#chemistry wise it's ridiculous

[boyswanna-be-her]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm recounting all of this kind of mundane shit about BFR for myself because guaranteed I'm going to be trying to understand/recap this narrative while im lonely in colorado. And honestly I know it's gonna be easy for me to forget details and second-guess shit that feels so obvious to me in the moment. So if you don't want a blow by blow of this absolutely PG romantic relationship, just skip this one for now.

Today was really nice and the first day in a little while where I haven't had anything pressing to do. It was pouring at the clinic today--has been all week. Yesterday I sat in my front seat w BFR and we smoked a joint together and made fun of the one wet protester until the rain passed. Great morning.

We had lunch together at one of my favorite taco spots in my old neighborhood, and then we had to walk back to the thai place where we ate dinner the night before bc they'd left their sunglasses behind. We went to a coffee shop for a while where they patiently waited for me to be done with a working meeting on my laptop. Then we took a walk in the park in between rain. It was just seamless, idk. There's no question that we'll go do the next thing together. When the rain wouldn't let up at the park, I suggested we go to one of my fave places in the city, and I drove us to a giant used bookstore that was a few miles away.

I didn't realize until we got there that they'd never been before!! I try to take everyone I can there if they're from out of town, and it is ABSOLUTELY my favorite place to both take a new date and have a special date with an established partner. I don't feel guilty about taking basically everyone I've ever dated there--a good date is a good date. There's a lot of built-in conversation to be had and it's easier than a bar and free to wander around. We accidentally killed an enormous amount of time there, and we shot the shit about 20th century history which is my jam, so amazing to talk abt it w someone who can hang, READS, and doesn't have anything to prove in terms of static knowledge recall.

We hung out for a little while but they had yoga and I wanted to head home so we split up after that and it felt... weird? Like it always feels like there's this last step we are missing to our goodbyes. They forced a hug one time when we were saying goodbye from the clinic, but it was really early on and RIGHT when I was coming to terms with being attracted to them (like second time seeing them after having the realization) which means I was in ultra robot mode, and also assumed it was one-sided and they were just trying to be nice. Like I literally think I did a one arm side hug and they were so dejected they never tried again. Now we're weeks later and it feels weird that we're not kissing goodnight or something.

But I had the evening to myself and finally broke down and talked to someone from my real life about them. He was very affirming that I'm not insane, and just recapping the timeline to someone made it make more sense in my mind. I didn't even have to present half of my evidence for my friend to say yeah, that's going in A Direction. I just second guess it all for a variety of reasons, but for example when I screenshotted a text and sent it as evidence that I feel like they text me like a coworker sometimes, my friend pointed out that nobody in the history of neutral coworkers has ever crafted such a long and careful text. Which. Touche.

This morning we were back out at the clinic bright and early. My friend was supposed to join us but she couldn't at the last minute. Instead she dropped into the chat and asked if someone could fill in for her. If I didn't feel like we were already attracting attention (spoiler: we are), i would've REALLY preferred to jump in and say "noooo worries, no third wheel needed please." But we are getting a little visible. So I didn't. And BFR's friend jumped in to take my friend's place volunteering with us.

I ended up being really happy the friend was there though! The two of us are more like a couple when there IS a third person there, although the vibe can be a lot to navigate sometimes and I often have to shut down and take some time to myself. It wasn't unwelcome to have him there though. It makes the vibe between me & bfr more apparent, pronounced, whatever. We already have such a shorthand in common which 😍 wrow, communication fluency.

I invited his friend to lunch with us, and he accepted, and it was fun--I took them to my favorite Greek place which is legit like three blocks from the clinic.

Friend went on his way, the two of us moved to the next location: their favorite spot to work. I also love this location bc you can watch the afternoon rain and vape furiously on the porch without getting wet. Like I said, today was the first day in a while where neither of us had much to do in the way of work. They have been threatening to inflict their favorite board game on me for a while now, and it finally happened today. I am notoriously uninterested in board games (more like bored games amiright) but the combo of my biggest fan being excited to teach/compliment me on how AMAZING i am at it (rofl lying but ok) and the inherent fun of the game meant that I, uh, had a lot of fun, unfortunately.

We did two REALLY close rounds, and in the second game they almost fully missed a work call they had at 7:00 (I remembered bc i am insane but I also didn't mention it until 6:50 bc I thought maybe they were goofing on me and pretending like they'd lost track of time). Turns out they had been planning on muting and barely looking at the meeting anyway bc they didn't wanna stop playing--which is flattering but I'm also like "[Redacted], i already very much want the best for you, INCLUDING not becoming completely codependent and risking your living bc im so charming and fun" so there was a lot of me pausing the play and asking about the meeting.

By the time that was over, we were already butting up against the time we were supposed to meet their friends to lift tonight. We hadn't eaten dinner but they offered to feed me at their place which was perfect. We went straight back and holy shit their homemade leftovers were delicious.

Their friends came on time to lift and the first thing out of the mouth of the one who knows me better was "you and [redacted] have really been spending a lot of time together huh?" The two of us made eye contact and kinda laughed and BFR said "yep" and both made the 😬 face and the friend wouldn't let it go and repeated "you guys spend all day together now..." and my 😬 face couldn't get any more intense and he said "all day... today..." i said "yep we're pretty codependent." (I'd made the same not-joke yesterday when I was very truly pointing out that I don't remember what to do with my alone time anymore, and they not-jokingly replied "yeah we've ruined each other." Which like. At least we're aware.) Only later did I realize that BFR mustve been talking to the friend about it bc I definitely wasn't and there was no public talk about it in our shared discord so 👀 bitch i see u chatting in private abt me.

Lifting was incredible as always. Their friends who are a decade younger than us and sometimes join us, sometimes don't, really crack me up and I have such a good rapport with one of the guys that I think I lift better with him around (the one who was giving us a hard time tonight). He dishes out the abuse I give him while lifting, which I love. Between him and bfr, I feel like a fucking all-star lifter in that little garage gym. They talk positively about my form when they don't even realize I can hear them. Even so, BFR will not hesitate to call me out when a lift looks bad or I need a cue.

So yeah. It's nice. Hanging out at their place, being fed, getting let in on a LOT more inner details than I got in the first months of knowing them. That's all lovely. I always try to text them and let them know when I've had a lot of fun with them, and that's just basically turned into a nightly check-in. On Sunday, I got a very coworkery (imo) message from them about enjoying our time together, thanking me for my "wonderful company," thanking me for spending so much time together, thanking me for attending so many events with them, and saying that they are "definitely down to keep hanging out in the future." At the time I felt like "that's a weirdly formal way to put all this" but getting home to tonight's much more neurotic message made it make more sense (along w the feedback from a trusted friend who makes good points). Like it was a careful message because they are being exceedingly careful with me. They know some of my more obvious damage (all the psychic sucking chest wounds are hard to ignore after a few weeks of learning about me, and i've been going out of my way to be quite "warts and all" with them). They value our time together A LOT. And the more that I understand our similarities, the more I know that they're also likely really fucking scared to endanger the chemistry of this friendship by introducing ANY other dynamic.

Im finally getting to the end here. Tumblr will probably eat this entry. I'm posting it before a full edit--RIP anyone parsing this.

But the message that I came home to tonight was FINALLY a little more vulnerable, and essentially said that if I want to spend LESS time with them, I'm going to have to tell them that straight up, and that that'll be ok, but if so they need to lnow because this is the amount of time they want to spend with me (all of it), and they don't anticipate that changing.

So! Guess I'll puke and die now! Literally spent five minutes last night considering how I could smuggle them to Colorado with me. Also I haven't had anywhere to put this but since this is an all-bfr all the time blog now, we are going to go on a trip together to chicago in August! There's an actual reason to go other than lovefest vacation (pretty much a work trip for them that I've been asked to tag along for) but as we are actually finalizing the trip plans, it definitely feels more than a little bit like we are going on a lovefest vacation. Which is all the more reason why it would be great to not be hella conspicuous (even though it's a little fun being hella conspicuous).

Like I didn't need another human to come validate my existence, but I *did* need to meet someone who could threaten the idea that I'm ready to die alone. It's nice. It's all nice!! I'm definitely not crying and throwing up!!!

[cathreaux]

So, I'm assuming, after weeks of pretending that is all casual, that I'm in the polin fever too. I mean, the way I'm OBSESSED with them that I even started to write fanfics again after yeeears AND also posting, sharing and comment a lot (like, I'm more like a quiet fan, but this time I can't) but the way I'm going onto some headcanons about the show... Oh, sweet fanfic-child, remember their not canon.

But, as a wise yearning man on tears said, "I cAn'T" and now I can't stop thinking about what if Pen was Colin's childhood crush?

✨imagine with me for a moment✨

As we know —I think? We know? I think we know this or maybe I'm spend too much time here— from the beginning Colin been found Pen charming, intelligent, funny, brave, pretty, interesting, sensible, lovely and a long list of qualities that Colin "my wife" Bridgerton would love to tell you. And for him is so normal, like, "of course I think she's amazing, have you seen her?" that the idea of him being ashamed of her was ridiculous. And he let her know that so many times during the season, even before the kiss. Her silence was tortured him when he was in his tour and, even if he wasn't conscious, part of all the changes he did were thinking if that would bring her attention back.

Ok, with that on mind, what if when they know each other he has a crush on her? In the show they meet when they were kids, and she make an unforgettable first impression that even after years he remembered with a big soft smile. But ALSO he REMEMBER when the Featheringtons moved to their house (he see her BEFORE they meet in the incident with the horse). He was mesmerized, so charmed by her and trying to cause a good impression (his reaction after fall of the horse said a lot), but the fact that she start a friendship with Eloise and he keep seeing her, also influenced on what I think was the big Colin's travel of childhood'crush/myverygoodfriend/ohshitIwasinloveallthisfuckingtime.

Because, first of all, if Pen and Eloise hadn't become friends they would never have had the opportunity to seen each other so much and less yet to know themselves as they did. Society rules wouldn't let them. They were children but even in that moment of their lifes a friendship between girls and boys wasn't good looking for others. But Pen and El becoming friends (I'm sure that would happen with or without Colin) and that created so many moments for them. For develop the proximity, the puns, the games, the conversations, to sharing interest, the fact that they think the other is pretty but doesn't know if he/she think the same, the chemistry. They have enough space and time for nervous giggles and show a discrete interest that they can hide as a friendship' start, but not enough space and time alone for profound theirs feelings and show/seen more of how the other feels.

If Pen had not become friend with Eloise, they would be only neighbors and he would be interested, but more like a distance fantasy that something more real and deep, more easy to let it go (and maybe it would return when she debuts). But being friend with her changes everything. His interest for her was bigger and bigger, but, how he can keep her in his life without pushing her away? He had to let his crush and feelings stay in the shadows of his childhood, where every infant love is supposed to remain.

If Eloise wouldn't been always present or interrupting their interactions they're would also deep their relationship (no encontré cual es la palabra correcta para lazos porque la que me salió no es la que estaba buscando), maybe would notice (both of them) that it wasn't only friendship for the other... But the thing is Bridgertons doesn't know how to share (that's included friends) and, for the way the ton work in their context, he can't claim her as his (in any way) at the same way that Eloise do. Even call her his friend was go against the status quo, any other claim being so young would only distance them for the society rules. In fact, his family give them so much freedom that they wouldn't have with any other that wasn't a Bridgerton. But the rules are still there. So, he have to choose. And childhood crush only remains in the past, right? He want her in his life permanent, so a very good friend has to be.

Another point is, yes, he was more closed to his sister's ages and with them in general, but Pen was the girl he meet by himself, the person outside his family with who have most proximity. And he finds her charming from the beginning. And he was always so romantic, he probably loved to play the prince, the knight or the savior pirate when he played with Pen and his sisters. He's always trying to prove to others that he is enough, trying to been seen in a good way, in forms that he would like to be perceived or at least what he think other people want or expect.

And she see him. She listen him. She talks to him. She doesn't think that his dreams, fears, hopes and doubts are dumb. She validates his feelings, always do. She see the real Colin. But as a friend.

That is what he thinks.

Also, as I said before, friendship between girls and boys wasn't allowed to be. Having Pen on his life, having a girl-friend in his life wasn't something normal, he don't have references for how is supposed to be or feel.

And then is all the El's opinion about the ton, the marriage market and Pen always seems like she support all her opinions. As far as Colin or any Bridgerton knew (except for Violet), Pen felt the same way. When Penelope debuted, he doesn't believed she would be interested in marriage. Yes, he understand that she doesn't feel comfortable for so many reasons (her mama, Cressida, society in general) but he also believes that she don't have any interest of being part of that (and we know that wasn't her perspective). So, he keep the "she is a very good friend" discourse. Because she doesn't want him, as she never did (for his perspective) but she doesn't want a husband or prospects in general, so that's okay. She will keep being his friend and he's still the more important man in her life outside her family.

And then we have aaaaaall that he heard for his entire life. How is supposed to feel love, desire, passion and interest in the adulthood. The way how he would feel instantly after he seen the other person and would be mutual, the fact that any other man never talk about the tenderness, the laught or the softness he always feel with Pen.

And after Marina, after all the jokes about him being green, his doubts about his place in society, the silence with he had to deal in his travel after the Featherington's Ball, and his thoughts that that is what he need to be, even if is not himself... He changes. Only for discover when he return that everything changed.

He want Pen back, he apologized after knew what he did, but then he discovered that Pen want prospects. Pen want to marry someone else. Pen is open to the idea of having a partner. Someone that is not him.

Never wasn't him, right? But he offered his help, because he want her back, he wants to spend time with her in any way he can, and yeah, she wants marry. Is fine, is perfectly fine. They're friends. As always. Is okay she's gonna give to other man the privilege to be her most important man on her life. Cool. Is not breaking him at all...

But only for the work... what is she looking for in a husband? What's she want? Why can't be him?

And after the kiss... Well :)

I think that (and I known myself, I probably gonna talk about the scenes between them having this headcanon on mind) would suite a lot with all his journey in his story with Pen 🖤 thanks for coming to my Tumblr talk 😘

[synthetickitsune]

A Prince and His Flower ✧ k.sy

Pairing: Prince!Hoshi x reader Genre: fluff, royalty au/arranged marriage au Summary: You know that love is something to be overlooked for the sake of politics, but maybe you wish your upcoming marriage with Soonyoung was more than a practical affair. You try not to get your hopes up, not very successfully, but who could blame you when the prince seems as smitten with you as you are with him? Word count: 2k A/N: based on this imagine by @imagine-svt; I'm still not happy about how this turned out but I've already rewritten and edited this twice and I just love the idea so much and I've tried ㅠㅠ

It was arguably pretty random when Soonyoung asked you, hours earlier - and in hindsight it seems important to stress it was also only hours before the ball - about your favorite flower.

It was cute too. The way he tried to be nonchalant, but his cheeks soon had that pinkish tint to them as he went through the small talk he wrapped the question in. His hum was thoughtful, nod slow, as he took in your answer. It was… strange.  

Then again, Soonyoung is like that sometimes. You’ve learned it’s better to just humor him. He’s too stubborn and when he starts pouting, your heart and your will get too weak to resist him. It’s unfair. Honestly, you don’t understand how the future king can be so lovable and carefree when he’s chatting with you and yet so unyielding and wise during diplomatic meetings. How are you supposed to stay rational and unaffected when faced with that?

Sometimes you wonder if he had a say in choosing his future partner. He isn’t the type to let others dictate what his life is going to be like - well, at least not all of its aspects. Being a crown prince, his hands are pretty much tied. Of course he can’t live his life as he wants to, but from all that he’s told you, he doesn’t seem to mind the responsibility, and is preparing for his future role dutifully. At the same time, instead of horse riding and shooting ducks and whatnot, he demanded to learn how to dance. You found the idea ridiculous when you first heard about it - or rather the image of young Soonyoung stomping his feet and demanding his father, the king, to allow him to learn dance was too funny in your head. Months and many occasions of actually seeing him dance later, you have to say it was the best decision the king has ever made to let his son pursue his passion instead of forcing the traditional hobbies ‘fit for a king’ onto him. Not that he could avoid them completely, but they didn’t make up his entire personality - as was the case with some of the other princes you’ve met throughout your life.

So maybe it’s not all that impossible that he’d be the one to choose you as his future partner… right? 

You really have no idea why you keep hurting yourself thinking about it. It doesn’t matter, after all. One way or another, that’s how it is. Besides, your future marriage was decided long before you actually met. So even if it was him who suggested it, the reason behind it wouldn’t be the great chemistry you have now, or how easily you can communicate and make each other laugh, or how teasing and bickering come to you as naturally as supporting and comforting one another. None of that was true back then - you were strangers, barely even aware of each other’s existence. The reason for your marriage was, naturally, political. And that would remain to be true regardless of who came up with it. 

Maybe you just wished your life and marriage was different from breeding horses and dogs. Just something practical, meant to be efficient and to serve a purpose, to produce certain results.

Maybe you just wished there was more to it. Fate, perhaps, or something like love at first sight.

It was easy to fall in love with Soonyoung. Too easy. And it’s impossible to ignore those feelings - or to hide them you’re sure, even if you hope for the contrary. Again, you shouldn’t be blamed since you can’t help it. You love him. You just don’t want to. Because you can’t be sure it’s not all just your mind trying to protect itself - that’s what you tell yourself, despite knowing it’s more of a question whether he feels something towards you too. 

Of course, you’re the one who witnessed firsthand the growth of your relationship. You’ve seen it all - from the initial polite curiosity, to the genuine curiosity, to the fond and, you’d like to believe, loving gaze he wears whenever he looks at you. The one that makes your heart race. Soonyoung's feelings towards you are obviously warm. Maybe you'd be willing to believe he feels the same as you do, that he's just as in denial and protection mode as you are, if only you were thinking rationally.

But you're far from rationally thinking, stuck on the hurtful fact that no one takes your feelings seriously. That had the marriage not been arranged and were you feeling the same, and if they were mutual, nobody would care.

Sometimes you wish you were only mere commoners, allowed to fall in love and marry and not care about the impact your actions will have. Then you could have the marriage you wish for, based on mutual respect and love. One where he would watch you with those eyes of his, so full of love it’s suffocating.

He’s watching you now, with those loving eyes, from where he stands on the opposite side of the ball room. It’s too far to actually see him and the details on his face, but you’ve seen the way he looks at you more than enough times to know. You’re so stupid to be imagining it.

And he’s so stupid too. Watching you instead of paying attention to his advisors that are no doubt telling him how the ball will proceed or the introductions being made. Yet you still blush, your heart fluttering. You could almost imagine that your marriage is more than just a deal.

People often tell you that you sabotage your own happiness, and you wonder whether they’re right.

Because even though he’s looking at you like he can’t see anyone else, all you think about is how this could all be just a play he puts on. A lie you don’t even believe in yourself, but you try.

Because even as Soonyoung walks towards you, and you see the flower in his pocket and recognize it as your favorite, you focus on the logistics - the flower is native to your kingdom, hours away, there’s no way anything could be done to get it here in time - rather than the flower as a gesture. You have to, because if you don’t you might start believing it’s a sign of more than just an observance of formalities. 

“May I have this dance?” the prince smiles, offering you his hand. You accept, of course, and you try not to shiver at the perfect feeling of your hand in his. 

He guides you through the steps with practiced ease. You know he loves to dance and that he's a much better dancer than you. He’s a perfectionist, you remind yourself, and he must be annoyed with the mistakes you make and that’s why he holds you so tight, why he presses your bodies together any chance he gets. Anyone would be lucky to dance with him. He could make anyone look like they possess skills on par with his.

You avoid his eyes even though you feel his gaze on you. Instead your eyes remain glued to the flower. It reminds you of home, of your childhood and time long ago when you weren’t in love with a prince who’s all you could wish for. Is a genuinely love-filled marriage too much to ask for?

“It’s really pretty,” the prince says and it startles you enough that your eyes meet his. He noticeably perks up and you curse yourself. That tiny smile he wears is too adorable not to fall for. “I was thinking we could use them for our wedding too.”

Your steps falter, but he’s quick to adjust to it, making the mistake seem natural. 

“Is something wrong? You’ve been distant today,” he lowers his head and his voice, close enough that you could forget the world if you allowed yourself the luxury.

“Nothing’s wrong,” you tell him curtly. The wedding… It’d be beautiful, and you can’t say that you weren’t thinking that the flowers of your kingdom would be perfect. Maybe that’s why it hurts more. It doesn’t feel right planning a wedding with someone who’s just the perfect match in the current socio-political context.

“Look, I know everyone keeps staring at me,” he sighs, and it surprises you again. Now that you look around, you see that he’s right. Every man and woman is looking at Soonyoung, and despite your better judgment you use the next twirl to move closer to him. You see him biting his lip to start smiling and it’s not good for your heart. “I know, but I really tried to make them see I’m yours.”

Definitely not good for your heart. Your head spins and you blame it on the dancing.

“How did you get the flowers here?” you ask instead, try to deflect before you start overthinking. But he starts blushing and it’s just as lethal. He’s so nervous it’s you who has to correct him this time.

“I… I actually arranged for them to be grown here, in the greenhouses behind the castle,” he says and winces at your expression, “I’m sorry! I just wanted you to feel more at home here, and these were the only ones I remembered from my trip to your kingdom.”

Something about your shock must be registering in his brain as anger because he keeps whispering apologies and explanations and god, your friends were right, weren’t they? This isn’t something you do just to seem like the perfect husband in the eyes of the people of your partner’s kingdom.

“I wanted to propose to you with them. I thought it’d show I accept our differences - and I know it’s stupid, okay? I just wanted to do something romantic,” he deflates a little, but it matches the music, completely natural and inconspicuous to the onlookers. You think your heart is going to burst. You’re so stupid. He’s so stupid. “I know you’re not marrying me because you want to, but I really like you, and I want to grow old with you… even if you only like me as a-”

“Why didn’t you say something?” you hiss, and alright, you might be a little angry, or maybe it’s just the adrenaline, “God, Soonyoung, why didn’t you say you like me? I thought you only saw this as a business.” He looks as bewildered as you feel. 

“I thought it was obvious!” he whisper-shouts. It’s fortunate that you’re a little bit away from the other couples and the people standing around the room. “Do you think I’d sneak out for anyone else? Or give them private dance lessons? Or grow flowers for them - and don’t even get me started on that! That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done!”

“What are you talking about?” you try to mind your volume, you really do, “You got people for that!”

“Yeah, but that wouldn’t be right!” he argues right back and you’re really bringing too much attention to yourselves, “That wouldn’t be romantic at all! I wanted to do this for you and-”

You swear you’re not one to break the decorum. 

You never act in any way that could tarnish your or your kingdom’s reputation. 

So you have no idea why your arms are around Soonyoung’s neck and why you’re kissing him in front of everyone.

The music’s stopped, and he’s kissing back, and maybe they’re still playing you just can’t hear them over the heartbeat in your ears. 

You keep your eyes closed, so you can’t see the smiles on your and the prince’s fathers’ faces. But you hear the buzz around you and feel Soonyoung smile into the kiss and so you smile too.

Your friends were right. You should’ve realized, but having the prince confess makes up for the lost time, as does the feeling of his lips on yours, his hands around your waist pulling you so close to him. And perhaps, just perhaps, you like that everyone knows he’s yours and you’re his and that it’s not just for the show.

[kiirotoao]

Byler and Confrontation 1.5: The Importance of Season 4

Byler being immediately comfortable with each other in season 4 would have been too easy. Too obvious. No other pair is as close as Byler, and if they kept in contact, their relationship’s progression would have been so clear that it wouldn’t even be interesting, and that’s why I think that Byler is plainly intentional to end up together in slow burn fashion.

Imagine the airport scene but they hug with all the emotion of true best friends (which, they are, and that’s a canon fact that Mike asserts and Will agrees with in s4e4, but I digress-) meeting again, crashing into each other, joking right off the bat, being comfortable like they easily could have been. Will comments on Mike’s ridiculous outfit and Mike defends himself and Will laughs and Mike’s forgotten how much he missed hearing that laugh. Then Will would give him the painting and Mike would be blushing, and the story’s over! Even if they dance around their feelings for the rest of the show long, they could have instantly recognized that something’s changed and yet stayed the same, and they’d be a unit again. Or should I say, a team?

I feel like there’s no other way to treat Byler other than subtly vying for each other’s attention (Will looking at Mike longingly, Mike turning to Will for wisdom) or blatantly vying for each other’s attention (Will the Wise, Mike Wheeler in general), and to go full blown best friends attached at the hip from day one in California would have been way too romantically charged. Not necessarily openly, but just in the way it’s easy to doubt, to have brows raised.

And what good storytelling would that be? To just seal the deal the second they meet? We know that they miss each other. Will was ready to give him that painting. And yeah, it takes Mike a whole business day to realize how much he misses Will, too, but that type of love that reaches out doesn’t originate from only that business day. So do they just flat out hug and say, “God, I missed you so much” ?? Of course not! Because that’s immediate intimacy. That’s honesty with no side effects, and that’s something that doesn’t happen in any well-created nor real life love story.

Once upon a time, the end? There’s no way! No one would be as invested.

And I’m not saying that I don’t want Byler to be so strained, or I don’t want them to be happy. I want them to be so happy. And seeing their mistakes and growing through them only makes that happiness more and more apparent whenever they come around. Because they find each other, in the end. They forgive and work through things and their chemistry abounds through tough moments, and that’s what makes them amazing to me. Literally look at every other ship in the show. Jopper fought all season long during season 3 because Hopper was jealous and Joyce was a stressed-out boss ass bitch. Jancy fought in seasons 1 and 3 before and after they learned more about each other and worked through their biases. Lumax had that fight at the arcade where Max didn’t believe what Lucas was telling her.

Anger often breeds hate, but sometimes, it creates something beautiful in people who, deep down, want to figure something out about each other: steadfastness.

Simply put, their story grows.

Which is why they couldn’t hug. Which is why they barely spoke. Which is why they lashed out at each other. Which is why it took a whole business day to rejoin as a team. Which is why their forgiveness is all the more sweet. Which is why their relationship is all the more sweet. Which is why they prove to know each other. Which is why they’re so good together.

Look at them!! Look at Mike, chuckling at five damn words. And this was BEFORE they truly amended fences!!!

I love how hardships bring Byler together. I don’t know about you, but I’d want a partner who doesn’t avoid the rough patches but strives to love me through them - because they will happen! No one is perfect! And no, I don’t mean fight and you will find love. But when you love, you will fight. And that’s what I think is what happens when Byler fight.

So I can’t wait for it to happen one more time, probably about the lie of the painting being commissioned, for everything to fall apart only to come back together because they realize it’s all one giant story of misunderstanding and internalized homophobia and repressed feelings - a final and urgent fight that demands them to let everything out in the open and truly realize that they are the love that each other seeks.

And, I mean, I don’t know, I think that it would be pretty cool to write a slow burn romance amidst all the love triangles and love-at-first-sights and tragic losses. With bonus unique notes of being childhood best friends with deeply-explored queer coding. Just saying.

[phantomtrader19]

(HALF*) 2024/25 cast REVIEW 31.08.2024

Spent 2 shows yesterday at phantom which I haven’t done in a while! Planned this couple months ago to see the new cast however I had covers for Raoul, Mme Giry & Piangi and all swings on too! There was a lot of people off!

First off it felt so strange to not see some cast members who had been there since 2021!

Ensemble was made up of all 5 swings being on which is a first for me I think?

Overall lovely performances from all, new corps de ballet were gorgeous as always!

For the Principals I’ll start with Millie Lyon as Meg who was brilliant - lovely youthful voice, feisty characterisation and a BLONDE wig! I’ve missed the blonde wig! Fantastic Meg looking forward to seeing her much more.

Martin Ball as Firmin is an absolute triumph! Hilariously pompous and arrogant and such a grumbly kind of voice he was a standout last night, he seemed to play the role like he was tipsy drunk the majority of the time and he was just not interested in all the dramas going on. Great chemistry with Adam which I admittedly thought may have been difficult to achieve after Matt Harrop but I absolutely loved his take on the character!

Hywel Dowsell was on for Piangi, last time I seen him he was second cover and was on for the first time in 18 months! Lovely nuanced performance with little ad-libs and added acting pieces - really enjoyed!

Victoria Ward was on for Mme Giry I’ve seen her once before and I really enjoyed her and even yesterday she was such a standout! Beautiful voice and again such nuanced acting and more motherly to Meg!

Joanna Ampil as Carlotta was very different to what we’ve seen before, less operatic and more ever so slightly belty sometimes her voice got a little lost in the music, still some gorgeous top notes but I just was hoping for a little more oomph from her voice. acting wise was generally great but I did hope for a little more over the top like Carlotta should be, looking forward to seeing how she grows into the role over the next year!

Enjoyed Michael as Raoul - super strong voice and some great acting choices! I’ve now seen him as many times as I’ve seen Joe! (6 times) Joe is admittedly more my cup of tea acting wise but I enjoyed him nonetheless.

Lily was on fire yesterday, gorgeous voice and acting was out of this world, a top tier Christine by miles! My only slight gripe is her last note in think of me I’m not sure if the orchestra is rushing her or something else but it’s very short, her other high notes are held much longer but I just wish she got to hold it slightly longer as it felt super rushed, 8th time seeing her and always finding new things I love about her Portrayal! Her chemistry with Dean was also insane!!!

Now for Dean, I heard the opening night audio and I’ll admit I wasn’t crazy about his voice and didn’t hear too much acting albeit through audio so my expectations were mid however, I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY that was how a Phantom should sound his voice literally vibrated the auditorium and was just ridiculously gorgeous!!! Acting wise he was more gentler with Christine until the final lair when he let loose. I’ll go out on a limb and say from all the Phantoms I’ve seen he may have been my favourite in line with Earl Carpenter - vocally 100% my favourite he reminded me of Colm Wilkinson, Tim Howar & Killian Donnelly in some musical points. a firm favourite!

Really great cast, will be back to catch the full principal cast so I can see Helen Hobson as Mme Giry!

Aiming to see Eve with the new cast too as I last saw her nearly a year ago and must’ve caught an off show as she wasn’t sounding great but after hearing more recent audios she sounded as beautiful as her debut! Would also love to see Zoe on as Carlotta as she has a voice that lifts the ensemble to new heights!

I do have audios from the 2 shows yesterday, please message me to trade but disclaimer that my replies are not great rn as work has been super hectic!

[mistressoftherant-blog]

TMNT Fanfic Complaints

As this blog is mostly a space to vent, and I am currently obsessed with pretty much every iteration of the TMNT, I thought I'd throw together a list of things that make me close a fanfic instantly. If you like any of these things, then that's totally fine, but for the most part, any of these things will have me dropping a fic in minutes. A few of these are aligned with posts I've made in the past, but I am noting them down anyway as this is a way of me getting out a lot of my major complaints at once 😅

No.1 Having all the brothers be abusive (particularly towards Mikey), with bonus points for any crossover that will then have one version of the turtles chastising the others for the way they treat their brothers. It just doesn't work, every set have very specific dynamics, but none of them are abusive.

No. 2 Crossover fics that make it impossible to tell who is who. This can occur in a few different ways. One of which is that the authors completely fail to differentiate different universes, making every single version of the turtles talk and act in the same way. Another is when a fic gets flooded with nicknames/pronouns/usernames, without a decent key. If you have a crossover fic with even just 3 or 4 universes, but every single turtle has multiple sets of pronouns, multiple nicknames, and multiple usernames, you really need a way to make it clear who is who.

No.3 The 'poor baby Blue' phenomenon in which every version of the turtles seemingly forgets all of the horror they have suffered because of what the Rise boys have gone through, particularly Leo. I honestly hate it when I am reading a crossover fic and all of the trauma from every series is disregarded in the face of the Rise Shredder and Rise Krang, which brings me on to my next point...

No.4 Essentially an extension of No.3, but can we all finally drop the idea that the Rise Boys had the scariest villains? Sure, their Shredder and Krang were intense, but for the most part, their villains are all pretty much played for comic relief. Either 03 or 12 had the scariest villains. And before anyone comes at me like 'Oh, Rise Shredder was a demon, the Rise Krang managed to take over the world, etc', may I remind everyone that 03 also had a demon Shredder who took over the world (and multiple others including the one who took over in SAINW), and the 12 Triceratons straight up destroyed the Earth with a black hole?

No.5 Fics that give away traits from one turtle to another e.g. making any of the other turtles better at science/math/tech etc than Donnie. Each of the turtles has their own thing, and Donnie will always be the smartest academics wise. It annoys me to no end when people try and make any if the others, usually Rise Leo or 12 Mikey, out to be a genius like him. I actually once read a fic where Rise Donnie asked Leo to help someone with a chemistry question that he couldn't handle. It's ridiculous, and usually carries over from the headcanon that Rise Leo is the medic (is there genuinely any evidence for this in the show besides Leo having a pouch? Because the only time I can recall anything medical related being brought up was when Donnie mentioned Raph's allergies). I have also seen people talk about Rise Leo loving to dance more than Donnie, even when the show explicitly states on multiple occasions how much Bootyyyshaker9000 loves to dance (also making Leo a massive theatre kid when Donnie breaks into songs and dance numbers on multiple occasions.) Or when 12 fans make Mikey the artist when it is actually Raph.

No. 6 (people will probably be mad at this one) Stop making everything about Leosagi, please! He doesn't even exist in the Rise verse, yet the entire fandom is absolutely swamped with Leosagi content. It's annoying when you are reading a Rise fic, and then out of nowhere it all becomes about Leo's relationship with Usagi. These fics also tend to make Usagi the most bland character in existence, with his two defining traits being samurai and Leo's boyfriend. They even do this to Bayverse!! Or bizarre crossover ships that start taking over everything (Why is Mikey being shipped with pretty much all of the spiderman iterations now??(

No. 7 Any fic that has all of the Donnies despise each other. I don't know if this is bias, but I feel like most of the Donnies would enjoy having people on their level to discussbthings with, people who would respect their boundaries and listen to each other's rants. And before anyone brings up their egos, most of the Donnies are shown to be able to and even enjoy working with others who are around their level (Aprils, Leatherhead in 03, Fugitoids etc). I actually think that, aside from the Mikeys, the Donnies would probably get on the best.

No. 8 One of my biggest pet peeves (that I have complained about before) is acting as if any version of the turtles is far superior to the others in terms of intelligence, fighting skills, etc. The Rise boys do not solo every verse. If they had had more training, then yeah, they would be probably some of the strongest characters. But they haven't had the training of the other verses, and mystic powers cannot compensate for everything (considering the fact that they got absolutely bodied by their Krang, you think more people would realise this). The other iterations pretty much all have more formal training, more experience fighting a variety of opponents (Bayverse and the 90s are perhaps an exception to the greater variety of opponents here, but as Bayverse Raph alone can yeet a shipping container singlehandedly with no powers, I think they're good). In no universe should the Rise boys be giving any of the other characters fighting tips.

I will probably write more of these at some point, this was pretty cathartic 😅 I also promise that I do not hate Rise, I just have more issues with the wider Rise fandom than most of the other shows.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - When good chemistry goes bad

May 2023 Wk 3 

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 4 of 10 - yes it jumped to the top of the standings, the kiss was THAT good, best of the year so far. So soft and yet so sweet and yearning and with a proper chemistry - body, breath, everything. Also... there was plot happening this ep, but who cares about that? Some additional thoughts, now my brain has rebooted from that kiss. I do suspect Pat of still being a player: he is awful smooth, and he may want revenge for being jacked along for 2 years (I would). Ep 4 is early for a kiss like that, which means pacing-wise we may be in for a separation/break up around ep 8. 

Step By Step (Thai Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 5 of 10 (MDL still says 12, but Gaga still says 10) - Pat, dear, your gay is squirting all over our screens. Meanwhile… That is the smallest presidential suite bed I’ve ever seen. Lucky for us of course. And lucky for Jeng. Me with the side dishes = UH OH. 

Our Skyy 2 (My School President) eps 9-10 - Alt reality where Tinn is in charge of the music club and Gun is the school president with the crush. Basically, it’s an excuse for them to play each others’ parts (which just highlighted how well they were cast, originally). Ultimately, Gemini is a better piner, and Fourth is a better tsundere. Although the reversed “holding it over his head” was v funny & Fourth IS a decent seme. (I also realized what I like so much about Fourth, like Saint he’s one of those rare full body actors.) Sound was a great uke and I loved how they changed his makeup for the role (did you notice?). TiwPor were as adorably ridiculous as ever. I liked the minor baby pairing for Aun, too. Still my NO SIGNING holds (although there was lots of dancing to counterbalance). In the end, all this really did was make me wanna rewatch the original. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. FYI The MV was a parody of HCTM, BB, 1k*. 8/10 

A Boss and a Babe (Fri YouTube) ep 12fin - It was a cute sappy ending for a cute-ish sappy-ish show. I cannot abide that the mom who condoned the rape of her daughter got forgiven. No. Stop it GMMTV. Review below. 

The Promise (Thai Weds YT & WeTV) ep 9 of 10 - I'm in trouble when I'm rooting for everybody BUT the main couple. I guess Nan doesn’t have a NO SINGING policy. Also I guess Nan was waiting for Phu all along? This show. ALSO could we not have just ended it here? 

Past-senger (Thai Weds Gaga) ep 11 of 12 eps - I don’t understand. What? Where did all these new characters come from? Do we care about the hets? Not even slightly. What is anyone doing? What’s going on? do I care abotu anyone anymore? No. Please make it stop. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - OMG so adorable, so repressed, so reserved, so soft, so awkward, so special. Heart melting. Also. Hungry. The WAY Minoru looks at Yutaka when he’s eating (now that he knows the history). The way we got to see the exact moment that Minoru realizes he is in love. Perfection. 

Star Struck (Korea iQIYI & Gaga) ep 1-2 of 8 - Zuho (Kpop SF9 - noted good egg) opposite rookie actor Kim In Sung (the one with the crush). icky is being weird about it but it looks like Gaga also picked it up? Depends on your territory I suppose. Anygay: Friends since childhood, jock/nerd, puppy/cat and I sense bi-himbo confusion and pining introvert gay. There’s family strife plus class issues and it has some interesting things to say already about the nature of friendship, romance, and jealousy. I like it, weirdly reminds me of something that might have come out of China. Not early CBL, but some of the later stuff that was censored but hearkened to Addicted. This has the feel of what China could have made now (were things politically different). Because of this feel, I’m not confident in this being an HEA or even a true BL but it is interesting enough for me to bump it way up the ranks. 

Happy Merry Ending (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 7-8fin - I get why SJ pushed JH away, but I kinda agree that SJ is too much work. Abused or not, I wouldn’t put in the damn effort - so I guess I’m glad SJ took a year off to figure his shizz out? Far be it from me to agree with a year break in a Kdrama, tho. I didn’t even mind that they were separated most of these 2 eps: it was nice to see a Seme told no, who actually backed off and did as he was told. Plus the running of the gays (how Japan of you SK). I’m assuming that this was the final episode and that Viki thinking that there are 2 more is bonkers? Because this felt like a finale. For me this one had a stronger finish than any other aspect of the show (odd when the couple spent the bulk of it apart). Oh! And someone give Shin Myung Sung (the surfer bestie) his own damn BL, m’kay? Review below.

Love Mate (Korea Thurs Viki) eps 5-6 of 8 - Longest elevator ride in the world. Honorifics discussion! My favorite! And, “there is only one bed but they slept together on the floor anyway” trope. A BL staple. Also the tie/lanyard grab. Another fav. Still pushy puppy stalker remains creepy manipulative obsessive warped hotness. Basically KBL version of trash and… I’m into it. We all got our kinks, I guess. 

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) - Such a cat. I’m reminded of Milk. It’s cute. They cute. I like it.

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 6 of 12 - So is the nude dining meant to be some kind of weird allegory for repressed gayness? 

It’s Airing But ...

My Story (Pinoy Sat YouTube) 10 eps - I bounced at ep 4. Someone will tell me if I should bother with the rest. 

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end. 

The Day I Loved You (Pinoy YouTube) eps 6-7 of 10 - Terminal illness for the sunshine. I bounced at ep 6. DNF. 

Ended this week

Love Syndrome finished its run on WeTV (I stopped at ep 2) - anyone wanna weight in with thoughts on the ending and whether I should binge or not? I do love Lee Long Shi.

Happy Merry Ending - Stars Lee Dong Won (KNK) as an ex-idol turned wedding singer with an abusive ex and a panic disorder + the sunshine pianist who falls in love with him. Timid tsundere & sweetheart gay is an interesting match. They’re gentle together, almost kindly and there is a calm ache to their pairing. However, it lost its way as a BL, being more about the main character’s struggle than the romance. It had a strong finish but ultimately the premise & characters meant this was never going to be one of my favorites. 8/10  

A Boss and a Babe - With an inconsistent narrative and self-sabotaging characters this was not the Thai BL office romance I was hoping for. I spent most if it feeling manipulated without good reason and sorry for ForceBook. They did their best with a shoddy script (AGAIN!) and none of its flaws were their fault. This show was all over the place and so am I about it. It’s better than Enchanté but that’s not really saying much. 7/10 I guess

In Case You Missed It 

BL Express reported that Taiwanese production companies have announced 7 new BLs (4 of these from Vidol.) Stories range from office romance to crime drama. 

Someone did a survey on KBL watchers. 

Build Jakapan has been cleared of all charges. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting this week: 

5/26 Be My Favorite prev title: You Are My Favorite (Thai YouTube) Adapted JittiRain y-novel (2gether, FUTS, ToL, Vice Versa) one of those “rewrite the past to change the future.” Stars Krist (SOTUS) + Fluke Gawin (DBK, Not Me). Expect this to be v low heat, full of LIES and manipulation.

5/27 The Luminous Solution (Thai ????) 10 eps - Thana is having trouble at work and in his relationship. He can't seem to catch a break. So he makes a wish to change everything. The wish has a price.

5/27 Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (Japan) - NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS (but that has never stopped Japan before) and no, I have no idea where to get it, why would I ?????  (Say it with me everyone: Oh Japan, must you?*)

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

This Week’s Meta Moments 

naturellement (Step By Step naming its trope.)

The Promise calling out the uke archetype, Mary Sue much? 

ALL THE DANCING. Live the dream! Live the trend! Live the trope! 

4 tropes in one! Drinking, piggyback, feed him, product placement. Very nice GMMTV & GeminiFourth. I’m impressed.  

nash

(all My School President’s Our Skyy - kinda a masterclass in using ALL THE TROPES and ALL THE BL references.) 

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

The unmitigated irony of so-called fans of ZeeNunew coming after this show for this moment (not to mention the self sabotage). Truly mind boggling. (Step by Step)

The two boys who didn’t win the boy but totally should have. This show makes me wanna drink too. Next week... soju! (The Promise)

Yes please and thank you GMMTV. (My School President) 

I do love the kinkification of Phi. (Boss & Babe) 

These tiny idiots it turns out are, in fact, totally hilarious. La Pulie (side dish friendship group)

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? Key & Taeyeon’s Hate that... (which if it wasn’t an OST SHOULD have been)

[nonhumanresources]

First Day On The Job

Another commission story incoming! This one was commissioned by @actualhorseprincess. This one was quite fun, since I got to bring in one of my own characters, Rum. Luna's a very chill horse-wolf hybrid, everyone go tell her she's the best princess.

Also, in case you're wondering about the seeming incongruity of the setting, it's on purpose I swear. Picture a modern day city with an alchemist slotted in there and you're on the right track. Also, happy TF Tuesday.

Summary: Luna lands a hotly-contested job with the town's alchemist, Rum, and arrives on her first day for a tour of the lab, entirely unaware of the far more exciting plans Rum has in store for her. Turns out the alchemist has a reputation for a reason, and Luna should have read her NDA more carefully.

What to expect: Dragon TF, some oversized assets (Luna likes it big!), an irresponsible amount of teasing, lots of clothes dismantling, post-TF sensitivity, accent TF to such a cartoonish degree it is frankly unreasonable, and idle mentions of eggs.

Length: 4.2k words.

If you'd rather read this with somewhat easier formatting, here's a link to the same story on Google Drive!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“...and here is where you’ll work.” Rum tapped the clipboard she was holding against a hard backed chair, sitting in the corner of a cramped room. It was stuffed to the brim with tables and shelves, dusty instruments lining the walls and bins of glassware sitting unattended. There was barely enough room for the golden dragon’s tail to sway without knocking into something. “I apologize for the mess; I’ve yet to find time to properly clean in here, but everything you need to perform your duties should be present.” 

Luna nodded frantically, trying to take the whole room in. She wanted to make a good first impression, so, wisely, during the majority of the tour, she’d left her mouth shut to avoid asking any silly questions. She was dressed to the nines: a leather bodice, laced tight on top of a blue top, sturdy pants, leather boots over her hooves and matching gloves, gleaming hair pulled back into a ponytail. Atop all this she wore a dark blue coat. It was a striking look, she’d thought to herself that morning—something befitting of an alchemist’s apprentice.  The look emphasized her unique body, purple fur and wolfish up top with large, pointed ears, a horse’s tail and charcoal-colored hooves down below. Of course, when she’d shown up, Rum was wearing simple pants, a plain shirt, and a lab coat, which made Luna think that perhaps dressing like a 19th century countess was not her brightest idea, so she was doing her best to make up for it. The woman wasn’t even wearing shoes, for crying out loud.

As always the rest of the story is under the read more. I love comments and questions so don't hesitate to let me know what you think!

Luna really, really wanted this job. Rum, local scientist, alchemist, literal golden dragon and one-woman powerhouse, had recently posted a listing for an apprentice. Luna didn’t know much about alchemy, but she’d thrown her hat into the ring anyway and figured that her 11th grade chemistry could probably carry her through the first week until she got some proper training. After that, it would be smooth sailing—a stable job, fascinating work, and solid pay. With flexible hours, too! The fact that Rum was widely considered one of the most attractive dragons in town and one of the most generous were just two more benefits to add to the pile. Now, after three nail-biting weeks of interviews and waiting, she was finally here, in what was apparently her own office. Sure, the outfit was ridiculous in hindsight, but the sheer amount of anxiety lifted from her shoulders and the excitement of her first day kept her from caring too much. 

“Any questions?” Rum nudged her glasses upwards, then rested her paw on her hip. She positively exuded a casual air; thus far, Luna had never seen her not look at ease. 

“Nope!” Luna responded, shaking her head again. A strand of her dark-blue hair escaped the ponytail, and she tucked it behind her ear, smiling sheepishly. 

Rum raised a brow, looking skeptically over her glasses. “None at all? I can’t have explained it all that thoroughly.” 

Luna’s mind raced. “Oh! U-uh, I mean, there was the, the…” she stammered, thinking back through the hour-long explanation of Rum’s lab and trying to pull anything she could to ask about. 

Fortunately, she was spared as Rum laughed, brushing past her, the edge of her scaly wing brushing against Luna’s feathery ones. “I’m kidding, darling. I could tell you were listening quite intently. I’m sure you’ll have many questions over the next few weeks, and I expect to have an answer for all of them. If not, we’ll have to discover that answer together! For now, though, I have a question for you: would you like something to drink?” 

“Yes, please,” Luna sighed, rubbing the back of her wrist with her other hand. Rum picked up a tray that Luna had barely noticed in the clutter, offering her a small glass filled with a transparent purple liquid. She took it and gulped it down gracelessly as Rum picked up the other, sipping at it. How does she manage to sound so professional even when she’s joking? Luna wondered, quietly clicking her tongue. The drink was delicious; probably some kind of sweetened grape juice, she surmised. 

“I’ve got work elsewhere,” Rum pronounced, setting her glass down with a clink against the tray. “You should get right to it! Familiarize yourself with the new workspace, and all that. If you find yourself looking for something to do, I suggest sorting through some of that glassware and pulling out any that are cracked so I can replace them.” Rum’s wing gestured towards one of the cardboard boxes brimming with various beakers and flasks. 

“Got it. And if I finish that?” Luna asked, careful not to sound like she was begging for instruction. The last thing she wanted to do was make Rum think she was some kind of lapdog. 

“Oh, I don’t expect to be too long,” Rum reassured, pushing open the door on the opposite side from where they’d entered, leading out into a balcony that led down to ground level. “Feel free to relax if I take too long!” With that, she turned, lab coat drifting in the breeze as the door clicked shut just behind her tail. 

Luna let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Impress the boss: check. Mostly, she thought, glancing down at her overzealous attempt at a uniform. Still, she’d survived the tour and was more than ready to dig her paws into the work. 

Taking Rum’s advice, Luna spent a few minutes wandering the room. It really was small, only about five paces across in either direction. Tables against three walls held scientific instruments that ranged from weight scales to burners to frightening looking things with pincers and knobs; one cabinet held labelled chemicals, and shelves were covered in random bits and bobs. The fourth wall had a fume hood, which as Rum explained it was basically a bench to work on where any gaseous chemicals would be drawn outside instead of breathed in. Useful. The rest of the room contained more tables covered in what was obviously Rum’s assorted storage. The overall aesthetic was not unlike an unkempt garage. 

Still, it was exciting. Luna pictured how it might look in a few weeks: clean tables, bubbling beakers and test tubes, her with lab goggles weighing out pharmaceutical grade chemicals and learning the secrets of alchemy. Sure, the cleaning would suck, but Rum would probably help. Maybe. 

She seemed nice enough to, at least… Luna mused, dragging the box of glassware Rum had indicated over to the one clean desk with her chair. She swept the dust off with a quick swipe of her tail, leaving a small trail of glitter in the air behind, and plunked it down. There was a suspicious crunch from the bottom of the box that made Luna wince. Best to be careful in there, then. She opted not to sit so she’d be able to reach the whole desk and got started. 

The sorting turned out to be quite relaxing. There were two main types of glass in the box—beakers, large cylinders that came in a variety of sizes all marked in milliliters, and flasks, which had more of a triangular shape with a skinny neck. She sorted these by volume; the rest, assorted pieces with odd forms whose purpose she didn’t fully glean, were instead placed at one end of the table and sorted by shape. Anything cracked or chipped went beside those. 

All in all, it was easy, light work. Yet, Luna still felt a crick in her neck that only grew worse as she sorted. Nearly at the bottom of the box, she stepped back, rubbing at it. She must have been leaning too far over the table or something. That was something she’d have to be careful of, if she was gonna be working on these short desks for many hours. Perhaps she should have sat down for this. She idly rolled her neck, trying to work out the kinks she’d inadvertently created. 

With a strange pop-pop-pop like someone drawing a fingernail up a washboard, Luna’s neck suddenly stretched outwards. She yelped, stumbling backwards and grabbing onto a table, eyes rolling as she felt at herself with her other paw. While she rolled it, her neck had somehow loosened up and stretched. Her paw traced its way up the side to where she thought her chin should have been—then up, up, up until it finally connected. There was at least another… ten, twelve inches of neck there, and what’s more, it had an odd, smooth texture. 

Luna tried to keep herself calm. Thirty minutes on the job and she was… doing whatever this was. She couldn’t afford to lose it because her neck decided it wasn’t content with its length, but she also couldn’t afford to panic. She stared down at the ground, and it felt disorienting, the height change making her feel like she was on stilts. It made her already roiling stomach toss even more. 

Help. She should get help, right? Right. That seemed… logical. Maybe she could even fix this before Rum came back and no one would be the wiser. It’s not like whatever was happening was her own fault; maybe she’d picked up stray fumes from one of Rum’s alchemical projects, but it’s not like she’d done it on purpose. The only thing Luna had touched was old glassware! She tried taking a deep breath, but her leather bodice felt extra tight, and so she settled on a shallower one, slowly unlocking her vice grip on the table. She’d grab a piece of glassware and head to the doctor just in case, then return. Easy. 

She didn’t even make it one step from the table. As soon as Luna’s foot connected with the ground, her rounded hoof-boot’s sole was launched off to the side as it was entirely torn from the body of the shoe. Instead of hoof, an enormous purple paw greeted her, white claws bright against the dark surface. Watching this happen proved ill advised; with her new neck at that angle and the paw’s appearance, Luna lost her balance and tumbled forwards. One thought blazed through her panicked mind: protect the glass.

She hit the table with a thunk as her other leg explosively removed its boot, leaving her with two enormous claws. Fortunately, she was able to fall just so; despite a frightening rattle of glass on wood, she had landed directly in between the flasks and beakers, twisted sideways and wings held in tight. One flask fell over and rolled into another with a quiet tink, but that was all. Crisis averted. Luna sighed with relief. 

Of course, she was immediately punished once again for her premature relief as the tightness in her bodice doubled. She gasped, and the sharp intake of air popped the lacing. Her shirt let out a loud, long shrrrriiiiip! as her chest quadrupled in size, bursting forwards in an incredibly uncouth display and utterly ruining her top, barely covering the drastically swollen surface and keeping her semi-decent. It let out an audible glrsh as it bounded forth, shoving her entire carefully-sorted collection of beakers to the floor. It gleamed in the light, and she could see it was covered in scales the same lavender as the rest of her underbelly. Luna winced as every single beaker shattered against the stone. The movement drew her attention to her face. Her normally fluffy, canid snout was shifting, nose hardening into a beak-like structure, light flashing off of it as she twisted. Her unicorn horn seemed to bend backwards, a feeling like mechanical thrumming in her head as it split in two and pulled back over each ear like a more traditional pair of curved horns. The whole experience left her face tingling and sensitive, just like her chest and new paws. 

Unfortunately, she didn’t have much time to enjoy it. The table beneath her cracked, crunched, and gave out, sending her to the floor with the rest of the glassware. Amid the smashing, shattering, clattering din, Luna let out a quiet oof as her chest hit the floor. On the bright side, it turned out to be immensely soft, and the scales it was now covered in were quite durable, any stray shards on the ground that were caught underneath simply pressing into her rack. However, as she slammed down onto her oversized chest, she felt an intense heat shock down her spine like someone had pressed a hand into a deeply pleasurable point (or two, in this case) during a massage. With her paws still planted, that shock slammed into the base of her spine and blossomed there, her pants going the way of her boots and shredding themselves along the seams. She flushed a deep maroon as she felt a breeze flow across her rear end—and that deepend to a plum shade as she realized just how much rear end she suddenly had. It was easily twice the size of her cartoonishly plump chest, and it was up in the air and exposed for all the world to see, the moon mark on her hips stretched across far more real estate than it was supposed to. 

The heat didn’t end there. It pushed into her tail, and the hairs twisted together, nerves growing out from her rump in a line, forming a thick, scaled tail. The glowing blue and silver-studded mane became small, rounded spikes that trailed down her tail and crawled up her spine, between her wings, which had also consolidated into membranes instead of feathers. She did her best to try and do a self assessment, but feeling at her chest and rear only made the scales flash up her arms, turning them sleek and reptilian like the rest of her. 

In only moments, Luna had become a dragon. Not only that, she’d become a dragon of such awesome proportions that she rivalled the biggest women she’d ever seen. Plus she’d just ruined the project her new boss had just asked her to do and an entire piece of furniture in the process. She let out a quiet whine, covering her face with her paws. Her day had been going so well, too. 

Just to top it all off, she felt her stomach groan, going the way of her chest and rear end and swelling outwards. She grunted, cupping a paw against it, and was shocked at what felt like a few large rocks knocking against each other somewhere deep inside. Was that… oh god, she was filling up with eggs, wasn’t she? Would she have to lay them? What if she turned back? How many was she gonna get? Were they—

A voice interrupted her thoughts. “I’d ask how long you plan on moping for, but frankly, I’m enjoying the view. So, take your time!” 

Luna froze. No. There’s no way. She couldn’t have… “Rum?!” 

“That would be me.” The voice came from somewhere behind Luna, where the outside door was. She instinctively tucked her tail downwards, trying to hide at least something of the wide rear end, and that move elicited a laugh. Rum’s voice had the same calm, clear tone, but it was mixed with obvious amusement. Luna’s face burned. 

“I, ah, didn’t realize you’d returned…” she mumbled. Her voice felt strange in her muzzle. It came out like she was speaking through porcelain, each vowel bouncing out sharply rather than smoothed together like usual. She wrinkled her nose at the sound. 

“Frankly, if you had, I’d be more worried at your current posture,” Rum remarked. 

Luna scrambled to her feet. This took quite a bit more effort than usual; she had to plant her paws much farther apart than usual to accomodate for the wide bust, and her legs were entirely different sizes. Not to mention the balance issues caused by having a huge rear end combined with a large dragon tail. Though it was embarrassing, she was glad for the rack and the swollen gut, since it actually balanced her out somewhat. Taking a deep breath, face still colored something like a deep bruise, she turned around to face what she assumed was her soon to be ex-boss. 

Rum sat atop a table, smiling slyly. She spun a glass bottle in one paw, legs crossed. Even now, she seemed so natural. It made Luna’s fumbling about feel all the more obvious. She crossed her arms over her chest, shamefully avoiding Rum’s gaze. 

“Rum, I—”

“Ah.” Rum held up a finger, tapping the bottle she was toying with against the table. Luna snapped her jaw shut. “I don’t want to hear any apologies.” 

Luna nodded, stomach sinking. “I’ll… gather my things, then?” Her voice had some kind of lilt to it, her a’s sounding longer, drawn out. This had to be the record for worst job performance in the history of ever. 

Rum, strangely, shook her head. “Now now. I didn’t say leave, did I?” 

“No,” Luna gulped, a small spark of hope daring to rekindle itself deep in her chest. 

“Exactly. Now, what is the first rule of alchemy, Luna?” Rum slid herself off the table gracefully, picking her way across the floor towards the other dragon. Luna had grown up to match Rum’s height. 

“Uh.” That wasn’t the question she’d expected. “Every… action has an equal and opposite reaction?” Yeah, something was definitely wrong with her voice. It was like she’d spontaneously developed an entirely different vocal pattern. 

“Not quite. Actually, the first rule of alchemy is this. Don’t,” Rum smirked, reaching out and pulling Luna’s jaw open slightly, pressing her clawed thumb against Luna’s tongue, “put anything in your mouth if you don’t know exactly where it came from.” She drew her claw out, leaving Luna’s forked tongue poking out dumbly, waltzing past her into the wreckage. She moved Luna to the side with a light touch to her hip, and Luna instantly understood why people referred to particularly wide hips as shelves. 

Rum settled into Luna’s chair, Luna spinning to face her. She surveyed the mess around her, grinning. “Quite the show, you know.” 

“You’re not… disappointed?” Luna probed, wary. Rum waved a paw. 

“Please. Dear, this is my junk room. Nearly everything in here was going to get thrown away anyway. Frankly, I’m sad you didn’t destroy more things; I’d pay to watch you use those hips on a few more of my tables.” Rum’s eye glinted, and her nearly predatory grin brought to mind the other thing Luna had heard of the dragon: she was an absolute flirt. 

“W-well! I shan’t say I will!” Luna cleared her throat. “I mean, I shan’t… bah. I’ll not be resting on any others.” Why in the world did she sound like that? It was like listening to a fancy butler talk. What part of turning into a dragon made you British? 

Rum only snorted. “Shame. I think we both know you’ve been taught your lesson quite thoroughly, though. Why don’t you pick up your mess and we can call it a day?”

“You don’t plan on punishing me?” Luna asked, still confused. 

“Of course not, dear. You’re far too cute for that.” Rum leaned the chair back, propping her paws up on the edge of the broken table. Those paws, Luna found, were nearly the exact size and shape of her own new pair. That ignited an emotion deep in her gut that she was afraid to explore. It made her stomach grumble, and she let out a small burp of multicolored flames, much to Rum’s amusement. 

“Ah. O-okay.” Luna cringed at her lame response, but it was all she could manage through the haze of emotions. 

Rum waved a paw at the ground. “Your first real job is cleaning up all this. Soon as you’re done, you can head out for the day. Deal?” 

“Um. Deal.” 

“Great. Broom’s over there, dear.” Rum gestured once more, then placed her arms behind her head, staring. Luna did the only thing she could do: she got to work. 

As it turned out, the job really wasn’t too bad, if she ignored her boss’s piercing gaze. Luna swept the glass into piles, using a dustpan on a long handle to pick it up and dump it into a designated waste container she hadn’t noticed before but was obviously placed there intentionally, looking back. She’d knocked over a few other instruments with her tail; those she righted and rearranged slightly. As she swept, she tried a few times to mumble to herself; each and every time, she found that she unconsciously stretched her vowels, ended her words in clipped tones, and it took real effort to say a bit instead of a tad. It was like her whole demeanor had shifted and she was talking like the London elite. At least she’d have time to explore further later. 

Even as she cleaned, Luna grew more used to the excessive sizes. Encumbering at first, she found that she could work around the large chest, albeit with low visibility. She didn’t even mind bumping her hips into tables, though it happened nearly every time she turned. She got better as she moved, though each brush against her enlarged assets still brought significant heat to her scales. In just a few minutes, the only thing left was the table. 

As she leaned over to grab one side of the splintered mess, Rum stood. “I think that’s enough cleaning for now, Luna, dear.” 

Luna looked up, bemused. “You asked me to clean, then tell me not to?” It was a far bolder statement then she should have made, but she was just about at her wit’s end at this point. Oddly, though, Rum seemed to approve of the push-back, wrapping an arm over Luna’s shoulders and walking her towards the doorway. 

“As much as I’d enjoy watching you bend over, I wouldn’t ask a mother with an expecting brood to do such heavy labor!” Rum scoffed, sounding incredulous. Her tail snaked around Luna’s hips, the tip resting atop her belly that had burst straight through her poor ruined bodice. 

“Th-that’s not my fault!” Luna squawked, pointedly shoving the tail away. 

“Mine either!” Rum laughed. “I slipped you a simple draconic alteration potion, darling. The particulars are up to your own biology.” 

“My own…” Luna looked at Rum, confused. 

“Yes, dear, your genes are telling you that had you been born a dragon, you would have made an exceptionally potent broodmother. An oddly English one, at that.” 

“That… that’s preposterous! I mean, I’m simply… simply not built like such a thing!” Luna argued. 

Rum pointedly looked directly down into her exposed cleavage. “I think your body begs to differ.” 

“Then change me back! I can’t work looking like some manner of… of dragon floozy!” Luna shrieked. 

“Actually, if you’ll check the contract you signed, it stipulates quite clearly that I’d be hiring a dragon!” Rum shot back. “Whether or not that dragon is a floozy is optional, though goodness knows it would make her quite entertaining to watch. Yes, I fear you’ll be scaled for the duration of your employment with me.” 

Luna’s mouth dropped open. There’s no way, that can’t be legal. Her mind raced, trying to think of an argument. Arriving at the door, Rum popped it open, then turned Luna towards herself. 

“Listen, Luna. You made the cut here. Don’t blow your chance now; I’d hate to be down such a pretty assistant.” Before Luna could say anything, she reached under her lab coat, pulling out a slip of paper and a coin purse. She reached around Luna’s side and tucked the paper into her waistband, making her shudder from the tips of her membranous wings all the way down her tail. “That’s a to-do list for tonight. I expect it to be completed by morning. And this,” Rum said, hefting the coin bag, “is for you to go buy yourself a few new outfits. Consider it a signing bonus. You’re gonna need it if you want to get anything big enough to cover that dragon ass of yours.” Instead of handing it to Luna, she pulled the drawstring open and dumped the coins straight into her cleavage. The cold metal made her yelp, back arching and causing her shirt to tear even further, boobs threatening total devastation. 

With that, Rum pushed Luna out the door and closed it behind her, calling out “Happy laying!” as she did. The door bumped against her butt as it snapped shut. The cool air made her heated chest steam. Luna stood there, wings flared, tail tip twitching. Never in a million years would she have expected her first day on the job to go like that. And yet, she actually found herself excited to go back. She was even mentally planning out a new outfit she could wear to work tomorrow. I must have given myself brain damage, she thought, astounded. 

Luna was determined to make this job succeed. If that meant living as a cartoonishly busty British dragoness, well… maybe she could live with that. She’d decide after she laid her first clutch, maybe. God, I really am insane, she sighed, surreptitiously bouncing her chest with her paws. Yeah… yeah, she could get used to that. Riding that decision, Luna turned her attention to the nearby market, heading off to buy a new outfit. This was going to be a fun one to relate to her tailor. 

[marvelann]

Who do you pair Chester Gieke up with to have cute babies? In my game he's cute but his kids end up like gremlins

Chester Gieke - Brandi Broke

Chester Gieke - Melody Tinker

Chester Gieke - Kent Capp

Chester Gieke - Samantha Ottomas

(I do like his itty bitty nose)

Honestly I'm probably not the best person to ask this because I don't just let sims have children jaja. They have a baby, I merge the parent's faces in CAS until I get something I like, I replace the baby's face with that.

Just gameplay wise I do enjoy having him meet Lisa Ramirez and let ACR do its thing... they have such a ridiculous amount of chemistry. Their kids come out either really pretty and interesting or completely wonky, not in between

[nitronapalm]

SHIPPING INFO // ANSWER THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR MUSES SO PEOPLE KNOW HOW SHIPPING WORKS ON YOUR BLOG.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER(S)?

My top canon OTP is BakuDeku, my top crossover OTP is BakuMari, but I like anything with ships with the Bakusquad or basically anyone he has chemistry with, just so long as it's not ridiculous age gaps or adult/minor.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

Adult/minor or anything over 7-8 years. It's creepy.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?

The only thing I'm selective with is if this splody idiot has chemistry with the person and wants to do it. He can be a picky lil shit. Generally he tends to mesh better with males than females, ship-wise.

WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?

Pom's Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miraculous Ladybug), he's also shipped previously with a Danny Phantom and a Yusuke Urameshi and he had a pretty good chemistry with a Jason Todd at one point. (I do a lot of crossover ships xD)

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?

Yes. Very definitely ask. I had an issue previously where someone forced a ship on an OC I have and I very nearly lost their muse entirely. Do not force a ship, ask me and we'll consider.

ARE YOU SHIP-OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?

I do love ships if they happen, but I'm just as happy with platonic threads or familial threads or things like that. If he has threads with someone he's close to or someone he knows, he'd be more likely to ship with them but anyone he doesn't know would have to be tested.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?

BakuDeku, TodoBaku, KiriBaku. (BakuMari if we're talking crossover.)

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?

Ask meeee. Drop in my DMs and we can figure out if it'd work or not.

tagged by: @explodcor

tagging: @pompedia , @deathonate , whoever wants to do this thing.

[alrightsnaps]

All the polin fans complaining about Penelope and Colin "not being protagonists in their season" in the Bridgerton ig are they for real?

Are they still at it? I checked out shortly after part 2 was released but I did hear something about them signing a deleted sex scenes petition lmao

The whole thing is so ridiculous, especially after two years of gaslighting kathony fans for calling out the show's sidelining of them, Kate in particular. When season 2 premiered they wouldn't stop yapping about Bridgerton being an "ensemble show" to justify the excessive screen time given to Penelope's family or the disproportionate amount of promo their faves got.

There is a grain of truth about the show noticeably shifting from romance to ensemble drama after season 1 but when we called it out back in season 2 we were being bitter and jealous lmao.

Even so, the irony of seeing polin stans say that "Penelope and Colin were treated like secondary characters in their own season!!" is insane. Kate and Anthony didn't even have a poster of their own for season 2, while Penelope (a side character) got herself a solo poster. Then on her own season she was again at the centre of all the promotional photoshoots. Kate and Anthony got together in the last 3 minutes of the show and had an off screen wedding. Penelope and Colin got handed a grand wedding and a baby in the epilogue (before the audience ever got to see Kathony as parents). Simone and Jonny weren't allowed to do any interviews on their own or have a couple photoshoot. Nicola and Luke were handed a world tour and multiple photo-ops to promote season 3 and were heavily promoted throughout season 2 as well.

I don't know if their fans are still at it, but I remember when part 1 came out how mad they were at Francesca (who literally had less lines than Penelope's sisters in s1 and s2 combined) finally having a subplot of her own. You know...like every single Bridgerton sibling minus Hyacinth and Greg have had since the show premiered? They didn't seem to have a problem when Penelope was a supporting character with her own sidedarc for Kate and Daphne's seasons, but Francesca finally being on screen was an issue cause she outshined Penelope in s3!

At the end of the day they're just pressed their ship never captured the audience's attention the way every other Bridgerton couple (spinoff included) has, inspite of the lengths the production went into to promote and overhype them. Kate and Anthony were robbed at every turn, both story and promo wise, and managed to carry the season and become fanfourites nonetheless. Polin got everything handed to them and were still extremely underwhelming. No amount of sex montages will manufacture chemistry between the leads or charisma for your cringe male lead.

[cwcthzl]

hey guys.. what ro we think about richie pretending to be dumb so stan tutors him..

-nic

his dumbass would definitely do that oh my god

he would probably get the idea when he saw bill getting tutoring from stan because he didn't understand shit about maths or chemistry or physics or any lesson that involved numbers, because he was a english/literature guy, duh, and seeing stan patiently go through the problems no matter times bill didn't get it or how many times even he got frustrated at the questions bill had, richie would have a lightbulb moment because hey, who was he to miss an opportunity to mess with stan the man?

he would start going with some fuckass problems from time to time, to not draw suspicion, and even that would have stan suspicious of him because richie was ridiculously gifted when it came to school - matter of fact the third time he went to stan with a dumbass chemistry question stan straight up asked him what was his deal was. was he testing him or some sort? he knew richie could solve this in seconds and richie simply lied by saying he couldn't and he needed 'old wise jew's help, and stan rolled his eyes before going through the question

after that richie started asking stan about different topics from different classes and asked him to tutor him. stan denied him a long time because then he was convinced richie was fucking with him, so richie had to failed a couple tests to prove a point (which got maggie and went kinda concerned because he never did, but he brushed it off, they weren't real exams after all). only after that stan agreed, and he started tutoring richie.

during tutoring, richie started asking stupid ass questions about every topic he wanted stan to teach him about, even going as far as asking, "what do you mean multiply?" and getting a smack in the head. he pushed every button stan had during their tutoring sessions, and it amused him every time stan rolled his eyes too hard that it looked an animation or every time he pushed richie off his chair. richie was laughing his ass off every time and stan was threatening with leaving his failing ass over here and kicking him out, until they returned to teaching just to have that same interaction five minutes away. seeing stan frustrated or watching him turn his head from the paper they are working on to richie with that 'i'm done' look of him whenever he asked a stupid thing was too entertaining for him.

richie wasn't even sure why he wanted stan to tutor him so bad, until it rolled to them spending hours at one of their houses and mostly stan talking and richie not having to look away from him on hours on end because what was there to look other than stan and his long fingers wrapped around the pen, his face relaxed with his eyes following the numbers he wrote on paper, his lips moving with whatever formula he was talking about, his curls shining under the desk lamp, his leg pressed against richie's under the desk as his voice filled richie's ears. he was so fucking concentrated like he was solving the mystery of the world and it amused richie. he didn't even need to listen to a word he said because he knew what to do even before, so he could just pick up from where stan left off. it was funny, or mildly crazy because he had no reason to lie about not understanding a topic, but he was happy as long as stan looked at him from the paper and asked, "do you understand?" with his eyes sparkling under the yellow light of richie's dinosaur designed desk lamp.

richie was ready to lie his ass off for another semester.

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S04E05 - Rex to Ritches

As a Hudson and Rex filler, not a bad episode. But I have a grievance.

For some unknown reason they had to introduce a female deputy chief and instantly make her both unlikable and useless at her job, despite Meghan Ory's best efforts to make this character interesting. Even the moment of her realizing that she's wrong and she should support the team comes too late in her first episode, and the apology comes way too late in her second since we didn't get another episode with her to see how she redeems herself.

First of all, I'll be clear, I wanted to like these episodes and I wanted to like this character. If she was fully against the team, she'd have to be a worthy adversary and I'd have liked her as a villain. But she wasn't.

Second... how do I say this without sounding like a dick? It's common when you re-negotiate contracts, to offer a few incentives more into the mix to entice your lead to re-sign. Since Meghan Ory's guest episodes came right after John Reardon's re-negotiation (he got the exec. producer title in S4 so he did re-negotiate after S3), it's quite possible that they threw in something about getting her for a few episodes as well. But here's the thing: as a production, you should want Meghan Ory to guest on your show. You're not filming (I will refrain from saying Severance again) Succession. Meghan Ory is a competent actress who shouldn't have any trouble getting a guest role in a show like Hudson and Rex, and writing a character for her shouldn't be a chore, and it really seemed to me like they treated that as something they needed to do instead of something to profit from. I don't know how they fumbled the ball like that.

Maybe I'm wrong and they set out to write some complex storyline which was thwarted by things like scheduling conflicts and other factors which I'm not privy to. But writing-wise, they pretty much wrote a character who, while she had plenty of reasons to want to see how this team operates due to the unorthodox situation of Charlie and Rex's partnership, with a combination of snobbishness and incompetence easily managed to become the bad guy herself. They had her prioritize both friendship and family in a way that obstructed the investigations, while on top of everything she didn't trust anyone from our team, and while some of that behavior might be excusable, they should have never have her do all these at the same time and on two separate cases. Plus, not taking advantage of her obvious chemistry with John Reardon in her first episode, a fact that becomes more ridiculous when you consider that they'd both played (and will play) each other's romantic interests so you know they can play off of each other and you should take advantage of this and then not doing it... I don't know whose bright idea that was and I don't care. It was stupid.

What's more, they just make the character appear out of the blue and be interested out of the blue about how things happen in Major Crimes, while in a few episodes there will be a perfectly good reason to monitor them closely since there was a significant disregard for procedure. But as of now... Did we receive a complaint? No. Did someone make a bad news report on us in the news? No. "[...] Major Crimes could use a little bit more oversight". Okay, why? What happened?

Now, that I got that out of the way, I can focus on other things. Maybe I should have refreshed my memory first but these thoughts have been circling a while.

These kind of motivational speaking retail schemes are so weird. And I'm not exactly a stranger to them, I've never been myself, but family members have and consequently I've familiarized myself with certain things and patterns. Fun fact, all these usually lead to pyramid schemes.

I wonder if this would be Financial Crimes territory. Imagine if this was the start of their beef with Major Crimes lol. I agree that this is quite the amount, though. It's not petty cash and should not be investigating as such.

Well, half our cases involve friends and family.

And why doesn't it feel like it? Which, to be fair, Adele doesn't need to express or believe in if she's newly transferred and doesn't know the team.

Joe already hates this.

"Now, that's an interesting smell."

That's why you'll never get rich, Jesse.

Joe is in a mood. Yikes.

Did his purposeful strut give it away?

"[Rex] took off on me." Because you were not paying attention, Charlie.

"I have, thank you for finally noticing."

Charlie: "I am partnered with a dog, he just found dog fur in the vent indicating that another dog may have something to do with the theft of 400K and I'm going to have to tell this to my boss who has to explain it to the newly transferred Deputy Chief? Is it too late for me to take a few days leave?"

Like someone else that I know...

Sarah tags along with Charlie and Rex just because. You know what? I don't care. We can have nice things.

"[Rex] woke up this morning and he was pacing back and forth like he was working something out in his mind." Guys. He's still a dog.

I like you this is phrased. This means that there might possibly be more in the future lol

The subtitles say [spy movie music] when Rex enter the vent lmao

Yeah, that went as well as expected.

"All my team is unique. And I'm proud of them." Thank you, Joe.

Joe: "Give me concrete examples of why this is necessary." Adele: "How about I come back in a few episodes, because I feel there will be more to unpack then."

I mean, it's not even that we've had a stellar record so far. Just last season Sarah was ready to pay off Charlie's ransom despite departmental police (which is ridiculous, but anyway). On the same case, and right after he was freed, Charlie went to get a confession from his almost killer. Charlie has disregarded procedure a few times, notably when he should have waited for backup in Endless Summer. There are things, most of which would not show on the reports, though.

See, even the way she says that she doesn't want to look bad... She makes the case all about her. When she should be focused on providing justice.

"You find this thief and fast, or I will find a team who can." Uh, where? We are the only team in St. John's. And the best.

That's different from your pump and dump scheme, lady. Which is illegal, by the way.

Sarah pulled a print from the dog. I'm sorry, but this case is almost hard for me to find serious.

And now they found an earpiece? Where in the hell would the earpiece, made for human ears, go in a dog's ear?

Charlie: "Our thief isn't a superhero at all. They're just following commands." Rex: "I knew they weren't better than me."

The presence of a ladder is offensive to Rex.

"Ugh, ladder. Again."

"No way, using my weakness against me!"

"Surprise, motherfucker."

"Your suspect, sir."

This is... a pose...

"Now you humans can catch the human one."

Again, this isn't that bad. In the original, Rex found a case all on his own, he interrogated the (human) suspect, and led him to his partner for the arrest.

It's Sarah's first arrest too.

Jesse, you really should have been a techie in Kommissar Rex. You wouldn't have known peace.

Or maybe the chief is a dog lover.

"We can go over my strategic objectives for your team moving forward." Sorry, do the people who write this think that Adele was hired immediately for the Deputy Chief position and hasn't been through the police ranks? Because she comes off as 100% bureaucrat and 0% cop.

"You're playing with fire, Hudson."

[mybleedingboy]

Hannibal Fic Recs

for @raniofzepuchas (I'll make this short and only include my very favorites so I'm not overwhelming you with fics) (no particular order)

A Clutch at Balance by Devereauxs_Disease

Rating: E | Word Count: 25,466

When Will Graham storms into Hannibal's house muttering about kissing Alana Bloom, the good doctor makes Will an offer: Pretend to date Hannibal in order to prove to Alana that Will is not only stable but capable of being in a relationship. When Alana is convinced Will is the man of her dreams, Hannibal will step aside and Will can get his girl. What could possibly go wrong?

Really fun and balances that fun with some excellent writing. Spot on dynamic, fantastic chemistry.

highway 190 by occultiism

Rating: M | Word Count: 10,343

He has found the Devil and wants to live inside of him. There is no more room for God. / Chronological snapshots throughout Will Graham's life.

Arguably one of the best-written Hannibal fics (and fics in general) ever. Hard-hitting, painful throughout but like a punch that hits the knots right out of you. If that makes sense?

Five Times Hannibal Visits Will and One Time He's Already Home (or: Coffee Cake) by bones_2_be

Rating: E | Word Count: 82,385

When Will tells Hannibal to leave at the end of Digestivo, he goes. And then, a few years later, he shows back up. They have long conversations, drink a lot of wine, at the end of it all they find something that works.

Excellent progression. Love the characters in this. Again, great fucking writing. Restricted fic, so you'd have to be logged in.

The Mongoose and the Mouse by Hiding Now

Rating: E | Word Count: 109,582

With Mother's and Father's Day impending, Will has been feeling particularly irascible. He has parent issues (as do we all) so as a therapeutic exercise, Hannibal suggests something novel: a vacation together to recapture the childhood he never had. His caveats: Will must choose someplace he's never been, someplace he always wanted to go as a child. The idea is ridiculous. Will can only think of one place. But there is no way Hannibal will agree to go to a place where turkey legs are a staple, and cartoon characters offer hugs on every corner. Will calls his bluff. Hannibal calls it right back. OR ~Will and Hannibal spend a week at Walt Disney World for perfectly sound psychological reasons~

It's the disney fic! Always fun to read back.

each according to its kind by chaparral_crown

Rating: M | Word Count: 192,571

Will does the only reasonable thing that someone fresh out of a mental hospital with no support system does - he leaves, and goes on a road trip to the Pacific Northwest.

AU of Season 2. This is my favorite Hannibal fic, and one of the best-written at that. Every paragraph is rich in flavor. I would definitely eat this. This is the fic I recommend the most often.

their beaks not yet turned red by chaparral_crown

Rating: M | Word Count: 134,420

Will stares at the bird. The bird stares back. In its beak, a very finely embroidered cloth, and in that, the tiniest of soft fists pushing forward from a folded corner. “Don’t you dare,” Will says, crouching, hand that is not currently cradling an overly large pour of whiskey pointed at the bird to ward it off. --- After Hannibal is arrested and the trial dates are set, the stork visits Will Graham. With it, it brings a baby, a legally binding birth certificate, and a hope chest full of gifts for her. Nobody except Will thinks this is weird. (Alternatively, what if the Scarlet Letter was a dark romantic comedy?)

So good and heartfelt throughout. I wished this was canon.

Ravenous by rageprufrock

Rating: M | Word Count: 38,448

Whenever I go into a new fandom, I look for pru's works first. This was no exception, and it's so fucking good. It's a genuine thriller. There's no description, and pru doesn't tag, so I will let you go in blind. An exciting read, brilliantly written both stylistically, plot-wise, and character-wise. The dynamics here are wonderful !! Hard-recommend.

[drdemonprince]

favorite + least favorite companions?

I wanted to like Laezel and in terms of combat she is my very essential bruiser but my god i HATE her fuckin attitude and her passive dialogue shitting on everybody all the time.

Gale and Wyll are pretty boring so far, and the last thing i need is more spell casters.

Astario is great of course, though he does feel so ridiculously over-written and over-performed compared to all the other characters. it's like he's in a completely different game. he's so obviously The Star of the Show. i love him both combat and personality wise though!

I'm surprised at how much i LOVE Shadowheart though! I love her snooty little attitude and her strange gothic anarchic religion. I love the memory loss aspect of her back story because obviously amnesia play is hot. And her character and the player character just plain have the most chemistry! You have a lot more dialogue options with her right from the jump, you learn many personality quirks and triggers of her quite early, and it just feels like there's a bond there on a level the other characters don't have yet.

[jerreeeeeee]

war of the rohirrim was really good. there was just one thing that bothered me. in a narrative cohesion way. spoilers under the cut

WHY DID HERA NOT PUNCH WULF. TO KILL HIM. she got the shield. okay the shield is a symbol of the shieldmaidens and the strong warrior women of rohan and hera’s own personal freedom. awesome, meaningful. its a fucking buckler. punch him with the shield!! have the full circle moment; her father killed his father with a punch and started the entire war, he swore vengeance for his father, and now SHE avenges HER father by punching wulf and killing him. why choke him??

there are 2 reasons i can think of. the first is that the writers wanted it to be ambiguous whether she meant to kill him to end it or just got carried away in the heat of the moment full of adrenaline etc. which i think is sort of lame, she had the moment of asking frealaf to have mercy on the other dunlendings to show she’s Kind and Merciful and Wise. i don’t think it’s bad writing that she doesn’t kill him before he tries to stab her when he’s on his knees in front of her, that’s less “women need to be kind and merciful” and more showing the audience that she has a sense of honor. but when it became clear the only way to stop him was to kill him and she was going to kill him in the end she should have Meant to kill him. she doesn’t have to be merciful to the guy who murdered her family just because she’s a kindhearted woman. but all that aside; it would STILL be ambiguous whether she meant it to be a killing blow if she punched him! helm never meant to kill wulf’s father by punching him either!

the other reason is that the writers foresaw people whining that it wasn’t realistic. a Woman cannot kill a man with one punch! how ridiculous! as if this isn’t a magical world. as if helm didn’t have fucking superhuman powers in his whole last stand situation. a drive and well of power fueled by grief for his sons, who were, y’know, hera’s brothers. if it wasn’t realistic, harp on how she’s powered by grief the same way her father was, but that she survives and wins where he didn’t because she also had hope and determination to save her people. choking wulf to death just reads as a more “realistic” way to kill him that’s unfortunately less narratively satisfying.

i’m not saying either of these are the actual reason idk maybe it just didn’t occur to them or something this isn’t a conspiracy theory or anything i’m just bitching about a moment i thought would happen and was sorta disappointed didn’t. the movie was still really really good.

it interacted with themes of female empowerment in a world where women are afforded less options and expected to marry in a very refreshing way that highlights hera’s agency and independence without being trite. it’s significant that she’s a woman but she’s not treated reductively. it doesn’t fix everything for her to show her strength, everyone doesnt go wow we were wrong women can be strong! she doesn’t get to take her father’s place and lead her people even though the new king says she should have. but she does still prove herself and is supported by the narrative and gets a happy ending personally where she’s never forced to compromise her freedom.

also, i really appreciate that the main driving force of the plot is wulf’s relationship with her, in a way that is complex and interesting but doesn’t force romantic tension or chemistry even in the beginning. hera has genuine affection for wulf (in the beginning) from their friendship, but the movie never even plays with “they could have been lovers if fate hadn’t forced them apart” or whatever. she rejects wulf and romance even before the vengeance storyline takes off. and hera’s happy ending isn’t, like, another guy who can allow her freedom but still love her romantically. being unbound by the expectation of romance is part of her freedom. its really uncommon to have a man and woman as narrative foils without making them like. romantically implied soulmates for better or worse or whatever. especially childhood friends. but wulf is just a childhood friend turned bitter enemy and it’s written in much the same way as i think a story about a male protagonist would have been. also appreciate that the conflict and antagonist is very human.

hera’s relationships with various people feel very real, i guess because there’s a good amount of time put in toward the beginning, so the emotional beats with her brothers and olwyn are earned. and especially the ending with frealaf becoming king and hera promising her sword, that could have very easily felt cheap, but because he and his story and relationship to hera are established early it made sense and was satisfying instead. by saying she never wanted the crown and then still pledging her sword she remains loyal to her people and family, and yet free. you’re a little disappointed for hera that she doesn’t have the chance to choose be a leader of her people, even if she’d turn it down, but it feels realistic and it feels like frealaf earned it, and hera gets everything she wants from her life. it’s not a surprising or rushed ending, everything ties together there.

WAIT ALSO remembered another thing that bothered me. there wasn’t ever any closure on hama’s harp, hera had it at the end but did he ever get his song written about him??

also the saruman and gandalf namedrops seemed sort of weird and unnecessary. like yes i did watch lord of the rings. i know who those guys are. stop winking at me

last thing is that all the character design and costumes were good and the backgrounds were gorgeous. the people i watched with said the difference between the watercolor bgs and the animation was jarring but i didn’t have an issue with it i thought it was fine and i always love pretty backgrounds

all in all really good movie i enjoyed it a lot 👍