#defi projects 2023

[kumar-pradeep]

𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞-𝐔𝐩𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐅𝐢 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

Embark on a journey of discovery as we delve into the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) with a spotlight on upcoming projects in 2023. Unveil the innovative landscape of DeFi advancements, explore groundbreaking solutions, and anticipate the transformative potential that these projects hold for the financial world. Get ready to explore the exciting possibilities that lie ahead.

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨: https://coincred.org/blog-detail/top-7-defi-projects-to-invest-in-2023

[eretzyisrael]

by Tammi Rossman-Benjamin

Harvard University, responding to two anti-discrimination lawsuits threatening its Federal funding, recently agreed to acknowledge on its official website, “For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity. Conduct that would violate the Non-Discrimination Policy if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the policy if directed toward Zionists.”

The same day that Harvard’s agreement was announced, the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) — also party to a recent agreement following a Federal investigation into charges of faculty antisemitism – made a different kind of announcement, which thumbed its nose at the US government and doubled down on condoning faculty antisemitism.

Prominently displayed on UCSC’s campus-wide Events page was an announcement for an Education Department talk subtitled, “Centering an Anti-Zionist Commitment in (Early Childhood) Teacher Education,” clearly suggesting the speaker would be advocating for instilling in children as young as pre-school age a hatred of Israel and its supporters.

The only thing missing from the announcement were the words “Jews not welcome here” – though that message came through loud and clear.

Tellingly, this talk was also promoted on the website of UCSC’s Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapter, a group that shares the speaker’s “anti-Zionist commitment” and passion for expressing that commitment in educational spaces. It’s worth noting that more than 40% of the university’s Education Department’s core faculty have publicly allied themselves with this group, which was established a few weeks after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, massacre, mutilation, rape, and kidnapping of more than 1,400 Israelis.

UCSC’s FJP is one of more than 160 chapters of the FJP National Network, a project of the US arm of the Hamas-linked Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Established as the academic brigade of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, FJP is tasked with promoting an academic boycott of Israel, or academic BDS, urging faculty to boycott their school’s Israel-related programming, agreements, or projects, with the ultimate goal of eliminating Zionism and Zionists from academia.

Since its founding, UCSC FJP has diligently executed its marching orders, engaging in academic BDS-compliant behavior that has included: calling on faculty to cancel classes “in solidarity with Palestine” and praising graduate instructors for withholding students’ final grades to blackmail the university into boycotting Israel; co-authoring statements demanding the school cut all ties with Israeli universities, including popular study abroad programs, and boycott Jewish campus organizations such as Hillel; and rallying students and faculty to participate in an anti-Zionist march to disrupt a Jewish student-led “Unity Walk,” posting: “UCSC …  Let’s make it clear — Zionism is not welcome on our campus.”

[atiny-for-life]

Creative Spotlight #1: Kim Hongjoong

Masterlist

Intro: With so many new Atinys coming in, I figured now would be a good time to shed some light on all the boys' creative solo projects over the years, big and small.

Photography

Hongjoong's love for photography goes way back to his predebut days. In one of the first videos ever uploaded to their channel, you can already see him holding a camera on the set of Pirate King.

2 years ago, in 2022, he got to announce his first photo exhibition, FROM NOVEMBER 7, 1998, as a birthday present to himself, which took place from November 1st to 7th at gallery99 and was used to collect money for charity.

There was no entrance fee but spots had to be reserved online to ensure there'd be no dangerous crowding. During the exhibition, there was a little event planned for all attendees in which fans could collect points which were then converted to money that was later donated under Hongjoong and Atiny's name. The total donated amount was 10 million won!

In Logbook Episode 101, we got to see Hongjoong visit the exhibition himself and take a stroll through memory lane.

Due to the success of the 2022 exhibition, Hongjoong held another one last year which took place between November 3rd and 9th, 2023, and was titled A Walker - the event was accompanied by the release of an original song and led to the donation of 50 million won under Hongjoong's and Atiny's name to the Korea Childhood Leukemia Foundation.

BY. HONGJOONG

Back in 2018, Hongjoong shared during their stay in LA as KQ Fellaz, that he barely went to school since he already started producing music during his high school days. And yes, this is during the same tear jerking monologue where he calls Ateez his family for the first time and says he needs to hurry so he can see their sleeping faces before he goes to bed.

The first time we get to see Hongjoong fully in action as a producer is during his first 1-Day-Vlog in 2020 in which he's working on his Prince cover (more on that in a second).

But now to the main event: Hongjoong has an entire series going where he covers some of his all time favorite songs. Whenever he does, he likes to make the songs his own by recording his own instrumental track and typically adding an additional Korean rap verse with self-written lyrics highlighting his interpretation of the song's message.

Kicking things off with Space Oddity by David Bowie, a classic.

Side Note: As a lover of unisex clothing/androgyny, Hongjoong is likely not just inspired musically by Bowie, but also fashion wise. You can learn more about Bowie's influence on the climate surrounding gender and sexuality here.

Dressed in white, matching both his hair and the background, Hongjoong turned himself into a clean canvas on which he projected first footage of Bowie and later some floating orbs - it's very aesthetic.

Between the original verses and chorus, he placed a Korean rap verse in which he writes from Major Tom's perspective and laments his mental state while stuck alone in outer space, asking ground control to tell his mom he loves her while stating he still appreciates the beauty of space but feels lost and lonely all by himself.

Next up, we've got Purple Rain by Prince, another classic.

Side Note: Like Bowie, Prince too was famous for being androgynous in how he presented himself and toying with what society deemed masculine and feminine. He's famous to this day among the queer community for how persistently he defied gender norms and labels. Learn more about him here.

Instead of filming himself, we get a lyric video this time, fully kept in pastel lavender. Once again, Hongjoong added a rap verse of his own in which he speaks to a lost friend, talking about how he hopes that, even though they're apart now, his friend will still recall him as being sincere and that they can still think of each other fondly and remember the good times.

In a far more elaborate production, we've got Black or White by Michael Jackson up next.

Using green screen and multiple outfits, we get a fun spectacle of a little passion project featuring multiple versions of Hongjoong, background collages, emojis, and more:

Despite being shorter than the other covers, we still get the signature rap verse preceded by his famous giggle and, this time, he's got quite a bit to say.

Diving into the lyrics, he talks about how we're all different colors. Colors which are meant to be mixed. Our roots don't define us. Throughout life, we'll all get mixed up with each other, as we should. He doesn't want to see us divided. To quote: "What's wrong with you, babe? Stop it. You've already experienced the 20th century. Blah blah by dividing groups."

The song ends with the rap verse before the video dives into the making of in which Hongjoong specifically addresses his intent to talk about social issues like Michael Jackson famously used to while he was alive (think: They Don't Really Care About Us).

So long time by Yoon Jong Shin comes next with a sepia-toned video featuring Hongjoong at a grand piano. It's a pretty ballad highlighting his vocals and the use of multiple camera angles allows us to watch him play.

Shortly before we hit the 2 minute mark, Hongjoong gets up and we transition from the shot of the piano to a cassette player while the audio shifts to the original for a moment before Hongjoong returns.

We've reached the rap verse where he mourns a lost love, speaking of memories he can't let go of, even as he pretends everything is okay. He's cold and lonely now, a little mad at himself for continuously getting lost in the memories, and calls himself a fool before we return to the cover-part of the song.

At 3:58, the song wraps up and we've reached the making of section of the video where he talks about how his cover stems from the idea of a time machine taking you through the song, with the first verse (playing the piano) being the past, the rap verse symbolizing the present, and the memories then taking back over as he gets lost in them, leading to the piano's return.

Next up, we've got Last Christmas by Wham! which opens to a short clip of Hongjoong's acting on a pretty Christmas film set before we transition to a simple white back drop.

This time, the signature rap verse comes in early at 50 seconds with a little giggle before he talks about leaving the past in the past and moving on, letting the snow settle over painful memories.

However, this time, we also get a second rap verse at 1:45, where it becomes clear he hasn't moved on at all, plus a Korean vocal section at 2:43 which carries through to the end. Here, he highlights even further that he hopes they'll reconnect next winter so they can leave the painful past behind and live out a shared future.

Hongjoong in his emo era. This is the first Ateez-related video I've ever seen because I was born in '96 and my emo phase never ended so of course this was recommended to me when it was first released.

Numb by Linkin Park got the full Hongjoong treatment and was even reported on by Rolling Stone, quote:

The cover began trending on social media and YouTube within hours of its release, but the true prize came a day later when it caught the attention of Linkin Park themselves. The rock band’s official Twitter account ‘liked’ the post on ATEEZ’s page, with co-founder and vocalist Mike Shinoda confirming on a livestream that he’d seen and enjoyed the cover. As of this writing, Hongjoong’s version of “Numb” has over half a million views on YouTube and has garnered tremendous praise from Linkin Park’s fans.

We get the black eye makeup and nail polish, the plaid half skirt, the dramatic music video with fake fog and red lighting. The rap verse comes in hard, talking about getting mentally weighed down by an abuser and finally breaking free, cutting the ties.

As a long time Linkin Park fan, I love how unique this cover is and Chester would've loved it too I'm sure. I wish he could've seen it.

Fools Garden's Lemon Tree is another classic and I come back to it on the regular because the video has such a unique vibe and the song is famous for getting stuck in your head.

The video features Hongjoong alone in a house surrounded by colorful toys and games, bored out of his mind and visibly seeking a distraction from life but failing to find something, no matter how out of pocket his thinking gets.

Shoutout to the license plate - it's the release date of the song, November 3rd, 1995.

At 1:33, Hongjoong sprints off to the basement which is doused in red and we get a warped version of his signature giggle before the rap verse kicks in. The camera work in this section reminds me a bit of his rap verse in Not Okay.

While down there, he gets more and more deranged, talking about being locked up day by day, imprisoned, losing track of time, but being unable to break out. Instead of trying to escape, he just attempts to distract himself, listening to sad songs on a loop until his pain disappears and his world switches back to yellow.

Busking Event

In 2021, Hongjoong decided to put together a busking event featuring live performances of some covers, plus acoustic versions of some of their songs. Accompanying him were both Ateez and Maddox. You can find the full playlist here:

Collaboration

3 months ago, Chungha made a return to the music scene after escaping her former label and chose Hongjoong as a collaboration partner for her new debut. Beyond his rap verse, she also incorporated a move from Crazy Form in the choreography (she's lovely):

[oswildin]

|| WHEN TIME STANDS STILL [LOKI X READER]

BLURB: When Loki is plucked from his life on the sacred timeline and thrust into the bureaucratic realm of the TVA, he didn't expect this... A one of a kind individual who appears to defy the laws of time, dying only to reappear in another timeline as if nothing had ever happened... With memories of all the times they've lived before. They're an anomaly the TVA can't contain, a ghost in the sacred timeline with secrets buried deep from their countless lives. Well, it's a mystery that the God of Mischief just couldn't resist unravelling... But as he delves deeper into their secrets, he discovers something far more dangerous... Can the infamous trickster truly change?Where will his loyalties lie? Can he trust another complex soul? And can time ever truly stand still for anyone? (TAGS: Eventual romance, reader insert, slight enemies to lovers, angst and comfort, Loki (2020 & 2023), sci-fi, mystery.)

CHAPTER SONG: Changes - David Bowie

WORD COUNT: 8.1K // PAIRING: Loki x GN!Reader //RATING: PG

MASTERPOST

A/N: Chapter One & some of Chapter Two are from the Audience/TVA/Loki’s POV, so are written in third person, using (Y/N). However, it will also be heavily written in second person in the fic, using ‘you’ throughout, especially when we are in the readers POV.

CHAPTER I: “TIME MAY CHANGE ME.”

CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, EARTH, 1972, UNIVERSE-427

“Very superstitious writings on the wall, Very superstitious, ladders 'bout to fall…”

The low hum of a time door sounded through the record store, a rectangular glowing orange portal opening out of thin air as the customers gasped, panicking, quickly rushing away from it. The sound of the crackling speakers was drowned by footsteps, Stevie Wonder’s voice fighting against the commotion.

“Ah, right on time.”

A figure slowly turned, smirking as they held David Bowie’s ‘Changes’ 7 inch record, their eyes meeting a group they had met many times before. The lead hunter on the mission stepped forwards, timestick at the ready as he began to recite the usual dogma. “You are in violation of the sacred timeline, code-“

“Yeah, yeah, yeah-“ The figure sighed, cutting him off as they stepped closer, making the lead hunter, D-11 as it said on his helmet, look warily. “Reset me, baby.” The minutemen paused, exchanging baffled looks, as the figure simply raised a brow, looking between them all expectantly.

SAKAAR, TAYO STAR SYSTEM, DEEP SPACE, 3024, UNIVERSE-2062

“Ladies, Gentlemen and Inbetweens, The Grandmaster!”

Cheers erupted as the extravagantly dressed ruler stood on his podium, a hologram projected of him in the air above the people, allowing everyone to see his hardly aged face. He waved to the masses, basking in the adoration of his people.

“That’s it…” A figure dressed in brightly coloured Sakaarian garb muttered to themselves. “Bask in it now old man. Revolution number god knows how many is on its way soon enough.” They huffed, earning a glance from the blue alien stood beside them.

“There!” A voice suddenly came from nearby, causing the figure to whip round to see a familiar sight… They smirked faintly, turning on their heel to head towards them.

“Finally! I thought you were losing your touch for a moment there. Took you long enough.” The figure called to them. The lead hunter, C-43 stepped forwards, opening her mouth to speak “Save it.” The figure held up a hand, stopping her before she could even utter a word. “I know the routine. Chop chop.”

THE VOID, THE END OF TIME

“121.”

The figure sighed, stepping back from the wall of the underground bunker, tossing the pocket knife they had used to carve another line into the stone to the side as it landed on the rickety wooden desk with a thud.

“Well… Could be worse I guess.” They muttered, a hand moving to their chest. “Although, that one did hurt.” They rubbed the area lightly, turning to look at the empty room. Their shoulders dropped slightly, hand falling back to their side as they took in the silence - save for the distant rumblings of Alioth above. Sighing, they shifted towards the tatty record player - it was holding on for dear life. Crouching, they began to sift through the dusty records, deciding which one to play - which one would starve off the loneliness for a few minutes?

Grabbing one of the vinyls, they slid it from its sleeve, carefully handling it like it was something precious and irreplaceable. Gently, they placed it on the turntable, the small generator they used to power it flaring to life as they moved the needle, the static filling the quiet as the record began to spin.

“Still don't know what I was waiting for, And my time was running wild, a million dead-end streets…”

The figure pushed themselves to stand, wiping their hands on their trousers, eyes watching the vinyl spinning, taking a deep breath.

“Every time I thought I'd got it made, It seemed the taste was not so sweet…”

TIME THEATRE 7, THE TVA, THE PAST

“You know, I’m starting to get a bit of Deja Vu.”

“And I’m starting to get a bit of a headache.”

Agent Mobius let out a huff of amusement, leaning back in his chair as his eyes took in the figure sat opposite him. He was sure it was them. It had to be. He met in a lot of variants, but something about this one…

“It’s strange. We couldn’t get a read of your Temporal Aura.” Mobius continued, tapping the end of his pencil absentmindedly against the file before him. “Meaning we don’t know much about you at all… what timeline you belong to, what path you take, the start and end, what version of you you even are…” The figure shrugged, expression unbothered. “So, why don’t we start with a name?”

“Oh, how polite of you.” The figure quipped. “Find out my name before you erase me. Lovely.” Mobius sighed, simply raising a brow. The figure rolled their eyes. “(Y/N).” They glanced down at themselves, the ill-fitting TVA jumpsuit hanging from their frame, tugging at the material with a disgruntled look.

“There we go.” Mobius smirked. “Now, that wasn’t so hard was it?” He quipped lightly, making a note in the file. “You know… I couldda sworn we’ve met before.”

“Or maybe you’re losing the plot.” The figure quipped dryly in return, making Mobius shake his head, a glint of amusement dancing in his eyes.

“So, have we?” He asked casually, shrugging faintly. “Have we met?” The figure pursed his lips, shifting slightly in their seat as their eyes flickered around the room.

“Yes.” They answered with a sigh. “Yes, we have. And yes, I’m the same person.” Mobius nodded slowly, brows furrowing as his expression turned more serious.

“How?” The question left the agents lips before he could think about it. “You remember it. You’re a variant. We reset you.” He muttered, more to himself than the person sat opposite. The figure couldn’t help but let out a humourless laugh, eyes landing back on the analyst.

“Welcome to my life.”

TIME THEATRE 5, THE TVA, THE PRESENT

“I’m making you an offer. Hear me out, see what you think, and then maybe you can help me, help the TVA figure out our little problem.”

“And let me guess, if I refuse, I’m reset. Erased from existence.”

Loki sat on the steps of the Time Theatre, forearms resting on his knees as he looked up at the agent. His words were defeated almost, not holding much bite now - not after what he had just seen on his file… What was the point? Mobius sighed, pruning device in hand by his side as he shrugged faintly, tilting his head. Loki took a breath, sniffing slightly before pushing himself to his feet, the ill-fitted TVA jumpsuit adorning his form rustling with the movement. The Tesseract remained on the steps near where he had just been sat, the cube powerless, useless in the TVA. Just another paperweight for their collection.

“I’m listening.” Loki finally said, his voice slightly subdued, posture faintly slumped. Mobius’ eyes flickered over the God, moving to place the timestick down on the dark glossy table in the centre of the room with a soft clink as he reached into his jacket, grabbing his trusty TemPad. Loki’s brows furrowed as a holographic image of the sacred timeline appeared in the air between them, taking a few steps closer to get a better look, his pale sharp features illuminated by the blue glow.

“We’ve got a glitch in our system.” Mobius began lowly, his words measured. “Or perhaps a ghost is the better word.” He huffed dryly, eyes flickering back to the hologram. Pressing a button on the Tempad, glowing dots appeared scattered across the timeline, making Loki’s brows furrow further. “Those red dots? They’re what we call irregularities. You see, when we reset a variant or a branch, things return to how they should be, as dictated by the Time Keepers. Like nothing ever happened, order restored.” He continued, looking at Loki through the pulsating hologram, seeing the Trickster’s eyes trailing over the multiple dots. “However, where those dots are, the irregularities… They’re located where the timeline has branched in the past, leaving a… Residual energy of sorts. Ripples in the fabric of time, left behind from something… Or someone.” Despite himself, Loki’s interest peaked. Mobius held back a smirk, knowing that his words would get his attention. With another press of a button, the hologram changed, the pixels shifting to make up a new image… then another. And another… And another– Multiple images of the same person appeared, each one’s appearance ever so slightly different, like a shorter or longer hair cut or an outfit from a different time, but definitely the same person... “This is who’s haunting us.”

“And what makes this variant upsetting the TVA so special? What makes them so different?” Loki questioned, eyes narrowing. Mobius’ lips twitched faintly.

“Well…” Mobius sighed. “Let me explain— You see variants traditionally have different temporal aura’s, there’s a way to categorise them, to identify which timeline they came from when we bring them in. Like we know you are from Earth-616, we know what events you would’ve faced on the sacred timeline.” He explained, nodding towards where the projection of Loki’s file had played out not long ago. Loki’s jaw tightened for a second, the painful reminder of his file flashing through his mind. “Whereas this individual… We can’t seem to quite pinpoint anything except the basics like species and appearance, and we can only use what we can get a read on when we arrive at the branched timeline to reset it.” Loki remained silent for a moment, processing this new information. It was… Intriguing, to say the least. Whoever this variant was… They indeed did seem to be a ghost of sorts.

“But, what we do know…” Mobius continued, arching a brow, the hologram zoning in on one of the images, the others all disappearing as it revealed a variant processing image of the individual, dressed in the TVA Variant jumpsuit… Their most recent capture of this individual. Dark circles around their eyes, but a glint to them that screamed ‘chaos’. Their expression was hardened, clearly having lived through a lot… “Is that no matter how many times we prune them… They come back. The exact same person. Not a variant of the same being. It seems… there’s only one of them on the whole of the sacred timeline. No variants. Just them.” Loki’s eyes widened faintly, taking another small step closer to the image before him, his eyes flickering over it curiously. “And when they’re spat back out into the universe… They remember everything.” Mobius said quietly, the gravity of the situation evident. “Every life, every death… Every bit of information they learn about the TVA with every resetting… They remember it all.”

“And that makes them a threat.” Loki slowly spoke, realisation dawning that this individual could be dangerous. Although, a part of him found such a thing enticing, tempting… Perhaps this ‘ghost’ could be useful…

“Exactly.” Mobius nodded, closing the screen cover on his Tempad, the click echoing quietly through the large room as the image disappeared, leaving nothing between them but air. “So… You interested?”

A moment of silent passed, before Loki straightened, his earlier woes seemingly disappearing as he redirected his focus onto this tantalising opportunity. His demeanour shifted, an almost predatory smile spreading across his face.

“Where do we start?”

THE TVA WORKROOM, THE ANALYSTS DEPARTMENT

“And now you know all about the TVA and our work here! Remember folks, tidy timeline, tidy mind! Take care, ya’ll!”

Loki rolled his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time, flicking through the magazine in his hand, features utterly disinterested and his posture relaxed, almost lounging. When he asked ‘where do we start’, he hadn’t expected to be sat for hours listening to a southern cartoon clock drone on about the intricacies of the TVA and its mission. Long gone was the frumpy TVA jumpsuit, now he was dressed more appropriately for a man of his stature, his elegance; a pressed white button down shirt, coffee coloured tie and slacks and polished black dress shoes. It was hardly garb fitting a King, but… It would do.

“Is that my jet ski maga- You know what, doesn’t matter, put it down and take a look at this.”

The light thud of the magazine being quickly discarded sounded, slender fingers reaching for the offered brown folder from Mobius with an eagerness that betrayed just how utterly bored the God of Mischief had been whilst sat digesting the TVA’s dogma - or as he had grumbled, ‘utter bureaucratic, fantastical nonsense’. Loki’s keen eyes flickered over the cover, wasting no time before flicking the folder open to reveal the contents inside. His eyes landed on the first page, a case briefing document.

“Variant X0000…” Loki murmured lowly, intrigue clear in his voice, his brows ever so slightly creasing together.

“Yeah, we had to create a whole new ID system for this one.” Mobius sighed, placing his hands on his hips as he looked down at the prince, who looked anything but princely in his TVA attire - in fact, he looked quite… ordinary. Although, the arrogance of a Prince still remained.

“And what do your precious Time Keepers think about that?” Loki questioned dryly, not bothering to look up as his eyes flickered over the information before him. It wasn’t much, but it gave him a vague idea of just how out of their depth the TVA was with this particular case. “Surely the all-seeing, all-powerful, uptight time dictators would bristle at such a notion - their agents shaking things up with a new filing system.” Mobius let out a slow breath, raising a brow, tilting his head as a faint flicker of amusement danced in his eyes.

“I think they have more important matters like protecting the sacred timeline and ensuring time doesn’t implode to worry about it.” Mobius quipped, finally shifting to grab one of the nearby office chairs from the desk beside his own, rolling it over.

“And… I don’t suppose those are your footnotes?” Loki raised a brow, a glint of amusement in his eyes as his lips flickered upwards faintly at the scribbles on the paper, especially when it came to their ‘Variant Name’ which was listed as ‘Unknown’ by the TVA, yet this individual had scribbled it out and put ‘(Y/N)’ in capital letters. Mobius let out a wry huff, shaking his head.

“No, they are not.” He mumbled. “They were quite insistent they ‘amended’ their file.”

“Deja Vu.” Loki read quietly from the ‘alias’ section of the document, more to himself than to the analyst who lowered himself into his seat with a quiet grunt. There was another annotation there, a disgruntled scribbled ‘REALLY???’ beside it.

“Oh, that-” Mobius’ lips tugged upwards for a second. “That may have been my doing. Started as a joke, and then it just sort of… stuck, I guess.” Loki finally glanced up from the file, arching his brow in a silent question, expecting Mobius to elaborate. “Well, you know what Deja Vu is.” Mobius shrugged lightly. “And the way this variant keeps reappearing, the same routine over and over despite how many times we prune ‘em, you can imagine it feels similarly to Deja Vu: ‘Wait a minute, haven’t we done this before?’”

“Right.” Loki said slowly, brows lifting, chin lowering. “So, you gave the TVA’s number one troublemaker a nickname?” Mobius pursed his lips, giving the God a look of exasperation as Loki huffed out a short breathy sound of dry amusement. “And now you’re working with another renowned troublemaker to solve the mystery?”

“Yeah- alright, what can I say?” Mobius sighed, leaning back in his chair, the metal creaking lightly with the movement. “Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that.”

“Desperate?” Loki repeated the word, nose scrunching, indignance in his tone. “Charming.” He muttered, blue eyes once again turning back to the file in his hand. “And I assume ‘The Anomaly’ is the TVA’s less affectionate sounding nickname for them? Very inspiring.” He added sarcastically.

“I didn’t realise we had the nickname police in the building today.” The analyst commented, his tone matching Loki’s. “Let’s just focus, yeah?”

Silence fell between them both, Loki letting out a heavy breath before doing as he was told - focusing. Discarding the first document onto the desk before him, Loki’s eyes narrowed as they landed on what appeared to be a Temporal Aura reading, his nimble fingers grasping the polaroid, lifting it slightly. Blank. It was blank. Well, except for the solid, vivid violet hue that meant nothing to him. He heard Mobius shift beside him, reaching for another folder on his desk - seemingly another variants’ case file. Loki’s gaze followed the man, watching him open the file as he retrieved a polaroid, holding it up so Loki could see.

“This is what a typical reading looks like.” Mobius explained. “Multiple colours, a little bit like a thermal image.” Loki nodded briefly. “Yet, every time we’ve arrested this variant… We get this.” He pointed a finger towards the polaroid still in Loki’s hand. “Remember what I said earlier? About how we couldn’t pinpoint this variant? Now, we’ve got our theories-” Mobius added lowly, placing the reading down onto the desk.

“Are they good or idiotic?” Loki asked, his tone holding a mocking edge. Choosing to ignore it, Mobius continued.

“The one I lean towards is that because this lone variant has seemingly shifted timelines, shifted universes, whilst, yes, maintaining the same memories, the same soul every time they are… ‘reincarnated’ so to speak–” Mobius took a breath. “The Temporal Aura reader isn’t equipped to process that sort of information. It’s.. confused. It spits this out-” He taps a finger on the polaroid in Loki’s fingers. “Because it doesn’t know how to categorise them. It can’t pin what variant this is. Because they aren’t technically a variant. It’s like… There’s an overload of Temporal energy. A being with a consciousness, a soul, that has hopped so many timelines, remembering all the lives they’ve lived… It’s never happened before.”

Loki’s features were thoughtful as Mobius spoke. He had to admit, much of it would’ve gone over his head had it not been for the infuriatingly irritating training videos he had been forced to watch to prepare for the case. Of course, he wouldn’t actually audibly admit that, no. Humming briefly, Loki placed the polaroid down finally, leaning back in his seat, the folder resting on his lap. His hand lifted, fingers rubbing lightly at his chin as he thought over Mobius’ words, remembering bits of information from the videos as well as processing what lay before him.

“I’m starting to believe that perhaps the TVA’s uninspired nickname for them may be rather astute. ‘The Anomaly’…” Loki muttered with a faint note of humour, making Mobius’ lips curl upwards faintly in an amused smirk. “But what I don’t understand is… Why me?” The Prince’s blue eyes flickered to Mobius, searching his gaze skeptically. “What makes you think that I-” He pressed a hand to his chest lightly to emphasise his words. “-can even begin to unravel this little mystery?” His question was half genuine and half probing, classically Loki. He knew there was more going on, more at play here… Mobius had taken a risk, preventing him from being reset and asking for his help, and truthfully, the God wasn’t keeping his options narrow. His mind was constantly turning, constantly trying to figure out his next move, the possible outcome of this… endeavour. A possible throne… “Truly, I’m flattered,” He added wryly. “But my speciality is tricks and illusions, with a splash of dramatic flair and a tendency for betrayal, so…” He smirked, leaning ever so slightly closer to the agent beside him. “Why me?”

His question hung in the air between them, Mobius seemingly taking his time to answer. The grey haired analyst shifted slightly in his seat, taking a sharp breath before shrugging. “Why not you?” He paused. “Look Loki, I admit, this is a shot in the dark.” Another pause. “Like I said, desperate times. But you’re resourceful, clever-”

“Obviously.”

“-and have knowledge on things like magic. Perhaps there’s something we’re missing. Something less… Sciency and something more… Ancient.” Loki raised his chin faintly, leaning back slowly as he appraised Mobius. Interesting.

“You think there’s magic at play?” Loki asked, curious.

“Well, when the science doesn’t add up…” Mobius trailed off, tilting his head. “We’ve gotta look at it from a different angle, a new perspective.”

“Hm.” Loki’s lips twitched upwards again, eyes lowering to the document he’d placed earlier on the desk, his sharp eyes honing in on the mugshot style photograph of this ‘anomaly’. It was the same image that Mobius had shown him before. There was a defiant glint in their eyes, one that he wouldn’t have quite expected considering the circumstances they had found themselves in. Being ‘reset’, dying over and over again, only to appear alive somewhere else as if they had never been harmed or erased from existence in the first place… He couldn’t imagine such a life. Well, not to the extent this variant could. A close call with death once was enough for him. But them… They faced it time and time again. He wondered if they even feared death anymore, or whether it became just as normal and ordinary as making oneself a cup of coffee in the morning. But he could see it… The exhaustion. Not necessarily physical, but mental… Emotional. He recognised that look.

Looking at the whole picture, they were unassuming - hardly someone he would deem a threat to the TVA, to the so-called sacred timeline… However, he knew looks could be deceiving. He wondered how old they truly were… Possibly older than he was. He knew Mobius was relying on his affinity for mystery, for his curiosity, his need to problem solve and prove that he was capable… However, he was also capable of being slippery, unpredictable and cunning… ‘(Y/N)’... He read, mentally filing that bit of information. No last name, seemingly self chosen. Slowly a grin appeared on his lips as he leaned forwards to pick up the document from the desk, his voice low and silky as he spoke:

“A new perspective indeed.”

“You lost him again!?”

“I didn’t lose him- I just… don’t know where he is!”

“You left him on his own, without supervision-”

“In the Archives! Doing research for the case! It wasn’t like I gave him the keys to-”

Mobius paused, B-15’s brows pinching as she slowed her own steps, looking back at the agent as he patted the outside of his jacket. B-15 took a deep breath, irritation and frustration evident in her features as Mobius sighed. “Damn it.” He muttered, realising that the Trickster God had swiped his TemPad at some point. “Mischievous scamp.” He shook his head, B-15 grabbing her own TemPad, prepared to ready the troops, but Mobius quickly lifted a hand. “Wait, wait- If he had left the TVA, we would know by now. So that means he’s still here.”

“And that’s better because…?!” B-15 snapped, raising a brow.

“Because I have a feeling I know where he is.”

TIME THEATRE 1, THE TVA

Loki’s polished shoes clicked against the glossy floor of Time Theatre 1, the room eerily quiet, the illusion of no life within… Frowning slightly, his eyes flickered around the room. ‘This is the room… But… Where are they…?’ It was then his attentive gaze landed on a thin crevice in the grey wall to his right, alluding to it being a discreet door… Or a holding cell of some kind. A holding cell within a holding cell… ‘How dramatic.’ He huffed, shaking his head at the overly cautious nature of it all. Slowly, he approached, lifting Mobius’ TemPad in his hand, eyes scanning the screen as he tried to figure out its mechanics, how to open the mysterious doors. After a few moments of pressing random buttons, finally, the sound of metal unlocking and sliding filled the space. Loki’s lips tugged into a triumphant smirk, pleased with himself. ‘Let’s see what you’re made of.’

A red glow emanated as the doors opened, revealing a tiny holding cell with only a bench inside. The red glow belonged to a barrier, an extra layer of precaution against the threat it held within… A threat that… Looked utterly unthreatening. They sat leisurely, as if they were unfazed by the fact they were currently locked in a cell, their fate hanging in the balance. The TVA jumpsuit they adorned was baggy, ill-fitting, just as Loki’s had been when he first arrived - although, he’d gone up in the TVA world since then… Minus the hideous and frankly insulting ‘VARIANT’ windbreaker he was now forced to wear. However, what he hadn’t expected was the person to let out an almost exasperated groan, the barrier continuing to flicker between them.

“Great.” They muttered, their tone flat. “As if my day couldn’t get any worse.” It was spoken as if they knew who he was… Curious.

“A pleasure to meet you too.” Loki quipped dryly, tucking the TemPad into his inside jacket pocket, taking a step closer as his hands shifted behind his back, clasping his fingers together. “I take it, you know who I am?” The individual, (Y/N) as he recalled, pursed their lips, giving him a rather unimpressed look.

“I’ve been through more timelines than I can count and you think I don’t know who you are?” They huffed, eyeing him. “Go to the Void, throw a stone, and you’re likely to hit a Loki.” The God’s brows twitched.

“The Void?” He questioned as they immediately rolled their eyes, pushing themselves to stand. Loki’s gaze followed them, having to hold back an amused smirk at the rather unimpressive stature of the individual behind the barrier. They were hardly a warrior… Nor did they look like a fighter. ‘All of this… For them? And yet, I was left alone. Twice. The cheek of it.’

“Although, working for the TVA?” Their eyes reflected the red hue of the barrier as their gaze trailed over him, skepticism in their features, ignoring his question. “Now, that’s new. And rather cowardly.” Loki’s amusement quickly vanished, his jaw tightening. “But then, you always were a coward really. Avoidant. That’s what you are. Your personality type, hell, even your attachment style - just in case you were wondering.” Loki took a deep breath, fixing a tight smile on his lips, tilting his head as he regarded them. “Read it in a magazine once.”

“Fascinating.” He droned. He had gone through enough psychoanalysing from a stranger for one day. “You’re rather brazen.” He murmured, before his tone shifted, taking on a darker edge. “And foolish to mock me.” His chin tipped downwards, eyes narrowing into something far more menacing as (Y/N) simply arched a brow, their own eyes flickering to the side, as if glancing at someone that wasn’t there.

“Who said I was mocking you?” They asked bemused. “No, it was more of an… observation from the multiple times I’ve run into you.” They paused. “Which, by the way, the last time I bumped into one of your variants, he literally stabbed me in the back so…” They let out a breath, shrugging. Loki’s irritation faltered for a moment, his neck straightening.

“I’d never stab anyone in the back, it’s a boring form of betrayal.” He commented, unclasping his hands from behind his back, letting them fall to his sides. (Y/N) let out a huff of amusement.

“Whatever you say.” They muttered, turning slightly as they began to pace along the barrier of their cell. “I’m going to assume your little visit here wasn’t authorised.” They continued.

“You assume correctly.” He shifted on his feet, his hands sliding into his trouser pockets as his keen eyes followed their movements.

“And I also assume they’ve filled you in on my…” They paused, glancing back at him. “Problem.” Loki nodded curtly. “And if my gut is working correctly, it’s telling me that the TVA thinks that you can help ‘figure me out’?” Their tone was disbelieving, scepticism still evident.

“I’m quite good at figuring things and people out.” Loki’s smirk returned, oozing arrogance. “And I must admit, your situation is… unique.” He took another step closer to the barrier, his voice lowering. (Y/N) paused their pacing, folding their arms over their chest as they turned to face him properly. “Reincarnation, but not quite.” Their lips pursed, remaining silent. “A cosmic anomaly… A one of a kind…”

“Alright, I get it.” They sighed, rolling their eyes.

“Do you?” (Y/N) blinked at his question, shaking their head ever so faintly in silent confusion. “You leave imprints on the sacred timeline, ripples in time… Imagine what you could do to this place…” His smirk widened, his looming figure mere inches from the barrier between them. “I theorise… that you, little anomaly… could burn this place to the ground…” The air felt tense, uncertain… Loki’s words lingered between them as he held their gaze, seeing the flicker of recognition in their eyes, the realisation that he could be right. “And maybe… Maybe without the TVA protecting their precious Time Keepers, you could figure out exactly what you are.” He continued, voice barely above a whisper, almost tempting, conspiratorial. “And I could get what I am owed.”

“Loki!”

The God straightened, taking a large step back away from the barrier as the doors to the time theatre swung open, rushed footsteps entering as Loki quickly fixed himself with a placating smile, turning to look at Mobius and B-15. B-15 gripped her timestick tightly, ready to strike at any moment, whilst Mobius looked disapprovingly at Loki.

“Ah, Mobius, B-15… How nice of you to join us.” Loki mused, his voice light and charming, as if he hadn’t just been scheming.

“Out.” Mobius said through gritted teeth. Loki stayed put. “Now, Loki!” The analyst raised his voice, frustrated. Loki’s smile faltered briefly, but he did what he was told. Glancing one last time at (Y/N), he moved towards the exit, only stopping when Mobius held out his hand. “TemPad.” Loki sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes as he begrudgingly reached into his windbreaker, grabbing the device and handing it back to Mobius before continuing on his way. B-15 and Mobius exchanged a look, before their gazes drifted to (Y/N), who was now smirking in amusement. Saying nothing, they lifted their hand, waving mockingly, making B-15’s jaw tighten before the hunter whipped round to Mobius.

“If this happens again, I’m informing Renslayer.” B-15 muttered lowly, warning as her eyes flickered back to (Y/N), using her own TemPad to reseal the cell doors once again, the metallic sound of the doors sliding shut echoing through the room. Turning on her heel, she left Mobius alone, marching out of the room as the agent let out a somewhat relieved sigh.

“Damn, Trickster.”

“Do you have a death wish?!”

“Oh Mobius! Stop being so dramatic-“

“I’m serious, Loki!” Mobius hissed, stood outside of the Time Theatre, a few minutemen glancing their direction due to the analysts' clear anger. Loki took a deep breath, sliding his hands into his trouser pockets as he fought to bite his tongue. “I’m already putting my neck on the line trusting you-“ Biting his tongue didn’t last long.

“That was your first mistake-“ Loki interrupted, but Mobius ignored him.

“I can’t have you fraternising with the time criminal!”

“Incase you’ve forgotten, technically I am also a time criminal-“

“Shut up!” Loki blinked, taken back at the man’s snappy tone, his lips pressing into a thin line. He felt like a child being scolded, it was irritating - and a little embarrassing. Mobius cleared his throat, glancing at a pair of minutemen walking past as he gave a small nod, trying to appear as if everything was fine and dandy. Once they’d passed, Mobius stepped closer to the God of Mischief, the hallway quiet.

“I thought that some part of you would relish in managing to solve a case before us. To prove you’re as clever as you know you are.” Mobius said lowly, finger pointed towards Loki’s chest, his eyes searching. “And perhaps some part of me that sees a scared little boy left in the cold also felt sorry for you, wanted to give you the chance to prove yourself. Not to me, but to yourself.” Loki’s lips parted, a flicker of guilt creeping up on him as he averted his gaze, looking down. However, he quickly pushed that feeling aside.

“I don’t need your pity.” Loki mumbled defensively.

“Good, because I’m running out of it.” Mobius shook his head, turning on his heel to continue down the hall. “One more strike left, Loki.” He warned, not bothering to look back as the God let out a slow breath, eyes narrowing as they flickered back to the Time Theatre door. After a second, he moved after Mobius, his long strides quickly catching up.

THE BREAK ROOM, THE TVA

“Let me talk to them-“

“No!”

“Oh, come on!”

“Loki, you’ve already been in there with them alone-“

“Yes, and we’ve now got the pleasantries out of the way-“

“And you could’ve said anything to them-“

“You asked for my help. Let me help.”

Mobius sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his seat. They sat in the canteen, the room quiet save for the slight noise from passing vehicles outside the large window and the clatter and clinking of cutlery and ceramic. It was rather drab, truth be told, considering it was supposed to invoke a feeling of relaxation - well, the Time Keepers definition anyway.

“I know that what I did earlier was wrong, I get that. I shouldn’t have gone behind your back-“ Loki leaned forwards in his seat, his expression slightly less guarded as he tried to appeal to Mobius’ more forgiving nature. “But I needed to plant the seed.”

“The seed?” Mobius repeated, blinking as he raised a brow, his hand falling from his face. “What- What seed?”

“Well, I imagine the TVA’s number one problem is hardly fond of you all after the amount of times you’ve pruned them.” He tilted his head faintly. “Over 200 times and they remember every one? I’m surprised this place hasn’t already been decimated.”

“The point, Loki?” Mobius sighed, exasperated.

“Right, yes-“ Loki nodded, straightening in his seat, hands resting on the table between them. “The seed I planted is the good old fashioned ‘an enemy of an enemy is a friend’.” He smirked. “I made an offer of sorts. Something for them to think over whilst they’re stuck in that… charming cell of theirs.” Mobius groaned quietly, lifting his hands in a shrug as he glanced away. “What? I thought it was a good idea!” Loki exclaimed, frowning, making a few other workers trying to enjoy their lunches look their way.

“And how do I know you’re not pulling a good old fashioned ‘you can trust me, I told you what I got up to’. A double bluff?” He countered. “You tell me about the offer to gain my trust and then behind my back you actually go through with it, ultimately betraying both of us in the end— A triple bluff even!” Loki’s lips parted in mock offence, scoffing as he leaned against the back of his chair, arms spreading slightly.

“I would never do that!” Loki exclaimed, his voice higher than usual.

“Loki, I know your whole life, I’ve studied it, you have literally done that multiple times.” Mobius raised a brow, although there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes. Loki paused, eyes drifting to the side for a moment before he shrugged.

“I’ll never do it again!”

Mobius couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking his head as he reached for his coffee mug, the Trickster leaning forwards once again, arms resting on the table. “Look, you can watch or listen in. You can be at the ready right outside the doors-“ Loki continued, his tone persuasive. “But you asked me for my help. And I know how it feels to feel lost…” His voice shifted, a more sincere tone appearing as it turned quieter. “Displaced. Unsure of who I am…” He cleared his throat softly, eyes flickering away as Mobius’ brows creased in thought. “And I can see it in them. Maybe I can appeal to their… sentimentalities. Learn more. Gather more information that could possibly help us.” He paused. “I’m an outsider here. They won’t talk to you or anyone else here because of the past. But maybe, they will talk to me.”

Mobius pursed his lips, folding his arms over his chest as he held the God’s gaze, trying to assess if he was manipulating him, trying to control the situation… But Mobius also knew he was right. Loki was their best chance of finding out more…

TIME THEATRE 1, THE TVA

“Don’t try anything.”

“What? Or you’ll prune me?”

The corner of Loki’s lips tugged upwards, his hand lifting from beneath the table to reveal the Time Displacement Collar’s remote, watching as (Y/N) narrowed their eyes, folding their arms over their chest as they leaned back against their chair. He had to admit, it was ironic… How not long ago it was him sitting in the interrogation seat, Mobius questioning him…

“‘Heel, boy’.” They mocked lowly. “‘Fetch, boy’.” They huffed, shaking their head in disbelief. Loki chose to ignore those comments, lowering his hand, keeping the remote safely in his hold. “Do they give you treats for being so obedient?”

“Oh, I don’t need treats.” Loki’s smirk remained. “Just the assurance that I get to keep my life.” He paused. “Something that you can’t even bargain with, can you? Your life.” He raised a brow, observing them from across the table, the time theatre silent save for their voices. He watched as their jaw tightened. “Because they know that it’s nothing to you, right? You die and then you just… wake up somewhere else. Reborn.” The mocking edge to this voice was enough to make (Y/N) lunge forwards, their hands slamming on the table top. Loki was quick, pressing the reverse button as they found themselves sitting back in their seat, a heavy breath leaving them. Time displacement… That sensation never got easier. “Now, now… Let’s be civilised.” Loki’s tone mocked lightly.

“My life matters.” (Y/N) said through gritted teeth. “At least I don’t have to stoop so low, be so desperate as to use my life as a bargaining chip.”

“Maybe not. But you do know desperation, don’t you?” Loki asked, his voice taking on a deceptively softer tone. “Rather intimately, I’d say.” Silence fell between them as (Y/N)’s gaze flickered away, their posture tense, rigid even. “Desperation is born from fear, the unknown…” Loki continued evenly. “And your whole existence… it’s shrouded in mystery.”

“What is this?” They hissed. “An attempt at interrogating me?” They asked incredulously, shaking their head, shifting in their seat to lean forwards, their sharp eyes narrowing. “What game are you playing?”

“The game of survival.” The God answered simply. “One you seem to know quite well.” Sighing slightly, he uncurled his fingers from around the remote, making a show of putting it on the table in front of him slowly. ‘Trust is earned’. “You said you’ve met variants of mine… Then you know that it’s also a game I know quite well too.” ‘Find a common ground’. “And one that the Time Keepers have decided I lose every time.” His lips quirked into a brief humourless smile. “I suppose that’s the truth of it though, the core of the problem…” He paused, tilting his head, eyes fixed on hers. “It seems we were both destined to lose.”

“Speak for yourself.” (Y/N) muttered under their breath, shifting again in their seat as Loki’s fingers twitched, as if readying himself to grab the remote. “Oh, relax.” They sighed. “I’m just getting comfortable for this little…” They furrowed their brows, gesturing between them faintly. “Singing songs around the campfire moment.” Loki let out a breathy chuckle, nodding slowly, relaxing his own posture, but the sharp glint in his eye remained. “I’ll consider this the first official meeting of ‘the losers’ club.”

“Perhaps Mobius could make us some badges.” He added, watching as a reluctant smirk of amusement appeared on their lips as they settled in their seat more comfortably.

“I request tea and biscuits at the next meeting.” They huffed, looking at the empty table surface between them. “Talking business on an empty stomach is always unwise.”

“So, we’re talking business are we?” Loki asked lightly. “Excellent.” He took a breath, slowly leaning back in his seat, his jacket rustling softly. “First rule of ‘losers club’ is we don’t talk about losers club.”

“Ah, okay so, why is your resident TVA handler standing outside of those doors listening in?” (Y/N) asked lightly, Loki’s smirk faltering slightly. “This isn’t my first rodeo, remember?” Their gaze lifted, flickering towards a surveillance camera in the corner of the room, looking down at them. Loki’s gaze followed theirs, spotting the tiny red light, signalling indeed they were being watched and listened in on.

“Okay, fine.” Loki sighed, turning his attention back to them. “Let’s skip the rapport building and get to the meat of it.” His earlier lighter tone shifted, dipping lower. “What do you know about your… abilities?” (Y/N) pursed their lips, folding their arms once more as they gave a half shrug.

“Same amount as you I imagine.” They informed him. “I die in one timeline, I reappear in another.” They raised their brows, holding his gaze unwaveringly. Loki remained silent for a moment, narrowing his eyes faintly, calculating.

“And what about when you’re pruned by the TVA?” (Y/N) tensed faintly. Loki noticed - of course he noticed. “The TVA claims they can erase variants from existence, entire branches… I mean, it’s quite the claim… And quite the incentive to keep workers and variants alike in line, don't you think? I am a cynic afterall, I question everything.” Still, they remained silent. Loki’s smirk ever so slightly returned to his lips, leaning forwards in his seat once more as his hands clasped together, resting on the table top before him. “Fear is a powerful tool, take it from someone who has been on both sides of it.” His voice lowered, a knowing look to his eyes. “And fear can be found in truth… And lies.”

(Y/N) raised their chin slightly, eyes finally averting from his intense gaze. Their expression remained neutral, a poker face to the average joe… But Loki was smarter than that, and far more perceptive. “What’s ‘The Void’?” That question caused their eyes to snap back to his. How much did they want to reveal? Did they want to? The Void was their secret. (Y/N) mentally cursed themselves for even mentioning it before, but hey… They were only human. “Come on… It sounds thrilling.” Loki’s voice shifted again, his tone turning more persuasive, smooth as silk. “Help me… to help you.” (Y/N)’s eyes searched his, watching his smirk grow, almost as if he was silently telling them to trust him, to indulge in his question… “I think you are… owed answers, don’t you?” His words were careful, calling back to their first brief conversation, his offer… Was he truly planning to go through with his scheme? To take down the TVA? To work with them? “Unless you wish to burn this bridge before it could even be built?” Oh, he was. (Y/N) unfolded their arms slowly, leaning forward to mirror his own stance, fingers intertwining on the table before them.

“Building bridges takes teamwork. Trust.” They uttered lowly. “Something I’ve learnt not to freely give. Especially not to a Loki.” That made the God let out a short humourless laugh.

“Yes. Very wise.” He said curtly. “But it appears to me like you’re rather limited on your options.” A pause. “Help me help you, help me help the TVA figure you out…” His eyes flickered over to the camera quickly, putting on a show of loyalty for the agent watching outside. “And then maybe, we can stop you from being killed time and time again and spat back out into the universe like a metaphorical piece of temporal gum, hm?” He mused, eyes returning to theirs. After a moment of the pair seemingly sizing one another up, trying to spot the cracks in the others composure, Loki spoke again, his voice softening. “I imagine it’s a rather lonely existence.” It held a note of understanding, of sincerity. ‘Pinpoint their weakness’. “You’re dragging your roots across time, and despite knowing the truth, there’s a part of you that can’t help but wonder: ‘maybe this time I’ll remain, I’ll be able to dig my roots into the soil.’” (Y/N) blinked a few times, quick, giving away just how Loki’s words were affecting them - hitting the nail on the head. Their breaths quickened faintly, lips twitching downwards slightly. “You’re yearning for stability.”

Finally, they looked away, unclasping their fingers, palms moving to lay flat on the cool surface, as if to ground themselves. ‘Bingo’. Loki’s expression turned somber, empathetic. “Tell me…” He murmured, tone soothing. (Y/N) took a deep breath, clearing their throat softly, shaking their head.

“The Void… It’s…” They whispered, looking at him again, leaning closer towards him over the table, the Trickster following suit. “It’s… My way out.”

Before Loki could even process what was happening, (Y/N) lunged, swiping the remote from the table as they pushed themselves to stand, their chair scraping across the glossy floor with a screech. Loki’s eyes widened, realisation smacking him in the face that he had just been outwitted. He rushed to his feet, his own chair falling back, tipping over as it clattered to the floor. But it was too late, the beep of the remote sounded through the room, the collar from around (Y/N)’s neck falling to the ground. Suddenly, the doors to the Time Theatre opened, commotion following as footsteps rushed into the room.

“Stop!” B-15’s sharp tone reverberated around the space, making Loki scowl, gritting his teeth. The all too familiar sound of the timestick reached his ears, his glare fixed on the person who had just foiled his meticulous scheme.

“Loki!” Mobius’ voice quickly followed, the grey haired analyst rushing in, two more minutemen following. “Deja stand down!” He barked, although there was a pleading undertone to his voice. (Y/N)’s earlier emotional expression was nowhere to be seen, a proud smirk on their lips as they tossed the small remote aside carelessly.

“Oops.” They mocked. “And the name’s (Y/N).”

“X0000, stay where you are!” B-15 ordered, raising her timestick in warning as the two minutemen moved closer to the variant, footsteps either side of her. (Y/N)’s eyes dropped to the closer ones belt, seeing their timestick on their side. Loki’s eyes watched everything closely, analysing and studying every minute expression and movement. When the minuteman got close enough, (Y/N) wasted no time, lifting their foot to kick the woman in the shin. Loki’s hand lifted, preparing to summon his magic– ‘Oh… right.’ Loki growled under his breath.

“I bet you wish I had my magic now!” He snapped, glaring at B-15 as she marched past him, her boots thudding on the floor. (Y/N) sent an elbow to the gut to the other minuteman who tried to stop them, causing the man to stumble back. (Y/N)’s movements were untrained, clearly, however, they were determined - and working. Their fingers grasped the timestick, freeing it from the minuteman’s utility belt before swiping it at the woman, the baton hitting her side, causing her too to stumble back. Just before B-15 could get any closer, (Y/N) activated the timestick, the hum of its power reaching their ears as everyone froze. The air was tense, her breaths heavy, a wild look in their eyes as they flickered over everyone. “What are you going to do now, hm?” Loki asked, his voice bellowing, holding his irritation. “Prune all of us? Take down the TVA alone?” He taunted, tone mocking.

“Not yet.” (Y/N) said lowly, the threat clear in their voice. “‘Live and let die’.” However, what none of them expected was how they swiftly turned the timestick around, the dangerous golden glow now aimed toward themselves. Loki’s brows rose, lips parting in complete disbelief.

“Wait!” Loki exclaimed just as (Y/N) pressed the pruning device to their own chest. Loki watched in half horror and half intrigue as their form erupted in a golden light, creeping outwards from their chest as their face contorted in pain. B-15 took a step back, her timestick dropping to her side as she watched in disbelief, her eyes looking back at Mobius, who wore a similar expression, mixed with discomfort. And then… The timestick that (Y/N) held clattered to the ground, breaking the tense silence for a moment as everyone stood motionless, processing what they had just witnessed.

They were gone. Again.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Larry Diamond at The UnPopulist:

Since my last essay on the crisis of democracy, the assaults on democratic checks and balances have escalated. Without agreement from Congress, Trump’s DOGE shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development with stunning speed. Although a federal court blocked further implementation, ruling that the action “likely violated the Constitution,” by then the agency had already been gutted and largely dismantled along with many other agencies. Then, in an alarming politicization of the military high command, Trump fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, and the judge advocates general (the highest-ranking legal authorities) for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Pressing his claim to imperial power, Trump has moved to assert absolute control over all federal regulatory bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission. This not only hobbles their capacity to act independently in the public interest but opens the door to massive corruption. As DOGE seizes control of more and more of the government’s most sensitive and highly centralized stores of data, the conflicts of interest proliferate for its chief “overseer,” Elon Musk, who over the years has received “at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits.” And Just Security has documented an “alarming” pattern of “politicization and weaponization of the Department of Justice” since Trump has retaken office.

Democracy in Danger

The United States now faces the grave and imminent danger of its democracy decaying into a “competitive authoritarianism” in which multiparty elections still hold but are no longer free and fair. Under such a system, here’s what we can expect to follow:

The opposition wins seats in Congress and some city and state governments—but at the national level, a domineering leader and ruling party assert monolithic control over government, in a grip that cannot be broken by any normal means.

Regulatory agencies are stripped of their independence.

The legislative branch becomes a rubber stamp.

The courts are pressured, defied, and eventually brought to heel.

The civil service and the military are purged of non-loyalists and converted into instruments of the “elected” leader and his party.

The media are pressured and sued into passivity and subservience.

Business is lured into backing the authoritarian project with the promise of huge financial windfalls (and crippling punishment for defection).

Universities are threatened with financial ruin if they resist or protest.

Think tanks and philanthropies are threatened with loss of their tax-exempt status and even prosecution if they speak up.

Prominent critics and opposition voices, including former officeholders, fall silent for fear of retribution.

Democracy dies, to use T.S. Eliot’s famous phrase from The Hollow Men, “not with a bang but with a whimper.” This is the pathway by which democracy has died, at varying speeds, in Venezuela, Turkey, Hungary, Serbia, and several other countries. It is the trajectory that India has been on under Narendra Modi, Slovakia under Robert Fico, and Poland under the Law and Justice Party, until it was defeated in national elections in October 2023. If this slide away from democracy is to be averted, we must learn the lessons of other countries.

The first lesson, as a prominent Ukrainian democrat said to me, is, “The path from democracy is much shorter than the path to it.” Assaults on democracy often gain momentum more rapidly than supporters of democracy can imagine in their glib self-confidence that “it can’t happen here.” Thus, early action is crucial. The earlier that countervailing pressure is mobilized, the more likely it is to succeed. Second, principled resistance must be mounted within the executive branch to defend constitutional norms and the rule of law. Third, checks and balances must be activated early on by Congress, the judiciary, and regulatory institutions to counter creeping authoritarianism and defend constitutional guardrails. Fourth, a smart political strategy, with effective messaging and a broad coalition, is needed to oppose authoritarian drift and ultimately to effect the surest means of halting authoritarian creep—defeating it at the polls. Finally, ordinary citizens must push back through mass mobilization and courageous individual action.

Resisting Rising Authoritarianism

An effective resistance agenda is necessarily selective—if democracy defenders scream at equal volume over every harmful presidential move, without distinguishing between their varying levels of illegality, unconstitutionality, irrationality, and cruelty, people will stop listening. We need a strategy to prioritize the most serious assaults on democracy, presidential accountability, and our laws and norms. However, there is no room for passivity or patience in the face of creeping authoritarianism. Early action is critical to frustrating authoritarian ambitions, and it must match escalating assaults with escalating mobilization. Every actor inside and outside of government has a role to play in the defense of democracy. Let’s begin inside the belly of the beast: the executive branch. The career civil service is a crucial actor in serving the American public interest while observing merit-based principles of excellence, professionalism, and political neutrality. Career civil servants should be encouraged to hang on in the service of these principles as long as possible and to decline to comply with orders that violate laws or regulations. Trump derisively refers to this workforce as “the deep state,” but societies prosper when they have states with the depth of expertise, training, commitment, and autonomy to guard public health, provide veterans benefits, ensure water quality, develop rural communities, maintain national parks, and expose corruption and fraud. These essential functions of government are now under assault as the DOGE chainsaw hacks away indiscriminately at the federal workforce. Fortunately, most federal workers declined Elon Musk’s legally dubious order to report their work to him or resign. But the Trump White House wants to purge the career civil service of anyone who hints at independence. No federal worker should go quietly. Every act of principled resistance, even if it comes at the price of termination for following the law, puts an obstacle on the authoritarian pathway. Recently, a former federal prosecutor, Brendan Ballou, described how Trump’s Muslim travel ban early in his first term was slowed and narrowed by low- and mid-level Justice Department officials who forthrightly “explained to those far above them why the ban was legally and operationally disastrous.”

[...]

The Collapse of Congress

In a presidential democracy, it falls heavily to the Congress to check presidential excess. But with the bulk of Republicans—who hold narrow majorities in the House and Senate—enthusiastically backing Trump’s agenda, and with the MAGA machine vowing to punish congressional defections with massively funded primary challenges, Congress has been missing in action. The Trump White House is rapidly tilting the balance of power more and more radically from Congress to an imperial presidency. Carl Hulse and Catie Edmonson recently reported, “The Republican-led Congress isn’t just watching the Trump administration gobble up its constitutional powers. It is enthusiastically turning them over to the White House.” (Trump’s insane tariffs have caused some turbulence among Republicans who want to take back some of the president’s sweeping taxation powers but not yet enough to revolt.) A crucial step along this path was the House Republicans’ adoption of a White House bill to keep the government funded for six months, averting a shutdown that would have come on March 15. Even though Congress has passed many temporary stopgap measures to avert a government shutdown, this one was more radical and gave the president unprecedented discretion over the disbursement of federal funds. In a searing speech on the Senate floor, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, Patty Murray, condemned the Republicans’ surrender to a bill that “fails to include the typical, detailed spending directives—basic guardrails that Congress provides each year in our funding bills,” and that “turns many of our accounts into slush funds, [giving] the final say over what gets funding to two billionaires who don’t know the first thing about the needs of our working families.” [...] Could that happen before the next midterm elections on Nov. 3, 2026? Last election, Republicans won narrow majorities—220-213 (with two Democratic seats vacant) in the House, and 53-47 in the Senate. It would only take a few Republicans in either body dissenting to change the political dynamic. And in most committees, it would take only a single Republican defection to block a bill or a confirmation or issue a subpoena to someone like Elon Musk.

The presumption is that any House or Senate Republican marching out of lockstep would be committing political suicide, with Musk and other rich MAGA loyalists ready to pour tens of millions of dollars into a campaign to defeat them in a Republican primary. But what if a congressman or senator who saw the country approaching an authoritarian precipice refused to play that game and instead declared their willingness to run as an independent? Many of them come from red states or districts that Democrats have little chance of winning. In a straight contest between a Republican independent, conservative but principled, and a MAGA extremist, the principled conservative could well win by fashioning a coalition of concerned Republicans, independents, and Democrats. Such a strategy would test the Democrats’ capacity for strategic sophistication and discipline. That capacity might be bolstered by close study of other national experiences in reversing authoritarian drift, such as Poland, where the ability of parties to rise above narrow self-interest and form broad coalitions proved crucial to the defense and renewal of democracy.

A Time For Action

In the end, there is no substitute for electoral victory. Authoritarian projects are halted most decisively when they lose at the ballot box. This will require a complex, multi-level, and coordinated electoral strategy from the Democrats, but it cannot wait until the next two federal elections. Democrats are sorely in need of more vigorous and coherent messaging to expose the corruption and self-interest behind the Trump agenda and the immense damage it is doing to the economy; to the well-being of ordinary Americans; to the faintest notion of a fair society; and—not least—to U.S. national security. Elections are focal points of opposition. They give large groups a clear goal and ordinary citizens an opportunity to become involved—to donate to candidates and parties, knock on doors, write letters, make phone calls, host events, and speak their minds. This work will need to take place on a massive scale in the next two election cycles, but it must begin now. The opposition party must relentlessly challenge Trump’s ruthless and destructive policies. It must also offer a more viable and humane alternative to the status quo. To recapture the middle and working classes, it needs to reach humbly across social and cultural divides to offer new pathways to job creation, community revitalization, and technological innovation. It has to pitch a broad tent that welcomes diverse constituencies rather than subjecting them to cultural litmus tests.

Mass vigilance and mass action will need to come as well from outside the arena of electoral politics. Internal resistance and external mobilization work in tandem. Many members of Congress have already felt the heat from town hall meetings and office phone lines flooded with protests. “At events from Georgia and Wisconsin to Oklahoma and Oregon, House Republicans faced sometimes-hostile crowds furious about the sweeping budget cuts and mass firings of federal workers,” NBC reported in late February. Mass demonstrations are being organized, like the April 5 “Hand Off” rallies in Washington and all over the country. It is vitally important that they remain strictly nonviolent, civil in tone, and disciplined in resisting provocation, or Trump and his movement will seize upon them to discredit the opposition. Historically, global democratic movements (including the American civil rights movement) have made use of a wide variety of tactics of nonviolent civil resistance. These have included not just marches but strikes, consumer boycotts, and civil disobedience. To constrain or defeat authoritarian projects outside of elections, Hardy Merriman observes, citizens must withhold obedience, and to do so effectively, they must coordinate. Civil resistance movements succeed to the extent they muster unity, planning, and discipline on a large scale.

This point cannot be overestimated: Power requires obedience. The key to resisting authoritarian power is, to quote Timothy Snyder’s essay On Tyranny, “Do not obey in advance.” He warns from history: “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.” It was freely given when Washington Post publisher and mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos withdrew his newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, and then more recently when he imposed unprecedented restrictions on the paper’s opinion page—ironically with the claim of focusing on “personal liberties.” It was freely given when social media plutocrat Mark Zuckerberg traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate after the election to pay obeisance with massive Facebook policy concessions, and further when he along with numerous other tech titans donated $1 million each to Trump’s inauguration fund. It was given when Republican Sen. Joni Ernst crumbled under threats and pressure and withdrew her opposition to Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary. It is given every day that institutions do not speak up in legitimate defense of their rights and interests. Consider two examples. Universities are now paralyzed with fear as they grapple with disastrous cuts in federal funding for research and more aggressive assaults to come. The administration’s recent letter to Columbia University, demanding highly specific and invasive changes in university policy as a prerequisite to any consideration of lifting the cancellation of $400 million in federal government grants and contracts, has struck alarm in universities nationwide. This follows a stream of other administration actions zealously exceeding Supreme Court rulings to demand an end to all diversity-related programs; threatening Georgetown University’s law school with a federal jobs blacklist for its students if it doesn’t remove DEI elements from its curriculum; and apprehending for deportation a recent Columbia University graduate student from the Middle East, Mahmoud Khalil (a U.S. permanent resident), for his anti-Israel advocacy on campus. “So far,” write Harvard political scientists Ryan Enos and Steven Levitsky, “America’s leading universities have remained virtually silent in the face of this authoritarian assault on institutions of higher education” (though Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber has been one exception). If that silence continues, higher education in America will suffer grievous damage to its ability to advance U.S. competitiveness and foster a marketplace of ideas and innovation. The same goes for the country’s big law firms as they grapple with the consequences of Trump’s ferocious “retaliatory spree” against firms that have been associated with the opposition party or with legal cases against Trump. Many individual lawyers at a host of top firms have signed an open letter condemning the president’s actions (which seek to cripple the firms by barring them from interaction with federal agencies), and the president of the American Bar Association has made a similar statement. Once again, federal judge Beryl Howell blocked the administration from implementing a constitutionally dubious policy, claiming it was “viewpoint discrimination” that “runs head on into the wall of First Amendment protections.”

But the larger problem remains: a lack of courage. The point of these attacks, writes the historian and autocracy expert  Anne Applebaum, is to intimidate the field, “to make every university afraid to offend the administration; to make academics self-censor; to make students wary too.” For the moment, intimidation is working. Every actor, every institution, is ducking for cover and hoping others will walk the plank for them. Universities, law firms, media enterprises—these are core institutions of a democratic civil society that autocrats target as they seek to amass unassailable power. If each of them cowers in fear, waiting for something to happen, by the time a critical mass of resolve emerges, it may be too late.

Defeating the evil Trump/Musk regime requires internal resistance and external mobilization.

[gffa]

It's been a month since I last did an update on where I am with The High Republic and it's slow going because I don't have a whole lot of on-line time lately (clean-up week is coming orz) and I like to read/listen to the books while I'm on-line, but I think I can still make it before The Acolyte comes out! MAIN STORYLINE NOVELS - PHASE I:

The High Republic: Light of the Jedi

The High Republic: A Test of Courage

The High Republic: Into the Dark

The High Republic: The Rising Storm

The High Republic: Race To Crashpoint Tower

The High Republic: Out Of The Shadows

The High Republic: Mission to Disaster

The High Republic: The Fallen Star

The High Republic: Midnight Horizon

MAIN STORYLINE NOVELS - PHASE II:

The High Republic: Path of Deceit

The High Republic: Convergence

The High Republic: Quest for the Hidden City

The High Republic: Cataclysm

The High Republic: Quest for Planet X

The High Republic: Path of Vengeance

MAIN STORYLINE NOVELS - PHASE III:

The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness

The High Republic: Escape from Valo

The High Republic: Defy The Storm

MAIN STORYLINE COMICS - PHASE I:

The High Republic (2021) - 15 issues

The High Republic Adventures (2021) - 13 issues

The High Republic: The Monster of Temple Peak - 4 issues

The High Republic: The Edge Of Balance - 2 manga volumes

The High Republic: Trail of Shadows - 5 issues

The High Republic: Eye of the Storm - 2 issues

MAIN STORYLINE COMICS - PHASE II:

The High Republic: The Blade - 4 issues

The High Republic (2022) - 10 issues

The High Republic Adventures (2022) - 8 issues

The High Republic: Edge of Balance: Precedent - 1 manga volume

The High Republic Adventures: The Nameless Terror - 4 issues

MAIN STORYLINE COMICS - PHASE III:

The High Republic: Shadows of Starlight - 4 issues

The High Republic (2023) - 6 issues [ONGOING]

The High Republic Adventures (2023) - 5 issues [ONGOING]

The High Republic - Saber for Hire (2023) - 1 issue [ONGOING]

MAIN STORYLINE AUDIODRAMAS - PHASE I:

The High Republic: Tempest Runner

MAIN STORYLINE AUDIODRAMAS - PHASE II:

The High Republic: The Battle of Jedha

ONESHOT COMIC ISSUES - PHASE I:

Star Wars Adventures (2020) #6 - “The Gaze Electric”

The High Republic Adventures: Free Comic Book Day 2021

The High Republic Adventures Annual 2021

The High Republic Adventures: Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular

Star Wars Adventures (2020) #14 - “A Very Nihil Interlude”

The High Republic Adventures: Free Comic Book Day 2023

ONESHOT COMIC ISSUES - PHASE II:

The High Republic Adventures: Quest of the Jedi

ONESHOT COMIC ISSUES - PHASE III:

The High Republic Adventures: Crash Landing

ANTHOLOGY NOVELS - PHASE I:

Star Wars: The High Republic: Starlight Stories

Life Day Treasury

ANTHOLOGY NOVELS - PHASE II:

Star Wars Insider: The High Republic: Tales of Enlightenment

ANTHOLOGY NOVELS - ALL PHASES:

The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life

EVERYTHING ELSE:

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures - 25 episodes

Currently I am also 3/4ths of the way through Convergence (which I am enjoying very much, Path of Deceit is probably still my favorite of Phase II, but I think this one might be my second favorite, Lydia Kang's writing is really working for me here), halfway through Starlight Stories, and on episode 18 of Young Jedi Adventures. All of it continues to be fun and I'm still impressed by the sheer number of moving parts that feel like they all fit well together and there are few individual moments that I feel the need to yell about, but what I think I would recommend this project for most is that feeling of a large scope story that's told throughout so many mediums and gives a sense of satisfaction for it. I don't approach The High Republic in the same way I necessarily do the originals or the prequels, I'm not personally really into it for fanworks (though, some of the fanart really scratches a nice itch) or a ton of meta (I tend to have prequels brain so my meta does get filtered through the lens of 'how does this parallel the prequels'), instead it's more of a story to experience. A really, really big story with a ton of characters that come and go and some really beautiful art to go along with it. I have affection for it and I could see it being a fanworks kind of jam for others, but I think it's also okay if you want to get into it just for the experience of a fun Star Wars spinoff series, however you approach THR is fine! So, speaking of, how's everyone else's progress going? Have some of you picked it up recently? Made progress? Still in Phase I or are you caught up to Phase III? (Honestly, I think my favorite so far was Phase II, I feel like the world had settled into what it wanted to be and I liked the characters a lot in it, which makes me very curious how Phase III is going to go, now that they've had two phases to get their feet under them.)

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: December 2023 ~ 

🎆 Happy 2024!!! 🍾

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post! 

New breakdowns are coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 You're My Star (Christmas Special) - December 4th (Philippines)

🌟 Bagan Beginning - December 5th (Myanmar)

🌟 Chains of Heart: The Movie - December 7th (Thailand)

🌟 Cherry Magic Thailand - December 9th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 It's Complicated - December 14th (Thailand) 

🌟 Dear Kitakyushu - December 14th (Thailand) 

🌟 Colorful Melody - December 16th (Thailand) 

🌟 Night Dream - December 16th (Thailand)

🌟 DMD Friendship (reality show) - December 17th (Thailand)

🌟 Scent of Memory (I Feel You Linger in the Air Special Episode) - December 17th (Thailand)

🌟 Dead Friend Forever - December 23rd (Thailand) 

🌟 I Became the Lead in a BL Drama - December 24th (Japan)

🌟 Mr. Nice Guy & the Lonely Man - December 25th (Thailand)

🌟 Love on Lo - December 26th (Thailand)

🌟 You and My Stars - December 30th (Thailand)

Monthly likes/dislikes

❣️ Cherry Magic - It's cute so far, this is the first adaption where I've actually seen the original and I'm pleasantly surprised. The plot is familiar but they're adding things to it which is nice. It's extended and more explorative compared to the OG but in an endearing way. TayNew do the roles justice, I couldn't imagine a better fit tbh. And even Mark and Junior make the side couple likable who I really did not like in the original lol. Thumbs up so far 🫶🏻

New series & movie announcements

🎥 Knock Out (produced by Dee Hup) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 First Time Love - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Perfect Propose - Coming February 2024 (Japan)

🎥 The Fridge - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Caged Again - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Likay The Series/Let Me Into Your Heart (novel adaption) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 The Only One - Date TBA (Taiwan)

Other news from the BL world

❗️ GMMTV's upcoming BL We Are has started filming. The show will be directed by New Siwaj and stars PondPhuwin, WinnySatang, AouBoom, MarcPawin and more. It is thus the first production from the 2024 lineup to go into production. Aside from that, many other upcoming BLs have started filming including The Trainee, Only Boo and Wandee Goodday.

❗️This year's Y Universe Awards were held on December 11th. The following BL actors & productions won:

Cutie Pie 2 You - Best Series

Moonlight Chicken - Best Series Script

Aof N. - Best Director (MLC)

Gemini N. - Best Supporting Actor (MLC)

Khaotung T. - Best Supporting Actor (MLC)

Fourth N. - Best Leading Actor (MSP)

ZeeNunew - Best Couple

I Feel You Linger in the Air - Best Series Soundtrack, Best Production

Laws of Attraction - Best Social Reflection

❗️The Japanese BL The Man Who Defies The World of BL is getting a third season to air in 2024. Further details are unknown.

❗️After further copyright issues, the Thai remake of the Japanese BL Cherry Magic had to be removed from youtube and will no longer be aired on the site. The show will continue to only be available nationally on VIU. Viewers with a VPN can still access the site, other streaming options are KissKH, Dramacool and KissAsian.

❗️The streaming platform WeTV announced a new original BL titled Caged Again which tells the love story between a penguin and a panther. Both animals transform into humans while travelling between universes and fall in love. The show is set to air in 2024, the cast is unknown.

❗️The Thai BL production company Domundi announced their upcoming project The Next Prince to release its pilot trailer in the first quarter of 2024. The show stars ZeeNunew and others and has a historical theme. Filming will likely begin later this year.

Upcoming series & movies for January

👉🏻 BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita: Crank In Hen - January 2nd (Japan)

👉🏻 Ossan's Love Returns - January 5th (Japan)

👉🏻 Refund Love - January 7th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Time The Series - January 9th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Intern in My Heart (BL side couple) - January 10th (Thailand) 

👉🏻 Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka - January 11th (Japan)

👉🏻 I Wish You Love - January 21st (Thailand)

👉🏻 Beside You (mini series) - January TBA (Thailand)

👉🏻 Love for Love's Sake - January TBA (South Korea)

[srbachchan]

DAY 5717

Jalsa, Mumbai Oct 12, 2023 Thu 11:35 PM

The World of Cinema is bestowed with numerous tides in the realm of imagination .. one imagination gets added each day to a think and thought that is in itself an entire Universe .. a Universe that goes beyond the belief of reality and substantiality .. yet gives ample reason and visual in its presentation and writing and in a perform that enables appreciation .. or not at times ..

The beauty remains the same .. the visions keep changing ..

Life relives in that hemisphere , a hemisphere that defies the realm that space exists in .. stars , planets, black holes, galaxies and all ..

And the wonder and unanswered questions shall exist despite all that is being discovered in its landings and sitings and telescopic manifestations .. not to forget the confirmed sitings of supposed UFO's by Flight operative Captains on aircraft .. a vision they are unable to fathom or decipher ..

And forever the talk that emanates is , ' we are not alone '

Really .. ?

Forget the UFO .. philosophically the adage is mentioned in so many of our normal chatter .. a person of the near and dear in the mode of a depression or in the event of a sad occurrence .. the oft repeated is to give strength to the sufferer , or the person subjected to a sadness .. and a reassurance is projected .. 'you are not alone' .. it momentarily uplifts the situation of the moment , giving the person the feel of , that there are others that grieve with you and ready to be with you, behind you ..

The question then to the matter of space ..

Will SPACE in matters of turmoil be with us behind us , or subject us to greater mourning .. ??

.. and while the rest of the Ef battle this one out .. there is another from another World ready to battle it out ..

My love and affection , yet again for all that has been done in these last few days for the birth of this Blogmaestra .. and there is also the regret to express that the many that were willed to meet and give greetings were all disappointed because there was not enough time or medical consideration to accomplish it ..

And 🤣 .. haha .. many in the Ef would be sitting around the premises in similar conditions and be saying to the other :

YOU ARE NOT ALONE ..

we have not been met either ..

🤣

Love and more ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[steddiebang]

Steddie Bigbang 2023 Weekly Round-up: October 1 - October 7

From Hell and Back (October 1) Author: @rindecisions / Artists | @lady-lostmind & @feralsteddie One Halloween, years after the fall of Hawkins, Steve and Robin end up summoning Eddie from the depths of Hell. Steve, not knowing the ways of the occult, accidentally frees him and has to deal with a mischievous demon on the loose. Eddie drives Steve insane with various shapeshifting antics, both in and out of the bedroom, while Robin tries to find a way to send him back to hell. But, when faced with the opportunity to return his life to normal, will Steve even want to go through with it?

OR

Lots of supernatural, hentai-esque smut with a playful, romantic plot.

Steddie’s Anatomy (October 1) Author: uhhhhjhfrogs on tumblr, tttrash666 on A03 / Artist: BrainyArts on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Tumblr Steve was not going to leave Eddie to die in the Upside Down, no fucking way. He didn’t know what compelled him to give every last ounce of strength to rescue him but being confined to a hospital room together was about to make him figure it out.

Made of Light (October 3) Author: @hitlikehammers / Artist: @becomingfoxes​ Soulmates are anything but de rigueur in polite society—more like foolish nonsense, fairytale child’s play: embarrassments. Inconvenient, at best. But the people who have them, and still seek them out; who believe despite the odds, who still commit to finding them and binding their souls to them despite the naysaying and the backlash? Those people know the truth.

Because Soulmates? Don’t force love. Aren’t bound without choice. Are built instead on pure potential, of proportions never fathomed—and certainly never found—outside those so-called ‘old fashioned’ Bonds. They are the potential to protect love. To save love. To save the lives that kind of ineffable love holds more than just dear; the kind it holds as essential. Some people even say Soulbonds can almost change the whole world, defy the laws of physics and nature, but then—even among the believers: those stories are relegated to legend. At best. And so: this is the story of two boys from Indiana who—dodging dangers and demons and near-death experiences—wind up in a love never seen before, somehow writing out the kind of legend no one ever dared to dream.

(You got me) in the palm of your hand (October 4) Author: just-my-latest-hyperfixation (tumblr) / just_my_latest_hyperfixation (AO3) / Artists: xgumiho (tumblr) / xgumiho (instagram) / jul2ja (twitter), peachypurr (tumblr) / peachypurr (linktree) “Fortunes told, futures unfold.”

The sign at the local ren faire looks tempting. After all, Steve is one year out of high school and has no idea where his life is going. Sometimes he wishes someone could just gaze into the future and figure it out for him. 

In the fortune teller’s tent, Steve has a run-in with his past. And if he doesn’t turn on his heel and leave, it has absolutely nothing to do with how pretty Eddie Munson looks in his costume, all gleaming jewelry and dark tendrils of hair spilling out from under a patterned headscarf. He lets Eddie read his palm, because why the hell not? It’s all bogus anyway! 

Except, as the summer goes on, Steve finds that Eddie’s cryptic predictions somehow, inexplicably keep coming true. As they keep running into each other, almost as if orchestrated by an invisible force, Steve can’t help but be intrigued with the other boy. He also can’t seem to forget how pretty Eddie’s eyes look in black liner, or the way his fingers feel on his skin, but that is an entirely different problem. 

11 upcoming projects to be posted next week (Oct 8 - 14).

*To keep up with all the Steddie Bigbang 2023 posting, be sure to follow us @steddiebang or track tags like #steddiebang23, #steddiebang23 masterposts, #steddiebang23 project promo, and #steddiebang23 upcoming projects.

[kumar-pradeep]

The DeFi Projects That Could Make You Rich in 2023

Discover the potential for wealth in 2023 with the best DeFi projects to invest in. Uncover a world of decentralized finance innovations that could propel your financial success. From lending platforms to yield farming protocols, these carefully selected DeFi projects offer promising opportunities. Stay ahead of the curve and explore projects with transformative potential in the ever-evolving DeFi landscape. With cutting-edge technology and a focus on user empowerment, these projects aim to revolutionize traditional finance. Embrace the future of wealth creation and dive into the exciting world of DeFi projects that could make you rich in 2023.

[lavendershowcase]

Queer Hispanic Stories for Hispanic Heritage Month

Summaries and notes under cut

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving the Bronx and headed to Portland, Oregon. She just came out to her family and isn’t sure if her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan, sort of, one that’s going to help her figure out this whole “Puerto Rican lesbian” thing. She’s interning with the author of her favorite book: Harlowe Brisbane, the ultimate authority on feminism, women’s bodies, and other gay-sounding stuff. Will Juliet be able to figure out her life over the course of one magical summer? Is that even possible? Or is she running away from all the problems that seem too big to handle? With more questions than answers, Juliet takes on Portland, Harlowe, and most importantly, herself.

Winner of 2017 Silver IPPY Award for best LGBTQ Fiction, selected by the ALA for the Amelia Bloomer List in 2017

The Prince and the Coyote by David Bowles, illustrated by Amanda Mijangos*

Fifteen-year old crown prince Acolmiztli wants nothing more than to see his city-state of Tetzcoco thrive. A singer, poet, and burgeoning philosophical mind, he has big plans about infrastructure projects and cultural initiatives that will bring honor to his family and help his people flourish. But the two sides of his family, the kingdoms of Mexico and Acolhuacan, have been at war his entire life – after his father risked the wrath of the Tepanec emperor to win his mother’s love. When a power struggle leaves his father dead and his mother and siblings in exile, Acolmiztli must run for his life, seeking refuge in the wilderness. After a coyote helps him find his way in the wild, he takes on a new name – Nezahualcoyotl, or “fasting coyote” (“Neza” for short). Biding his time until he can form new alliances and reconnect with his family, Neza goes undercover, and falls in love with a commoner girl, Sekalli. Can Neza survive his plotting uncles’ scheme to wipe out his line for good? Will the empire he dreams of in Tetzcoco ever come to life? And is he willing to risk the lives of those he loves in the process? This action-packed tale blends prose and poetry – including translations of surviving poems by Nezahualcoytl himself, translated from classical Nahuatl by the author. And the book is packed with queer rep: queer love stories, and a thoughtful exploration of pre-columbian understandings of gender that defy the contemporary Western gender binary.

Pura Belpré honoree, Kirkus Best of the Year, Bookpage top 10 Book of 2023

*Personally recommended by me

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

It’s 1980 in New York City, and nowhere is the city’s glamour and energy better reflected than in the burgeoning Harlem ball scene, where seventeen-year-old Angel first comes into her own. Burned by her traumatic past, Angel is new to the drag world, new to ball culture, and has a yearning inside of her to help create family for those without. When she falls in love with Hector, a beautiful young man who dreams of becoming a professional dancer, the two decide to form the House of Xtravaganza, the first-ever all-Latino house in the Harlem ball circuit. But when Hector dies of AIDS-related complications, Angel must bear the responsibility of tending to their house alone. As mother of the house, Angel recruits Venus, a whip-fast trans girl who dreams of finding a rich man to take care of her; Juanito, a quiet boy who loves fabrics and design; and Daniel, a butch queen who accidentally saves Venus’s life. The Xtravaganzas must learn to navigate sex work, addiction, and persistent abuse, leaning on each other as bulwarks against a world that resists them. All are ambitious, resilient, and determined to control their own fates, even as they hurtle toward devastating consequences. 

Born Both: An Intersex Life by Hida Viloria

My name is Hida Viloria. I was raised as a girl but discovered at a young age that my body looked different. Having endured an often turbulent home life as a kid, there were many times when I felt scared and alone, especially given my attraction to girls. But unlike most people in the first world who are born intersex–meaning they have genitals, reproductive organs, hormones, and/or chromosomal patterns that do not fit standard definitions of male or female–I grew up in the body I was born with because my parents did not have my sex characteristics surgically altered at birth. It wasn’t until I was twenty-six and encountered the term intersex in a San Francisco newspaper that I finally had a name for my difference. That’s when I began to explore what it means to live in the space between genders–to be both and neither. I tried living as a feminine woman, an androgynous person, and even for a brief period of time as a man. Good friends would not recognize me, and gay men would hit on me. My gender fluidity was exciting, and in many ways freeing–but it could also be isolating. I had to know if there were other intersex people like me, but when I finally found an intersex community to connect with I was shocked, and then deeply upset, to learn that most of the people I met had been scarred, both physically and psychologically, by infant surgeries and hormone treatments meant to “correct” their bodies. Realizing that the invisibility of intersex people in society facilitated these practices, I made it my mission to bring an end to it–and became one of the first people to voluntarily come out as intersex at a national and then international level. Born Both is the story of my lifelong journey toward finding love and embracing my authentic identity in a world that insists on categorizing people into either/or, and of my decades-long fight for human rights and equality for intersex people everywhere.

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies. A wife refuses her husband’s entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store’s prom dresses. One woman’s surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella “Especially Heinous,” Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls-with-bells-for-eyes.

Finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction, Winner of the National Book Critics Circle's 2017 John Leonard Prize, Winner of the 2017 Bard Fiction Prize, Finalist for the 2017 Kirkus Prize, Finalist for the 2017 PEN/Robert Bingham Award

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Unlocking the secrets of the first quasars: how they defy the laws of physics to grow

In the article published today in the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal, new evidence suggests how supermassive black holes, with masses of several billion times that of our Sun, formed so rapidly in less than a billion years after the Big Bang. The study, led by researchers of the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), analyses a sample of 21 quasars, among the most distant ever discovered, observed in the X-rays band by the XMM-Newton and Chandra space telescopes. The results suggest that the supermassive black holes at the centre of these titanic quasars, the first formed during the cosmic dawn, may have reached their extraordinary masses through very rapid and intense accretion, thus providing a plausible explanation for their existence in the early stages of the Universe.

Quasars are active galaxies powered by the central supermassive black holes (known as active galactic nuclei), which emit an enormous amount of energy as they attract matter. They are extremely luminous and distant from us. In particular, the quasars examined in this study are among the most distant objects ever observed, dating back to a time when the Universe was less than a billion years old.

In this work, the analysis of X-ray emissions from these objects revealed an entirely unexpected behaviour of the supermassive black holes at their centres: a connection emerged between the shape of the X-ray emission and the speed of the winds of matter ejected by the quasars. This relationship links the wind speed, which can reach thousands of kilometres per second, to the temperature of the gas in the corona, the region that emits X-rays closest to the black hole. Thus, the corona turned out to be connected to the powerful accretion mechanisms of the black hole itself. Quasars with low-energy X-ray emission, and thus a lower temperature in the corona, show faster winds. This indicates a highly rapid growth phase that exceeds a physical limit for the accretion of matter called the Eddington limit, which is why this phase is called "super-Eddington." Conversely, quasars with higher-energy X-ray emissions tend to exhibit slower winds.

"Our work suggests that the supermassive black holes at the centre of the first quasars formed within the first billion years of the Universe's life may have actually increased their mass very rapidly, challenging the limits of physics," says Alessia Tortosa, lead author of the study and researcher at INAF in Rome. "The discovery of this connection between X-ray emission and winds is crucial for understanding how such large black holes could have formed in such a short time, thus providing a concrete clue to solve one of the greatest mysteries of modern astrophysics."

The result was achieved mainly by analysing data collected with the XMM-Newton space telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA), which allowed for approximately 700 hours of observations of the quasars. Most of the data, collected between 2021 and 2023 as part of the Multi-Year XMM-Newton Heritage Programme, under the direction of Luca Zappacosta, a researcher at INAF in Rome, is part of the HYPERION project, which aims at studying hyperluminous quasars during the cosmic dawn of the Universe. The extensive observation campaign was led by a team of Italian scientists and received crucial support from INAF, which funded the program, thereby supporting cutting-edge research on the evolutionary dynamics of the early structures of the Universe.

"In the HYPERION program, we focused on two key factors: on one hand, the careful selection of quasars to observe, choosing the titans, meaning those that had accumulated as much mass as possible, and on the other hand, the in-depth study of their properties in X-rays, something never attempted before on such a large number of objects from the cosmic dawn," says Luca Zappacosta, a researcher at INAF in Rome. We hit the jackpot! The results we're getting are genuinely unexpected, and they all point to a super-Eddington growth mechanism of the black holes."

This study provides important insights for future X-ray missions, such as ATHENA (ESA), AXIS, and Lynx (NASA), which are scheduled for launch between 2030 and 2040. In fact, the results obtained will be useful for refining the next-generation observational instruments and for defining better strategies for investigating black holes and active galactic nuclei in X-rays at more distant cosmic epochs. These are key elements for understanding the formation of the first galactic structures in the primordial Universe.

IMAGE: AI-generated representation of an accreting supermassive black hole, surrounded by gas spiralling toward it along the equatorial plane (the accretion disk) and emitting powerful winds of matter as it falls in. This representation is based on a NASA's artist's concept that illustrates a supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of our sun. Credits: Emanuela Tortosa

[dominimoonbeam]

Goodbye 2023!

This year feels like it's been long and somehow gone by in a flash. The last handful of months were stressful as hell but I'm settled in the new apartment and finding my new rhythm. I'm really looking forward to 2024!

So, what the hell did I do in 2023?

I wrote over 200k in fanfics.

I started Bite to Bruise and Don't Run over on the patreon.

I published Stargazing Underground, another sci-fi romance in my growing universe.

Jouska recorded some of my audioscripts! The sci-fi story and the halloween special.

I published a short steamy story, Ruby and the Wolf, in the same universe as Bite to Bruise aka the House of Teeth Series.

I finished and edited Don't Touch My Stuff (which I should have out early next year).

I outlined so many more projects...

Character art commissioned from the amazing @slushrottweiler

What am I planning to do in 2024?

Catch up on everything I've been behind on the last couple months.

More fanfics.

More audioscripts! And finding a way to put some of them out here for artists to record if they want to.

Finish and published Bite to Bruise.

Publish Don't Touch My Stuff (contemporary romance).

Finish the Cosmic and Stardust audioscript series.

Finish turning the Cosmic and Stardust script into a book (same universe as my other sci-fi stories, Defying Gravity Series).

Write more sci-fi romances. I have two more outlined and waiting.

Start Bite to Break after finishing Bite to Bruise.

Finish Don't Run. Oh god, the ending I have planned for that thing...

Start Don't Fall after finishing Don't Run. <3

Hope you have a great New Year! <3 <3 <3

[thiswasinevitable-rwrb]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Red White & Royal Blue (2023), Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Characters: Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Alex Claremont-Diaz, June Claremont-Diaz, Nora Holleran, Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Percy "Pez" Okonjo, Zahra Bankston, Shaan Srivastava Additional Tags: Hades (Video Game) Canon-Typical Temporary Death, Alternate Universe - Hades (Video Game), References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Alex is Prince of the Underworld, Henry is an Olympian, Loss of Parent(s), Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Needs a Hug, Protective Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Alex Claremont-Diaz Loves Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Protective Alex Claremont-Diaz, Bisexual Disaster Alex Claremont-Diaz, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Explicit Sexual Content, Slow Burn Summary:

Henry is a prince of the Olympians. He has had everything bestowed upon him since his birth. And yet, none of it mattered when the light of his father's soul went out.

Alexander is the First Shade of the Underworld. Prince of the dark realm and...the perfect person to help Henry along his many - many - journeys into the Underworld to find his father.

That is, if they can stand each other long enough to cooperate.

[dramione-fanfiction-forum]

𝙳𝚎𝚏𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚘 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚜

This year we’ve totaled 89,400+ words and counting across 14 stories - including four (4) works in progress with 26+ chapters to be released - and an art submission (!!). These Deflower Draco submissions are sure to spice up your week!

🌸 Read the collection here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DeflowerDraco2023

🌻💐🌹🌺🌸🌼🌷

🌸 As The Full Moon Rises - KiraAnn (Know_It_All_2008)

At the height of the full moon's power, they're desperate to get a leg up on Lord Voldemort. The ritual should give them just that.

🌸 a cure I know that soothes the soul, does so impossibly - @king-geets [ART]

OT3 shenanigans 😈

🌸 Broken Arrow - Fictionismyescape [@justforme2023]

This wasn't the time, not when there was a war happening. But it might be the only chance they had.

🌸 Expect the Unexpected - @starboygrove

A humiliating moment at the beginning of Hermione's Eighth year at Hogwarts leads her to an unexpected scenario. Draco Malfoy, a reformed Death-Eater who she has become fast friends with, makes an impossible request. Hermione battles her feelings while helping Draco with his odd predicament.

🌸 F*** the Pain Away - @damsel-in-mistress

"Three things happened simultaneously: His left hand shot out to grasp the intruder’s wrist in a death grip, he realised who the intruder was, and the Stupefy died on his lips. Brown eyes open wide with surprise, brow furrowed, mouth ajar in a soft gasp, Hermione Granger stood before him." When Draco's world is misery and dread, Hermione happens upon him in Myrtle's bathroom. None of them could have forseen what this would lead to.

🌸 Growing Sideways - @inadaze22 [WIP - 1/20]

For years, Draco has been complacent. His career is on track, his future is arranged, and he's adapted to the darkness plaguing his restless nights. When paired with Hermione Granger on a top secret project, he begins to question if the comfort of familiarity is enough. As long nights dwindle and their connection grows, she shines a light on possibilities he's never imagined.

🌸 Last Nite - shaparecium [@dinkycharlie]

Draco is sentenced to five years in Azkaban. On his last night in freedom, Hermione Granger visits him and he confesses that he is still a virgin.  [Oneshot written for Deflower Draco Fest 2023]

🌸 Lessons from Professor Granger - JCOBryan1990

“You are drunk, sir.”  She laughed out as he continued to stumble forward, his hands clasped the frame; his face landing inches from hers. “I may drink a of had.” Laughing she gathered him closer into the room, “Really?  And what pray tell has you drinking so much on a Tuesday?  Testing the potions from your students again?”

🌸 Lovegood's Love Cure - Saberspooky [WIP - 3/6]

After being abruptly dumped by her boyfriend and abandoned by her best friend at the Hogwarts train platform, Hermione vows to make the most of her final year at Hogwarts. Luna Lovegood provides just the opportunity when she attempts to cure her friends' broken hearts by matching students up with their soulmates based on an extensive compatibility quiz, but everything goes awry when Hermione Granger is paired with the last person she would expect.

🌸 Magically Bound - @acanadianmuggle

Hermione has written a novel and in the magical world, a handbound copy without a spark of magic must be used as the master copy from which all duplicates are made. In a workshop in Wiltshire, she will find the artisan who will make her book and to who might bookbind them together.

🌸 Summer Skin - @echoofpromise

Her skin is warm and glowing beneath his touch as he glides his thumb across the rigid edge of her collarbone, and Draco thinks this is heaven. This is what God wanted for his children, for them to feel just as weightless and defying and cosmic as he feels in this moment thanks to Hermione Granger and her cinnamon tongue.

🌸 The Perks of Dark Magic - @o0sarena0o [WIP - 1/6]

Two decades after the war, Draco Malfoy is an innovative, renowned Grand Master Potioneer. His draughts are sought-after and often aid the DMLE with their most difficult cases. Hermione Granger, a highly acclaimed curse breaker for the Ministry of Magic, encounters a curse she's never seen before. Reluctantly, she approaches Draco Malfoy for assistance, not knowing that his profession's darkest secrets come with a life-changing price. Written for the DeflowerDraco2023 Fest 🌺.

🌸 The Promise Of A Parent - @kryskrosszee [WIP - 1/?]

After the death of his mother, Draco finds out that the Blacks and the Malfoys both had high hopes and great expectations for him - and now at the tender age of twenty-three he has only two years to find someone to help him produce the next Black heir or he will be punished, severely, for his failure.

🌸 virgin violets in bloom - @riddikuluspuff

Throughout their time at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy had hidden away the fact that he was actually sexually inexperienced and was actually a massive virgin. Two of his closest and best friends, Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass, had helped him to spread rumours throughout the school that were the total opposite of who he truly was. They spread rumours around the school that Draco Malfoy was the most sexually experienced Slytherin they had ever been with and that he hasn’t actually been a virgin since late in their fifth year. But, once leaving school, the inexperience he truly had followed him and his unlucky strike with girls was running thin with his self-esteem. He hated it. However, one night, Draco drunkenly stumbled into Hermione Granger and she slowly informed him that she was willing to teach him everything he needed to know to pleasure women. Hermione Granger was fully prepared to deflower Draco Malfoy. A one-shot for the 2023 Deflower Draco Fic Fest

🌸 White Lilies, Sweet Peas and Hellebore - @ceilidhchaos

A Darker Language of Flowers Story For Deflower Draco Fest White Lilies mean purity and commitment Sweet Peas mean blissful pleasure Hellebore mean scandal

🌻💐🌹🌺🌸🌼🌷

🌸 Read the collection here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DeflowerDraco2023

[fashionbooksmilano]

Deborah Turbeville Photocollage

Nathalie Herschdorfer

Texts by Vince Aletti, Anna Tellgren and Felix Hoffmann

Thames & Hudson, London 2023, 240 pages,188 color illustrations, 26,32x31cm, ISBN 9780500026212

euro 60,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Timeless, evocative, and hauntingly beautiful photocollages in a retrospective monograph by a truly innovative image maker whose female gaze transformed fashion photography.

American photographer Deborah Turbeville defies classification. She belongs to no school nor movement. Her unique visual signature has been recognizable since her emergence as a major talent in the 1970s. Her images are evocative, difficult to date at first glance, and seem dreamlike to our twenty-first-century eyes, a very different representation of feminine beauty from the highly sexualized works of her male contemporaries.

This new publication focuses on the area of Turbeville’s practicewhere her genius as an artist can be found: photocollage. In contrast to her contemporaries in fashion photography, she was deliberately playful with her images: xeroxing, cutting, scraping, and pinning prints together, writing in the margins and creating narrative sequences. Her work is located far from single, glossy images. It inhabits a liminal zone between art and commerce.

Built upon extensive research in the Deborah Turbeville archive, the work shown spans commercial and personal projects, with many images published for the first time. With texts by Vince Aletti, Anna Tellgren, and Felix Hoffmann, this book brings into the spotlight the ways in which Turbeville redefined fashion photography, moving away from the sexual provocation and stereotypes assigned by male photographers to an idea of femininity on her terms. Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage will be an essential publication with modern relevance for all with a passion for fashion photography.

26/12/23