#finally made a leverage edit

[sheppardsmckay]

@lgbtqcreators creators bingo: Comedy| Strangers to friends| Colour| Team colors

[thenewblackcanvas]

I think there’d be a lot of sweetness in chan’s return home from tour. Like don’t get me wrong there with be ALOT of nsfw moments but I think the love would really show.

Like the minute he stepped into your apartment- typing the code even felt like forever- he walked into to foyer, letting the door close behind him. You came over seeing the duffel slide off him like it weighed a thousand pounds. He looked so tired. Your heart felt so full and so fond. You took long strides over to him, engulfing each other

Your arms tightly around his neck while his arms held you limply at first almost as if expecting it to be only dream you- again- and wake up. But it wasn’t. His arms slowly tightened around you. It was really you. He buried his face in your neck.

You would pick up his duffel and hold his hand to lead him to the room. He finally let the big ol backpack he was still carrying come off before holding you again. This time he softly let his lips indulge in yours. It had been months.

It stayed stagnant for a while before he felt good enough to venture further. But almost as if you sensed him about to do so you pulled away to bring him to the shower. You’d bought a few of the products he frequently used especially one he had mentioned loving on tour. He only grabbed a mini size but there was the full size sitting in your bathroom. You hadn’t even mentioned it specifically just that you got him some stuff for your house. He smiled wider knowing you listened to him rambling in his tired state between performances and sleep

You encouraged a shower. He wanted you to join him but you saw how tired he was. You assured him you would be waiting in bed for him to climb in next to you. He would be too tired to even beg you to join him plus the thought of you AND warm covers on a comfy bed made him want to skip the shower but he needed to get the travel off him.

Basically the moment he got in bed threw and arm over you he was practically already out.

It was only at around 5 in the morning he stirred for nsfw reasons.

You woke up to feel his erection across your clothed heat as his hips moved almost on their own

One of your legs was bent out as your sleeping form was sprawled on your side on the bed. He was seated right there, almost having unhindered access to your heat. In this position, he was almost pushing you to your stomach with the force of his thrusts. Your hand that was out on the bed was starting to grip the sheets for leverage as you started whining. He stuttered for a moment when you cursed realizing you were awake now

“S-sorry. Woke up like this. Need it-“

“Keep going”

You were both disoriented from sleep and quick onset carnal desire.

When he finally pulls his boxers down enough and you pulled your panties to the side he started to slide in bringing the arm to tighten around your torso and pull you back, closer to him as he rolled into you.

As it got faster, he pushed you fully on your stomach, propped your hips up, and hovered over you. On his palms, he chases a desperate and long overdue high

Your hand came under you and between your legs to aid you to your own high

Thankfully you finished about the same time, leaving you both panting and more tired.

He pulled you back to the position from before, arm tight around you, without pulling out. “This is how I wanted to sleep every night”

I barely edited this thought from its state in my notes so if it's bad, then i guess its just bad ♡ Bang Chan masterpost ♡

[sgiandubh]

My curious and random thought: Why ask about Shat and why now? It’s ancient fandom history. Is it only because Star Trek has been an iconic IP at the comic cons, or could there be some clean up planned to close out the last 11 years. And if so what other interesting nuggets might be next.

Dear Ancient Fandom History,

What a #silly, #silly way to minimize/discount something so tragically wrong and so embarrassing to many luminaries across the street! What this sad, cheap troll did to many people is borderline mystifying, if you ignore (I said that before, I will probably say it again) that his leverage was based on the fact this was an almost exclusively feminine fandom and an ageing one, at that. It is my understanding, after reading what happened then, that nobody managed or even wanted to properly put him in his place. His empty threats (and, as a legal specialist, I know what I am saying) terrified and even traumatized many, but also served other trolls, who wanted to either portray themselves as victims, or invincible.

People who were embroiled and/or affected by this had no idea things could go that far in a fandom, an environment that seems absolutely benign (and a bit #silly, too, to be honest) to a perfect outsider. That made the shockwave even more violent .***, Shatner and the gossip press are all guilty and/or tainted by this. They tacitly tolerated, even condoned this troll's abuse of an entire fandom. Why? Because it was convenient, at the time and, on the long run, because OL's PR repeatedly proved itself to be tone-deaf and blatantly incompetent when it comes to crisis management.

Sock puppetry is a fraud (see US courts' jurisprudence, such as United States v. Drew, People v. Golb, etc). Doxing people is a crime, still insufficiently sanctioned by the US legislation (the Interstate Communications Statute and the Interstate Stalking Statute), unlike South Korea or (soon to be) Australia, just to take two random examples. The reasons why they still happen probably are public complacency and lack of proper information, spare the sketchy legislation, allowing many loops.

There were consequences to this. People were hurt, dishonored, despised and shunned. And for what? A not so uncommon love story? This is so wrong, in so many ways, I could be only glad, Anon that some light has been finally shed on this heavy, toxic garbage. Kudos to S for being brave enough to open up Pandora's box. I have to say I was surprised: makes his honesty even more valued.

Why now? Because we are slowly reaching the end, when nothing else matters, as Metallica once famously sang (still one of my favorite ballads, mind you). Will there be more interesting nuggets? Logically yes, but at this point in time, my guess is as good as anyone else's.

Not even sorry for this very long answer. I tend to get very invested in this, reminds me of a former professional life of mine. Happy days.

[Later edit]: forgot to answer your first question. If you think these discussion topics are not discussed before recording and vetted, you are naive, Anon. Very interesting, huh? There was nothing organic in that episode. Nothing.

[walks-the-ages]

Nanowrimo made a half-assed, desperate ""apology"" post

Full text, for when they inevitably try to edit it; as of right now it's August 6th, 2024, around 5:30pm est.

A Note to Our Community About our Comments on AI – September 2024 To the NaNoWriMo Community: In early August, debates about AI on our social media channels became vitriolic. It was clear that the intimidation and harassment we witnessed were causing harm within our community of writers. The FAQs we crafted last week were written to curtail those behaviors. We wanted to send a clear signal that NaNoWriMo spaces would not be used to bully or delegitimize other writers. This was consistent with our May 2024 statement, which named a lack of civility in NaNoWriMo spaces as a longstanding concern. Taking a position of neutrality was not an abandonment of writers’ legitimate concerns about AI. It was an acknowledgment that NaNoWriMo can’t maintain a civil, inclusive community if we allow selective intolerance. We absolutely believe that AI must be discussed and that its ethical use must be advocated-for. What we don’t believe is that NaNoWriMo belongs at the forefront of that conversation. That debate should continue to thrive within the greater writing community as technologies continue to evolve. We apologize that our original message was unclear and seemingly random. Our note on ableism and classism was rooted in the desire to point out that, for people in certain circumstances, some forms of AI can be life-changing. We certainly don’t believe those with concerns about AI to be classist or ableist. Not being more careful about our wording was a bad decision on our part. Our Mission is about providing encouragement to writers and cheering them on as they progress toward their goals. That remains our primary focus. In the future, we will be more transparent about the issues that we are trying to address with any messaging we provide. Finally, we recognize that some members of our community have other questions and concerns that go beyond general context for our comments. We don’t think we can address all of these in a single communication. Additional context here is that we are a very small team (including our Interim Executive Director, who is a volunteer). We want to take the time to read through your letters with the care, attention, and concern they deserve. Please expect more in the coming weeks.  In partnership, The NaNoWriMo Team

I sincerely hope their other sponsors bail ship and leave them to flounder at this point lmao. There is no going back from "if you criticize generative AI you're just ableist classist and racist".

They've also once again edited their "What Is Nanowrimo's Stance on AI?" post:

New text, in full; looks like it was updated sometime late yesterday or early today (August 6th 2024):

What is NaNoWriMo's position on Artificial Intelligence (AI)? 13 hours ago -Updated Not yet followed by anyone

NaNoWriMo neither explicitly supports nor condemns any approach to writing, including the use of tools that  leverage AI. We recognize that harm has been done to the writing and creative communities at the hands of bad actors in the generative AI space, and that the ethical questions and risks posed by some aspects of this technology are real. The fact that AI is a large, complex technology category (which encompasses both non-generative and generative AI, applied in a range of ways to a range of uses) contributes to our belief that AI is simply too big and too varied to categorically support or condemn. NaNoWriMo's mission is to "provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people use their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page." We fulfill our mission by supporting the humans doing the writing. Please see this related post that speaks to our overall position on nondiscrimination with respect to approaches to creativity, writer's resources, and personal choice.  We made mistakes in our initial expression of this position. We speak to those mistakes in this letter to our community, and we've simplified the language on this page to reflect our core position. 

If you're wondering why Nano's posting all these non-apologies, its because they started this debacle with seven huge sponsors.

Over the course of the last three days, they've gone down to four.

They have literally lost about half their sponsors because of their support of generative ai.

And, as you can see in the "apologies" above, they're still defending their AI stance, by now claiming that their stance is because they were defending poor, hapless AI users from a horde of harassment and bullying from all sides, and they're not a platform that condones bullying! totally! (sarcasm).

[amuseoffyre]

A Purely Selfish Action

I've had the show running in the background while I've been working and this line tripped across my ear and made me realise this is how/why Aziraphale is going to save the world.

He knows the Second Coming is on its way and this time he's front and centre for the ride. The last time it was Armageddon (Antichrist Edition), Crowley appealed to Aziraphale's love of human things to get him on side: food, music, shows, nice wine.

Yes, Aziraphale has other reasons for standing his ground as well, but when it comes down to it, he is selfish. He wants to keep his things and his people safe and comfortable. He likes to be around his people and his things and being promoted to manage the Second Coming has cut him off from all of it. From his bookshop. From his books. From his little part of Soho. From his coffee shops and restaurants and the Ritz. And, most importantly, from Crowley.

There's a lot of mess surrounding their final interaction, both of them speaking at cross-purposes and actively not understanding why the other is doing what they are doing, but there can be no mistake that there is the love there. And I have absolutely zero doubts that the Metatron used Crowley as leverage against Aziraphale in ways we didn't see - there's a reason we were only shown parts of that conversation.

In Aziraphale's mind, if they're on the same side, then Crowley is safe. He's thought that since S1. "Heaven will win, of course". "You were an angel once". When Crowley rejects that, it is precisely a rejection of that - Heaven and angeldom and stepping back into that rut. Crowley makes it crystal clear that he would be happy with just Aziraphale. The love is there, from both sides. Instead of one saying "come away with me" we got the double-whammy "come away with me".

I'm absolutely certain that being stuck back in Heaven is Aziraphale's worst nightmare, especially without his emotional support demon. And the bigger the threat of Armageddon 2.0 grows, the more he realises what he will lose.

I don't doubt that any threat to Crowley will activate every Guardian instinct in that fluffy angel's head. Aziraphale has spent many a happy time letting Crowley rescue him from dangerous situations, but if anyone - anyone - threatens harm to his demon, Aziraphale Will Not Care For It.

I am so here for the territorial fierce Guardian of the Eastern Gate who puts his foot down and says "No, actually, this is my world, that is my city, that is my demon, and you are not destroying them, thank you very much. If you want to get to them you have to go through me and thank you very much for giving me all the powers of the highest of Archangels :)"

[sunshineneedsaplacetokeephernsfw]

Day 9 | Boot humping - Elbert

Kinktober masterlist

Gender-neutral reader (genitals not specified)

Word count: 500

18+, PWP, established relationship, boot humping, clothed sex, minimal editing

You positioned yourself on the toe of his boot. Lowered yourself onto the toe carefully. Stifling a wonton gasp at how it immediately pressed into you just right. You were already throbbing where his boot made contact with you. 

Elbert's eyes were wide. His pupils small as they drank in your form below him. Like he never expected to see you like this. His cheeks flushed pink.

You stared down in focus where his boot met you. Devising the best way to move as you made an experimental thrust. You slid across the material. Dragging against you through your clothes. You gasped and did it again. And again. Your hands grasped onto his leg for leverage.

His eyes were still locked onto you, watching your every movement. His look of surprise slowly replacing with something else. He couldn’t believe you could get off on his boot of all things. Or that you’d want to hump his boot. But the thought sent heat through him. That you needed him that badly. That you were so desperate even this would do. He wanted so badly to hold onto you, but you looked so perfect like this.

Fingers slid under your chin and lifted it up. Forced to look up and meet his gaze. How he stared down at you. His blue eyes darkened with greed.

“Look at me.”

The command was simple, but it made you shiver and down between your legs. You nodded. Fighting the heat in your face to look up at him. Your face was so close to his crotch. You couldn’t tell if you could feel warmth coming off of it, or if that was all you.

You whimper and hump harder. Your grip tightens around his leg and you cling to it. They were so thin, you were almost worried you’d snap them. Pleasure clouded your mind too much to care.

Almost experimentally, he tapped his foot up with you on it. A moan spilled out of your mouth. You hugged onto him tighter and pushed down.  It made him twitch beneath his clothes. He wanted more.

He lifted his foot again, and again. Just enough to rub up against you just right. Enough to keep you moaning over and over. Your hands clung to the fabric of his pants. Your nails dug in. Hugging his leg close as you just let him bounce you. 

“Please. Please, Elbie,” you panted.

Desperately trying, wanting to get off. Begging him. Pleads falling from your lips. Your sex weeped against your underwear.

One final push up and you were cumming. Quivering on top of his boot and cutting off the circulation in his leg. He pet your hair as you came down. Your cheek pressed into his thigh. You nuzzled your forehead into it.

Your eye couldn’t help but catch on his bulge and how it was straining. You smiled.

“Do you want to take care of that?”

“Yes, please,” he answered without missing a beat.

You laughed, and tried to test out your still weakened legs. “One moment.”

[goldenheart-supremacy]

Nimona AU - How to train your Dragon

@kestrel-wylde I kinda went nuts here...

During a dragon raid, the chief of Berk, Valerin's husband died.

They were both alternating battling dragons and helping their people.

When Valerin found her dead husband's body, she saw that he'd been burned badly.

Then she found that the reason his arms were tucked into himself was because he had been doing his best to protect a small bundle in his arms.

It was a baby. Since his parents seemed to have died in the raid as well, Valerin had decided to take the child under her care and adopted him since she and her husband haven't the chance to conceive yet.

Time skip to the future.

Ballister was an only child to his biological parents but if he ever did have siblings, he would've been considered the 'runt of the litter', as he didn't seem as well built for a Viking child his age.

At least, compared to the other Viking children his age.

Maybe Valerin and Ballister has a better relationship than Stoick and Hiccup did in the start of this AU story.

The conflict for Ballister is getting the village to accept his as the chiefess's scion and future chief.

Maybe when Ballister finds out and starts training Nimona, his reason for wanting to keep the secret is as to not make his reputation worse. [I don't know yet how he ends up injuring her like Hiccup did Toothless in the movie]

I just added my OCs for more character dynamics, like the original team had in the movie but feel free to use them or not or make your own OPs for the AU hahaha 😆

Some dialogue ideas...

Ballister, voiceover as a narrator: [Tomorrow, when training begins, I'm going to prove myself and show that I can stand at par with the others. Aerin Shieldstone, Connor Silverlock, Todd Sureblade, Abigail Swiftfeet, Atticus Valorarm and...]

Ambrosius was running away from some dragons, and he jumped over some barrels as a Zippleback launched a fireball at him.

Ballister, in a dreamily way: [... Ambrosius...]

Avoiding the impact of the blast, Ambrosius used the remaining leverage from jumping over the barrels to backflip away and ended up landing unto Ballister's arms...

Ambrosius, grinning: Good looking out, Bal.

Ambrosius pinches Ballister's cheek affectionately before leaping out of his arms, grabbing his axe and a bucket to see if there's anywhere else he needs to be...

Ambrosius: Look alive, Bal! Let's get rid of these beasts! Ballister, grabbing a sword: Right behind you, Ambs!

Trainer: Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight! The Deadly Nadder! Atticus, mumbling: Speed: eight; Armor: sixteen. Trainer: The Hideous Zippleback! Atticus: Plus eleven stealth times two. Trainer: ...The Monstrous Nightmare! Atticus: Firepower: fifteen. Trainer: The Terrible Terror! Atticus: Attack: eight; Venom: twelve! Trainer: CAN YOU STOP THAT?! Trainer, sighing: And the Gronkle. Atticus, more quietly: Jaw strength: eight. Connor, smirking: Someone's done some advanced reading... Ambrosius, chuckling: Only about a lot, too Atticus, smiling sheepishly: I read the book seven times. Ambrosius and Connor: Wow.

During training with the Gronkle to avoid getting hit...

Aerin, keeping his eyes on the Gronkle's location: Todd, keeping his eyes on Aerin: So, I moved to my parent's basement. Todd: Got some weights in there, you should come over some time to work out. Aerin, barrel rolls away: Todd, calling out to him: You look like you work out!

Then, the Gronkle hits a shot on the spot Todd was standing at...

Aerin and Connor - my OCs, besties Atticus and Abigail - OCs I remembered reading from your fic 'Love At First Fight', I just gave Atticus a temporary last name. Unless, you know, @kestrel-wylde wants to make it final haha I didn't write Abigal yet since I don't know much how to write the character. Atticus is based off the otter knight from the movie, so I kinda headcanon him as someone nerdy with animal facts, so I made him like Fishlegs here.

Edit: Please check out Kestrel's Httyd Nimona AU art!

[elllisaaa]

hello there!! 🫶🏼 first i wanna thank you so much for reading and rb my gunil fic, i appreciate the support truly 🥹

as i saw your hard thoughts are open i’ll let myself rant about yeonjun, he’s my bias from txt and ughhhhh this man, i go crazy every time i see his pretty face

one thing i LOVE about him is his confidence and how he carries himself it’s so attractive !!! i just need him to fuck me SO rough and deep in doggy style i feel his cock in my throat 😣 and i really really need him to talk cocky behind me the entire time, about how good he’s giving it to me and how no one ever has fucked me this good before, and no one else will 🤤 he’s the only one that can make me cum multiple times till i can’t think straight, and he always makes sure that i don’t forget that

oof, sorry if it’s too much, but it’s what he does to me 😭

hiii sweetie !!

thank you so much for supporting me too, and really i'm so happy to have finally found a blog about xh, and you're also feeding my gunil delulu thoughts so it's a win win 🤭 and it's definitely not too much, because i think this man have such an effect on everyone. even if he's not my bias (i'm a soobin girly), i'm still drooling over him, especially those edits with the weeknd starboy... they have me going feral fr ! thanks for the ask !

and you're definitely right, this man is overly confident and it's hella attractrive. but he has every right to be : one look at him is enough to understand why he's so cocky all the time. this man is talented, successful and so, so attractive. everywhere he goes, he has all eyes on him, including yours, and that's the only thing that really matters to him in the end.

his cockiness translates in the bedroom too, because how could he not when he knows that one word from him gets you on your knees in a matter of seconds ?

yeonjun loves to take you from behind, loves to stare at your ass and loves the way your back arch even more to let him reach deeper into you. with every thrust of his hips, the noise of skin colliding was echoing through the room. every time he got home after a show, he had spare energy to lose, and he was also so cocky, spurred by the way you were crying out his name as he pounded your tight cunt.

"that's it pretty girl, scream my name, let everyone hear how much you love it."

another moan escaped you, and yeonjun answered by a low grunt as he sped up his rhythm, fucking you more and more roughly as you let out more whimpers.

"dumb little slut, cannot think of everything beside my cock, huh ?"

he was so full of himself, borderline degrading you but it made you throb around his dick. if it was every other man, you would've been offended, but when it came out of yeonjun mouth, it was almost a compliment.

"fuck, i'm fucking you too well yeah ? that's why you can't talk anymore ?" and you sobbed at his words, tears streaming down your cheeks as you tried to hold on to something. "shh baby, i know it's so good, i know… so greedy, you already cum two times and you still want more ?"

you knew better than not answer him without his permission, so you nobbed your head as best you could in your current position and headspace. you mewled when his fingers digged into the flesh of your sides, using your body as leverage to fuck you even harder.

"that's alright, i know no one has ever fucked you like that before. i know no one could ever fuck you like that, i'm the only one that can make you feel like that."

and he's right, he's always right. he fucks you as if he exactly knew the right timing, the right pressure, the right rhythm to make you fold.

"say it. say that i'm the only one. let everyone hear how good i'm fucking you." your lack of answer earned you a harsh slap on your ass, making you moan even louder. "say it, or you're not cumming." "yes junnie ! only you make me feel like that." "good girl, now you can cum."

your orgasm washed over you as soon as you heard his order, pleasure so intense your vision blurred. your body became limp, and if it wasn't for yeonjun holding your hips up, you would've collapsed on the mattress.

"gonna give my cum to you baby, i know you want it."

you could only whine in response, unable to even shake your head yes or no. overstimulation was stinging, but it hurt so good. and yeonjun knew that, he always knew what to do. when he painted your walls white, and you were reaching your climax again, you definitely knew that yeonjun had ruined you for any other men.

[anguishedlurker]

Sorry, our hands are tied about this!

Prompt "Nocturne fucked up BIG TIME and now needs help from the ghost kid." from kadziduo on ao3/ @duchi-nesten on tumblr! Get phic phought :) Edit: Functioning Ao3 link now that I have a working brain tonight

~

“Fix it. Before I do” Was all Clockwork said before vanishing.

Fix what? Nocturne didn’t know, but nonetheless knew that Clockwork was presently threatening its non-life into vanishment.

Many types of accidents could be arranged.

Fix it before Clockwork does, and left to do its own research to boot. How droll.

Creeping, trawling through random dreams for a hint. Its purpose, if not its goal in its non-life. Delightful nonsense and soft desires clashing against horrid possibilities and terrible unrealities.

Fix it, before Clockwork does. How unhelpful.

Fix it, fix it, fix it… What a dreadful chant to have been produced by the English language.

Finally, Nocturne conceded that it would have to either be very lucky, or open its eyes to the waking realm to find anything out.

If pressed for honesty, it would not call this a dreadful task. The waking realm is, afterall, the source of the realm of sleep. It pays to understand what one is reflecting.

But ah, so many dull details to mull over...

Fix it. Fix what? It wasn’t obvious until it was all that could be seen.

Magical items with magical properties are objects largely outside of Nocturne's purview.

Unless it has to do with sleep.

And unless it’s the one that made the cursed things, which were now its problem to solve.

In more ways than one, even.

Clockwork has simply sped the timeline up on this being its problem.

The objects were older than English, but could be generously translated to ‘Ribbons of Night’. Each of the six operated slightly differently from the other five when active.

Which makes it sound as if one ribbon could be depended on to be the same ribbon when activated.

Absolutely not. Even with a ribbon permanently attached to oneself between activations, there was no predicting which one you had at any given moment. They were the unholy fusion of dream logic and schrodingers box principals.

It was more complicated than that, granted. There were in fact signs that could point you towards which you had at any given moment, and thus could be leveraged to accomplish whatever ones goal was reliably if you were willing to wait.

No matter what, they were usually weak enough to not be a bother to much more than the fool who thought they could control the mind, and whatever half dozen idiots they saw fit to terrorize.

Usually.

It greatly depended on the energy willfully put into them, see...

More energy, more chaos and for even longer. What’s not to love?

Adorable little things, so long as a weird cult of both ghosts and humans don’t get all six and strategically place them around both realms and dump a small nations worth of power into each of them.

You know, because who would ever do that? Truly, such a thing would take a ridiculous series of logical leaps (to think it was a good idea) and logistical nightmares (to make real) that it would be immediately branded a fever dream and disregarded.

Nocturne would typically be inclined to not be involved with the whole debacle, its not as if it could reabsorbed the partitioned fragments itself, but there’s a small problem with the ribbons and how they operate.

The issue is slightly two-fold, and also just the same problem twice over. What can Nocturne say, its things like to be complicated like that.

The ribbons are small fragments of Nocturne, modified for usage by the average ghost. Living need not apply, but if they can work around it then power too them. Nocturne's power is a scary thing to have loose in any realm, particularly at small-nation’s-electrical-grid scale.

And also, the dreams are fragments of Nocturne, that turning off requires either patience for their power to run dry or for a test of power and will to succeed.

Backlash from such a test is usually not of Nocturne's concern- if a fool decided to power a ribbon beyond their control and had to pay to turn it off, Nocturne's side would sting for ten seconds and then stop. Whether the fool was dead or not didn’t matter to Nocturne.

But if the ribbons were powered to the point they’d take years to stop, and also all six of them were going strong at once, meaning that everyone would be forced to contest them, win or lose, in the name of everyone’s continued existence…

Nocturne has finite durability, and that’s a lot of damage.

Even if the inflictors will die with Nocturne, it will be done because nothing has a choice right now..

The whole mess did clarify to Nocturne why Clockwork would care to harass it, though. It gave two reasons, even.

World balance… not Nocturne's domain, though certainly one of Clockworks. Accidents could be arranged, but these ribbons were older than most living nations.

Accidents could be arranged, but Clockworks chain was rather short. A plan like this would’ve been decades in the making, if not centuries, and the observants would be none too pleased if Clockwork were to do real work outside their supervision. Meaning for real work and not silly lessons with effects quickly undone, Clockwork’s self initiative had chain of about six weeks in either direction, with one arranged accident per inconvenience before they were pressed about activity.

An accident could be arranged, but unless that accident extended across two dimensions and obliterated somewhere around four hundred to two thousand beings in one go Clockwork was stuck explaining themself to the council. And to papercut a decades long plan to death? That work would be noticed too.

Accidents plural could be arranged, but no accidents Clockwork could justify to a council of the most belligerent asshats Nocturne had ever had the displeasure of meeting would also arrange a solution without sending everyone years back, something the council would not do.

The decorative bow atop the rest of Clockworks restraints was that accidents could be arranged, but even if Nocturne's spot were to be taken the successor would simply have the same problem because the process would make them into the ‘same’ being and they would inherit the ribbons, and killing Nocturne (or otherwise) in such a violent manner would have massive world shaking blowout. Potentially worse than the ribbons were doing and would do over the years.

The final answer was to destroy decades worth of timeline to fix this, and no ghost in the world would agree on how or why to do that. Could the council stop debating themselves to obliteration before their time to solve this was up?

Clockwork didn’t seem to think so.

Getting to Long Now was such a nuisance on average, but Nocturne (correctly) presumed that one it’d gotten to the bottom of its new task then Clockwork would humor it with a more thorough conversation.

This time, it didn’t even have to break the front doors. How unusual!

Clockwork refused to turn from the mirrors before them, and Nocturne had to force down the indignation as it took its place high above.

Dreams are much weaker than the irrevocable force of Time, and killing Nocturne here would be messy and bad, but make the new problems straight forward.

“I will elect not to lecture if you turn to speak on equal terms. I will call this fair, given you’ve decided you’re in a corner. Enough to reach out.”

Ahhh to not lose touch with scathing statements, drenched in politics. Nocturne never misses them much, but such words have use.

Passively, Clockwork flickered and reappeared facing Nocturne.

“Better.” Nocturne hummed, electing to drip onto the floor from the ceiling. “Now-”

“Do not pretend you’ve power over this mess any more than I.”

“Never claimed anything of the sort! But you could do to acknowledge your partner in crime before you bark commands down the chain.”

Clockwork’s hand twitched, tightening around their staff, and Nocturne was sure they were mentally calculating if it was worth trying the conversation again.

“Now, I know the goal is peace, but pray tell if you’ve got a spare thought for how that is going to happen?”

Nocturne would genuinely like to know; Its continued existence was on the line the moment an idiot got martyr-y about it.

“Handling the ribbons is a monumental task at this scale, with few qualified to stop the ribbons and fewer still capable of surviving the job.”

“Yes, very much so. But if you’ll kindly direct some concern to the rest of the issue…”

Clockwork sighed, and turned to mirrors.

With a grand gesture designed to piss it off, the ribbon of… translation pending, appeared before them on the mirrors.

In the realm of volcanoes and fire was a crack, and in this crack was madness, and in this madness was a shard of Nocturne's body.

It was difficult to articulate the appearance of ‘void, but with sharp edges and hatred’, but thankfully Nocturne didn’t need to speak aloud about such a thing. Just stare at it as Clockwork warmed up to their point.

And then they didn’t progress the conversation in an action likely designed to piss Nocturne off even more.

Good thing Nocturne did not have teeth to grind.

“Yes, yes, the ribbon of… pleasure?”

“Close enough.”

Nocturne was sure Clockwork was smiling underneath that hood over its noise of disgust.

“The ribbon of pleasure, in the infinite zone of volcanoes and fire, and at the center my fragment ripe for the challenge. I am waiting to die from these miserable little mistakes, and await your suggestion to the contrary.”

“Now, who said anything about challenges?”

“Me.” Nocturne huffed, shuffling forward to examine the fragment.

“Why?”

Oh Nocturne could just...

“Because the fools who started this will have no further options. Because anyone fit to rise to solve this will not get further options.”

“Wrong.”

Nocturne refused to squirm in the following silence, immediately deciding it would out wait Clockwork of it was the last thing it ever did.

Clockwork seemed to catch on immediately at least, though it was difficult to tell if such a catch on was in fact after two hours of Nocturne commuting to suicide by any other name.

“Petulance will not serve you well in this instance. Regardless, if an appropriately powered being can approach with an appropriately malleable skillset, most fragments of this nature can be absorbed as opposed to destroyed.”

Ah. They’d gone mad, it sees this now.

“A fascinating theory. But see, there’s a lot of ifs you’re not articulating.” Nocturne hissed, jerking back from the mirrors to refocus on Clockwork.

“You first.” Clockwork hummed.

Of modest annoyances, this one failed to land. The predictability was more annoying, really.

“If we can find an appropriate candidate then they’d have to have the theoretical potential of at least me, and if we can find that someone they would have to be a child- still moldable in all ways including accepting my power-, and if we could find that child then even beyond its capacity to change it must have the separate capacity to walk two worlds, and if we find that child then we must hide it for long enough to get to keep it from the observants’ machinations and purify it of my influence. Provided we even can purify it.”

The final two were the truest sticking points of all; Nocturne, just as Clockwork, would never be permitted to keep a child. Nocturne wouldn’t even be allowed to keep a willing adult, but that was beyond the point.

“Not easy enough to hide, but I have my ways in keeping the observants eyes off me to get real work done.” Clockwork allowed.

Nocturne didn’t get chills easily, but it finally clicked to it that maybe, just maybe...

Nocturne was already in some deeply illegal shit just by being here, this time.

“You didn’t. Not already.”

“Oh, but I have. Did you think you’d get to say no to me? The moment the observants understand they have a blank spot in time, you will be found and interrogated as the missing piece.”

Nocturne was forced to pause.

It really, truly had to physically wrench itself back. The wild temperament of Dreams would lead to disaster.

“Fascinating. Would you like to know your odds of sense, in this instance?”

“No. I’d like to know who you have in mind, since you’re so smart as to kill us both.”

Clockwork hummed, pleased with themself as they waved at the mirrors again.

No chills, but…

“You’re joking, right?”

The young boy that had foiled its romp in Amity, desperately trying not to wilt into the wallpaper as his parents ranted and raved.

“Why would I?”

“To lure me into false hope. Your pet child is non negotiable to you, and you’ve missed the part where we’ll need to strip it of everything it gains. You wouldn’t.”

Clockworks hand tightened again, and Nocturne could hear the staff creak ever so slightly as the pressure became far greater than any mortal material could dream of handling.

“My child… I am pleased to know you regard it as such, but no. Young Danny is not mine to keep.”

“In formalities alone, no. But he’s yours, and you’re rather fond of the boy. Unless I’ve been seeing some other ghostling visit you every Sunday.”

Clockwork wasn’t looking directly at Nocturne, which was not technically a good sign.

“Not to keep.” Clockwork growled. Cracks spread along a mirror or possibly three, Nocturne was suddenly much too fixated on every errant twitch to care about the mirrors.

Nocturne did its best to not flinch away- despite the obviously in-equal status, Nocturne was a GOD in its own right. It couldn’t afford to flinch.

“That doesn’t matter, Clockwork. And if you would deign to clarify how we’re going to purify it...”

Clockwork didn’t relax as they shook their head no.

“The fuck you mean no, I’m helping dig your ass out this mess too. You wouldn’t be knocking on my door if you had other choices.”

“Two fold issue, a long story hardly of relevance.” Clockwork huffed, turning back towards their mirrors. With a wave and a suspiciously loud tick noise, the mirrors in question returned to an undamaged state. Phantom’s family resumed arguing on them, the boy left to awkwardly shuffle towards the stairs.

“Kroonoooooossss.” Nocturne elected to drawl after a pause.

Don’t get it wrong, it knew its risks. But it had a very bad hand before it, and would like to know if the pot cards made a difference.

The noise of total contempt Clockwork gave in response made it all worth it.

“There’s no world where you don’t know my problems with this. It’s lunacy at its finest. You’re sending me in blind to lead the meek and blind, the observants would rather I die and they play cleanup than let us do this anyhow, and somehow I think I and the observants have the fewest issues with these events. Forgive the acquisition of slang, there’s too many plot holes with this plan!”

“No, there isn’t. But you don’t have room for negotiation, do you?”

No, but that’s not stopping it.

“You have me verbally hostage, if not physically. I think me demanding a real answer as to why you care is the least amount of detail you can give me.”

“Wrong. Conversation over, go home and decide if you’d like to live.”

Nocturne wouldn’t have been able to take the belligerence anymore, lurching itself forward to assault Clockwork.

But it was already awake in one of its caves, three days before Nocturne figured out its task, one day before Clockwork had even informed it that it had a task, and a full sixteen hours after the cultists had completed the rituals.

Nocturne had fucked up in many ways, big and small.

For one, it had risen to Clockworks bait at all. Talk about taking one step forward and having your shins shattered for the effort…

Impossible to say if the mess could’ve gone differently, though. Clockwork clearly had a plan that Nocturne was but a vehicle for.

For two, Nocturne had no doubt Clockwork had already spent their one cosmic accident budget to make Nocturne look even worse out of this- all the better to force it to their whims. It had an educated guess about where that accident went, but what did it matter? Clockwork didn’t do anything by halves, Nocturne was fucked. Which went back to point one.

There were more fuck ups of course, some of them older than the swears it was muttering. A specific six of them, in fact.

One in the land of Volcanoes, one in the land of Atlanta Georgia, one in the land of The jungle, one in the land of Dallas Texas, one in the largest functioning cyber-network in the zone (now if Nocturne could get a clear answer about what that was, this would be nice), and one in the land of Shenghai China.

And apparently at the center of it all, a not-dead child to save them all! Joy!

Lunacy, lunacy, lunacy… What would the point be, in the end? Making the boy suffer like that for the world, once again?

Provided Clockworks pet could live, anyhow…

Maybe that was the point. A dramatic exit for what the observants already had their laser sights on, anyhow. A heroes death at it’s finest.

Whatever. It had its path and task, and despite everything Clockwork wasn’t self destructive. The situation would be solved if Nocturne obeyed.

Nocturne refused to trust any other detail of the situation, not that it changed its new goal.

It had to move fast. Find the portal, enter the house, spot the boy. Shuffling to the stairs as his parents bellowed away over something stupid.

Punctuated by everyone but him collapsing to the ground like all pathetic mortals in The Final Rest’s presence.

Form of stars, voice of satin, dripping like slime from cracks at the edge of the child’s vision.

Nocturne was sure it had made its entrance clear.

The white rings traveled up the child's body, revealing his powered form even as he dropped into an aggressive stance.

“Halt. Despite my entrance, this is more an offer of peace. Nice and quiet now, wouldn’t you agree?”

The boy couldn’t hide the shaky breath he took.

“Knocking people out isn’t peaceful.” He hissed, turning to glare at one of Nocturne’s larger blobs.

“I thought I kicked you out already. Back for another round?” He attempted to taunt, false confidence rising by the second.

“Please, child. Booting me out of one of my more vicious play fights is not a point of pride.”

The boy flushed a deeper green in barely concealed rage, backing away from the bulk of Nocturne’s form as it pooled in the center of the room.

“You have to have seen the news already. Three human locations under mysterious effects. It hasn’t been long, but it’s been profound, no?” It asked bluntly, rising as an owl this time. Rams were so last week, afterall.

The boys eyes flicked to the middle distance, contemplating.

“Maybe. Or maybe I don’t follow politics. Who knows, really?” He huffed.

“Stupidity gets you nowhere. Cultists have stolen artifacts of mine and used them for terrorism in its truest definition, in both the human realm and the infinite realm. It will spread if unmanaged.” Nocturne sighed, glooping its way towards the boy and stretching to far taller.

That certainly elicited a reaction, but who could say what was going on in the boy’s skull?

“And you’re sooo altruistic you wanna solve this yourself, I take it?” He prodded, backing away to the wall. If it occurred to him that he could phase through the wall and simply leave, it didn’t show.

Perhaps the child could’ve been a politician with that tonal bite. Alas...

“I have plenty to lose of they’re dealt with by traditional means. And you have much to lose if this spreads too far. The amount of people who die regardless if traditionally dealt with is uncountable. You, and the world with it, are in just as dire of straits as I with this mess.”

The boy paused, looking Nocturne up and down.

“And why should I take your word for it?”

Hmm… maybe if..

Nocturne made a sound like a shuddering breath and sank its form to only slightly taller than the boy.

“Because it’s not my word, it’s Clockworks.”

Another strong reaction. Nocturne was getting somewhere.

“And if you’re lying?”

Nocturne bowed forward slightly to imply consideration.

The child wasn’t wrong to distrust it, dreams were tricky things afterall. And personal experience gave a firm indication as to Nocturne’s temperament, be that true or false.

But the awake were always so predictable…

“We can visit them to ask, if you like. But permanence will take within days. It needs to be you, and we need to go. Now.”

The boy closed his eyes, considering.

“Clockwork, first. No confirmation, no help.” He ordered, eyes snapping open ans he crossed his arms.

“Of course.” Nocturne muttered, carefully eyeing how the child prepped to fly along with it.

He didn’t get the chance to fly on his own, already plucked away by Nocturne as it swooped down to the portal.

No time to waste, its non-life was on the line. And if the screaming was funny, then that was a bonus.

[kissami]

sum. You never thought you’d find the one at your best friend’s coffee shop.

genre: fluff..super super fluffy

fem reader with she/ her pronouns

WARNING: I’m uploading this while at work so I’ll edit it once I’m home ! So it’s not cute and aesthetic rn 🙄🙄

"I just don't get why she keeps thinking this nonsense, Kyo! I mean, I help with taking care of bills, buying groceries, what else does she want from me?!"

Kyo rose an eyebrow towards you, watching you slam your head on the counter gently and placing your cup on the table, begging for the next round.

"I need another one."

You ordered, but he only rolled his eyes in return.

"You had four cups of coffee in just two hours, you had more than enough for at least a week."

Groaning, you squished your cheeks between your arms as you hid your head.

Your roommate had been annoying lately. Always being so stern with you even when you did almost everything so you two could have a comfy environment to live in, but no matter what you did, she just seemed to hate you more and more.

It was tough moving out of your parent’s place, but this girl truly was testing your limits it seemed.

It wasn’t always like this. When you first met her, she was very sweet and understanding with you which made you think that maybe you finally made a friend who wasn’t your childhood friend.

All you wanted was a friend, but ever since you introduced her to Kyo, she seemed to do a 180 and completely shut you out.

Only for you to find out the two were put together for a date…one he never showed up for without notice.

But speak of blinding dates…

"Oh my gosh! This is the third time you left me alone, you asshole! That's it, I'm done!"

A loud slam quickly brought you out of your mini crisis as your eyes averted over to the couple near the entrance.

Raising your eyebrows in amusement, you saw a girl with black hair grabbing her bag and leaving with a pissed off expression on her face. The blond she was sitting with that you assumed was her date, rubbed his face in annoyance.

He's gorgeous.

You turned to your friend and smiled as a bright idea had quickly made its way into your head which made him tense up a bit, shaking his head quickly as he knew exactly what you were trying to do.

"Nope, I'm done trying to set you up with my customers. You're on your own."

You pouted, watching as Kyo walked to the back room to speak to Tifa about the upcoming schedules.

You could see how close Tifa and him were getting, how flustered he’d get or rush at any moment to be with her. That was enough leverage for you to use against him.

Smirking, you turned back around to see the boy talking on his phone, his face showing not much concern it seemed, but by the looks of it, it seemed like he was being scolded like a cat from the other line of the call which had you intrigued.

Your eyes widened when he slammed his phone down on the table and sighing, digging inside of his pocket to grab his credit card from his black leather wallet.

He's gonna pay, no he can't leave yet!

That's when you thought of a great, amazing, and most definitely the best idea ever.

Walking over the counter as stealthy and quickly as possible, you hid behind it as you waited for him to ring the bell to pay.

DING!

Rising up, you smiled gently and leaned your hands on the counter.

"Hey, what can I do for ya,cutie?"

You could almost feel your eyes sparkle in amusement when he scoffed and rubbed his neck, looking at you with those bright blue eyes you could stare at forever.

"I'm just paying. And who are you? I've never seen you work here before and I come here everyday."

He spoke lowly and looking anywhere besides your face, his eyes fixated on a dancing chunky cat on the tv screen above your head.

"I just started…today? Right I just started working today!" You smiled nervously, rubbing your ring on your right hand.

"Oh, that's good to know I guess."

"Yeah, it is good to know, huh?"

Shit.

You thought as you turned around to your best friend, seeing him rise an eyebrow and clearly questioning your 'amazing' idea to get to know the cute boy that was looking at the both of you now even more confused than before.

"Yup! Aw Kyo don't act like I'm not the best employee you have!" You slapped his arm, glaring at him for him to play along.

"Yeah okay, anyways Cloud it's on the house today."

Cloud. What a cool name.

Cloud nodded, saying a small thank you as he began to walk away.

Your eyes shot over to your best friend, giving him a pleading look to have him stay a bit longer which made Kyo scoff.

If this guy had you pretend you worked at his coffee shop, the one place you said you would despise working at and rather lick the carpet, then you clearly were way more interested in him than he thought.

And boy were you going to be in debt for this.

"Only if you tell us what happened on your 5th blind date."

Kyo smirked, watching as Cloud stopped almost instantly.

Cloud stood there quietly. Usually he’d pretend he didn’t hear anything like this but he truly did need someone to listen to his frustrations and what better yet than the guy his best friend, Tifa, had a crush on?

"It's like no matter how many dates I'm set on, no one wants to continue dating me. I don't mind though, I don't need a partner to be happy I guess."

Hearing a bell ring, Kyo looked over to you and smirked even more, watching your sparkling like eyes looking even more interested in the blond and what he needed to say next.

"Well my favorite employee, it's time for you to get back to work, right?"

You opened and closed your mouth repeatedly like a fish out of water but it only resulted in him pushing you away to take the new order.

"Get along now stupid and do your job! I'm not paying you for nothing!"

"But you're not pa-"

"What was that employee of the month, I didn't quite hear you?!"

"Yeah yeah whatever."

Slumping your shoulders, you made your way to the cash register, and instantly losing braincells on how the hell to work it.

Kyo looked back, seeing the blond still looking over to you as you groaned like a little kid trying to figure out how the monstrosity worked.

A small smile slowly took the blond’s old sour frown which Kyo was quick to catch.

"She's single you know. Plus, she thinks you're really cute. The idiot doesn't even work for me but she did that to talk with you."

Cloud looked over to his friend and shrugged.

"I think she’s cute too, but she needs to work harder to get me. I'm not that easy you know."

"Yeah that's what all your old dates said too,huh?"

"Kyo…" Cloud sighed again, but kept his mako eyes on your cute figure who now was scrambling around like a lost puppy, following Tifa around as she laughed at how silly you looked trying to learn how to charge orders.

Kyo chuckled, shaking his head at how adorable you looked. "Besides, the idiot owes me. She'll be working here for a while."

To say Cloud wasn't looking forward to waking up everyday and heading to the café, was an understatement.

He was less grumpy now and would spend hours texting you all night, but he tried his best to show no interest in you at all, which to Tifa and Kyo, was obvious he had a thing for you.

You had no clue if he felt the same or not, which Cloud was a bit thankful of you being so oblivious.

That was until you finally had enough and needed to know exactly what was going on between the two of you.

Clearly there was something there, so what better way to figure it out than what you do best?

A hot americano with whipped cream topped with cinnamon and caramel was what he would get all the time, but you added something more for him.

Are you a loan bank? Because you got my interest.

Ah yes, your cheesy pick up lines. No matter how hard Cloud tried to keep a straight face, he still managed to let out a small smile that made your heart burst.

You've been doing this for three months straight now, but he finally had the guts to do something.

Can I borrow a kiss? I promise I'll give it back!

That was all it took for Cloud to lean over the counter and place his lips on yours.

[circuslemon]

FIC COLLAB WITH @jalapenobee

I really enjoyed this sm. I normally don't write fanfiction because I'm too scared of getting the characters inaccurate - so doing this collab made me really happy.

Bee did the initial writing, and I did the first pass of editing while Bee did the second and final pass of editing !

This was initially a request I made of Bee, but I loved the unedited version sm I wanted to edit it 💔

It's also super short and bite sized!

“And you! Ra…Ranpo-kun! I will defeat you! Someday! HAHAHA—whOAA!” Upon hearing that declaration of war, Poe wrapped his arms around his long-time rival (the great detective Ranpo Edogawa!!! See that? Poe gets to date the world’s greatest detective while the rest of you are off with criminals. Suckers), falling backward and dragging the shorter man with him. Said detective yelped in surprise, reaching his arm out in a pathetic attempt to grasp hold of thin air for leverage. If Poe finds that endearing and sorta cute, it was nobody's business to know. Landing on the couch with a muffled POOMF, Poe lets out one last laugh.

“That’s what you get for being out in the rain. And then stealing my dryer and ‘pretending’ to be me.” Poe slightly lifts the collar of his coat off the nape of Ranpo’s neck, gesturing to the fact he had caught his partner wearing it. Ranpo huffed, squinting his eyes and letting a pout form on his face as he dramatically tossed his head back—an action that made him feel a lot like Dazai.

“I didn’t actually steal your dryer Poe-kun! My cloak was wet and I had to put it in there.” Ranpo tangled his finger in a curl of Poe’s dark hair, complaining. “You’re just being mean.” Even so, Ranpo lifted his legs, shifting into a more comfortable position and resting his head against Poe’s chest. Poe’s hand drifts to the side of Ranpo’s head, his fingers running between his hair as he strokes the back of Ranpo’s ear, Ranpo’s hand clutching onto Poe’s shirt. Some sort of drama was quietly playing on the TV—though neither Poe or Ranpo seemed to care all too much about what was happening on the screen. Outside, the heavy rain that had previously drenched the detective hadn’t let up any, providing a calming soundtrack to the scene of the two cuddling.

Detective Ranpo found this to be the perfect opportunity to trap his ‘rival’ to the couch as a cat would its servant. He pulls the author’s coat tighter around himself, burying his face into Poe’s collarbone (Poe protests, but it’s clear that he doesn’t mean anything with it and quickly resigns to his fate). Neither of the two said anything, sitting in comforting silence for at least a little while, Ranpo’s breath shimmying through Poe’s shirt, leaving a warm sensation against his skin. Soon, Ranpo’s grip on his lover loosened, his body relaxing against him. He shifted in his sleep as if he was a pea plant slowly curling around a pole. Poe turned his attention down to the younger man against his chest, to find that he had fallen asleep, his mouth very slightly agape.

There were two different manuscripts sitting atop the table to his right that Poe had wanted to finish by morning. The sun had already begun setting, making it far too late to continue his work if he did not want to disturb Ranpo. Poe vaguely remembered he had coffee in its pot he had wanted to enjoy before it got cold, and hears the dryer finish tossing Ranpo’s cloak around like a chew toy.

…Maybe all that didn’t matter at that moment.

Poe didn’t seem to worry all too much, his eyes slowly fluttering shut as his fingers mindlessly drift over Ranpo’s black hair. Poe’s rival detective begins stirring very lightly, his arm shifting itself to wrap around Poe’s body.

“Mhngg…you’re so sweet…Poe-kun…“ Ranpo mumbles, still asleep. Dimly, Poe registers his own arm shifting to lay across the middle of Ranpo’s back as he himself begins drifting off.

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: Until We Meet Again Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. In a LONG POST, I’m writing today about New Siwaj’s incomparable drama, Until We Meet Again.]

TW: suicide, suicidal ideation, psychological trauma

Gah. I am so psyched to be finally sitting down to write my thoughts on Until We Meet Again, but I’m actually at a bit of a loss on where to start. There is SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT.

I think, where I can start, is to first say that this was, in my opinion, AN ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR SHOW. I did NOT expect this, at all. I’ve been around the way with New Siwaj, the UWMA screenwriter and director, a few times now for the OGMMTVC -- his writing on Love Sick, his work with Cheewin on Make It Right, and his work on MAME’s novel in Love By Chance have all been on the OGMMTVC list. I know that Between Us, the UMWA WinTeam continuation, was considered mostly a let-down for weak writing, and that New’s more recent shows, including A Boss and a Babe and Double Savage, were viewed quite critically (although I am a Double Savage apologist, for which I’ll explain my viewpoints later in this post). 

So. What I did not expect from 2019′s UWMA was to experience so many layers in a drama à la the work of Aof Noppharnach. Yes, I cannot believe I’m going here, to compare a New Siwaj drama to Aof’s oeuvre, but damn if I will, because good lord, New took his magic hat of tricks, pulled out THE GOOD STUFF, and made it all work. 

This is a list of themes that I saw in UWMA, that will help me structure this long write-up, but by no means should it be considered complete, as I’m sure I’m missing themes that you all likely caught in your watches and re-watches:

1) A new narrative structure for New -- balancing the impact of side couples by leveraging focus, equally, on two MAIN couples 2) The continuation and end of the 2019 trend of reincarnation and spiritual connections to love 3) Intergenerational queer trauma (micro-level) 4) Generational acceptance of queerness (macro-level) 5) Food and its Proustian effect on memory 6) Reflections on filial piety and the devastating effects of expectations -- and how children and parents seek redemption, particularly in New’s work

And before I even dive into THIS list, can I just say: MY GOD, FLUKE AND OHM. And Earth and Kao! But FLUKE AND OHM. Jesus, does New have an eye for talent -- from the Make It Right guys, to Perth and Saint, and then to Fluke and Ohm. I was seriously TAKEN with their chemistry. I did hear from a number of folks during my UWMA live-blogging that they can’t rewatch UWMA because of Fluke/Pharm’s rendition of the blushing maiden trope, but for my tastes -- I think the way he rendered the trope was really necessary to communicating Intouch’s story, history, and emotions, and just -- Fluke just ATE this role, my gawd. And Ohm/Dean responding in kind vis à vis Korn’s regret. YOW. It’s been a few days since I finished the show, in a total RUSH of drama hunger, and I’m still shaking my head and MARVELING at their performance.

Okay, back to the themes list. So, early in my Thai BL journey in the fall of 2022, after I had watched KinnPorsche and The Eclipse as my first two Thai BLs, I watched A Tale of Thousand Stars (way before the OGMMTVC was born), and noted that I appreciated the lack of side couples in the ATOTS storyline. I now realize, through the OGMMTVC, that side couples are both a BL trope and a byproduct of the drama styles from which BLs were born, the ensemble-based dramas like Love Sick, Senior Secret Love, and Kiss/Kiss Me Again.

New’s Make It Right -- while beloved in my heart, for the chaotic duos of TeeFuse and FrameBook -- WAS messy, with all the other couple stuff happening around it. That, along with Love By Chance, made me wonder -- why do BLs that center fabulous dyads with sizzling chemistry take away from that energy with all the side couple action? Even Together With Me, a non-New Siwaj and non-GMMTV drama, got sidelined in part with a VERY questionable side couple plot in BrightFarm.

Reflecting back on KP and The Eclipse, I had that question in mind as I started UWMA, and wondered where the Alex and WinTeam storylines were going to go. But, frankly, I ended up appreciating what NEEDED to happen with DeanPharm and KornIntouch, because -- the original novel storyline clearly demanded that these two couples, who were NOT side couples, but MAIN couples, needed a MAIN spotlight for their collective story to be told. @clairificusrex mentioned in a liveblog comment (THANK YOU, LOVELY HUMAN!) that New Siwaj benefitted in the screenplay from having a wonderful original novel to work with, and while I don’t read Y Series canon, I can only imagine that this was indeed the case.

So, New, in order to hew to the novel, had to perhaps hold back his usual instincts to muss up the main couple vibe, by centering DeanPharm and KornIntouch. With that control necessary to the story -- I think the narrative STRUCTURE of the drama just blew open. It was FASCINATING, it drew me in, and the structure allowed for another New predilection to be leveraged WELL, in his love for flashbacks. @lurkingshan, you mentioned that your taste wasn’t necessarily aligned with New’s fancy for flashbacks, which I totally understand -- I think flashbacks hurt the overall narrative structure of Double Savage earlier this year. But I think, here for UMWA, they were necessary, and I might very well be apologetic to that considering what I DID see in Double Savage by way of the story that New ended up screenwriting over there in regards to intergenerational family trauma (again, more on this later in the post).

This narrative structure lent itself handily to the next four themes on this list, all of which deal in memory, in spiritual roots, and/or in the generational passage and inheritance of trauma and emotion. 2019, as we know now, was a big year for shows themed around Thai spiritual culture and/or reincarnation. We have He’s Coming To Me, we have Dew the Movie -- we have art here, queer-centered art, that does not lend itself to happy endings, that depicts, through reincarnation or, in the case of HCTM, a ghostly purgatory, how DIFFICULT it had been to be comfortably queer and/or openly out in past and present Thailand.

And then UWMA comes along, telling TWO generational stories, intertwined by the red thread, but also, in the words of the WONDERFUL @bengiyo, connected by Korn and Intouch’s intergenerational queer trauma, the most PERFECT coinage of a theme for this show. In 1988, when Korn and Intouch die, they cannot be out. They cannot even be SECRETLY in love. Their bad dads use the foulest of language to describe their love (much like Phop’s dad in Dew). And Korn kills himself, and Intouch follows.

And what we learn, through Dean and Pharm, are the emotions, the regrets, the LEARNED BEHAVIOR that Korn and Intouch have picked up on in the afterlife, embedded in Dean and Pharm, that keeps Korn and Intouch’s love alive, with CORRECTIONS and ADJUSTMENTS made by Dean and Pharm that reflect on how not only Korn and Intouch’s love has changed and improved, but also how Dean and Pharm are learning how to love EACH OTHER, themselves, as they adjust to their OWN belonging to each other, in Pharm’s own words. GAH -- my aching heart. (Thank you to @lurkingshan for talking this through with me early on in my UWMA watch.)

I mean. THE DEPTH OF THIS. Intouch is a terrible cook, and Pharm is like, a restaurant-level chef?! Pharm is so resistant, and Dean is so FORWARD? (OHM THITIWAT, GAH!!!) (Listen. Pharm. P’Deeeean can grab MY butt, okay?) (See what I did there, @lurkingshan and @bengiyo? THANK YOOOOUU.)

And Pharm’s blushing maiden approach. Yes, I will also admit, that sometimes, it was a little cringey. But I think the blushing maiden trope was really necessary to the story -- ESPECIALLY IN THE CONTEXT of Intouch’s anger, ciphered through Pharm in the last episode. And I think that Fluke Natouch ultimately rendered the trope beautifully -- again, especially against the gorgeous ending of the show. Oh, THAT CONDO SCENE, PEOPLE. I LOST IT. 

Of course, Intouch would want to hold back through Pharm in the present day. If Intouch DIDN’T hold back vis à vis Pharm -- he might lose Korn again, if Pharm missteps with Dean. Intouch may have felt that HIS forwardness lent to their troubles -- so Intouch holds back, through Pharm. And Intouch ultimately communicates his love for Korn differently in the afterlife, more hesitantly -- through a resistance to intimacy, and through food and cooking in Pharm, which itself was another amazing move in this show.

Listen. Even my pinned post says what I value in dramas, not just in BLs. You give me food in BL, and I give you my heart. But also, let’s talk about the meaning of food in Asian dramas for a second. It’s no coincidence that MANY Asian dramas and doramas center food, including my favorite BL of all time, Kinou Nani Tabeta/What Did You Eat Yesterday?. If you don’t know Asians, of any ilk -- let me make a BROAD continental and sub-continental judgement. ALL WE THINK ABOUT IS FOOD, lol. While I’m with my family, while I’m working, while I’m writing meta -- I’m thinking about food, I’m thinking about what I want to cook, what I want to order, how I can mix the cuisines I love (Thai-Indian curries, anyone? YUM). Malaysians literally boast about having multiple meals, way past three meals, a day. We Asians are proud of our cuisines, and we want y’all to be EATING, A LOT, and to try all our dishes. (ITSAY, your Hokkien mee is calling me...) 

But, also: FOOD MEANS FAMILY. Let me say it again: FOOD MEANS FAMILY. You FEED the people you LOVE, with delicious food. Shiro and Kenji. Kurosawa and Adachi. The guys in Jack o’Frost. The guys in The Eighth Sense. Omg, even Kinn and Porsche. We’re seeing it in Tokyo In April Is... And Pharm, to Dean, Intouch to Korn.

And BESIDES Intouch/Pharm becoming a great cook, GOD, the story ALSO INCLUDED the Proustian reference of the madeleine and involuntary memory -- but in SUCH a stunning way, as to RECALL DEAN’S FAMILIAL MEMORY of eating his grandmother’s Thai desserts -- his grandmother, Intouch’s sister, and how Dean could get an indirect spotlight into Intouch and a depth of an understanding of Intouch’s happiness besides his love for Korn. And how Pharm EMBODIED that love for Thai desserts through Intouch’s family lineage. Oh, just get me MESSY, PEOPLE. FUCKING GENIUS SHIT. 

Memory on memory on memory. Dream on dream, nightmare on nightmare, tears and red threads, inherited trauma, intergenerational trauma. The micro-level of what Dean and Pharm had to live with on a daily basis in their recollections of Korn and Intouch. The macro-level of what Pharm and Dean experienced when all of their parents accepted them for who they were as queer individuals, and their partners, as well. How Dean’s dad could ACTUALLY RELATE to Dean himself, because Dean’s dad had been rejected by Dean’s mother’s family. And how that ALLOWED Dean’s dad to accept Dean and his choice to be with Pharm. How that trauma was relieved, how Dean and Pharm DID NOT HAVE TO PHYSICALLY RELIVE what Korn and Intouch had gone through, and how those involuntary memories that Dean and Pharm carried vis à vis Korn and Intouch traumatized them until Dean and Pharm could RECEIVE their OWN familial acceptance.

The LAYERS OF THIS SHOW. Before I get to the last theme on my list, I really just need to metaphorically slam my palms on an allegorical table and give New Siwaj a huge hug, because THIS SHIT IS NOT EASY TO PROCESS ALL AT ONCE, and I can’t wait to do a UWMA rewatch to try to catch more (and I’ll likely need to write another meta, ha, when I do that). I mean, again, just to use food as an example of a kind of storytelling TOOL to INDICATE memory, especially in the context of lost and found love, of intergenerational trauma and relieving regret -- BRILLIANT. BRILLIANT.

And. The last theme on the list, the theme of filial piety, of Asian family systems and devotion and loyalty and expectations, and the devastating effects on the micro-individual level (and even the macro-social level as well) that those expectations can have. 

So, I watched Double Savage, screenwritten by New Siwaj, out of order from UWMA. Very quickly, since many of you have likely NOT watched Double Savage because it’s not a BL (but it DID have Ohm Pawat and Perth Tanapon in a hose-off scene -- you can’t take the New Siwaj out of New Siwaj, amirite): Double Savage is about Korn (Ohm P.), a middle son who is branded a jinx by a HORRENDOUS Thai-Chinese father, and how the abuse leveled on Korn by his dad has intergenerational ripple effects across their family and community. 

Let’s break this down. I now know that New Siwaj does bad dads from Thai-Chinese lineage very well. UWMA’s Korn is expected to take over a mafia business. His dad is disapproving that Korn doesn’t want to take over the business -- which is an UNQUESTIONABLE and EMBEDDED expectation in most Asian family lineages (hello, Jeng and Step By Step) -- AND Korn’s dad is ALSO disapproving in Korn’s love for Intouch and vice versa. Separately, Intouch’s dad is disapproving that Intouch is in love with Korn, a mafia scion. 

Modern times are modern for a reason. 1988 was 31 years from 2019. I want to emphasize here the understanding that Korn and Intouch likely had -- that besides running away, there was no other existence for them to be together than to kill themselves and be together in the afterlife. And running away, and still living and existing, would have been a guilt-ridden and dangerous existence, for what Asian children are expected to do and live for vis à vis their parents. Korn likely HAD NO OTHER IMAGINATION for a life that he could live OTHER THAN to take over his father’s business and to be a heteronormative adult in the late 1980s. And, to top that all off, both of their dads were fucking assholes. 

I really liked how this was juxtaposed to the relationship between Dean and his father. Dean was clearly set up to be as stubborn as his dad. Meaning, at least to me -- that Dean was FAR less likely to be told what to do by his dad, that Dean would and maybe COULD, stand up to his dad. We didn’t see it happen, but I could have imagined Dean not accepting “no” for an answer from his dad to accept Pharm. (Makes you think about Pat, Pran, and Ming, no?) Dean had Korn in him. Dean/Korn was NOT GOING TO TAKE THAT SHIT AGAIN, and that was CLEAR. I want to emphasize: THAT’S BIG. That was BIG on New Siwaj and the UWMA novel writer to include that in the story. That’s parental defiance. That needed to happen in order for Dean and Pharm to survive. As an Asian, that gives me a kick of welcome energy.

But I also really want to note what New Siwaj did at the end of the show, something so deft, it might have left non-Asian viewers wondering what was going on. In the condo scene, Dean and Pharm are ciphering Korn and Intouch -- and when Korn’s father shows up in the wheelchair, Korn’s father knows what’s happening.

And Korn apologizes to his dad. Korn had already apologized to Intouch, but Korn also apologizes to his dad, and to his brother, and to his nephew in Sin. This really gets me, y’all, I understand this as an Asian. Korn is APOLOGIZING for the PAIN he caused in his family AND in Intouch, because -- filial piety. He knows what he did to himself was devastating to the Asian family system he was born into, to the Asian society he was born into, and he apologized for the suicide he committed unto himself that caused that extra-social pain. 

Like. As crazy as that sounds, it’s also an INCREDIBLY SOPHISTICATED way to ACKNOWLEDGE that Korn had broached a social boundary, and Intouch had followed him. THAT IS A HELL OF A LAYER TO ADD TO THIS STORY, ONE THAT I DID NOT EXPECT, and that SHOOK ME at the end of this series.

A similar situation happened in Double Savage. Despite the horrendous psychological abuse that Double Savage’s Korn received from his father -- an adult Korn ends up apologizing to his father for the trouble that HE may have caused. Now, what I appreciated about Double Savage was that THAT dad was like -- no, no, *I* should be the one apologizing. BUT, I want to indicate and emphasize here, that BOTH storylines acknowledge that Asian children NEED to know, SHOULD know, ARE BORN TO KNOW, that their actions have collective effects on a wider family system. We are born to understand and think like that. We are not dealing with an individualist Western perspective here. (I literally FLIPPED when I realized that New Siwaj has had MULTIPLE CHARACTERS NAMED KORN APOLOGIZING TO BAD DADS, and I’m an Asian over here UNDERSTANDING WHY, and I’m just like, pfffftt GGGAAAHHHH.)

Why am I harping on this? BECAUSE: vis à vis EVERYTHING ELSE that is lineage-based in this story -- from children being born, to intergenerational trauma, to reincarnation -- UWMA is structured around an über-macro theme of worlds being linked, by threads, by genes, by history, by spirit, by trauma. We are collectively linked. Babies are born -- we saw many babies in this show. Children belong to families. Lovers belong to lovers. Dean PHYSICALLY belongs to Intouch’s family, and Pharm to Korn’s family. A happy existence will be when a family accepts a child’s partner. Happiness is in a family growing, not a family shrinking. Warmth and growth and love happens when a happy family sits at a table and eats together. 

As Pharm says at the end of the show -- oh, my HEART -- “I belong to Dean.” Yes, you do -- because you have become Dean’s family, and Dean has become Pharm’s family. Korn’s family BELONGS to Intouch’s family, and vice versa. They are destined, MEANT to be linked together, AND TO BE FAMILY, ALL TOGETHER.

Kurosawa and Adachi become family in the Cherry Magic movie. WDYEY’s Shiro and Kenji become family by way of living and eating together. Even if BBS’s Ming doesn’t acknowledge Pran -- Pran is Ming’s family. LOVE. MAKES. FAMILY.

What Korn apologized for was the impact his decision had on his family — WHILE HE WAS IN LOVE WITH INTOUCH, WHO KORN’S FAMILY WAS NOT ALLOWING KORN TO MAKE AS KORN’S NEW FAMILY in the 1980s. Korn was able to apologize in the afterlife — BECAUSE Dean and Pharm DID WHAT HE AND INTOUCH COULD NOT DO, by way of generations, by way of family acceptance, by way of inherited trauma and STOPPING that inherited trauma in its tracks -- very much like Pat and Pran banding together and doing the same for themselves. Dean and Pharm did the hard work of making the relationship a real one, in every aspect of their intimate, micro-level family lives, to a public, external existence in the world. Korn could FINALLY experience the release of GUILT he had towards Intouch and towards Korn’s family, now that Korn’s love for Intouch could FINALLY flourish outside the constraints of filial piety through Dean. THIS IS HUGE. I have no words to tell you what the BRILLIANCE of this means to me as an Asian. LOVE MAKES FAMILY, and LOVE THAT IS ALLOWED TO FLOURISH GIVES YOU THE RELEASE TO BE YOUR TRUE SELF. 

Dean had learned from the inherited trauma that he got from Korn that he needed to stop the trauma train in his tracks, and he did, and he confronted his father, and his father blessed the union of Dean and Pharm. When Dean took the gun away from Pharm, and embraced Pharm, Korn and Intouch KNEW that they could finally be safe in the afterlife. Dean and Pharm were the ciphers that finally ALLOWED Korn and Intouch to exist happily together in spirit. Korn, especially, could exist freely, now that he was relieved of his guilt. Dean and Pharm were, LITERALLY, Korn and Intouch’s FAMILY -- the FAMILY that ALLOWED the FINAL RELEASE for Korn and Intouch to be together as their true selves and spirits. 

And Dean and Pharm confirmed that in FRONT of the family member, in Korn’s father, that had originally caused all this pain. The intricate layers, communicated to a primarily Asian audience, of Korn apologizing to his father, and then of Dean embracing Pharm and confirming their love AND Korn and Intouch’s love, in front of that former barrier -- that is GROWTH and FLOURISHING in the face of generational defiance, and about as sophisticated and eloquent a communication of familial transcendence as I could possibly imagine seeing in Asian drama art. WHOA. I’m a little out of breath with this.

Wow. And speaking of being one’s true self: I deeply loved that Dean and Pharm took a three-month break. I loved that Pharm was smart and strong enough to demand a break to understand if DEAN and PHARM -- INDEPENDENT of ANYTHING they had INHERITED from ANYONE -- actually loved each other and belonged together. Fuck. Pharm was like, no -- this one’s on me. I need to see, outside of ANY INFLUENCES, FROM ANYONE, ANYWHERE -- if I love Dean, if Dean loves me, and if we belong together. Brave. Badass.

AND, I truly loved how Korn and Intouch -- DEAN AND PHARM’S FAMILY -- came BACK to Dean and Pharm’s dreams to offer thanks. I loved how, in the end, the past and his family came back to give Pharm that little contextual nudge to say to Pharm, it’s okay to love Dean for Dean, AND to love how you two came together, through Korn and Intouch. And Pharm could acknowledge, finally, that he belonged to Dean. God damn.

This story was so multilayered, SO complex, SO filled with a respect for love at its highest and most complicated levels. This story was filled with CRITICAL SCRUTINY towards Asian family systems and the trauma that those systems can render. This story was filled with an acknowledgement for the power of LOVE that those same family systems can offer unto children who NEED pillars of love and support (Pharm’s mom and brother, badasses!). 

Y’ALL. I just, I DID NOT KNOW that New Siwaj could DO THIS! I know that UWMA is considered his best show, but like, this is his best show BY A LOT, A LOT. Double Savage, in contrast, had a lot of narrative and structural issues that detracted from the core stories of filial piety that were ultimately very important to tell. 

UWMA did not fall into that trap. It was SMART, it MOVED (FOR SEVENTEEN EPISODES! I SLAMMED THIS SERIES! I could have watched MORE, I cannot believe I’m SAYING THAT!), it was. It was just BRILLIANT. It was an ode to romantic love, to family love, to the power of memory. In 2019, it joined He’s Coming To Me in a burgeoning echelon of cinema-influenced BLs in storytelling, soon to be joined by I Told Sunset About You, ATOTS, and others. It took the sad endings of He’s Coming To Me and Dew the Movie and said -- not today. Today, we will let love LIVE, let QUEER LOVE live, in REAL LIFE, in REAL TIME, and we will not let our lovers live in regret. We will take queer love, we will give queer love FAMILY, and we will give it the HONOR IT DESERVES.

Until We Meet Again is a must-watch of the highest order, and goes on the shortlist of shows that I will refer to as one that makes me proud to be an Asian. It was easily one of the most important shows I’ve watched in this project. All credit to New, Fluke, Ohm, Earth, and Kao for a PHENOMENAL experience -- my heart and mind have been bettered because of this show. 

[FLUKE. AND. OHM. Fluke and Singto coming thru in Shadow the Series? Sign me the FUCK up. Actors on actors. WOW. Did UWMA ever introduce me to another crop of dudes who can fucking tear up a screen. I had SO much fun watching UWMA, whew!

And, yep. I had to follow this up with 2gether, ha. I’m going to spare myself a little pain, if y’all don’t mind, and combine my write-up of 2gether with Still 2gether. I know there’s a lot to be said about the lack of intimacy in 2G, which I can’t wait to dive into, but I can’t help but to also run into another wall of analysis with dear P’Aof’s work in S2G. I’ll make it all work!

After I get myself together with 2gether (HA) -- it’s ITSAY time. I will be planning on watching ITSAY TWICE before writing, as I’m preparing myself to catch EVERYTHING I can before I pen words. Stay tuned.

Status of the list below. As always -- if you have feedback, send it my way!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 3) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 5) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 6) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 7) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 8) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 9) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 10) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 11) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 12) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (I’m watching this out of order just to get familiar with OffGun before Theory of Love -- will likely not review) 13) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 14) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (not a BL or an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 15) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 16) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020)  17) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (watching) 18) I Told Sunset About You (2020) 19) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) 20) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) 21) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 22) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS 23) Lovely Writer (2021) 24) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) 25) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 26) Not Me (2021-2022) 27) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 28) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 29) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 30) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 31) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 32) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 33) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 34) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 35) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 36) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults)]

[tis0bug]

corcovado || LMK Bad Things Happen Bingo

Chapter 1/3

Word Count: ~1.7k

Rating: Teen

Content Warnings: Canon-Typical violence

wawawa it is here!!

im working on editing/posting the remaining chapters and also posting my second fic, but with my quarter ending next week and being knee-deep in finals (art school RIP) it might be a little slow.

read it here on ao3 if you're not a fan of tumblr formatting!

~~~

Mei can hear her father’s voice in her head almost every second of every day. His tone is sharp, pointing, and disappointed. 

“Conceal yourself,” He would say, when her emotions got the best of her. “This is not how a Dragon behaves.” 

She could often shove his voice aside. Xiaotan was as impulsive and loud as she was, his energy was always something she could bounce off of instead of shove down. He was her best friend, her rock, and something she could depend on. He made her life better, made her father’s voice a little quieter. 

She loved her father, truly, but he made her chest ache. She couldn’t relax, or be herself around him like she could around Xiaotan. It exhausted her. 

Maybe that’s why she needs to prove herself to her friend.

Xiaotan is a true warrior– everything Mei wants to be. He’s strong and courageous and the picture perfect example of a successor. He’s everything Mei should be. He handles his powers with ease and controls his wild, crazed abilities. Even when his yokai form tempts and pulls at his mind, he can root himself in reality and carry on swinging. He is protective, empathetic, and perfect. He’s everything Mei needs to be. 

She watches Xiaotan and his mentor, his almost father. She watches as they play and spar and exist together. She hears her father’s voice and begins to feel something else towards Xiaotan. Something sick and twisted, like a slime crawling its way across her skin. 

Jealousy. 

Mei reaches a hand underneath her tee shirt, thumbing under the center gore of her bra wire and to the ridged scar that lies on her sternum. A constant marr on her body from the Samadhi Fire. It seems to heat under her touch as she watches Xiaotan shove the heel of his palm through the Monkey King’s defense, cackling at their intricate dance. She presses her hand over the old, healed wound as it thrums in time with the lilts in Wukong’s laughter. Her lips turn down, a familiar anger setting into her body. White hot and almost comfortable. 

She stands, suddenly and with a little too much power. Her chest aches, but for some reason the harsh movements quell the constant pain. Xiaotan looks to her as she moves, stalling in his sparring, and she plasters on her signature grin. Her canines poke out over her bottom lip now, catching the skin and scratching ever so slightly. She relishes in the momentary prick. 

Conceal yourself. 

“I’m headin’ out, MK!” She yawns, stretching her arms above her head and rising to the balls of her feet. “Red Boy wanted me over at his dojo hours ago. Don’t wanna make him any more flame-ey then he already is.” She wiggles her fingers by her hair, making a poof sound as she crosses her eyes. Xiaotan chuckles as he bounds over, a hand on her forearm. 

He’s warm. A radiating sun. 

“Yeah, yeah, you’re using him as an excuse to ditch.” He sticks his tongue out at her, playful, and she dramatically pinches her fingers at his tongue, to which he yelps and swats at her hand. 

“No, but I’m sorry if we kept you,” Xiaotan looks towards the horizon at the darkening sky. “It is late, and we didn’t even movie binge!” 

Mei doesn’t miss the genuine whine in his voice. The constant care and empathy. The kindness pouring out from him in every form. She leverages her height against him and shoves her hands through his hair, pushing his bandana away from his forehead as her fingers tug at the root of his curls. Xiaotan protests very, very vocally, and they stay there for a moment. Tangled together. 

“We can go all in on Monkey Cop this weekend!” Mei releases Xiaotan as she smiles, sure that he’s content with her words. She looks over her shoulder for a moment and meets Wukong’s gaze, and feels rage. 

The yokai looks at her with something indiscernible, something cold and distant. His friendly demeanor he has with his descendant is completely dropped with the boy’s back turned, his arms crossed over his open tunic. His tail lashes behind him, disturbing the dust that lays across the cobble and mess that is the training grounds beyond the waterfall. She hasn’t seen him look so untrusting with anyone, rather than Macaque. 

A shiver makes its way up Mei’s spine, remembering the shadow’s death grip on her throat. She break’s Wukong’s gaze, taking out her headphones to pop one in her ear. 

“I’ll see you later, MK.” Mei says, a little softer, keeping her voice away from the demon lurking behind him. “Be careful.” 

-

“I think you’re finally wising up, dragon girl.” Red Son swipes at her again, grinning through panting breaths. 

They’ve been sparring for hours at this point, with sporadic water breaks in between. Mei’s body burns, and she chases it. She hooks her foot around the back of Red Son’s knee and pulls him forward, knocking his balance loose for a second. His arms windmill, and his fingertips sparkle. 

“No fire!” Mei laughs, letting green electricity explode around them as a warning. After the Bone Demon had been driven back underground, Mei and Red Son kept up with their training. The Samadhi Fire, as much as Red Son would hate to admit it, had brought the two closer. Mei feels at ease with Red Son, they’re in a sort of tandem that she hasn’t felt in a long time. 

She remembers the warm sun, Xiaotan, and falters in her attack. Red Son catches her arm by the elbow and yanks her forward, his left hand coming to her shoulder to slam her back onto the mat. 

“I mean–” Red Son continues, his thought process from before resurfacing. “--The Monkey King has always been a shifty figure, I’m just glad to see a day where I’m not the only one to believe it!” 

“What–?” Mei rolls over, jamming her knee into Red Son’s ribs and watching smoke pour from his mouth. “He’s not shifty, he’s just–” 

“A liar?” Red Son hisses, wiggling away from the iron trap that is Mei’s thigh. He throws her back with a kick from underneath so they’re both lying down again, heads facing opposite directions. He traps one of her legs with his own, the arc of his foot pinning her forearm to the mat as he pulls himself to look her in the eye. “A thief? A killer?” 

“You’re all of those things too, y’know!” Mei groans, barring her free arm against his chest. She presses against him, and feels the twin burning from behind his sternum and her own. She pauses, then sighs, letting her head thump against the mat. She taps it twice, and Red Son pulls off of her. 

With her eyes closed, she can’t see him lay next to her, but she can feel heat radiating from her right side. She shifts and dramatically groans until she can lay her head on his chest, which he accepts begrudgingly. Mei loves the contact, borderline needs it, but there’s a different reason. 

Through all of her hair, which is sweaty and mostly plastered to her face, and Red Son’s tank top, she can feel his scar. A trio of flames in a circle going over his chest and puckering as it gets deeper in the center of his ribcage. She breathes in time with him, feeling her own scar tighten over her skin. 

Red Son’s hand comes over her chest, flattening his palm over her sternum. Mei stills, and sighs as he withdraws all the fire from his hand. It feels almost cold against her. 

“Is it still there?” He asks after a pregnant moment, to which she shrugs. 

“I don’t see it going away.” Mei admits. She’s startled when Red Son bolts up from underneath her, letting her slap against the ground. She grasps the back of her head with both hands and kicks up a leg because fuck that hurt, and is about to give him a piece of her mind before–

“Damn him.” Red Son curses, looking at the opposite wall. He flips over his palm and flickers a flame into view, folding his fingers over and letting the fire shoot out from between his digits. 

“Fucking– damn him!” 

“Woah, Red Boy, loosin’ your poise there?” Mei blinks through the growing headache, leaning over his shoulder. “What’s got you hot and bothered?” 

“Don’t–!” His hair licks up at the base, eyes narrowed and furious, before he softens. He folds his legs under him, his hands in the center of his lap. Red Son looks small like this, nothing like the ferocious foe she was once familiar with. 

“...Sun Wukong has been a tyrant in my family since it’s formation.” Red Son doesn’t move his eye from the mats below him, so Mei sits beside him and copies his position. 

“From when my mother and father met, to the pilgrimage, to the Samadhi Fire, to his sealing– the demon has always been there, and I’m frankly sick of it. I’m sick of watching this idiot ruin the lives of the people I lo–” 

Red Son looks up sharply, scanning Mei’s face, before letting his gaze fall to the mat once more. “--the people I care about.” 

Mei lets herself lean back on her palms, stretching her legs out. She looks at the scars and bruises covering her feet and shins, stretching up to her thighs and hiding under her athletic shorts. She can see the barest hint of the Samadhi Fire scar from under her sports bra, raised against her stomach. She thinks of the pain she sees Xiaotan in, all the time, how the rage consumed her when she learned of Wukong’s ploy on the top of that mountain. How he had been playing her best friend like a damned pawn, and she feels heat at her palms. 

“You know what,” she says after a moment of silence, her voice as flat as it’s ever been. “I’m getting sick of it too.”

[dailycharacteroption]

Mauler (Pathfinder Second Edition Archetype)

(art by AnatoFinnstark on DeviantArt)

Sometimes an archetype is an expression of a thematic idea, and sometimes it’s simply a specialization in a particular field. Today’s subject is the latter.

There is just something to love about really big weapons. Perhaps it’s the might required to wield them, or the potential for destruction that they have. Leverage and momentum demonstrate that you don’t have to swing repeatedly or precisely to deal a lot of damage.

And so, if you’re playing a martial character with an interest in wielding big two-handed weapons, be they mighty maul, greatsword, or any variety of polearm, the mauler archetype may scratch your itch, offering a few mainstays from the fighter plus a handful other feats specialized in bringing out the most in your large, imposing weapons.

This archetype is useful as it offers a way to specialize in bigger weapons with some of the fighter-specific mechanics like flourishes and presses without having to cross-class into fighter, plus having tricks unique to the archetype. This means that any sufficiently martial class or character can make use of it as long as they meet the strength prerequisite, be they barbarians, champions, fighters, rangers, or even odd picks like an inexorable iron magus. If you plan to wield a weapon that can only really be effectively used with two hands, this archetype can certainly provide.

The base dedication of this archetype grants greater skill with two-handed weapon if the warrior didn’t already have it.

With a mighty blow, many learn to knock their foes off their feet with an upending strike. A later feat makes it more certain that foes take a bad fall from the strike, and improve the damage caused.

For the cost of accuracy, many also learn the fighter trick of dealing devastating blows at the cost of unbalancing themselves.

Even when not using the deadly edge, the weight of their weapons allows them to shove aside foes and move forward.

That pushing also can knock foes off course if they try to move through the mauler’s reach.

Not even the protection of armor can fully save foes from these mighty warriors, and with the final blow of a combo, they can deal massive damage, or a reduced amount if the armor holds, crumpling it under the weight of the blow.

With a mighty blow directed to the ground, these warriors can shake the earth and potentially knock multiple foes off their feet.

They can also learn to shove or knock over foes with a mighty, inexorable sweep as well.

Finally, they can instead unleash powerful sweeping blows or a hammering faster ones to pound every foe within reach under a hail of strikes.

If you want to focus on tripping and dealing heavy damage with a two-handed weapon, this archetype might be for you. It is a bit trickier to use with the magus due to their spellcasting taking up a sizable, conflicting chunk of their action economy, but with the right buffing magic beforehand you can potentially make this relentless destroyer even mightier. So yeah, do some digging and see what sort of martial classes will work best with this archetype, even if you only take a handful of tricks from it.

There really is no lore associated with this archetype, so you can come up with any reason why such characters might specialize in such heavy weapons. Perhaps their strength made them suited for training as line-breakers, or maybe they took polearm training very seriously, or maybe they aren’t military at all and just really, really like big weapons.

In the land of Be’Sha, humans and wood giants live alongside each other in harmony, tending herds of hadrosaurs in a pastoral existence. That isn’t to say that it is entirely peaceful, for even these shepherds must tend to their flocks, and they tend to protect their charges with massive weapons, polearms for humans, stouter, heavier weapons for the giants.

Many legends speak of masterful tengu swordsmasters possessing unparalleled skill with a blade, and such is the case with Kurumo, champion of the mountain god and master of using an odachi katana without assistance. He travels the mountain roads, driving off bandits and tending to the needs of mortal and kami alike.

While plying the ruins of an ancient city, the party comes across a mural of a past champion of an arena that once stood in the reason, a figure wielding a mighty maul. All of this would be impressive and interesting already, but said figure also is depicted with the same strange sigil marked on their wrist as one of the party members.

[ectogeo-art]

Siskarak baby trap - thoughts? (I started thinking about it in a crack-treated-seriously kinda way and had to share)

Lmao, oh wow, this is one of the funniest and most unhinged asks I've ever received! Thank you sincerely! <3

Here's my thoughts:

Garak and Sisko are sleeping together casually. Sisko gets Garak pregnant, and when Garak tells him, Sisko's like, “Ah fuck, my bad, I must have forgotten my birth control this month... Okay, well don't worry, you can just get an abortion and I promise I'll be more careful next time.” And Garak's like, “Oh, I'm keeping it. ^_^ <3”

(Maybe, sometime before this, Julian sees that Garak is on his way to talk to Sisko after lunch and asks him to remind Sisko to go get his monthly shot today, and Garak says he will but then simply doesn't. And then, not coincidentally, stops taking his own contraceptives too. <3)

Anyway, now Sisko’s sweating, because this thing with Garak was NOT supposed to be serious at all. He’s in a pickle, because on the one hand, he’s not really interested in signing up for the long-term commitment of raising a child with Garak… but he’s also CERTAINLY not going to just entrust GARAK to father this kid on his own, like, that is a recipe for disaster. So he’s kind of stuck with him now, in order to mitigate the damage, even though he obviously doesn't feel good about the situation.

For Garak, it's partially a tactic to get Julian's attention (all those doctor’s appointments to make sure his pregnancy is okay) and obviously to make him jealous, while also gaining leverage over Sisko and making him cater to his every whim in the meantime. Win-win.

That extra bit of jealousy is all it takes for Julian to finally realize/admit how he feels about Garak. Garak gets an abortion shortly after he and Julian get together. Sisko is mostly relieved... but also after weeks or whatever of Garak guilting him into caring about this fetus, he's also a little bit sad (he would never admit this out loud).

I'd love to hear your take on this concept too, anon! This is just the plot outline that immediately sprung to mind for how I would personally go about writing such a thing. (And sorry that I made it Garashir, I always make it Garashir lol. <3)

(EDIT: A follow up post about this concept here.)

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 15/05/2024

Eazystep

Season 8 Featured on: The Joke-Explainer™ 7000's Highest Quality Rips: Sunset

Ripped by BluLuigi7

Can I just say: I am SO happy to see that Jay Eazy posting is still going so strong past January 7th? Like, we pretty firmly established back with Hella Pummel that venula is the champion of Jay Eazy posting, but we've had tons of other talented rippers take their own crack at it - there's circunflexo back with You Are Book Smart, of course, but also the focus of today's rip - BluLuigi7. After making the first-ever Jay Eazy Raft Ride with She Gon Make Me Ride On Her Raft Like I'm Link‼️, he's finally ready for the main stage with perhaps one of my favorite Jay Eazy rips to date - or, if nothing else, one of the most creative ones.

See, a lot of people still only really know Jay Eazy as the funny Mega Man rapper, and fair enough - it is a very funny video, and a lot of his music sounds rather...homogeneous, for lack of a better word. But there is a silver lining to his songs sounding so similar, in that rips like Eazystep are able to leverage different ones at the same time without it clashing. Indeed, Mega Man is only one part of the rip, the part that introduces the rip with the iconic "Yo bro, why are you doing that??" - but after the most iconic bars of said song drop, it changes seamlessly to using Respect Your Elders without missing a beat. And honestly, that's absolutely the right call for a song like Pigstep, I think Respect Your Elder's flow fits the track far better - but I love that Mega Man still gets incorporated AT THE SAME TIME as the former song, with it being used as a backing layer to the whole thing.

It's just a very clever rip all around, tons of small touches you'd otherwise find unneeded but just make the rip funnier in the long run - small uses of sound effects call to mind rips like Locked In The Underground except here done explicitly for comedic purposes, playing a sudden Nutshack sample when Jay Eazy says "nuts" or a reverb fart SFX far in the distance when the lyrics mention "shittin' on 'em". It's primarily a mashup at first, but with tons of these small additions throughout, little edits to how Respect Your Elders flows through Pigstep's ebb-and-flow lead melody, all of course culminating in a fully pitch shifted section at the rip's melody. The Jamminest Of All is a recent example of it, but these kinds of surprise pitch-shifting rips are always a favorite - it can be overbearing at times if done for an entire rip, yet it adds just enough variety when used as spice to an already fantastic rip like it is here.

The point is - a rip like Eazystep is at once very funny through its concept alone, but elevated even more through how prominently BluLuigi7's own character shines through it. It feels like a flex in the best ways possible, a big grab-bag of additional notes onto an already super-solid rip. The star of the show, fittingly enough, is the short little nod to Starboy near the rips end, which was the joke in one of the first-ever Pigstep rips on the channel in I'm a motherh*cking Starpig, a rip that's evidently still remembered fondly even four years later. I received a comment a while back noting that nobody loves SiIvaGunner as much as the team itself, and it's the stuff like what Eazystep pulls that keeps reminding me of that: the rips made by people like BluLuigi7 who just love having fun with their ideas althewhile paying small tributes to past rips on the channel. Hugely popular rips like Stickerbrush Queen are far from the only ones to get references like this, and it always makes me so happy to see, to be reminded that each individual ripper has their internal web of rips that means more to them than I've ever considere that they could.

Back to the rip as a whole, though - it just kind of bangs in that very particular Jay Eazy way. For as stupid as his music may be to some, it's difficult not to love with everything that the meme of his music has wrought. So much passion from the side of the internet that just loves to have fun spawned purely from a guy promoting his music in a bizarre way on TikTok, and Eazystep is just one of many examples - a rip that has fun with its concept, fun with the very channel its on, but most crucially of all exudes the fun energy of its very ripper in spades. To say that I'm happy that Jay Eazy is a reoccurring gag on the channel would be a grave understatement: I'm looking forward to just how many fun ways his music will be reinterpreted with next with far too much excitement, and thus far SiIvaGunner has not yet failed to deliver in regards to fresh ways to go about it.