#honestly I think this might just be my favourite story this year I'll have to think of a scene to draw for the anniversary this year XD

[hotjaneaustenmenpoll]

Semi-Final Two

Propaganda...

Mr Knightley (2009):

Johnny Lee Miller as Knightley is JUST SO. I mean the way he says "if I loved you less I might be able to talk about it more" IS JUUUST. The dance scene. The tentative shy smiles. The fact you can see in his eyes the entire time " I am completely in love with this woman. She'll never love me back BUT I DO NOT CARE I'LL LOVE HER FROM A DISTANCE ANYWAY" IS JUUUUUUST

We need to appreciate Mr Knightley more for both his snark and for those soft eyes just so full of love for Emma

GIF by dearemma

I was just going to send in the actual dance but the little panic he has when Emma says she knows his secret is just soo charming. There was some thread on twitter a few years ago about how a romcom man's most important quality is knowing how to look at a woman and JLM is just the master of it in this Emma

I really feel like the pictures say it all. He stands there, head tilted to one side. He is listening to you. His posture is relaxed. His gaze open, frank, candid. He's not trying at all. He just is.And that's why he is Knightley.

GIF by night-unfurls-its-splendour

Some propaganda, not just for Jonny Lee Miller, but the general interpretation of 09 Knightley. I have some excerpts here from my review of the 09 adaptation:

What I really think is great about the 2009 interpretation of Mr. Knightley is what an easy and comforting presence he is, without being apologetic when he scolds Emma. I think this is communicated especially well by how often we are actually shown Mr. Knightley taking his almost-daily walks to Hartfield, how smoothly he comes and goes, and how happy Emma is every time she sees him coming up the path (usually, just at the perfect moment when she needs something to put her back to rights.)

Here is Emma, feeling lonely after Miss Taylor's wedding. And in the background, walking up to Hartfield--there's Knightley. He's always been there for her, and he always will be.

And also this Mr. Knightley is as understated as ever, but I wanna highlight this outfit and why I love it: This is Knightley’s first appearance in the series and it’s the perfect establishing shot that shows the viewer everything they need to know about Emma and Knightley’s relationship and how it has always been. He sort of materializes, out of focus in the background, but Emma immediately knows he’s there. And to accentuate how much Knightley is part of her home and scenery, his clothes (similar shades of pale tan, white and minty green to the wall behind him) almost camouflage him and make him seem at one with the moulding of her home.

Additionally, Jonny Lee Miller captures Knightley’s playful qualities, and his exasperation is so endearing

GIF by christophernolan

GIF by sashajames

GIF by christophernolan

I can’t be the only one tickled by this Knightley’s frustration with Emma! JLM FTW!

Jonny Lee Miller is mesmerizing in any role he inhabits. It’s 2009 Knightly all the way.

no but can you actually go vote for mr knightley he was FOUNDATIONAL for 16 year old me my favourite portrayal of my favourite austen man cannot fall at this hurdle!!!

He is my ultimate Austen Dream Man, I'm with him until the end. Honestly this adaptation is my very favorite of them all (P&P 1995 is a VERY close second) because it made me fall in love with Emma as a story? Honestly no other adaptation or indeed even my reading of the book made me love it quite as much. My crush on JLM goes back to 1995 and I do think he is one of the better actors of his generation - his range alone is just impeccable. The fact that he can go from Sick Boy to Mr. Knightley to Sherlock to Jordan Chase is really something. Of all the actors I know, his range is the most impressive. But i love how bright and sunny this adaptation is. The colors, it is as vibrant as Emma should be! The Kate Beckinsale Emma is dark and terrifying to me, not at all suitable an adaptation. I like the Paltrow Emma a lot, but it's got the same issue the 2005 P&P has for me -- it's just too short. This is tonally just right, and the casting is lovely, and JLM is just at his dashing best. His face is so expressive, he is so capable of communicating so much without saying a word. His open jealousy of Frank Churchill is delightful to watch. His face when Emma tells him his secret is out at the ball! JLM is maybe the most underrated actor of his generation and I LOVE that he has been multiple Austen heroes. I maintain that in a future adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, an older JLM would make an EXCELLENT Mr. Bennet. He would convey the right amount of grumpy but fond beautifully.

Look. Do people realize JLM hates wearing period clothing AND hates dancing? And yet in Emma he's sashaying around in pink jackets looking amazing and is THAT convincing? That's called BRILLIANT ACTING!!

A tiny bit of Mr Knightley 2009 propaganda but I love that they put in that bit from the book where he looks like he's going to kiss Emma's hand when he's saying goodbye but then he hesitates and doesn't and I just...it's such a tiny detail but conveys so much!

GIF by myforeverworldofmovie

It’s the only Emma adaptation that really hits the romance notes well. Knightley’s crowning moment of awesome really feels like it (when he rescues Harriet from humiliation) and his subsequent dancing with Emma does make you feel a shift in their relations. Love this adaptation. - This Knightley and Emma in particular are equals. They quarrel, not because he’s telling her off, but because they can have an argument because they know each other, trust each other and care about each others opinions, and there is never a sense of domination of one over the other. This adds so much fire to the romance, and it’s so unusual for a romance of that era (or even one written today!!). - Emma is rich, clever and beautiful and as powerful as a woman of her age and situation could be at the time and she married Knightley for no other reason but because he’s her best friend and his company for the rest of her life will enrich her. - He even leaves his house to move in with her!

Captain Wentworth (1995):

Ciaran Hinds has that perfect ruggedness yet friendliness to his face that makes him the perfect charming Wentworth. And all of the longing that he manages to convey in his eyes is so hot.

Wentworth may be angry/resentful with Anne but in general he is charming and the best friend you could ever have. Ciaran gets the pleasant parts of his character and brings them out, while keeping a guarded coolness (protective camouflage) with Anne.

GIF by molinaesque

I dunno if this counts as propaganda or not, but Ciaran Hinds has a face that looks like it was jackhammered out of a shale cliff.

If a line like 'I am half agony...half hope' comes out of a face like that you know that man has a soul for poetry.

I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in

F. W.

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never.  

This is propaganda for the next round because I need my boy to be a finalist! But this letter is all the persuasion I need to know that he is a winner

Ciarán Hinds in this is a whole other level of "a good man" He makes Anne's decision at the end so much more perfect.

[lucy90712]

I love your writing!!!! I wanted to ask if you could write a story where the reader is a famous actress and has a crush on Carlos and decides to watch a tennis match, but you didn't expect that Carlos also has a crush on you, he's already watched all your films and the whole team know this

Carlos' POV

"Who was your first celebrity crush?" The interviewer asked 

"I honestly don't remember I remember having a few but I can't think of one right now" I answered 

"Can you give us a recent one?" They then asked 

"God this is embarrassing hopefully she won't see this but y/n is definitely one I love everything she's been in" I admitted 

"That is a lot of people's answers so you aren't alone in that" the interviewer laughed 

Your POV

"We know you are very much into sport you are often seen at football matches and f1 or motogp races but a few days ago you posted yourself playing tennis is this another sport to add to the list" the interviewer asked me 

"Definitely I love tennis I can't watch as much of it as all of the grand slams seem to be when I'm really busy but I try my best to watch as many matches as I can I also love to play tennis it's become my favourite thing to do after I get off set in the evenings" I answered 

"Do you have favourite players?" I was then asked 

"I do I like Sabalenka and Coco Gauff and I love to watch Carlos Alcaraz I always try and watch his matches even if it's late I'll stay up and watch him play" I said 

"Have you ever been to a tennis match?" The interviewer asked 

"I haven't yet but I'm hoping to make it to one this year I think I will be in London at the same time as Wimbledon so hopefully I will have some free days to be able to go and watch a few matches" I answered 

~~~~~~~~~~

After my interview saying that I love tennis and would love to go and watch a match at Wimbledon one of the organisers contacted my manager and offered me tickets to centre court for a day. Of course I had to say yes but I couldn't make any day in the first week as I had it be on set every day but I have a few days off during the second week so they gave me tickets to the day with the best matches on. One of those matches happened to be involving Carlos Alcaraz which is the one I'm most excited to watch as I can't lie I have a bit of a crush on him which I didn't mention in that interview as I didn't want him finding out. 

Usually I'm not supposed to go to events like this on my own, my manger likes to arrange security to come with me or makes sure I have a friend with me but this time I insisted that I go alone as I want to experience everything properly. Even if there is a lot of people around who might want pictures I don't care I just want to take it all in without someone stopping me from doing some things. The one thing I couldn't get out of was having someone drive me there and wait for me to leave but I'm ok with that compromise as it's for my safety and I'm still free to roam around Wimbledon all day. 

First thing this morning I had a meeting but by lunchtime I was free to go so I grabbed some food and then got the person driving me to head to Wimbledon. Heading inside the grounds were spectacular there was so many flowers and every green space was perfectly maintained. It wasn't long before people started to notice me and I had fans coming up asking for photos and lots of photographers trying to take pictures of me. Most of the time I try and avoid all of this attention but today I don't mind as I'm just so happy to be here and be able to watch the best tennis players in the world play.

I spent a while walking around looking at all the courts and just exploring before I headed to centre court to watch my first match. My seat was right behind one of the player boxes which meant I got to listen to the instructions they gave to help the players below. I had so much fun watching the match that I didn't even really pay attention to the score but Swiatek won in straight sets then it was time to prepare for the next match which is the one I'm looking forward to the most. There is quite a gap between matches to allow people to leave and get drink and to prepare the court but I stayed put wanting to see everything. One of the perks of getting given tickets is that I've ended up in the vip area so they have been bringing out drinks and snacks which means I really don't have to leave. 

While waiting for the next match to start I decided to actually look at my phone and of course there is lots of pictures from today but I ignored most of those and just looked at what my friends have been up to and what has been going on on set as I like to know what they are filming. After scrolling for a minute I came across a video of Carlos from an interview with Wimbledon so it must be recent so I watched it. They asked him a lot of questions then they asked about his celebrity crush which is when I heard my name so I had to rewind it to make sure I wasn't imagining things. I wasn't hearing things Carlos actually named me as his celebrity crush I mean sure he could be lying but it sure seemed like he was being genuine which has me feeling so much more nervous about watching him play. 

While I was freaking out people started to file back in and there was people starting to take their seats in the box in front of me. I wasn't really paying attention to who was walking in until I saw Juanki sit just a few rows in front of me which is when I realise all of Carlos' team were sat in front of me. I'm not sure if this is a dream or a nightmare there is so much going on in my head it feels like it's about to explode. There was still a bit of time until the match was due to start so I just tried to gather my thoughts but as I did that I made eye contact with Juanki who then climbed up the few rows to stand right in front of me. 

"Hi you are y/n the actress right?" He asked 

"Yes I am it's great to meet you you've done an incredible job coaching Carlos" I said trying to be nice 

"Thank you but he makes it easy" he laughed 

"I wanted to ask you if you are free after this match to come and meet Carlos I know he loves your shows and would love to meet you" he said 

"Yeah I would love to do that I'm a big fan of his tennis so I'd love to meet him" I said 

"Great after the match you can follow us out of here and we can sort things out" he said 

With that he went back to his seat leaving me to watch the match while thinking about the fact that in just a few hours I'm going to meet Carlos. Most people would think that because I'm an actress I'm fine with meeting new people but the thought of meeting Carlos who is someone I admire as an athlete as well as thinking he's extremely attractive is nerve wracking. That being said this match can't finish quick enough as I'd love to talk to him and find out what he's like as a normal person and not the tennis player. 

~~~~~~~~~~

The match was long but Carlos won in four sets and is through to the quarter finals. Once he won he had to do his interview on court and he looked up at his team and I'm convinced made eye contact but I couldn't keep looking as I got nervous. Once he left the court his team started to leave but Juanki stayed and helped me climb over the little wall between my seat and the box and then showed me the way out of the stands. We ended up in a very official seeming building as there was lots of staff and security as well as a few other players then we went down a corridor that had security at the end checking people's passes so Juanki had to assure them that I was with them and eventually they let me through. Juanki led me to a room that had some tables and chairs as well as a few other people I recognised from Carlos' box and told me that Carlos would be here as soon as he's done his media commitments. 

Waiting there made me so nervous it was like I was back on the set of my first big shoot all over again. That day I was nervous that I'd mess up in front of the many seasoned actors and make myself look like a fool but today I'm nervous that I won't be the way Carlos expects me to be. That's something I often struggle with everyone expects me to be a certain way and I always struggle with trying to live up to the high expectations but I'm hoping that by just being myself I won't disappoint. 

After waiting for around half an hour Carlos walked in and looked right at me so I just smiled as I didn't really know what else to do. Our little staring contest went on for a few seconds before I decided to get up and greet him before things got too awkward. As I walked over he started to smile too which made me feel slightly less nervous. 

"Hi congrats on the win you did great out there" I said not really knowing what else to say 

"Thank you I can't believe you watched my match" he said clearly thinking out loud 

"Well I love tennis and you are one of my favourite players so it was an honour to get to watch you play" I said 

"It's so cool to actually meet you in person I think I've watched everything you've been in and made others watch you are an incredible actress" he complimented 

"You haven't seen that awful vampire movie I did right my acting was awful in that it was so awkward" I laughed 

"I have seen it I thought you were great not the best thing you've been in though" he smiled 

After that our conversation flowed a lot easier we sat down together and just got to know each other. We talked about how he got into tennis and how much of his life is dedicated to it and about my career and what it's like working all around the work and with so many different actors. We also got to know each other on a more personal level which was really nice as in our careers you don't really get to know people properly so it's nice to make a human connection not a networking connection. He was so lovely and we got along really well to the point that we didn't notice how much time had gone by until the sun started shining right into our faces as it was setting outside. Both of us have busy days tomorrow so we really had to get back to our normal lives if we want to get enough sleep for tomorrow. 

Before we left his team wanted to take pictures of us together and we both agreed as we both know that those posts will get a lot of interaction as we have mentioned each other in interviews before. He also asked for my number so that we could keep in contact which I was happy to give him as I'd really like to keep getting to know each other. Him and his team walked with me back to my car to make sure I was ok but then they left me and Carlos to say goodbye to each other. He took the initiative and gave me a hug and kissed my cheek as he did so which had me blushing like crazy which I was a bit embarrassed about until I noticed he also had a pink tint on his cheeks. 

We said one last goodbye to each other before I got in the car and taken back to my hotel so I could eat dinner and go to bed. While I got myself ready for bed I scrolled on my phone and of course my picture with Carlos had been posted on his account and then reposted to Wimbledon's account. Of course I had to repost his post to my story which I know will make my fans crazy as I was with a guy but I don't care I had fun today. Right before I went to bed Carlos sent me a text saying that he enjoyed our conversation and asked me to contact him if I'm free at any time both of us are still here so we can spend some more time together which made me smile as I thought about when I have time off over the next week or so. 

[erinwantstowrite]

hi!! first off i just want to say i love LOF and i think it really stands out in this niche genre of “spiderman in gotham”, its my absolute favourite fic rn and im loving the long chapters and dynamics between characters :)

for my question, i wanted to know if you ever considered writing any portions of peters past. specifically when he was “Parker”, an informant for the avengers. it sounds like a really interesting story and i’d love to know more about it, no pressure tho ^^

thank you so much!! I do plan on writing more about it. I honestly want to do a prequel,,,

I have some of it written actually. It was called It's called "Technically Not a Lie (Just Omitting Information)" and what is hilarious about that is it's only 27,000 words right now. I haven't touched that fic in forever because I just... had all of the information written down and the planning, and I got into Batfam and was like "Let's just write a little about this" and we can all blame @alighterwood for where we are now LMFAOOO

Thing is, I never expected LoF to get so popular, which is why it was posted first. I was like "I'll just make sure as much as I can that LoF is clear about his past so anyone who isn't me can read it and be fine." And now that we're here, I'm like "...that might be important."

I think it would be fun to have a prequel so more people can see the dynamics of Peter's world from before LoF in a much clearer light.

I kind of wanna shed a little light on how this prequel would go:

He ran from his last foster house at 12 years old, and he's year years old in this fic. In that time, he has been determined to make a life for himself all on his own, as well as help people as Spider-Man. He has no idea that his personality made people trust him so much. He's only on the street for about a year by the time the story starts, but "Parker" is very much intertwined with people. People just know him, he's the kid that the other kids go to for help. Even without Spider-Man (who, at this point, has only just gotten a proper suit and people actually realize he's not a cryptid), Parker manages to help people.

That's why the Avengers end up talking to him. Kids are going missing in Queens and show up dead- but most of them are the homeless population. They think it has something to do with people trying to make a knock-off super solider serum, and during their investigation, everything comes back to "That Parker Guy." Not in a bad way- everything has nice things to say. One kid even says they'll only talk to them if Parker vouches for them.

Turns out, Parker is a 13 year old and a fucking genius. I mentioned in LoF chapter 1 about it a little bit, and here and there it was mentioned. Peter gives the Avengers a real run for their money the way he does for the Batfam. Except it's ten times worse because he hasn't gone to therapy and is on his own, yknow?

So Bucky and Steve run across Peter (who is doing his own investigation into the missing kids as both Parker and Spider-Man) and that conversation ends with Peter going "Look behind you!" and sprinting in the opposite direction.

Sam and Banner are the ones that really track Parker down and have the first contact with him, and from there, he becomes their informant. Of course, he's also lying to their faces. Swears that he has a mother waiting for him and that he's just really good friends with these people. And people have lied several times to their faces for Peter, going with the lie, which muddies the waters about what is and isn't the truth.

From there, the rest is history. Tony thought he was just viewing Peter like he was a puzzle to figure out, and is truly shaken to his core when he realizes how much he cares about the little shit. When Peter gets kidnapped by the people making the knock off serum, they go looking for him. And Peter ends up having a home :)

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

Spoilers for The Heart of the World ahead! You've been warned

I just finished reading your book! I definitely enjoyed it but I'm not sure if my opinion is influenced by the original fic. Ilyn was probably my favorite character besides Frank, I can kind of see what characters you referenced for who but I think you did a really good job with him, the whole thing he has going on with 'Lily's mother' is especially intriguing because it's not something that happened in the fic.

I'll hussle my book nerd friend into reading it when she's back in town so I can see what someone with a fresh pair of eyes thinks.

That being said I do kind of miss some of the plot points you cut (like the whole Therapy plot and terrorizing her adoptive family) but I can see why you'd cut that for the sake of the pacing. Honestly I never realized how long the original fic was but I blew through the book in the three days I've had it. I definitely want to see how it goes from here, what things will remain the same and how far from the original plot we'll deviate.

Lily herself is... Lily, I've always liked the way she's written. I feel like she's more humanized in this story, or at least a bit more sympathetic to others. I'm not sure if that's what you intended or if she just comes across as a bit more normal because we didn't get that long introduction that establishes her as a borderline lunatic (can't think of a more accurate word rn) She's still otherworldly, but maybe a bit more grounded in this story? Then again it's been a few years since I last read the fic so my memories might be exaggerating some things.

I think my favourite moment was when Lenin said "that's not me" when Lily met the younger version of him but I think that the fact that I can predict or remember certain plot twists spoiled the story for me. I still liked it, I'll be buying the next one and I think I'll enjoy it too but I kind of wish I could erase my memories of the fic, just so I can experience the book the way it's meant to be read as an original story. This way, I'm just drawing comparisons between the two and not looking at it as a standalone story but I can't really help it.

Overall I think you did a really good job with this, at certain parts of the plot (like when Lily first enters the magical world, or when rabbit is introduced) I wished there was more time spent discussing the world or what's happening but I'm assuming you had to condense a lot of it. For the most part I don't think it affects the overall experience of the story too much, except for Rabbit. If the years between Lily being 5-12 weren't cut I think it could have been established better what exactly Rabbit is, or I guess his role as a cosmic horror. From eating the bridge club to eating two tasks is a very large jump and I kind of missed that buildup, and the horror of people and things that were important to the story disappearing gradually. It's entirely possible that I'm getting ahead of myself though and this is all the stuff that will happen later on in the next books, or you simply intended to take a different route this time.

I'm kind of rambling and this ask is getting longer and longer, Anyway, good book, I'll be recommending and lending it to my friends to see what they think since they didn't read the fic. Sorry if I came off as if I was complaining at any point, I really did enjoy reading it

The Heart of the World by me (@janedoewrites)

Glad you enjoyed it overall!

There are things I miss from the original as well, but they didn't fit a) the pacing b) the new world or c) the story in general.

As an example, Lily is definitely more humanized in the book, and part of this is to be a bit more sympathetic but a lot of it has to do with the lack of growing up with the Dursleys who are over the top abusive. The Tylors, in the book, are simply indifferent and absent--and that has a bit of a different effect on Lily as a person compared to the fic.

This also resulted in the lack of the therapy arc as, well, the Tylors aren't even around enough for it to make sense/aren't what Lily saw as thoughtless obtuse abusive obstacles who must be made to do her bidding.

And so on.

Personally, I think the book is better for it, but the bottom line is that I would say the two are different. There's a lot in common, enough so I took the original down to publish, but I think there's more different than a lot of people realize. It's not just copy/replace with names.

Still very interesting to see people point of the differences, and yes, we're still very much in the beginning here with a lot still to go. So, things not covered in book 1 may be coming up in further books.

But glad you liked it! Interested to hear what your friends think.

[sunny-days-and-warm-mournings]

It is finally finished!! I am done and is so happy!!!

This is an AU exploring the concept of Sūn Wùkōng/Dàshèng as a Yaksha and Tu Di Gong, rather than being a Yaoguai Warlord during his later years reigning as the Monkey King.

This AU follows the beginning (with some changes here and there) up until Wùkōng's shenanigans with Ao Guang, then he went on a separate path from Wu Cheng'en's novel.

In this iteration our favourite Monkey explored the realms as he burned up time, but then he took a particular interest in the humans' ways of producing food. Since Dàshèng was so used to the grandeur and bounties of Huagoushan (being surrounded by such lush forests and mountains that never withered nor died) he sort of took pity on them before deciding to help them grow their crops much better.

But this is just the very much shortened summary of the beginning of this AU, and I have compiled some research and even more lore in my Google Documents just to expand on this idea more.

This— Westward To Tathāgatagarbha Lore Google Documents

This is the Google Document of my AU, which I highly recommend for you to read! It explains all the other details and such on this story! I did my best on making them but there would be still mistakes that I have yet to find, but it should be decent!!

This is a more casual look for Dàshèng/Wùkōng for this AU as well as some brief pointers! I made this before the portrait so some things might have changed.

(Don't mind him holding a cup of beer it's fine.)

Taken from the server (with some hints for the next half of the archives/docs) which instantly kickstarted this whole thing haahahjjjss, but it really was so fun talking about it to others! They gave me more inspiration that I can handle.

And what is Tathāgatagarbha you ask? (Brief)

In Buddhist philosophy, Buddha-nature is the potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all beings already have a pure buddha-essence within. "Buddha-nature" is the common English translation for several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, most notably tathāgatagarbha and buddhadhātu, but also sugatagarbha, and buddhagarbha. Tathāgatagarbha can mean "the womb" or "embryo" (garbha) of the "thus-gone one" (tathāgata), and can also mean "containing a tathāgata". Buddhadhātu can mean "buddha-element," "buddha-realm" or "buddha-substrate"

The Chinese translated the term tathāgatagarbha as rúláizàng (如来藏), or "Tathāgata's (rúlái) storehouse" (zàng). According to Brown, "storehouse" may indicate both "that which enfolds or contains something", or "that which is itself enfolded, hidden or contained by another." The Tibetan translation is de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po, which cannot be translated as "womb" (mngal or lhums), but as "embryonic essence", "kernel" or "heart".

The term tathagatagarbha first appears in the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras, which date to the 2nd and third centuries CE.

There will be more to this in the future when I'm finished researching more about it.

Also, speaking of people that inspire me, I'm calling my dear friends here who I think might like this: @digitalagepulao @kaijufluffs @sketching-shark @lavaflowe @sixteenthchapel @jttw-monkeybusiness and @hcdragoncat !!

Special thanks to Pardal and Grandpa Sun for getting me to write more of this too :D I had such great fun!

I have so much more to add to the docs and here but this is all for now :) and honestly this is one of the greatest projects I've started aside from the older ones. I'll come back again soon with more additions and art! And lore (And maybe some interactions with a few West Heaven occupants??)!!!

[quickstappen]

SUMMARY: marceline's valentines over the years (a short study of self love and a look into the past)

PAIRING: pierre gasly x ex! fem! redbull media team! oc , [redacted] x fem! redbull media team! oc (no faceclaim)

WARNINGS: mentions of cheating, cursing

A/N: this is a short valentines day special, marci is healing and we get a look into pierre's and marci's past relationship - this one's not really plot filled, just some valentines snaps over the years ;)

[carved my name] masterlist madi's library

marcilazzaro1 and clairobernie_x posted to their story!

liked by danielricciardo, lance_stroll, clairobernie_x and others

marcilazzaro1 this year, for valentines day, i am celebrating the strongest, bravest and funniest person i know, the curious soul that has been with me my whole life - myself. these past months made me realise that i wasn't always so kind to her, always putting her wants and needs on hold for people who weren't worth it, telling her to settle for something less rather that fight for what she deserves... now, i'm learning to love her and be happy for her in a completely different way and i've never felt more like myself. today of all days, whether you're single or in a relationship, please remember to show yourself some love too. you can spoil yourself a little - you absolutely deserve it.

all of my love goes to you x

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carrie_on whos cutting onions here what the shit

redleclerc she is actually so mother, you don't understand

clairobernie_x i very much agree with the home decor, mia bella 🤍

↳ marcilazzaro1 aw, are we about to kiss rn?

↳ clairobernie_x 😚

cuddlyxricc are you trying to trick me into loving myself with a very aesthetic valentines photo dump?

↳ marcilazzaro1 is it working?

↳ cuddlyxricc ......maybe

↳ marcilazzaro1 good.

quickstappen did you do anything special today to spoil yourself?

↳ marcilazzaro1 yes! i cooked my absolute favourite meal from my childhood, took a very long and relaxing bath all while sipping on apple cider (i'm not a huge fan of champagne) and binged the mamma mia movies again!

↳ marcilazzaro1 did you do anything to spoil yourself?

↳ quickstappen it was gonna be another sad valentines, but you've changed my mind. i deserved a break. i went shopping to my favourite store and i'm planning to treat myself to dinner night out!

↳ marcilazzaro1 you don't know how amazing it is to hear that 🤍

barbiegirl i just love how confident she's getting 🥹 i've waited YEARS for this

shithappens okay but the revenge dress???? absolute serve

↳ madi_races it looks like it was made for her, honestly

ilpredestinatox HELL YEAH. GIRL, YOU DON'T NEED NO MAN (especially not that cheating bastard)

sarah_scott 🥂💛

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FEBRUARY 2020

liked by pierregasly, danielricciardo and others

marcilazzaro1 to the one who always listens to what i have to say and never complains about my weird shit - i thought i knew what it was like to love and be loved, but everyday you prove me wrong, you're like a breath of fresh air after a long dive.

all of my love goes to you x

tagged: pierregasly

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pierregasly there's no one i'd rather listen to in the middle of the night, you make me feel whole, i didn't even know i had so much love to give

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FEBRUARY 2021

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marcilazzaro1 another year, another letter. i've never felt such an overwhelming kind of love, no matter how many words i write, it's never enough. there's so much i want to say and so little words. i think i'll just have to write it out for the rest of my life and even that might not be enough time.

all of my love goes to you x

tagged: pierregasly

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pierregasly i've never liked reading, but i know all your letters by heart. i can't wait to spend forever with you

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FEBRUARY 2022

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marcilazzaro1 to pierre, my love - no words can explain what i feel for you (and yet i try every year), i love everything about you, even your dirty socks laying around the apartment, but most of all, i love your quiet. i was never good with silence, my life is chaotic and full of noise, i was scared of slowing down, but with you i am safe and i don't have to fear the quiet moments anymore

all of my love goes to you x

tagged: pierregasly

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pierregasly i can only be quiet with you, no one else

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FEBRUARY 2023

liked by pierregasly, sarah_scott and others

marcilazzaro1 to the future us - i hope you're kind and loved. to pierre - another year with you and i still don't have enough. i think my love for you might be endless, like the depth of your eyes in the mornings. i am enamored, bewitched, but never lost, i've found myself in your arms.

all of my love goes to you x

tagged: pierregasly

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pierregasly here's to the future! i love you always

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madi's radio: here we have a bit of nostalgia for marci and pierre :)))) i don't know where this came from honestly, but i wanted to show that there was a time when they were happy and in love (on both sides)

taglist: @sunny44 @rockyhayzkid @biancathecool @unluckyyoshi @woozarts @janeholt3 @celestialend @formulaal @d3kstar @yoremins @rd14 @mess-is-my-aesthetic @callsignwidow @blaaahblubb @evans-dejong @lwstuff (xxx - couldn't tag you)

click here to be added to the carved my name taglist!

DISCLAIMER: i do not know anything about this people, this is not real life, this is just something for fun, i do not know anythings about their life or personalities!

[sarahreesbrennan]

sorry if you have already answered this, but are we getting any queer rep in Long Live Evil? 💕 i am super excited to see what you've cooked up for us either way!

I came back after I'd gone off on one, seeing the post had struck a chord and being thankful but fearful of my inbox. Let me say with delighted surprise that all the asks are very kind.

Thank you for this one, sweet anon. I am so excited and so nervous about my best beloved, Long Live Evil, and about coming back with a new book of my own after so long, when I believed for a long time it was hopeless.

I'm really grateful to find readers waiting for me. But I know readers are naturally more invested in characters they know: I extremely appreciate you taking an interest in the future.

So, short answer: YEAH you are!

Long answer: Long Live Evil wouldn't exist without its queer narratives.

C.S. Pacat and I were talking in our virtual Brookline Booksmith event recently about our favourite Disney villains. C.S. Pacat picked Maleficent, a fine choice. I picked Snow White's Evil Queen. We agreed we loved most of them.

Here's the relevant excerpt I was quoting in my last post from Carmen Maria Machado's In The Dream House, saying 'I think a lot about queer villains, the problem and pleasure and audacity of them.' Well... me too.

I think many of us have experienced feeling made wrong in some way - for not wanting what society said we should or being what we were expected to be - and that one step along that journey of discovery is going 'Okay, if it's wicked, I'll just BE wicked.' And that's part of why those characters appeal - because they seem free, and free of pain.

But modern storytelling isn't confined to coding, and audiences can now feel free to expect, not the certainty, but the possibility characters who aren't introduced as such still might actually turn out to be LGBT+. The essays I've read about Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Sherlock, Ted Lasso, Fox 9-1-1... I think the latest argued Jaime Lannister was bisexual. (Pretty persuasive.)

I remember reading the Raven Cycle going 'oh? OH.' I remember being at a writing retreat in 2013 and running through the halls screaming about Nico diAngelo. Ten years later we got a Nico diAngelo book co-written by Rick Riordan and the amazing Mark Oshiro. I watched Red, White and Royal Blue with a friend and she said 'honestly I hope the guys get together, but...' and I (having read the book) silenced myself with a herculean effort and watched her hopes come true. I didn't know about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and almost dropped the book in a swimming pool. But I've also read and watched many things thinking, just maybe... oh, no. Still that hope existing is meaningful, the thought that if the story had gone differently, if this revelation had happened, if this realisation had happened, if, if, if...

Long Live Evil is a story about the story going differently and asking yourself questions about your own nature, and the escape to fiction of those who really need escape. The book is based on that 'if,' and the 'if' itself is joyous, and brings me back to the idea of gleefully transgressing the narrative that much villain love is based on.

It's also an ensemble story with a rogue's gallery of characters and multiple PoVs. (I was much inspired by the Six of Crows ensemble.) So it isn't about any one character's romance, and by the book's nature there exist many possibilities. A critique partner read and said 'I didn't know you were going THERE' and I responded 'Should I?'

I've never been one to confirm where stories are going, and I won't do so now. I'm not talking about any one character or telling you a direction.

I'm just saying yes to rep. It's baked in.

[maranigai]

Mohg for the ask meme? 😅

Ah, Luminary Mohg my beloved...

favorite thing about them

Mohg's relations with love, both as a feeling and a concept. He's the person who has been denied any love (or any virtue) from the very beginning of his life, the person who has been abandoned, forsaken - and who was completely enraged and disgusted by it. So he believes that everyone deserves love, and care, and dignity - this is what he promises, sinserely, to his people, this is what his dynasty is for. And, of course, this is what leads to his downfall. His patron deity - an outer goddess of love and suffering - is a sadomasochistic, bloodthirsty abomination, but she grants strength, and how can Mohg deny the strength needed to protect those he loves? Or how can he not listen to his half-brother, who speaks of love, of compassion for all - even if his words are the charm that deprives Mohg of his own heart and will? He loved the world around him so much, no less, or maybe even more, than Morgott, but he refused to put up with its imperfections, its injustice and hypocricy - and first became a bloody monster himself, then lost it all to another monster, with similar motives, but much greater powers, which brings us...

least favorite thing about them

...to Mohg's death. Because he deserved better. Sure, he was a grim power, a servant of the goddess of torment, the leader of a murderous cult that killed and kidnapped people - and I can easily see why Mohg, despite all his original motives, deserved death... but not this death. Because it was such a cruel mockery of everything that was important to Mohg - love, dignity, freedom. It's not that I dislike the ending of his story because it's a bad plot or a writing issue... it's just too heartbreaking. Easily in the top-3 of all the FromSoft's Prepare-to-Cries for me.

favorite line

Ahh, I can see it, clear as day! The coming of our dynasty!

...I'm not crying (cries)

brOTP

Morgott, surely. Despite all of their contradictions, it was Morgott who had been with Mohg in the sewers all those years, it was Morgott who had lived through it all as Mohg had, it was Morgott - and only Morgott - who could truly understand him. Mohg might look up to Godwyn and love his dynasty with all his heart, but Morgott was his twin, his other half, inseparable. and all this is as true for Morgott himself as for Mohg

OTP

Ansbach, because my favourite trope strikes once again, lol. I've also seen some Radahn/Mohg post-dlc art... and honestly, there's something to it.

nOTP

Morgott. They're brothers, your honor! Also Miquella, because... well, I think I don't really need to explain it our lord Mohg deserved so much better

random headcanon

In terms of personality, Mohg resembles young pre-godhood Marika more than any other of her children. They also share an uncontrollable urge to make the least appropriate jokes in the least appropriate circumstances.

unpopular opinion

Mohg does care about the Golden Lineage, despite having founded his own dynasty. He's the eldest (after Godwyn's death) in his family, and he considers himself responsible for the rest of his relatives, feeling that he must protect them as Godwyn once did.

song i associate with them

Heather Dale - Prodigal Son (finally a musical association in a language that most people here understand!)

favorite picture of them

Once again, so many beautiful arts with Mohg. I guess for now I'll pick this art by motgarel

Also a bonus mention of this art with this amazing veiled!Mogh by pumpumkins 

[osmanthus-wine-addiction]

Hello, hi! This ask might come out as weird, strange and you can ignore it as insane rumblings, but thank you noticing this.

I just noticed that my favourite blog about genshin and Zhongli specifically has been archived without any ability to read old works.

I knew this could happen eventually. People grow, lose motivation and move on.

And I understand that people are fragile, and they have right to do anything they want with their work.

But

I'm afraid

I'm afraid things that happened to us, moved us, won't mean nothing at all and we forget about it completely.

I know this is silly. I know this game

But, do you? Do you feel unmotivated, jaded, wanting to dissappear? Would you delete your account all the same as if it all meant nothing?

I'm so scared even though I know I shouldn't. Thank you

awww i totally get you anon. fic writers disappear sometimes and it can really be a depressing thought that something you read before and enjoyed is now unable to be revisited. Like Zhongli says, every journey has it's final day. Fics will steal our hearts and then one day they might not be there anymore, for a lot of reasons that we might have no control over.

I don't read as much as I used to and I can't promise I'll always be writing, but as long as Zhongli continues to be my muse, the keyboard tapping won't stop. Honestly, when I first started writing fics for him, it was out of personal hunger. I was just writing to feed myself lol. The truth is, I've been writing for over ten years and Genshin is not the only fandom I've written for and Zhongli is not the only muse that's pushed me to vomit words on a notepad. He is my god-tier muse though. This fictional man has inspired me to write more fanfics than i've ever written about any other character. Zhongli's even hijacked my motivation to work on my own original stories. He's that unstoppable lol. So no, I won't be disappearing anytime soon.

As for posting fics on this blog, it's half to share with other Zhongli enjoyers and half to house my own fics in case my harddrive dies and takes my fics with it. at least they still exist on the internet where I can easily recover them. I know that's different from archiving a fic blog. the writer still has access, I think? I only started this blog like a year ago so maybe I haven't been on tumblr long enough to be jaded. I heard that interaction has really dwindled over the past years. It could be that Genshin isn't as popular anymore or Zhongli is just an old character so the newer folks aren't simping over him enough to read/write as much as they used to. Zhongli was more popular around when Genshin first released and now he's just one out of 35 husbandos. I could make up all sorts of theories, but in the end of the day, I try to just be thankful that people still love him enough to be reading and leaving notes on my fics.

I don't derive all my motivation to write from the interactions I receive by posting fics and I believe it's the same for other writers. Zhongli alone provides the motivation I need to write. He also makes me giddy to share the result of that brainrot, so that I can hopefully get some of yall to join in the degeneracy. I refuse to quietly simp over him, so I'll always be tossing my fics out into the void and hoping fellow simps bite. It brings me joy to feed the hungry fishies lol. I still get readers that come back and tell me they reread my fics a year after it's finished and it warms my heart every time. Imagine in 2030, people are still reading Zhongli fics, even if they're not mines. How awesome would that be? I want to see that, so personally, my fics aren't going anywhere.

This post is mostly ramble and my personal thoughts responding to anon about this particular topic. It got me a bit sentimental so this got kind of long. Not condemning any fic writers or authors out there who feel like shelving or already archived their fics/blogs. They have their reasons and those reasons are valid. Fics are deeply personal to their writers and gifted to the fandom freely. Writers have every right to do whatever they want with them. Even though I don't see myself shelving or restricting access to my fics today, I can't say that about myself a year from now or five years from now. I don't know what my state of mind or what circumstances might come up that would bring me to a decision like that, but if that does ever happen, I hope that the readers that had a chance to read the stories I posted had fun reading them.

[dr-spectre]

Guess what game I just finished!!!

I dont have a lot to say on this because I think over the past 20 years people have already said enough.

But... MY GOD! The level of variety, creativity, and fresh ideas each chapter brings holy SHITTTT!!! One moment you're going underground with a cute goomba girl, then you're fighting a dragon, then you're playing a World 1-1 recreation with BOWSER! Then you're playing as Peach who has this deeply emotional and sad relationship with an AI (Tec is the goat, I love that ai. Top 10 ai in fiction idc), then you're doing a tournament arc AND THEN YOU'RE DOING A TRAIN MYSTERY OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

The combat is really fun and charming, THE DIALOGUE IS SO WELL WRITTEN AND I LAUGHED MULTIPLEEEEE TIMES!!! I love the characters, I love the world, I love the art style, i love most of the boss fights, the music is banging (I played with the original ost), God there's so much to love.

I will say, the final chapter of this game did kinda drag on, and there's so many points where I was thinking "okay NOW I get to fight the final boss!" And it takes another hour to get to them.... there's so many obvious signs of padding (copy and pasted hallways, a trash "pick the right door" puzzle, etc.)

I also didn't like how when you swapped partners that counts as a turn, i feel like you should be able to swap without wasting a turn because it would help with the flow of combat and make using Goombella's tattle less of a fucking pain...

Also....

VIVIAN IS SO FUCKING CUTE!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!! SHE'S MY FAVOURITE PARTNER BY FARRRRR!!!!! Goombella is really cute too and she has amazing dialogue. I love the storyline of Admiral Bobbery too and that stuff made me cry... but...EEEEE I LOVE VIVIAN!!!!

GOD I JUST WANNA HUG HER!!! I WANNA PINCH HER CHUBBY CHEEKS!!! I WANNA RUB HER BELLY!!!! Nintendo I need a plushie of her yesterday. Come on. Please... I need one...

I shall leave my partner rankings as well, i wonder if I got any hot takes or not...

6. Flurrie.

No. Just... no I don't like her. Her design creeps me out, I don't give a shit about her moves. I never used her. Get her away from me.

5. Goombella.

Although very cute I found her more of a hindrance and i kept going, "ugh I gotta swap to her to get the tattle..." At least her design and personality are cute. Plus, she's more useful than that creepy ass Flurrie....

4. Koops.

I like him! He helped me out a LOTTT in the final battle, his later moves that you can unlock make him pretty damn good. Although I am jealous that this wimp has a girlfriend....

3. Admiral Bobbey.

Honestly I think the reason why he might be this high is because of his story. I really felt bad for him... his design is also killer, I LOVEEEE Bob-ombs so much!

2. Mini-Yoshi.

The fact that you can name him is really funny to me idk why. He's got some very helpful moves and his ability to help you move faster in the overworld is really nice. I like how he calls you Gonzalez too. What a fun character man.

1. Vivian.

I already said why I like her earlier but I'll go on further.

I LOVE HER STORYLINE TOO!!! I LOVE HER DESIGN!!! I LOVE HOW SHE'S TRANS AND THE REMAKE DIDN'T GET RID OF IT LIKE HOW THE ORIGINAL NORTH AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN RELEASES OF THE GAMECUBE VERSION GOT RID OF IT!!!

God.... I love her. I wanna kiss her on the cheek. She's so cute. Her moveset too is fire!.... wait..

Also btw I didn't know that this RATTTT was an optional party member... oops...

[dchuntress]

HI!!

I was wondering if there was a there a particular moment (comic book, particular panel, line, event) where you ‘fell in love’ with Helena B as a character? Like a moment where you really became a fan of her or that kicked off a greater appreciation for her.

No pressure if not, just wondering! (Also hope the exam goes well ^^)

HELLO MY FAVOURITE STEPH CEO 🩵🩵🩵🩵

thank you so much for your wishes and for this ask!!!

i don't want to revise history too much and i hope this is a satisfactory answer, but honestly, i know i was in a certain sort of emotional state during that period of 2024 and i'm sure my emotions were heightened a lot, but i'll still try to recap it as closely as possible: ( some personal stuff below )

some quick backstory: i was on a long flight in december 2023, randomly watched the birds of prey movie, enjoyed the hell out of that movie, in april 2023 i randomly thought of the helena character - mainly because of that one scene, where the kid was scared, but helena, this emo goth socially awkward edgelord, stopped to comfort that kid and gave her a toy car to hold onto. i googled her, and was really, really surprised by how different comics huntress looked; like, her suit design? PHENOMENAL. i make graphic edits, and i knew i wanted to do my next on huntress, and doing so, i ended up researching her a little so that i can get her vibes right...

this might be controversial, but this is entirely my personal experience and in no way a commentary on the religion as a whole: i was raised muslim, and in 2023, i became an atheist, ironically enough, a few months before my first umrah (a sort of pilgrimage). i was at a very low point of my life, and i was hanging onto a few loose threads of my faith, but i was losing hope rapidly, and people around me being misogynistic, controlling shits weren't helping much. in the end, the threads snapped, and once i considered that i was totally alone in the whole world, i couldn't return back. i couldn't reaccept my faith no matter what. right now, i don't mind being an atheist, and i thoroughly respect people's religion and faith. i know i have tried to be a good person when i was a theist, and i know i am trying to be a good person as an atheist. i think we're all trying as people, and i think most of us are innately good.

but for many months since i first became an atheist, i was deeply hurt, grieving, resentful, conflicted. i felt trapped because i live in a very religious family, very religious country. talks of religion hurt me personally. and at the same time, i was coming to terms with the fact that i'm genuinely alone and i don't have a safety net. i really felt lost.

to keep things from being too long, another quick context: before helena bertinelli, i got into a marvel comics character, theresa cassidy. she's a catholic, and at first, i tried to just read and write for this character without looking at her faith, but... terry, like helena, is devoutly catholic, and it felt wrong for me to ignore an integral part of terry. so, terry gave me the first bit of courage to re-engage with religion in an impartial light, i was only just reading up catholicism to understand terry's relationship with her faith better.

when i learned that helena bertinelli is a devout catholic, i didn't really know how to feel. i was already somewhat familiar with researching catholicism for terry anyway, so i didn't feel uncomfortable engaging with helena's stories. then i read huntress: year one and i think i just was a different woman.

that was exactly the kind of story i needed, and helena was exactly the kind of character i needed. someone so strong, so powerful, yet so scared, so angry, so uncertain, so lost, so human. she was religious, she knew what she was talking about, yet she was also upset with the kind of people that utilised religion. this story of huntress wasn't just her beating up bad guys and calling it a day, she barely emerged victorious.

because this was systematic. she was born into it, and she barely could escape it, getting almost killed and losing her entire family weren't enough to protect her. she couldn't uproot her problems, she couldn't convince people to share her views in a day, she was alone often times. but she also fought, she had support when it mattered, she survived, she outlasted them all, she didn't give up, she didn't stop believing.

religion may not have been relevant to me anymore, but seeing what it means to helena? for her to carry all those years of pain, to overcome her fear, and reclaim her cross from that bastard who doesn't deserve to be named?

yeah, just. wow! i don't know just how often we see women-centric stories we see like this in mainstream media: messy, unfiltered, realistically harsh. huntress is constantly fighting uphill battles, putting herself through heartbreak, losing and losing, seldom getting her flowers, but she's a woman of ardent faith and hope. not in a "god will save me" way but "i will save myself; god don't give up on me" way.

and circling back to what caught my eye about bop movie's helena: i think i had fallen in love with huntress a bit harder when i learned she was a schoolteacher, the kind that had a soft spot for her kids and would break hell and bend heaven for them. being a teacher ties back to her being hopeful too; helena isn't a nihilistic cynic, isn't a naive idealist, she doesn't know things will change for better, but she's someone who steps out to fight the good fight as huntress and continues to inspire her students as a teacher; if this wasn't a woman who believed in a better tomorrow and worked towards that with honest diligence, would she have outlived them all?

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

@all-you-had-to-do-was-neigh thanks for the question, I'm gonna answer through this blog because it makes more sense to me. And thanks for saying I have good taste, I think so too.

So many things have come out since April so I get it might be a bit overwhelming to know what to watch. I'll share some of my faves, but also I'll link my year end lists by country so you have some more options. Japan | Korea | Thailand

So since April specifically, there's a lot, I'll kinda divide them in ones more on the fluffy, happy side and some that should come with a warning. I'm the warning lol. Maybe you can choose what you feel like depending on your mood. Or maybe I'm the only one who does that. But anyway. I'll start with the angst.

- At 25:00 in Akasaka, Japan - Pretty much perfect, but prepare to suffer a bit as these boys really like to keep everything inside. Hayama is one of my favourite characters of all time, and I do like how the show played with the bl inside the bl. - Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo, Korea - PAIN. So much pain. All the trauma. But it's so good. Both of these guys have my whole heart. Great writing, compelling characters and incredible directing work. - Marahuyo Project, Philipines - You will laugh and you will cry almost in equal measure. Diverse queer rep, with an incredible group of characters. And it's on youtube. - Time of Fever, Korea - This is the story of Donghee and Hotae, before Unintentional Love Story. I can't not rec this one, because it was one of my big obsessions this year. Best to go into not thinking it's a prequel and just it's own thing, although I think it's great regardless. These were the heaviest ones, so now for some things more cheerful. - Knock Knock Boys, Thailand - 4 boys share a house, so you can see where this is going. Good rep, good female characters, some sex-ed, wonderful communication, for the most part, and two charming couples. - See Your Love, Taiwan -This one just finished and it was so lovely. Mostly the mains. But it's definitely a mixed bag. It's Taiwan so there's some weird mafia shit going on, there's some family drama, some lesbians crumbs (like almost non existent really), amazing parents on one side, great kissing and messy sides. But honestly the mains make the whole thing worth it, cause they are incredible and by the end my heart was bursting. - Sugar Dog Life, Japan - Fun, cute, wholesome, food as love and the most adorable boy. My pfp is one of the mains, so I obviously love him to no end. If you really wanna watch it and for some reason have an issue finding it, you can reach out to me, as this one was not made available internationally. - Only Boo!, Thailand - Probably the fluffiest one on the list. There were some writing issues near the end but honestly I just rewatched it recently and I felt so much joy. The leads are so damn endearing that it just makes me happy. - Every You, Every Me, Thailand - This is like 5 bls in one. Different stories, same actors. A lot of variety. You get the cute, the sad, the funny and the horny. All of it and all the tropes. It's not perfect but it's very entertaining. And the leads are amazing together. - The Trainee, Thailand - I don't know if you are an OffGun fan, but I am a big one so I have to rec this one always. It's an ensemble show, so the bl part of this is smaller than other shows on this list. But the group is great and the friendships really endearing. I also like the office part of this one. It feels realistic and it has some really interesting messages throughout. - Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko!, Japan - My favourite GL of the year, even if it's not perfect and kinda loses some of its strengths by the end, I still think it deserves a spot here, if for no other reason, so I can have a gl on the list lol. It's really funny, and yeah some moments kinda lost me, but I still think it's worth checking out if you feel like watching a jgl.

And now for a special mention. Not a QL, a Jdrama that was one of the best things I watched all year.

Oppan, Don’t Care for an Old Man’s Underwear! - All the joy, all the kindness. Just a group of the most amazing humans, not because they do everything right, but because they try so hard to be better. A father wanting to change for his son triggers so much change around him and it's a beautiful journey that had me in tears and filled with joy. We got to watch this one thanks to the amazing work of @isaksbestpillow that provided the fansubs.

I think this is enough for now but if you want different recs, or have anything specific in mind that you feel like watching, feel free to stop by again. These are some of my personal faves, but there are a lot more, as you know. Hope this gives you some idea of where to start.

Hope you have a wonderful sunday, and a great week. 💜

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

That music take got me thinking about which other characters would like dad rock, and man... if I'm gonna call myself the classic rock nerdlord, I best flex a bit, so -cracks knuckles- here we go. This is gonna be a long one. I'm gonna focus on non-lords for this

Ashe. His dad was into a lot of 70s rock and it rubbed off on him. Same for Lonato, which just makes the whole genre that much more special to him. Putting on a classic rock record brings him back to happier days. There's a lot he enjoys like Eric Clapton and Journey, but a special place in his heart is reserved for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers [and by extension, the Traveling Wilburys]. Favourite song: I Won't Back Down

Inigo/Lazward. Come on, take one look at him and tell me he's not a Beatles fan. I dare you. Guy's practically in love with John Lennon. Subsequently, he also loves John's post-Beatles work. Favourite song: Love Me Do

Frederick. I dunno, something about him screams Jackson Browne fan. He'd also be into the Eagles and Steely Dan. There is no doubt that his music taste influenced Chrom's to a substantial degree. Is that a good thing? You decide. Favourite song: Doctor, My Eyes

Rodrigue. To the surprise of absolutely nobody. What we call dad rock now used to be fresh top 40s hits to Roddy, of course he likes the shit. The first time he heard the Byrds on the radio, he fell instantly in love. He's also a big fan of the Who. Favourite song: My Back Pages [this is a Bob Dylan cover]

Takumi and Leo. This is a two-in-one and yeah I'm breaking the non-lord rule, but hear me out here. These two are bona fide metalheads, but like old school metal. I'm talking Black Sabbath old school with a huge helping of 80s thrash metal. That said, both do enjoy some typical classic rock. Takumi has a soft spot for the Eagles while Leo is a closet Fleetwood Mac fan. Favourite non-metal songs: Lyin' Eyes [Takumi] and Dreams [Leo]

Oboro. Alright, I admit I'm projecting here with this one, but I can't unsee her being a Def Leppard fan, and these days the Leps would be considered dad rock. She's also into David Bowie. Favourite song: Lady Strange [I'm trying not to project too hard here]

Griss/Gregory. Technically a two-in-one, but for all the ways they are different, their taste in music is 100% identical -- or rather, 99.99% identical. Both are huge fans of Alice Cooper, but they have different favourite songs. Favourite songs: Teenage Frankenstein [Griss] and Billion Dollar Babies [Gregory]

Leonie. This surprises a lot of people, but she's not into modern music. I dunno, she just doesn't vibe with it. Older music, however, is a different story, and it turns out she really likes Kiss and AC/DC. No one's quite sure what drew her to those bands above everyone else and she doesn't feel inclined to share. Favourite song: Black Diamond

Lewyn. He didn't have that much of an opinion on the genre before, but traveling on the road resulted in a lot of classic rock getting stuck in his head and he finds he enjoys it. The Allman Brothers Band and Electric Light Orchestra are the ones who take up the most free real estate in his head. Favourite song: Midnight Rider

Tsubaki. There's debate as to whether this is out of left field or completely expected of him. Not that he knows this debate is even happening because nobody wants to get involved in that discussion with him. Like Lazward, he also enjoys the Beatles' post-breakup work, but while Lazward loves John Lennon, Tsubaki leans more towards Paul McCartney, especially the Wings years. Favourite song: Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five

Xane. One might think he wouldn't care for music, but no, he actually likes music. His taste in music is quite varied and isn't limited to classic rock, and of the classic rock he's heard, honestly he wouldn't be able to pick a favourite group out of anyone. He just likes it all. It's really interesting. Favourite classic rock song if he had to pick one: Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival

I'll be here all day if I keep listing out more so I'm gonna stop there

.

[rave-rz]

Spill the tea. You posted in the MHA critical tag about Tokyo Revengers and Oshi No Ko. What was wrong with them? We write dissertations on the flaws of our show. Introduce us to what's wrong with the other two.

Share your trauma.

lmao honestly, fair. I included the 2 with mha since I liked all 3 of them a decent amount before the last arcs happened so sure, I don't mind trauma dumping! I guess I should perface that I read a lot of manga, so I'm kinda picky lmao.

Obviously, spoilers for Oshi no ko and Tokyo revengers manga below the cut. Also, I ramble so this might get bloated.

I'll start with Tokyo Revengers since it's been the longest since it ended and I'll admit my memory might be a bit fuzzy. Aside from Takemichi making me wish he learnt how to properly throw a punch throughout the whole show (like Takemichi, buddy you're in a gang please-). I thought the last arc was weirdly both rushed and also drawn out? Like it was trying to tell like 3 different stories (that could've had arcs of their own) but on like 2x speed.

There was the three deities fight which introduced 2 more gangs and killed off one of them immediately, the entire backstory of Shinichiro, the original timeline, time jumping and the dark impulses (which were retconned imo, went from actual negative emotions and trauma to a magical-ish concequence of time travel), the final fight between Kanto and Toman and then Takemichi and Mikey fixing literally everything. Like all of these things could've been whole arcs by themselves. I hate that they explain Takemichi having the time travel powers by having Shinichiro randomly find him as a child and give them to him and he just has this power dormat for his whole life till the start of the manga.

The time travel was always sorta spotty with it's rules but they stuck to them mostly throughout the story as far as I can remember, Takemichi has to shake hands with Naoto and can only travel back and forth 12 years from the day. But all of a sudden he not only travels back to when he was likt 6-8 after dying, but somehow takes Mikey with him?? They literally explain this with 'I don't know!'

They essentially create an entirely new timeline where everything bad that has ever happened to anyone hasn't happened yet somehow and not only do they not explain how (or even really attempt to), they then show a small little montage of Takemichi and Mikey saving literally everyone with a 'and then we saved everyone'

Literally everyone lives lmao. Even Akane and Shinichiro who were dead before the start of the story.

Aside from all the issues I had with how rushed and nonsensical the final arc/ending felt. I think my biggest gripe is that: the remaking of a completely new timeline. Nothing about the previous ones were relevant, because they travel back so far nobody remembers anything that happened throughout the story. Not even Chifuyu (the actual best character) who knew about the time travel. So this ending just leaves me with more questions. Like if Akane is still alive, did the fire still happen? Does Inupi still have his scar? Is this before Shinichiro started time travelling to save Mikey? Are Chifuyu and Takemichi even remotely as close as they were before.

The entire manga essentially leads you through a whole story and right before the end tosses it into the shredder and pulls out a fix-it fanfic they wrote and reads you the ending of that instead. Aside from Mikey and Takemichi, none of the other characters you've spent all this time with are there. They've been replaced with these versions of themselves who've been factory reset, nothing ever happened to them and Mikey/Takemichi are the only ones who remember anything. It feels like a slap in the face. How quite literally, nothing that happened mattered for the ending.

Was it a happy ending? Sure, yeah Kakucho was a favourite of mine and I'm happy to see him alive. But at the same time, if you were gonna do this, what was the point of killing him off like 10 chapters ago??

it really was our 'Tokyo Revenge'.

Now onto Oshi no ko! This one is a bit easier to articulate my thoughts for, not only because it ended more recently so I remember more of what happens. But also because through OnK I've realised I just do not think Aka Akasaka is a good writer regarding serious tones.

I did like Oshi no ko at first, I thought it was funny how every character and their arcs felt like they were in different genres. Akane and her noir detective, Aqua was trying to emulate the punisher, Ruby and her group was trying to be love live. But I slowly noticed as the story went on that it like talking at you. A lot of the 'commentary on the entertainment industry' was done through just telling you documentary-esque. Even the characters when going through something like that, they only went through a little bit before it gets solved and we never really hear or preferably see much of the aftermath. Not a huge deal imo, but it was one gripe I had pretty early on.

I think my main issue of the story though is how indescive the author was about so many things, but mainly the handling of Aqua in the ending, and more egregiously, Hikaru's character. Seriously, wtf did Aka want to do with Hikaru's character? He's written like Aka can't decide what he wants him to be. Like you go through most of the story being told he's this dangerous criminal mastermind who is irredeemble and needs to be brought to justice. Then you get a lot more character depth to him that shows him as a victim of abuse to sympathise with and start to appreciate him more as a character. Like yeah he's a messed up guy who did awful awful things. Is he guilty? Absolutely. But he wasn't unforgivable if that makes sense. We're shown how his actions are a sort of retaliation against the industry. how he seemed to genuinely love Ai. All of this could've led to a perfectly fine ending with an alright conclusion to his character arc. Like he could help Aqua save Ruby from Niino and in the end, still go to jail. Boom.

But then no. Aka changes his rationale the next time you see him, now Hikaru isn't trying to retaliate against the industry, he's instead just trying to keep anyone from surpassing Ai. Also he never loved Ai? Hikaru goes a whole 180 and his motivations are no longer tied to his abuse (which Aka has a habit of, theres like 3 characters in OnK alone, including Hikaru, who have being exploited as part of their backstory and does promptly nothing with them). He went from having a believable motive, while still being a criminal, to going back to a deranged psycho off to murder his daughter.

So Hikaru's main problem is how much potential he had as a charcter and as an antagonist (remember kids, you don't need to be a villain, to be an antagonist) but Aka backtracked in order to be iredeemable so Aqua is now forced to kill himself. Which ties into my other main problem.

Aqua dying is dumb, mainly cause of Hikaru's character shift (if Hikaru's character wasn't changed again, he wouldn't do this), but also it ruins most of the other character's arcs. Akane, Kana and Ruby's arcs were all pretty centered around Aqua, with Akane and Kana wanting to stop Aqua's descent into madness and Ruby just cared about his survival. The story spends quite a bit of time detailing a possible life where Aqua did decide to forgive and move on. We see how he was ready to go to med school and go back to being a doctor. His main character flaw of compassion and love (which helps with the tragic ending given how this flaw spurred him on with AI and pursuing justice for her and to go as far as he did) was given a path to be something helpful instead of harmful with him being a doctor. So much was set up to make readers believe in an alternative ending and have that be the peak of Aqua's character development. Him actually being, you know, happy and getting a natural happy end that was worked for and earned instead of the tragic ending the beginning predicted.

BUT INSTEAD Aqua dies and every character and their arcs gets quickly cut off with no actual ending to them. Kana never gets a chance to confess her feelings so her arc as a whole just stays pretty irrelevant to the main plot. Akane's participation in the final arc amounted to saving Ruby from stairs and ultimately she failed to save Aqua and never got to pay him back for saving her. And Ruby, god Ruby, she loses the person she cared for most again (this is like what, the 2nd, 3rd time now?) but we're told she bounces back and instead of showings us how, since she was ready to kill Hikaru when she found Gorou's body, we're instead told she's fine and get some one-liner about how fragile human beings are or something. All the while she imitates Ai and fakes her smile and happiness in the hopes that one day, she'll actually feel it. Which the story, just does not acknowledge.

Basically I think Hikaru failed as a character and an antagonist precisely because you get all this set up for Aqua to develop and choose a better path with him only to be slapped with "psyche, he's a psycho again".

So yeah, that kinda wraps up my main gripes. I can't really think of anything off the top of my head rn, so I'm really hoping I didn't forget anything lol.

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 3: Kimono My House (Falling In Love With Myself Again)

Kimono my house, mon amour! Everyone knows how great and one of a kind this album is... So what can I even say about it that hasn't been said already? Well, I'll just plunge right into my own experience with it and go from there.

This was my first Sparks album and it definitely made a huge impression right away. While it wasn't really the album that got me hooked on Sparks, it still managed to pique my interest in this specific era especially, so my choice for the next album to go with was obvious (more on that tomorrow). And it was surely like nothing I heard before at that point... or since, really. Altough I must also admit that it was probably the furthest I went back in time listening to music at the moment, as in, I haven't even ventured much into listening to much music from the 70s on my own until that point, so I didn't even really have anything to compare it with. Still though, that doesn't change as I get into more 70s music - there's still nothing quite like Kimono.

I love how cohesive this album is, without becoming same-ish, it still has so much different stuff to offer. I really don't know how to best put it, but it's really like a huge, wonderful and whimsical journey. Just thinking about the opening and closing tracks and how well they work for their roles... It was mindblowing to hear a year and a half ago, and it still is to this day. I'm honestly suprised by how, even though I really loved KMH from the very start, I can still love it more and more.

And the most (seemingly) unforeseen of things will cause this. Like my "Kimono My House Summer", by which I mean last summer when I went on a trip and all the different songs from this album accompanied me through it and are now an integral part of my memories of that time. And how getting KMH on vinyl just last month caused my love for it to suddenly skyrocket still - it was actually just last month that I rejected one particular opinion I still held with full conviction until now regarding this album, but more on that tomorrow...

Favourite songs (and other highlights):

Okay, this is when this section actually gets kind of hard to deal with properly. Because almost every single song from this album is something I could have considered a favourite at some previous point in time. So this time I'll go about it by listing my longest-standing faves.

This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us: obviously. I remember the first time I heard this song so well because it really made such a huge impression. The day I get to hear this song live might change me forever. I'm sure there's nothing quite like experiencing it live. I also really want to learn to play this one on piano. I hope that's doable with my current skill level!

Amateur Hour: this song stands out in the sense that right away i got the impression that there's just this... sort of classic quality to it... that makes me think, wow this is one of the originals. This is one of the songs that set the standard for pop music of the following decades. Keep in mind that this was when I was only getting into Sparks and all this information I've aquired about them was very fresh in my mind, like how they were such an important influence for so many artists to come. Like, one of the biggest influences and most important figures in history of modern pop PERIOD. So indeed, with this song it truly felt like wow, I hear this, totally. Very satisfying moment (and I'm actually really curious if anyone else got this impression from THIS tracks specifically as well)

Here In Heaven: feels strange to not say anything about this one when I said so much about the previous two, so. I'll just say that I really love the guitar parts during the chorus (like when the title is said?). Also, enjoyable story in the lyrics (but that's no rare thing on this album)

Hasta Manana, Monsieur: when I think about it I start to realize I could consider this my very first Sparks fav OVERALL, I'm pretty sure that hearing this song is what convinced me to give this whole album a go! Or my memory is lying to me about this specific fact and it was actually some other song, but either way, the point still stands I think

Talent Is An Asset: going with the early impression for this one again, and I think it's one of the most important entries on the list of songs that felt like they should be newer than they are. This song did not sound 50 years old to me by any means. Very ahead of its time? That's sort of Sparks' whole thing though, isn't it?

Equator: again, not even a personal fav necessarily, or at least until very recently, but I still want to mention it because I truly think it's one of the songs of all time. It's just, so very good. And these days I can't listen to it without being reminded of the several incredible live performances of it. They're all impressive, to say the least!

[shazzbaa]

Please disregard my ask about spoiler tags lmao I was looking at a reblog and not your actual post. Thanks for tagging stuff! It really bugs me how people are super casual about deep-cut spoilers! Sorry for com8ng at you about nothing!

Oh, thank you, that's nice of you! I too wish for a more consistent spoiler etiquette in this fandom lmao, though I look at it a little differently? I think there's a big difference between posting untagged spoilers on your own blog, vs adding a spoiler to someone else's post.

Like, I kinda understand this fandom having a more spoiler-lax culture, not just because Fallen London is a 15-year-old game, but also because its worldbuilding is all so well-integrated that it becomes quite difficult to just talk about the world or your character if you're being really mindful of spoilers! It's one of my favourite things about FL honestly -- there's some actual Reveals, but so many of the world's mysteries aren't reveals so much as just Things You Don't Know Yet. Characters or text refer to something odd, and it feels like a mystery, until you've stumbled over enough references that you connect a bunch of the dots, and then it's just a straightforward part of the world that changes how you see all those other references, in a way that makes it hard not to just, integrate this new information into your basic understanding of the setting. I think it's part of the reason why FL can have such bonkers lore and still feel so grounded. So while some things can be straightforwardly tagged, so much is just impractical.

And, like, not everybody can even DO tagging for various brain reasons, competing access needs etc etc (as an OCD-haver I VERY MUCH understand how something that seems small can end up a huge, brain-swirly difficulty that you have to just drop to have fun on tumblr dot com), so like, all that to say if someone does not want to bother tagging spoilers on their own blog, I think that's fine! I won't follow them!

Anyway, I tag ambitions, railway ("great hellbound railway"), evolution ("evolution spoilers" and "fallen london evolution"), and exceptional stories as a group ("exceptional story spoilers" and "es spoilers"). If I get around to and post about firmament (please tell me nothing about firmament!!!) I'll tag that too. I don't often tag for content warnings, these are unreliable and I think unfollowing or blocking me is your best bet if you really need content tagged with a lot of care! SOME DAY MAYBE I'LL MAKE A PINNED POST ABOUT THIS.

I do enjoy discovering Fallen London for myself as much as possible, to an extent I kind of think the general fandom doesn't even consider spoilers? Haha. There's sort of a General Assumed Fandom Knowledge and you really have to signal constantly if you want to sit outside of that, thus my frequent "no spoilers, please!" notes on posts (because you absolutely might get major spoilers in the tags if you don't mark posts that way, even posts about the middle of a storyline. That's wild to me!! but tbf everyone's been super polite when I DO include the note, so I can't complain!) But this all just means I don't look at the Fallen London tag, I don't follow Fallen London blogs outside of friends who are at roughly the same stage of the game, and in general I think that's kinda the only way to get that experience. There's a couple more things I want to experience for myself, but after that I hope to finally peek into the tag, just enjoy the fandom, and discover things through other people, too. Coming into the game so late but really enjoying the world's mysteries, this is the way that made the most sense to me, and while I've missed out on fandom stuff, for me it's been worth it. I've never played another game like Fallen London.