#immortal!runner 5

[kelzebub]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Zombies Run! Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Sam/Five, Peter/Janine, Five and Peter Characters: Runner Five, Sam Yao, Janine deLuca, Sara Myers Cohen Yao, Peter Lynne, OCs Additional Tags: Multiple Major Character Deaths, sadfic, dead dove do not eat, Grief, Aging, Immortality, no beta we die like mortals, female Five Summary:

What if Five is immortal too? What if she loses everyone and just keeps living? Future fic, sad as hell, I made myself cry. Bone apple teeth. Longer summary in the end notes, with spoilers

[ask-actual-celestial-au]

castor, do you have a favorite book?

Hm. I suppose I’d have to say False Prince. It’s pretty hard to pick just one though.

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

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1. ITMF a fic where the Lans or the neis or the cultivation world in general find out about the abuse wwx takes at jiang sect and the other sects trying to help him @zerokogane

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2. Have you all seen maze runner? Yeah. I want a wangxian maze runner version/fusion/setting/same plot or something!!

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3. A) ITMF fics where, in a wedding Wei Ying catches the flowers/bouquet brides throw?

Itmf fics where B) wwx is like a mystery unsolved to anyone and everyone

C) wwx is a magician. Like those cool tricky people uk. Could be real / fake magic. @constellationdks

3B)

Old Foreshadows by protos_metazu_ison (M, 15k, WangXian, YLLZ WWX, BAMF WWX, War, Universe Alteration, Sunshot Campaign) not sure i'm understanding the request, but maybe one of these?

🔒 never been away so long by sundiscus (G, <1k, wangxian, Modern, Pre-Relationship, First Meetings, Ambiguous/Open Ending, (but a happy ending in the endnotes!), Ghosts)

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4. Hello, thank you, my favorite fic comes from your recs. Any fic recs for lan xichen x jiang yanli. No modern era please @dramaqueenrolf

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5. hii, for the next imtf can I ask for a fic where lwj and wwx break up and r mopey about it? a modern au maybe, like there's no promised goodbye here

thank you!! @mercurygirlwt28

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6. Hello! I have a read fics where the characters cultivate to immortality and the story picks up with their lives in modern era. I like the combo of traditional clothes, cultures, and canon personalities in the modern setting. Are there more fics like this? (I cannot remember the names of the two I have read in the past. In one I think WWX loses his memory and regains it upon backpacking to modern Cloud Recesses? In the other WWX time travels to modern and meets LWJ who has lived all those years.)

ridiculous future bullshit by sami (M, 61k, wangxian, WQ/JC/LXC, LSZ & WWX, LSZ/Other(s), LSZ & his family, JYL/OMC, Future Fic, movies, the rewriting of history if the past was different the future is different, But still ridiculous, Humor, the evolution of fashion, immortals through history, LWJ visits other cultures and judges them, Modern, best boy LSZ, Pride Parades, Cats, the legend of WQ, Academia, Border Crossings, biosecurity, oz quarantine is SERIOUS BUSINESS, Kinda cultivated to immortality, Paperwork, Family, Parents and Children, Uncles and nephews, the mortifying ordeal of your family seeing how you really live, Social Media, Chaos Gremlin WWX, Slight Hostage Situations, University, outsider pov, WWX vs Local Culture, actions have consequences, Pets, Movie Stars, Fluff) though it’s a sequel to And Time Is But A Paper Moon so some people are immortal in RFB who died in canon.

Thanks for giving me an excuse to dig up one of my favorite tropes from my bookmarks!! The Future is Ours to Keep series by makebelieveanything & nerdzeword (T, 25k, wangxian, JC & WWX, JC & YZY, JYL/LQY/WQ, post-canon, modern, immortality, reincarnation, healthy family relationships, epistolary, groupchats, fluff) Some beloved cast is immortal in modern times, some reincarnated

Ever Thine, Ever Mine, Ever Ours. by JaenysBloodcourt (T, 3k, WangXian, Immortal LWJ and WWX, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Well it could be a Bittersweet Ending, Love Confessions) Wangxian are immortal, but have pined for a thousand years, and (spoiler!!!) they do get together but mind the bittersweet ending!!!!!!

dark and glimmering by Sanguis (T, 5k, wangxian, post-canon, modern, technology malfunction, established relationship, married couple, immortality) Beautiful and wangxian-centric, not so much about the modern world. But the world is around

Wandering Souls, Wild Ghosts by belleweather (E, 49k, wangxian, post-canon, victorian au, case fic, rentboys, smut, married wangxian, immortality, canon-typical violence, period-typical sexism & racism & homophobia, voyeurism, families of choice) Victorian England with immortal!wangxian’s adventures!

Traditions Series by Witch_Nova221 (G, 7k, WangXian, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Christmas Presents, Modern with Magic, modern day cultivators, Cloud Recesses, Established Relationship, Married Couple, Married Life, family traditions, wangxian family feels, Romance, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, immortal cultivators)

A Tale of Two Immortals by esk95 (M, 31k, WIP, WangXian, XiCheng, XuanLi, Post-Canon, Like waaaaay Post-Canon Modern AU, but cultivation still exists, Immortality, Reincarnation, Pretty much everyone is a reincarnation except Wangxian, Secret Identities, Modern with Magic, Immortal!Wangxian) A beloved wip: Immortal wangxian try to solve a mystery, poor Sizhui just wants to be a cultivator and have support of his parents who don’t know anything about cultivation (lol), a lot of reincarnated folk around

MDZS: The Golden Engine by iffervescent (E, 82k, WangXian, XiCheng, Explicit Sexual Content, Immortals) The summary says it all: “In the modern era, immortals Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian return to Gusu. New evil and old friends + new friends and old evils.”

All Old Things are New Again Series by The Feels Whale (miscellea) (M, 59k, WIP, WangXian, XuanLi, ChengQing, Reincarnation, Modern AU, canon still happened, extreme post canon, Sugar Daddy, Kink Negotiation, gentle dom!LWJ, canonical levels of consent play, Modern Cultivators, Epilogues, yunmeng bros reconciliation, rabbit acquisition) has some immortal lwj and lxc with reincarnation wwx,and it's amazing.

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7. ITMF fics which have wwx's ghosts. Remember ghost brides? And that ghoul child? They don't have to have a major part or something, just the fuc having wwx talking and being friends with ghosts.

It can also have the ghosts taking care of wwx. Loving him and all uk

when the sun goes out by travelingneuritis (E, 176k, WangXian, Modern Cultivation, tech cultivation, Necromancy, Angst with a Happy Ending, insecurity around adoption, Dad!WWX, dad!lwj, Grief/Mourning, Mistaken Identity, Mood Whiplash, Body Swap, sex tears!, Falling In Love, Consensual Somnophilia, apocalypse (localized), Smut, unrealistic sexual stamina, Flashbacks, Time Skips, Illustrations) if you're okay with OC ghosts I highly recommend When the Sun Goes Out by travelingneuritis, it's one of my favorite fics and wwx's relationship with his ghost army (Kaichuang in particular) is one of the reasons why

Ad Oblivione by Baph, HikariNoHimeWriter (M, 70k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Temporary Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, POV Multiple, Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Identity Reveal, Golden Core Reveal, Cultivation World Critical, Not JC Friendly, Abusive YZY, Angst with a Happy Ending) WWX has a ghost companion who helps him & acts as a mother figure towards him

let the sun go down on your anger; let it burn you to sleep by enbysaurus_rex (Not rated, 86k, wangxian, WQ & WWX, graphic depictions of violence, chronic illness, narcolepsy, chronic pain, YLLZ WWX, oblivious WWX, sleeping beauty elements, body horror, WIP) has pretty much every one of Wei Wuxian's ghosts playing a part and teaming up with his family to help take care of him in their own way

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8. hii, for the itmf

are there any fics w the trope "someone who believes they're hard to love and someone who loves then like it's breathing?

I hope ure having a nice day!!

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9. Any fics where yu ziyuan treats wwx like a son or nephew??

And Time Is But a Paper Moon by sami (M, 139k, WangXian, XiChengQing, Time Travel, Fix-It, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Healing, Mental Health Issues, PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Depression, BAMF WWX, BAMF JC, BAMF LWJ, BAMF JYL, Getting Together)

Sail Away Sweet Sister by sami (M, 73k, WangXian, YZY/CSSR/MDM Lan, MingLi, Time Travel, EXTREME Canon Divergence, Wide Focus Narrative, Some People Live/Not Everyone Dies, Most Named/Canon Characters Live, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Families of Choice, Parenthood, this work contains a major tonal shift, Fluff, Angst, Underage Sex, not particularly explicit, but not at all ambiguous, PTSD, Only a tiny bit, Unforeseeable consequences, The butterfly effect, Slightly Dark JYL, Asexual Characters, but that’s not really the focus, Canon-Typical Violence) Also most of sami's time travel fics. this one for sure, probably a few others in the Same Moon series

Across the street to another life by danegen (M, 99k, WangXian, Modern AU, unleashed au, Family Fluff, Set in America, Hurt/Comfort, Past Child Abuse, Addiction, Crime, Amnesia, Ableist Language, another fridged mother, POV Alternating, past wwx/ofc, past wwx/omc, Medium parent YZY, A-Yuan is wwx’s biological son, Musicians, Happy Ending) it's mostly late in the fic but "across the street to another life" REALLY earns that "medium parent yu ziyuan" tag. Far from perfect but really steps up when it matters.

Hope series by RoseThorne (T, 57k, wangxian, WWX & YZY, WWX & JFM, WWX & JYL, YZY/JFM, JC & WWX, LQR & WWX, LXC & JYL, Madam Jin & YZY, LQR & JFM, LXC & LWJ, Transmigration, Time Travel Fix-It, Illnesses, Family, Scars, Memory Loss, Angst, Crying, Music, Nosebleed, Fear, Recovery, Nightmares, Sharing a Bed, Flirting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Good Parent YZY, Referenced Sexual Slavery, Blood and Gore, Monsters, Sexual Tension, betrothal, Arranged Marriage, Grief, Adoption, POV Third Person, POV Alternating, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Good Parent LQR, Clairvoyance, Butterfly Effect, Kid Fic, Epistolary, Food, Secrets, Resentful Energy, Cultivation Sect Politics, Character Death)

The Best Gift by Lan_Wangjoe (E, 45k, WangXian, Modern AU, Mistaken Identity, Miscommunication Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Family Fluff, Family Dynamics, Falling In Love, Idiots in Love, Dorks in Love, Nice LQR, Meet the Family, Nerdiness, Science Boyfriends, Science Experiments, Fake Science, Science Husbands, Geeks, Work Contains Fan(s) or Fandom(s), Fandom Allusions & Cliches & References, Fans & Fandom AU, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adopted Children, Marriage of Convenience, Secret Marriage, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Stupidity, Himbo LXC, Lan Himbos, Lán Family Feels, Everyone Is Alive, Everyone Thinks They're Together, Good Parents JFM and YZY, Genius WWX, Geniuses)

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10. Does anybody have anything where it’s just Immortal(one of them could be reincarnated and recultivated immortality) Wangxian being happy through the ages or in modern society? (Preferably modern Cultivation society) @omgnectarina

The Future is Ours to Keep series by makebelieveanything & nerdzeword (T, 25k, wangxian, JC & WWX, JC & YZY, JYL/LQY/WQ, post-canon, modern, immortality, reincarnation, healthy family relationships, epistolary, groupchats, fluff) (link in #6) Some beloved cast is immortal in modern times, some reincarnated

Ever Thine, Ever Mine, Ever Ours. by JaenysBloodcourt (T, 3k, WangXian, Immortal LWJ and WWX, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Well it could be a Bittersweet Ending, Love Confessions) (link in #6) Wangxian are immortal, but have pined for a thousand years, and (spoiler!!!) they do get together but mind the bittersweet ending!!!!!!

dark and glimmering by Sanguis (T, 5k, wangxian, post-canon, modern, technology malfunction, established relationship, married couple, immortality) (link in #6) Beautiful and wangxian-centric, not so much about the modern world. But the world is around

Wandering Souls, Wild Ghosts by belleweather (E, 49k, wangxian, post-canon, victorian au, case fic, rentboys, smut, married wangxian, immortality, canon-typical violence, period-typical sexism & racism & homophobia, voyeurism, families of choice) (link in #6) Victorian England with immortal!wangxian’s adventures!

Traditions Series by Witch_Nova221 (G, 7k, WangXian, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Christmas Presents, Modern with Magic, modern day cultivators, Cloud Recesses, Established Relationship, Married Couple, Married Life, family traditions, wangxian family feels, Romance, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, immortal cultivators) (link in #6)

A Tale of Two Immortals by esk95 (M, 31k, WIP, WangXian, XiCheng, XuanLi, Post-Canon, Like waaaaay Post-Canon Modern AU, but cultivation still exists, Immortality, Reincarnation, Pretty much everyone is a reincarnation except Wangxian, Secret Identities, Modern with Magic, Immortal!Wangxian) (link in #6) A beloved wip: Immortal wangxian try to solve a mystery, poor Sizhui just wants to be a cultivator and have support of his parents who don’t know anything about cultivation (lol), a lot of reincarnated folk around

MDZS: The Golden Engine by iffervescent (E, 82k, WangXian, XiCheng, Explicit Sexual Content, Immortals) (link in #6) The summary says it all: “In the modern era, immortals Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian return to Gusu. New evil and old friends + new friends and old evils.”

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11. Itmf pregnant wwx doesn’t realize he is pregnant at first. Broody, hormonal, instinctive, etc., can be foxxian but doesn’t have to be. Bonus points if LWJ has it figured out. Any era is fine.

I didn't know I was pregnant! by Haunted_Cheese (G, 1k, WangXian, A/B/O Dynamics, Modern AU, Mpreg, Unplanned Pregnancy, Childbirth, Omega WWX, Alpha LWJ, Pregnant WWX)

🔒Little fall of rain by luckymoonly (M, 10k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, WWX didn't know he was pregnant, Mpreg, Mention of Birth, Family Feels, Nielan himbo rights, soft LQR, Misunderstandings, jealous lwj, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Smut, Breastfeeding, Thirsty Granny Wen, JGS being his usual self)

🔒Surprise Baby! by trulywicked (M, 10k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, Modern Cultivation, Mpreg, Unplanned Pregnancy, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Didn't know he was pregnant, birthing scene, Little bit of blood, A/B/O Dynamics, Inspired by Twitter, Established Relationship, Fluff)

Blood, Google, and Love by Prairie_Grass (E, 4k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, they were roommates, A/B/O Dynamics, Getting Together, Mpreg, semi graphic giving birth, Alpha LWJ, Omega wwx, Intersex Omegas, (or you could head-canon WWX as trans if you wanted), Fluff and Angst, the run-on sentences are on-purpose because WWX and LWJ are both:, neurodiverse characters, slightly traumatic birth)

Impermanence, Transience, Permanence by Best Bepsy (BepsyGray) (E, 39k, wangxian, canon divergence, unplanned pregnancy, mpreg, gore, sunshot campaign, assumed miscarriage, medical procedures, childbirth, golden core reveal) And the case of 'didn't know I was STILL pregnant'

Does Wei Ying have Covid? by Webawee (G, 2k, WangXian, Modern AU, A/B/O Dynamics, Mpreg, Alpha LWJ, Omega WWX, Established Relationship, Pregnancy, Morning Sickness) there's a hillarious fic called does wei ying have covid? its exactly as it sounds our oblivious baby wwx thinks he has covid when lwj thinks wwx is scared to be pregnant/ anxious and wq is wq its great

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12. (Previous part added to FF)

if you could also recommend fics where lwj rejects wwx at first then feels so guilty about it after seeing/hearing about wwx suffering due to his rejection (just any au with this trope)?? i am a sucker for angst with a happy ending.

we are blessed in this community for all the work that you do, thank you so much! 🙇🏻‍♀️ @emkaii

When the Words Stop Coming by mrcformoso (T, 7k, WangXian, Canon Compliant, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Pre-Sunshot Campaign, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Canonical Character Death, Love Confessions, Rejection, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Trauma, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sad with a Happy Ending) Basically where WWX confesses, lwj keeps rejecting him, and canon still happens.

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13. Itmf NMJ is everyone’s big brother (also the best brother nmj).

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14. Hey, hope you're well. ITMF Wèi WuXian appreciation fics. (ex- stunted, starving, juvenility, hua xianle) @tinyfoxpeach

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15. Hello! I wonder if there are works, where Wei Ying died from strangulation in the field by the hands of Jiang Cheng? Thank you!

Lay my body down by tawaen (M, 48k, WWX & WQ, WWX & WN, wangxian, WWX & JYL, canon divergence, time travel, rogue cultivator WWX, no golden core transfer, not cultivation world friendly, not JC friendly, OCs) Might not be what the requester wants? WWX dies in the siege of the Burial Mounds & part of his spirit gets flung through time & latches onto the moment where he is strangled & his heart stopped & goes 'it's free real estate', resulting in a time travel AU where WWX choses to nope the fuck out of the cultivation world. He does die in that moment, but if the requester wants an angsty MCD fic, this ain't it / has Wei Ying die of strangulation but a fragment of his soul returns to that moment and he lives again.

False Catharsis by mondengel (Not Rated, 792, Horror, Angst) WWX dies. It's only 700 words but it hits hard.

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16. Hello~! ITMF hanahaki disease fics, preferably canon setting? In hanahaki trope someone who has unrequited love will grow flowers in their chest until the roots and branches kill them. Basically a curse to wither away in sadness and die unless your love is requited.

Regret Blossoms by piecrust (G, 7k, wangxian, Hanahaki Disease)

This Lantern Shines For You by apollonie (M, 10k, wangxian, Hanahaki Disease, Angst with a Happy Ending, Post-Canon, Pining WWX, WWX Needs a Hug, LWJ is a Disaster Gay)

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17. Idk if you'll answer this but do u know any fics where lwj travels back in time to his younger selfs body and gets to change how he was like with wwx? (Bonus points if it was just a dream) thanks!!! 💗

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind, Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (E, 700k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Getting Together, First Time, Pining while fucking, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Angst with a Happy Ending, CQL Verse, almost everybody lives/almost nobody dies, epistolary-ish, canon-ish side pairings, radishes) LWJ goes back & changes his decision at Qiongqi Path

🔒 The Second Hand Unwinds by trulywicked (E, 25k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, Time Travel Fix-It, not JC friendly, not Yúnmèng Jiāng Sect friendly, not Jiāng Family friendly, not YZY friendly, Time Travelling LWJ, Protective LWJ, Fluff, Minor Angst, Minor Character Death, JGS is his own warning, Wooing, LWJ is romantic af, Inventor WWX, Genius WWX, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protective Gūsū Lán Sect, Supportive LXC, Good Uncle LQR, WIP) LWJ goes back to CRSA

A Matter of Time series by mrcformoso (E, 70 k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, POV LWJ, POV JC, Dark LWJ, Manipulation, Grooming, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Consensual Underage Sex, Except problematic please read warning in first chapter, Blood and Violence, Insane LWJ, Manic LWJ, Conditioning, WWX is a Lán, Minor Character Death, Confused JC, Golden Core Reveal, Good Friend NHS, WWX Isn’t Adopted by the Jiāngs, Abusive Jiāng Family, Jiāng Family Bashing, Jiāng Family Critical, POV NHS, Dark NHS, Anal Sex, Marathon Sex, Dual Cultivation, Qīnghéng-jūn Lives, LWJ Has a Big Dick, WWX Self-Lubricates, Plot Twists, Porn With Plot, Scheming NHS, Manipulative NHS, BAMF LWJ, BAMF WWX) Features dark!LWJ. Mind the tags

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If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[darcylewisbingohq]

1. driftwood | bonfire | pyromania

2. sweater weather | a dark and stormy night| 10 days of rain

3. centaur | Sleepy Hollow, NY | bakotsu

4. Halloween virgin | Halloween veteran | Queen of Halloween

5. hidden lagoon | The Pettenedda (well monster) | a bunyip in the billabong

6. dungeon | hidden away in Hydra’s sub-basement | subterranean terror

7. supernatural harbinger (Vardøger) | bilocation (doppelgänger) | the Gothic double (Jekyll v. Hyde/Banner v. Hulk)

8. the Hanging Wood | Witches Castle | the Black Forest

9. Chinese Lantern | vampire fruit | Ghost Gum

10. sheet ghost | haunt | ghost POV

11. phobia | fear made flesh | [insert your personal fear here]

12. alienation | Hill of Crosses | “Waltzing Matilda”

13. mutation | sentient Hydra experiment | interviewing a monster

14. Sasquatch | Wild Man of the Woods | Silvanus (similar to a satyr or faun)

15. tarot cards | crystal ball | ouija board

16. a sling ring | a mystery portal | Doors of Death

17. immortal enemy(ies) to lover(s) | succubus soulmate | fiends for life

18. feline | witch’s familiar | thylacine sighting

19. dragon | La Gargouille | kaiju battle

20. enthrall | ‘like a moth to a flame’ | Mothman

21. a virgin sacrifice | fresh flesh | Drop Bear

22. cider festival | beer garden | Oktoberfest

23. rum runner | mooncusser | Half Moon Bay

24. Jersey Devil | Monster of Ravenna | La Llorona

25. costume | disguised naiad | swan maidens

26. (pre)deceased | axe murder | Fall River, Mass.

27. howl | werewolf | Forest of the Wolves

28. runic carvings | curse | a cult of witches

29. Blood Moon | The Hunt | the Wild Hunt/Santa Compaña

30. catacombs | reliquary | ossuary church

31. rich people Halloween party | a Gothic masquerade | Hydra’s Halloween Ball

Alternates

Because the Darcy Lewis Bingo Mod Team are writers and artists ourselves, we understand that not all prompts are created equal and, therefore, are not necessarily inspiring to all creators. So, for 2024-25, we are including a list of 10 fun, spooky alternate prompts you’re welcome to use on any day you get stumped by the creator prompts we’ve supplied above. Each alternate prompt may only be used once, however, so use them wisely and don’t take them for granted. These are not easier prompts by any means! And don’t forget that all of your Promptober fills must incorporate our beloved Lady of the Astrophysics Lab, Dr. Darcy Lewis!

A1. a 2-sentence horror story (req.: cannot be longer than 2 sentences & must tell a complete horror story)

A2. Darcy’s First Halloween

A3. a Halloween Darcy drabble (req.: exactly 100 words)

A4. the Avengers go out on Halloween Night in New York City

A5. an onomatopoeic story or poem (req.: must include at least 13 onomatopoetic words)

A6. a Darcy retelling of the Headless Horseman (or your favorite classic spooky story)

A7. an acrostic poem about Darcy, the Avengers, and Halloween

A8. The Mummy AU

A9. an autumnal Darcy haiku

A10. record a podfic (with permission) of a friend’s spookiest Darcy fic

With our alternates, this means every player begins this round of Promptober with a whopping 103 spooky season prompts. We can’t wait to see what you make of them in the year to come. Have a spooky time creating, Darcy Friends!

Promptober 2024 is a list of 31 this-that-or-the-other prompt themes handpicked by our mod team to cross international borders for creators to choose from to create spooky, oogie, or hygge fanworks for the autumn & Halloween season (or for Scary Christmas, Valloween/St. Guillotine’s Day, Half-Halloween, Gay Halloween!, Summerween, Scary Christmas in July, or Autumn Down Under for our Aussie creators). We continue to be not your mom so we’re not here to tell you when or how long you can celebrate your Spooky Season. Here at Darcy Lewis Bingo HQ, all your spooky holiday lifestyle choices are valid. In fact…

Important Dates & Deadlines

Promptober begins on August 3rd, 2024 this round, but you know how we feel about deadlines. 🔪 So, for this round of Promptober, we’re doing away entirely with hard deadlines and we mean it! You have from August 3rd, 2024 until our next Halloween event begins, and even beyond that, if you like! Though we do strongly recommend wrapping up this challenge before the next spooky challenge begins, this event remains open basically as long as this bingo exists. No pressure to complete, ever, just inspo and encouragement. 🧡

Promptober Challenges

Promptober Mini Challenge: choose and complete fannish works for any 13 of the prompts from this list for our mini challenge. Creators may choose 13 prompts from the list of prompts—any 13 prompts at all!

Promptober Mega Challenge: choose and complete fannish works for 31 of the listed prompts for our spooky main event! Creators may choose any 31 of the total 93 prompts listed to complete this event.

For an extra personal challenge, you may limit yourself to only posting a fanwork inspired by one of the prompts listed by the number that corresponds to each day of October for every day of the month all month long, but it’s absolutely not required for completion of this event. We want you to succeed and create, and to share new Darcy works, so our goal is always to support you in your fannish creative endeavors and make that as easy as possible.

*If you post every day in October as a personal challenge, mention us @darcylewisbingohq in your tumblr posts to let us know you’ve posted a new work or update so we can reblog your daily posts in as close to real time as possible. Once we’ve left a like on your post, rest assured: that means it’s in our queue, just waiting its turn to be featured on our blog.

Promptober 2024 Guidelines

Promptober fills must prominently feature our beloved Lady of Astrophysics, Dr. Darcy Lewis!

Promptober creators have all of our 2024-2025 round to work on this event! If you want to work on it the whole year until we release the next spooky season event, we encourage you to do that. If spooky challenges are particularly your jam, we’d love to see what you do with ours when you’ve got the whole year to tackle it!

entries—Your fanwork is NOT required to use the prompt exactly as it appears on this list. Prompts need only inspire your fanwork, whether they appear word for word in it or not. However the prompt inspires you is correct, as far as we’re concerned. Subvert the prompt, reverse the prompt, marry the prompt—it’s up to you.

All forms of fannish works are accepted and encouraged for this event! Fanfic, fanart, poetry, podfics, fanvids, playlists, fiber and other crafts, fan edits, moodboards, etc.

You may start posting your Promptober fanworks as soon as they’re ready to share. No need to wait until October and no need to rush to get them all done in that month, either.

Fanwork Fill Requirements

100 words for written works or word art, with the exception of poetry with independent formatting rules (such as haikus).

1 image for artwork or handcrafts of any kind and a description for the visually impaired of the medium used and what it represents.

1 image for cosplay or character-bounding and a description for the visually impaired of cosplay or clothing and any other fashion influences incorporated into the costume or clothing (be descriptive! talk about fabrics and colors, tone and texture! describe the emotions the colors you used evoke in you as the creator!)

9 elements for moodboards (background, images, texts, ephemera) and a description for the visually impaired of the moodboard and what it represents.

6 images for social media AUs and a description for the visually impaired of the creation and what it represents.

10 songs for playlists and a text list of artists and songs to give credit to the original artists, plus a description for the visually impaired of what the playlist represents and how it relates to Darcy.

Still not sure if your creation will meet the minimum prompt fill requirements? @ a mod! we’ll create new requirements based on new types of creator fanwork submissions, as needed.

These participation requirements are identical to our annual bingo event; those guidelines are always pinned at the top of our tumblr blog where they’re easy to find; the link to those guidelines and fill requirements can also be found on Discord in our #bingo-info channel.

[rose-icosahedron]

The Prodigal in Book Of Hours is Gwendolen Farouk*

(explaining my friend @clintonlighthouse's theory as I understand it)

*this does not mean Gwendolen Farouk is The Prodigal** **This will be explained later.

This post contains major spoilers for the ending of The Lady Afterwards and minor spoilers for the beginning of Book of Hours, as well as discussions of cannibalism and filicide. If you are familiar with either of these characters, you know why.

Part one: Who is The Prodigal?

"Brancrug, March 7th, 1936,

'There has been no Librarian at Hush House since the fire - seven years now. Suitable candidates are very difficult to find, but perhaps we have found one in you. Take care on your journey - the seas around Brancrug are treacherous…'"

To construct a theory about a character, you must know who they are.

As the newest Librarian of Hush House, the player-character of Book of Hours wakes up on the shore of St Brandan's cove following a shipwreck. They are then tasked to figure out what is left of them, and The Prodigal finds that they still have their Chor and Phost (elements of the soul), as well as their journal. They will also remember their reason for choosing to come to hush house: Their parents are trying to eat them, an inevitability of when any immortals have children.

"My parents were Long - which is to say immortal - and Long are not permitted to make children. Their punishment is this: now that they know I live, they cannot rest until they devour me. Here in Hush House, I will be safe. It is even possible that I might learn to shape a weapon to defend myself." (Memories: the Prodigal)

Later on The Prodigal will solve a very minor Lantern challenge allowing them to read the hammered copper journal and be reminded of their origins, and the player will be told that "The Prodigal's dearest wish is sanctuary".

This is most of the information that can be gleaned about The Prodigal, and the rest of the information that can be gained about them specifically is in relation to their future: the different victories they can gain. These are about The Prodigal's future, however, not their past, so we do not need to dwell on them here. In fact, we should take a look into the past at Gwendolen Farouk.

Part two: Who is Gwendolen Farouk?

"You've been summoned to Alexandria, a city of coloured lights and curious histories. An old friend needs you to track down a woman. She's probably in trouble. Probably trouble herself.

Cherchez la femme, the saying goes. But what does the lady look for?" (5)

In the table top roll playing game The Lady Afterwards, a group of players (playing as alternate versions of some of the main characters of Cultist Simulator). Look for a woman named Audrey Leigh Howard at the behest of one Loretta Farouk.

In the process of their investigation, they learn Loretta has a daughter named Gwendolen. Records of her family show inconsistencies and it is eventually revealed that Gwendolen is actually the daughter of Audrey Leigh Howard and her lover Everett, two Long planning on eating their daughter in order to sate their hunger.

However the players may choose to intervene for Gwendolen's sake, leaving many endings for Gwendolen's story. The game runner's guide provides many potential endings, and since Gwen is to become The Prodigal, these are what we care about.

Maybe the players fail and Gwendolen is eaten, maybe she is whisked away by one Madame Matutine, maybe the player's give her magical water saved for her by her aunt so that she may be forgotten by the world and live in safety. Or maybe, none of those things happen.

Gwendolen gives the players a hastily written note musing about her future, thanking them for her survival and saying she might want to study and find some sort of peace and safety from her parents.

Becoming the Librarian of Hush House would of course be that, but how would she get there in the first place?

Part 3: Connecting the Dots

"A letter to me from St Rhonwen's Trust. The Trust's connection with Hush House is probably benevolent, but persistently obscure." (A Letter to The Librarian)

"Perhaps we have found a suitable candidate in you." The first thing the player reads when they play Book of Hours is a piece of text (the quote at the beginning of this essay) that is divided into two pieces. We have already touched on the second half, written in first tense, which states that the Librarian was in the shipwreck. However we have not touched on the first, which is written in quotes and second tense, states that it is hard to find a suitable candidate for the Librarian of Hush House but that you might be one.

Across the game, the combination of quotes and changed tense is used to represent things that are either said to the Librarian or direct transcriptions of text the Librarian has read. This, combined with the fact it is placed before the Librarian's memory of their shipwreck, implies that it was read or heard by the Librarian prior to their decision to head to Hush House, and is probably their invitation to the position.

The author or speaker of the text is left ambiguous, but later on the Librarian receives a letter from St. Rhowen's Trust asking if arrived and saying their will send a yearly stipend "as previously promised". It seems then that the Trust was the one to select and invite the Librarian.

The connection between St. Rhowen's Trust and Hush House is explicitly stated to be unknown to the Librarian, although when meeting one of the former Librarian's, Dr. Serena Blackwood, the Librarian mentions the Trust has worked with her as well. That connection is also left ambiguous, but a clearer connection is available in the Lady Afterwards game runner's guide. "Serena Blackwood is the founder of the St. Rhonwen Trust, a charitable fund established for the advancement of education, chiefly through scholarships for promising young talents." (32)

Beyond this, within The Lady Afterwards, Dr. Serena Blackwood is noted to be protecting Gwendolen and have an interest in her, as well as the Trust is stated to have provided Gwendolen a scholarship to the Egyptian University.

While this could be enough to make an argument for Dr. Blackwood setting up Gwendolen with a position at Hush House once it becomes available, or at least recommending her the position, there is even more evidence found in Gwendolen's letter to the players if she survives.

This quote both further states Dr. Blackwood's interest in Gwendolen, as well as her willingness to help her, given that she is "offering her time to think". A position at Hush House would be exactly what Dr. Blackwood wants for Gwendolen, both safety and a chance for her to achieve something.

Gwendolen could become the next Librarian of Hush House, and if she did she would match every detail of The Prodigal: A child of two Long on the run. More than that, Gwen is intelligent and innocent, intending not to become Long even if she does want to study the Mansus, both aligning with the pieces of the soul---Chor and Phost---The Prodigal has remaining. Beyond that, The Prodigal's diary is for lack of a better term flavored like Gwen's story, being made of copper (which Forge Long's blood, like Audrey, is said to resemble) and requiring completion of a Lantern (like Everett) mystery.

(I find it fitting that Gwendolen, so haunted by her parents, would have a journal reminiscent of them. Not only is it in some way about them; but Gwendolen was haunted by visions of a Lighthouse which she later interpreted as her parents calling our for her, they would still call for her in her dreams.)

This ties up almost everything, however it does leave one thing un-answered: Gwendolen doesn't always survive, how can she be in another game?

Part four: The Genius of the Secret Histories Timeline and Video Games.

"The attention of the Hours is drawn to the bloodiest wars. Afterwards, the Histories are braided like hair." (a Forbidden Epic)

Gwendolen does not always survive, but The Prodigal is not always the Librarian, in fact The Prodigal is only the Librarian one twelfth of the time.

This reveals a detail of all of the Secret Histories games. Any run possible within any of the games could be canon to the others. (I just think it's neat).

Part five: Conclusion

Every version of The Prodigal is Gwendolen Farouk, although not every version of Gwendolen becomes The Prodigal (Not mine, for example, since she ended up with an assistant and missing and arm. Sorry Gwen). And I just spent the evening of my first day back to school writing a 1.5K word long essay about a game series. Goodnight.

(Essays work like fics, if you want to encourage me to write more insane essays at inopportune times, tell me what you thought)

[seraphcelene]

IWTV 2.8: And that's the End of it. There's Nothing Else.

Well. Damn.

"Arson is a crime of passion."

We always knew how this was going to end and it was both satisfying and anti-climatic. The fire? I wanted more of it. I wanted to watch the Theatre des Vampires WRITHE while it burned. The tragedy of Claudia's death, the snuffed potential of her immortality, in episode seven demanded it. The way she fought for herself and Madeleine, the way she fought SO HARD to be heard demanded a reckoning reflected from the eyes of her tormentors. I wanted the coven, and especially Santiago to SUFFER.

The ending was peculiarly cold in comparison to Alderman Fenwick back in season 1. His death was so personal in a way that the fire, despite its passion, was not. Maybe its because most of the coven were locked in their caskets so we only got their screams when I wanted them to SEE their executioner and look him in the eyes while he tore them to pieces. Claudia DESERVED that level of retribution.

pirateshelly wrote about Claudia's storyline here:

https://www.tumblr.com/pirateshelly/758254364119990272?source=share

GO Read it.

I include my comment there because I think the post perfectly encapsulates what was wrong with Claudia's story arc. To note, despite the insistence of The Great Laws, there was nothing wrong with Claudia, and that break has everything to do with the change in her circumstances from book to show and the failure of the show runners to account for that change as explicitly as they did for Louis.

In the books, Claudia is turned at 5 years old. In the Neil Jordan movie, she's 11. In the show, she's meant to be 14. 14 isn't so young that she can't age into and move through society. I looked 16 when I was 20, it's not a far fetch. The writer's needed something else to convince us that Claudia was truly going to break from having an immortal life. There were really small suggestions, but mostly we were just TOLD this would happen. That old show don't tell rule would have fixed alot here. But then we got Madeleine and it was a beautiful future that unfolded. Better than Claudia needing a mommy, Claudia had a friend, maybe a future lover, someone who FINALLY put her FUCKING FIRST!

Claudia in season 2 was otherwise woefully underutilized.

Shifting Louis' backstory, the era he lived in, his race, his sexuality, and then making explicit the nature of his relationship with Lestat blew the story wide open. There was so much room for this story to be made relevant and truthful. Rolin Jones said that changing Louis's story was a choice to place it in a "time period that was as exciting aesthetically as the 18th century was without digging into a plantation story that nobody really wanted to hear now". I'd like to get an amen right now because as a Black person in America I am REAL tired of every historical story of the black experience being located during slavery, the Civil Rights movement, or the modern, urban ghetto. There is a place for those stories, they are important and necessary and we HAVE to continue to have those conversations and remember those histories. But I also want new things shown new ways and nuanced to reflect the millions of different experiences that make up the lived experience.

Louis was made active and full of agency and anger. Making him a businessman with a certain amount of power and authority and then having him deal with TPTB in the skin he was born in was exquisite. He lived in multiple worlds and we really got to see and understand that, but it wasn't all misery. The circumstances of his mortal birth were allowed to live and breath on the surface of his skin in a way that Claudia was not gifted. Season 1 told the story of what it meant to be a queer, black man in America. It glanced very briefly on what it meant for Claudia as young and black and female. Three different states of being that impacted her different ways and then coalesced into what could have been greater than her sense of disconnect from Louis or her rage at Lestat. Arguably, Season 2 did more to interrogate her status. A second class citizen as a mortal and made doubly so by the condition of her re-birth.

Episodes 3 and 4 make the most of her, I think. The potential for her immortal life is suggested in episode 6, but perhaps in a meta reading of the stoey at large, there is no room for Claudia. She haunts the interview in the same way that she haunts Louis and as we later learn, Lestat. In the books, Claudia's ghost is imprinted upon her makers, but she is seldom truly centered.

That she is an underused and voiceless character being marched towards an end established from S1E1, it's like the nuance of her life isn't as compelling a thing to explore. I don't know. I think there's a lot to ruminate on and dig out about Claudia in the series, but too much of it is sublimated to the men's stories. I wanted more of it to be explicit. She is an excuse for Louis rage in the last episode, a powder keg for Louis to strike himself against. The last straw.

I loved that Louis was a little mad when he got out of the crypt. The voices and the visions could have lasted longer.

"All the madness and rage exited my body and nothing replaced it." What must that be like? To love someone so much and to know that they didn't love you as much? For Armand to know that Louis only picked him to spite Lestat. In reality not even second best because that place belongs to Claudia.

Fuck.

And then Armand and the truth. I wasn't surprised. Last episode, I was surprised that it was apparently Armand who turned the tide in Louis's sentencing. I initially thought it was Lestat because I didn't think Armand had that much power considering the size of the group. Maybe that's my novel bias kicking in. So when the reveal was that it was Lestat after all … again, not surprised.

And then it takes us all the way back to Omikase. Chef's choice because Louis leaves believing what Lestat wants him to believe. How he ultimately tells Louis that he "gave" him to Armand. A toxic ass phrase especially charged by the race bending, but even on its own … who the fuck gets to say or do that? Lestat for all that he loves, has no clue how to take care of people or treat.

In the end, Louis doesn't kill Armand, although he has every right. I LOVED those closing scenes. The MS and Armand's hand written notes. Daniel's triumphant reveal of Armand's duplicity. I NEVER liked Armand because -- MIND CONTROL -- although there were times were I felt sorry for the dude. He legitimately seemed to love Louis. But, hey, then you don't make a sacrifice of your lover to your old friends. The fact that he really was going to sit there and let them kill Louis? Yeah, nah, I'm good on him.

Lestat is still just as terrible. Once again, he chooses Louis over Claudia. Always someone else over Claudia and it's not until it's way too late does he understand that he was her father, too. Fucking asshole.

I'm excited for season 3. Someone posted how Louis's story is wide open and how anything is possible for him given the reimagining in the show. I 100% agree. The Vampire Chronicles were written as the Lestat Show. It's exciting to see them bring Louis to the forefront. I'm betting that they're not going to leave him tucked away in a crumbling plantation or even sitting at the top of a tower in Dubai. He issued a challenge at the end of episode 8 worthy of book Lestat at his most rebellious.

The potential is infinite for how this all can go. I can't wait to see it.

[theresattrpgforthat]

I have ADHD and memory issues, but the _Patchwork World_ writeup seems to focus on learning the rules and chargen, which are the aspects I have the least trouble with (I can do them asynchronously, alone and between sessions) -- my main issue is with maintaining attention over the duration of a play session. Are there games designed to be played in short bursts -- maybe sessions of 10-30 minutes?

THEME: Quick / ADHD friendly games.

Hello friend! So I’m going to break down this ask a little bit to hopefully make it more helpful. I’m going to include games that can be played in short bursts, but I’m also going to highlight some games that might help in other ways.

I’m also going to include some advice I’ve picked up about gaming from ADHD - tips that I got specifically from creators who have ADHD themselves. I recognize that it works differently for everyone, so your mileage may vary, but hopefully one or two of these tips will be useful!

Disclaimer: I do not have ADHD myself. I am forwarding advice from other creators. The two creators that I took tips from are the following:

10 Tips to Make Your Tabletop RPG More ADHD Friendly, by How to ADHD.

DnD and ADHD, by Azrai.

Both of these videos are focused on D&D, but there is advice that is translatable across games.

One of the biggest helps to understanding the obstacles to gaming with ADHD is the re-contextualization of how an ADHD-brain works. As far as I understand, ADHD brains have an easier time focusing on something if it’s engaging. If it isn’t engaging, or if your brain can’t sort through the information to understand what’s going on, it just kind of… shuts off. So the biggest thing is to think about what makes playing games interesting.

Short Sessions and One-Shots.

I can definitely understand the effectiveness of short sessions and one-shots. You don’t have to retain information from a previous session, and short games are usually rules-lite so you don’t have to keep a lot of information in your working memory.

Oh No It’s Gay, by blake stone.

a quick, single-session dice-stacking RPG about flirting, falling in love, and being super queer. rules for both two-player and multiplayer games are included.

I’m recommending this game because of the dice-stacking mechanic that I think might be engaging. The game itself is pretty simple, and I don’t see a session lasting longer than a few minutes. This game seems to work best with two-to-three players, and the dice-stacking requires you to pay attention when it comes to making sure the dice stack stays up. At the same time, you don’t have to hold much information in your head, and most of your actions are determined based on how you’re feeling. If you’re feeling flirty, then you’ll probably be stacking lots of dice!

Subway Runners, by Gem Room Games.

Life is tough for the cash-strapped in Prociopolis. Ever since the secret to immortality was discovered, nobody retires anymore! With all the steady jobs taken and no sign of any new ones opening up, there’s only one sure way to make some quick cash: sign up as a Subway Runner and work for the Metro Authority to hunt monsters and repair subway lines below the city.

The minds behind Gem Room Games prioritize making games that can be run quickly, and Subway Runners is an excellent example of that. Characters are randomly generated, so you can cycle through the generator until you find one that you like. Then you can download the character sheet and print it off if that works easier for you! You roll a number of d6’s whenever you attempt to do something, with 1-3 being bad, 4/5 being a partial success, and a 6 (or more) being a full success. The staggered success is similar to the way Patchwork World works, but instead of trying to keep track of moves, you just need to find which skill of yours makes the most sense to use.

Subway Runners is a great game for one-shot play! If you hold sessions for longer than 30 minutes I would recommend having a break partway through and doing a re-cap when you come back from the break, to make sure everyone is on the same page and is able to focus on what is about to happen next. If you hold sessions for 30 minutes at a time then I can see the game as functioning as essentially a min-campaign, in which case a quick re-cap before each session is absolutely fundamental.

Finally, if you’re going to be playing shorter sessions, it might be more logical to play online so as to reduce transport costs and the amount of time you need to set aside for a game, and Subway Runners is designed to be run online!

Firebrands: Mobile Frame Zero, by Meguey & Vincent Baker.

Humanity has spread through the Milky way, using interstellar transit gate technology to colonize the galaxy. Mobile frames are the hard-working, hard-fighting combat- and labor mecha they’ve brought with them. You are romantic ace mobile frame pilots, caught up in an undeclared war for the future of the Bantral system.

I don’t know anything about how Firebrands-style games play, but I do know that they are effectively built to be a series of mini-games. You might be able to play one mini-game per session, in order to keep each session short. The biggest downside might be that each mini-game uses a different set of rules, but if you’re only doing one mini-game at a time, that might not be an issue for your group.

The Score, by Tin Star Games.

THE SCORE is an all-new kind of collaborative story game that lets you create the world's greatest heist movie with just 18 cards in under 18 minutes of game time. It's a revolutionary take on shared storytelling that needs no GM, no complex rules, no hefty rulebooks and gives you all the idea prompts you need to be the mastermind.

This game is still in funding but it's meant to be played in 18 minutes, which is probably the shortest tabletop roleplaying game on this list. You can check out the link above to find reviews, playthroughs, and a short guide on how to play!

Visual References and Tactile Player Pieces.

A game that has a visual reference can be stimulating and can help someone keep focus over an extended period of time. This visual reference might just be pictures that you share online to help you visualize what’s going on, or it might be something that is can be seen and interacted with in front of you, to help keep you engaged and interested. This is probably a mandatory thing in games that are long, with a lot of rules.

Lancer, by Massif Press.

Lancer imagines a future where a survivor humanity has spread to the stars after weathering terrible ecological collapse on Earth - the end of the Anthropocene as a consequence of unrestrained consumption and poor stewardship. Thousands of years later, humanity lives in the wake of a desperate revolution, one where the victorious radicals now manage the galaxy they've won.  

Lancer is a mech game, set in the far future, and it has a lot of moving pieces, but it also has an immeasurable wealth of player aids. The creators (and fans) of the game have provided the Comp-Con App, which acts as a Compendium, a Character Creation Tool, and a Character Keeper all in one. The App helps you track damage, plan out your mech build, and mark off deployables as you engage in combat.

I play Lancer in person with a small play group, and we use a hex-map and chess pieces to keep track of what’s going on in combat. This gives us pieces to pick up and move, and it also gives us a visual reference to track where we are and what we want to do next. While our game has chunks of narrative play to provide plot points, the bulk of our game sessions involve combat, and the nice thing about that is that you only really need to know what your objective is, and therefore you can focus on moving across the map and wiping out your enemies. If you want to make combat shorter, you can stop partway through or break it up into smaller skirmishes with a few enemies at a time.

I’m the GM for the game, but I personally cannot keep all of the rules straight in my head - luckily I have a player or two who love rules and will happily remind me how inflicting Burn works, whether I can shoot things in soft cover, and what exactly a Veil Rifle does.

Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast, by Possum Creek Games.

Welcome to Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, a slice-of-life tabletop RPG about a heartless witch, a peaceful house, and all the folks who have made their home inside. 

Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast is a very special game. It uses pre-set characters, quick-play chapters, and an adaptable ruleset unlike anything else out there. It takes less than a half hour to learn how to play and get started, but with new chapters and secrets to unlock folks can stick with the game for years and years.

Jay Dragon, the Project Manager for Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast, places accessibility at the forefront of all of Possum Creek’s games. Each chapter of this game has slightly different rules, but you use the same characters for each one. Many of the games use tokens, which will be earned, spent, and placed on tracks to make things happen in the story. Each session looks as if it is meant to last 40-60 minutes, which is a bit longer than you might be looking for but is certainly shorter than a typical D&D session.

Because of the token usage in this game, I can see this game having a big tactile element. The character art is also colourful and engaging, and provides you with a really strong visual reference that can help you identify with whichever character you decide to play. Yazeba’s B&B chapters also mean that not every character has to be present for each game.

If you want to check out this game, there is an Ashcan Version on Itch.io, and if you want an Online play option, you can check out Yazeba’s Online by One More Multiverse! The Online game has a whole map of Yazeba’s that you can actually move your character through, and I think that really improves how easy it is to keep engaged with the game.

Light Rules and Communal Player Resources.

If there are not a lot of rules or math that has to be done, you don’t have to spend time thinking about how you do something and you can spend more time focusing on what you want to do. Communal player resources can also be a big boon because if the entire party has the ability to see what’s available, it’s not up to just one person to remember what kinds of tools you have at hand. I personally love online player-kits that are visible to everyone, because you’ll never lose your character sheet, and you fellow players can help you find the pieces of information that you need to figure out what it is you want your character to do next.

Camp Flying Moose for Girls of All Kinds, by Alicia Furness.

Camp Flying Moose for Girls of All Kinds is a PbtA game about teen girls at a summer camp filled with strange supernatural occurrences. Inspired by Lumberjanes, and my own experiences of summer camp, the game investigates mysteries, monsters, and teenage identity. 

You mentioned Patchwork World as a game that you felt worked for you. Patchwork World stands out to me as a PbtA game that lets you customize your character, but only really requires you to remember the moves that you specifically have to make. Camp Flying Moose is also a PbtA game and also lets you create a character by putting pieces together. You will choose a two special moves that define your character, assign numbers to five stats as you like, and answer two characters about your experience at camp.

I’ve also created a communal character keeper that you can use to track all of your character information as a group! You can check it out here.

Visigoths vs Mall Goths, by Lucian Kahn.

Visigoths vs. Mall Goths is a tabletop roleplaying game and dating sim about the conflicts and romances among the warriors who sacked ancient Rome and 20th century spooky teens, set in a suburban Los Angeles shopping mall during 1996. There are a lot of bisexuals.

I talk about this game a lot, and that’s because it’s good. The player aids are easy to understand and follow along. There is a map of the mall to help your characters figure out where they want to go next. There is a day tracker that the GM will move along as you play, which ensures that you finish the session within a reasonable time. And there are things that you as a character can do even when the spotlight isn’t on you to help keep you engaged even when it isn’t your turn - characters can embarrass themselves in order to give a bonus to a friend while they roll.

I also find that this is a game that encourages competition, so if you like games where the goal is to (humorously) one-up other characters, you might find this game to be up your alley! This game is also PbtA, often hailed as a hall-mark for being rules light.

I also made a character play-kit for this game, which you can find here! There’s also an Online Supplement made by Chloe Sutherland that makes it easier to play this game online.

Finally...

I recognize that a number of games on here don’t look like they run in very short sessions as designed. For a lot of games, I think having a game table that is on board can be the biggest help. You want a game group that understands your need for re-caps and short sessions, and is willing to work with you. Perhaps meeting online makes it easier to schedule a short game, or maybe taking a 5-minute break halfway through an hour-long game gives you a chance to get your focus back. I’d also recommend talking to your GM about what you find interesting in play. If you’re into romance and all the group is doing is fighting monsters, I can see it being very easy to lose focus.

Some final tips:

Keep the table small if possible (only 2 or 3 players), so there is a shorter wait time between each turn.

Our table lets people do things when it’s not their turn, such as get up to stretch their legs, munch on snacks, and doodle. Keeping our hands busy and letting our blood flow gives some of us the re-set we need to keep focused.

Ask your GM to give you one piece of information or one obstacle at a time. Then you don’t have to try and remember all of the things happening around you at once.

[solange-lol]

solangelo fic awards 2023 - winners

happy valentines day guys!! with all the behind the scenes chaos this year, we have finally reached the end! :) thank u to everyone who voted & participated! keep an eye out for next year!! (designated blog perhaps?)

nomination post

masterdoc

now for the winners!

best angst

1st place: I know what I should do but I just can't walk away by @buoyantsaturn (30 votes)

2nd place: immortality meant never dying by @thebhorror (8 votes)

3rd place: (nsfw) too much (yet never enough) by @significant-what (6 votes)

best au

1st place: professionalism is a social construct by @yrbeecharmer (17 votes)

2nd place: either way / we're not alone by @rosyredlipstick (11 votes)

3rd place: Safe (better keep that thought to yourself) by @buoyantsaturn (8 votes)

best canon compliant

1st place: just the one tent by @yrbeecharmer (20 votes)

2nd place: #OnBrand by @buoyantsaturn (6 votes)

3rd place: would you wait for me as i long for you? by @thebhorror (5 votes)

best chaptered (finished)

1st place: three of cups by @buoyantsaturn (28 votes)

2nd place: oh, the whole world, it is sleeping, but my world is you by @thelordofshrimp (6 votes)

3rd place: Filling in the Gaps by @thegnat (gnatashameow) (5 votes)

best chaptered (unfinished)

1st place: a sign for rainbow rose by @gatesofember (34 votes)

2nd place: just an animal, looking for a home by @ikeasharksss (5 votes)

3rd place: there are so many lives i want to share with you by @kiarrahatesboys (penandblankpaper) (4 votes)

best fluff

1st place: glory and gore by @buoyantsaturn (19 votes)

2nd place: insert taylor swift lyric here by @lordstormageddidnt (the_oncoming_stormageddon) (6 votes)

3rd place: local man regrets decision that made his life better by @rainnows (5 votes)

best misc

1st place: send shivers down your spine by @yrbeecharmer (20 votes)

2nd place: (nsfw) lawrence 209 by @yrbeecharmer (9 votes)

3rd place: the catch by @pinkerpick (5 votes)

best gift

1st place: we're all clowns here (*sad honk*) by @buoyantsaturn for @yrbeecharmer (18 votes)

2nd place: paris by @ethannku for @lordstormageddidnt (the_oncoming_stormageddon) (6 votes)

3rd place: i guess i maybe had a couple expectations by @thelordofshrimp for @rainnows (5 votes)

best series

1st place: these are the hands of fate (you're my achilles heel) by @yrbeecharmer (28 votes)

2nd place: olympics au by @buoyantsaturn (10 votes)

3rd place: farm to table au by @buoyantsaturn (6 votes)

our Author of the Year of 2023 is @yrbeecharmer with 27 votes!!

runner up is @lordstormageddidnt with 9 votes!

congrats to all of our winners! thank you all again for participating! and i’ll see you all next year! :)

[sluttyhenley]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by: @redbelles 💖

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

54

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

303,100

3. what fandoms do you write for?

recently? 911, top gun and uhhhh masters of the air... (but if you ever check out my ao3 you will see several fandoms)

4. top five fics by kudos

my heart is working over time

is forever enough

lover be good to me

a twister to blow everything down

when one plus one equals three

5. do you respond to comments?

sometimes it takes me a while but yes, i love getting comments and so i like to make sure i actually reply when someone takes the time to talk to me about my fic

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

until the shadows fall, which is uhh, one of the earlier fics i wrote and my writing has definitely . . . . evolved since writing it, but. yeah, it is the angstiest ending i've written. actually, though, i'm going to mention the sound of glass, because yeah, that one is a close runner up

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

probably put a hold on my heart. if it's not the happiest ending it's definitely the sappiest ending

8. do you get hate on fics?

i have gotten hate on two separate fics

9. do you write smut?

ha. hahahahaha. stares for a long time at like..... 3 of my top 5 fics by kudos. and two of my most recently posted fics. and my mota fic that's upcoming. yeah... . .

10. craziest crossover:

i've only written one crossover, leverage and the old guard in the immortals job (the craziest one i ever conceptualized though was prob an idea to cross over star trek and doctor who)

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, but i have tossed story ideas back and forth with people

14. all time favorite ship?

i refuse to (read: can't) answer this

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i have . . . . . a few. and they're fics that i started for a source that i don't want anything to do with anymore

16. what are your writing strengths?

@redbelles has a first row seat to this but because of what i'm trying to do right now, all of my writing feels weak. but i'm trying to remind myself that as your writing evolves you feel less confident in your abilities regardless of the accuracy of that feeling. but i think i'd say ummm characterization and humor

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

me @ me: for $1 pick literally any other word/phrase/imagery device. for god's sake

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i won't do it except under very specific circumstances, such as actually having a reasonable proficiency in the language. i did pepper some french phrases in a book of nile fic a while back

19. first fandom you wrote in?

the librarians is the first fandom i actually posted fic i wrote for. but i did write some doctor who fic before that i a) never finished and b) don't actually want to see the light of day

20. favorite fic you've written?

probably put a hold on my heart. i put a lot of work into that one, and handwrote the whole thing. it was my baby for the better part of a year and i'm really proud of some of the things i did there.

tagging: @reachingforaspark, @ladywaffles, @shoesplease, @sindirimba, and @natashatrace (if you want!)

[katurdayss]

Alright, Rings of Power Ep 5 live blogging. You know the deal, check under the cut.

Okay this episode was really good. I think it’s because a lot of stories finally started getting their feet under them.

But this also brings me back to a point I’ve been repeating a lot lately. I think this show needs 22 episodes a season. That gives you the room to got full tilt Tolkien and reference as much inane lore you want but also gives you room to really develop all these differing storylines. Right now, I feel like references to lore are getting in the way of the story. Not all the time, but enough that it noticeably drags the story a little which is not great when you’ve only got 8 episodes. Or makes you feel like shit pops up outta nowhere only to fade into nothing a second later.

Hell I think an even 10 episodes would be noticeably better. I mean if the CW can produce 14 22 episode seasons of Supernatural, surely 1 Billion Bezos can give us 5 seasons of 22 episodes for Rings of Power.

Seriously, we need to talk about these recaps show runners. You could spend that time on other things, which considering you have only 8 episodes is crucial.

Well damn, the beginning of the end eh

You know what, made respect to Durin for not trusting that ring, just like Elrond.

Awwwwww, the doors of Durin!

You know what’s interesting, Annatar’s speech patterns are different from Halbrand’s. Props too that.

You are sooooo close Celebrimbor! Almost there! Plant seeds in others heads indeed.

FINALLY! We get the jealousy over immortality from the Numenorians. Why they didn’t intro that sooner idk

Motherfucker took the throne. That asshole.

Okay, the Numenor storyline hasn’t been my favorite but this scene with Miriel and Elendil is great.

Fuck Earien. So proud of yourself, eh.

YEAH HOW BOUT THAT EARIEN. HOW YOU LIKE THEM APPLES OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

Of course that asshole is gonna use the stone.

RUN FOREST RUN

Aww fuck, what did Disa find?

Well that was fast eh?

Oh Disa found the Balrog.

SO CLOSE

Oh fucker manipulating the shit out of Celebrimbor

Fuck yeah Durin sounding the alarm.

Ugh! Annatar yack.

Bet you he peed his pants

Real life audible gasp here folks.

May Ulmo strike him down.

SO CLOSE

fuck I love them so much

Just keep digging that hole deeper there Celebrimbor

Awww brimby that family legacy ain’t doing you no favors

Seriously now you don’t trust shit Gil Galad?

[regallibellbright]

Tag Meme: 9 Favorite Characters

tagged by @talysalankil

Gonna copy your "one per series/franchise" because otherwise there is a genuine risk Precures and TWEWYs would eat it whole. In no particular order, and with definite "What's on my mind right now" bias:

Xion (Kingdom Hearts)

No surprise there, and yes, I did intentionally get a screenshot from the post-Riku fight for this.

2. Cure Grace/Nodoka Hanadera and Rabirin (Healin' Good Precure)

(Look, they transform as a pair, their transformation phrase is "Two flowers as one," I'm counting them both. "Then shouldn't you use a screenshot of Cure Grace?" Shut up.)

3. Anthy Himemiya (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Yes, I saved this image as "Anthy Himemiya Is A Weird Girl Who Keeps Snails In Her Pencil Case."

4. Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu (The World Ends With You)

... Yes, choosing his most insufferably smug dialogue sprite was necessary, why do you ask?

5. The Luidaeg (October Daye)

"I am the sea witch. I am the tide you fear and the turning you can't deny. I am the sound of the waves running over your bones on the beach, little man, and I am not amused at finding you on my doorstep." She took a step forward. He took a step back. "I won't punish you for obeying orders the way she would. But I can't let an insult go unanswered. You know how it goes." A smile twisted her lips. "I'm actually grateful. You see, there are... rules... that govern what I can and can't do. But you broke them first. Now I get to do something I don't get to do very often. Now I get to play." ... "What did you do?" "Nothing they hadn't allowed by coming onto my territory. Every soul who came here on the Queen's business will go home, go to bed, and sleep soundly, dreaming the sweetest of dreams." Something about that statement had teeth. I paused, and then ventured, "For how long?" The Luidaeg smiled brilliantly. "Until something wakes them up. True love, childbirth, and bees are all on the table."

(Chimes at Midnight, Chapter Seven, pages 91-92) The wiki also uses the "I am the sea witch" bit as her epigraph but as a known lover of "true love, childbirth, and bees are all on the table" I felt it best to include the full exchange.

6. Lio Fotia (Promare)

(This BARELY beat out something from the Kakusei sequence but I love how fluffy his hair is as he tosses it.)

7. Ventuswill/Venti (Rune Factory 4)

Tragic immortal dragon god BFF <3

8. Moist von Lipwig (Discworld)

Never promise to do the possible. Anyone could do the possible. You should promise to do the impossible, because sometimes the impossible was possible, if you could find the right way, and at least you could often extend the limits of the possible. And if you failed, well, it had been impossible.

(Going Postal) Okay, it's him and Vimes, but I figured I'd go for Moist for the variety since everyone loves Vimes.

9. Okay there were a LOT of characters I considered for this, like, seriously, I went from "hm I can't think of anyone" to "ugh I have TOO MANY options" in very little time, but ultimately, while this might be recency bias at the moment, it is also true:

Missile (Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective)

The goodest boy in gaming.

(Runners-up from things that aren't otherwise represented here include Surge the Tenrec from Sonic IDW, Miles Naismith Vorkosigan from the Vorkosigan Saga, Rose Aleon from Birdie Wing, Grovyle from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, and huge enough swathes of the casts of Dumbing of Age and Girl Genius that I just didn't even bother trying to narrow those down.)

Tagging: In general assume I do this as an open invite to anyone seeing it, but just to name a couple people, @thesternest, @denizenhardwick, @mehanios, @purplelea, @yurisorcerer, @yoshiyakiryu

[zrtranscripts]

Season 10, Mission 5: Go West

A clone and a super soldier walk into a bar...

~

ERNIE VAN ARK: Well, Ranger Five, that should be it, on the horizon. The base holding your namesake, Runner Five. A top secret Valmont facility in the Spanish desert. An entire prison dedicated to a single high-priority captive. That’s what it said in the intelligence we stole from Casablanca, but all I see is an Old West town. A single strip of wooden buildings. A saloon, a sheriff’s office. No signs of life.

I don’t know much about the American West, Five. They only had so many history texts on Red Scorpion Base. Sam once said they used to make cowboy movies in the Spanish desert. There must be old sets in this area. Sam knew a lot about movies. I hoped... one day I might get to watch some with him.

[Ranger Five’s implants whir]

Weeks of searching, Ranger. Weeks since we escaped Red Scorpion. All those Valmont decoys. The fake prison in Gibraltar. The false Fives in Tangier. This can’t be another dead end, it can’t be! What would the old me say, I wonder? Something megalomaniacal, I expect. I hear him sometimes in the night, Five, scolding foolish little Ernie for letting Valmont get ahead.

Valmont’s weakness is his flair for drama. That’s what the old Van Ark would say. His tendency for fancy. Just because he built a prison doesn’t mean it looks like one! See? Most of these buildings are wooden backdrops, but not the saloon. Its windows are all barred and sealed. Hiding a prison in plain sight surrounded by tumbleweed, that’s the sort of thing Brent Valmont would do!

You’d better get your implants ready for a fight. Runner Five’s imprisoned on that film set, I’d bet on it. It’s getting dark. We can use those wooden carts to cover our approach. Watch out for guards. There’s a hero waiting on our rescue. Run!

~

ERNIE VAN ARK: Here we are, Ranger Five. The saloon. It’s even got swinging doors. Sam’d love this, wouldn’t he? We’d best be careful. We don’t know what we’ll find inside, although... it’s strange we haven’t encountered a single guard yet.

[footsteps on creaking wood, piano plays]

I don’t understand. This place is deserted, but it’s certainly not a real saloon. Look at that thick metal door behind the self-playing piano. And the bar’s a computer terminal in disguise. [sighs] Hold on, I’ll hack the door. [computer zaps] Inside, Five. Quick!

[door opens, devices whir and hiss, chemicals bubble]

So much for the Old West. This is a laboratory! Centrifuges, robot arms, dissection tables, all fully automated. There! A cell door, in the corner. That must be where Runner Five is kept. Can you wrench it open? [implants whir, metal creaks, monitor beeps] A padded cell. One poor soul strapped to a gurney... Don’t worry, Runner Five, we’re here to - ! Oh. That’s... Not Runner Five.

PETER LYNN: Time for another robot checkup, eh, Brent? Got to top me up? Oh God! Oh, that’s Van Ark himself! That’s all I... [laughs] That’s all I need.

ERNIE VAN ARK: Peter Lynn! He’s unconscious. So many tubes connected to him. The immortal! He’s the priority prisoner, not Runner Five! [discordant piano chord, alarm blares] Damn! Can you carry Peter, Five? [implants whir] Please try not to hurt him when you unhook the tubes. There’s a back exit past the fume cupboards. Must lead up into the hills. We’ve got to get him out of here. Come on, Five!

~

[alarms blare in the distance]

ERNIE VAN ARK: Alright, Five. We’re out of the immediate danger zone. These hills and gullies will give us cover, but security can’t be far away. There must be guards somewhere. We need to keep moving. How’s our patient faring? Can you hear me, Peter?

PETER LYNNE: [gasps] Cold... So cold. Oh... no, no, no! Take me back!

[cloth rustles, metal clanks]

ERNIE VAN ARK: Don’t struggle, Peter, you’ll hurt yourself. Here, take my coat. [rocks clatter, zombies growl] What was that? A hand reaching out of the ground right where my foot was a moment ago. Zombies! Another one. Careful, Five. That one almost got your leg. We need to get Peter out of here before they surface fully. Quickly, run!

[footsteps in gravel]

PETER LYNN: What’s going on? Van... Van Ark? No, you can’t have me.

ERNIE VAN ARK: Keep a good hold on him, Five.

PETER LYNN: Get your metal monstrosity off me. I can’t be here! Jenny needs me.

[cloth rustles, metal clanks]

ERNIE VAN ARK: You won’t be doing anything for anyone if those zombies get you. Now, where have they gone? [rocks clatter, zombies growl] Up ahead, Five, clawing their way out of the ground. They must have burrowed under us. No time to evade them, Ranger. We’ll have to take them out. Put Peter down and fire.

[implants whir, zombies splatter]

Thank you, Five. These must be a variant of our Tunisian zombies. [footsteps] Oh no, Peter’s running away! I didn’t think he was well enough. He’s in no state to fend for himself out here. We need to get after him. Come on, Five!

~

ERNIE VAN ARK: Another Old West film set, and nothing but scrubby desert all around. Peter must be hiding in there. Keep your sensors hot, Five. [devices whir] There, slumped against that stagecoach. The adrenaline must have worn off finally. Peter, please do listen to me. We’re here to rescue you. Well... maybe that wasn’t the initial intention, but it’s certainly what we intend to do now. You have to stop running away! Let Ranger Five help you.

PETER LYNNE: [laughs] Your oversize Roomba can just keep its distance! I have had enough robotic hands inserting things in me for a lifetime! There are only so many curative substances one man can take, even me!

ERNIE VAN ARK: Curative substances?

PETER LYNNE: Which one was your favorite, Ernie? The one that blistered every inch of skin on my body? Or what about the projectile vomiting? Or – or that one where all my blood vessels ruptured at once, leaving me clinically dead for a week?

ERNIE VAN ARK: Peter, these experiments, these horrible experiments, they weren’t mine! I-I know what my other self did to you. Janine told me. I think it was the thing she was angriest about. But I’m not with Valmont. I was his prisoner, too! He destroyed the only homes I’ve ever known. Red Scorpion Base, my friends from Abel. He even killed Guillemette. And she was... kind to me, in her way. I saw him bragging about it in a Ranger’s files.

PETER LYNNE: I... don’t know what your game is. Maybe you are telling the truth, [laughs] I can’t tell! I think I lost touch with reality several experiments ago. You need to stop your walking Tonka truck stomping around like that. If you are who you say you are, I would get going while I still can.

ERNIE VAN ARK: Not without you.

PETER LYNNE: I have to say, [laughs] I’m surprised this latest batch is so mild. Uh, you know, I’ve had worse comedowns in abandoned warehouses in Manchester. Credit where it’s due, though, it certainly is... moreish.

ERNIE VAN ARK: Moreish? Has Valmont been injecting you with opiates? To make you dependent, I suppose.

PETER LYNNE: You know, a normal person’s first thought would have been to numb the pain.

ERNIE VAN ARK: Oh. Yes, I suppose it would.

PETER LYNNE: It doesn’t. Just FYI. Numb the pain, I mean. Oh, and as-as for the dependency, bit redundant if you ask me. Not like I have much choice but to stay here. [rock rumbles and clatters] Oh, [laughs] there’s my ride now.

ERNIE VAN ARK: Burrowing zombies, more this time! We need to move before the whole street gives way! [ground collapses] Peter, Ranger? Is everyone alright?

PETER LYNNE: Oh, yep, never better!

ERNIE VAN ARK: Fascinating! We’ve fallen into some kind of underground tunnel system.

[zombies growl]

PETER LYNNE: And we’re not the only ones.

ERNIE VAN ARK: There’s zombies breaking through the walls. I thought they had human hands, but they’re actually more like huge blunt claws.

PETER LYNN: This is no time to admire monster design, Van Ark. Listen, I don’t much care if you live, but assuming you do, I suggest you follow me. I’ve been here before... and I know a way out, but we need to go now.

ERNIE VAN ARK: You heard him, Five. Run!

~

PETER LYNNE: Looks like we’ve lost them for now.

ERNIE VAN ARK: A chamber in the tunnels filled with Old West memorabilia. A sheriff’s hat, a gun holster, a giant cow’s skull. Wait. Not all of these are animal bones. That’s a human tibia with some flesh still hanging off it. It looks like it’s been... gnawed! Peter, what is this place?

PETER LYNNE: Ah, it’s just a cavern.

ERNIE VAN ARK: A cavern with claw marks on the walls that are a perfect match for those mole-like zombies and pits in the ground filled with more half-eaten corpses. I think that one’s moving! This isn’t a cavern, it’s a larder!

PETER LYNNE: I suppose you could call it that.

ERNIE VAN ARK: You brought us here deliberately! You wanted to be caught!

PETER LYNNE: Well, what was I supposed to do, trust you? Ernie Van Ark, action hero? Oh, forgive me if I don’t buy that from the man who ended the world!

ERNIE VAN ARK: And you allied with him from what I’ve heard! Why am I irredeemable, but not you?

PETER LYNNE: I don’t know! Uh, maybe both of us are, uh... But I can’t leave. The way out’s over there. I’m going this way, into the belly of the beast. Follow me or don’t follow me. I don’t care.

~

ERNIE VAN ARK: There he is, Ranger. Just standing in the center of a huge chamber surrounded by decaying, half-eaten corpses. He looks utterly without hope. Peter, please -

[intercom squeals]

BRENT VALMONT: Petey, Petey, Petey. If you’re hearing this, it means you’ve tried to escape again.

ERNIE VAN ARK: Oh no.

PETER LYNNE: Don’t worry, it’s a recording. I don’t even rate live surveillance, apparently.

BRENT VALMONT: You remember the rules of La Prisión de la DeLuca, don’t you? You stay put and let me try out my samples on you and I don’t cut off Janine’s fingers one by one and make you listen to her screams. Got it? Good! Now you enjoy the zombies hospitality and I’ll have someone out to pick you up ASAP. ASAPish, anyway. Only fair to let my undead security team have a nibble after the trouble you’ve given them. Oh, and uh, don’t try this again! Third strike, and Janine really will be out. Ta-ra.

PETER LYNNE: Oh, I escaped once before, but the zombies caught me. They’ve got a slow-acting strain of the virus, so they don’t need to feed as ravenously as your normal zom. They just bury you in a pit and pull bits off whenever they fancy a snack. It was... Days before the extraction team arrived.

ERNIE VAN ARK: So Valmont says he has Janine, and you just... believe him?

PETER LYNNE: [laughs] What choice do I have? If there’s any chance I can keep her safe -

ERNIE VAN ARK: No.

PETER LYNNE: What do you mean, no?

ERNIE VAN ARK: I won’t allow it. We came here to rescue a friend and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We can find Janine together. Runner Five, too.

PETER LYNNE: And if I don’t want to come, you’ll just kidnap me again, I presume.

ERNIE VAN ARK: No. If you stay, we stay, too.

PETER LYNNE: Oh great, very productive. We can all enjoy Brent’s lovely acid trips together!

ERNIE VAN ARK: Yes, except he won’t need you then, will he, if he has me? I can be his scientist and lab rat rolled into one. What do you think happens to you then? To Janine?

PETER LYNNE: You... [laughs] you wouldn’t.

ERNIE VAN ARK: Don’t presume to know what I would or wouldn’t do, Peter Lynne! You refuse to believe I’m on your side, so do you really want to risk Valmont getting his hands on me again? [zombies growl, rock clatters] Hundreds of burrowing zombies bursting out of every square foot of wall and ceiling. Decision time, Peter. Them or me.

PETER LYNNE: Alright, fine! That tunnel to the left, that’s the route Valmont’s men took the last time they hauled me out of here. It’s a safe passage to the surface. Follow me. Go, go!

~

[footsteps]

PETER LYNNE: [gasps] The surface. We’ve made it.

ERNIE VAN ARK: Keep running. These zombies tunnel at incredible speed. We’re not out of the woods yet. [zombie growls, rock clatters] To your left, Five! Claws bursting out of the ground.

PETER LYNNE: Up ahead, a whole line of them like an undead barbed wire fence!

ERNIE VAN ARK: We’ll have to jump them, then head for the river beyond. Ready, Ranger? 1, 2, 3, jump! [implants whir, footsteps, water flows] We’re over the river. Keep going!

PETER LYNNE: Wait! [laughs] Wait! [laughs] They’ve stopped following us.

ERNIE VAN ARK: The river must act as a natural boundary to their territory.

PETER LYNNE: Oh God... Oh God, what was I thinking? I can’t go on the lam with Van Ark! Janine...

ERNIE VAN ARK: Peter, you being locked up in that lab helps no one but Valmont. What do you think he’ll do to Janine once you’ve outlived your purpose, hmm?

PETER LYNNE: But when he finds out I’ve escaped -

ERNIE VAN ARK: Who’s going to tell him, the zombies? That message was prerecorded. He doesn’t know you’ve escaped yet. And he doesn’t expect you to actually try, not with Janine at stake. He won’t know you’re not in the zombies’ larder until he can get a recovery team out here. That will be two weeks at the earliest based on the map I’ve constructed of Valmont’s facilities. Find her before then, and Janine’s safe.

PETER LYNNE: All right... Say I trust you on that. What’s next? Do you even have a plan?

ERNIE VAN ARK: That recording, do you remember hearing anything in the background?

PETER LYNNE: I don’t know. Bird calls, maybe?

ERNIE VAN ARK: Several different species, if I’m not much mistaken. And more than that. There were waves, too, crashing against rock.

PETER LYNNE: So we’re looking for a seaside location that’s... popular with birdwatchers, or-or used to be?

ERNIE VAN ARK: There’s only one Valmont facility that matches those criteria. I’ve got the map here. Look, this island.

PETER LYNNE: Tabarca. That’s... really close. All right. Okay. I don’t know what Valmont’s drugs have done to me, or... how I’ll cope without them. But I can last until we get to Janine. I can free Jenny. And then nothing else matters.

~

[ecargmura]

Grandpa And Grandma Turn Young Again Episode 3 Review - The Darn Hourglass

The main villain of the story is that darn hourglass. It has the power to change the grandparents from young to old and the reverse. Given that Shouzou gets conflicted when he reverts back to his original elderly self and gets insecure over it, it really is the antagonist of the story. It also pegs the question: why is it there? What purpose does it have for the Saitou couple? Did eating the golden apple curse or bless them?

The first half of the episode is just cuteness from the grandparents featuring Shiori and Mino. Shiori brings in a PS3 as Takahiro stated that it could help prevent dementia. Shouzou and Ine play a game for the first time and while they question game logic like NPC dialogue and looting items from people’s homes without consequences, they eventually get hooked into the zombie game, Rice Field Hazard III, and earn all the trophies in a day. Damn, they just beat the crap out of all the existing speed runners out there. The Shiori and Mino moments were cute too. Shiori and Mino are cousins, and it’s obvious that their personalities are very different with Mino being energetic and Shiori being a tsundere.

The latter half of the episode actually drills into some harsh facts about the couple. When the couple go to Takahiro for a check-up due to Shouzou reverting back to his original self, it turns out that Shouzou and Ine are getting healthier due to their newfound youth. Shouzou’s health is surprisingly great for his age and Ine’s current self has it so that she has the body and energy of a woman in her twenties. This causes Ine to realize something. If she stays this way, that means she could live another seventy years, but if she does so, everyone in her family would die before her, even Mino and Shiori. It’s obvious that Ine is terrified and does not want immortality. Shouzou reassures her that they won’t outlive them and that they would revert back to normal soon. It really hits home how some people perceive immortality. Some desire it, while others like Ine fear it. It would make sense to fear it because if everyone around you dies, you’ll be all alone; you’d probably go “well, I’ll make new friends”, but they’ll die too and if society changes during your immortality, would you accept these changes?

Another rather somber moment of this episode is Ine’s flashback of the time she moved to the countryside during WWII. Her parents passed away, so she had to move in with her maternal relatives. Before moving, she was attending a school in Tokyo for young ladies, meaning that her family was rather wealthy. While she had a hard time adjusting to country life, meeting Shouzou melted her cold heart and that’s how she mellowed from her stern and tsundere self to her loving self.

With these somber scenes, I just can’t help but worry about a sad ending for these two. The manga for this story have chapters that are only 5 pages long, so they’re practically grouping a bunch of them together to make one episode. I’ve marathoned the ones they have so far and it makes me wonder if the current arc will be animated or if they’ll deviate and make an anime original ending. What are your thoughts on this episode?

[laufire]

Might be a topical one as we're at the start of the rewatch - top 5 episodes of the 100? (Or 5 storylines if you are like me and can barely remember what happens in which episode (sidenote- gonna be so interesting to watch stuff out of order when my memory is fuzzy enough considering it in order XD)) 😀

I'm going to reply with those I find most ~memorable. In each and every case it's usually because of one or two plotlines while I couldn't be arsed to remember the rest, tbh, but still xD

I ended up picking one from each season because. Why not.

(also I basically already did my favourite plotlines in gif form, here and here!)

1x10 - "I Am Become Death". This episode from season 1 stayed with me during my years-long break from the show lol. / Okay, given that I ended up adding runner up choices for quite a few of these, I went back and added them for the others :P. There are a few possibilities but I simply must pick "His Sister Keeper".

2x12 - "Rubicon". THE MEMORI EPISODE. "Spacewalker" was good too, I'm looking forward to that one.

3x11 - "Nevermore". ALIE!Raven you will always be famous. And "Red Sky at Morning" for runner up. Murphy's group management skills >>>>>>

4x13 - "Praimfaya". I hesitated between this and "God Complex" but "Praimfaya" is the reason I'm in this fandom at all. Without it, you wouldn't have stacked100 xD. Nor my beautiful Bellamygate 2.0 (tentacle monster edition). Plus what other good/fun things I might've contributed to the fandom lol.

5x07 - "Aceptable Losses". How do you even choose from the wonder that was season 5? I went back and forth with a few, especially "Sic Semper Tyrannis", but ultimately, that Echoven plot is just *chef's kiss*

6x08 - "The Old Man and the Anomaly". Memori's immortality proposal, Emori's struggle, Biyoza shenanigans... perfection. "Ashes to Ashes" would probably be my runner up. Three guesses as to why, and the first two don't count xD

7x07 - "The Queen's Gambit". Emori and Echo really shined in this one. And here I'm gonna add the series finale, because fuck yeah. Does that episode have one thousand and one flaws? Sure. But I was high on power while watching it xDD. And Memori's subplot was THE SHIT (you will notice. Memori conditions quite a few of my choices lmfao).

[withingerly]

dramas I watched in 2023

I'm more of a reblogger/lurker here and I don't really post much (at all), but I was looking at my spreadsheet of dramas last month and realized I was about to hit an insane, personal record number of dramas watched in a calendar year. So I decided to write up a recap post, mostly for my own sake because I have a terrible memory.

I am closing out 2023 having watched 92 dramas. What the actual fuck. I thought watching 67 dramas in 2021 was a cry for help, but I really have no excuse for what happened this year. (To be fair, 43 of the dramas I watched in 2021 were c-dramas, whereas this year, 65 of the dramas I watched were BL, so by total hours watched [which is not actually a metric I keep], I did probably watch more in 2021.)

So, if you care to read about which of the 92 dramas I enjoyed the most this year, along with other random categories like favorite lead characters, favorite ships, and favorite drama with X trope, read on.

Favorite C-Drama: Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Okay, this was the year I finally got what all the fuss was about with Cheng Yi. He's honestly a little weird looking to me, but damn the dude is charismatic and magnetic and I could watch him spit up fake blood all day long. (Maybe someday I'll finish Immortal Samsara, but also I'm finally beginning to make my peace with the fact that xianxia just isn't really my thing, so maybe not.) Although Cheng Yi played a huge part in my love for Mysterious Lotus Casebook, it wouldn't be my number one c-drama of the year if everything else about it wasn't excellent too. This show gave us unhinged queen Jiao Li Qiao, Qiao Wan Miao finally cutting down Xiao Zi Jun as he deserved, actually interesting cases to solve, the best shiniang and the most pathetic shixiong. And oh yeah, a truly fantastic polyship. Pretty much every single thing about this drama was perfect to me, which is a rarity. This one is definitely going up there in my top 5 c-dramas of all time.

Runner Up: Love and Redemption

They really don't make dramas like they used to anymore – literally. I would love to rewatch this one, but I don't currently have the bandwidth to make it through all 59 episodes again. And the way they genderbent Xuan Ji in the final arc but still kept her love line with Si Feng as a central plot point regardless? Currently airing c-dramas wish they could (but no seriously, fuck censorship so hard). This one might also deserve all-time top 5 status, but I blazed through my first watch so fast and furious that I think I'd have to do a more reasonably paced rewatch to confirm. In any case, this was the drama I couldn't binge watch fast enough (only a Neo from the Matrix moment, where I literally upload the drama into my brain in an instant, would have sufficed), which is a testament to how thoroughly I enjoyed this one.

Favorite K-Drama: Revenant

It seems like every year there's a k-drama that makes me go against my own taste, and this year it was Revenant. I am pretty firmly anti-horror, but the gifs of Kim Tae Ri in this show got me so intrigued and she was an absolute beast. Her performance alone would have carried this to favorite status, but then my pathetic little man Hong Kyung showed up and I don't even know why I shipped them so hard but I really really did. 

Runner Up: Alchemy of Souls

I'm cheating and putting both seasons here because even though I've probably rewatched more bits from Light & Shadow, the second season wouldn't have any of the emotional weight it does without the first season, so I'm not picking between them and you can't make me. At first, I was so disappointed that Jung So Min had been recast, but I ended up loving the second season anyway. Actress switch aside, Light & Shadow feels like a very different show, but I loved the way they handled the repercussions of the first season in a way that felt both consistent and earned. 

Favorite K-BL: The Eighth Sense

Absolutely no question here. The Eighth Sense ate my brain while it was airing. It was the strong Shelter vibes at first, but then Seo Jae Won and Kim Ji Hyun totally won me over on their own merits. By the end of episode 9, my heart was in throat. 

Runner Up: Cherry Blossoms After Winter

When I started writing this out, I was not expecting Cherry Blossoms After Winter to be here at all, but it really snuck up on me. As soon as I finished the drama, I binge-read the webtoon, and then I ended up rewatching the series more than a couple times, so yeah, I enjoyed the hell out of this one, with all its old-school vibes.

Bonus Shout Out: Our Dating Sim

If Our Dating Sim had been a little angstier, it might have given the above two a run for their money, but regardless, I have to give it a shout out because "Have you been well, without me?" is a line that just lives in my brain rent-free from now on.

Favorite Tw-Drama: Oh No! Here Comes Trouble

This could just be the recency effect, but I might go so far as to say Oh No! Here Comes Trouble is my favorite Taiwanese drama of all time. The mysteries were engaging, it's funny, it's emotional – don't get me started on how many tears I shed. The acting and writing were just top notch, and if they bless us with a second season, I will be first in line to watch. 

Runner Up: About Youth

I don't think I hear many people talk about About Youth on here, so I feel pretty justified in calling it an underrated gem. It was basically, for me, a perfect drama all the way through. The main couple and the side couple were all wholesome babies and I wanted to protect them. Ye Guang's struggle in particular really resonated with me. I often think I'm getting too old for high school and college dramas, but when they hit that nostalgia factor just right, I am sold.

Favorite J-Drama: Utsukushii Kare: Eternal

Cheating a bit here because Eternal was a movie, but it was the final installment to the Utsukushii Kare series and it was perfect. We finally got the character growth I wanted, that made me believe these two crazy kids would actually make it. 

Runner Up: Tokyo in April Is…

My best friend pointed out recently that j-dramas are great with obsession, and yeah, I do love my j-dramas a little fucked up. Not only does this one feature obsession, but it also has another of my favorite tropes: second chances. Ren had my whole freaking heart, and the way he finally got his happy ending left me on the floor. That chase scene was one of my favorites.

Favorite Thai BL: A Tale of Thousand Stars

(Fun fact! Prior to this year, the only Thai BL that I had watched was Kinnporsche. RIP to me.)

This was definitely my hardest category, because it was my most-watched category (33 dramas), but I gotta give it to A Tale of Thousand Stars. Solid execution of some of my favorite tropes and it just ticked all the boxes: good pacing, good acting, good plot, good chemistry. And lucky me, we got Our Skyy 2 this year. I'm usually not that bothered by proposal scenes, but this one got me hard. It was exactly the kind of epilogue to Tian and Phupha's story that I didn't realize I needed.

Runner Up: Lovely Writer

On the complete other end of the spectrum, upending all our favorite tropes, is Lovely Writer. I rewatched this after watching a dozen more Thai BLs, and I have to say I enjoyed it even more. During my first watch, I hated the first half, only stuck with it because I liked Gene so much, and loved the second half. Upon rewatch, the first half was not nearly as unbearable, and I think it was because I could see that Sib was intentionally playing into a BL archetype. But still, the second half has all of my favorite moments. Once their shared history is revealed, Sib stops being a cardboard cutout and becomes more human, and the entire storyline picks up and I am much more invested in his and Gene's relationship. That dinner where they come out to their families is excruciatingly awkward and I love it (and the episode that follows) so much – those scenes alone elevate it to favorite status.

Favorite First Half of a Drama: Destined

I love both Bai Jing Ting and Song Yi, so my expectations for this drama were very high, and the first half of Destined absolutely delivered. Just sheer perfection, no wrong steps, everything I didn't even know I wanted. Unfortunately, that kind of means the show peaked when they found themselves in the wilderness, trying to get the other to survive out of sheer willpower purely because they believed in the other's goodness. THE BLOOD FEEDING!!! Ahem. So yeah, the second half was okay, it had its moments but was generally a little boring and predictable, but dear god that first half was incredible. 

Runner Up: The Blood of Youth

It may seem strange to have The Blood of Youth in this category, since I ended up giving it a 5/5 rating, but I just loved the Xiao Se x Wu Xin x Lei Wu Jie dynamic so much and as the show veered away from that, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

Favorite Drama That I Wouldn't Actually Recommend to Other People: Love in the Air

I know some people loathe everything MAME touches, but Love in the Air worked for me on every level. Well, I wish the acting for the couple in the second half had been a little better (ducks and runs), but I loved the first half and still quite enjoyed the second half. I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but it speaks to my little lizard brain. 

Runner Up: History 4: Close to You

I absolutely get why this show is controversial and why people hate it. I also don't care. This show had some delicious angst, and I was emotionally invested in both couples. Just a thoroughly enjoyable watch, but yeah, unless you're familiar with certain BL tropes and know you like them, I wouldn't actually recommend this one.

Favorite ML: Li Lianhua / Li Xiangyi (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

Look, was it really going to be anyone other than this broken and silly man that feels the weight of the world on his shoulders and thinks his own life is worth less than everyone else's? It's been 4 months since I finished this drama, and I am still so emotional about Li Lianhua.

Runner Up: Xie Wei / Xue Ding Fei (Story of Kunning Palace)

I love an unhinged bastard, okay? When you realize that he loved her all along, her suicide in the first timeline hits that much harder. But I do love that he (albeit unknowingly) gets a second chance, and the man just goes for it. Never ever over the scene where he stabs his own hand, through the table no less, despite his obsession with playing the qin, to protect her. Romance storyline aside, I also love a good hidden identity trope (yes, there's a theme to this category). Xie Wei's revenge quest was delicious, and I freaking loved his scenes with Yan Mu and Yan Lin, all the meaningful looks and things unsaid until Yan Lin finally knelt in front of his cousin and acknowledged him.

BL Shout Out: Ai Di (Kiseki: Dear to Me)

It's hard to compare MLs from shows that run for 40 episodes vs. 12, but I have to shout out my favorite feral gangster Ai Di. I love me some good pining, and not only has this man pined for nearly his entire life, but he makes it everyone's problem. 

Favorite FL: Xu Hongdou (Meet Yourself)

Xu Hongdou was just so cool and kind and gorgeous, and okay, yeah, I had a big crush on her. I've never seen Liu Yi Fei in anything before, I didn't even realize she played Mulan in that recent Disney live action production until my sister pointed it out much later, but she's one of those actresses that can make me cry just by tearing up. Xu Hongdou felt like a real person, kind but not a pushover, strong but still vulnerable, and I somehow want to grow up to be her even though I'm older than her.

Runner Up (tie): Shim Woo Joo (Call It Love) / Gu San Yeong (Revenant)

This one is a tie because I loved both Woo Joo and San Yeong for the exact same reasons: they were just so fucked up but trying so hard, and more than anything, I just wanted them to be happy. While the ships in both dramas were great, for me the real otps were the FL x happiness.

Favorite Supporting ML: Wu Xin (The Blood of Youth)

Every time Wu Xin was on screen, it was just a breath of fresh air. I get that he's totally overpowered, so for plot reasons it made sense to remove him, make him mind controlled, etc. But every time he wasn't on screen, I missed him. Even though the casting was a bit of an odd choice (they gave us a man in his early 30s playing a teenager), I can't imagine loving Wu Xin as much as I did if it hadn't been Liu Xue Yi. He doesn't really manage to look like a teenager, especially next to Li Hong Yi and Ao Rui Peng, but he really pulled off Wu Xin's innocence and naivete and childish humor. He also gave Wu Xin a certain gravitas and realism that I don't think a younger actor could have pulled off.

Runner Up: Jin Fan (My Journey to You)

Jin Fan, my beloved. His backstory was delicious and made his relationship with Gong Ziyu even better. Also, the fact that he actually secretly liked Gong Zishang back the entire time??? My man.

Favorite Supporting FL: Yang Ying (A Journey to Love)

A YING MY GIRL. Her journey from neglected, unloved princess to capable and powerful grown-ass woman who marries a dude she doesn't love to protect her people was quite possibly my favorite thing about this show. I would 100% watch a drama just about her, and I so wish we'd gotten an actual glimpse of her and Li Tong Guang in that little epilogue in the final episode. Their alliance/marriage is fascinating to me. He Lan Dou better be a FL in some dramas asap. She was equally convincing as both a meek, terrified princess, helpless to the whims of bigger political machinations around her, and an icy cold princess in enemy territory, actually playing the game instead of just being a game piece, determined to not only survive but to also protect everyone she loves.

Runner Up: Yoon San (The Eighth Sense)

Shout out to the only person who was actually Jae Won's friend in this show. Yoon San was a total scene stealer for me, don't even get me started on that bit when she was singing by the fire on the beach (swoon), and I found her friendship with Jae Won really sweet and believable. I think this actress is super talented, she nailed the funny moments, she nailed the heartfelt moments, and I would love to watch her in another drama.

Favorite Non-Canon Ship: Gong Shangjue x Gong Yuanzhi (My Journey to You)

I did not go into this drama expecting to be so into these cousins/sworn brothers, but Gong Shangjue and Gong Yuanzhi's relationship as it unfolded throughout the show became the one I was the most invested in. I fully admit I'm a sucker for a dynamic where one party is wholehearted devoted to the other and also wholeheartedly believes the other is not nearly as devoted, so as soon as we got their tragic backstory, I was solidly on board.

Runner Up: Na Na x Da Mai (Meet Yourself)

I know Chinese censorship blah blah blah, but Na Na and Da Mai should have been girlfriends, cowards. I guess at the very least, neither of them ended up with a real love line of their own, but still, they should have been girlfriends. It just makes sense.

Technicality Shout Out: Li Lianhua x Fang Xiaobao (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

The only reason this pairing isn't at the top of the list is because I, personally, don't consider them non-canon. They read to me exactly the same as the pairings in The Untamed and Word of Honor, thus they are canon.

Favorite Friendship: Pu Yiyong x Chen Chuying x Cao Guangyan (Oh No! Here Comes Trouble)

Watch the last episode of Oh No! Here Comes Trouble, and tell me this friendship trio didn't make you cry buckets. You know each of them is wondering how they ended up with the other two as friends, but somehow they're also totally ride or die and I love them all so much. 

Runner Up: Lom x Yiwa (Wedding Plan)

I loved Lom and Yiwa's long history together, the sacrifices they made for each other, their deep love born out of a bond of shared family pressure and mutual understanding. Their friendship actually drove the plot, and even when I was hollering at Lom to just be honest, his actions (and inaction) felt realistic once we got to know how important Yiwa is to him and why and once we had the context to understand how he had lived his life up to that point.

Favorite Found Family: Liudaotang (A Journey to Love)

If you've seen this show, I feel like it needs no explanation. These spies and scouts and murdery people with big ass swords and spiked shields and automatic crossbows were too good for this world. And the way their little family just kept getting bigger and bigger (spoiler: UNTIL IT DIDN'T) was so much fun to watch (spoiler: UNTIL IT WASN'T).

Runner Up: Rainbow Premium Taxi Service (Taxi Driver, Season 2)

I loved the way they addressed the end of season 1, by showing that these people are all a little messed up and they belong together and they really need the revenge business just as much as their clients do. When Kim Do Gi got roofied and he had his little housewarming hallucination, where they all wore matching slippers with hearts (!!), it honestly made me wanna cry a little.

Favorite Drama Featuring Friends to Lovers: My Only 12%

I don't know if it's because I missed it when it was airing, but I don't think I see many people talk about this show and I don't get why. This is to me quintessential friends to lovers. Seeiw and Cake's friendship felt absolutely real and lived in and honest, and the episode when Cake's family moved away had me bawling. Seeiw's pining physically hurt me, and Cake's confession scene in English could have been cringe but it was actually so fucking romantic.

Runner Up: Fake It Till You Make It

I don't know if everyone else would classify this one as friends to lovers because from the moment these two meet, it feels like they're teetering on the cliff of a romance or at least an excellent one night stand. But I just loved the way they flirted openly and then talked honestly about why they needed to stay friends and nothing more. I'm not typically that into "will they won't they" romances, but here, their hesitation to get more involved made sense emotionally, but at the same time their chemistry was fire and their attraction to each other was palpable, so it all just worked for me. Also friendship rings instead of couple rings was so stupid and I loved it.

Favorite Drama Where Nice Guys Finish First: Light On Me

This is totally not to say that Shin Da On isn't also nice, I just have no idea what to call this trope, but it's one of my faves, where the lead character ends up with the person they didn't actually fall for first. I did not foresee Tae Kyung ending up with Shin Woo at all, which is some poor media literacy on my part because all the hints are there from the beginning, but that kind of made the ride even more fun. One of the reasons I enjoy this trope so much is the built-in pining, and Shin Woo had some excellent pining. "Yesterday, today, and probably tomorrow, I will continue thinking about you" was a freaking great line.

Runner Up: My Ride

You might think a drama about two actually decent guys would be boring and lack conflict, but this drama employed this trope perfectly by starting out with Tawan getting a shot at his first love, the seemingly wonderful Por. So instead we got some great pining, Tawan being an oblivious sweetheart, and Mork trying so hard to be a good friend and not overstep, even as he was dealing with his own sexuality crisis. Just delicious.

Favorite Drama About Soulmates: Until We Meet Again

Did I only watch two dramas with the soulmate trope? Maybe so, but it's my list, so I do what I want. Until We Meet Again was what I would call a pitch perfect show – it delivered on everything it set out to do. I thought I was doing okay with the whole tragic soulmate storyline, but then I got to the very last episode and cried pretty much from start to finish. From the start, that episode got me so good and did not let up for like the next half hour, and so I was basically just left leaking tears until it all wrapped. Damn you, Fluke.

Runner Up: La Pluie

God this show was interesting. Smarter people than me have written a lot more nuanced and thoughtful meta than I ever could, so all I'll say is that I thoroughly enjoyed that a drama based on the premise of soulmates was really actually about how love is work. It wasn't a perfect show, but it was so interesting and the cast was so great that it was definitely a stand out.

For a true glimpse into my insanity this year, here is the full list of dramas I watched, including my ratings, in the order that I watched them:

Alchemy of Souls (4/5)

Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow (4/5)

Unchained Love (2/5)

Hi Venus (2/5)

The Blood of Youth (5/5)

Meet Yourself (5/5)

Silent (3/5)

Big Dragon (3/5)

Love in the Air (4/5)

My Tooth, Your Love (4/5)

Moonlight Chicken (4/5)

Utsukushii Kare: Season 2 (3/5)

A League of Nobleman (3/5)

Lovely Writer (4/5)

The New Employee (3/5)

Be Loved in House: I Do (2/5)

Not Me (3/5)

Tharntype (3/5)

Roommates of Poongduck 304 (3/5)

Theory of Love (3/5)

Tale of Thousand Stars (4/5)

Wish You: Your Melody from My Heart (2/5)

Our Dating Sim (4/5)

Cherry Blossoms After Winter (4/5)

Call It Love (3/5)

To My Star (3/5)

Bed Friend (3/5)

The Eighth Sense (5/5)

Taxi Driver: Season 2 (3/5)

Takara-kun & Amagi-kun (3/5)

A Shoulder to Cry On (4/5)

About Youth (5/5)

Light On Me (4/5)

Minato's Laundromat (4/5)

History 2: Crossing the Line (3/5)

History 1: Obsessed (2/5)

Dark Blue Kiss (3/5)

Together With Me (3/5)

Oh No! Here Comes Trouble (5/5)

My Engineer (3/5)

Never Let Me Go (4/5)

My Only 12% (4/5)

Black Knight (3/5)

Love Mate (3/5)

Until We Meet Again (4/5)

Love By Chance (4/5)

Bad Buddy (4/5)

Between Us (3/5)

Here We Meet Again (3/5)

Secret Crush on You (2/5)

Love Tractor (2/5)

My Ride (3/5)

Star in My Mind (2/5)

La Pluie (4/5)

2gether (3/5)

Destined (3/5)

Hidden Love (4/5)

Tokyo in April is… (4/5)

Revenant (5/5)

Mysterious Lotus Casebook (5/5)

Sing My Crush (3/5)

Bad Guys (3/5)

Love and Redemption (5/5)

Oh! Boarding House (3/5)

Stay By My Side (3/5)

Jun & Jun (3/5)

Fake It Till You Make It (3/5)

The Legend of Zhuohua (3/5)

My Lovely Liar (3/5)

My Journey to You (4/5)

Second Chance (3/5)

Lost in Translation (3/5)

My Personal Weatherman (3/5)

Wedding Plan (4/5)

Laws of Attraction (3/5)

Bon Appetit (3/5)

Oxygen (2/5)

Why R U? (Korea) (3/5)

Kiseki: Dear to Me (4/5)

Hidden Agenda (3/5)

Behind Cut (3/5)

History 4: Close to You (4/5)

Destined with You (3/5)

Dangerous Romance (3/5)

Story of Kunning Palace (4/5)

Perfect Marriage Revenge (3/5)

My Dear Gangster Oppa (2/5)

A Breeze of Love (2/5)

I Cannot Reach You (4/5)

Be Mine Superstar (3/5)

A Journey to Love (5/5)

Ai Long Nhai (3/5)

[samlamwambam]

Critical Race Theory in the CW Series: Arrow

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SK4r5rn2i3Dz-4ymnkxqZKCOHO811h-41PcMA-WOxqA/edit?usp=sharing

Arrow (2012-2020) is a CW superhero show surrounding Oliver Queen, a millionaire playboy who gets stranded for 5 years on an island called Lian Yu after a Yacht trip with his father goes wrong. Upon getting rescued by a Chinese fishing boat, Oliver returns home with an agenda. He vows to protect his city as a vigilante, whom the police captain of the series later names “Green Arrow.” 

My video essay discusses Critical Race Theory in relation to Arrow. Television, while fictional, is ultimately a reflection of societal values and the show runner’s world view. Critical Race Theory is the concept that the biased perception of race in society impacts the representation accepted in media, which leads to unintentionally distorted depictions of characters of color. 

In chapter 5 of Ella Shohat and Robert Stam’s book, Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media, Shohat and Stam discuss the diffulcty for the media to properly represent people of color due to their obsession with “realism” in a eurocentric society. This theory is especially reflected in the character Diggle, the only person of color for a while in the eight years that Arrow runs for. Diggle, played by David Ramsey, is introduced in the very first episode as Oliver’s bodyguard, a respected but nevertheless inferior position to our protagonist. In Shohat and Stam’s section “The Racial Politics of Casting,” they point out the recurring theme that “Europans and Euro-Americans have played the dominant role, relegating non-Europans to supporting roles and the status of extras.  By episode 3, Diggle displays his abilities, fighting off an assassin from Oliver and his “friend,” Laurel. Throughout this exchange, Diggle gets caught in a headlock, forcing Oliver to come to the rescue and skillfully strike a knife into the hand of the assassin to give Diggle a leg up. Thus, Diggle is placed inferior to Oliver in both employment and physical skill. While some may find this sidekick role is crucial to the superhero narrative, it is also reflective of the level of representation accepted in the media. When looking at other pieces of media, it becomes evident that this relationship of white protagonist and black sidekick is a pattern. Examples of this trope can be found between Captain America and Falcon, and Iron Man and War Machine. Arguably, in both these situations, in the MCU, both Falcon and War Machine are no longer sidekicks - this also eventually becomes true for Diggle, which I’ll discuss later in this post. However, it took years for this to happen and these are only recent developments to their character. 

Arrow further displays Eurocentric practices in its depiction of foreigners and foreign countries. “Inscribed within the play of power, language becomes caught up in the cultural hierarchies typical of Eurocentrism. English, especially, has often served as the linguistic vehicle for the projection of Anglo American power, technology, and finance” (Shohat 191). In Arrow, whenever a foreigner shows up, Oliver never has difficulty communicating with them because they all speak English. Even when Oliver is known to be fluent in another language such as Russian or Mandarin, both Oliver and the character(s) he is addressing opts for English. Examples of this can be seen in episode 3, where Oliver immediately assumes that Yao Fei, the skilled Chinese hunter also stranded on Lian Yu, speaks English. Despite Yao Fei answering in mandarin, his immediate understanding of Oliver’s English reflects a Eurocentric  presence in the show. 

In season 3, the show revolves around Nanda Parbat, a made up land that serves as the headquarters for the League of Assasins, who’s native language is Arabic. The show designs the headquarters with influences of South Asian and Hinduist architecture styels. Nevertheless, the immortal leader of the League of Assasins, Ra’s Al Ghul consistently chooses to speak English, even in private conversation with his daughters Nyssa and Talia Al Ghul. Some may argue that as an immortal being, it makes sense for Ra’s to be fluent in multiple languages such as English. However, Eurocentrism is also present in the wedding scene between Nyssa and Oliver, where the marriage officiant conducted the entire ceremony in English. 

Delving deeper into the relationship between language and power in media, Shohat and Stam point out that ““People do not enter simply into language as a master code; they participate in it as socially constituted subjects whose linguistic exchange is shaped by power relations” (193). The correlation between language and power is prevelant in season 1 episode 3. In this episode, Oliver must prove himself to be Bratva, a Russian mob group of this universe, in order to gain the respect of two mechanics representing the Bratva. Oliver asserts his credibility, Oliver begins the conversation in fluent Russian. Upon confirming Oliver’s position as Captain in the Bratva, the two mechanics adapt their speech to suit Oliver’s most comfortable form of communication by speaking in English. This switch in language indicates the switch in power that Shohat and Stam were referencing in their book, as when Oliver wanted something, he appealed to the mechanic’s first language and vice versa. 

Arrow, while conforming to Critical Race Theory in many questionable ways, ultimately readjusts its treatment of POC characters by the end of the series. This is done most noteably through the addition of the new Team Arrow, which consists of all POC heroes who, unlike the dynamic between Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle, see each other as equals and dismantle the hierarchy among teammates. This adjustment is still a reflection of Critical Race Theory as the show is aligning itself with society’s push for equal and proper representation of marginalized groups in 2016. 2016 was the year Trump was elected President, exposing a deep divide in America in regards to race, ethnicity, and culture. “The sensitivity around stereotypes and distortions largely arises, then, from the powerlessness of historically marginalized groups to control their own representation” (Shohat 184). Reflecting upon this point, the changing demographics of the Arrow cast in 2016 is reflective of the social scene during this time.  

Lastly, as mentioned before, Diggle becomes much more than Oliver’s sidekick by the end of this series. Diggle’s character is most reflective of Critical Race Theory as he goes from being Oliver’s bodyguard to his best friend to his sidekick to his replacement when Oliver goes missing. Each of these identities however, while he becomes a more important and well loved character, is dependent on Oliver’s relationship to him. Furthermore, in Robert Stam and Louise Spence’s work titled “Colonialism, Racism and Representation: An Introduction,” they point out that “We should be equally suspicious of a naive integrationism which simply inserts new heroes and heroines, this time drawn from the ranks of the oppressed, into the old functional roles that were themselves oppressive” (757). Thus, by having Diggle become the Arrow in place of Oliver, Arrow supports the biased fantasy of a black man slipping into the role of a white vigilante without consequence. Nevertheless, by the end of the series, Diggle begins to form his own identity outside of what it is in relation to Oliver. Diggle begins to prioritize his wife and children, and by the last episode, he makes the decision himself to turn down the opportunity to become Green Lantern. This decision is momentous because in the earlier seasons, Diggle wanted more than anything to be a hero and measure up to Oliver’s legacy. By allowing Diggle to choose his own narrative that swerves from audience expectations, Arrow reflects the shift in racial bias and the progress within the television industry, as showrunners are now taking initative to minimize the othering of POC characters. After all, “a film inevitably mirrors its own processes of production as well as larger social processes” (Shohat 187). 

Braudy, Leo, and Marshall Cohen. Film theory and criticism: Introductory readings. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam. Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the media. London: Routledge, 1994.

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