#filial fun

[transsongtaewon]

Scam calls 👍

[thylionheart]

Genuinely, I need advice for surviving a visit with my extended family

[fluesterscherben]

I love how Wen Xu in fanfic is either this super evil monster who is worse than his father or a tragic poor blorbo who deserves much better.

There is no inbetween other than inexistence and I'm here for it.

[singular-yike]

Now I'm suddenly wondering: have you noticed any more obscure references to Japanese history and myth in Len'en (that you haven't already talked about)?

Hm, I suppose that'd depend on how we define obscure, there are still a lot of references that I haven't gone over yet, many of the EMS characters being ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

But today I guess we can take a look at one that I myself figured out not too long ago: Kujiru Kesa, slug youkai, faithful shikigami to Garaiya Ogata and omnipresent scout of the Dragonfly Army.

The Person Who is One, And Yet Many — Kujiru Kesa

Name: Kujiru Kesa

Their given name "kujiru" (クジル) is written in katakana but is likely meant to be the verb 抉る, "to stick (a rod, etc.) into and move around", "to dig/scoop something out" or "to pierce a hole into a hard object".

Their family name, "kesa" (袈裟), is the Japanese word for the Kāṣāya, robes worn by fully ordained Buddhist monks and nuns.

Sometimes when children are born, the umbilical cord is hung around the neck and body, which looks like the child is born wearing a Kāṣāya.

However, children whose umbilical cords wrap around them like this are prone to stillbirth, so those who are born like this often have "Kesa (袈裟)" added to their name, as a charm for peaceful growth. This relation to life and growth may be related to Kujiru's ability to divide and create more of themselves.

Mythological Basis: Kesa-gozen

Let's start with what I discovered recently, that Kujiru has roots in the fictional character (as far as we can tell) Kesa-gozen. Her story most famously found in The Tale of the Heike (平家物語), although other versions exist as well.

The Tale of the Heike

The Tale of the Heike, unlike the entirely fictitious The Tale of Genji, is actually based on history.

Specifically, it is an epic account of the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan, which ultimately ended in the Jōhei Tengyō no Ran (承平天慶の乱), more commonly known as the Genpei War (源平合戦).

You might know that this is also where we got our famous account of the Kusanagi sinking into the sea from, as well as where the Saeda is famously featured.

Kesa-gozen's Story

Kesa-gonzen's story really only superficially inspired Kujiru and there's not much need to be too detailed with it, so here's a condensed version:

A samurai by the name Moritou Endou (遠藤盛遠), who did historically exist, fell in love with Kesa-gozen (袈裟御前), the wife of his cousin, Minamoto no Wataru (源渡).

Depicted below: Moritou re-encountering Kesa, when he realises how beautiful she had gotten.

Unable to contain himself, he went to see Kinugawa-tono (衣川殿), Kesa's mother, demanding to meet Kesa, going as far as to threaten her with his sword.

Kesa wasn't willing to sacrifice her mother to save herself, so she agreed to meet Moritou. The samurai snuck in during the night and spent the night with her, but refused to leave when morning came.

Kesa then asked Moritou to kill his husband for her, telling him that she would wash Wataru's hair that night and get him drunk, giving Moritou the opportunity to kill him.

Moritou, overjoyed that Kesa had come to return his feelings, left to prepare for the night. Unbeknownst to him, Kesa would wet her own hair and sleep where Wataru usually slept.

Depicted below: Kesa-gozen preparing herself to take her husband's place.

Moritou snuck in at night and severed the head he thought belonged to Wataru. However, he had actually killed Kesa and she had sacrificed herself for her husband.

Motirou, in his grief, left home and became a Buddhist monk named Mongaku (文覚) to atone for his sin. It is as Mongaku that he would achieve his fame and warrant this legendry backstory.

It is said that a slug appears on his grave every year on the 9th day of the 7th month of the traditional lunisolar calendar, the same day Kesa-gozen was killed.

This slug is believed to be her soul, appearing to offer her forgiveness to Mongaku.

Ties to Kujiru

The name Kesa is obvisouly taken directly from Kesa-gozen, while Kujiru's existence as a slug youkai taken from the slug believed to be her soul given form.

Kesa-gozen's appearance in the Tale of the Heike, a story primarily focused on the Taira clan, may also explain Kujiru's appearance on the Youkai Alliance's side of the Heaven-Shadow War, which has heavy ties to the Taira of Mugenri.

As a side note, one might notice that Kujiru is actually pretty superficially inspired by Kesa-gozen only, when compared to a lot of the other characters.

My personal guess for this may be that JynX simply wanted a slug youkai in the first place, to drive home Garaiya's reference to Jiraiya (more on this someday). Then searched for a legend that they could've based another slug youkai on, hence.

Although it's just as likely that there's more to Kujiru that we simply aren't privy to yet, or that JynX simply didn't want to be so heavy handed this time.

Ending

And that's really all I have on Kujiru!

There's not too much we have on Kujiru yet, what with them just being a stage 2 character and having just debuted, but we'll definitely get to see more of them in BPoHC -GC-, so let's look forward to that!

There is technically more to say in regards to their ability and how it relates to them as a shikigami, but I think that's better suited for an analysis of "shikigami in Len'en", rather than on Kujiru as a character.

Nevertheless, this is certainly obscure enough, or so I personally think. I hope you enjoyed all the same~! :)

[femvaylin]

He's so fucking sexy I'm gonna lose it ooouuuugh oh my god

[cheswirls]

thinking abt the entire anti-union video i had to watch for work training last week coupled by the fact that im not scheduled to start until ten days from now and only have 16 hrs that week. and. the fact that another job i applied to that pays $5 more an hr emailed me saying i needed full weekend availability to be considered and if i had that opening in my schedule that they would def set me up w a interview.

[suhlogic]

paradise [kim mingyu x fem!oc]

summary: going to la union for a temporary escape from your busy city life was supposed to just be all about you, not until you meet a hot stranger at a bar and things escalate quite interestingly for the week.

warnings: slight age gap, dom!mingyu, sub!reader, unprotected sex, choking kink, creampie, size kink, praise kink, dry humping in a semi-public place, biting kink (slight), cum-eating

[🔞]

your city life proved to be exhausting, still navigating everything at 21 despite being independent and already moved out of your parents' house but the corporate life was a bitch to deal with on top of your mother nagging you to fulfill your filial duties as the eldest child to provide when they are still fully capable of supporting themselves and your younger sibling. so here you were, driving alone in your car on the way to la union to unplug for a week. the car ride was boring and tiring since your friends were all busy and you didn't want to ride a bus alone. finally, you arrived at your hotel early morning and got everything settled before you slept to make up for the exhaustion.

after a good few hours of decent sleep, you decide to get ready for the beach and put on a light red bikini that was just held together by strings that was properly showing off your huge tits. you also put on a skirt and a thin knitted coverup while your hair was up in a cute claw clip and grabbed your small tote bag on your way out to have some fun while the sun sets. as you reach the seaside, you decided to lay your towel on the sand and put your bag on it as you enjoyed swimming in the water basking in the sun.

[11:00pm]

after washing up back at your hotel room to grab dinner at the bar, you put on a pink dress with a thigh-high slit that was backless with just a pair of lace panties underneath. as you make your way into a chair by the bar counter and order your food, you mind your own business. after all, the fun doesn't start until the alcohol gives you enough courage to get fucked by a handsome stranger.

sipping on your cocktail was already affecting you and noticed that a tall handsome guy, with sharp gentle features and a short cropped haircut was eyeing you. his sun-kissed skin looking perfect under the strobing lights, athletically built body showing off through the shirt he's left the few buttons open with biceps practically begging to rip through its sleeves. but you weren't going to make it easy for him, catching his stares and waving back at the mystery guy. luring him to come over to your spot, and it fucking worked like magic.

his aura was intoxicating. the moment he leaned in to whisper something in your ear, he immediately had you hooked. "so what's a pretty girl like you doing in this place?" he smirked. you felt taken aback by his deep voice, his breath being minty with a hint of the gin and tonic he was drinking earlier. "just looking to have fun,although i've heard the real fun starts in the bedroom" you bite back with a smile from your pink glossy lips.

he laughed at the smooth rebuttal and reached his hand out to introduce himself, "feisty, i see...it's so rude that i didn't introduce myself. i'm mingyu by the way," he said. "and i'm _____," you shake his hand. "you know, i could show you a fun time what do you say?" his huge hand grabs the small of your back, the tension and close proximity making you yearn for his touch. the flashing lights and the music thumping on full blast against the speakers felt so right under the hot twinkling stars on a summer night,

"don't worry baby, they're too busy to care about what we're doing" he whispers as he holds you tighter and grinds his clothed member against your ass harder, "fuck, let's get out of here...my room." you whine as you begin to face him and grab his hand, leaving after paying your tabs.

once it was all settled, you and mingyu began to walk back to your hotel with hands intertwined together no one but the stars and the waves crashing against the shore witnessing romance brewing between the two of you as the music began to fade into the distance. the walk back to your place consisted of laughter and getting to know each other more, you began to learn that he was also getting away from the chaos of the city—family stuff, in his own words. not long after, the two of you made your way inside the elevator and pressed the floor where your room was.

you grab him by this nape and pull him in for a kiss, tasting your sweetness on his tongue and glistening pink lips which turns heated the moment your hands travel down his toned abs and into his boxers, feeling up his manhood—lengthy, thick and hard. you pull his pants down along with his underwear as his dick springs free slapping against his stomach past his belly button.

"will it fit?" you give him your best doe eyes as you begin to jerk him off, spreading his precum around the slit of his bulbous mushroom tip. "don't tease me, i need to be inside you now." he moans, the lust in his eyes darkening as he takes his dick in his hand and rubs it up and down your wet folds before inserting it slowly. his tip feeling hot and heavy against your wetness, moaning at how his dick feels inside you.

"didn't expect to pick up a hot stranger like you tonight..." you smirk, shifting to sit up on the bed while he grabs a towel to clean the both of you up and runs a bath. "i've had my eyes on you since you walked into the bar , i'm glad the night ended with you under me," he teasingly winks as he motions for you to come sit in between his legs and starts to wipe you down.

but mingyu couldn't help leaving slow and soft kisses down your cheeks and down your jawline as he cleans you up, "babe... don't start now, i can barely walk," you laugh, trying to suppress your moans. "i can carry you anywhere, don't worry," he whispers as you lean your neck to face him and pull him in for another kiss. after cleaning the two of you up, mingyu carries you in bridal style into the bathroom and helps you get into the bathtub and follows suit behind you and engulfs you in his warmth.

his biceps hugging you flush against his chest as you grab on his forearms biting at it softly and kissing it. you don't know if he''ll remain a stranger for the night or someone you'd be spending the rest of your life with but surely you hope it's the latter. he smirks at your antics and kisses your cheek, "happy 2nd anniversary, my love."

[satoshy12]

My Baby won't be a Hero/Villain!! 

After a magical attack, send a villainess or heroine into a game. They learn they are the mother of the hero/main villain of the game.

So they do the right thing. My baby won't be a hero or villain.

+

For Danny, it started with an argument with Ghost Writer that the games are better than the books. It had been a game that Tucker was playing all the time, and he showed it to Ghost Writer, who said the book was better after a massive argument and bet. Well, this is how Danny, as Phantom, is now a baby in the game.

A silver-haired, green-eyed baby with a mother who said he would be the greatest hero or villain

And Danny was always a good boy. And would do his filial piety.

+

So, as the Iseaki Mother's friends tried to get out of it, Ghost Writer worked to make sure Phantom and Mom stayed in the game.

+ After a while, the villainess or heroine was kicked out of the game. And she wasn't very happy. She was raising her baby bun! And they have to come and ruin it. What if he becomes a SuperHero/SuperVillain without Mom!?

+

Danny too came out, and first he told Ghost Writer he won. He spent his life again normal fighting Ghost and having fun, with the few personalities traits of the Isekai mom. Example If Diana, Danny says a few times. "Great Hera."

+ Phantom meets Mom again after he dated a superheroine or super villainess. Who know who he was the moment she saw him, the style she taught him, silver hair and green eyes. It's her baby Bun! He escaped the game too!!

Her baby listen to her and became a Hero/Villain!!

[glitter-stained]

I keep seeing posts about how Jason should have chara development that makes sense regarding his morals and stop killing because of that rather than because Bruce told him to stop and like - it's not like I disagree. Of course, that would be great. Of course I want him to be written his age by writers that like him and have development that makes sense and work with Bruce and Dick and evolve on his own as a person.

But the thing is.

A few weeks ago I saw a critique of His Dark Materials that was so absurdly daft it made me want to peel my skin off. For context, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman is a children/young adult book set in fantasy worlds that doubles as a retelling of Paradise Lost in which Lucifer wins, and criticism of christianism is preponderant in it. (This will spoil a good part of book 1 of HDM btw). I'm far from a HDM fan, I saw a few episodes of the adaptation and read it once when I was ten and thought the characters and world was fun but the rhythm in the 2nd and 3rd books was off and I didn't like the ending, so like it was fun but I definitely not a re-read for me. But the point is, this critique clearly had a degree in not getting the fucking point, because his arguments against the books clearly stemmed from an inability to shift his viewpoint out of the christian framework (I promise this is still a Jason post). One of his most ludicrous argument was the lack of character depth in HDM. This is particularly silly because one of the main characters, Mrs Coulters, is one of the most interesting complex characters I've ever seen in fiction. Now Mrs Coulters is interesting because she is a bad guy. Like, tortures and kills children level of bad guy. She doesn't magically grow to sacrifice herself in the name of martyrdom to repent for her sins or something silly like that; but still, she sometimes does very good, helpful things for the characters, because the tension between her character is between her ambition (and her faith though that's more questionable) and her motherhood, as she truly loves and cares for her daughter, one of the protagonists, and wants a better, safer world for her. Now the critique claimed that there was no character depth because there was no concept of sin and no redemption arcs in the books- but those are utterly Christian concepts, so of course they wouldn't be endorsed by a book that challenges their validity. Just because Mrs Coulters doesn't have a redemption arc doesn't mean she isn't deep; and the fact that she does good things not out of morality but out of love is what makes her a fascinating character.

So, thinking about that asinine critique, I was suddenly struck with the realization that Jason is somehow similar to Mrs Coulters in that he is a very loving person who tends to put his personal connexions above everything else (of course, he doesn't experiment on and torture children, that's not what I'm saying). My point is, I don't think why we shouldn't have a Jason who evolves not moved by his morals (though he has them and they matter) but by his love. The point of Death in the Family is Jason wanted to be loved and have a family and trying to shield Sheila's body with his and telling her he loved her. The point of UTRH is Jason doing horrible things in the most theatrical, strategically planned mental breakdown as begging for proof of love because he can't reconcile being loved in a different way that he loves and because he can't understand someone putting their moral code over love. And as much as RHATO #25 fills me up with dread, I have to say I love Jason's behaviour in that final stint. "I am my father's son" holy shit what a line. Jason is Willis' son and because of his filial love, his loyalty demands he avenges him. Jason is Bruce's son and because of his filial love, his loyalty demands that he does not kill. Jason almost murders Willis' murderer with a blank bullet and then when Bruce beats hims halfway to death he doesn't defend himself, doesn't fight back (like, one punch but come on, we've seen him fight, he just gives up). That right there? Hate to say it with how questionable RHATO's Jason is in general, but that's peak characterization. The conflict is entirely about Jason's conception of love, family and worldview, and it's deep and interesting and has nothing to do with morality. I want Jason storylines that explore that. I want Jason to work with the batfam in stories that make sense, I want the writers to acknowledge him as a victim and trauma survivor and allow him to grow from there instead of demonizing his mental illness, I want him to stop killing out of love and I want him to allow himself to love in healthier ways and for the width of his love to spread exponentially and for that to affect his behaviour and worldview.

And that's not just because I like Mrs Coulters and dislike the idea of holier than though moral characters! The christic symbolism Jason is crystal clear (especially in Lost Days), but it's not just about Jason: Talia is associated with Mary (which makes sleeping with him that much more obviously incestuous and horrible and ooc), Joker is the Devil and Bruce, of course, is God (which begs such interesting questions about the Holy Spirit - Robin maybe? To explore at a later date). Now, everybody's experience with Christianity differs wildly, but the way I learnt it growing up in catholic culture was basically God being an Authority of Judgement and Law, strict and all about morality; while Jesus is about love, unconditional love, even and especially the sinners and the damned (and as for the devil Lucifer is a fallen angel who fell after losing to God, and Satan is the demonic incarnation of temptation ain't that interesting). So I would argue that by having Jason kill or not kill out of love for his family, Jason is already his own character with autonomous thought process, independent morals and original interesting values that are a breath of fresh air in the world of superhero which is all about moral codes. Additionally, I think it's interesting and full of potential (and hope) that that very thing is why Jason and Bruce are held in opposition so often when in christianism they are two sides of the same coin.

TLDR: Jason going through character development that doesn't involve an evolution of his moral code is a great idea and if executed properly should give us fascinating stories with one of the most interesting characters in the DC universe, I used to think he should get a sort of "redemption arc" after UTRH where he questions his moral code but now I feel like I'm stuck in the same Christian/superhero framework as the pedantic guy who didn't understand His Dark Materials and I refuse to agree with them about anything so now I'm a hardcore "love over morals" Jason girlie. Obviously I still think moral code development would be a good and interesting storyline and better than anything DC is giving us rn, but I think we could do even better without it.

(also Star Sapphire Jason ftw)

[suguwu]

"why did you say yes to my clan's offer?"

gojo tilts his head, peering over the edges of his sunglasses, a lightning strike of blue. you're still not used to it, the intensity of his gaze. it makes you think of crystalline lakes that fade into deeper, darker waters.

"did you want me to leave you to the sharks?" he asks.

you scowl. "i'm not talking about dinner."

"so you admit your family are sharks."

"everyone knows that," you say. "hold this."

he eyes the bunch of leggy irises you're handing him, the blooms the deep purple of a fading sunset. he takes them with a grin. "flowers? for me? you shouldn't have."

"you're so annoying."

"you love me."

"ugh."

you tease out an iris from his grip and slip it into the arrangement you're making, weaving the stem carefully into place. "don't think you're avoiding the question," you say. "why did you agree to marry me?"

"filial piety," he says.

you raise a brow. "liar."

he starts to hand over the rest of the irises when you gesture for them. when you reach out, he catches your hand and tugs you into the circle of his arms. the irises tumble to the floor.

he lowers his head; it brings him close, until you're breathing in his air. this close, his eyes are all ocean, a riptide gaze. his arms tighten around you.

"maybe i just like you."

you suck in a sharp breath.

"you could have asked me out like a normal person."

he grins.

"where's the fun in that?"

[diiwata]

panem's possible asian diaspora: how being asian might add nuance to district 4 & 7 characters.

i'm not trying to discredit the actors that portrayed these characters, nor am I saying that these experiences are universal to asians everywhere. as an asian-american thg fan, it's just interesting to see how my experiences (again, not universal) could apply to some characters and explain their actions. they're not canonically asian, you can imagine them as you want. this is just for funsies! it started off as a fun little, "lol what if finnick was filipino?" then spiraled out of control.

topics discussed:

seniority and the seablings

filial piety and duty to community in thg

treech, odesta, and the model minority myth

asian f*tishization and finnick odair

cw: racism, s*xualization, and death are mentioned but not entirely fleshed out and in detail.

Let’s start off with geography!

In the official map of Panem, we see that districts Four and Seven encompass both California and Washington, respectively — two states with some of the highest populations of Asian-Americans in the modern-day west coast. It’s not far-fetched to believe that there are some Asian influences there just as there are hints of Katniss’ indigenous roots in the books (a headcanon that inspired this one).

SENIORITY AND THE SEABLINGS

FILIAL PIETY & DUTY TO COMMUNITY IN THG

TREECH, ODESTA, AND THE MODEL MINORITY MYTH

ASIAN F*TISHIZATION AND FINNICK ODAIR

or... I'm just projecting!!! idk 😁

sorry for the censoring. I tried posting this on tiktok, and they took it down, so now I'm a little paranoid!

AGAIN (sorry, I just hate causing too much debate) I'M NOT SAYING THEY'RE ASIAN. I just think asian characters in thg would be neat--

[aeoki]

Number Eight - Prologue

Characters: Rinne, HiMERU, Kohaku & Niki Location: Inside helicopter Season: Winter Writer: Akira

TL Note:

Rinne makes an error with the idiom; the original idiom is about filial piety (a virtue of exhibiting love and respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors) and not brotherhood.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ< One day at the beginning of March. Up in the air. >

Rinne: Hey, Niki. There’s something I wanna tell ya since it’s gonna be the end.

We might seriously be in danger.

Niki: Huh? What’s wrong? Why’re you saying that all of a sudden?

…You said “the end”, but this is our ride there. Don’t you mean “the beginning”?

Rinne: No, no. What I’m tryin’ to say is that this situation is weird.

Come on, think about it. They blindfolded us and then shoved us into a bus, a plane and then a helicopter.

This doesn’t sound like a simple overseas shoot at all.

Maybe we unknowingly offended our CosPro boss, so we’re getting buried out in the middle of nowhere. 

Geez, if I knew this was gonna happen, I should’ve said goodbye to my cute lil’ brother. You know what they say: You realise it’s too late by the time you wanna be a good older brother[⁎]!

Niki: How can the entertainment industry be so heartless…? They’re way too cruel! Does this mean we’re not needed anymore!?

I wish they prepared a final meal for us at least. I don’t wanna die on an empty stomach~!

Kohaku: You two are overreactin’. We’re just headin’ to our next shoot.

We simply received an offer to appear in a variety show that’s similar to “The Minotaur’s Labyrinth”, since it seems it was unexpectedly popular, and people enjoyed seein’ us do ridiculous things.

I bet they’re schemin’ because they wanna make us do somethin’ similar…

Rinne: Woah~ Looks like we’ve got a little bee who can’t read the room!

The super entertaining Rinne-kun was just trying to put on a good show~ I did all that to trick Niki and now my hard work’s gone down the drain.

Niki: What? All that pessimistic stuff you said earlier was a lie!?

I can’t believe you tricked me! If you’re gonna make fun of people like that, then you’re just gonna die a worthless death, you hear!

HiMERU: Amagi, Shiina, Oukawa. Can you three be quiet for a moment?

I’d like to rest while I can. If this is going to be a repeat of “The Minotaur’s Labyrinth”, then it’s surely going to be another stamina test.

We should preserve our energy as much as we can while we’re on the move. That’s the secret to working successfully.

Kohaku: HiMERU-han, you’re adaptin’ to the situation right away.

HiMERU: But, of course. HiMERU would like to resolve everything in a smart and resourceful manner.

Had I not been kidnapped by Amagi, I would have loved to be away, doing my own solo work.

Rinne: Things don’t work out like that in the real world, ya know ♪ We’re in the same unit – and that means we’ll ride and die together ♪

Niki: You really bring bad luck wherever you go, Rinne-kun.

Anyway, I’m glad we’re not gonna die.

Come to think of it, they checked our passports when we got on the plane here. I’ll be fine as long as I get to eat a bunch of local specialties~♪

Kohaku: All you have on your mind is food, huh, Niki-han.

I’d like to rest once we land, but…

Hmm?

Niki: What’s wrong, Kohaku-chan? Did you spot a delicious-looking animal or something?

Kohaku: No. Look over there.

There’s some sort of big banner on the ground.

Niki: “COME HERE”...? What does that mean?

HiMERU: Hmm. Apparently, the pilot says that it's supposed to be “used as a landing pad”.

Rinne: “Used as a landing pad”...? Sounds like something for parachuting.

So that means the real stuff is coming up, right? Alright, we’ve done a lotta different stuff, but parachuting will be a first!

I accept the challenge, so follow me, you guys ♪

Niki: Ah, wait a minute, Rinne-kun! Don’t start putting the parachuting equipment on!

I’m not mentally ready to jump off just yet!

Rinne: Details come later!

Come on, the instructor’s tellin’ us to hurry up too!

Niki: What? Those people weren’t here to film us, but they’re here to help us with the parachute!?

Rinne: I can flyyyy…☆

Niki: Rinne-kun! He just jumped off without listening to what I had to say!

His arrogance knows no bounds. Should we talk to the pilot and ask them to drop us off somewhere closer?

Kohaku: Ko ko ko. This is my first time parachuting as well ♪

It’ll be a valuable experience. If we can’t say no, then all that’s left is to give it a go and jump ♪

Niki: Not you too, Kohaku-chan!?

HiMERU: Stop looking so surprised, Shiina. You should put on your parachuting equipment.

It seems we don’t have a choice yet again. I think it would be wise to do what the show wants us to do instead of prolonging the conversation.

Niki: What? You’re gonna jump off too, HiMERU-kun?

I don’t wanna use my calories to do something like parachuting… Oh, geez. I guess I don’t have a choice, huh~

Okay. I just have to do it, don’t I!?

In exchange, they better let me have a taste of the delicious local specialties here!

I can flyyyy…!

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤNext Chapter →

[lurkingshan]

Intergenerational Trauma Challenge - 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us

It’s winter and I’m huddled up in my house hiding from the cold weather, so obviously this is the perfect time to tackle another entry on the intergenerational family trauma challenge list. This week I finally watched 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us, a Thai drama about Wang, a young man just coming of age who is desperately seeking answers about his father’s death; Sasiwimol, Wang’s very complicated mother who does not want to dig up the past; Inthawut, his father’s best friend who has been hiding from it for years; and Siam, the black hole at the center of this story.

Before I dig into the trauma themes, let me just say that this show is excellent, if not for everyone. It has a very intentional style that makes it feel like a stage play—the writer is a playwright—and it’s basically eight episodes of very intense conversations. It’s not a romance and there’s an intellectualism in the writing that I found kept me at an emotional remove from the characters even as I marveled at how well crafted the dialogue is. And the dialogue is very important, which is why the translation of this drama is much stronger than we typically get from Thai productions—the words matter. It’s also loaded with visual metaphors and is all around beautiful to look at, and the three main performers are fantastic. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes theater, stories about complicated families, or beautiful and talented actors showing their work. And more than anything else, this show does incredibly strong thematic work and its messaging is on point: this is a story about how noble idiocy ruins lives.   

So, with that said, onto the trauma! Spoilers ahead, and I am assuming anyone reading past this point has watched the show. Some themes you’ll see in this one: taboo, denial of queer identity, homophobia, filial piety, and lots of emotional manipulation. Shoutout to @bengiyo and @twig-tea for reading this to make sure I didn’t miss anything in this complex story.

There are two main sources of intergenerational trauma radiating down toward Wang: the absence of his father, Siam, and his intense relationship with his mercurial mother, Sasiwimol. The story is structured around Wang’s determination to seek answers about Siam—both who he was and how he died. He has grown up knowing a certain story: that his parents met and fell in love in college but divorced when he was young, that his father loved him very much despite not staying with his mother, and that his father was an alcoholic who died in a drunk driving accident. Shortly after his father’s death, his mom put him in boarding school so she could focus on her career and became a weekend parent to him—as she was not around to structure his day to day life, their relationship became more about her taking him on fun adventures and spoiling him when she had time off, treating each other as best friends instead of like a mother and son, and never talking about Siam. He has always suspected there was more to the story of his parents that he was not being told, and as he has grown up, come into his own queerness, and picked up on his mother’s casual homophobia and obsessive devotion to compulsory heteronormativity, his suspicions about the secret his mom was holding became sharper. 

Enter Inthawut. Inthawut was Siam’s best friend, and with nothing to go on but a set of old pictures, Wang has an instinctual certainty that he is the key to the secret he’s seeking. And thus he engineers a way for he and his mom to “coincidentally” stumble onto Inthawut’s property and get invited to stay a few days in his isolated home, at which point Wang begins his campaign to figure out what the hell happened between Siam, Sasiwimol, and Inthawut at any cost.

One of the things I find most interesting about this story is how much the plot hinges on Wang going against Asian cultural norms in his pursuit of the truth. He is not respectful to his elders. He does not maintain filial piety and deference to his mother. He refuses to restrain his emotions. Instead, he is pushy and relentless and emotionally manipulative (all tricks we can plainly see he learned from Sasiwimol) and Inthawut doesn’t stand a chance against him. And so, because Wang explicitly acts against these cultural values, the truth comes out and the trauma is no longer suppressed. 

And in the end, it’s a simple, if desperately sad story: Siam and Inthawut were in love, but Inthawut was battling internalized homophobia and deep-seeded fear and so he relentlessly pushed Siam away and toward dating and then marrying their friend Sasiwimol. And when Siam, miserable in this heterosexual relationship he never actually wanted, finally snapped and confessed his true feelings, Inthawut rejected him and ran away to study abroad. Inthawut was running due to his own fear, but he also had noble notions of somehow protecting Siam from his own queerness and told himself that if he was gone, Siam would accept his heterosexual life. Of course, that did not happen, and in the fallout of this rejection Siam sank further into alcoholism and died soon after. Inthawut’s reaction was the exact worst fear of all gay people who work up the courage to confess to a friend they have developed feelings for: outright rejection, abandonment, and destruction of the relationship. And in his mind, he did this to Siam “for his own good,” a fairly textbook execution of the noble idiocy trope. In the aftermath, we see how Inthawut has isolated himself, part in penance, part in self-protection, and intellectualized his way to a romantic construction of his own cowardice that he tries to convince Wang is righteous.

But Wang is deeply affected by how the denial of his father’s queerness ruined his life and is absolutely not having any of Inthawut’s self-denying bullshit, and this is where things get messy, as both Wang and Inthuwat seem to start seeing Wang and Siam as interchangeable and they develop an emotional entanglement that is deeply unhealthy, to say the least. Wang wants to understand Siam so badly that he starts to be him, and Inthuwat is so desperate to address his regret and shame that he starts to see Wang as Siam, as well. Wang also uses this attachment as a way to shock his mother and forcefully bring her real feelings about Siam and Inthawut to the surface. Despite Wang’s many loud protestations to the contrary, I don’t believe that he and Inthawut actually love each other. They are using each other to work out their trauma about Siam.

And they’re not the only ones! Sasiwimol seems to have her own psychological confusion about Wang as he relates to Siam, and their dynamic is very strange as a result. She refers to Wang as dua-eeng (and has taught him to do the same with her rather than calling her “mom”), a Thai endearment that literally means “self” but is often used between lovers. They have a very physically affectionate relationship that often had me grimacing in discomfort, and she clearly sees Wang as both a source of pain—because he is so like Siam—and her one source of comfort and happiness. She is a successful woman by any standard, but she’s also desperately lonely, hanging on tight to Wang as her only companion in a way that often veers into overbearing, and deeply wounded by her past with Siam and Inthawut. It was through her own friendship with Inthawut that she pursued Siam in the first place, and she clearly feels betrayed not only by Siam, but by Inthawut, both for getting in the way of her relationship with Siam and for leaving them. Her feelings about both men are complex and the story never fully spells them out, in part because Sasiwimol never does. Determinedly not thinking about what happened between them is a big part of how she copes, along with sublimating her suspicions into homophobia, which she perpetuates quite intentionally in her work via production of heterosexual romance propaganda.

Wang clearly loves his mother even as he is frustrated by her prejudices, her desire to control him, and her tendency toward emotional manipulation. He is a perceptive kid and he has studied her closely; he understands her very well and can often predict exactly how she’ll react to a situation. Which is why his decision to announce baldly to her face that he is in love with Inthawut—not only coming out as gay but declaring his intention to move out of her home and in with a man 20+ years his senior who is deeply entangled with her own trauma—felt very intentional to me. He knew what kind of reaction that would get from her, and he wanted it. And sure enough, Sasiwimol crumbles at this repetition of her trauma and the perceived disloyalty of Wang choosing Inthawut over her just as his father did. The rest of the emotion she’d been holding back comes pouring out, resulting in the three of them finally airing out everything that lies between them and everything they are feeling about the Siam-shaped hole in their lives. And once she breaks down, Wang is able to forgive her for the grievance she’s caused him and ultimately decides to remain filial and continue living with her, because he does not actually want to punish his mother for what happened to his father. 

So, in the end, where did the story leave us with all this trauma? I can’t really say that any of these characters have healed, but I do think Wang kick-started that process, at least for himself. He got what he needed most out of this little scheme: deeper understanding of who his father was and why his life took such a drastic turn. He remains caught in the dysfunctional dynamic with his mother, and I’m not sure he’ll ever fully break out of it, but at least there is more honesty between them now about what they’re dancing around. She now knows he is gay and she has to accept it to keep him with her, and given that he has backed off from asking her to accept something much scarier than that, I do think she will find a way to make her peace with it. Inthawut is the character who seems to have progressed the least, standing firmly in his stasis and remaining determinedly alone with his pain, though the show leaves us with a note of ambiguity that suggests he may someday find the courage to move on.

The messages of this work are clear. Internalized homophobia and denial of your own queerness are poison for your soul. Rejecting a loved one “for their own good” is an act of cowardice and selfishness, not an act of love. Hiding from and sublimating your trauma will never allow you to heal. Refusing to process your pain will only lead to you pushing it down on the next generation. Ultimately, this story told us that bravely looking ourselves and our trauma in the face and confronting our truths head on is the only way to begin to heal, and that running from them only leads to ruin. 

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Hi, can I ask, who are your top 5 (or top 3) seme & uke from your favorite BL media (can be manga/manhwa/danmei/tv series/movies)? Why love them?

Hello! Thank you for the ask, I have been horrendously busy with very good things, so I did not ignore your ask, just have not had time or brain space to answer until now. I’ll be honest with you, I came in to this fandom from BL series with little to no background in yaoi before that, so I am not the most familiar with uke and seme as a concept. But, looking it up gave me the following definitions: 

Uke (受け): The term Uke, in Japanese, literally means "receiver" or "one who receives". In the Yaoi context, Uke is the more passive, submissive, and generally younger or physically smaller character in the relationship.

Seme (攻め): The term Seme, in Japanese, literally means "attacker" or "one who attacks". In the Yaoi context, the Seme is the more dominant, assertive, and usually older or physically larger character in the relationship.

So with those definitions in mind, my five favorite seme and ukes are: 

Masumi and Ritsu- The End of the World with You

Any one who has not watched this show should stop reading this post and go watch End of the World With You instead. Masumi and Ritsu had such an interesting dynamic and it was really fun to watch the changing in their relationship between college and the apocalypse. 

It felt to me like Masumi was rather stuck on his personality from college, a quiet and reserved person, who could not quite let go of the pain of being betrayed by Ritsu, even though he entered in to a relationship he was warned was not going to be romantic. It was cool to see how Ritsu mellowed out/matured more as an adult, and how that seme style personality was employed within the show in ways that allowed Masumi to forgo filial obligations and allow himself to stay with Ritsu and Yuma on their road trip. 

Vegas and Pete- KinnPorsche 

Okay, let’s get the more obvious ones out of the way first, before I get to talk about the really juicy ones. But, I fucking love VegasPete. I love them so much, I’d say that it’s just because of my First BL Drama goggles, but I’ve seen this show 15 times now, and just recently rewatched it, with over 120 BLs under my belt, and they still hold strong for me. I just- 

For me, they are so well written. Both the characters as individuals, Pete does tend to serve as a comic relief at the beginning, but even with relatively minimal screen time, they are really able to give him enough depth by the end that the character feels real, feels like he has a life and a history that exist outside of the confines of the story, and that his life history does impact how he operates in the world. I love the way that the narrative really is able to turn Vegas around in to a more wet and pathetic person by the end, so much so that I had a front row seat to watching my friends slowly learn to love him as they watched this show for the first time. 

I’d put Vegas as Pete’s kidnapper, torturer, and captor as the seme in their relationship and Pete as the kidnapped, prisoner, pet, and free therapist as the uke there. Something that I was interested in seeing with The Sign was a BL that was going to cover hypermasculinity, and while I don’t think KinnPorsche is something I would consider hypermasculine, I do think that Vegas and Pete have a very interesting relationship because they both are pretty masc, and therefore they can fight each other, and Pete can give Vegas a run for his fucking money in a fight, while still being able to maintain what I would consider a seme and uke dynamic. 

But ultimately my favorite thing about them is the emotional complexity to their relationship, not whether or not they fit the seme & uke definitions. That scene in Episode 13 when Pete and Vegas fight, and Pete knocks Vegas out and escapes remains one of my favorites in KinnPorsche and sits pretty firmly in my huge assortment of favorite scenes in BL because it was really fun watching those characters navigate the emotional minefield that was captivity, love, hatred, freedom, dehumanization, desperation, violence, and pain. Good shit, at least in my opinion. 

Hira and Kiyo- Utsukushii Kare 

A trend with some of my favorite seme/uke characters is that they tend to subvert expectations when looked at from just a historically “top” or “bottom” perspective as it relates to seme and uke terminology in yaoi. 

Hira and Kiyoi are one of my favorite seme and uke pairs because Hira and Kiyoi subvert the expectation about who the seme and uke are. My impression of Utsukushii Kare is that Kiyoi is the uke and Hira is the seme, despite the fact that Hira is physically smaller and submissive to Kiyoi. And while I am not well versed in seme/uke tropes in yaoi, @bengiyo is very knowledgeable in the positionality of semes and ukes in Japanese yaoi, and spoke about the positionality of Hira and Kiyoi in Utsukushii Kare in one of the The Conversation Pod episodes where he talked about Hira and Kiyoi constantly being in a battle about placing themselves lower in relation to one another, and who was on the left versus who was on the right. I really love how so much of their own internal relationship fights are really structured around the fact that Kiyoi wants Hira to be on the attack, (and we see that Hira is literally capable of being on the attack when it comes to defending Kiyoi) but in order for that to happen, Hira need to cut the hero worship bullshit and look at Kiyoi like a human being. 

Without a solid understanding of the seme/uke tropes, the positionality, the hair color, etc. I think it is relatively easy to miss that thread in their arguments, I definitely did. Which is fine, because Utsukushii Kare is strongly written and therefore their fights are layered with additional meaning on top so everyone has something to pull from their relationship struggles. But once My Beautiful Man: Eternal came out, we finally got an explicit statement from Kiyoi where he asked Hira if he ever fantasized about being manhandled. Which to me is the most obvious call-out to that aspect of their relationship that we had in the show.  

Also, from just a character perspective, Hira is a little freak and I love him and his ducks, and Kiyoi is just a sweetheart who deserves all of the love in the world. 

Ji Hyun and Jae Won- The Eighth Sense

That country mouse sure knows what he wants and is willing to die to get that dick so like, there is no way I can’t put Ji Hyun on the list. Massive respect to that little twink, dude joined the surf club when he didn’t know how to swim, drowned, and nearly died so he could bag Jae Won and he did. Similarly to Hira and Kiyoi, I don’t think going in to this show you would quite expect Ji Hyun to be the pursuer in the relationship, but he very quickly lets us all know what is up. And it works so well here because Jae Won as a character spend so much of his time unmoored. He’s passive, he’s quiet, he’s dissociative for, like, 90% of the show, and it is so wonderful to see the ways that Ji Hyun’s repeated advances, both his more subtle attempts and his more blatant are one of few things that are able to get a genuine and happy reaction out of Jae Won. 

I love the moments they shared together in Episode 6; as much as it hurts, I love the way Ji Hyun’s accident so strongly impact Jae Won just to show you how much of a positive impact Ji Hyun’s pursuit has had on his life, I love the places where Ji Hyun’s accident results in Jae Won starting to have a more active (and aggressive) control over his own life; and I love the way that Ji Hyun does not stop trying to give Jae Won as much love as he can send his way. The way Ji Hyun knows to expect Jae Won the second that he sees that Read message appear under the texts he’d sent Jae Won, the way the show is filled with light whenever they are together, the way that Jae Won is more relaxed, and smiles and laughs more easily as a result of receiving all of this love and care from Ji Hyun. 

Their relationship is excellent, Ji Hyun’s horny little ass is excellent, The Eighth Sense is excellent. I love them.  

Wang and Inthawut- 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us

 

Ok, I don’t know if this is a controversial choice or not, because I would not consider 180 Degree a BL at all. Nor would I ultimately consider Wang and Inthawut’s relationship to be romantic at least by the end of this show. But I do think that a) they fit the seme and uke definitions above super legibly and b) they once again subvert the expectation of which character falls under each role. There has never been a more passive motherfucker in all of the world as Inthawut. Wang is one of the most aggressive pursuers I have ever seen in media, he is assertive, he knows exactly what he wants, he will give it all to Inthawut if it means he gets some goddamn answers from the adults in his life that are too fucking scared to answer any of his questions if it means facing their pasts. 

Was this just an excuse to talk about 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us because it is one of my favorite shows of all time and put me through the emotional wringer? Maybe. But I do think the point still stands that Wang is there trying to give his all to Inthawut, and Inthawut is there desperately fighting with every fiber of his being not to receive anything from Wang. 

[thatswhatsushesaid]

i think it is extremely weird that parts of this fandom have just definitively decided that the principle antagonist is an irredeemably evil monster because he has his minion burn down a brothel (where said antagonist was born and abused and watched his mother suffer and die) with people still inside it, then hires a bunch of sex workers to rape his rapist dad (who raped so many women that he lost track of who his victims were, and ended up approving of a marriage between said antagonist and his own half-sister as a result) to death

when the protagonist’s chosen means of killing the people who razed the only home he’s ever known and murdered his foster parents involves 1) choking a woman to death by forcing a table leg down her throat, 2) forcing that dead woman to bite off a man’s genitals, and 3) forcing that man to eat his own legs. this plus the protagonist’s multiple day-long murder-torture bender where he kills and tortures a bunch of other wen sect disciples in front of each other, and owns doing this because it was fun and would have been too boring to kill then quickly. like jiang cheng and lan wangji find wwx by following the trail of bodies he leaves in his wake ok, that’s pretty awful

if wei wuxian can do these things and and still be considered good, then that only makes it harder for me to understand why jin guangyao is denied goodness

fun fact: when i describe both of these characters to people who are totally canon-blind and know nothing about mdzs, cql, or any of the other adaptations, the initial response from most people isn’t “hmmm but what was the protagonist’s interiority while he was making that woman’s corpse eat that man’s junk? was he very sad about it? that will surely tell me whether his corpse desecration and autocannibalism is morally defensible or not.” most of the time what they say is “ray what the fuck are you reading, both of those guys sound like evil people, i don’t care what their motivations are! also get help”

it just seems weird!! that certain corners of this fandom have decided that goodness is not only a quality that wwx intrinsically possesses (something i don’t necessarily disagree with fwiw), but that he gets to be defined by this goodness above all else. wwx gets situated at the centre of all subsequent discourse as the moral lighthouse of the whole novel—even though he has done objectively heinous shit entirely to satisfy his own desire for vengeance. doing all of those things does not detract from his fundamental goodness, in their estimation. or if it does, it doesn’t detract enough to significantly impact his role for them as the goodness barometer in the novel.

and that’s fine with me actually! if this is where the bar for what it means to be good in this novel is set, then it should logically follow that jin guangyao’s heinous actions can similarly be ‘offset’ by paying the appropriate ‘goodness tax’ through his other canon actions (e.g., loving and remaining filial to his mother, saving and protecting lan xichen, saving nie mingjue, funding the rebuilding of the cloud recesses, caring for his orphaned nephew, etc). he has done yuckydisgusting things, yes, but so has wwx! and as we all know, wwx is not evil! so jgy isn’t evil either!

…but this isn’t what happens in these conversations, because jgy seems to begin all fandom discourse at a goodness deficit that is depressingly reflective of the goodness deficit he experiences in the novel post-canon. (or, honestly, at the beginning of his life as meng yao.) and unlike wwx whose character gets to be defined principally by his goodness in spite of his genuinely horrendous acts of violence, jin guangyao’s whole character becomes defined by his horrendous acts of violence in spite of his goodness, even though the text demonstrates clearly that their capacity for both good and evil is evenly matched.

tl;dr it would be nice if the goodness goalposts would stop moving around so much in these discussions. maybe we should just get rid of them entirely.

[topaz-witch-tea]

I know it's called Yanqing's Happy Family AU but I can only imagine all that crumbling down if the Abundance Yanqing Theory ends up being true. Poor boy going to feel that all his family love for him was all for nothing.

Trigger Warning: MENTION OF SUICIDE

Yanqing would be crushed!!!

He would definitely feel that he's ruined his family. They take him in and love him and in return, he is revealed to be a descendent of the Xianzhou's greatest enemy. I think if such a thing did happen in the AU, Yanqing would run away. He would either run away from the Alliance to live elsewhere like the Astral Express or the option is that he takes matters into his own hands and kills himself. To him, he is doing as a Cloud Knight. A Cloud Knight's job is to destroy all enemies of the Alliance and in his sense of duty, he would take himself out.

If news of this got out, it would destroy his family's reputation and would be a stain on their careers. He would see his existence as a horrible mistake and out of love and filial duty, seek to both hide the truth from everyone and ensure that it can't be used as blackmail against his family.

However, the Alliance's real worry is not Yanqing but the HCQ. There is no way they will allow the Alliance or the Ten Lords Commission to take Yanqing away nor would they allow Yanqing to kill himself. He is their precious child regardless of his origins and they love him dearly.

I think if that happens, the HCQ will take Yanqing and run away. I can totally see them joining the Express and traveling the world. They are free from the roles and expectations of the Xianzhou and are able to travel and explore the world freely with Yanqing by their side.

If we are talking about Yanqing and his family staying in the Xianxhou, I would write the solution as Lan interfering and putting a stop to Yanqing's execution. Even if Yanqing was made of the Abundance, he still follows the Path of the Hunt which is the Xianzhou Allaince's path. In Dan Heng's lore, Lan blessed Dan Heng's Path of the Hunt so I can see Lan interfering to help Yanqing.

This was a really interesting ask and I had a lot of fun answering it. Please feel free to send me more or message me.