Arianna... Look, they aren't the center of attention by a long shot. And they spend a lot of time splitting up to be more productive in season 3. But when they are together, when they are being a couple and making decisions for their kingdom and their family, they have some very strong moments this upcoming season.

And so much more that I cannot talk about because of spoilers!

But trust me, I'm excited! I've been waiting for this for sooo long! Season 3 is where we stray the furthest from the original canon and it's just so exciting for it!

Thank you so much for asking, I needed this today.

[livingasaghost]

head full, so i'm gonna do a quick brain dump and then move on with my life

woke up from a nightmare where this robot cyborg person was hunting me and so i ended up on the run with like three other people and we went through some kind of traffic stop thinking we were safe but we WEREN'T and i really wanted to see how we escaped but i woke up before that happened and then i was like...ya know, actually i don't need to suffer more than we already are

bc then i woke up to the news that all the diversity events are banned for the federal gov so i started spiraling real bad

had a mini breakdown, cried a bit, texted michelle and wrote a long pointless angry post on facebook to make the older christian relatives i have on there Think About The Consequences of Their Actions (it won't work)

found out my guitar teacher from hs added me on facebook :,)

i am currently in the middle of reading FOUR BOOKS bc ass quest is taking forever and i wanted to start a black nonfic book and then i needed an audio for work and then last night i was so sad about finishing s2 of heaven official's blessing that i opened vol 4 and now i'm over a hundred pages into it........and it's so good

hualian my beloved. save me hua cheng.

actually kind of loving the "reading books in translation" thing i'm doing because even though i've been focusing a lot on chinese this month with tgcf, i already feel like i'm learning a lot in new ways! i ordered a paperback copy of this 1930s classic folklore book that was originally written in yoruba and i had zero plans to pick it up bc i only found out about it like a week ago but now i'm actually so interested to read it...if only because it's so random and kind of outside my norm. idk! translation is super cool! the usa is hell so let's read about other places from non english people!!!!

i started a book by hanif abdurraqib bc people have been recommending him forever and this one is specifically centered on music and it's both well written AND full of taste! already converted me to listening to chance the rappers 2016 record (i remember when it came out but ive never really understood the chance hype bc the only people i knew who listened to him were literally christian white girls like what) and i'm learning so much about so much UGH

rereading aftg is not what i planned on doing this month but every audio sample i tried (i did like ten last week istg) was NOT RIGHT and i just need to listen to stuff while i'm working and somehow here i am, once again reading about neil figuring out how to trust people. three weeks til D-Day. three weeks til kevjean content.

i am very aware that i need to start my bone season reread but i have to finish ass quest first and i'm like 300 pages from the end and i cannot see how this will all resolve in such a short time

but WE ARE ALMOST 3 WEEKS OUT FROM WARDEN CONTENT and i literally am not letting myself think about it until i start rereading because it's been four years and i don't think i'm emotionally ready to dive back into the bone season

anyway. i'm drowning in books. it's all i have and i feel so good about it.

also for the record, today according to libib i own 319 books. so. yeah.

work is kicking my ass again if only bc my boss is being annoyingly frustrating. trying to work on marketing projects (LIKE I WANTED TO DO WHEN I WAS HIRED ALMOST THREE YEARS AGO) and he's just.....making things so difficult. but i do have a blog post going up on my company's website???? crazy times

even though it's annoying i am kind of glad that this weekend is all about cleaning bc my apartment has been dragging me down for weeks and i need spring cleaning pronto (it is feb 1. it's in the 70s next week. it's basically spring.)

OH! aND!!!! i shared this earlier but i think i booked a SECOND wedding for 2025 (which is crazy bc one wedding is usually all i can accomplish these days, and the one wedding i had on my cal was for my beloved tess) and the couple was so sweet when we talked on thursday and they didn't even have to deliberate, like when we left they were like DRAW UP THE CONTRACT LETS DO THIS :,))))

and THEN! after i got home from that, i found ANOTHER wedding inquiry for november so if i pull that off there's a chance i could do a THIRD wedding this fall??? sounds fake, i'm counting on it falling through. but the inquiries keep coming and i swear, quitting insta was the best thing i ever did for my business holy shit

which is to say, i was waiting to book that second wedding before committing but i did something crazy and emailed a brand designer (who is......ungodly expensive but honestly all brand designers are, and as a small business owner i respect it) and i have no clue if she'll even want to do work for me bc she seems very selective but i feel like the universe is trying to tell me to invest in myself? like i thought my business was dead and i thought i didn't want to freelance anymore and i thought i'd never write or read or youtube ever again.....and yet.....life is a circle and the things you love do come back to you and it's crazy but i do think my thirtieth year is going to change everything.

in some ways, i think cutting that person out of my life changed my entire mindset and countenance, that i'm like returning to who i was before them, and yeah so much of who i am IS because of them obviously, but also no! i crushed myself over and over for years because of who they made me into and i never realized just how small i had made myself.

and i've really shifted a lot of boundaries and relationships in general, like prioritizing fewer people because so many people have let me down in the last five years and EVERY STORY HAS AN ENDING AND ITS NOT OUR JOB TO STAY and that doesn't mean i hate them or don't want the world for them but my god i am allowed to stop people pleasing, i am allowed to spend time alone or with just my very best friends, i am allowed to unmask and be myself and not feel bad about the things i love!

but also changing my relationship with the internet has helped. getting off as many socials as i dare, writing more long form posts, building a habit of reading instead of posting or scrolling...i don't feel perfect or completely satisfied with everything in my life, and obviously the outside world is on fire, but goddammit i've never felt this good. not even when i was thriving in 2019. not even when i thought i was doing as good as i ever was when i started college.

you don't realize how broken you are until find where you're meant to be. until you're doing the things you always wanted to do. until you finally finally FUCKING FINALLY are preparing to exit your twenties.

three months til thirty and THANK GOD FOR THAT

[imadumdumjewel]

While I generally concur with what the replier had enumerated, I feel that Theresa's restricted roles came from her voice actress being stuck with Modern Family filming back then. Not helped that Disney had given rc9gn a very short end of the stick deliberately.

Also, hate to play devil's advocate here. However, within just a few episodes I have already grown extremely attached to Theresa as her character attributes stand out even in just a few episodes. Enough for me to compare them to why the other girls don't suit Randy. I personally have a hunch that she was almost gonna get promoted by the writers who would really have gotten to explore her background a little more, until the last minute.

From those few episodes she is involved, the writers have given a clear message of "Randy needs someone who is kind and forgiving while lecturing him to correct himself". He needs a shoulder to cry on and her levelheadedness to steer him on the right track, while also helping her to overcome the pressure she has been imposing on herself. As much as Rachel (who is also one of my favourite rc9gn girls hehe) has won my heart with how selfless she is, Rachel is too soft, with how she doesn't know how to express herself honestly until so late as seen in "Ninjafan", def not gonna guide RC the right track in time...

Therefore yes, I would very much have a few more episodes for s2 about Theresa. However I won't blame the writers since for the bare minimum they have managed to built up enough romantic sentiments in s1, hence the reduction of moments in s2 isn't too big of a problem for me. Besides, s2 isn't the best timing retrospectively for a confession when there was a honking sorcerer and honking albino goth cyborg teen doppleganger for our ninja to worry about, and when his friendship with H has to be expanded on first.

Also... on another remark, I feel that many fans including past crew members aren't trusting in Randy's ability to love Theresa, probably owing to his more reckless personality. In fact, so many artworks have depicted Randy as... a tomcat. I know he can get attracted to girls, but Theresa has admittedly given him moments to reflect on himself; attraction doesn't equate to longtime affection! And I have actual faith in him since he's already a loyal friend to Howie (as much as I want to deny that sometimes). Plus, many people will change for their lovers in a positive manner, so I believe no doubt that Randy will change for his dear flower. (Besides, offscreen canon is still canon when confirmed by writers)

PS: this is a rare instance of me writing long opinions. i had previously reblogged this post before but now I finally knew what correspondence I have in mind even though this post is ages old kekekekek. Still, ocxrandy is still fine since shipping is subjective, it's just... a bit cringe sometimes when you deliberately edit screenshots of theresa x randy moments for the sake of shipping, u know... but yeah to each of your own. I'm just analysing.

By all means, I know these love shoobs are having their best lives together even without us watching QWQ

What r your thoughts on Fowlham ? If u could change anything about it what would it be (besides it occurring in more episodes) ?

Hi anon! I’m putting my words under Keep Reading because it may be a bit long

繼續閱讀

[herotheshiro]

ok i just caught up on the happenings of even if you don’t love me and hooooo-eee bc i am actually quite excited for the manhwa’s return in feb now. if you want to read my thoughts on the story prior to like ch 40ish on, it’s here ... i’m not reblogging it for my thoughts here today bc that post is so long even w a read more and i expect this post to be on the longer side

but ok, first off, i did NOT realize there was a fucking time skip... i knew jiwook left school and his apartment, but i thought their next meeting after that was them still the same age as before... i was looking at the korean version so that’s one reason but also usually stories do a visual version of “du-du-du-du-du, X years later” but the author didn’t here, instead they had the characters verbally be like ‘oh the last time we met was 4 years ago’... which i actually like bc it feels more realistic. also that pic of the white shiba makes more sense bc i suspected time had passed but literal years makes more sense than like the maybe weeks-months i thought before

but anyway i’m surprised i predicted the plot point abt seungeon agreeing to be part of his family’s company in exchange for the loan money but i mean if you looked back on the beginning of the story you’d know (bc the last time i wrote about this manhwa, the latest ch had just ended w seungeon barging in to his sister’s office so you knew shit was abt to go down bw them even if i didn’t know what abt exactly). obviously this doesn’t excuse seungeon’s later behavior, but i can understand why he’s so pissed at jiwook during their reunion bc he basically gave up his life for a family who doesn’t care for him FOR jiwook but then jiwook left so now he’s just doing this shit for nothing.

and man reading jiwook’s thoughts abt how he wants seungeon to hate him so they won’t meet again (also title reference/explanation... i’m emo) ... and then it’s implied that he prob still holds a flame for seungeon even 4 years later (when he hesitated to hit him even tho he had good reason to bc he knew seungeon doesn’t like it.... it’s sad bc you should really have stopped liking him esp after he raped you, but also bro.....)... EDIT: ok nm i went back and actually reread the time jiwook was thinking back on and i think he hesitated to hit him more so bc he was afraid of a potentially violent response. bc i forgot seungeon hit him back in that scene :/ but i mean i still get the vibe that jiwook hasn’t fully gotten over his feelings for him or it’s complicated rather than complete dislike/apathy

second, i went back and read through some old chapters again and i actually did not remember/read (lol? i’ve mostly “read” this manhwa in parts rather than like all at once bc some of the shit that happens is kinda fucked up so i don’t wanna read it lol) that seungeon actually doesn’t really have any part in the succession of the company he was born into which i thought he did before... which is important info and reasoning as to why he clings so hard to jiwook. obviously it was fucked up when he tried to use his sad backstory to get jiwook to stay w him out of pity but i was like damn he truly is so emotionally messed up that he’s like i NEED jiwook’s love..... i also re-read the aftermath of blondie (i still can’t remember his name lmao) killing the idol’s manager which 1. made me learn again the whole drama bw him and seungeon is mainly abt their statuses which i literally never commit to memory bc i don’t care abt blondie at all and 2. confirmed that he had jiwook’s dad killed. i mean even looking at the korean version the dad’s death felt suspicious PLUS jiwook’s accusation in the first few pages of ch 1 but then when blondie was like ‘lmao time to fuck up their relationship’ i was like damn... so he knew abt the dad’s debt and predicted how the need for a fuckton of money would mess up their relationship. idr what i thought before bc the ch 1 stuff makes it seem like seungeon was the one to kill jiwook’s dad and i don’t think i had reread the manager murder aftermath in my last post but looks like it’s just jiwook’s misunderstanding (maybe even blondie insinuating that lol)

anyway i’m excited for season 2 fr now after getting all this info. so w a timeskip of 4 years, that means that blondie will prob be returning to korea again soon, and just in time to keep throwing wrenches into the relationship bw seungeon and jiwook as i provided an example of above lol. and obviously the idol’s role in the story isn’t over, i’m fully expecting him to return and try to blackmail blondie for hurting him both physically and emotionally and i’m looking forward to it lol. i mean yes this manhwa is kinda stressful to read bc i’m like i know y’all are just fresh out of schooling at this point and have a lot of feelings abt your relationship(s) but can we please learn to be emotionally healthy and communicate for once BUT i am looking forward to the journey! slash looking forward to the next time we can have jiwook and seungeon smile at each other genuinely which i hope will actually happen in s2 bc idk if i can handle an entire season of them at each other’s throats the entire time on top of other forces putting pressure on them

[theoriginalbylergod]

I saw this post from @thestrangestthing89 and I was gonna reblog and add my thoughts but then I kinda got carried away and it felt like too much idk so I'm just doing this

A little ramble about when I think byler will get together

Realistically I see them getting together around mid-season. Like Mike and El are essentially done. I think an official breakup scene is very important for both of them, and I think it'll happen pretty early in the season. The love triangle aspect of it all is essentially over. That's what the last shot of the season showed us. El walks past Mike, stepping out of the triangle formation, and she stands alone. Mike chooses to stay with Will. Mike has made his decision. El has made her decision. And we all know where Will's heart is.

It wouldn't make sense to draw the love triangle out any longer than it already has been. El and Mike aren't gonna have time to pretend to love each other. When it comes to interpersonal relationships, El's #1 priority is gonna be Max, and Mike's #1 priority is gonna be Will.

So with the love triangle aspect resolved, there is literally nothing standing between Mike and Will but themselves. And they've been dancing around each other for way too long now. It would not make any sense to keep that going until the end.

They've already agreed to be a team, and they reaffirmed that in the last episode, and "team" is basically stranger things code word for "couple". They crossed the line between friendship and romance a long time ago. I don't think they're gonna ignore it for much longer.

Even though they're not officially together, I can guarantee the boyfriendism is gonna be off the charts from start to finish.

Just like Lucas and Max in s4. They were officially broken up, but I honestly forgot while watching the season because they weren't acting like they were broken up. The love was so present and clear. It didn't matter that they technicaly weren't a couple. That's something I've noticed with ST couples. Relationship status doesn't really mean anything. It's really about the feeling you get from each pairing.

Steve and Nancy were officially a couple, they did not feel like a couple

Mike and El are officially a couple (not for long), they do not feel like a couple (never have felt like one)

Joyce and Bob were officially a couple, but something about it just didn't feel right

Joyce arnd Hopper are only recently an official couple, yet they've felt like a couple since s2, and even at some points in s1.

Jonathan and Nancy weren't a couple until s2e6, but they started to feel like a couple after Nancy went to the UD for like five minutes in s1. (I don't remember what episode that was)

With Lucas and Max, it's what I said earlier. They were officially broken up in s4, yet they still felt like a couple to the audience.

And finally, our beloveds, Mike and Will. Yeah, they aren't officially a couple, but they basically renewed their vows in Dear Billy and they had some of the most beautiful romantic moments in the entire show. So they feel like a couple even though they technicaly aren't one. And that's not gonna change in s5, it's only going to be more obvious until they can't ignore it anymore. And I think they're gonna reach that point pretty quickly, because they're basically already there.

I do think a lot of people choose to believe they won't be official until the end because they don't wanna be disappointed. And that's totally valid. Anyone can temper their expectations however much they deem necessary. But I really do think that everything is pointing to them getting together mid-season but acting like a couple even before that. It's something we've seen before.

This has just been a ramble. I just have a lot of thoughts about it.

In conclusion, I think that the prediction of them getting together at the end is very pessimistic, but I also completely understand that pessimism. I choose to be a bit more optimistic about it, but I also think that the progression of this storyline so far supports my optimism. But who knows? Maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment. We'll just have to wait and see.

[hazmatazz]

why hollow moon by arlington reminds me of byler/will byers soo much

long post + i accidentally posted a draft of this early so if you saw that...no you didn't

[lyrics] [youtube] [spotify]

i need to qualify: i love death of the author + this song has no actual connection to stranger things this is all just me brainrotting

first:

this just reminds me of the scenes were Mike is inraptured by Will in the sun. exmaple, the van scene: (gif stealing <3)

next:

a LOT of thoughts about this chunk so i'm going to go rapid fire

"And I won't let you step away"

Mike won't let Will rip the band-aid off

"Your lipstick's melting in the shade"

the closest thing i can come to putting something to this line is will's painting (lipstick) and how he doesn't give it until it's at a point something bad happens (melting in the shade)

(clarifying: if will had given the painting earlier i don't think he would have felt the need to say it was from el. but because he waited so long he was put in a situation where he thought lying was the best option. meaning that because he waited so long, his gifting process resulted in something he didn't want originally)

"Imagine every day

You'll drift and float and fade away

Crashed into the men involved"

while it wasn't on purpose (in fact he probably tried to avoid it), Will drifted away from Mike

i'm a "Mike tried to call Will after they moved" truther so i'm imagining mike being so crushed over Will not calling him

ALSO "crashed into" implies that both parties were harmed in the process which.. yeah??

"And now you're doing what you're told"

so in S3, Will kinda obviously didn't like Mike and El being together (see the rain fight)

but in S4, when Mike goes to Will for help, he seems to support their relationship and try to help it. "now you're doing what you're told" now he's supporting their relationship (even if he doesn't like it)

(adding on, i think this is a negative thing and that mike was wishing for a S3 will reaction telling him to break up)

"This light has got to go"

See the first chunk of this post about Will being a sun

"They stripped you naked head to toe

You never made enough in time

To live a better life"

OUGH ok. i heavily associate this with the day Will went missing

the Demogorgon goes after Will when he's alone, stripping him of any safety brought from his friends or family. In the next scene we see of Will, he doesn't have that shotgun. Not having that weapon, again, strips him of his safety

2nd part. he rolled a 7, which was not enough to save him from the demogorgon. and he ran out of time (Karen calling them to leave) to possibly find a way to make more to be safe

3rd part if Will hadn't been kidnapped he would have avoided a lottt of trauma

also for that last part. if will had been safe the party wouldn't have found el. now i'm SO glad they found el, but if el and mike never met they wouldn't have dated and it's possible will would be happier (again, i'm still happy they know el. just something to point out for this)

"Your broken heart means everything

To me, alright? Alright?"

ignore how they used the wrong your

Will's heart has been through a lot of shit. upside down trauma, "unrequited" love, bullying and abuse for being gay, etc

but Mike still adores him

also i imagine, even sketched, mike saying this to will. so. brainrot

Next!

"Cause I'm still beating like a drum"

either could be because they're still alive through everything or how despite the distance they had, they still have feelings

"Two roses in the sun

And now it's swiftly coming down

Yeah can't you hear the sound

That thunderous sound"

ok. let's get the flower part over w because we've all seen these

now the sun in this situation?

bright? check. will and henry parallels? check. "swiftly coming down"? he'll get there eventually, check. thunderous sound? fucking duh? check

next!

this mostly is giving s2 possession

"Twisty little renegade"

"renegade" is someone who deserts or betrays an organization, country, or set of principles. and sure, Will was possessed, but it was still betraying who he was and betraying The Party in some form.

"Only worth what you've been paid"

kinda off topic but the closest i have is Mike having self worth issues

"Your life is gonna change

You'll make it work, you'll be ok"

through all the negatives, Will has been able to get through them. expect the best for s5, he deserves for his life to change

also imagining mike telling will that

"Knocked into the bitter cold

And now you're thinking on your own

This fire's bound to glow"

when Will was possessed he was cold because the Mindflayer/Vecna liked it cold

After he got away from the possession, he started thinking on his own

Fire's bound to glow = Nancy burning the Mindflayer out of Will

"And keep your children from the road"

I think Joyce learned to be extra cautious with leaving Will alone :)

Also S1 when Karen wouldn't let Mike and Nancy out of the house when Will went missing

"They never had to raise a family

Entire lives"

something something Mike's family is mediocre, Will's dad mostly didn't raise him (thank god), the victims not having a life to raise a family. do whatever

"And their bleeding hearts mean everything

To me, that's right, that's right"

first thoughts were always about how Mike (and Will) care about the party and how they all have issues. you would also go down "pity for the victins" route again

lastly (because the rest of the song is repeating)

here's where the least of my thoughts went to so sorry if this is bullshit

"Do away now with words"

you know how byler often communicates without words

"You've had enough"

they fight...a lot. i'm specifically looking at the rain fight where the summer bubbles over

last lines either about the night will got kidnapped or about the rain fight/other fights. shit y'know

so sorry if this is jumbled, i don't do this offen (done only one thing similar to this before)

[aphrodaisyacs]

Re the yj / bllk au(?): besides the Jackie/kunigami similarities which other characters do you see fitting into this au???

ok so after thinking about it some more, I realised that reo would be a much better fit for jackie in this au. first off, his backstory states that he is so privileged in his everyday life that he's barely had to work for anything, ever. as such, I strongly believe that he would NOT be able to adapt to surviving in the wilderness. he would cling onto the hope of getting rescued, but as soon as it becomes clear that they won't, he would... not take it well.

and finally, the reonagi friendship parallels with shauna/jackie. that dramatic breakup in canon where reo thinks nagi is ditching him in favour of isagi? well, if it happens to coincide with a sudden overnight cold snap...... yeah......

now, since reo is the jackie of this au, I think kunigami would fit much better as laura lee. someone kind, with a strong moral compass and a presence of Good that the others feel like they can depend on post-crash. kunigami would also definitely volunteer to fly the plane to get help, despite the very real possibility that it will might kill him

as for the other characters, it's a lot harder to find direct parallels but here are some other things I've got for this au:

(warning: contains spoilers for the blue lock manga & yellowjackets s2)

the plane that crashes contains the blue lock 11, shidou, the bench players + ego & anri. here, the v U20 match was supposed to take place in a different part of japan and they were heading there when it all went to hell

in this au kunigami didn't get eliminated and the wildcard program doesn't exist, hence why he's still around (he's one of the bench players)

ok so I lied when I said I couldn't find other parallels- if we are keeping what yellowjackets did with having 1 (one) adult character who is the opposite sex of the teens survive, then it's anri. and... hoo boy. I genuinely feel so bad for her because like. jesus fucking christ. she does not deserve to be stuck with these boys in a situation like this. I can only hope that she finds the secret underground lair sooner than ben does because she has a much higher chance of surviving that way

canonically gagamaru fucks off into the wild on a regular basis for fun, so all the boys are going to turn to him for guidance when it comes to surviving the wilderness. he is also most likely going to hunt game for the group as well, making him one of the most important and well-respected members of the group until they run out of food and decide to start killing and eating each other

hear me out- bachira being the one to start the cult because his 'monster' keeps directing him to food sources/symbols/whatever. eventually the more religious members of the group (like igarashi) start talking about leaving out tokens of their gratitude for the 'monster' and it all snowballs from there

one winter day when everyone is starving their minds off, rin and shidou butt heads for the millionth time. except instead of deescalating the fight, the other boys have run out of fucks to give and decide to let them duke it out while they watch from the sidelines. but the fight just keeps going and going, until one of them gets beaten to death. it is brutal, it is tragic, but... at least they have food now?

and thus, their hunting ritual is born- 2 of them get chosen to fight to the literal death, and the loser gets eaten by the rest of the group. at long last, their canon dialogue will make sense /j

so who survives in the end? at this point in time I've only locked in isagi, bachira and nagi, because I strongly believe that these 3 will manage to find a way to win all those 1v1 death matches. in the rin vs shidou fight I mentioned earlier I haven't decided on who wins, but I know that the winner of that match would survive until rescue. in yellowjackets, so far we know there are 7 survivors, and if my theory that there are 8 total survivors is correct then that would leave 4 more spots for the blue lock boys

this got much longer than expected and in the end I don't know if I even answered your question properly hjafklsd I hope you enjoyed my ramblings!

[anarchistbitch]

hi, hiiii!! this is once again long af so i apologize for that skdjfsl

re aurora - god yes, there's this beautiful horror in her music, carnivorous plants and the fae who are so beautiful they're actually unsettling, mermaids who are so alluring you won't notice them dragging you until you're about to drown

I really liked Boyfriend, it had me thinking of those scenes in movies when a band's performing on stage and the singer is looking at one person on the crowd through the whole song trying to convey that it is not only a song but really a confession

idk if I already said something about svsss donghua but YES im so excited for the new season, btw what do you think of mobei jun's design, personally im a fan of black haired mbj and I /genuinely/ thought at first it was tianlan jun and not mbj, he just didnt look how i imagined him at all lmao

I've wanted to watch lovely writer since it was ON AIR I DONT KNOW WHY I DIDNT, I watched my engineer (which meh) and fell in love with Lay and then I heard about YYY but I didnt watch it and THEEEN lovely writer came out and im just *clown emoji* and I've read nothing but praise for both and yet here I am

Binghe, Binghe ah, he IS an angel and he deserves to be called as much

and yeah, I really do feel it can be their safe space for exploring all kinds of things, specially for sqq who is so easily embarassed and has a bit of a hard time expressing his feelings, and lmao yeah, lbh's a brat but we love him exactly as he is and so does sqq skjkdss

have a great day, get plenty rest and drink some water!!

-M*~

bestie do not apologize i love long asks, especially from you!!!

and gosh that description is spot on i often write my short stories while listening to her songs cause the music helps me envision the type of scenario i want.

dude i found boyfriend from one of heartstoppers(by alice oseman) playlists and its just so *clenches fist* so good.

honestly i loved mobei-jun's design both in the book and the donghua and my first reaction to the donghua design was, "huh sqh gets to have two(2) boyfriends?? good for him😌😌". and i wanna see tlj's character cause hes the demon embodiment of neutral evil(i say neutral he tries to merge dimensions together it is what it is) while also giving the vibe of "live laugh love☺"

honestly the one thing i do want to see in s2 is how they try to dampen the homoeroticism but i think theyre just gonna put the homo in homicide asdfghjh

there are so many shows i want to watch!! and honestly i keep adding new ones to my list and then. i dont watch them!! but to be fair i do keep reading new manhuas every week`(>﹏<)′ [schpeaking of. have you read cbaw]

you🤝🏾me Binghe is an angel truthers ❗❗

binghe is a brat and he will bat his eyelashes and sqq will simply succumb😌<- paraphrasing the intense relationship that these two have

also i accidentally deleted the other ask but 😳😳 you made the photo ur background😳😳

as for ur uni sending you good vibes!! and habitica sounds like a great idea and im actually thinking of using it starting next semester, gamifies is an actual word<3 if three ppl use anything it becomes a word and im forcing my sibling to use it from now on💗💗💗💗

hoping you have a great day and dont forget to hydrate as well!!!