#i have to go to this korean church now

[miserye]

hgnwgerkljglkjgalkerjg

[bingbuang]

Random af Dallas Winston headcanons!!! (sad stuff included because I can't not ugh) ♡

Dallas doesn't smoke to look tuff, he's got it just as bad as ponyboy. After he told Johnny and Ponyboy to go to the abandoned church, he ends up smoking so much, pacing around his room until he has a coughing fit, and buck makes him stop.

(Movie dallas btw) He's insecure about how big his eyebrows are. He plucks at them unconsciously, until someone points it out. Along with this, he has this weird fear of getting a unibrow because his dad had one, and he constantly scratches between his eyebrows, just in case one is there. (There's not.)

He has ADHD, and can not stop moving ever. I imagine him and Johnny going to a diner, and he's just spacing out, bouncing his leg, and doesn't notice the violently shaking table until Johnny says his name.

After they found Johnny in the lot, Steve and Soda pop had to stop him from finding and (probably) killing the socs. He was so fucking angry.

Steve doesn't fuck with Dallas, and Dallas doesn't fuck with Steve. They once got into a fight and both got *real* fucked up, and now they're both kind of rivals.

Dallas is strong, we know that, but he has muscular legs. Because if he rides horses, ain't no way he's gonna have chicken legs.

He has HUGE hands. Sometimes, he just grabs Ponyboy's entire face. Why wouldn't he?

He doesn't actually like alcohol. Unlike with the smoking thing, he only does it to look tuff. Sometimes, he swaps it out with some soda. Even better, if he does it looks like he has a high tolerance = more tuff.

He really only has street smarts. He dropped out of school when he was 13 and moved to Tulsa, and his parents never bothered signing him back up. He didn't mind though. He stayed with the Curtis's during school hours, and he actually gained a little weight because Mrs. Curtis spoiled him with baked goods.

Once he grew up more, and the greaser vs soc conflict started getting more apparent in his life(and when he started getting an ass), he began losing weight by running.

Speaking of running, he can run for a VERY long time. He got used to running from cops, and he got hella stamina. I like to believe when cops see him doing some illegal shit like starting a fight, they don't bother getting out of the car, because that kid is going to sprint. (But Dallas is smarter, he waits for them to get out first.)

he can NOT grow facial hair. Even though he has light skin and dark hair, he can't grow one for shit. One time he got called 'Babyface' by a girl, and it destroyed his ego. So when he learned Johnny would occasionally shave (like once a week) he was kind of pissed.

He wants a piercing, but he's terrified of needles.

He's gotten used to sleeping on hard benches in prison cells, so he can sleep anywhere he wants, even in jeans.

He definitely prefers soc girls. He doesn't really know why, but he likes the contrast of his greaser personality and a soc in a relationship. He thinks it makes it more fun.

When he learned Sylvia was cheating on him when he was in prison, he was a lot more upset than he let on. He used to visit her every day, and now he just solemnly hung around with the Curtis's.

He chews on his necklace a lot. Darry tells him to quit, but he don't listen. One time, Darry just got pissed and grabbed Dallas by the jaw, and told him (very angrily) to spit it out.

He can eat stupid fast. He got good at it from when he was in prison and had to eat quickly (even if he hated the food) so nobody would take it. He does get sick from it occasionally, but he can hold it down.

One of my really obscure headcanons is that Dallas is half-korean from his mom. He doesn't speak a bunch of Korean because he doesn't live with his mom anymore, but he likes fucking with new officers by pretending he can't speak English. Also, he doesn't really like bringing up his ethnicity because it reminds him of his mom too much.

As I have reblogged before, he can not swim. Pass it on.

that's all I have for now!!!! Love y'all 😍

[dangermousie]

I swear I wasn't gonna wade into this but...you all know the saying about hell and good intentions.

I didn't even like Queen Woo (enjoy? sure. It was the definition of trashy fun especially with all the massive ff I was doing. But a good drama it was not) but the puritan hand wringing about the sex stuff (people on MDL, never a font of sanity, are discussing that only porn addicts could like this or that this is all a part of evil westerners to pervert pure Korean culture - no really!) has gotten to me.

First of all, I will never understand why all the complaints are about tits and sex scenes and not ALL THE SERIOUS CARNAGE. Like, surely murder and torture are a worse sin than fornication seeing that the former kills people. (We are not even getting into the fact that this is all fictional so like - no real people were harmed or fucked during any of the filmed scenes.)

Second - the concept of don't like don't watch seems to have gotten lost utterly. NOT EVERYTHING IS MADE TO CATER TO YOU AND THAT'S OK. No maker, let alone an entire entertainment industry owes you to make what hits the spot for you. I don't like (most) romcoms and I don't like those 8 ep shows netflix/disney tend to put out, so I don't watch. I don't sit around feeling entitled about being catered to (there is a difference between being wistful a particular drama or a genre doesn't cater to you and entitlement of "how dare they!")

Third - the argument that all the T&A is new in k-ent seems bizarre. In dramas, sure (because before streaming which is a relatively new phenomenon, it was all on TV only and if you go back far enough, there wasn't even cable and they have regs about what they can and can't show. Still, Yaksha was made in 2010 and had plenty T&A because it was on cable.) But have all those people complaining about all that new perversion never watched movies? I remember watching Untold Scandal, made all the way back in 2003 and starring the then delight of Japanese ladies' hearts Bae Yong Joon and the amount of naked sex scenes!!! Or think of A Frozen Flower from 2008 - it has het sex scenes so explicit it makes Queen Woo look like a church picnic and a gay couple making out on screen (another thing I see MDL peeps complain about - I will never be over some genius saying that the gay king in Goryeo Khitan War was evil addition of evil Western values and having to be told the king was actually historically gay.)

None of that is new. The only difference is that now some dramas have that too not just movies because they are on streaming only platforms and thus having the same lack of restrictions movies have done for a long time.

And finally - there are plenty of legitimate criticisms to be leveled at Queen Woo (or pretty much any other show.) Sex is evil is a bad hill to die on. None of the posters would be around to complain if someone somewhere didn't have sex at least once.

[mrsshabana]

honestly i need a story time about the cult? also the link to that podcast, im intrigued now lol

𝐌𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭

Ok children gather around. It's story time 🤓

Note: Now I won't provide a link because I talk about a lot of personal stuff including my name and location, and I don't want so many people having access to that. But I don't mind telling my story here.

Content warning: Mentions of religious trauma and eating disorders

Ok, so let me set the scene. I was 18 and moved out of my parents' house. I lived in a ghetto apartment near my university where I was studying art.

Now when I moved out my parents stopped talking to me. So I really felt alone, I had no family, no friends, and I was in a new place so I was very desperate to have a connection with someone. So really I was the perfect victim for a cult because I was vulnerable.

One day I was walking out of the mathematics building when a student stopped me and asked me if I would like to read the bible with her. She was a Korean international student and she was really nice so I was like sure why not. Now at this point, I wasn't super religious but I did consider myself a Christian. But I never knew the bible very well and my family was the kind of family that only went to church on easter and Christmas.

So anyway, I read the bible with her and she explained it to me. The way she explained the passage was insinuating that there was a female version of god. That was something I had never heard of before but it was interesting to me so I decided to come with her to her bible study.

Long story short it ended up being this organization called "The World Mission Society Church of God." I went to their church and spent hours with them every Wednesday and Saturday because they made me feel accepted. They welcomed me and became like my family which I didn't have at the time.

Something I really loved about them was that their church was so diverse. There were so many different kinds of people there, I really felt welcome. Because growing up churches seemed so segregated. I'm biracial, my mom is white and my dad is black so growing up we either went to the white church or the black church. And at both I felt like people would stare at me and my family and that I wasn't welcome there.

So it felt really nice to have such a diverse church where I felt truly welcomed. Anyway, I ended up making a lot of friends there and I stayed with them for about 6 months. Then I figured out they were actually a cult. It's a long story but I won't go into it because this isn't even the main part yet.

After leaving the World Mission Society I felt really lonely again because I lost the only friends and sense of belonging I had. But I had to just keep going.

Maybe about 3 months later this random Korean guy approached me on campus and he asked me if I'd like to participate in a survey thing about the bible. I was skeptical at first because my previous church had told me that every Korean person was a part of their church. (Which obviously is NOT true). But my mind was thinking, "Oh no, what if they are trying to get back to me."

But I decided that it's not right to assume that this man is a part of that cult just because he's Korean. So I agreed to participate in this survey and I gave him my phone number.

Basically, a professor was writing a book where she'd answer people's most common questions about the bible. And she was surveying students to collect questions for the book. It sounded pretty cool to me so I was very interested.

I met up with the professor at a Starbucks on campus and I answered her questions about things I've always wondered about the bible. We'll call this lady Anya.

During our meeting, I expressed to Anya how I felt discarded by god because of my previous cult experience. I felt like I wasn't worthy of his love and I was very ashamed of what I did. Because we would literally pray to a human man who claimed to be god. After leaving I knew that wasn't true, and I figured god no longer loved me for what I did.

Anya was so encouraging and kind. She told me that is it 100% untrue, and that god does love me. That he put me through that experience for a reason and it only made me stronger.

Then she offered to do some bible study lessons with me so I could learn things the right way and start to feel a little bit better about my situation. And of course, I agreed. I was desperate to redeem myself and make friends again.

So I started going to this bible study once a week. Which turned to twice a week. Which turned into me going to some woman's house to have lessons. We'll call this woman Cara.

Cara was from Korea and so was her husband, they were extremely nice and welcomed me into their home. They would feed me ramen and cool snacks, and I honestly felt like a part of their family. There were lots of people in this bible study too and I made a ton of friends.

So fast forward, I had been studying the bible with them for about a year now. And nothing crazy, I was learning about the parables of the bible and the meanings of all those things in the bible that make no sense. It was very informative and interesting but nothing outlandish.

They sit us down for this big "reveal" about who the 2nd coming of Jesus is. Now they hyped it up so much and they told us that we can't judge this person no matter what. This whole time I thought it was going to be someone crazy like Kanye West or something. But no, it was an old Korean man.

He seemed unassuming enough? I had never heard of him so I didn't know why they made such a big deal out of it.

Now at this point, you are probably thinking, "Why the hell would you fall for this again?" Listen, trust me I was frustrated with myself when I left but you have to understand these people love-bombed me when I had no one. They became my family when I had none. They lied to me for an entire year so I'd trust them and get close to them before they revealed who they really were.

And they were a church called Shincheonji.

And I had no problem accepting this because these people had been my family and my best friends for an entire year. They'd feed me, watch movies with me, do anything to help me out. So I trusted them wholeheartedly. But really I was just being brainwashed.

So after I found out that they were Shincheonji they put me in their group for advanced students. And I'd begin studying multiple times a week at Cara's house and Anya was always there too. I would join the twice-weekly sermons via zoom as well. Where one of the Korean tribe leaders would give a sermon about something. I was in the Mathias tribe by the way, though that doesn't really matter.

I would do so so much with them, we even all went on a road trip to Houston where the other branch was. They even got me a birthday cake and surprised me for my birthday too. It was honestly great, and I loved them a lot.

We were basically encouraged to recruit as many people as we can because if we don't they will go to hell. They put so much pressure on us for this. They'd say things like, "Don't you want to save them?" And I am a very empathetic person so I felt like omg I want to save everyone! But on the other hand, ever since I joined Shincheonji my anxiety and depression went through the roof. The pressure to save the entire world is a lot for a 21-year-old girl. So I never recruited anyone myself because I didn't want them to have to struggle with the same mental health issues I did when I joined.

I also had some physical health issues arise as well. Their teachings would always preach how "The word of god is all the food we need." How spiritual food was more important than physical food. And that really stuck with me, especially when I got food poisoning and I couldn't eat solid food for two weeks. Something about not eating made me feel good. Like I didn't even need food because the word of god was enough, so why not just not eat at all? Not eating felt like the only thing I could control, so I clung to it. And I became anorexic. Being with Shinchenji was the only time I was ever considered underweight.

Anyway, I have so many crazy stories to tell about my time with them but I'll save those for another day.

I had been with them for about two and a half years before I started to question things.

We got a new teacher from Korea to replace Cara because she was going to have a baby. And this new teacher was a lot different and a lot less loving and nurturing than Cara had been.

She had said some things that I didn't agree with, and it started putting some doubt in my mind.

Ok so, on a side note I used to work at the library at my school doing data entry in the basement. And I would listen to podcasts a lot throughout the day as I did my work.

One day I found an interesting podcast about cults, where the host would bring cult victims onto the show and they'd tell their story. Well I was listening to an episode about the Moonies and I thought to myself, "Huh, they sound very similar to Shincheonji in some ways..."

But I knew I could not think such thoughts and that if I did any research then the devil would poison me through the internet. And I needed to strengthen my spirit for even thinking of such a thing.

So I went to reddit, and I found a subreddit called r/Shincheonji. I was like, "Oh yes! Now I can talk to other Shincheonji members and we can strengthen each other's faith!"

But it wasn't a subreddit for believers. It was a subreddit for ex-members and people who were against Shincheonji.

And at this point, I had already seen enough to plant that seed of doubt in me. I read more and more even though Shincheonji warned me I'd be poisoned if I ever researched them. But I couldn't stop myself.

I went through so much inner turmoil, you guys have no idea. My reality was crumbling so hard and I felt like my world was ending. It's hard to explain, but I was so indoctrinated and brainwashed by this point. This really ruined me.

I had to mourn the loss of all of the family and friends I gained these past years. I would cry almost every night because I missed them, and it was so hard to accept that they never truly loved me at all. To be honest, I still think about some of them to this day and I hope they got out and found peace in their lives.

No one in my life had known I was a part of Shincheonji. My closest friends nor my family, who had slowly started talking to me again. But I had to tell someone so I told my childhood best friend, we'll call him Blaine.

I got in a Playstation party with Blaine and I just cried. I cried so so much, and he was so confused. But eventually, I told him everything. And he was really supportive and gave me no judgment at all.

My main issue was, how could I leave? I have quite literally been living a double life this entire time and not having that scared the shit out of me. But Blaine advised me to cut them off completely and just leave without saying anything. Because his concern was that if they got the chance to talk to me, they would most certainly be able to pull me back in. And I know them well enough to know this is true. So that's exactly what I did, I left and went cold turkey. I even went as far as changing my work schedule too.

And here's where things get creepy.

I hadn't spoken to them for about a week now, and I'm at work. I'm working as usual in the basement on the computers and low and behold, three girls walk in. Girls from my cult, girls that I was close to.

Now students aren't allowed to just waltz into this room so they had some big balls to do that. But the weird thing was, I had completely changed my schedule and I was working on a day I normally had off. They should have had no idea I was there.

But here they were, holding a large cup of boba from my favorite place. And in my favorite flavor too, winter milk cap with mango popping bubbles.

They came up to me and said, "Hey girl, we noticed you haven't been coming to worship lately. Is everything alright?"

I said, "Oh uh yeah everything's fine! I've just been super busy with work and a ton of projects for class..."

"Ok, well we got this for you," they handed me the boba, "We were hoping to talk to you. We can wait for you outside and talk to you when you get off."

I started panicking so I said, "My mom is actually picking me up as soon as I get off so I won't be able to, I'm sorry! Maybe another time though, I'll text you."

They were convinced by my response so they left. And boy did I RUN so fucking fast after I got off work. I even called Blaine so he could talk to me in case they came after me, but luckily they didn't and I got home ok.

He started yelling at me for drinking the boba saying, "YOU IDIOT! THEY PROBABLY POISONED IT!"

But hey, free boba is free boba.

Anyway, after that event I knew I had to text that girl and tell her I was deciding to leave Shinchenji because I didn't want them to show up at my job again or follow me around.

So I texted her, trying to be as nice as possible and explain to her that I just couldn't do it anymore. I told her how this affected my mental health and my physical health. How I developed an eating disorder from being in Shincheonji too.

Her response was really rude and condescending. She said my mental health issues and my eating disorder were my fault and the work of satan trying to blame them. She told me that once I leave I can never be accepted into heaven, that I'm damning myself to hell as well as all of my family members. I'll be honest, she made me feel incredibly guilty and selfish for leaving. Their teachings were still ingrained in me. But I knew that I could never return after everything, so I blocked her and never spoke to her again.

Oh yeah and that book the professor was writing in the beginning, that wasn't real and she wasn't a professor. It was just a ruse to lure students in.

I will admit I could never get their teachings out of my head. And to this day, even though I know they were wrong, a part of me believes I am going to hell for what I did and all of my family will suffer because of me. So now I can't even look at a bible, and I no longer consider myself religious.

And after this experience, I reached out to that cult podcast that helped me realize I was also in a cult, and I got an episode of my own where I got to tell my story.

So yeah haha that's my story!

Today only my close friends know, and I never told my parents. They still have no idea and honestly, I don't know if I will ever tell them.

I'm still really plagued by a lot of things they did, and my worldview has never been the same. My life has never been the same. But I've been cult free for about 2 years now so I'm just taking it one day at a time.

I'm sorry this was so long. But if you read the whole thing I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading my story. And if you are a college student, please be careful because cults like this are rampant on college campuses, especially in the U.S.

After leaving the cult, I needed something to obsess over, something to make me feel normal. And that was Gyutaro! And I gotta say, obsessing over him is much healthier than obsessing over the teachings of a cult.

Anyway, I want you all to know that this blog has been an escape for me and helped me to feel normal again after this experience. And I don't need a cult to make me feel loved anymore. Because I have all of you :)

[storkmuffin]

Hi again! I’m the anon that asked if you could elaborate about the Jongho statement. Thanks for taking the time to explain! In addition to your bullet point about how Seonghwa doesn’t mind the term ‘wife’, have you seen how he’s openly accepting of being called ‘mom’ or ‘mommy’? I really love how Seonghwa doesn’t fall into the stereotypical traits of masculinity. I find his mentality of just doing him like wearing whatever he wants now to be one of the many reasons I love him! Do you think he would ever come out or make an announcement about being queer? This is totally getting into just my own personal thoughts but I get mixed feelings with Seonghwa where I think he is queer or if he’s just more in tune with his feminine side. What do you think?

OK so this is where being a Korean person in Korea who is fluent in English and well versed in American pop culture (up to a point) hits a limit. I actually don't understand what you guys are doing when you do the whole 'mommy' and 'mother' thing. The cultural position of Mother in Korea is completely asexual , and self-abnegating in the Giving Tree style - she is the one who sacrifices, who care-takes, who suffers in silence, is all accepting and never critical. (Personally this is why I think so many of us Korean women are refusing to become mothers, bc this role fucking sucks as defined.)

But when you guys say Mother - it means something else, doesn't it? So if Seonghwa is happy to hear it, maybe he understands what you're getting at?

In any case, I think he's actually queer and that's why he is willing to show himself in touch with his feminine side. You can have a gentle and soft persona off-stage, and many many many Korean boy idols absolutely cultivate exactly that image, without going over into being actually as feminine or queer as Seonghwa has done.

Moreover, to be super cynical about this, it's a pretty clever marketing strategy for someone who wants to have a long term show business career when his home base is Korean women. Because Korean culture is so confrontational, energetic and competitive, us tired modern women are desperate for the relaxing, the harmless, the soft, and the gentle in men. Being able to present yourself as the super-handsome, wild-on-stage man who, off-stage, in a fantasy version of 'real life,' is at heart a fastidious, soft-spoken good girl just like you? ABSOLUTE CATNIP. Also, so smart! It helps him differentiate himself from the rest of his group too, who tend to stay within established masculine roles. Wooyoung dancing in a skirt or Yeosang being very pretty isn't the same as being feminine, to me.

This isn't what you asked, but I will also add: Seonghwa puts on the 'soft spoken' voice which isn't his actual speaking voice. Wooyoung, who is irrepressible and competitive, has expertly imitated the 'muted' voice effect that Seonghwa does when speaking to Atiny in one of their behind the scenes things right after Seonghwa said something, asking' Why can't you just talk using your normal voice?' for example. Wooyoung exposed him on the spot like that, because he knows it's very seductive to Korean women lol.

OH and - you actually asked this - do I think he'll ever come out? And actually announce like, hi, I'm gay/bi/pan and this is my boyfriend? I mean, it doesn't seem likely, but if you know anything about Korea, you'll know that when we experience a shift, the shift is abrupt, fast and complete. So I wouldn't rule it out, but I will say - I feel myself to be living in very mainstream Korean middle class society, and I work for a very big corporation, I live in Seoul, and I don't know a single out person from work, school, social network, or church in my real life. It's a chicken and egg thing, but I do think that until more ordinary, every day queer people can come out, and like date in public like straights do, people who need to stay on the right side of public opinion, like idols and actors, wouldn't be ok coming out until the 'main' time of their career is over.

[memoriesndew]

Once again the month has ended, and once again I have arrived. Chapter 10 has ended, and Chapter 11 has begun. which means Christmas is around the corner, last month went by ok really. it was much better than September I did more than normal and there were fun times frl. it was a good month for me mentally. what, I really loved spending time with my Friends ohh and the games after church and I also left my house haha i love it saurr much

☆ last month's small wins

● I somehow completed last months step goal on the 31st yay me

● I worked out for the whole month, yayy - a slay

● continued crocheting - i completed my first project

● I was more productive in general

● I feel motivated to do better (gonna focus on my lock-in challenge)

● did a well-needed room cleanse and toilet cleaning (I also cleaned my phone storage - deleted stuff mostly and added more useful apps)

● I made more sales - super grateful all the time

● made plans for new year reset hnmmm - december I begin

● I also studied more like a full week of actual French and Korean study

☆ last month's self-care

● I started watching more anime and drama - spyxfamily my love - started up dramas again it's been a while

● I also sew and crocheted and tried playing the keyboard again

● listened to music - more gospel

● spent time with friends - our lovely cultural sunday - and going to a friend's house

● relaxed in general - also started up pilates

☆ what I am looking forward to this month

● driving!!

● studying more

● crotcheting yh

● achieving my goals - locking in

● writing and dancing mainly

● trying to make my own hair

● creating a new notion template

● getting into fall - before it ends

I hope your month was awesome and I pray the next month will be so much better for you

bye for now my dew drops…

[chaos0pikachu]

Trends in BL (Sorta): Genre Trends

So I've seen a few posts discussing trends in BL and I wanted to talk about that from a different angle. Specifically discussing what trends are, how they're formed, and to not remove BL from the rest of their countries own media.

The latter is something I see a lot when discussing BL this kind've ~separation of church and state~ but it's BL and Country's General Media. As though BL lives in a separate bubble outside of all other media and thus never influenced by the media being made in its country of origin nor the countries they share direct borders or trade with. Or all influence began and ended with seme/uke dynamics imported from Japan and nothing beyond that (no, Pit Babe was more than likely not inspired by Supernatural) and it's been static ever since.

All of that is, untrue, but also a really limited way of viewing international media. These countries are places with their own history, culture, politics, and of course, media arts. BL is a part of all of that. Which also effects the trends and potential trends we'll see in BL individually (as it's going to change country to country with some crossover).

I think a way of identifying trends in BL and also the root of those trends is by looking at the media of the country of origin their surrounding countries, and what BLs have unprecedented success and what has the industry learned from them?

So I'm gonna break this down by: genre, technical and business trend(s) in 3 part posts. In this post I'm just going to talk about genre trends in Thai and Korean BL as that's what I'm most familiar with.

Basically this post got hella long, I'm not in college anymore, and my motivation was tied to the length of my Jennifer Hudson Best Of playlist. So I had to split it up, es lo que es.

[This will not be a comprehensive list of like all BL trends ever respect to y'all who do but I do not and will not watch every BL in existence, bendicion]

To start we gotta talk first about how trends in media tend to work and also what we mean by "trends". Because there's genre trends, technical trends, and business trends.

Here's a good article breaking down various aspects of all three. When we talk "trends" in film it's not as simplistic as "office romances" or "cross country remakes" of which, one is a genre trend and the latter a business trend.

Some examples of what I mean:

Shared Universe (genre trend)

3d boom (technical trend, trended a few times in the industry, first in the 1950s until the 1960s and then again in the early 2000s until the mid 00s thanks to James Cameron)

Remakes/Reboots (business trend, this is a business based decision b/c the risk threshold for a pre-established work is lower than for an original work that may or may not have financial data backing it)

Trends in media, whether they are genre, business, technical or a combination, tend to take time to build up, and also tend last much longer than a singular year (generally for as long as something is profitable).

Example: it took time for the Shared Universe genre trend to gain traction.

Batman v Superman (2016) wasn't released until five years after Avengers (2012). Following this, The Mummy (2017) starring Tom Cruise was meant to kickstart Universal's The Dark Universe was released six years after Avengers. Before that Dracula Untold (2014) was supposed to be reworked to also start The Dark Universe (both these films flopped so no Dark Universe, rip).

Since the Avengers release, we have the shared universes of: Monsterverse (which combines Godzilla and Kong franchises together, technically started in 2014, officially started in 2017 with Kong Skull Island), and the Sony Spiderverse (Venom, Spider-man, Madam Web, Mobius lol) and The Conjuring Universe (Annabelle, La Llorona, The Conjuring, The Nun).

It's been almost 12 years since Avengers was released (fuckin'a) and we're only now starting to see some minor diminishing returns (Disney had a horrid year financially last year) for this genre trend, and not even across the board.

I want to iterate that Avengers did not 'invent' the idea of a cross-franchise shared universe. Things like Xena and Hercules, or Hanna Barbara cartoons existed long before the Avengers. However the Avengers kickstarted a genre trend in film. Just because a piece of media started a trend does not mean it invented the genre or technical innovation (James Cameron didn't "invent" 3D but he did revolutionize it with Avatar and I suffered through many 3D horror movies because of it).

[I point this out because sometimes ppl be getting testy when ppl say kinnporsche influenced the increase in mafia/crime BLs with well, um, actually history trapped/manner of death came first - yes, yes we know this. And Bi No Isu came out before all of them so everybody drink some tea and relax, everybody's faves are pretty okay😘]

Okay to let's get to what ppl actually wanna talk about, BL.

(Some) Genre trend(s) in Thailand and Korea:

In Thai BL genre trends I'm noticing are: horror, supernatural, paranormal, action crime, and magic/magical realism. A lot of these crossover, horror shows typically are also paranormal - Ghost House Ghost House (2022), After Sundown (2023) - supernatural shows tend to cross over with magical realism like time travel, or other soft magic elements - Time (2024), I Feel You Linger in the Air (2023), Cherry Magic (2023).

For the horror, supernatural/paranormal genre trend, this isn't at all surprising if you look at Thailand's recent film output from 2020 to 2023: The Medium, The Whole Truth, Ghost Lab, Haunted Tales, Cracked, Death Whisperer, Home for Rent, The Maid, Waning Moon, School Tales, and others, are all horror, paranormal, or supernatural films of some sort.

The horror genre trend especially has been around Thailand for a while, as far back as 2018 with the smash success of Girl from Nowhere which only gained a larger following when it hit Netflix in 2021. I'd almost argue the horror genre trend really picked up with Girl From Nowhere as now one of the main acquisitions of Thai series and film on Netflix are of the horror genre.

That larger media trend is now trickling down into BL with series like: Shadow (2023), After Sundown (2023), Dead Friend Forever (2023) and upcoming projects like Vampire Project.

While supernatural/paranormal series like Ghost House Ghost House (2022), 1000 Years Old (2024), I Feel You Linger in the Air (2023), Two Worlds (2024), Golden Blood (2024?) are increasing. OMG! Vampire (TBD?) will at least be supernatural but we can't say with certainty if OMGV will be horror or not as we only have a poster.

I imagine with the success of Dead Friend Forever, and I Feel You Linger in the Air we'll see the trend of horror and supernatural/paranormal series (I know some have already been announced) continued.

Then there's the genre trend towards more action and crime focused series; which more than often crossover but not all~ the time.

In terms of the increase in crime based Thai BLs I'd argue it was a joint combo of Kinnporsche's (2022) wild skyrocketed success, and the success of Manner of Death (2020). Alongside the influence of rise of crime and thrillers from Korean media (The Gangster, the Cop and the Devil (2019) and Unstoppable (2018))

Manner of Death I'd argue influenced projects like Never Let Me Go (2022), Unforgotten Night (2022), and Big Dragon (2022) if only because of their release times and taking into account the time it takes for a production to film and be edited down.

Whilst all these series came out after Kinnporsche - NLMG released a trailer in Nov, Big Dragon in Oct, and Unforgotten Night in Jun, while Kinnporsche dropped their trailer in Apr - they're series releases are so close to Kinnporsche that I don't feel confident in saying Kinnporsche 100% influenced their acquisition. Ngl it's hard not to see influences of KPTS in at least Big Dragon & Unforgotten Night if only in terms of technical film making, so there could~ be influence but I can't say that definitively. I'm gonna attribute these to Manner of Death since it came out two years prior to these other series.

Meanwhile series both released and unreleased My Gangster Oppa (2023), Red Peafowl (TBD?), Chains of Heart (2023), Kidnap (TBD?), are def riding the crime genre trend that Kinnporsche started and I'd argue series like Pit Babe (2023), Playboyy (2023) were acquired for production in part because of the crime elements included in their respective series.

Meanwhile series like Law of Attraction (2023) (crime/action) and The Sign (2023) (crime/action/supernatural) are combining crime, action and supernatural elements together.

I've said before Kinnporsche takes a lot of cues from Korean and Hong Kong crime films like Jet Li's The Enforcer, and Fist of Legend, Donnie Yen's Flash Point, Raging Fire, and Kung Fu Jungle, Han Dong-wook's The Worst of Evil, Kim Jin-Min's My Name, along with Japanese manga like Bi No Isu and KeixYaku.

Meanwhile The Sign is def taking cues from Chinese costume dramas like Ashes of Love, Fairy and Devil, White Snake (and it's many adaptions), Guardian, & Ying Yang Master Dream of Eternity. Alongside Hong Kong and Korean cop and romance shows like Tale of the Nine-Tailed, Hotel Del Luna, Director Who Buys Me Dinner, First Love, Again.

[I think the only reason Thailand or Korea hasn't jumped on the full fantasy train and pulled an Untamed is because of budget. The Sign has done very well for Idol Factory so I could see more studios trying to go in that fantasy direction if they can get the funding for it.]

Meanwhile shows like Time (2024), Two Worlds (2024), and Cherry Magic (2023) are leaning more into a combination of magical realism and a supernatural. Which is something that's been popular in Korea (Mr. Queen (2020), The King Eternal Monarch (2020)) in the past and obviously Japan (Cherry Magic (2020).

This, again, isn't a fully comprehensive list. I'm sure there's shows I've missed, and there's going to be evergreen genres that are always produced - university, high school, office all with a general romcom flavor - because they're cheap, easy, low risk and for the most part reliable.

That's not an insult to shows like Cherry Magic TH, or Middleman's Love or Cooking Crush or whatever.

Cooking Crush is just going to cost way less than The Sign it's simply a fact. Likewise Middleman's Love cost less than The Next Prince (TBD?) and was less risk as an office romcom. What helps offset the risk of something like The Next Prince is casting Zee and NuNew in the lead roles.

[watch these two trailers and tell me they cost the same]

Think of it of like, the 50 cop procedural dramas networks are always churning out; they do so because they're cheap, easy, low risk, and reliable.

Gmmtv made Cherry Magic not for the art of it all but because it was low risk and low cost to produce with a high value return. I imagine that's also why gmmtv cast Tay and New because while I don't know who the hell they are, lots of folks in BL fandom do because of Dark Blue Kiss and the reuniting of a well liked costars will also help offset financial risk for the project. Studios will often only greenlight a project if "a name" is attached to said project.

Anyways, Korea's turn.

The data for Korea is less because Korea comes out with fewer series than Thailand. Like currently Thailand has 9 ongoing BLs in 2024 while Korea has 1 (oh City Boy Log you lonely thing you).

For Korean BLs I'm still seeing mostly evergreen genre trends: the workplace (The New Employee, Oh! My Assistant, Roommates of Ponngduck 304,), high school/university (Light On Me, Cherry Blossoms After Winter, Semantic Error, Love Class, Love for Love's Sake) and Joseon (Nobleman Ryu's Wedding, Tinted With You, Director Who Buys Me Dinner) romances - which make sense, a lot of these were the trends of romance kdramas in the early to mid-00s.

What I am hoping, is we'll start seeing the acquisition of KBLs that are closer to what's currently trending in Korea: revenge (Revenge of Others, The Glory, Marry My Husband, Perfect Marriage Revenge), thrillers (My Name, Midnight, Somebody, Celebrity, Mask Girl), more class based social commentary (Devil Judge, Golden Spoon, Vigilante, Kingdom), and an increase in both sex and violence (Somebody, A Shop for Killers).

I could totally see more revenge based KBLs in the coming years since revenge and thriller shows can be combined pretty easily and you don't need a huge budget for either. You can also set them in evergreen settings like the workplace (Marry My Husband) or high school/uni (Revenge of Others).

KBLs have mostly stuck with evergreen settings with a couple outliers like Kissable Lips (2022), Once Again (2022) for example. I enjoyed Love for Love's Sake but it stuck in that evergreen space of school based romance, with magical realism. Again, not surprising given KBLs are just following trends of romance kdramas of the past.

Whilst not a bad~~~ thing, it can be a bit stale and hopefully with a bit more budget/investment we'll see the acquisition of series that are more in line with what's trending with Korean audiences currently.

There's other things I'd like to see develop into trends for KBLs but they're mostly technical and business trends.

That's all I got in the tank, this post took me almost six hours to write b/c of all the sourcing and research I'm freaking peeked.

See y'all next time ✌️

Check out other posts in the series:

Film Making? In My BL? - The Sign ep01 Edition | Aspect Ratio in Love for Love's Sake | Cinematography in My BL - Our Skyy2 vs kinnporsche, 2gether vs semantic error, 1000 Stars vs The Sign | How The Sign Uses CGI | Is BL Being Overly Influenced by Modern Western Romance Tropes?

[like these posts? drop me a couple pennies on ko-fi]

[knightyoomyoui]

TWICE: ANTHOLOGY OF HORROR ONE-SHOTS | "Marriage Of Despair" ft. JEONGYEON

This one may not be that scary at all because of its sorrowful background, but it still has the classic elements that's been common to be seen in supernatural horror creations.

NOTE: Based on a true story.

"Marriage Of Despair" ft. Yoo Jeongyeon

Last year, Yoo Jeongyeon had one of the best and happiest moments of her life when she got married to her 3 years boyfriend, a fellow Korean celebrity like her named Min Janghoon in her hometown of Suwon, a province in South Korea.

Everything was already well-planned and ready to be prepared. The invited guests, including the family and relatives of two parties, Jeongyeon’s co-members, and some other friends and acquaintances couldn’t wait to see the two lovers exchange their wedding vows at the altar.

But then, just as when Jeongyeon and Janghoon were about to experience this special moment of their relationship to evolve, it also shared an occurrence to one of the worst and bone-chilling moments they have ever encountered.

Jeongyeon remembered that it all started when her husband Janghoon arrived earlier in the morning, respecting the allotted time that was given to them by the church to help prepare and also allow himself to get one too for the ceremony.

While he was waiting, her husband shared that there’s something uneasiness that swirls up inside of him which he couldn’t tell why is this happening. At first he thought its probably due to the nervousness that he also feels regarding the fact that he was about to marry his dream woman in front of such a live anticipating crowd, but then he realised it was serving as a foreshadowing for something eerie.

It has been minutes and Janghoon still has no update wheresoever of Jeongyeon is right now, but according to Jeongyeon he knows that she had she stayed in a hotel near to their church after her fellow members of the group and some of her make-up designers from her staffs decided to prepare her look there.

Janghoon’s concern at that time was that it had made him confused that why should Jeongyeon had to reach this long period of time to dress up when she’s just almost a meter away from the church.

And when he tried to call their wedding coordinator which is Jeongyeon’s sister Seungyeon, he could hear some loud crying and other voices that sounded like they’re comforting that person getting emotional.

Seungyeon confirmed to her that Jeongyeon was bawling her eyes at the moment when she learned that the staffs couldn’t find her wedding dress on her wardrobe.

“What? How did it went missing? It should’ve been already set up at her dressing room, right?”

“That’s we don’t know, Janghoon. The only thing they told to us is that it was the reason why they couldn’t be able to deliver it immediately at the room before she arrives because it just suddenly… disappeared.”

While Janghoon was talking to her sister-in-law, a friend of his named Seungkwan, a fellow K-Pop idol of Jeongyeon one of the popular person also included in their guests list came rushing towards him.

“Janghoon!”

“Oh hey, Seung”

“Can I excuse you for a sec, I know you’re in a call but… this is an emergency.”

“Why what happened?”

Seungkwan winced and sighed like he’s getting disturbed by something, rotating his head back and forth. “Uhm, it’s your suit. We couldn’t find it anywhere. Swear, it was already in your room but now it’s gone.”

“Huh?”

“But we’re currently looking for it right now, jeez man your wedding is about to start in 20 minutes!” Seungkwan’s panic arises through his tone when he looked at his wristwatch. Seungyeon heard what they are conversing about from behind the call and was completely puzzled too that a same scenario is currently happening to the married couple.

“Sorry Seungyeon, we better go.”

“Yeah sure, go find it. We’ll take it from here too.”

Janghoon ended the call and ran with Seungkwan back from his dressing room. Simulteanously without their knowing, Jeongyeon and Janghoon were both staring at their respective clothing stand, all empty.

Looking problematic, Janghoon started to assume that there’s definitely something not right about this.

Driven by anger, Janghoon quickly reported this to the hotel managers by contacting them while he is making his way out of the church. On the other hand, all of Jeongyeon’s assistants went distraught thinking of a miraculous way to order a new wedding dress with limited time remaining before the ceremony started.

Knowing that this is near impossible-or should I say indeed, they rather tried to reach out to the authorities from the police to report a possible theft in their belongings. Seungyeon and some of her closest friends from TWICE which is Jeongyeon’s group, named Sana and Jihyo went to talk with the management to ask for a possibility to move their schedule in case this doesn’t get resolved.

10 minutes remaining, still no progress except from the fast responses of everyone they have seek help from, both Jeongyeon and Janghoon prayed in their own spots, begging for the Lord not to ruin this for them and searching for a reason why this has to happen for their moment together.

This is when things get weird. Jeongyeon and Janghoon both halted from their prayers at the same time when each of them caught a part of their gown and suit moving from the distance.

Curious and alarmed that they have finally found their outfits, they tried to follow where it might go.Janghoon was the first one to walk through the church’s corridor before he got followed by Jeongyeon who was also trailing behind her floating dress.

Their chasd ended when Jeongyeon reached the end of the hall, leading herself and also you in which she has located you standing at the back of what it seems to be an abandoned chapel located at the back of the church.

Jeongyeon called Janghoon’s name and they both hugged to soothe their worries at their current situation right now.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

Jeongyeon’s body around Janghoon’s arms got stiff when her eyes noticed something unusual.Her wedding dress is now floating through the middle of the chapel, as if it was making its way down to the aisle. Janghoon’s missing suit was at the altar, remained unmoved and was facing the direction of the gown coming close to it.

A silhoutte figure then began to form, covering the insides of their respective outfits like they are wearing them. It looked like it belong to a man and a woman they cannot identify because of its face being hidden as the front facing away from them. Only their backs are the ones who are remained to be seen.

“W-what is that…” Jeongyeon whispered as she gripped through the arm of Janghoon and shivered. Janghoon gulped and looked at Jeongyeon who looks scared on his side.

“I don’t know too, but whoever that might be, they have something that doesn’t belong to them. And we just have the rights to take back what’s ours.” Janghoon said before kissing Jeongyeon’s forehead and giving him a trusted nod.

They both slowly made their way through the two unknown figure standing in front of the altar. Just as when they were about to grab their shoulders, the figures disappeared right in front of their sight and the atmosphere around them got oddly cold. Jeongyeon shrieked in shock before her and Janghoon kneeled to slowly pick up their outfits that went falling to the floor.

Relieved that they have now got their dress and suit back, they got surprised by the appearance of Seungyeon breathing heavily and seems to be in a rush. She was about to announce some good news that she was able to move the wedding date but stopped to stare at the two sitting in front of the altar with their outfits on their lap.

"Are you freaking kidding me? Are you two pulling some sort of a prank on us?!”

“Wait, no Seungyeon listen-”

“Don’t you guys know how it took us some nerves and guts to face the management officials even thought our requests were this little to be approved?!”

“Unnie, please. This isn’t our own doing. Let us explain.”

“Oh you two better be, before I changed my mind to be your wedding coordinator.” Seungyeon crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “What are you two doing here in such a messy place anyway? This gives me the creeps by looking at it.”

Janghoon and Jeongyeon sighed at looked at each other before turning their attention back at Seungyeon. “We found this here but… it’s a complicated story to tell.”

Seungyeon still gave her interest to listen on whatever happened to these two. Jeongyeon and Janghoon both tried their best to narrate their ghostly encounter in the form of their own wedding attires. After the conversation, Seungyeon closed this with a deal that there must no one should know what happened despite being skeptical at how strange their experience had to be.

They instead followed the new schedule that were provided to them as a second chance to make their wedding successful. Jeongyeon and Janghoon got happily married on April 24, 2023.

A year later, Jeongyeon and Janghoon welcomed their first child in their family. About the condition of their wedding dress and tuxedo, the married couple decided to lock it on a box and hid it through the deepest and farthest area of their basement.

Not only because of their haunting experience, but also when they heard from Seungyeon and Seungkwan their own story that they believed to saw a glimpse of their shadows having two, despite the fact that there was only one light source in the altar.

And based from their investigation with a nun, they have discovered that it might belong to two poor souls of an engaged couple who was supposed to be married but got murdered by someone who was against their marriage, leading to the chapel’s shut down.

-----------------------------------------------------

NOTE: This is based again from a Filipino entry in Spooktober 2023 by MilkyClear titled "The Blushing Bride". I really love how he narrates the real-life stories of those people who submitted for him to share their scary encounters. Probably expect that I'll be retelling some of my favorite entries of his in the upcoming one-shots.

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

do u have any horror recs for other mediums? tv, podcasts, books, youtube shorts, etc

I'm really gonna show my ass in this regard because most of my recommendations are going to be TV shows or short stories because I haven't branched out much beyond that if I'm honest.

I love The Haunting of Hill House (Nell Crain is my favourite horror character full stop) and The Fall of the House of Usher from Mike Flanagan (most of his shows are incredible but these two are my favourite).

THOHH: Flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.

TFOTHOU: To secure their fortune (and future) two ruthless siblings build a family dynasty that begins to crumble when their heirs mysteriously die, one by one.

The Exorcist (2016) was great!

The Exorcist follows two very different priests tackling one family's case of horrifying demonic possession. Father Tomas Ortega is the new face of the Catholic Church: progressive, ambitious and compassionate. He runs a small, but loyal, parish in the suburbs of Chicago. Father Marcus Keane is an orphan raised since childhood by the Vatican to wage war against its enemies. He is everything Father Tomas is not: relentless, abrasive and utterly consumed by his mission.

I really liked American Horror Story: Asylum, can't say the same for the other seasons.

AHS: Asylum takes place in 1964 and follows the stories of the staff and inmates who occupy the fictional mental institution Briarcliff Manor, and intercuts with events in the past and present.

I also liked a few South Korean shows I saw on Netflix.

Kingdom (2019): While strange rumors about their ill King grip a kingdom, the crown prince becomes their only hope against a mysterious plague overtaking the land.

All of Us Are Dead (2022): A high school becomes ground zero for a zombie virus outbreak. Trapped students must fight their way out or turn into one of the rabid infected.

Hellbound (2021): People hear predictions on when they will die. When that time comes, a death angel appears in front of them and kills them.

I loved Interview with a Vampire (especially because it does everything the movie didn't, which is why I didn't like the movie). it's very gay, it plays heavily into the themes of vampirism and sexuality, and I love Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson as Lestat and Louis.

In terms of other media, I really like the Dead Meat channel (if I haven't said it enough already), I also like the Scream Dreams Podcast with Catherine Corcoran (from Terrifier), James A. Janisse (from Dead Meat) and Barbara Crampton (prolific and stunning horror actor).

I know it's a little over done now, but that original series of 'The Backrooms' by KanePixels was great.

Some other horror channels/channels that explore horror as well as other topics are SpookyRice, MistaGG, Wendigoon, ElvisTheAlien, BionicPIG, Trin Lovell, KennieJD, MertKayKay, and AmandaTheJedi.

With books, I'm such a basic bitch, so I've really only read Stephen King's horror books. I'm not sure of this is horror or just very bleak and depressing but I'm Thinking of Ending Things was an incredible reading experience. And at this point it goes without saying House of Leaves is so fucking mindblowing!

H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe were terrible people, but their short stories are truly so dark and well-written, the cosmic horror Lovecraft is known translates best in his writing. Ambrose Bierce is the father of psychological horror as we know it, his short stories are great. My favourite short horror story is The Yellow Wallpaper. If you are interested in an audio version of it, listen to Chelsea from the Dead Meat channel with headphones (headphones are vital to that experience).

That's all I can think of off the top of my head for now! I'm sure others will give their own recommendations.

[openphrase123]

hurdy gurdy i'm thirty! people get really weirdly specific as they age so what better way to show that off than to do one of those tumblr hyperspecific polls >:3

general aging goals and ideas below the cut

my 20s resolutions were to not get sucked into a cult (religious or otherwise) and avoid going viral or being famous and i passed them with flying colors. my 30s resolutions are going to be to publish a game and have a kid. if you are wondering why my 20s resolutions were so vague it's because i didn't know who i was gonna be when i was 19 and aimed for reasonable goals most people in their 20s should abide to. i generally know what my whole deal is now and can plan accordingly

anyway i'm technically celebrating on the 31st with family because that's when everyone could get together outside of christmas but i'm going to korean barbeque with my brother and his wife and my girlfriend today :)

[tmwcs]

Reina this has been on my mind ever since I read the seven series what is your story or explanation of the Devil having heeeeungs appearance like as in appearing as a Korean man along with his brothers. I’ve always been curious about that and I am dying to hear what your thoughts are on it. I love seven so much and heelel and Levi have me on my knees. 🤒🥴

Actually, this is something I’ve thought about ever since I drafted the series. Your curiosity is warranted, back when I initially drafted the storyline, I knew I was going to have to provide an explanation, and I am happy to do it now, and take a break from all these lovely requests in my inbox lol.

Shape of You

Warnings: short Drabble, canon, historical references (some factual and some fiction), yandere love, some dark concepts, devil Heeseung is in love with you, some fluff, hints of smutty things.

“Can I ask you a question?”

You lean back, relaxing the blades of your shoulders against his broad chest. His partially gloved hand swoops from behind and plays with your hair over collar bone. His black blouse remains unbuttoned, allowing you to fall into the soft, white long sleeve and the loose tie around his neck. “Mmhmm.” He hums out tenderly as his hand taps against your belly; tips of his fingers walking up and down, trailing the northern and southern borders of your abdominal canvas. The both of you enjoying a moment of leisure, relaxing on his throne and gazing up at the stars. It was moments such as this, that made you realize the devil truly meant it when he says that you are everything, and that he loves you more than anything.

“Do you purposely portray yourself as an Asian male or is that truly how you were created?”

You were blunt, which he always preferred. He always reassured you that he would be truthful, and that you never had to feel discomfort when asking him anything your mind yearns to inherit. Tilting his face to the side, he admires the depth of your side profile and kisses the center of your ear, gently whispering.

“What makes you think I would portray myself as anything other than what is the truth?”

He partially jests as he chuckles against your ear canal. One of the gestures he was fond of doing, because he knew it tickled yet brought a pleasurable sense inside you. “It’s just—ah…” a subtle gasp escapes your lips as he slowly licks your neck, pushing the tip of his nose into your ear as he gently nibbles your jawline. “Mmhmm…you were saying, baby?” He antagonizes as he keeps his oral movements going, encouraging for you to finish your statement.

“Before you brought me here…you know, all those churches in the world talked about how the devil would shapeshift and deceive people…so I just…didn’t know if y-you…were really showing…y-your trrrrrue—ah!”

You help as he picks up the pace and sucks in your skin, harshly pinching it between teeth as he leaves discoloration and a subtle bite mark. Meanwhile his hand slips into the high slit of your silky gown, taking advantage of the fact that he never allowed you to eat panties, and began probing your slit. You desperately slap your hands on his forearms as you stabilize your posture. He chuckles in seeing you struggle as you lean away a tad, just so you could get him to answer the question without fondling you the entire time.

His chuckling transfers to a deep sigh of ceasefire, amused by your gasping for air as you propped yourself high and straight, yet your derrière looked even more appealing as it plumps against his throbbing bulge. But he figured he owed you an answer…for now.

“What else did the Bible tell you? Hmm? Did it tell you how bad the devil was? That I violated maidens and killed off Gods angels?” He releases a laconic scoff. “What a joke.”

“S-so…it’s all not true?” You inquired as you finally composed your breathing, and felt safe enough to lean back once more, which he relished and expressed contentment by embracing your waist, interlocking his fingers around your bellybutton. Unbeknownst to you, he really was doing his best to behave and display some self restraint as he continued to answer.

“Well beautiful, there’s a lot that goes into it. But let’s just say that a lot of the things that were drafted about me were over exaggerated, or drafted untruthfully, all for the mere sake of installing fear—fear to control.” He takes your hand in his palm and tenderly enclosed it. “But that’s a conversation for another time.” He whispered against your cheek.

“As for your question, this is how I was brought into life.”

“Any particular reason why you were made to specifically look and speak Korean?”

He smirks. “Well, truth be told, my former master loves diversity. Before he created mortals, he used his angels to form a baseline on what he wanted humans to replicate. There are many that come in all varieties. It just so happens my brothers and I all came out reflecting an oriental appearance. As for the language well, you already know we speak all dialects, even the lost ancient ones.”

Whispering in Arabic, he professes sweet words of love and tenderness in the language. “See? And now that you you’re my wife, you understand and speak all that of which exists.”

It’s true. The moment he brought you back to life as his Queen, you inherited a wide list of inhuman abilities, one of them was the suddenness of speaking and understanding all languages.

You spoke back in ancient Egyptian dialect, responding subtly. He smiles. “Good girl.”

“So, did he create all his other angels the same way?” He leans his head back, resting it against the grand head rest of the throne as he gazes and admires the outline of your profile. “Some. Some do them took after the fair skinned with hair and eyes to match, while others came out bolder and exotic in appearance. Michael, for instance, was created with a Mediterranean appearance, contrary to what mortals would imagine.”

“The arch angel Michael?” You asked in shock. He nods.

“My former master had an idea of how he wanted humans to become, but really couldn’t think of any other way to form their appearance. So he used his angels and guide.”

“But I thought the Bible described angels to appear differently…it described them as nonhuman entities, just a large eye with six wings that rotated.”

He smirks upon your oblivious nature. He has so much to teach you. “The original angels, such as myself, served as the original draft of what humans should take after. Those created after are nothing like us…you remember.” He raises a brow as he takes an expectant tone. You do remember those humanoid metallic figures, whom appeared more monstrous than anything else.

“Why don’t we take a walk and talk about all that’s in your mind. Whatever questions you have, we can spend the day feeding your curiosity…” he grips your waist and gently lifts you, only to slowly drag you back down and ride your slit against his lengthy bulge. “In a little while…hm baby?”

You fling your head back over his shoulder. “Uh…uh-huh.”

Moving you back and forth, he forced you to take on a riding momentum as he sets the pace; his hands never losing grip along your waistline. Your hands slam on the elegant rails of the arm chair. You didn’t care what they landed on, you just needed something to grip and dig your fingers into. “Fuuuuuuuck yeeeeeeah.” He whispers against your ear, dragging out his tone to be deep and creaky as he continued to move your hips in waving motion.

“Relax baby, I’ll tell you whatever you wanna hear…I’ll answer all of your questions…just let me fuck you first.

It’s too bad your mind went entirely blank. By the time he was finished with you, you were senselessly incoherent and just a moaning mess, fucked too dumb to think of anything other than the soreness of your opening struggling to close after the constant thrusting, and the juices flowing out, stringing your thighs. When all was said and done, nearly hours after the initial conversation, the only lesson you learned from all of this was that you should never show the devil how curious you can get….because he’ll get curious right back. And the devil doesn’t sleep, until his curiosity is no longer peaked.

- Fin

[thebirdandhersong]

Okay so this year I watched a total of six dramas (seven if I manage to finish Run On before the new year, which might sound unlikely, but let's be for real: I have no plans, no friends living nearby, and no willpower to do anything drastically festive)! and these are some of the things I learned about writing from Love Next Door, Lovely Runner, Brewing Romance, Twinkling Watermelon, Knight Flower, and Summer Strike:

You don't need to reveal everything at the same time. The fondness Korean scriptwriters have for nonlinear storytelling (or the careful omitting of information for future revelatory purposes) is so interesting to me, and the way they reveal information you didn't realise they didn't tell you, especially in Lovely Runner, Twinkling Watermelon, and Summer Strike, makes the experience SO much fun.

Value of shared laughter. This is true especially in Brewing Romance, Knight Flower, and Summer Strike, where laughter is a key piece in the development of romantic relationships. What can I say? It gets me every time.

A good story creates expectations for the person listening to the story. If you set it up well, the reader/watcher will have a vague idea of what's to come that starts to form in their mind, and what you do with those expectations is then up to your own creativity. But the worst thing you can do for your narrative setup to go absolutely nowhere (see: Love Next Door and the complete lack of emotional depth and complexity in the relationship in the last few episodes. The setup for this relationship was so promising and it turned out rather flat at the end. The second leads became so much more interesting, but that also fell a bit flat in the end due to the writing. In a similar vein, you can take a look at Lovely Runner, which almost hits the biggest emotional beat in the story perfectly. You know that the truth about the time travelling WILL come out at some point, but the amount of time given to the reveal is so short and not as weighty as it should have been, compared to all the weight of the time travelling and the choices that build throughout the story. ALSO! You KNOW that Eungyeol is going to develop an even stronger bond with his parents in Twinkling Watermelon, both in the past and in the future. The fun of it is seeing how that comes about).

When you're writing historical fiction, societal norms (especially courtly manners, laws, curfews, and limitations) actually provide you an opportunity to play around and get creative. Knight Flower is set in the Joseon dynasty, and the writers do SUCH a good job exploring neo-Confucian ideas about women's role in society. Yeohwa's whole Robin Hood thing develops BECAUSE it is so restrictive for her as a widow, and the story gets to explore certain social situations in depth because those social norms are being observed by the characters (it's like having worldbuilding rules in a fantasy story). If you honour the structure you're working with, you can come up with quite a lot of plot points and scenarios that otherwise might not hold the same kind of weight.

The importance of inter-generational mentorship (i.e. Yeoreum and Bom's grandma in Summer Strike, Yongju and her grandma + Yongju and her old boss + Minju and the old ladies + in Brewing Love, the music store owner and Eungyeol in Twinkling Watermelon, etc.), which is a relationship that is deeply under-appreciated in individualistic cultures, and systems of honour according to age and experience. In my country, the communal part of life is and is treated as an integral part of society, and is even deeply embedded in the language. You would, in fact, call someone Mr. Manager or Ms. Librarian or Mrs. Teacher or Mr. Dentist. And you would, generally, treat those older than you with respect and deference, and consider those younger than you your duty to care for and teach. Tangentially, this is really lacking in the church right now and it bothers me very deeply that people simply don't care about bringing up the next generation and actually having a HAND in that, i.e. taking time to do that, making sacrifices for that, being inconvenienced in that, etc..... it is a rather detached approach that does no one any good whatsoever.

The importance of those quiet moments when you're sharing silence with someone. Summer Strike does this particularly well.

The importance of acknowledging and learning about the past so that you can navigate the present wisely. This shows up well in Love Next Door when Seokryu's past illness is revealed (and then the abrupt tone shift from that moment forward simply ruins the effect, in my opinion, but anyways) and in Summer Strike (at least in the first three quarters of the story). And it's practically the whole point of Twinkling Watermelon -- Eungyeol's main purpose becomes learning the past and changing the narrative. Anyway, side-eyeing Brewing Romance again for Yongju's complete lack of interest in Minju's past. That bothers me greatly. (She's willing to fantasize about what high school would've been like if Minju were there with her, but not willing to ask and hear him out about what ACTUALLY happened? Anyway.)

[phenomenalgirl9]

When he sees you in a wedding dress (Not wedding) (Hyung line)

Stray kids x Reader

Bangchan

Visiting you on your set was normal for him. After dating him for this long it would be, but today was different, you had told him, you were signed to endorse a special clothing line of this famous American-Korean designer, he couldn't be prouder. So he walked in and found your manager, both waiting for you. "Be ready to get your mind blown, Chris" your manager had whispered to him and he was confused. His confusion was however soon washed away when he saw you and the other models walk out in various semi-traditional and semi-morden wedding dresses. He took in a gulped as he kept looking at you. His heart feels warm. You excused yourself and walked up to him "how do I look?" You twirled. He was already blushing, he stood up and looked at you and unexpectedly said "Lets go to church".

Lee know

Lee Know reached your set and sent you a text only to get the reply that he needed wait as you still needed some time. He walked to the place you asked him to wait, it was near a vanity. He was waiting when he heard your voice from afar and he looked up. His eyes got stuck at you, he almost forgot where he was, the texts from Hyunjin that he was answering were long forgotten. "Oh fuck" he cursed under his breath. His heart was pounding so loudly he bet you could hear him if you walked close enough. "A picture would last longer, you know" you mocked him. But his smile never dropped or quivered, at that moment he promised something to himself.

Changbin

When you texted him that it would be great if he could help you pick a dress he didn't expect, this. "Babe? Did I miss a few chapters?" He asked. You and your P.A turned to look at him in awe. "Binnie, remember the new drama I have been shooting?" You reminded him, and walked into the changing room. "YOU'LL MARRY SOMEONE ELSE BEFORE ME?" he said, dramatically. Your P.A sighed "Awe Binnie, you're too cute. Now, tell me which looks the best" you said, walking out of the curtains. "How does this look?" You asked him while checking yourself out on the mirror but only heard silence, you looked towards him to find him awestruck, how could he speak? You looked drop dead gorgeous in that dress.

Hyunjin

Fashion Shows and Fashion weeks have never been his 'thing' but this time it was different. He had to attend this event and he dragged Felix with him. This was the special white collection and coincidentally what you were wearing had a veil. You found the dress really alluring with the layers and all and couldn't wait to walk down the ramp in it, especially knowing your boyfriend is in the audience. The moment you stepped out Hyunjin's eyes went wide as his heart skipped a beat, he felt like this was what he wanted and needed. He could feel tears sting his eyes and Felix could see that too. "Mate control" Felix whispered to his friend's ear. Who just whispered back "I WILL marry her one day, Yongbokah".

_____________________________________

Other Works

[multifandomslxt]

BLACK ROSES PT. 3

Pairing: Mafia!Lee Jeno x Florist!Reader

Trope: Grumpy x sunshine

Genre: Dark Mafia Romance

Word Count: 1.5K (i think)

Synopsis:

Lee Jeno is a dangerous man. From going on k!lling sprees for fun to torturing and k!lling his own father. He does it all. In short Lee Jeno is the devil.

Y/N is a florist. She's as pure as they come. Nothing exciting ever happens in her life and she’s okay with that. In short Y/N is an angel.

He was bad and she was good. They were complete opposites.

…Or so they thought

Get your tissues for this one. It's gonna be one hell of a ride

Warnings for this chapter: Mentions of drugs, g*n violence, illegal dealings. He does something weird at the end.

*((((A/N: words in bold are her conscience and words spoken in Korean are in italics ))))*

Flower of the day: The name Agapanthus is derived from the Greek: agapē meaning "love", and another Greek word anthos meaning "flower", together meaning Love Flower or Flower of Love.

She stared at me like I just grew two heads.

“Madam, please calm down.” she spoke completely ignoring my question.

I stared at her wide eyed. “Calm down? Girl…who are you?”

She sighed and closed her eyes, pinching her nose out of annoyance.

“He couldn't find a more annoying slut to play with?” she spoke in her home tongue.

Suddenly, she stepped closer to the bed and stretched her hand out “I am Ji-eun, Mr. Lee’s maid. It’s a pleasure to meet you miss.”

I eyed her…and I eyed her damn hard.

“I’m Y/N” Carefully I took her hand in mine and shook…slowly.

She pulled her hand back and smiled “I know miss Y/N , Mr. Lee already told me. Speaking of which he requests an immediate audience with you”.

Now it was my turn to stare at her like she just grew two heads. “Who is Mr. Lee and why does he want an audience with me?”

She stared at me incredulously “Mr. Lee is the owner of this house and a member of the NCT Mafia. How do you not know this? He is the one that brought you here.”

You know that feeling you get when you’re sure your ancestors are warning you to get the heck out of a very specific situation?

Yeah…that’s exactly what I’m feeling right now.

Not good

Not f*cking good at all.

How the f*ck did I get involved with the mafia?

I covered my face with my hands and screamed loudly. “Jesus, my grandma is rolling in her grave…all those Sunday Morning church services gone to waste.”

Uncovering my face and found Ji-eun staring at me and muttering something under her breath.

“It's not only annoying, but also crazy... Good job Mr. Lee.”

Paying her no mind I looked down at myself and realized I was still wrapped up in the very very very soft sheets of this bed…

‘Normal people would have jumped up by now, wouldn’t they?’ My conscience questioned sharply.

Which led me to do just that…except my foot got tangled in the sheets and I face planted on an equally soft carpet.

My fall caused Ji-eun to run to my side and help me up.

Finally standing, I asked her a question that I should have left alone.

“What’s Mr. Lee’s first name?”

She huffed and straightened her uniform. “Mr Lee’s name is Jeno…Lee Jeno.”

Pretty sure my ass cheeks clenched like a fist.

 There was absolutely no way she just said that.

“Lee…Jeno? Are you sure girl?” I asked.

Ji-eun was growing frustrated. I could see it on her face.

“Miss Y/N Mr. Lee is Lee Jeno owner of this house and a member of the NCT Mafia. As I mentioned earlier, he’s expecting an audience with you right now.” She said passive aggressively.

I stared at her for what felt like hours.

“Why does he want to see me?” my heart was now in my throat.

Ji-eun furrowed her brows and tilted her head confusingly “Do you not remember last night?”

“Mr. Lee carried you here whilst you were unconscious, said you passed out from shock.” She continued.

Suddenly, the memory came rushing to me causing me to gasp.

 “I WITNESSED A MURDER!” I shouted.

‘Nope…you heard it’ my conscience corrected.

As I came to the realization, I felt like I was going to throw up.

Was he going to kill me?

‘Probably’

What if he wants me to join the mafia to keep a close eye on me?

‘Bitch please, you can’t even kill a roach so that’s null.’

“Miss Y/N we must leave now He does not like to wait.” Ji-eun said urgently.

Let’s just get this over with…what’s the worst that could happen?

‘Death, you dumb bitch.’

“Okay, let’s go then” I replied.

I started walking towards the exit when I felt a pull on the back of my shirt causing me to turn around.

“You must freshen up and change first Miss Y/N” Ji-eun said curtly gesturing to the neatly folded clothes on the nightstand.

“Oh, right” I said embarrassed. I as so worked up I didn’t even realize I was still in last night’s attire.

“I will be waiting for you on the outside” Ji-eun said before walking out.

Taking the clothes, I went into what must have been the bathroom.

As expected, it was luxurious. The floors and walls were granite and the shower and sink had black accentuations.

Placing the clothes on the vanity, I stripped down and stepped into the shower.

After a couple minutes I emerged from the bathroom fresh and changed.

I took a couple deep breaths before leaving the room and coming face to face with Ji-eun.

“Let’s go.” She spoke.

We walked for what felt like an eternity of passing many luxurious vases and pictures in the dark hallway, we finally reached our destination.

“He is right through here. Knock and wait for his reply. Goodbye Miss Y/N” Ji-eun rushed out and then practically ran away leaving me here.

I stared at the Large two handled door. It was all that stood in my way, shielding me from the monster who would be my ultimate demise.

With shaky hands I knocked three times

KNOCK

KNOCK

KNOCK

“Come.” A gruff and familiar voice shouted from behind the door.

I opened the door and stepped into what looked like a home office.

The walls were a dark blue and barren of pictures. The floor was of hard dark wood and the only lighting in the room came from a small lamp on the desk which stood in the centre of the room.

Behind that desk was none other than ‘Nono’ aka Jeno aka Lee Jeno aka A member of the fucking mafia

Sitting comfortably in his chair with his head titled and a smirk on his lips.

“Hello Y/N” only two word left his mouth but somehow it was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

“Hello Sir.” I replied.

I must have said something funny because next thing I know he threw his head back and started to laugh

“So now I’m Sir?” He smiled, amusement still dancing in his dark eyes.

I felt like I was about to piss myself.

“In other circumstances I would have been pleased to hear that from you but I’m afraid that this isn’t one of those circumstances.” He continued with a slight frown etched on his face.

Slowly he stood up from his chair and started the pace towards me.

Without realizing it I had started to step back and eventually my back was pressed against the door.

“Running will only make this harder for you flower.” he taunted.

He found this funny.

The sick bastard.

“What do you want from me?” I asked, now more annoyed than scared.

He now stood directly in front of me, his chest in my line of sight.

After long beats of silence, he hooked his index finger under my chin and lifted my head upwards.

“What did you see last night?” He asked.

Shut your mouth bitch… you did not see anything!

Tell him your vision is 20/200 or something.

 “I didn’t see anything, matter of fact I have no idea what you’re talking about”. Good. play dumb.

He raised his eyebrow in amusement. “Y/N don’t lie to me. Regardless of what you might think, I’m trying to protect you.”

“Bullshit.” I spat.

“I don’t feel secure right now. Honestly, it feels like you’re gonna blow my head off my body any second”

He dropped his hand from my face and stepped back. “Yet, your attitude doesn’t seem like it.”

I huffed and crossed my arms. “I saw nothing so I would like to leave thank you”.

He sighed and began walking back to his chair “You saw nothing, but you definitely heard something flower. What happened last night you were not meant to be there so I’m afraid you can’t leave.”

sorry?

“What?’” I questioned dumbfounded.

He sat on  the edge of his table and stared on a random light fixture in the corner of the room “I have enemies. You saw- I mean heard something you shouldn’t have and then ran to me for help. You now have a target on your back. “

��You did it now child all of them sins are catching up to you’.

I could practically hear my grandma’s voice.

“No. I won’t stay here” I decided.

He directed his eyes to me “Yes, you will. Why? Because I said so.”

Tears were prickling my eyes.

Someone is trying to take my freedom again.

I can’t go back to that place again.

“I’m not an object. You cannot control me”.

He growled in annoyance.

Taking quick strides towards me he grabbed my jaw.

“You are not an object but the minute I stepped into that store I craved you. It’s your fault you chose my chest to run into. You innocently signed your life over to me so as of now I own your very being. You belong to me. So yes, I can make decisions for you.”

Tears were strolling down my face.

What have I done?

“I hate you” I gritted out.

He smirked and with slow movements started to lick my tears.

He closed his eyes and savoured the salty taste.

“But for how long?”

[kbandtrash]

Well 여러분 aloooooha! Or as the Korean sisters have been saying, 알로하세요 alohaseyo!

We’re actually a couple weeks past the halfway point of the great Rachel hiatus but isn’t it crazy how fast it’s gone?? Maybe not for you (probably for you too haha do you even remember me anymore 😆) but it sure has for me.

I thought I would have a huge advantage over a lot of the women coming out to serve the Lord because I’m quite a bit older than most of them and because I’ve completed a bachelor’s degree as well. In some aspects I was right about that–being 5 years older and having more life experience means I know a lot more about myself than a 19 year old that’s leaving home for the first time. However, there are a lot of ways that our experiences are equalized.

I’m going to express my experiences in the light of my own life and my own testimony. To paraphrase a leader of our church, God places each of us in divine human orbits. I don’t believe in coincidences for the most part, and I know that God expresses His love for us most often through those around us. It’s okay if you don’t believe this about yourself, but I want you to know that I believe that you are a beloved child of a loving Heavenly Father, and you have a divine nature and destiny as such.

I know very well that life isn’t easy, and it’s hard to understand how a loving God can allow this world to be as nasty as it is sometimes. I’m kind of cut off from world news right now, but I know what was happening when I left in February, and it’s hard to believe that God really loves His children if He lets these things happen, but “[I know] the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate [our] afflictions for [our] gain” (2 Nephi 2:2).

It’s gonna be another quick 8.5 months before I’m back in August! If you wanna ask me any questions or hear more about what I’ve been up to (what it’s like being a missionary, what it’s like in Hawaii, my Korean language training 👀) ask Megan for my email! I can only respond on one day of the week, but if you write to me I WILL get back to you.

저는 하나님께서 여러분을 사랑하신다는 것을 알고 있고 저도 여러분을 사랑해요! 신앙을 가지고 있으면 하나님께서 방법을 준비하실 거예요. 힘들 때 하나님께서 여러분을 강화하실 거예요. 이 모든 것을 예수 그리스도의 이름으로 간증드립니다 아멘!!

[nachoaveragejoe234]

Since I had to block a bozo who defends the hate of Russian civilians, (redjaybathood), here is proof of anti-Russian sentiment towards civilians, it's not propaganda and you ain't a tankie for calling it out.

OK, so I have to respond. Firstly, my criticism doesn't mean "I think Putin's behaviour is the right thing."

Let me ask you something. Why don't you lame Chinese civilians for their government? Why don't you call them names? Their leader is also a communist who threatens other countries. Why aren't Chinese civilians considered tankies? Why don't North Korean civilians get treated like they're part of the problem? Cherry picking.

Next, you're literally doing what the OP and many other people are calling out. Hating the civilians for existing and living in a dictatorship.

And since you freaked that I didnt send the links even though you can look it up yourself (meaning you're lazy), fine. Here we go. Now let's see if you try to accuse me of lying. This is the sentiment that lead to the Japanese internment camps which everyone agrees were wrong, but I know people would cheer for Russian ones. There's a LOT of Russia-bashing, believe it or not.

And serious actual hate crimes and attacks. All called "propaganda" by bigots.

That's arson if you don't speak German.

If a foreign minister needs to call you out, it's not propaganda.

NOTE: Dubs being put on hiatus, Russian non politial products like snacks and drinks being removed or given WARNINGS in stores, none of that happens to other "evil" countries like China. Selective outrage? I'd say so. And literal paragraphs about hate from the Wiki page.

All of these are civilians who are being treated like shit on the ASSUMPTION that if you're Russian, you must hate peace. Dictators are not the people. People are brainwashed. You don't have the right to judge the peopleof a dictatorship because they aren't born evil, they're taught to obey the dictator. It happened with Hitler. It happened with Stalin. It happened with Mussolini. It happened with Pol Pot. It happened with Milosevic. It happened with Hirohito. It happens with Xi. It happens with Kim Jong Un. Why is it that when it happens with Putin, and ONLY with Putin, are the civilians suddenly just as problematic as the leader? You can't judge an entire nationality based on a select number of people you've seen who agree (or pretend to agree, as many may not actually agree but pretend. If all you view them as is cowards, but you don't hold the same values to other citizens of dictatorships, you are in fact, a BIGOT and it's not problematic or propaganda or false to say so. I made myself very clear. If you still disagree that's your problem and you are a toxic person. Jesus fucking Christ)

Tell me again how being Russian automatically makes you a bad person and how civilians aren't victims just because they are living in a corrupt country. You judge the entire population based on what fringe nationalists and some brainwashed people say. Blanket statements about an entire nationality or race are NOT okay. Peoplewho criticizes this aren't automatically pro-tyranny. Not that you care or believe that.

As a bonus, let's talk about how America and Canada (my country) used to HATE UKRAINE, and they had Ukrainian internment camps.

Your reaction to this should NOT be "I don't think Ukrainians deserve peace". BOTH RUSSIA AND UKRAINE DESERVE PEACE AND TO BE FREE FROM HATE. THE HATE GOES IN ALL DIRECTIONS. THAT'S THE REASON WAR IS A THING. PUTIN NEEDS TO STOP FIGHTING. PEOPLE NEED TO STOP JUDGING CITIZENS OF A DICTATORSHIP FOR BEING FROM A DICTATORSHIP. THE MORE RUSSIANS THAT CALL OUT PUTIN ANY WAY THEY CAN THE BETTER. ALL OF THESE STATEMENTS CAN AND SHOULD CO-EXIST AND I YOU DON'T THINK SO, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. "BUT THEIR LEADER!" "BUT I'M UKRAINIAN" "BUT LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE SAY" "SHUT UP TANKIE" "ORC/RUZZIAN AREN'T SLURS THEY'RE TRUE". ARE NOT EXCUSES. The orcs and Ruzzians are Putin and his lackeys, not the people who live in said tyrant's cities. Obviously people should help Ukraine, that's absolutely fine. But people should not do or say anything the people above have said. It's pretty easy to find out of touch comments on Twitter and Quora that blanket the entire population as the same "evil commie tankie orc zombies". People calling out this stuff aren't trying to make a competition of "who has it worse" when in fact war harms EVERYONE.

That's all I can say. Don't like this? Then you should really think.