#like you have to accept these dramas for all of their tropes and once you do.

[magnaflourious-nerdity]

Yeah bro. YEAH, DUDE! Did you ever think of how fucked up that was, wen kexing?!? Like his DISCIPLE. his SouLMaTe!!!! A weapon HE-- To protect himself!! I'M... You should feel bad!!! this is once again the consequences of your OWN actions. My son, precious boy, I love you so much- but also, like. What the fuck. Why would you. And nows he's gotta cope with mortality all over again??? You gave him HOPE and I. This moment is so good and it hurts me so much, and why

[heliza24]

I want to talk a little bit about Daniel in the Interview with the Vampire show, because the new trailer material has me stuck thinking about him, and also I’ve never written about how meaningful he is as disabled character to me before.

I don’t see many people thinking about show!Daniel in these terms, but he’s a canon disabled character. And I think the way he is written is just SO good. The acerbic wit, his relationship to doctors and his medication, his rueful acceptance of the way his disability has changed him. It is all so correct!! It’s really incredibly rare to have not only a disabled character written this well but specifically a chronically ill character written this well. His illness is always present; it doesn’t get forgotten about by the story. It gives Daniel insight into the vampires (more on this in a min), but it also gives Louis and Armand leverage over him. When Louis triggers his Parkinson’s symptoms? Deeply not ok. But that’s what made it such a great scene, and really made Louis feel dangerous and threateningin that moment. Armand and Louis arranging Daniel’s meds is a sign of great care and also great power over Daniel. It’s the perfect way to communicate the complicated power dynamic in their relationship.

I also just fucking love that this show takes place in 2022 and doesn’t erase the pandemic. Covid is a very present concern for Daniel and I cannot describe how validating that is for me as someone who is clinically vulnerable to Covid and who has had to really limit my life and take a lot of precautions because everyone else has decided to stop caring whether they pass on Covid or not. The fact that Daniel gets on a plane to Dubai is a BIG DEAL. He’s risking his life to talk to Louis and Armand before he’s even in the room with them. He really wants to be there. I have to make a similar calculation every time I travel, and trust me, getting on that plane knowing getting sick could spiral you into even worse health or kill you is really hard.

I think making Daniel disabled and including the pandemic is kind of a genius level decision on a thematic level. Of course Daniel is now facing down his mortality, which gives him a whole new lens on the vampires and the fact that he once asked them to turn him. And the pandemic further highlights his fragility, and is also possibly being used as a cover for drama that’s happening in the vampire world. But I think it also really sets Daniel up as a foil to Louis.

There’s a lot of analysis of the vampire chronicles that reads vampirism as a metaphor for queerness. But I would actually propose that it’s a much neater parallel for disability and illness in a lot of ways. So many of Louis’s initial experiences after being turned resonated with me, as someone who became chronically ill in my 20s. My appetite and relationship to food completely changed, much like Louis. My relationship with the outdoors and the sun changed, because of dysautonomia and allergy reasons. I was very mad, and very depressed, and I too have missed out on birthday parties and big life events like Louis did because I was too sick to go. Hell, you can even say that the way that Louis is treated as evil by his family, that the way vampires literally can’t be a part of society during the day, is reminiscent of ableist exclusion and ugly laws. (Ugly laws were laws that forbid disabled people, especially those with visible differences, from being out in public, and they were on the books in many American municipalities until the 1970s.) You can look at Lestat being an out and proud vampire in the first few episodes on the season and imploring Louis to leave his shame behind as a queer thing, but you can also view it as a disabled thing. Disabled people are portrayed as monstrous so often (and in a way that has gone relatively unexamined compared to say, the queer coded villain trope) that sometimes it’s just easier to embrace that label: I’m the monstrous Crip, but at least I’m not ashamed of or disgusted by who I am anymore.

I do think the real strength of this adaptation is that while you can find parallels between queerness or disability or other forms of marginalization with vampirism, ultimately it’s not a one-to-one parallel. It speaks to the real world but ultimately it is a gothic horror story about supernatural monsters. So I don’t mean to say that vampirism directly equals disability, because it does not. But I do think that making Daniel disabled was an intentional choice to help draw out some of those parallels, and I think the text is richer for it.

So Louis and Daniel have had these kind of parallel experiences of uncontrollable and difficult things happening to their bodies. It sets them up perfectly as foils, and even, I would argue, as the A plot and B Plot protagonists. This is one of my favorite ways of kind of examining the structure of a TV show (or maybe it’s that most of my favorite shows seem to be structured this way?). When TV was all episodic, it would be common to refer to the A plot (mystery of the week), B plot (interpersonal drama happening as the mystery gets solved) and C plot (any overarching plot tying the season together) in an episode. Now that stuff is serialized, there’s often a main protagonist, who has the main dramatic question and the most agency, and then there is often a secondary B plot that explores similar themes and mirrors the A plot, or presents a second main character who is the ldifferent side of the same coin” to the main protagonist. (My favorite example of this is Flint and Max in Black Sails, and I’ve also made the argument that Wilhelm and Sara fit this pattern in Young Royals.) In IwtV, Louis is obviously the main protagonist of the show, especially in the A Plot, which is the stuff taking place in New Orleans/Paris. But I would argue that Daniel is the protagonist of the B Plot set in Dubai. At the very least they’re intentionally set up as mirrors of each other:

They are both unreliable narrators, who are struggling with the way memory contorts (through memory erasure, illness, deliberate obfuscations, and just the passage of time). The most recent teaser trailer, where we hear Louis saying “I don’t remember that”, with panic in his voice, further underlined this similarity between Louis and Daniel to me. I don’t know if it means that Louis has also had his memory tampered with, as I’m assuming Daniel has, but I do think it means that Louis is going to be struggling with feeling out of control of his own narrative more in season 2, a thing that was already starting for Daniel in season 1.

They are also both locked into power struggles with people more powerful than they are. The fact that Louis is under Lestat in the flashbacks and above Daniel in the Dubai scenes in terms of power/status makes it all the more interesting. And, if we want to go ahead and assume that the Devils Minion’s years have happened in the past by the time we get to Dubai— it’s possible that both Daniel and Louis are united in being the less powerful partner in their own respective fucked up gothic romances.

They’re also both the audience’s entry point into their respective stories. Louis’s narration guides us into the world of vampires. Daniel’s questioning satisfies our human curiosity in Dubai.

I think one of the things that makes the show so special is the way that these two protagonists interact. In a lot of shows the a plot and the b plot stay pretty separate. I love talking about Black Sails for this because I think it’s such a good example; Flint and Max never exchange dialogue the entire show, even though they’re so clearly affecting each other the whole time. But the way that Louis and Daniel clash in Dubai is so exciting. We see them both wrestling for control of the narrative. It’s thrilling to watch and it just hammers home the theme of how complicated and changeable stories can be.

I am SO excited to see how the Dubai scenes play out in season 2 because of it. I really can’t wait. I’m really hoping we’ll see Daniel and Louis’s relationship evolve in surprising ways, and I’m holding my breath that we’ll get a lot of Armandaniel material to work with. (I have a whole other post drafted that’s much less smart than this one and is just me waxing poetic about Devil Minion’s theories which I may post at some point. You have been warned.)

I do have two wishes for Daniel in the new season, and they’re 1: that he gets to have romance/sex, because disabled (and older!) characters are so often seen as unworthy of being desired, and I would like to see that challenged and 2: that he continues to refuse to be turned/is not offered a vampiric cure for Parkinson’s. The magic cure for a disability or chronic illness is probably my least favorite disability trope, because it serves to erase disabled characters and representation from the narrative, and I want to see my experiences continue to be reflected in Daniel’s. That means that whatever ending Daniel’s story has will probably have at least a bit of tragedy baked into it, but I’m ok with that.

[bengiyo]

Love in the Big City Part 1: It's Gay

We’ve finally made it to the Love in the Big City TV adaptation. Despite all the drama going on around this show’s release, we got the whole show at once. We won’t get canceled midway through. Though I hoped for a global weekly release schedule, I understand the decisions that led to dropping the whole thing at once. Thankfully, Nam Yoon Su is so charismatic as Go Yeong, and I have much to say about how this show doesn’t hate BL, has great regard for the humanity of its characters, and so far is one of the better adaptations I’ve experienced in my life. 

Nam Yoon Su’s Go Yeong

I just want to state plainly that I love how queer Go Yeong feels in this show. I love his pissy little expressions. I love his frustration and anger at gross straight men. I love his gay little run. I love his dancing in the street to girl pop artists. I love him making out with men in public. 

I loved opening with Yeong in the midst of a new fling and openly having lots of sex before the military boyfriend came back home. I loved Yeong ending things before later going to a club to seek new partners. We haven’t had that in so long, with Queer as Folk being the biggest cultural memory for many. 

More than anything, I love how lonely he felt. Many others have noted it in the tag, and I think that’s the part that resonates when something feels queer for a lot of us. It was notable that they brought Yeong’s friends forward this time, which gives us insight into the shallow nature of most of his relationships. His connection to them is through the club, music, and boys. Go Yeong keeps everyone at a distance. It’s the hardest part about being queer sometimes. You try to connect with others, but something always seems to come up to prevent that closeness. 

Kim Nam-Gyu

I think casting Kwon Hyuk as Kim Nam Gyu was such an excellent decision. He previously played my man Jong Chan in The New Employee, and it feels like a nod from this production that they are not opposed to BL. BL is a drama full of romance tropes and huge optimism about relationships, and they cast the actor who played my favorite version of the ideal man in a way that showed empathy for his lonely, quiet nature. Casting Kwon Hyuk feels like a tactful way for this show to say, “We’re not BL, and we respect the work others are doing.” The New Employee was directed by a Korean gay activist, and I love this show giving K-BL a polite nod.

Nam Gyu is a quiet gay. As one myself, I get a lot of what I saw in Nam Gyu. He takes pictures of hot models because it’s a socially acceptable way for him to be close to hot men. He leaps at the chance to be with Go Yeong, and speed runs the intimacy route. He missed that he was smothering Go Yeong, and I think it’s because it’s clear he lacks friends.

I feel so sad for Nam Gyu, because it’s clear he overinvested in his relationship with Go Yeong. He was so ready to give Go Yeong everything, but it was way too much for a club gay. Despite all the ways he rushed in (like a fool), he was otherwise so safe in his life. He stayed in the lines everywhere, and it’s so tragic that he died while speeding. 

I thought a lot about the lack of Kylie in this section and the health scare, and it adds a layer to the situation with Nam Gyu as @twig-tea pointed out in one of our conversations that Go Yeong asked how he died because he might already know his status. Did Go Yeong wonder if he’d infected Nam Gyu? It also makes me wonder about the sex we didn’t see with Nam Gyu and IG guy. 

Finally, the empty funeral hurts me to my core. This man was so decent, and no one was there to see him off. I am still thinking about how all of the breakups mirrored each other in this section.

Choi Mi Ae

I think @lurkingshan already covered Mi Ae in this adaptation very well. I’ve been thinking about her for a few days, and I’ve decided that I like that we get to see more of her outside of Yeong’s POV in the show. We can see how her circumstances rattled her, and how it was clear that she couldn’t make it on her own long term. 

I get her taking the cushy job. I get her finding a nice enough guy who didn’t want kids. I get her choosing to protect herself when cornered. The most tragic thing about her outing of Yeong is that she told the truth and it only seemed to make things worse. Jonho could never understand the solace she and Go Yeong found in each other, and he was not ready to ever hear the truth of Mi Ae’s life. 

I feel more sympathy for Mi Ae in this version because we can see that their relationship meant so much to her. Learning that he actually went on to become a writer touched her because it feels like he’ll immortalize a time in their lives that was mutually important to them. It also means that one of them may not have to settle for the choices available to them. The singing at the wedding hits so painfully here because it’s the last fun memory these two will ever have. Yeong goes back to the apartment Mi Ae left for him to eat the last of their blueberries, and that’s the last we’ll see of her.

Final Thoughts

I’m so relieved that we have book club discussion again. I’ll be reading and reblogging people’s posts, and I’m looking forward to the next part to see how Hyung fits into the show’s narrative. This adaptation has been so beautiful so far, and it’s been really great to see how the show has softened some of its edges by putting us in third person perspective. We are giving room to understand Mi Ae, Nam Gyu, and the T-aras by not seeing them exclusively through Yeong’s eyes.

[hella1975]

hellaaa plz share your favorite dabihawks fics for all of us who want some recs into their crazy minds!!

sorry i didnt answer this straight away i was reading a 230k words fic that i wanted to finish before i added it here 😭 does anyone know what's wrong with me. therapists hate me

dabihawks rec list!!

burn it all down by dorothycanfly - an au where dabi comes back to the todoroki estate to kill shouto when he's 19 and shouto is 11, but decides instead to take his little brother with him as part of his Grand Evil Masterplan that doesn't quite go as he wanted. this is the fic i always rec first in this fandom as it's the first dabi fic i really read that felt like it Understood Him and really made me go bananas about him. it's dark and twisted and true to what i think his actual mindset would be without demonising him, and also has shouto and him being very close and the way the author writes their dynamic is everything to me like it's so true to a real sibling relationship and id die for them. it gets very smutty in the middle but if that's not your thing the plot also kicks right back up again at 100mph immediately after, and there's also a sequel still being updated that's very promising.

big reputations by phanatics - singer fake dating au!!! i absolutely love dabi's characterisation in this and the celebrity angle is handled soooo well. the miscommunication and slow burn is incredible and that's coming from a bitch who finds both tropes frustrating unless they're done to my very niche standards. im pretty sure i read this fic in one day. im not making graduation i fear.

gunshots and molotovs by ironicallystupid - this is a 14k oneshot where dabi treats hawks' gunshot wound in a distinctly dabi way and then they get drunk. this one really got to me and i think it's bc it's one fic where they feel so true to character while still, for once, both acting their age. a big appeal of dabihawks for me is that they are both ultimately just two guys in their early twenties and seeing them embody that youth and silliness was surprisingly poignant

the 'will you accept this rose?' series by satelliteblue- the famous bachelorette au! if you don't know what i mean by famous, it's bc this fic has a habit of getting people who don't even read mha fic obsessed with it. like it's genuinely addicting. i remember first finding it and being like 'bacherlorette au dabihawks? be so fr' and look where im at now, 355k words later. it's genuinely just such a fun read AND i love the drama of it AND it has the todofam angle AND an actual plot snuck into it effortlessly. one of my fav fics of all time truly and it's still updating!

perspective by theeclecticeccentric - this is the fic i just finished and when i tell you ive powered through all 230k words of it in the past 4ish days. i love the league dynamic in this with the whole found family angle. i'll say it was something i clicked on less bc this kind of au (childhood friends dabihawks brainwashed to forget each other) is what i would normally go for and more bc i have BATTERED the dabihawks tag for all it's worth so i just tried it on a whim, but im so happy i clicked this bc it wound up being so fun! i also love any fic that forces the heroes and villains to ally against the hpsc and this fic does that. instant hit with me.

[naboman]

𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫

synopsis: The tale in which the honorable and once contemptible secretary of the student council ends up getting more involved than she would like with the respectful Mitsuya Takashi. But there's just one problem—he is part of the group of people the girl detests the most.

Pairing: Mitsuya Takashi + Fem!Reader.

Genders: Drama and tragedy, Angst, Comedy, Romeu and Juliet trope, (Predominantly) enemy to lovers.

Start Point [Next]

"Have you heard? There's a guy looking for [Name]-Senpai!"

Three days. It had been exactly three days of hearing the same whispers through the school corridors, punishing her with indiscreet glances and barely suppressed suggestive tones. She felt flattered by this sudden wave of popularity that covered her like the cloak of a king - beautiful and relentless. However, the crown of her reign was starting to weigh on her head like lead.

Anyway, [Name] had no idea who this person was or what they wanted, and as much as it bothered her, she was far from taking any initiative to confront the situation.

She took the last sip of the orange juice from the tiny carton, promptly tossing the juice box into the trash can next to the table. The school was a war zone - club assistants coming and going at an absurd speed, even though she had made it clear that they should consult their respective advisers. But it wouldn't be a mere misunderstanding or more than one that would stop her from continuing with what she was doing. In no way, she continued cleaning the camera lens. The Nikon D3100 also known as the 'Starting Point for Imminent Discord' - a loving nickname given by some kind members of the Student Council.

Speaking of the Student Council… The Counselors' room generously offered its valuable space to store some of the materials crucial for the school newspaper - needless to say, most were against the idea, but given the situation the journalism club was in, all that remained was to accept without hesitation.

Point for the Journalism Club. (Yeah!)

However, unforeseen events could not be avoided. That being said...

"What the hell are these boxes doing in here?!" The strident voice crossed the room seconds after the door was opened, unfortunately, she knew the owner of the voice well enough to know that he wouldn't be pleased with the news. He already wasn't, apparently.

"Oh, Yuuma!" she greeted with a false air of friendliness, which didn't go unnoticed by the brunette, who furrowed his eyebrows. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"These boxes weren't here earlier today, what happened? No one informed me in advance."

"Look at that coincidence; I can relate quite well to your mood," she replied without looking away from what she was doing, but felt the annoyance manifesting on her colleague's face within seconds. "My freshmen informed me that the table we received arrived today, and we need to remove our materials from the club room. Isn't it hilarious?"

"And who's going to sort this out? You can't just leave this lying around without a plan!" he said as he navigated between the boxes, as if treading on a floor made of glass.

"Don't despair; some of my assistants will come later to sort this out," she shrugged.

"Okay, and what about you?"

"Me? What about me?" she blinked repeatedly, feigning innocence.

"Don't you have your own pending commitments, [Name]?"

The girl raised an eyebrow, then shifted her gaze to the camera in her hands.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, really?" he laughed sarcastically. "Because there are some well-informed girls outside looking for you. You should talk to them to refresh your memory."

'Every day is a lousy day to be in the student council'. She sighed.

"Tell them I had to leave, or... I don't know, make up something else. I'm busy," she finally said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand and a yawn.

The guy felt a vein popping seeing the girl's nonchalance, but it quickly passed - much to [Name]'s surprise - and he soon returned to the door with his warmest smile.

"Of course she came!" [Name] widened her eyes, leaving her comfortable seat to press her fingertips into the arms of the well-padded chair. "Sorry for the delay, just a second."

He hissed a "Come here now!" with a nod and a scowl on his face. Frowning, she reluctantly snapped her camera shut and stowed it back in her bag, heading to the door with quick steps, hands tucked into the pockets of her college jacket. With her sweetest honey-eater smile, she declared:

"Contact the president, he knows what to do and can provide a copy of the notice board if you're interested," she warned, even before allowing the girls to take the initiative. Catching them off guard with her excessive, almost suffocating friendliness, she continued, "I can schedule a time or even—"

"No, it's not that!" Her harmonious smile felt a hiccup with the interruption. "We're looking for the chief editor, Kawaguchi [Name]-senpai!"

The short girl with glasses waved repeatedly, carried away by nervousness, while her short-haired companion nodded and patted her shoulder as encouragement.

"Yes, yes, we need to talk to you about the retrospective fair. We already have an idea to document the club events!" the short-haired one said, proud and exuding confidence.

"Retrospective fair...?" she pondered, scratching her neck in search of an answer. Then, an embarrassing memory about the club's proposal to the council for an event to conclude another school year by documenting extracurricular activities came to mind. This proposal seemed intentionally shooting oneself in the foot, aware of the consequences. "Oh, yes, I remember that well. You could have contacted the other secretary."

"We came to you because you're the chief editor. Is there anyone who understands your project better than you?" she asked.

'A valid point, but let's ignore that for now just to mask my disinterest,' she thought.

"And also..." the girl with glasses began quietly, "we want you to confirm our idea to make sure it won't be plagiarized or something. I-I'm not accusing any other club; I just..."

"I think I understand what you're trying to say," she waved her hand calmly, calming the exasperated girl. With not much else to do, she glanced briefly back at the table inside the room, only to have the displeasure of finding Yuuma comfortably leaning on one of the chairs, helping himself to a disposable cup of coffee. What a nerve!

She internally sighed, finding it hard to maintain the facade of a good Samaritan near the freshmen for such a significant amount of time.

She cleared her throat, dispelling the reveries and the bitter voice that had been stuck in her throat.

"I'm a bit busy taking care of some things right now. If you don't mind... Can you ask your representative to meet me during the last periods of class?" she asked, gentle but firm, with the patience of a saint. "I have a hectic routine, and I don't have the whole day." She pretended, but it didn't take long for her to resume her usual tone, with a suspicious itch in her mind. "By the way, who is your representative?"

"He's the leader of the Home Economics Club!" the short-haired one replied almost immediately.

"Alright, I think that information will be enough," she smiled, pleased with the information. 'Let's see, my good sir, what kind of person you'll be?' she thought in a mischievous tone. The smile might have gone unnoticed by the girls, but the way her lips curved suspiciously amused didn't escape the notice of the veteran still in the room. "Well, now I'll be finished my works. It was nice talking to you."

"Thank you, [Name]-Senpai!" they said their goodbyes with waves and wide, warm, and enthusiastic smiles.

"Bye-bye~" she said slowly, with a low wave, then disappeared with the loud bang of the door as the two freshmen walked away in the long school corridor. "Well, back to what matters..."

"What do you think you're doing? You have work to do!"

He watched incredulously as the girl circled the table completely devoid of her previous persona. If he didn't know her habits, would never believe she was the same person from a few seconds ago.

"Okay, and so what?" she asked, dismissing it.

"You can't just wander around like this!" he complained, frustrated with the secretary's indifference.

"I'll send someone in my place," she said, glancing away to the disorganized papers outside the folder, picking them up one by one. "Besides, it's not even your problem. I don't know why you bother so much."

"I don't want you tarnishing our reputation," he replied bluntly, pouring more coffee into his cup. "I work hard to give the impression that I do anything, unlike someone like you."

"Why all this disdain in your voice?" she suppressed a humorless laugh with the back of her hand.

"Even so!" he quickly changed the subject. "You don't even know what he wants. You can't just send someone in your place, or it'll be an endless game of indirect messages!"

"The messenger boys are precisely for that. I don't mind sending my assistant if necessary," she shrugged, impassive. "And we can always resort to bribery. Or blackmail."

"What a great example you set. If all honor students were like you, schools would be a perfect illustration of how the Cold War happened," he retorted.

"Come on, don't you have anything better to do?" she raised an eyebrow, annoyed.

"Besides scolding you? No."

"If that's the case, you could go in my place, since you're so idle," she prodded.

"No way."

"Really? What kind of honor student are you?" she asked, feigning hurt.

"Get real."

She grumbled discontentedly, almost offended, as she sighed in deep resignation.

"So, I'm out."

"Wait, are you serious?"

He looked at her in disbelief, but the girl maintained a serious expression focused on the materials she was storing in her bag. Almost professional - Yuuma dared to say.

"Meanwhile, wait. Some of my freshmen will come to clean up this mess," she said calmly and steadily, unlike her usual self. He knew her personality was challenging, but even the few times he saw her like this, he knew she was putting effort into with something in mind. "I'll talk to Mizushima; he needed to edit the material."

And she left, giving one last look at the guy in the room, Yuuma, he was shocked and wide-eyed like saucers.

'Your coffee is getting cold.' She said and indeed, the coffee had been cold for a while.

Almost 4:30 PM. Most students were putting away their shoes and belongings, ready to head out, finding their groups of friends for a leisurely walk home. However, [Name] was reviewing her homework, oblivious to the hurried steps and the commotion outside the school.

A waste of time and energy. Just carefree people spending their youth on fruitless things.

"Aren't you going home, [Name]? You're usually one of the first to leave," the vice-president asked, her gaze somewhat concerned as she rubbed her forearm, apprehensive.

It was noticeable that her side bag hung on her shoulder, and the usual animal-themed folder from some TV program was absent from the grip of her arms. She was leaving too.

"Sorry to be insinuating, Suzume, but... was that a criticism?" she asked, giving her a suggestive, meticulous look.

"No, not at all! I just thought something might be wrong," she mumbled, lowering her gaze to her shoes. Disconcerted.

'Spare me your concern - your pity'. She almost rolled her eyes. 'I don't need this.'

"No, it's okay," she sighed, lowering her eyes to the newly completely filled sheet. "I promised to wait for someone here after class, but I'll lock the door when I leave, if that's what worries you."

"That's a relief, thank you!" she said, clasping her hands, releasing a sigh filled with laziness and serenity. "Since everything is fine, I'll be going. See you tomorrow!"

She waved enthusiastically, leaving and closing the door slowly. She mimicked the gesture but lacked the Suzume's enthusiasm.

The room lacked its absolute silence when a faint knock sounded, several minutes after the vice-president left. Lazily, she murmured a "come in" the sound of her voice as she uttered the word was so low and weak that it would have been a frivolous action if not for the silence - disturbing.

Soon, the sound of the door slowly opening filled the quiet atmosphere. Not that she would openly comment on it, but for God's sake, someone urgently needed to put some lubricating oil on that door! That screeching noise was ear-piercing. Setting aside the thought, she raised her eyes from the homework notebook. Shamelessly giving a good look at the person - read: 'Troublemaker' - in an attempt to find out more about that... extravagant figure from the neighborhood.

'Eyebrow cuts and an earring... Let me guess, you have a tattoo? If so, where? - Maybe I can report him to the administration for breaking some dress code.' She thought to herself.

"You can sit there if you want," she indicated the front chair, adjusting her posture in the seat.

"No, thank you. I don't plan on taking much of your time," he politely declined, a small smile forming on his lips, convincing. "But I appreciate the gesture."

Muttered a prolonged "Hmm," almost judgmental. But she corrected that attitude with a light and casual smile.

"All right, let's get going then," she whistled in understanding, pulling out some newly acquired papers from the folder that until recently was an irrelevant item on the table. 'Here's my trump card.' "Takashi Mitsuya-san, correct?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw him raise his eyebrows - or what was left of them - in surprise. Without giving any cues to the subject, she continued:

"The leader of the Home Economics Club, and..." she put her index finger on her lips, making a dramatic and unnecessary pause.

"Did the girls tell you that?" he asked intrigued, but [Name] noticed how his shoulders relaxed with the mere possibility.

"Indeed, yes. But I have my sources," she shrugged, and for a moment, the boy felt insulted by the secretary's intrusion, but only a little. "Don't worry, I didn't see anything too personal. I just took a peek at your academic record."

"Isn't that an invasion of privacy?"

She almost wanted to laugh.

"Please, I'm part of the Student Council; invading other people's personal space is precisely my job," she mocked, as if it were obvious. "Besides, as the president says: 'It's all for a good cause.'"

She threw her forearm over the chair, turning a bit to face the figure standing a few steps from the door.

"But, putting the conversation aside, what do you want, really?" she finally asked. "forgive me, we lost track of the subject."

She could swear she saw him offer a brief prayer before responding.

"A portfolio."

Extending with one hand the authorization form that the secretary had assigned to the club representatives, lacking only the signature of a Student Council member.

"Excuse me?" Now she was genuinely confused, for the first time that day.

"I need your signature," he said straightforwardly, "right here."

"I can read," she grumbled, pulling the sheet from the guy's delicate hands to read it carefully, while he stared back at her with his dead-fish eyes (courtesy of the secretary's nickname).

"I can see," he teased, putting the playful banter aside, clearing his throat before continuing his speech. "As you can see, all the club members agree with the idea. We just need approval."

"What are you trying to saying?" She had to pretend not to be surprised by the information.

"That you are promoting the project," he deduced, making her widen her eyes with the irritatingly accurate accusation.

She gave a humorless laugh, almost as if she were raising a white flag of surrender. 'Looks like you got me.'

This is what happens when you work in the advertising field. Damn!

"All right, it seems there's nowhere to escape now," she admitted, looking away to the table, crossing her legs with a vacant look wandering around. "But... What makes you think I'll accept something like this? The school can't finance the materials, and don't even think the photography club will lend their things. If you want, you can talk to our treasurer, but I warn you they'll prefer to stick to the traditional yearbook."

"The project was independent from the beginning; the school won't spend anything on any of the other projects, and you know that," he pointed out. His patience was wearing thin. "Besides, some of the school's assets can be used by students; providing assistance during the project is a school obligation."

He's right again. So right it's annoying.

She took a deep breath without any shame before facing him with one of her smug smiles. Malicious, unfair.

"And what do I gain from this?" she sounded arrogant, almost a threat to the ears of others, resting her hand on her chin, seeking some composure after being unmasked, stripped, with her selfish exploits exposed.

Takashi looked at her with wide-open eyes, or maybe shocked?

"Let's suppose that, by chance, I help you... Do you know the precious time I'll lose providing assistance on your project? The newspaper won't write itself. As the president of the school newspaper, I say that this won't progress, and we'll all be disappointed in the end."

Spoke with her eyes fixed on the clear orbs of the delinquent.

"We can't abandon our priorities; I advise you to give up." She finalized.

"Since I came this far, I don't think giving up is an option," he countered. "And trust me, i can be persistent when I want."

"What do you plan? Remember that organizing something without the Student Council's authorization is equivalent to breaking the rules," she stood up, staring deep into his eyes. "But that doesn't affect you, does it? As a delinquent, you must be used to breaking the rules."

She practically spat out the word "delinquent."

"You really delved into my record, Secretary," he teased carelessly.

"As I said, and I'll repeat: it's part of my job."

"Is it also part of your job to dismiss any idea that doesn't suit you?" he raised an eyebrow with a small mocking smile. "Your attitude is a bit tyrannical, don't you agree, [Name]-san?"

He said, displaying his indifference, shifting to a sarcastic, almost mocking tone.

'This delinquent is laughing, laughing at me!'

'This can't happen, I can't allow this to happen!'

If one could describe the scene, it would be Takashi smiling while taking a selfie in front of a volcano erupting. Because one could never accurately describe with words how irritated - or offended? Or maybe both? - the girl was.

He was a bit surprised when he saw her lower her head, biting her lower lip. For a moment, he thought she was crying when he heard a low grumble. That's when she approached, marching in her shiny shoes, fists buried in the jacket pockets. With the look of someone about to commit an atrocity.

And she kept advancing. And advancing. To the point where he had to step back, only to hit the back against the corridor wall, realizing he had retreated all the way from inside the room to the corridor.

He was snapped out of his light reverie when he felt something hit violently against the wall. That's when he saw the secretary's shoe stuck in the wall, at the curve of his waist. Shocked, he couldn't help the surprise on his face. He wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she decided to punch him.

That's when she decided to break the silence:

"Exactly," she said, at a dangerous distance, blocking the delinquent's passage with her right leg. Takashi swallowed hard, staring back at her. "And what are you going to do about it, Sir?"

[theresattrpgforthat]

any ttrpgs for spooky dark boarding school stories? gotham academy, the boarding school: las cumbres, wednesday, that kinda thing?

THEME: Dark Boarding Schools

Hello there, at first I felt like this overlapped with all of my magic school recommendations, but once I did some digging, I realized that there's a lot of big differences! That also means that there was a good number of games I haven't recommended before, so I hope there's something here that fits what you're looking for.

Tangled Blessings, by Cassi Mothwin.

On the eve of your final exam at Brackroot Academy, what mysteries, secrets, dread, and drama will you recall from your last four years of schooling?

Tangled Blessings is a solo journaling or two-player RPG inspired by dark academia media, ghost stories, and graduate school. Featuring a wizarding college, wandering specters, assigned houses, curses, devils’ bargains and more supernatural flavor, Tangled Blessings blends horror and the fantastical to help players craft a story that spans their time at the academy — culminating in one final showdown against their rival.

If your favorite stories ever involved sneaking around an ancient building, uncovering dangerous secrets, studying in a dusty library, practicing spells on the lawn, or making perilous deals with creatures lurking in the darkness… This game is for you.

Tangled Blessings is a game about discovering the dark secrets hidden behind the allure of a secret magical world. You use a tarot deck to determine your character’s placement at the school, the nature of their rival, and the ghosts and creatures that will emerge throughout your years at the school. Each year is represented by a series of card draws, which will represent events that you have to decide how you respond to. If you play this game using the 2-player variant, each of you will play each-other’s rivals, comparing your results to see how the school year affects the both of you. The game culminates in a Final Exam that will determine whether you or or rival comes out on top.

St. Hornbeck, by belsaas.

Welcome to St. Hornbeck College/

Atop a small hill in the woods just outside the small town of Southfield, WI sits a College. Old, copper-rimmed limestone buildings huddle together against the harsh winters, while herds of students wander between them in search of wisdom, kinship and the occasional party. Soon, those herds of students will include you. There are two main reasons for enrolling at St. Hornbeck. Firstly, they have a leading program in the field you want to major in (yes, whatever you may choose). Secondly, there are only a handful of colleges that accept monster-teens in America…

This game relies on traditional teenage tropes to inform your character background, and leans fully into the allegory of monstrosity being a metaphor for young adulthood. Gameplay occurs over a series of scenes, marking various days in the calendar of the school year. In each scene, you can roll for or choose complications related to your monstrosity as a way to invite tension and obstacles for your characters to overcome. If you want to see something that’s a bit darker, you might want to check out this game’s inspiration, by snagging Midnight Oil from Jay Dragon’s Patreon.

Lost Years, by Summerwood Games.

The boarding school in this game is any boarding school, every boarding school. The walls are old stone or red brick, the dormitories are filled with young people going through the agonizing process of becoming themselves, classrooms retrofitted with ceiling tiles and modern lighting.

There are spaces of this school that belong only to us students, sacred rites performed in them that mean nothing to others and everything to us. We smoke cigarettes in the basement, make out in the tack room, make meaningful eye contact across the cricket pitch. I will tell you two truths and a lie: no one can take these years from us, none of us will be the same when we leave, no class will teach us more than we learn from one another. Can you see now which one is the lie? We couldn’t.

Lost Years is a Belonging Outside Belonging game set in a boarding school menaced by a mysterious force that threatens to empty the students of everything that makes them themselves. Meant for 3-5 players, it can be played as a one-shot but is most suited for multi-session play. 

Lost Years looks to be a game that focuses on the emotional highs and lows of being a teenager trying to survive in a strange environment away from the eyes of their parents - but still under the control of some form of authority. Your characters will fill the roles of various tropes from boarding school media, such as the Sporty One, or the Witchy One.

Because this game is BoB, the school itself will fill the foreground, with various locations such as the Attic and the Greenhouse being fleshed out by different players around the table. If you want a game that focuses on the themes of dark academia and how they affect the relationships of these students, you might want to check out Lost Years.

Never & More, by Small Stories.

NEVER & MORE is a quick-play roleplaying game and Edgar Allan Poe-inspired hack of John Harper's Lasers & Feelings.

You are the newest recruits of The Society of Ushers, an occult secret society. Your mission is to prove yourself to your superiors, master the rituals required to move up a rung, and learn how to talk to ravens. Your direct superior and teacher, the Belfry-Devil, has finally deemed you suitable to circulate by yourselves amongst greater society, trusting you to remain faithful to the Ushers in the face of attempted poaching, targeted seduction, and superior parties.

This isn’t necessarily a game about academia, but I think it carries similar elements of learning, dark secrets, and hierarchy. Lasers and Feelings games balance your characters between two qualities; in this case, you are torn between your desire for safety and your hunger for knowledge. You can play this as a one-shot or draw it out if you like, just keep in mind that these types of games usually don’t have resources for character advancement, so your characters won’t gain any new abilities - although whether or not they learn from their mistakes is up to you.

Precarious Prep, by Seaworks.

Welcome to Precarious Prep.

Something dark is going on at Precarious Preparatory School, and one detective - your GM - needs somebody on the inside. In the daytime you'll take classes, get to know the students and faculty, figure out who you can trust. The better you do in class, the faster you'll level up. At night you'll investigate the campus, search for clues, and unlock puzzles. Report your discoveries to the detective to gain points.

Instead of having 6 universal stats, Precarious Prep uses a curriculum - the stats your character takes on are determined by the course load you pick up each trimester. The better you do in classes, the more firepower you’ll have in your investigations. Classes can be fully relevant, partially relevant, or irrelevant to the checks you need to make throughout the game, so coordinate with your team and round out your education with a variety of skills.

Precarious Prep uses something called Discovery Points to indicate how close your students are to revealing what exactly is going on at this preparatory school. Your characters use the things they are learning in class to investigate the mystery, while trying to avoid generating enough suspicion to get them kicked out. Many of the rules strive to generate a number of different gambles that the players can take while trying to gather information - will you do something that increases your chances of success while also increasing your chances of getting expelled? Can you get enough information before the school year ends - or before one of you gets killed?

This game is still in open beta, which means it’s free, but also that it might still have some kinks that need to be worked out. The designer is very eager for feedback, so if you take a look at this game, you might be able to contribute to the final product!

I’d Also Recommend….

The Gardening Club, by Wizard of Ox.

[nukeyyy]

finished interview with the vampire season 2 last night and wow what an amazing show 😭 i cried at least once per episode lmao. thoughts BELOW (warning: long post + major spoilers for the show -obvs-)

the actors are phenomenal and i'm always blown away by sam and jacob's chemistry on-screen. i also can't get over how eric bogosian and luke brandon field not only look so much alike but also manage to act very similarly (like the mannerisms, speech patterns etc.)??? like i know it's their jobs as actors but every time i saw young daniel i was just so impressed lol. amazing casting, amazing talent, amazing actors

i had been spoiled for so many things for s2 (i never read the books), like claudia dying, lestat being alive, armand having erased louis's memory and daniel becoming a vampire. yeah that's a lot... i didn't know how it'd be executed in the show at all but i just knew those facts because i wasn't careful enough online whoops 🥲 i was still gagged seeing all those moments on-screen though so i don't mind haha

also i relate to louis character so much it's actually ridiculous. i'm him and he's me. ME AND HIM, HIM AND ME (ok i'll stop)

i could relate to lestat a lot too (i'm somewhat of an expert at loneliness/depression/fear of abandonment and self-sabotage, rip i need help 😎).

armand was fascinating (and intimidating) to me just knowing how he's an ancient vampire who can just fuck you up if he wants to.

daniel's sarcastic comments were probably the funniest thing for me lolll and his facial expressions at certain things being told. like he's lowkey done with this gay vampire drama and it cracks me up. i still think about the "are you a schizophrenic, louis? 🤨" line because it's such a valid question lol and i always wonder why characters in shows/movies don't freak out whenever i see that trope of a character seeing a dead person qsdqs i'd be contacting a doctor asap. real talk i usually don't like that trope much (it usually feels like fanservice more than anything and like the writers are too scared to let the dead character go) but with lestat i actually liked it. probably because i knew he was actually alive. but still i'd feel so emotional when his "ghost" would be around because i knew it was louis imagining what would lestat do or say if he was here (or at least that's how i interpreted it). which... that's how you know you miss someone BAD 'cause the last/only time i felt that way about someone....... yeah.......

now, claudia... sigh. i feel bad for saying that but i really had a hard time liking her character. i WANTED to like her. i did at some points (loooved her at the beginning, in s1), and i always understood her motives and why she felt the way she did. at the same time, i'd feel annoyed with the way she'd always interject into louis and lestat's conversations/arguments, trying to sway louis in the direction she wanted whenever lestat was showing kindness or hints of remorse. she was never willing to give lestat a chance no matter what he did or said and it irked me a bit. it bothered me most at the trial actually, because lestat was apologizing to LOUIS, and claudia was in louis's ear telling him "it's too little too late" like girl pleaseee respectfully, the apology isn't for you to accept or reject. let louis make up his own mind.

louis is a grown man and it's his relationship, so i felt like claudia should've stayed out of it (at least in the moment, i don't mind if she expresses her opinion to louis later). i felt bad for louis because he made so many sacrifices for her but she never really seemed to reciprocate much (or maybe armand erased my memory). i hated how she called louis "dead weight" in her journal in 2x01. again i understand why she was angry at him, but after everything he's done for her, and considering the fact he was grieving the "death" of lestat (which was brutal), his lover of 30+ years iirc, and he basically couldn't talk about it with her (or anyone for that matter), it just felt unfair to him.

idk maybe i'm being way too harsh on her character, i know she's a character that the fandom likes, so really i feel like i'm missing something? i want to like her i really do but i don't vibe with her character. maybe i'll like her more after rewatching the show (not that it matters anymore since she's dead 😬 but still). i did feel for her though when louis didn't believe her about armand threatening her 'cause that was such bullshit lol like as if claudia would make that up... anyway i did enjoy her relationship with madeleine, too bad it ended the way it did. felt bad for madeleine but when claudia came back to her i kinda knew that madeleine would get murdered by the coven eventually 😅 i actually had a theory that the coven would use madeleine as one of their human sacrifices for the théâtre to punish claudia for having a "forbidden friend", and i wasn't too far off!

when lestat saved louis from getting the death sentence ... i remember thinking in the moment of the trial "is it armand or lestat doing that?" then when it "showed" it was armand, i accepted that but i was confused since lestat claims to love louis. then when it was revealed that it was LESTAT that saved louis but armand took credit for it all and lestat let him??? DUDE!

like i had the same reaction as present louis 'cause ... DANIEL? YOUR QUESTIONS MAKE TOO MUCH SENSE. lol. speaking of louis and daniel, i absolutely loved the way louis comforted him in 1973 after all the trauma they'd both gone through. louis has this empathetic side to him that shines through at times and i love it (kinda reminds me of will graham)

i absolutely LIVED for louis burning down the théâtre des vampires, it was absolutely badass and deserved. santiago's death made me go "now THAT'S a vampire show!!!". i enjoyed santiago as a villain, very entertaining to watch he was. also i love that those two fans of the théâtre (the guy and girl with the black and white makeup always sitting in the front row) attended EVERY show lol

something that's more of season 1, but, i love lestat's french. if you don't know, i'm french myself, but i watched the show its original language with english subtitles (as i like to do with every game/show/movie). so when lestat spoke french i loved it i mean. lestat's my favorite and i love the actor who plays him so not gonna lie it'd make me fangirl a bit everytime LMAO like ooo he's speaking MY language!!!

(i'm still a teenage girl at heart i guess sometimes lol)

that argument that lestat and louis had in french in season 1 over claudia (when claudia was in louis' coffin writing in her journal) ... will always make me laugh... just the conclusion of lestat going "putain de merde, bonne nuit" and shutting his coffin and then louis saying bonne nuit back XD it just feels so real you know. when you argue with someone but you still love them enough to say the nice little things.

speaking of arguments, i was so surprised at lestat's recollection of things during the trial, and how it differed from louis' retelling of events to daniel. many times i was like "is lestat lying? orrr" 'cause it's wild how different the versions are. particularly that massive fight in season 1 when lestat dropped him from the sky (if anyone who hasn't watched the show is reading this post, they're probably like "wtf" lmao). if lestat was saying the truth about how it went down, then damn, i feel bad for lestat :/ JUSTICE FOR LESTAT (i feel so toxic for saying that lol). like louis was NASTY in that scene, downright cruel. they both love each other so much yet they both hurt each other just as much it seems. i just want them to be happy 🥲 if that's even possible.

oh and TW: suicide for this section because i want to talk about THAT louis scene in 1973. hell that whole fight he had with armand. first of all, i felt so sad for armand that he was being called boring and dull etc. by louis, even though louis had drugs in his system and was clearly having a mental breakdown. if i'd been armand i would've cried on the spot ngl 😭 i'm surprised armand stayed with louis after that, probably to just spite lestat? but then when louis went on the roof to try to kill himself by burning under the sun ... i was sobbing and even just thinking about it now it makes me want to cry, as someone who's considered suicide many times since i'm like 19, it hit close to home. i wouldn't wish that shit on anybody and it hurts so much seeing a character i love go through that even though it's all just fictional. and when armand contacted lestat and lestat was asking louis (through armand) "why are you ill? what's happened to you?" and later "i love you, louis" and he said it so softly like ... DAMN MY FEELINGS.

i ALMOST forgot to talk about lestat and louis' reunion in new orleans in the last episode (bruh how could i). i CRIED. i loved seeing them take accountability for their past mistakes and just seeing how far the both of them have come, seeing them ACTUALLY be vulnerable and talk to each other and both of them listening to each other and be there for each other. it was such a touching scene. and lestat's voice cracking when he asked louis if he hurt himself back in 1973? it wasn't just his voice that cracked in that moment it was also my HEART wtf

and how sweet and heartfelt that hug was. i was kinda glad they didn't kiss/get back together in that moment. it made the moment more meaningful, and i think it's good for them to be on good terms yet still be apart for some time to process things (not forever of course hehe). i'm just glad they're not against each other anymore and that they seemed to have made peace.

of course at the end louis is basically ready to fight any vampire who wants to kill him over the publishing of the book. i'm not too worried. lestat will probably show up to help louis kick their asses or escape (don't spoil me). i do wonder what happened with armand and where he is now!

oh and i gotta say, about the show overall but again mainly season 1, i absolutely LOVE how they portrayed lestat and louis's relationship in general. i'm so glad they seemed like just a "normal" couple and they weren't written as a GAY couple ... idk if that makes sense. they ARE a gay couple but it's not the defining trait of their relationship, it's a part of it of course, but the writers didn't make it all about their sexuality and they didn't make it a stereotype like some shows & movies treat their gay characters/couples, and it was so refreshing. like i'm not even a dude and i felt SEEN. and then i thought to myself "shit, is this how straight people feel when they see a m/f relationship on-screen???" 'cause 99% of the time i feel nothing when watching m/f relationships, but i get really emotionally invested and i feel a connection with m/m and f/f relationships. kinda sucks to realize though 'cause it just reminds me of how little high quality gay content we get in the media but thankfully times are changing. i mean just thinking of how it was like 10 years ago? back then i always had gay ships that never ended up canon lol it was rough. i'm happy i get to have interesting gay ships that ARE canon these days. hope it keeps going that way 🥹 i don't even bother with anything that involves queerbaiting these days, i only go for stuff with CANON gay/lesbian ships & main characters or i'll pass (with some exceptions), i no longer have the patience i had as a teenager, fuck that. it's 2024 we can have more now >:)

well, that went into a tangent. i'll keep it in though 'cause it's a discussion i'd love to have if anyone wants to talk about that further!

one thing i wonder about is what was up with those feral vampires (that's what i call them) early in season 2? claudia ripped the eyes off from one in the forest. these vampires looked ... uh ... i don't even how to describe it lol. but was it because they kept drinking the blood of people traumatized by the war? or was it something else?

anyway. conclusion is i enjoyed the show so so much and i can't wait for season 3!!! i've heard lestat will be in a rock band in season 3 and i'm hyped haha

i probably missed stuff to talk about but the post is already so long. feel free to send me a message/ask if you want my thoughts on certain plot points/characters or just to discuss them! i'd love to :D as long as you're nice ('cause trust me i'm aware of how hypocritical i am by disliking claudia and yet loving louis and lestat's characters dqdsq i'm sorry for that)

now i can freely check out the fandom weee 💃

[slytherinshua]

IM SO EXCITED YOU DONT EVEN KNOW!!! AGAIN, CONGRATS!! ITS ALL WELL DESERVED AND IM HAPPY I CAN BE HERE AND WAYXH U GROW BC!!! IR TALENT SHOULD BE APPRECIATED!!

now to the req…. hehehe….. let me tell u how excited i was when i saw you’re taking k-dramas KMG!!!! so obv…

YUL FROM AOS!!! yul my beloved he’s such a cutie patootie– anyways… fluff: 39, 53 and other: 30!! idk i just feel like it suits him!!

MASTER YUL

genre. fluff. master x pupil trope. warnings. kissing. spoilers for aos ig? its not rly set in any particular episode but park jin is still the leader of songrim so i'd say loosely around ep 10-12. pairing. seo yul x fem!reader. wc. 2.1k. a/n. ahhhh axe tysm for requesting smth for yul 😭 our baby 🫶 i kinda got carried away with this and then didn't proof read it so idk how good it is lol but i had fun writing it!!

“Give me one chance. I can hold my own in a fight. I will do anything it takes.” You pleaded, practically begging at the steps of the training centre in Jeongjingak. 

People from low class families, and especially women were never accepted into Songrim Jeongjingak. Everyone in Daeho knew that, and you’d have to be a fool or stupidly brave to try to say otherwise. You were probably both given that you were standing by the doors of the training centre at the moment, your slightly scuffed up clothing and long hair giving you no favours. 

You wanted to blame your father for your current situation, but since he was currently cold in his grave and you respected him too much, you didn’t let your thoughts wander in that direction. 

He had always insisted that you needed to know how to defend yourself, starting at a young age. After years of burdensome training, you started to finally feel the rush and satisfaction of a fight. After years of complaining about the lessons your father taught you, you finally wanted to learn spells. You wanted to use the energy inside your body. You desperately wanted to feel like you were useful, powerful, capable. 

You excelled in all the ladylike areas, from sewing and needlework, to gardening, to singing and dancing thanks to your mother. But they were all just so boring. Your habit of spending your entire day in the public library reading all the books on spells started when you were 14. It only grew over the next few years until your father knew you wanted more than he could offer you.

He wasn’t a highly skilled mage, and in his lifetime had not needed to progress beyond Jipsu, the ability to gather the energy of water. You had mastered that years ago and had progressed to tackling the skill of Ryusu. You tried hard to master it on your own once your father taught you all his lessons, but it was a near impossible task.

You needed a master, but none would accept you as their pupil. After almost every master in the country turned you down for various reasons, you turned to your last option - Songrim.

Face to face with Lord Park, one of the most renowned mages in the capital, and the current leader of Songrim, you held your head high as he refused your pleas.

One look at you had him and the other mages glaring you down and shaking their heads with disapproval. They wouldn’t even give you a chance. Dozens of remarks were thrown at you. You let them pass through one ear and out the other, not letting these men get the chance to see you turn away defeated. You were already risking your pride begging them, but you wouldn’t leave without being able to showcase your skills first. 

“You really think our masters would waste their time and energy on a girl like you with no potential?” One rude young mage sneered, and you bowed your head further, finally feeling your blood boil with rage. You gripped your sword tight enough that your knuckles turned white, resisting the urge to unsheathe it and hold it to his neck. 

I have more potential in my left pinky finger than you or any of your ancestors have had for the past 300 years, you whispered under your breath in spite, making sure it wasn’t loud enough for him to hear it.

You were unaware of a party of mages returning to the training centre at the moment, and the one leading the way seemed to have picked up on what you were mumbling. He stood next to you, a slight smirk playing on his lips as he glanced at you.

“Cha Beom is an asshole, but I wouldn’t waste your words on him.”

You glanced to the side, surprised that someone was taking your side. As you looked him over, you were sure you had seen him somewhere before. His face was fair and handsome and his clothes were neat. He looked pristine and well-mannered, but more than anything, he looked like he stuck to the rules. He was probably the last person you pictured sticking up for someone like you. You also thought that the word ‘asshole’ didn’t fit coming from his mouth.

“I’ll spar with her. If she can beat me, let her train here. If she can’t, then I’ll train her myself.” The mage said confidently. Your eyebrows furrowed at his brazenness. Wouldn’t he get reprimanded for speaking such an outlandish thing?

But he didn’t.

You watched as Lord Park sighed and waved the young mage off. An older man, Master Heo, started to protest, but upon Lord Park’s clear disinterest in continuing the situation, he was silenced.

“Do what you wish with her, Yul. Train her yourself.”

The mage smiled at Lord Park and bowed before turning to you, “So, Y/n. Let’s see those skills, hm?”

“How do you know my name?”

“I know a lot of things.” He remarked.

“Do you really have what it takes to train me? Aren’t you just another mage at Jeongjingak?” You questioned with uncertainty, earning a scoff from the young mage. 

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” He asked in disbelief. 

“Should I?”

He nodded, “Let me explain it. I have always been the top student at Jeongjingak; I mastered all the books, reached Chisu in a short amount of time, and people always come to me when they need help. That is me, Seo Yul.”

“Ah… I see. You’re smarter than you look, then.” You concluded, walking forward.

Yul paused, eyes blinking and head turned to the side in thought, “Is that a compliment for my intelligence or an insult for my looks?” He called out to you, making you turn around again.

“It was meant to be neither, though I suppose you are… decent.”

“Decent?”

“Mm… Your looks aren’t exactly my style, but even I can’t deny that you’re not too bad.” You continued, smile widening every time his face further scrunched in confusion. Teasing him was more fun than you thought.

“Is this how you’re going to treat your new master?” 

“Why? You don’t like it?”

“You’re just very… blunt.”

“I’m sure you’ll get used to it, Master Yul.” 

Yul’s eyes widened slightly, the formality of the new name was far from the regular “Young Master Seo” he was used to hearing. Hearing it from you brought him some strange satisfaction and warmth. It was strange.

//

Yul was a hard master to please. More often than not, you felt like he was disappointed with you because he always kept a straight face. He always forced himself to hide his affection for you for fear that it would distract from your training, which frustrated you. You clinged onto the moments where he let his true emotions shine through just a bit. The lingering stares and little smiles— from those small moments you were sure that he was actually a warm person, and not the cold, strict master like he appeared on the outside. You just needed to find a way for him to break the facade. 

Because he was so skilled himself, impressing him only happened once in a blue moon. You tried your best, and improved quickly under his guidance. He would train you rigorously every weekday after his own training at Jeongjingak. Usually you would be by the river, using the rough and difficult terrain to your advantage. It definitely helped with your dexterity and swiftness. After just a few months, you had mastered Ryusu.

The bright smile on Yul’s face when you were finally able to gain energy from the water was one you would never forget. He even laughed a bit, and you swore you were happier about making him happy than progressing in your training.

Your love for teasing Yul never went away. His expressions were just too adorable to make you want to stop, and you felt that they gave him a small break from the pressure he was under as the eldest son of the Seo family. 

You were thinking about all your little habits you had picked up around Yul, when it hit you. How you felt that warm fluttering feeling in your stomach when you saw him smile, and the heat crept onto your cheeks whenever he had to touch your hand to show you a proper placement for a spell. That wasn’t a normal master-pupil thing. You liked him. 

As you packed up your supplies one late night by the river, his perfect face kept flashing in your mind. His cute smile curving on his lips like when you mastered another spell, the subtle curve of his nose, the plush berry colour of his lips, the softness in his eyes. He was truly one of the most pure humans you had ever come into contact with, and your adoration for him only grew everyday. 

“Stupid, stupid, stupid.” You scolded yourself under your breath. Now that you were aware that you were in love with him, how much harder would it be to go to training with him? You were sure you were going to be flustered and tripping your own two feet the next time you tried to work on your spells with him.

“Who are you calling stupid?”

You flinched and turned around, seeing Yul sitting in one of the trees by the bank, watching you pack up intently. 

“Myself. Why’re you still here?” You asked, cheeks heating up when he jumped down from the tree smoothly and crouched down next to you to help you pack the rest of your things.

“Because my pupil is still here even though the sun has already set long ago.” He said, a smile playing on his lips but he suppressed it like always. His hand moved to pick up the bottle of medicinal herbs you had to put in your bag and his fingers brushed against yours, your cheeks heating up even more at the action. In a panic, you realised the moon shining down on you was just enough light for Yul to pick up on the colour of your cheeks. You silently cursed him for noticing every little detail about you.

“Wait… Are you blushing?” He asked with uncertainty. You backed away slightly, whispering a hushed “no” and hoping he would drop the subject. You weren’t used to this side of him, and your nerves grew every time his face inched closer to yours. How was he always so calm and collected while able to make you so flustered?

“Let me check your breathing technique, Y/n.” Yul said quietly, hand gently resting on your stomach. You looked up at him with wide eyes, breathing in short fast puffs. You saw his lips stretch into what looked like a smirk. “Your breathing is completely off. What did I tell you about practising it even when you’re not training?”

“I… I’m sorry. I must’ve… forgotten.” You mumbled, mind spinning as you wondered why his hand was still touching you.

“Do I need to remind you more often?” He asked, head tilting as he looked at you fondly. You stayed silent, wide eyes staring into his like he had put you in a trance— as if you were incapable of looking away.

Your eyes moved faster than your brain as they flickered down to his lips for a split second. If your brain was able to make a sound, it would be screaming at you right now. Why the heck would you do that? There was no way Yul wouldn’t catch on to it. You’re screwed.

You couldn’t think or even breathe when you saw him leaning in, eyes blinking closed until his soft lips finally met yours. Your cheeks burned as you kissed him back. You couldn’t think about anything but him - the feeling of having him so close, your hearts racing in sync, him pulling you closer by the waist. Your hands moved on their own, gently carding through the soft hairs at the back of his head until he eventually pulled out, still holding you close.

You caught your breath and calmed your racing heart, whispering a soft, “...Did you just kiss me?”

“Yes.” He smiled. You wondered when he got the power to steal all your confidence.

“Can you… do it again?” 

“I didn’t know you liked it that much.” He smiled, eyes glimmering, moonshine reflecting off his face, "I guess my looks are a bit more than just decent?" He teased as he leaned in once more, pressing another soft kiss to your lips.

[maul-of-shame]

[CHRISTMAS ONESHOTS REQUESTS OPEN!!!]

🎄✨ The Rings of Power and The Lord of the Rings Christmas Oneshots! ✨🎄

This holiday season, I’m taking a break from Mount Doom-level stress to bring YOU custom oneshots inspired by The Rings of Power and The Lord of the Rings! I have 20 slots for immersive, detailed stories full of holiday cheer, romance, drama, or even some second-breakfast-worthy smut. (Yes, NSFW is welcome!)

🛑 The Forbidden Ships There are some ships I just won’t set sail on—these are my No-No Ships, and not even lembas snacks could convince me to write them:

Galadriel/Celeborn (Sorry, Celeborn fans. I respect him (not really), but I’m leaving him in the forest where he belongs.)

Galadriel/Sauron (No rings or dark whispers here, thank you!)

Galadriel/Halbrand (A stormy ship that’s staying in Númenor for me.)

Elrond/Celebrian (Nope, not even with Elrond’s mithril-level patience.) If your pairing feels like tossing the One Ring into Mount Doom for me, I reserve the right to say no.😊

💡 Your Prompts and OCs I’m no wizard (okay, maybe a little like Gandalf on a good day), so I need your help to make these stories shine:

Got an OC or something? Fantastic! But I need ALL the details: names, appearances, personality traits, quirks, backstories, and even dialogue ideas. Help me see them as vividly as Sam sees potatoes.

Prompts: The more descriptive, the better! Give me tropes, scenarios, or wild ideas that bring your favorite characters to life. Whether it’s “a cozy Yule celebration in Rivendell” or “Legolas tries to untangle lights on a Christmas tree,” throw me your best shot!

No details, no fic. If you give me less than Gollum’s vocabulary, I can’t craft you something worthy of the halls of Khazad-dûm.

📜 How It Works: 1️⃣ Requests open on November 23th, aka TODAY!!! 2️⃣ Include a way for me to contact you (Tumblr username, email, or other handles). If I can’t reach you, your request will fall into the void like poor Gandalf at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm.... too soon? 3️⃣ I’ll update this post as slots fill up, so check back if you’re unsure what’s available.

💌 Reach Out Anytime DM me if you have questions, want to chat about ideas, or just need someone to geek out about Middle-earth with. Once you've given me the intel, I'll lock you a spot!

🎁 Let’s make this Christmas as magical as an Elven feast (or at least as fun as a hobbit party)! Looking forward to crafting some unforgettable tales for you all!

[ SLOTS AVAILABLE: 15/20 ]

NB: A Quick Note on Anonymity ❗ If you want to stay anonymous when I post your fic, that’s no problem—just give me a heads-up, and I’ll guard your secret like Gollum with the One Ring.

However, I won’t be accepting fic requests from anon asks.

Why? Because I’m not a Nazgûl chasing after stray details, and I’m definitely not Aragorn, destined to track down wayward prompts across Middle-earth.

I need details—all the details! If you send me a vague request like “Make Legolas do something cool,” I might just make him bake lembas bread with Gimli in a Santa hat. So, if you want a fic worthy of the halls of Rivendell, don’t skimp on the info. Think of me as Gandalf: I need the full story before I can bring the magic!

[rwrbficrecs]

Readers' Choice Rec List Part 4 of 7

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

lifelines by @indomitable-love

@dot524: I have been working my way through all of indomitablelove’s fics. They are all fantastic, but this one blew me away. Added so much depth to an already very dramatic event. Well written & includes some very thoughtful character PoVs.

@space--potat0: A perfect companion when you're rereading the book but want some extra Pain And Sadness

babygrxmlin: The emails from everyone else's point of view (it's so beautiful and gorgeous and stunning and it made my chest ache in the best possible way, please read it everyone!)

Rio by @treluna4

Statueinthestonetoo: This was one of the first rwrb fics I read, and Treluna is a wonderful writer who pulls you in and captivates you with their words. It's sexy and sweet at the same time and I highly recommend it.

eyes full of stars by @acdsbff

@musicandi: I submitted this fic because it is so beautiful and heartfelt.

Now and Then by @mudbloodpotter05

anon: This author told a Soulmate story with a canon divergence and made it AU all at the same time. Not only that, while it does have an MCD, the author has a happy ending that…well, gotta love that “soulmate magic” because while it does have an MCD, this story has not let me down when I need to feel the bad and read the good.

ManBatman: I tend to stay away from stories with an MCD, but when I saw that this was a Soulmate story too, I decided to read it especially when it said happy ending, despite the MCD. Happy endings can be subjective, but I can tell the author loves the Henry and Alex because as much as they lean into the drama, and live up to the mcd tag, they still pay off the happy ending in a way that definitely reminds me why soulmate stories are my favorite.

Hit (my love) out of the park by bleedingballroomfloor

Tabitha: The first story and the series as a whole, of Baseball Boyfriends, always is just the perfect read for me. Angst and joy, love and patience and acceptance of others and one’s self and never leaves me feeling left wanting when I read this series at least once a month!

Hashtag Soulmates by @everwitch-magiks

@mudbloodpotter05: This is such a crazy story and one of the first ever RWRB stories that I read in the fandom. Each chapter has a different fanfiction trope, and leans into what we love about fanfiction in the first place and just how outlandish and fun a story can be all the while telling a compelling story that has some angst, but also provides that lightness that comes with a happy ending

@three-drink-amy: It is the ultimate love letter to fanfiction and rwrb! So fun and well done!

The Other way by @three-drink-amy, @everwitch-magiks, @athousandrooms

@mudbloodpotter05: I love this story because it take reality tv and puts an RWRB spin on it while still staying true to Alex and Henry. Even though it isn’t the standard RWRB story for them, they still have to learn to communicate and grow all the while trying to make it down the aisle for their happy ever after.

In need of assistance by @stutteringpeach

anon: This story and it’s follow up are just one of those sweet stories that fill one’s cup I always come back to this story because one, arthur is alive and two the way he tries to go about setting up Henry and Alex is amazing and so obvious you can’t help but love it and the sequel is just as good as the first!!

Aged like a fine wine by @three-drink-amy

anon: I was reading this one as it was posting and I was absolutely hooked for weeks. It has several rwrb tropes I love and it's definitely one of my favourites

[twig-tea]

Thai QL Favorites Tag Game

Tagged by @telomeke and @waitmyturtles, thank you both for the tag!

Credit: this game was created by @thatgirl4815 as Thai BL Favorites Tag Game.

I want you all to know before I start that asking for favourites is biphobic so you're going to have to ignore the places where I bent/ignored the rules about how many choices I was allowed to have. Also, this is so long, and took forever, I'm so sorry:

Favorite Thai QL:

I could caveat this until the end of time, but I'm going to go with the definition of "favourite" that's "has a special place in my heart" rather than necessarily "best"; and that's undoubtedly Until We Meet Again. I got very not normal about this show. When it was airing, I used to rewatch every episode before the new episode, and then rewatch the newly aired episode at least once before binging the show to date again. And I've binged it several times since. Sometimes if I need to cry, I'll put on the first 10 minutes and ugly-sob. This show felt like an apology and catharsis for years of built-up bury-your-gays induced trauma from queer media, in addition to a balm for all of the external relationship drama tropes in BL. I think I've talked about it around here somewhere before, how this show sets up all of the tropes for things that go wrong for couples in BL, and then everything is fine, over and over? And it was airing during the very start of the pandemic before the world was calling it a pandemic, when I was so worried about everything and governments hadn't caught up to being afraid yet, and I felt so alone, and this show over and over again said "it'll be ok", at a time I really needed to hear that. Plus it's got the whole epic-love-story-across-lives and the family acceptance redemption arc that as a still-only-partially-out-to-my-family-in-my-30s queer absolutely destroys me. Anyway, there are other shows that I would agree are as good or better (shout out to He's Coming to Me, I Told Sunset about You, Bad Buddy, Not Me, The Eclipse), but UWMA remains my fave (and gets two gifs for being top spot).

Favorite Pairing: I have seen this interpreted as branded pairs & as fictional couple, so I'm going to take that excuse to answer both questions. I'm honestly not a fan branded pairs as a thing and agree with @lurkingshan's comments on this, I tend to prefer it when people continuously work with different actors. That being said, JoongDunk seem to be having a lot of fun with the whole fanservice game, which is fun to watch for as long as they're enjoying themselves and continue to be in on the joke, which seems to be the case.

Fictional couple? Right at this moment I am still thinking about Khatha and Dome from Midnight Museum. I think this one hit me in my Chinese epics button, because the story felt a lot like a danmei (not the least because you could argue it reads as censored bromance). But this show asks questions about fate, God, the devil, multiverses, and then has its characters choosing to reject all of the above in order to choose each other? SIGN ME UP. Legitimately it's the most fun I've had watching a tv show in awhile, it was bananas, and I loved the journey of Khatha figuring out who Dome was in relationship to Chan, and deciding to love Dome as Dome, at the same time that Dome was also figuring out who he was, and deciding he preferred who he was when he was with Khatha. But also just Tor + Gun are incredible actors (Tor having been a stand-out since Hormones and Gun of course since The Blue Hour) and I would watch either of them in anything, but together they were magnetic (and evidence for my earlier point re: branded pairs, as much as I enjoy Off & Gun together!).

Most underrated actor: I'm going to say James Teeradon. He had a few small roles in Hormones 2 & 3, Diary of Tootsies, and The Stranded, and he had the main role in Project S: Skate our Souls and in Great Men Academy. First, I should say, you could argue none of these classify as BLs. Second, all of these have trigger warnings, so please take care of yourself and feel free to ask if you want content warnings. But he's one of those actors who never looks like the same person in each role he's playing, and he absolutely gives me shivers. His performance as Boo in Skate our Souls was legitimately chill-inducing--this one in particular has serious trigger warnings, I put off watching it for a long time because I knew about the warnings and waited until I was in the right headspace, and it still messed with me for weeks. But oh man, oh man that show, it rewrote part of my DNA. I don't even know that under-rated is fair to say since there was buzz around him when he was in these shows a few years ago, but he was trying to make it as part of a band for awhile and he hasn't been in much since. If there's one person I want to see in something else who a lot of other people don't talk about these days, it's James.

Cheating and taking the opportunity to choose a second actor from definitely-a-BL series: Fluke Chinnathan from Second Chance the Series. While Second Chance had a lot of flaws, the acting by Fluke and Tong was stellar. Their micro-expressions and body language was unreal. I feel strongly enough about this that I wrote an ode to it as part of the BL-Bracket for best kiss scene. No idea what Fluke is up to or if he even wants to keep acting, but I'd love to see him in something else--he's one of the only other actors (than James, mentioned above) that I'll go in to MyDramaList occasionally just to check to see if they're in anything new. PS if you do give Second Chance a shot, please know going in that Run and Games, real life brothers who are both actors, are both in this series but never in a scene together, and their characters are similar, so a lot of people have trouble telling them apart without knowing there are two different characters in the show.

(Also, I 100% would have said Suar for this question before La Pluie, because he did not get enough credit for You're My Sky and I think he was incredible).

Favorite Character: Honestly, I've deleted my answer to this so many times now. Choosing one is so hard! I'm going to go with White from Not Me. Incredibly loyal, strong moral values (but willing to break the rules/law to fulfil those values because he understands that law ≠ morality), self-sacrificing, extremely competent in some ways, but also has serious blind spots in others that leads to him making very silly choices especially around who they trust, lacking in self esteem especially around whether or not people will want him around. The way he chooses to give up his privilege--not for his brother, because he could have found a way to go back to his old life after everything if he wanted--because he saw what was wrong with all of it and decided to do what he could to help fix it (and not participate in it) is something that really resonated with me. I also love that he is an absolute marshmallow who cannot hide that fact. Plus White being a disaster bi who wanted Sean from the beginning endeared him to me forever. And it doesn't hurt that he's played by Gun Atthaphan

Favorite Side Character: I have also started and stopped this section so many times. Natty and her absolutely terrible taste in women from Diary of Tootsies, Na being at some points the only reason I kept watching Tonhon Chonlatee, Namo being smart enough to know to pretend she doesn't know what's going on in Not Me, Tong the ecovillage owner from Bad Buddy, Daisy and their incredible gender and mix of self esteem + self esteem issues in Secret Crush on You.

Alright I'm giving it to Dream in Something in My Room. I don't have good reasons for this; her character was artistic, had supernatural powers, green asymmetrical hair, and was stoic with a hidden dark past, and I am a simple woman. I wanted to know everything about her.

Favorite scene in a QL: How can I choose just one?! I'm choosing three and you can't stop me.

Third place, Not Me, with Sean and White under the pride flag. It has everything: It's iconic, it's cinematic, it's cathartic, it's political, it's a critical character moment, it has great music, it's full of queer joy, and it brings me so much happiness every time I see it.

Second: Dean and Pharm in front of the Pra Aphai Mani & sea ogress sculptures in the aquarium in Until We Meet Again. Partially because I love aquariums so much, partially because this sequence is one of the first ones we really get to see the hints of Intouch in Pharm. The way he moves around that aquarium is nothing like how he moves at school or his condo, and it's one of the things that struck me so hard on rewatch; while that scene did so much work towards establishing their characters the first time around, the second+ time it has so much more meaning. The throwaway line by Pharm about relating to the ogress now gives me chills.

Plus the way the aquarium scene got called back in I Promise You the Moon makes me really happy.

But first and top, the one that will forever live in my mind for the way it made me feel in my body: Teh and Oh-Aew on the rug in I Told Sunset About You. That moment, my god. Butterflies. Chills. Chewing glass. Devastation. I don't know that I've ever felt any other scene so viscerally; it transported me back to being a teenager and cuddling in clearly non-platonic ways with my bestie and wondering what was happening. Thinking about it now still gives me goosebumps. Maybe a bit of a weird choice because of the pain but I don't shy away from some pain in my faves!

Favorite line in a QL: Honestly I could put one of several meaningful quotes in here, probably the ones I've thought about most being the one from Bad Buddy that a few other folks have noted ("I may not be able to change the world but the world can't change me either"); and "can't we just get a little bit of space?" from The Warp Effect that I mentioned in my Silvy appreciation post. but the first thing that came to mind was this cracktastic banger moment from En of Love: This is Love Story that runs through my head every time a character P-Nong's someone when they don't mean it like that (and especially when newbies get confused about whether characters are actually related):

"'P' but not brothers; the way 'daddy' [said in English] doesn't really mean father. You get it?"

--Param, being a little shit (affectionate)

But also I think special mention needs to go to this new and immediate classic by Tien in La Pluie:

Most Anticipated QL (& why): I am very excited for 23.5 and Only Friends, also WuJu Bakery (does that count if it's Korean but starring Thai actors?) but....This is niche and might never happen, but MindTrio announced awhile ago that they were going to put out Chemistry in Love, which was either a sequel or related to Calculating Love? Listen, this is a low-budget production company making a slightly quirky trope-filled shorts that tend to have pretty cinematography but falter a bit on plot and pacing, and in Calculating Love the main character hits on his love interest with a series of math/graphing equations and coffee. I fully acknowledge that I am a particular kind of nerd, but I just really, really want to see people flirting with their Extremely Geeky special interests. Some sort of of follow-up to Calculating Love has been a maybe-thing since 2020, so it's most anticipated by amount of time I've been waiting. I have a list of 290 "upcoming" shows that may or may not ever happen so I'll stop there.

Healthiest relationship in a QL: I was very persuaded by @waitmyturtles' arguments re: King and Uea, and I thought about My Only 12% and even wrote a whole thing about Tinn and Gun from MSP before deleting it.

But I'm going to use this soapbox to give a hot take and say, by the end of the series, that it's Nuea and Toh from Secret Crush on You. Both of them have secretly loved each other for the whole series, and shown it in their own very unhealthy ways: Toh by keeping a collection of everything that reminds him of Nuea, and Nuea by being extremely cool-guy persona around Toh. But by the end, both of them have aired their insecurities about their relationship, and have committed to working on their relationship together. Toh stops assuming that they will break up (which Nuea explained was hurtful to him) and declares he'll fight for their relationship in front of Nuea's parents, and Nuea allows himself to be seen as very uncool through his vulnerability, and is more open about his uncool thoughts and feelings. I remember them being surprisingly healthy about jealousy too, once they're together, showing trust in one another when that photography club kid shows up. Nuea also makes a really sweet gesture that I think gets misunderstood at the end of the show; Toh explains that his collection makes him happy, that Nuea is more important so he'll give it up if he has to but he really, really does not want to. So Nuea finds a way to make the collection about them rather than about him, so that he can embrace it too and be less discomfited by it. I feel like there's not enough "meeting people where they are", and too many makeover fantasies in romance for my tastes. Instead, Secret Crush on You said listen, people are weird, and we all just need to find the other weirdos whose jagged edges fit with ours. And it's work figuring out together how they will fit, and they won't fit perfectly, but that's ok. As long as everyone is comfortable, it can be a little weird. It may be less realistic than say the way similar themes are handled in Utsukushii Kare, because behavioural change (especially around self-worth) is hard irl, but the question wasn't about which relationship is most realistic lol SCOY also said embrace cringe culture and I am here for it even if it is sometimes hard to watch because it is SO CRINGE; but I respect it for living its truth.

Most toxic relationship in a QL: Oof. I am a strong believer in "if it works for them, that's their business", as is probably evident from above, but the reveal of what was going on with King and Peat in Love Area (parts 1 & 2) was really next level BS and managed to be both toxic and ableist, so it gets a special mention and no gif.

Guilty pleasure series: I don't really subscribe to feeling guilty about liking things, but I have a bunch that don't get a lot of love and I fully understand why lol In addition to the example of Calculating Love above (which is like, a 6 on MDL, and TBH harsh but fair), I really enjoyed I Will Knock You. Maybe it was just the novelty but I loved the character of Noey so much, his vintage aesthetic, the amount of time spent around and in temples, and the most adorable closing credit sequence of all time (shows that have closing credit sequences that reflect the main relationship in the show is one of my favourite tropes!). The criticisms about it, especially the ones about the Thi character, are fully valid and I would not actually recommend it without a lot of caveats (e.g. warnings for blushing virgin trope + age gap, and sooort of glorification of gang membership?), but I had a great time.

Also maybe Y-Destiny episodes 9 & 10? Tohru and First as Kaeng and Puth, whew. I have a special place in my heart for storylines where the characters sleep together as friends with benefits and then have to renegotiate those boundaries because I've lived it more than once lol (Only Friends when?!). But the ending episode for the series was actually so offensively bad, I like to forget it exists.

Most underrated series: You're My Sky and He's Coming to Me have already gotten a lot of love so I'll just say YES to those. Would have said My Ride before this recent release to YT. Does Triage count if it's nominated for awards but nobody ever talks about it (probably because the distribution was so messy)? I think My Only 12% doesn't get enough love because of the pacing of the last episodes, but the rest of the show was SO good.

But I'm going to take this opportunity to get on a sandbox about Diary of Tootsies (spanning S1, S2, and the movie sequel Tootsies and the Fake).

This show is not BL; it is decidedly queer. There is no single love story, and if there is, it's undermined. And yet, because it's a comedy, it also gets overlooked in the lists of Important Queer Viewing (which is fair, honestly, that is not a read). But it means my blorbo of a show often doesn't get hyped up, so I'm taking the opportunity.

This show I would argue sits squarely in the by/for/about queers category as per @wen-kexing-apologist’s by/for/about Venn diagram. Watching it feels like a group hug; it's so very clearly written by actual queer people (even if this wasn't confirmed everywhere online, the screenwriter is out and speaks about this, but it's also just obvious) and I recognize so much of my friends and people I've known in these messy queers. It deals with casual sex, drug use, HIV, adoption, being closeted at work, and more.

It is also so funny. I didn't think I liked toilet humour until Make it Right and Diary of Tootsies proved me wrong. I honestly think about the scene with Natty and the handbag in the car approximately once a month. And the opening sequence of the sequel film!! What a choice for opening credits. And these queer friends are mean to one another, even in the moments they're being supportive of one another, and it is both familiar and delightful (also reminds me of this post by @bengiyo about whether viewers still love us when we're mean). The found family tropes are STRONG in this one, friends.

There is some fatphobia, though I always struggle with how much to warn for that because this show also has one of the only fat characters in QL who gets a character arc, a love interest, and to be a whole person. And to dance! The dance sequencesssss especially in S2, oh my heart. So much queer joy in this show in general!

Last thing I'll say about this show is that it also gets left off people's lists because the "main couple" if you can say there is one is not the one most fans were rooting for--I will admit, myself included. But the narrative convinced me to be satisfied with what we got, which is honestly to its credit!

Anyway TL;DR Diary of Tootsies makes me extremely happy and I'm glad it exists.

OMG ok I am letting this go now. Tagging @redxblueihateloveyou because you've not been active for awhile so this way you'll see this whenever you come back, and @formayhem because we are newly buds and I'd be curious about your answers! At this point everyone else must have been tagged by now, so please just consider yourself tagged if you haven't done this yet and tag me so I see it! I've been loving reading everyone's answers.

[yesterdayiwrote]

Personally I will be very interested in what happens with the fall out of this whole email drama. I know George fans have been speaking about the abuse towards him for a while. Now after the email, it feels like it cannot be brushed under the carpet anymore as it’s getting delusional and dangerous for people. I doubt it will happen but I hope it makes Toto and Lewis think about what they actually say publicly about George because some of their comments have not helped him.

I honestly think Mercedes will be keen to brush a lot of it under the carpet because whilst they want to protect themselves, they'll want to protect their drivers, both of whom will be negatively affected by this.

The problem is there is no lesson that's going to be learnt. Even with the full scope of what was in that email being made available, I've seen multiple fans who subscribe to the conspiracy theory double down hard on their belief that it's true. They're now even more convinced for the sake of 0.002 seconds as well and quite frankly there's nothing you can do to help those people now. I think you just have to accept them as the 'flat earthers of f1' and just... wearily shake your head when you come across them.

I don't know, I've found the whole thing kind of eye opening, and in some ways it reminds me of that post that went around a while back about how people had got too comfortable being disrespectful to George. In that case it was a journalist (I've forgotten exactly what was said in that instance) but I do kind of feel that it applies on a wider scale. I've seen more posts expressing sympathy for Lewis than I have expressing sympathy for George and I do think he's maybe victim of being depersonalised in all this? George gets treated a bit like a 'character' in F1 rather than a human being with his own feelings. 'Lover boy George' is funny on the surface until you consider the gravity of the accusation. Whilst he might brush it off, I'm sure it fucking sucks to know that, not only do people think and believe that his achievements are only a result of him prostituting himself, but that feeling has been shared with the entirety of his peers. He probably feels fucking sick knowing that's out there, and I'm sure it's a headfuck even though he knows it's not true. I find it disconcerting the sheer volume of casual homophobia and misogynistic tropes George has been subjected to in his years as an F1 driver. He seems to have been on the receiving end of a disproportionate amount of instances and I'm not really sure what to make of that.

As I've said, I don't know where we go from here. Lewis so far appears to be trying to go out of his way to spread more positivity, I don't know that I believe its going to work, but I guess that's the age old question, can you ever really put rumours to bed once they're out there?

[lbfad-minibang]

REVERSE BANG FAQ (2024)

What is a Reverse Mini Bang?

The Love Between Fairy and Devil/Cang Lan Jue Reverse Mini Bang is a fandom event for writers and artists, with the goal of creating collaborative work based on and inspired by the hit 2022 Chinese Drama, Love Between Fairy and Devil.

Participating artists will submit a piece of art, which will be posted anonymously. Authors will choose from the art which they would like to create for and will write a fanfiction of at least 5,000 words. Once we reach the deadline, all fic writers and artists will 'reveal' their work, resulting in a 'bang' of LBFaD fan content.

PLEASE DIRECT ANY QUESTIONS NOT ANSWERED IN THIS POST TO OUR ASK BOX. Alternately, you can contact @harocat at any of my linked social media accounts (twitter, tumblr, or discord).

How Does it Work?

Once signups open, artists will have one month to complete a sketch of what they would like to see created. It is up to you how specific this sketch is. It can allude to a very generalized premise (i.e. a ship cuddling) or it can be more focused (i.e. a mermaid AU).

This ONLY NEEDS TO BE A SKETCH. And once you have teamed up with your writer, if you decide to change something about the original sketch in your collaboration, that is fine. Artists can complete as many pieces as you want once you're matched up with your author, but we ask that you only submit one sketch.

Before the sketches are submitted, you must keep the contents of your art secret. This is because we want the artist/author selection process to remain anonymous. Once an author is assigned to your work, both artist and author may freely discuss their works in progress on social media, discord, etc.

A month into the event, sketches are received and posted publicly for artists to see. Authors then go through and pick the TOP THREE pieces they would like to write for most. We will do our best to get writers the pieces they prioritize highest, but it's very important they select three, because unfortunately giving everyone their number one pick is likely impossible.

A week before the posting date begins, authors must submit a draft showing that at least two thousand words have been written.

Writers and artists will be allowed to tell us pairings, squicks, triggers, tropes, ratings, characters, etc that they refuse to draw and write for, and they can also inform us if there are any participants they are not comfortable working with (we will publish a list of all participants before this date).

Once the posting period begins, participants may post their works at any time throughout it. Collaborating art and fic should be posted at the same time, so you will need to work this out with your partner. You can, but are not required to embed your art in the fic. If it makes you more comfortable, you are welcome to post the art separately and link it in the fic (and the artist must link your fic in the art post). Or you can do both!

All of these will of course be reblogged to @lbfad-minibag.

Who is in charge here?

Mod Haro (she/her, cis lesbian, millennial): This is my second time running this bang. I've run several large fandom projects before. Previous events moderated include @cdrama-action, @yuuriweek and @yuurizine, as well as endless events from before tumblr was a thing. I got into LBFaD in January 2023. It was only my second Chinese Drama after The Untamed, but now I've become extremely addicted to them.

tumbr: @harocat

twitter: harocats

discord: harocat

At this point in time I am moderating this by myself, as I don't anticipate it being too large for me to handle, but on the off chance it does, I will add a second mod.

FAQ:

What can I write and draw?

Whatever you want as long as its Love Between Fairy and Devil. There is no rating restriction (but you must be CLEAR about the rating when submitting your pieces, and participants under eighteen cannot write or draw for mature fics). Alternate Universe is acceptable, as is crossover as long as the focus is primarily on the LBFaD cast.

Please note that while you can bring elements of novel canon into your story if they help enrich it, this is first and foremost for the drama and as such fics and art should be based on it.

Finished fics must be posted on AO3. If you do not have an AO3 account and need one, let me know. Finished fics will also be added to a LBFaD mini-bang collection.

Why secrecy?

To keep things fair, so writers and artists get an equally fair shot.

Can anyone participate?

Yes, absolutely. Just sign up.

What happens if there are more writers than artists or vice versa?

In this admittedly likely scenario, there will be a section of the artist signup form that asks if you are willing to complete art for more than one fanfiction and vice versa for authors. If you are, please select 'yes' and let us know (tentatively, this does not have to be set in stone) how many you think you can do. It is perfectly fine if you can only do one.

There will also be a section for if you are willing to 'pinch hit' i.e. complete a piece of art or fic if someone drops.

Can I do something that isn't art? Cosplay, gifs, graphics, or fanvids?

Yes you can! However, there will be a section on the form for writers for if they'd prefer only art, or they'd be willing to collaborate on another medium. Please do sign up though!

Can I sign up as both author and artist?

Yes. Definitely. Just fill out both forms.

CONTENT GUIDELINES:

Racism, sexism, transphobia, misogyny, and any other forms of bigotry are unacceptable. This does not mean your story has to be entirely free of these things (i.e. a story where a character has to deal with misogyny in the workplace would be fine), but it cannot promote it.

ALL work must have sensitive content labeled. This includes the standard A03 labels (Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage), as well as anything else you may deem necessary. Please do not just label something 'dead dove, do not eat.' You must explain what the dead dove is. All pairings present must also be labeled.

As mentioned earlier, mature content is welcome, but participants under eighteen cannot write or draw for it.

PROCESS:

Writers and artists both sign up. Artists begin creating their sketches.

Artists submit sketches. Writers select their top three favorites, and they are assigned a piece to write for. They are given the contact information for their artist. The collaboration begins.

It is required that at least ONE of you have a tumblr account, so the completed works can be posted to this blog. Both of you do not need one. You do not have to join the official discord, but it is recommended. If you do not, there must be an easy way for author and artist to communicate (i.e. tumblr DMs, twitter DMs, or via email).

Once the deadline comes around, you are free to post your fics and art! If your story is a chapter fic, you do not have to post it all in one go, but it MUST be entirely posted by the time the posting period has ended. I.E. our posting period is two weeks, so if you have a four chapter fic, all four chapters have to be posted by the time that is over.

CHECK-INS:

There will be two check-ins.

First check-in is one month in, when you submit your sketch and acknowledge to us that you have contacted or been contacted by your writer.

Second check-in is one week before the due date. At this time we will ask to see at least two thousand words of writing. It is okay if it is in 'draft' stage and not polished or beta read. For artists, we will ask to see a preliminary sketch. This CAN be rough.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

As noted, please do not discuss your bang on social media until you have been assigned an artist.

You will be asked to provide at least two forms of contact in your signup form.

PLEASE join our discord. The link will be included in the signup post. I cannot ask for this enough, because it will make it so much easier for us to do check-ins and for you to collaborate with your partner. There will also be channels where you can brainstorm with your fellow creatives.

SCHEDULE:

September 8, 2024: Signups for both artists and authors open.

September 22, 2024: Signups for both artists and authors close.

October 20, 2024: Sketches are due, and writers begin selecting.

October 27, 2024: All writers must have selected their top three sketches by now.

October 30, 2024: Writer assignments go out.

November 10, 2024: Check-in to make sure all artist and author teams have contacted each other.

December 29, 2023: FINAL CHECK-IN. Artists must at least have a sketch, and authors must at least have a 2K draft.

January 5, 2025: POSTING BEGINS

January 19, 2025: POSTING ENDS

As we anticipate this event to be fairly small, we are not stringent on time zones. It just needs to be the relevant date somewhere in the world.

OH YEAH, ANYTHING ELSE?

Let's get even more participants than we did the first time around

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

hi liddy! i saw the post you rbed about blocking liberally, which i’m very much on board with, and it reminded me of something i’ve been thinking about a lot lately and i’m curious about your thoughts.

i’ve noticed that the culture in fandom, maybe specifically the drarry fandom maybe not, is to not engage with things that make you upset, which i think comes from this same root of it feels like crap for everyone and is a self protective choice. that arguing on the internet is pointless and hurtful and it’s better to just look away and move on. but it seems like that turns into folks feeling like they can’t or shouldn’t call out real problems. whether it’s racism or ableism (etc) in fic, issues with modding or beta-ing, interpersonal drama, etc - if the culture is to block and move on, how do we address what does come up in order to keep each other safe? what has been your experience with this, if you’re down to share?

this is such a good question! When I reblogged the post I was thinking mainly about blocking people who post stuff I don’t like so that I don’t have to see it in the tags, essentially because it’s clutter to me. That’s not a particularly serious thing, more just personal preference. This got long so prepare yourself for loosely organized rambling.

I’ve found that fandom’s attitude toward conflict is extremely avoidant. This isn’t specific to drarry or HP, it’s something I have seen in basically every fandom I’ve participated in. Some folks are really uncomfortable with conflict, and it seems to be considered polite not to say anything negative about fanworks and tropes you have a problem with and especially not to publicly take issue with other fans, even ones who are managing the fan experience for lots of people, such as mods.

to some extent, it can be a good thing not to be public about disagreements. The entire fandom doesn’t need to weigh in and take sides on every personal disagreement. That would be a really unpleasant atmosphere and people would leave or be driven out and all that would be left is people who like to fight.

BUT on the other hand, I think there does need to be significantly more tolerance for like. Friction? This anti-conflict attitude favors the status quo, and like. The status quo is kind of steeped in the ableism, transphobia, racism, fat phobia, and even homophobia and misogyny of our larger culture because like. It takes focus and research and constant effort to shed those bigotries, and we are all at different stages in those journeys.

Personally I would feel way more welcome and accepted in fandom if it weren’t seen as like. Impolite to discuss how fandom can do better around things like race in particular. Fandom has turned drarry into an interracial relationship which I love, but sometimes the fannish handling of Harry’s character as a man of color is kind of racist and it would be great to be able to talk about it. once I saw someone say they specifically depict Harry as white because it’s too much trouble to sort out the details of his identity as a person of color and I thought that was SO hurtful and insulting to fans of color. The veneration of Aurors in fandom makes me kind of uncomfortable as a Black fan (acab??) and the treatment of house elves is a fucking mess (your SLAVE character is comic relief?? Really??)

In our particular fandom, canon is SO messy that fanworks seem like a good opportunity to address its messiness. On the other hand, some people don’t care about addressing all the problematic isms in canon and would rather just read and write and draw for sexy reasons or fluffy reasons and aren’t especially interested in taking the source material seriously enough to pull it apart and fix it. Or maybe some people don’t feel like. Informed enough to fix it. Putting yourself out there and sharing your work or even your taste in other people’s work can be really scary. Maybe people feel strongly that more barriers to entry are inherently a bad thing.

Maybe that sense of vulnerability, like we’re all doing something that’s on the edges of socially acceptable that makes everyone so afraid to hear criticism. I don’t see things like callout posts (I recently learned that calling someone out used to mean challenging them to a duel like swords and pistols style!) (Hogwarts era snarry? Pistols at dawn, you villain!) and blocklists anymore but they are not very far in the past. I was going to say we might be overcorrecting but did callout posts and blocklists actually make fandom safer or more moral?

I think a big part of the issue is that fandom is a fucking enormous group of people, united by the fact that we read some book series and we want to make and enjoy fanworks about it, and that is not a lot to have in common. We are going to differ significantly about what constitutes harmonious cohabitation. And of course most people find a little corner of fandom they like the look of and only engage with a few dozen people at a time. That’s much more manageable but like. You still have to be able to talk honestly to people about How We Want To Be (and then sometimes you find out someone doesn’t consider themselves part of your We at all and don’t care how you want to be as long as you leave them out of it).

To me, participating in fandom is about creating relationships and connecting with people, even more than it is about engaging with the source work or enjoying fanworks. It feels very strange to me to be trying to build relationships in an environment where I’m supposed to be unnaturally agreeable. How are they going to know who I even am, if I can only talk about things I like?

But even that is a matter of personal taste! Not everyone enters these spaces wanting to make friends, and there’s nothing wrong with just quietly enjoying the art and keeping to yourself. In which case, maybe conflict in fannish spaces feels more like shouting in the library than healthy relationship maintenance.

All this to say that building relationships and sharing space with other people is always messy and contentious and acting like you can avoid the mess by only saying positive things is self deception. Imposing that standard on the whole group is just. So unhealthy!!! We need a basement for how we treat each other so that people can feel safe that they won’t be damaged by other fans for either making a mistake or drawing attention to an issue.

But how do we establish rules like that so that everyone knows about them and agrees to them? How do we enforce rules? If we successfully establish community standards, how do we share them with new people as they enter? Being a group of humans who want to share things with each other is very fucking messy. These aren’t the kinds of questions you can answer once and be done with it. You have to keep answering them over and over again.

I don’t have a conclusion to this rambling and I have errands to run, so I will leave it here. I appreciate the question!

[dangermousie]

While I am not in the least shipping Chu Qiao with YY this time around, I do like him as a character a lot. And I think the main reason is he is a rare person who accepts responsibility for his fuck ups and outcomes of his actions or inactions.

Think of the scene when he visits Yan Xun in jail. YX, desperately, keeps asking him whether he did X, Y, and Z - all actions that contributed to the platform tragedy (not warning him, preventing his escape etc etc etc.) And YY admits to it all even though there are explanations or excuses for each and every one of these.

He provides none of those explanations or excuses because he gets something most people do not - that all those explanations and excuses would be insults to Yan Xun, that all they would be is attempt for YY to justify himself as not that bad, but none of them would change the ultimate fact - his actions and his inactions (even if different in gradation or kind from what YX believes they are) all led to Yan Xun on that platform, being broken over and over. Trying to justify himself would be trying to go "I am also suffering! see, I also have pain" to the actual victim.

The closest he comes to that is this:

But he stops after that one sentence escapes him. Because ultimately whatever he did or didn't do, he realizes it all comes to this:

He protects them from outside prison (the only way YX and CQ survive the waves of assassins is because of him) but once again, neither knows because for all his coldness, for all his passivity, YY understands what is fair and what is deserved for him, and does not deviate.

PS As I was telling @aysekira, I have pictured LGX as my Mo Xi from Yuwu for years and years but never could figure out who I wanted for Gu Mang. And now I am going - aaaaaaa just have Shawn Dou be Gu Mang in my head cast. The look, the vibe, hell even the fact that he's a little shorter than LGX all work. And hey, they totally were great at both jumping into beds or fighting to the death. So mmmm.

PPS I normally loathe love triangles, but rewatching PA made me realize something - I don't really hate the trope, it's just that it's almost never done to my satisfaction. It's always ML and SML clearly delineated so you know the outcome/importance so what is the point. Also, it's either an OTP and an annoying interloper who has no chance or FL is waffling and if she doesn't care enough to pick, why should I? BUT!!!!! The very few times it's done right, I lose my mind - this, Bu Bu Jing Xin, Lost You Forever. By that I mean, both choices have to have equal narrative importance and arcs and time (PA for example, is definitely a dual ML drama in the traditional, not "we are putting a fig leaf over a danmei adaptation" form), but also I am a sucker of there is a possibility for either depending on reactions and the world and/or FL loves both differently for different reasons during different points in her life. This is vvvvvvvv hard to pull off right but when they do, mmmmm!

PPPS I don't usually go "threesome would solve all your problems" (and here it definitely won't since YX's issues are not of the type to be healed by love) but it would be at least worth a try? Chu Qiao definitely has enough energy for both of her dudes, YY is icy enough he needs two people to melt him and clearly poor YX needs double the TLC. win win win, say I.

[copiouscouples]

Random Thoughts on the First 3 Episodes of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

This is a FUN show.

So far I’ve liked all the music. I didn’t think I was going to like the song about the country club but darn it if I wasn’t like this is a catchy song about how terrible you all are. 🤣

I’m loving the increase in diversity that’s going on in general in tv world (although I’d love to see more characters with disabilities in media, but we’re getting more than we used to with shows like Speechless and As We See It).

That said...I think there’s two ways to handle diversity successfully in historical fiction. 1) Go the Bridgerton route - mention it, but don’t make it a major theme. 2) Make it a major theme and handle it satisfactorily - either in a realistic way or in a way that gets resolved suitably.

In these first episodes, a major theme has been Jane and her family acclimating to Rydell and community. Her mom specifically has worries about it being found out that she’s Puerto Rican. I feel like this is very period typical and an accurate representation as frustrating as it is to watch someone who doesn’t feel free to accept and rejoice in their cultural heritage. I love that Jane wants to fight back against all that, but in the last episode - I was kind of disappointed how the whole thing got resolved. She sings a song in the diner and bada bing, bada boom her mom's suddenly OK with it all. Felt a bit quick and sloppy of a fix. But this show is about Jane and not her mom’s trauma. Overall, it’s not a big deal for me. I just was slightly irked by the sloppiness of the resolution.

Olivia - The most intriguing of the Pink Ladies so far for me. We’ve got a sliver of her backstory with the teacher, but outside of that we don’t know much about her yet. Plus I want to know was she in a full on relationship with this guy or did they kiss that once and got caught?

Nancy - Another character we need more info on. I like her general don’t give an F attitude, but I’d love to see more of her deeper thoughts and emotions. We’ve got a hint at that with how much she deeply cares about college and getting into fashion, but I’d like more.

Jane - This actress is my favorite singer on the show. Her “I Want More” song is my favorite song thus far. I know she’s the main character and that’s why we know more about her. But honestly she’s not all that interesting and I wish some of her screen time was given to the other girls.

Cynthia - She had a good storyline this episode. I felt it was a bit rushed, but I think drama is a great fit for this character and Principal McGee knew exactly what she was doing.

Hazel - She was introduced this episode and we got to know a little bit about her. I do feel for her and how homesick she is. I have and always will be here for the wallflower/shy girl trope.

Richie - Things are still kind of surface level with him, but right now he’s kind of a meh character for me. I like him well enough but the show’s writing hasn’t really developed him enough for me to care about him yet.

Buddy - Likely unpopular opinion here...I don’t hate him? At least not yet. I think he’s treated Jane terribly, but I see redemptive qualities in him. The fact he feels guilt, has some sense of self-reflection, and is uncomfortable with his choices shows me we could be in for a good character arc with him.

So that end scene, right? Totally seems to be foreshadowing a Hazel/Buddy romance. How would I feel if they went down that route? It depends on the chemistry of the couple. In fictional TV land, I can excuse a lot of misbehavior (even murder) if the couple is 🔥. Rio and Beth, anyone? That was a toxic dump of a relationship but watch me with my 👀 glued every week.

This show is very much love it or hate it. I think the people that are hating on it were hoping it would be an extension of the original Grease and while it gives nods to the original content - it’s its own entity.