#peat looking tiny

[bird-inacage]

Fort x Peat Gifset | The Bridal Carry

In the more recent live, Fort picked Peat up so easily and smoothly. It’s almost as if the boy has been practicing.

[babyangelsky]

My Favorite Expressions in Love Sea Ep. 9

Holy shit I don't think I have ever felt more relieved watching the penultimate episode of a Thai BL than I did this week. I was expecting doom, I was expecting gloom, and while both were absolutely present, we did not linger there.

This is just my opinion but to me that alone is proof of how much Mame has grown as a writer because for a second there I was fearing another Don't Say No situation.

BUT THIS AIN'T ABOUT THAT LET'S YAP ABOUT MICROEXPRESSIONS

I need to start with my baby because after the horrors last week, seeing her smile means everything to me. Gotta hold onto it as long as I can because we all know what's coming.

And speaking of smiles, this situation is TERRIBLE there are delinquents coming at my man with 2x4's but this feral smile from Mahasamut?

This one is purely for Meena's benefit, to comfort and reassure her but it is genuine, Fort's eyes are very sparkly. He switches gears very quickly when the getaway bike arrives for the thugs though so however chill he seems, he absolutely isn't. He just wants to keep the baby (and Vivi and her friend) calm.

It's very disconcerting to see Vivi this serious.

We're 2/2 on smiles for other people's benefit. My poor girly.

*stares at Viviana* You did this.

This look of pure murderous intent may be one of my favorite expressions Mut has had over this whole show, especially because it's paired with that clenched fist. And I'm going to give extra praise to Fort for it because he doesn't clench his fist until after Tongrak apologizes for what happened and he doesn't open his eyes until his hand is practically trembling from holding it so tightly.

This response doesn't come when Rak tries to blame himself for the beating; it happens when he apologizes for it. Mut isn't angry in the abstract and he isn't angry at Rak, he's angry for him.

I don't like this face, Khun Tongrak. I actually had a moment where I thought to myself, "why can't I read your face right now?" and of course it's deliberate on Peat's part. Even without knowing what we know from the preview, this face would have told us that Something was about to happen.

Or maybe that's just me, I don't know. I've been staring very hard at Peat's face for the past two months.

Watching Tongrak desperately try to steel his nerve after entering the snake pit that is his sperm donor's house is heartbreaking.

As much as I hate to subject you (and myself) to more of Jak's face, I'd like to point out that like last week, his face is in shadow while the face of the person he's speaking to, in this case Tongrak, is catching the light. Also worth noting that Rak's back is quite literally against the wall in this scene.

We see this play with light/shadow again when Rak has a flashback of him from his childhood. Jak has always been a vile, psychopathic snake and his true feelings and intentions have always been hidden behind shadow.

It's horrible to say because there's so much anguish behind it but this is such a beautiful expression. There's a split second where he tries to look angry but it just doesn't work.

I think there's a tiny part of Tongrak that truly believed that tearing up the contract would be what made Mahasamut leave and on the flip side of that, a part that was afraid that the contract was truly the only thing making Mut stay.

GODDAMN THIS IS THE SEXIEST THING MAHASAMUT HAS EVER SAID ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME

For people like Tongrak and for people who can relate to Tongrak in the sense that one or more of the parents we pulled in the great gacha of life are horrible and shitty, there comes a moment where you realize that they aren't actually these huge indestructible monsters. They're human.

And when you realize that and look at them, it's like you're seeing for the first time. There's a weird sort of pity and whatever the opposite of awe is that you feel that's hard to describe. It's a feeling of "...Is that really it? Is that all there is to you?"

That is what Peat is portraying so incredibly in this scene.

BLINDING LIGHT OF LOVE LET'S GOOOOOOO

WILD HORSES, YA'LL! WILD FUCKING HORSES!

Pouty Tongrak face, as a treat.

Mook and Mahasamut were talking about Tongrak and what Mut would do if he got rejected when all was said and done, but Mook's face when Mut says he would accept the rejection tells me she's also thinking about herself and Vivi.

I actually really wish she would've talked to Mut about it directly because god knows girly pop needs to talk to someone about Vivi. Or better yet, Vivi herself.

As for the preview next week, do not even sweat it babes because you know what?

THERE ARE COLORFUL PATTERNS ON TONGRAK'S BODY!

I LOVE GETTING EVERYTHING I WANT!

[fortpeat]

I think the reason why we see a huge difference (like 10 steps back) from Rak and Mahasamut's relationship that was towards the end of Ep3 and what we saw in Ep4 is coz while on the Island Rak didn't have anyone pointing how strange his behavior had been by someone who's known him for a long time but in the city we have Mook who knows that Rak is not interested in love and relationships etc and here comes Rak bringing Mahasamut along so when Mook points out these things Rak might have believed that he is indeed acting very unlike him so he needs to put some boundaries aka the contract. It's him building these walls that were almost gone by Ep3 and now it's back up upon arrival in Bangkok!

Also Rak can truly confuse a person tbh it's like he takes one step forward and then 5 steps back and it's so interesting to watch him go back and forth with his feelings like he himself doesnt know where he truly stands !

It's the little moments of Rak that Peat beautifully portrays that shows these tiny pieces of vulnerability - like him longingly looking around the room after packing and then walking towards Mahasamut in the lobby with the sad eyes like "I don't want to go, I am not done here yet, I want more time with you" and then the desperation he had while asking Mahasamut to come along with him and I guess he still believes that he has to pay to have someone choose him. So he uses that as a clutch to protect his heart and then the conversation by the door after saying the words that clearly hurt Mahasamut he wants to take it back but he doesn't know how without revealing that everything he had said to prevent himself from falling in love would be a lie !

The smile and heart eyes Rak had while watching Mahasamut and Mook bicker with each other was so beautiful 🥹🥺🥺 "I am not lonely anymore there's someone here to fill the emptiness that's been a part of me"

It's all the little moments that betrays his true honest feelings that Rak tries to hide underneath biting remarks and pushing Mahasamut away.

Now Mahasamut leaving the island - yes it surprised me that it was that easy especially after portraying in the last 3 episodes how this island is his home and he's a vital part of the community but you know what I can see why he left all that for more time with Rak. Coz I think he believes that this arrangement is not gonna last long. For all his confidence of " Khun Tongrak must love me" there's still an insecure part of him that believes that after Rak is done with him he will be discarded away so he's gonna use this opportunity to bask in that feeling he's come to crave in the presence of Rak.

You see people like Mahasamut, they are the kind to people who would fall head first into love and be super reckless. And that means when they find someone they care about / falls in love with they would do anything to keep them around and that means even doing things that makes no sense / completely ooc like leaving the island.

So I had this thought what if Mahasamut just straight up jumped into the boat without taking any necessities coz he knew the moment he went back to his home he would realise that he can't leave and remember his responsibilities and all he wanted was to spend some more time with Rak.

Also remember Mahasamut is so young and he has had to shoulder full responsibilities of taking care of himself and surviving on the island since he was 15 and maybe for the first time in his life he gets to act his age where he is falling in love and following his heart and he is allowed to do so !

[littlewigglers]

Okay I’ve never asked on tumblr but I just found your page and I’m OBSESSED!!! I want to get/make a Vivarium/bioterrarium for millipedes and isopods and I can’t WAIT!! Please please if you have any advice at all, I’d love to hear it! Where to get supplies, the buggies themselves, how to handle them, what do you do if they get sick, how much space to they need for how many there are, etc? Your buggy babies are so cute!!

First off thank you! I love all my little guys as well <3

I ramble kinda a lot so I'll put this under a read more.

For advice I'm still very much a novice when it comes to keeping but I'll tell you what I can!

For tanks I got my glass ones second hand or ones made my the store I buy used to buy my millipedes from, you'd be surprised how cheap you can get a nice big one! For Acrylic THESE are the ones I've had the best luck with not warping BUT they sometimes have kinda blurry parts on the plastic, but still I'd say good for the price if you can't afford glass. I tape up some of the ventilation holes to keep more moisture in.

For soil that ISN'T bought from a specialist stores(Sometimes I can't afford it) I use Peat free compost, paired with leaves and rot wood I buy off ebay stores that sell bug/reptile products, I mix them together with some water and leave them in a tub for 1 week to soften up the leaves. Some people go out and get their own leaves and wood but I'm not really in an area to do that so I can't give advice on that. It's important to keep it moist BUT NOT WET!

Heat mat! You want one to put on the SIDE of the tank and not under it, just one would be enough. I have a timer plug for mine so they're on a few hours a day on and off all day. If you REALLY wanna spoil them then I've seen a few people use reptile headlamps.

For moss and plants I again just buy it off ebay in sheets and give it a cheap over to make sure there are no hitchhikers on it before I put it in the tank. It needs watered and looked after for a while for it to take to the tank. Carpet moss is mostly for looks while sphagnum moss is used to keep moisture in areas and should be water/sprayed often. I have a little fern plant in my tank rn they seem to leave alone. I know a lot of people use fake plants as well for decor!

You should make a point to put a little temp and humidity monitor in your set-ups as well. The special reptile ones can be expensive so I just but the little ones you put in rooms and have had no issues with them.

Don't forget to give them hides! Cork wood/bark or coconut shells are nice and cheap. You can also use man made items just make sure they can handle the moisture and aren't made of anything toxic to your new friends. Also give them little sticks and things to climb up on. Just make sure the lid is secured so they can't escape.

For food I just use kitchen scraps like carrot peel, cucumber, apples and melon, give them a cuttlefish bone and some dried tiny shrimps in small amounts once a week or so, but you can also use fish flacks instead. But remember! Leaf litter and rot wood is meant to be their main diet for most species.

For the millipedes I would recommend Ivory millipedes as a good starter one, they're lovely in colour and are often up top, hardy as well, and usually you can get them captive bred which I've had much higher survival rates with vs wild caught. For each species you'll have to look up their needs yourself though, there isn't a 100% catch all set up for all species. Woodlice/isopods I'd suggest dairy cows as they're lovely and also very easy to get a hold of. I will say species of Armadillidium(roly poly/pill bugs) are my fave and I'm very biased and want 500 of them.

For handling just be gentle! I wear gloves in a lot of my videos but that because I've incredibly sensitive skin and can't stand soil under my nails. The worse they can do to you is them staining your skin(not all species), or give you a little nibble. Make sure if you're handling to wash your hands off BUT be careful what hand soaps you use! Wash hands after as well some can be toxic to bugs from what I've heard.

For tank size hmm that's hard, usually you want soil as deep as their body but that can be hard, 10-15cm is what I aim for my BIG boys and 7-10cm for my others, deeper is better but sometimes you'll also just never see them again! You'll want a tank at least a few times longer than your pets body or at least big enough for them to filly stretch out in if you get really big millipedes like giants and a 120cm tank is just kinda unrealistic haha.

I do not have a lot of advice for if they get sick sadly, it's kinda of hard to tell honestly and usually when you can it's too late. I would just say don't beat yourself up too much if some pass away sometimes bugs just do that especially if you don't know their history.

Where to get them depends on where you're from and what you want. A ton of reptile/specialist stores will have wild caught which isn't great but they will have the largest range of species and usually also sell all the stuff you need to tank care of them. Ebay is where I've gotten most of my captive bred and I just message people if I've questions about their bugs there.

I think that's everything I can think of,

Again I'm a big novice when it comes to bugs, @onenicebugperday and @crevicedwelling likely know way more than me, though idk if they're open to questions but they likely already have a lot of info on their blogs.

[secriden]

rewatching love sea and i've got some episode 1 mahasamut thoughts:

i'm so appreciative of how much we get to see of mahasamut being an important part of the island community in this episode. its character establishing/quick scenes but we see a consistent thread of kindness, gentle and good humoured interactions, and just overall helpfulness to others. you see him having fun with palm who is younger and clearly loves and respects mahasamut. you see how he knows and cares for different people in very personal ways.

another thing epsiode 1 does a good job of doing is establishing how intelligent mahasamut is both intellectually and emotionally.

he instantly clocks on that tongrak thinks the island/mahasamut is "beneath" him. tongrak is a jerk from the get go, acting as if because he's rich (his focus on how expensive his suitcases are) he can treat mahasamut like crap. he assumes mahasamut can't speak/understand the central dialect and openly makes disparaging comments about his intelligence.

but rather than getting annoyed/offended, he weaponises the prejudice and leans into it to annoy tongrak. he doubles down onto the Southern dialect (even after he reveals he can speak Central). when tongrak whines about not understanding him, mahasamut just repeats himself but slower (such a good allusion to when people yell at you slower and more loudly as if that will magically make you understand English better). he leans into the whole 'small town awed at the fair skin of the city boy' act (masterful depiction of someone weaponising the 'dumb country hick' stereotype).

mahasamut just has such a good handle on tongrak from the start and it really showcases how smart and intuitive he is; like he instinctively knows how to handle this feral cat of a human being that tongrak is (i say this with complete affection).

his handling of tongrak is so incredibly effective and it throws tongrak so off his game that he looses all cool and just blurts out how baffled he is by mahasamut's reactions to him. this tells us (and mahasamut) that not only is tongrak aware that he's being a jerk, he's doing it on purpose because this usually works to drive people away. but it doesn't and never will work on mahasamut and the show lays the foundations of this aspect of mahasamut's character right from the start.

but whilst mahasamut remains unfazed by tongrak's bitchiness (for lack of a better term), we also see that he is not going to be a pushover either (and i love that he never becomes that even after he falls in love; in this, mahasamut's character is wonderfully consistent). he isn't shy about calling out tongrak for his poor behaviour/rudeness. he specifically points out that tongrak's been acting like a spoiled pet (or child).

(this is an aside, but) tongrak's (peat's) fist looks so tiny in mahasamut's (fort's) palm here i giggled. it's just... so ineffective. plus the way peat played it, it looks like tongrak tried to put some force into that hit but mahsamut is completely unaffected. very stoppable force meets unmovable wall. just. hilarious.

but also!! whilst all that is going on, mahasamut is also doing a really good job of taking care of tongrak. when he enters tongrak's room, he first cleans up after the tornado of trash and beer bottles, puts away his clothes properly, then brings tongrak out to get some proper food in him (it's not his fault that tongrak only has a single lettuce leaf; he tried). mahasamut takes him out on the boat to relax him and give him inspiration for his novel. and when he realises that tongrak's genuinely scared and upset and not just being a pain, mahasamut actually treats that with sincere care and concern, apologising and comforting him (in the novel, apparently tongrak slaps him and he still responds only with care and comfort). he's so incredibly gentle with tongrak here.

later in the series we see how much of their relationship development hinges on the the juxtaposition of words vs actions because neither of them put much stock by words (tongrak, because its the tools of his trade and he knows how they can be used to deceive; mahasamut because he never cares what people say about him) but episode 1 does a great job of establish just how good mahasamut is going to be at showing his love for tongrak once he gets there.

[grotesque-grimoire]

Random Witch Tips

If you're going to use a mortar & pestle, invest in one that is stone/metal. Wooden ones are more common and accessible, but they're kinda shit from my experience. They don't last as long, they're not nearly as strong (seriously, the one's I've used couldn't pulverize fucking dried rosemary, c'mon), the wood can splinter off and contaminate your product(s), and then there's bacterial issues if the wood isn't properly sealed, which can also be an issue if the sealant/protectant begins chipping into your product.

Make sure you're actually going to use something more than once before you buy it. Do you really need that cauldron, or can you use a metal pot instead? Do you really need those crystals, or can you enchant a stone or something else to serve their purpose(s)? Do you need a fancy wand or can you use a twig or a pencil? Money doesn't grow on trees, but apples do. Are you buying something to use or to have? To be a tool or a decoration? (No hate if you want it for aesthetics)

Try to use old kitchen spices for witchcraft. Use newer spices/herbs for cooking; you'll get more of the flavor. Before you go shopping for an ingredient for magic, look in your pantry/spice rack. Use what you already have there, especially if they're older. Get newer spices to cook with. And don't be afraid to split ingredients between cooking and crafting; it's literally fine. Watch out for cross-contamination and you'll be ok.

Fabric is more useful for pouches that will be kept in the pocket, tight spaces, or traveled with. Bottles/jars are more useful for workings that will remain stationary, or those that contain liquid elements. Tiny charm jewelry bottles can work well for subtle/hidden magic. Use peat pods (decompostable flower pots) for workings that are to be buried. Do not throw workings into lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, or the ocean; that's littering and is damaging to the local ecology.

If you don't have space (or items) for a physical altar, digital altars are limitless. Make one in ms paint or photoshop; make a tumblr blog or pinterest board; make an altar in minecraft, animal crossing, dreamlight valley, skyrim, or whatever. Some might say it's cringe, but it saves space and gives you more freedom with design and items without costing much money.

Don't make a travel altar if you're not going to travel. Trust me. It'll sit in your closet or your desk or under your bed and just never get used. The water will dry up, the salt will clump, and the oils in the incense will end up eating through other things. If you don't need it, don't waste time and resources making one. You can plan them and design them all you want though, it's fun. But take it from someone who's done it more times than they should: they're useless if you're not actually going anywhere. (I plan to make a post(s) all about this when my spoons allow it)

[nrdmssgs]

John Price meeting civilian reader scenario (part 2)

Part 1

Masterlist

The alarm sets off so early the next morning, you feel, like you've just closed your eyes a few minutes ago. You drag yourself out from a comfort of your warm blanket and head to the bathroom.

As you are standing there before the mirror, brushing your teeth, you remember, that yesterday you invited a man you've only known a few hours for today's walk. Sounds unsafe, but then again that smile, that deep voice and muffled croaky chuckles...

Someone may call you reckless, but you call it a risk worth taking. Plus, if you never come back from that walk with him - that means, that your vacation never actually ends. So there are bright sides to even the worst possible outcomes.

In half an hour, you step out of your cabin fully prepared. Deep inside, you are ready to go on your hike alone, if the guy doesn't show up.

But Price already waits for you, leaning on the bench where you chatted yesterday. He looks at you with a smirk.

"How do you look so alive It's not even 5 am now!" - you whine, jealous of his fresh look despite the early hour.

Instead of answering, he hands you his thermos. You open and sniff it. The aroma is faintly reminiscent of coffee...

"Careful. Just a sip." - he says quietly.

You take a tiny sip and cover your mouth with your hand to keep from spitting out the contents. This drink really remotely resembles coffee. Coffee, if mixed with earth, pieces of peat and liquid fire. You cough so hard that your body trembles and tears come to your eyes. "What the bloody... thing is it? Biohazard home brew?"

He tries to hold back his laughter, but he can't. "Sorry, I thought I brewed it softer than usual today." he smiles as he takes the thermos from you and wipes a tear from your cheek.

Moving out on the road, you still occasionally cough. He is genuinely remorseful, though he can't help but smile when you turn away.

You reach the trail just as fog begins to descend from the hills covered with fir trees. The first rays of the sun break through the branches. You take out your camera and turn it on.

"Ok, now I'll go a few steps ahead, and you will be in charge of navigation" - you give him a printed map of your route.

"Add an external observation to that, and I might as well charge you for my services..." - he murmurs under his breath, as you proceed to film your walk.

He inadvertently approaches you several times and almost overtakes you. You have to catch him by the sleeve of his jacket and gently pull him back so that he doesn't get into the frame.

"Sorry, John, I just want those videos to be only about nature. When we come back, I'll show you how good it looks, I promise" - you whisper.

He doesn't mind, though. Fresh and calm morning nature, crisp air, the view he gets, following you from behind... No, he doesn't mind at all.

He likes to silently follow you, occasionally directing you by the shoulder on the cross paths.

This feels like a perfect combination of something he's good at (taking care and guiding) and something he craves (to have a rest).

He even regrets that time has flown by so quickly when you return.

You show him your YouTube channel with silent walking videos, and he is absolutely delighted.

"So there is a right side of this bloody circus after all! I thought it was just an endless chaotic party being translated there." He sighs in relief and turns on your next video.

You wonder what exactly he means by "a right side" of YouTube, but decide to leave him in peace as he's browsing through your vids.

When you are out of sight, he discreetly pulls out his reading glasses, puts them on and writes your channels name down in a little notebook. Then he thinks for a couple of seconds and writes its address down too.

Yes, this whole "...tube.com/channel/UClD8....." stuff. Just to be sure, you know?

After this vacation, your channel has seen a huge increase in viewing statistics.

Price revisits your videos in any free minute.

Others in the Task Force 141 notice that their captain has begun to spend more time at the computer, although they couldn’t even drag him there by force before.

"So when I make time to find and share something funny with your ingrate asses - I'm to be yelled at, but when the captain rewatches a walk down some road in a random forest for several hours - this is not a problem for you?" - Soap grunts at dinner.

No one answers him, because your vids became kind of meditation sessions to a half of the team, since Price shared them with others.

Price leaves awkwardly formal commentaries under every your video.

Like "Dear content creator, I want to send my sincere gratitude for your taking the time to make this video. I genuinely appreciate your enthusiasm for sharing this walk of yours with us all. Thank you again for your dedication."

Gaz can't stand such a level of cringe and shows Price, that there is an "about the channel" info section out there, with your email in it. Just in case, Price wanted to... express his gratitude to you more privately.

"I never asked for it!" - snarls Price, but ends up emailing you as soon as Gaz is out of his sight.

[sabertoothdeer]

HEY GUYS I NEED HELP!

I recently came into the possession of a giant millipede, multiple small millis, and twenty or so (probably more...) isopods. About 10 of them are giant canyon isopods. PLEASE HELP ME LEARN HOW TO CARE FOR THEM!

If you have any care tips pls lmk!!! I'm very new to taking care of insects and such but I have done much of my own research on how to care for them.

Currently I have all of these guys in a 15 gal tank, a heater pad is attached to one side, the soil is at an angle, lots of leaf litter and a good amount of moss, some cork and rotting wood bark, a little cork log, and a shallow water source incase it gets too dry.

I also have a humidity and temp reader I got from Runnings. I've been giving them ground up egg shells for calcium and some potatoes peels and a cucumber slice for extra nourishment.

The layers in the tank are as follows:

- some small pebbles for drainage

- coco coir

- mixture of peat-based substrate from the store, some work casting organic fertilizer, and more coco coir

- leaf litter and moss

This is what it looks like ^^

It's placed in a generly dark area.

The millipedes name is Cranberry btw!!

(tw sh scars)

And these are the little goobers:

QUESTIONS I HAVE:

- How many insects can I put in one 15 gal tank?? How many isopods? Are there issues between them coexisting? I heard eggs might get eaten and if they aren't fed enough calcium they will try to eat eachother.

- Am I grinding up the egg shells enough? Are the peices too big? When I have the money I might just get cuttlefish bone but it can get pricy.

- How often should I clean??? I heard somewhere once a month but if it's a terrarium and not a singular creature and it's more of an ecosystem should I leave it alone other than feeding and spraying water n stuff?

- Can/should I put earthworms in the terrarium? What about snails/slugs? Would they be harmful or helpful?

UPDATE 5/11/24:

- I found a tiny spider guy in there. Is he chill??

[bharv]

Twisting Sickness

1k, M rating, The Dark Urge/Minthara. (I had a block and @lamortwrites suggested some Manthara. So here we are)

Read it on Ao3

She should kill her.

Her head is soft against her own bare chest, rising and falling against her as they start to breathe in time, hearts beating in a duet. It is monstrous, it gnaws at the edges of her, pulsing through the scar down her stomach, threatening to rip out of her. She should kill Minthara, she who has fulfilled her mission, who dared to claim her body.

The feeling rises into her throat, the desire that could not be sated by touch alone. When Minthara kissed her, she felt nothing. When she reached between her legs she felt not desire but a twisting sickness rising in her stomach that came in waves just as strongly as Minthara did on her fingers. She will feel satisfaction at last if she takes her great hands and pushes her thumbs through her eyes just as she pressed them against her slick, licks the blood-tears that will form with the same precision she lavished on her body, but she swallows away the feeling, somehow. 

“I would have you at my side in Menzoberranzan,” Minthara tells her, and she thinks she might believe it.

*

She should leave her.

Minthara has failed them, Ketheric is correct. She has failed in her mission, and it is his right as her commander to punish her. There is something familiar about this room that makes her temple pulse, something in the coldness of the General’s stare that both makes her skin prick and makes something tremble in her thighs. It is not fear, she tells herself. It is not.

Minthara rages, but it is pointless. She is dead already. She should leave her. She is but a corpse.

Perhaps it would have been a better thing, to have killed her while she rested in her arms, rather than to die tortured and humiliated. Perhaps the spark of mercy was a false kindness, the wrong energy to fill her body with, an incorrect omen.

But when she looks into Minthara’s eyes again, in the small moment before she is taken again, she feels it. A wide, vast emptiness. The absence of something. Something buried below. She sees her own heavy hands alongside the fine grey of Minthara’s, digging through dark green peat to something below, through mists of purple and rivers of red.

*

She should tell her.

While she has her safe, after she has rescued her still in the cover of the Shadows, she should tell her, she thinks. She should tell her why she rescued her. The only problem is, she does not think she knows herself.

She sleeps in the arms of Lae’zel still, who holds onto her in a tight grip through the night. Source of her bruises, the one who challenges her, the one that pushes her body to the point of punishment, this tenacious youth. Lae’zel is a comet streaking across the sky, she is fury, she is death, and it is beautiful to see everything she wrecks in her wake.

And yet, she finds herself slipping from her thin arms and walking to the outcrop.

Minthara tends to mushrooms here. Tiny things that grow in damp soil that she places carefully in her pack. When she asks, she tells her that they are hardy spores that grow anywhere, but can be distilled into strong toxins. She tends to them with a gentleness that belies her ferocity in battle; the swing of her greatsword is as seared into her mind’s eye as the great flame of her righteous smite and makes her mouth water, but she swallows it away to ask her again of the range of her poisons. She can feel Minthara’s tadpole gently reach to her own, and she opens her mind freely, the connection dancing over their hands as they touch.

They are both ghosts in the world.

*

She should test her.

The thought appears to her one night, delivered through the mouth of the dread creature that calls himself her butler. She should test Minthara, test her loyalty. She should show her all of herself, open her mind to everything.

But she does not know everything, she counters.

So her Father shows her, finally, all that she is.

When she sees Orin in her mind’s eye, she is filled with all of the love and all of the hate and all of the fear and all of the pride that she had not been able to feel, all at once. She is raised from her feet onto the great clawed talons of the Slayer, her Father’s avatar, her Father’s promise, and she knows finally who she is and what she must be.

When she shows the others, they are awed.

When she shows Minthara, she is loved. She is loved.

*

She should love her.

Or, perhaps it is better to say she should love her better than she does. Lae’zel looks to the sky now, looks to her God, but Minthara looks only to her. She should love her better as she sleeps with her head pressed to her breast again, feels the softness of her breath on her skin, but there is something wrong. There is something wrong.

She craves a heavy breath scented with tobacco and rosewater. She craves the creeping dread of a voice heavy with lies, with challenges. She wants something she cannot quite grasp, cannot quite remember, but her body knows that once, just once, before she hands all that she is to the dread will of her dark Father, she wants to know.

Perhaps she should have killed her, back in the darkness of that temple. Perhaps that would have been the only way to love her in a way that mattered.

She lets her sleep, for one more night.

[todorroki]

HEY GIRLS........ I'M DEAD (love sea ep 2 thoughts)

do you think mame watched kp and nodded to herself like "yes... exactly..." while rubbing her hands together because that's the only reasoning i can come up with for what we got today. anyways nothing too coherent will be said this week sorry. my mind is still [metal bar crash] [car siren] [truck horn] [glass shattering]

let's just say when i started this ep i was sitting upright on the sofa and by the 8 minute mark i was sliding down my seat, and by the time they got to the SHOWER? clutching the armrest, practically parallel to the seat cushion, scandalized as though i haven't been filtering by E on ao3 for years now. MY EYES! no warning full on horny beam blast to the brain. and i was wondering how they were going to measure up to their nc scenes in LITA. me to my past self: u know nothing. fool.

first line in is rak wondering about sex with mut like LMAO talk about setting the tone. i love this episode because the direction said absolutely no nonsense we're gonna dial up the horny right away and they're so valid for that. the tension was Chef's Kiss. when rak just went ahead and sucked on mut's finger i screamed (silently). mut's expression here is ME

tongrak's resistance is weaker than wet paper! what happened to don't go for him LMAO even the cockblocking seashell wound was forgotten by the time mut started sucking on his arm.

and MY GOD there was so much Tongue. OPEN YOUR MOUTH?????? HELLO??????? as someone who has greater-than-anakin levels of hatred for sand, i was not even CLOSE to thinking about the sand in this scene so hats off to fortpeat. drove the surrounding setting completely out of my mind. then the nc back in rak's room afterwards?? i was mentally screaming HEELLP! shooting terrified glances at the closed door by the tv hoping no one else in the house was awake because jesus peat was Moaning.. tongrak took ride dick bicycle SERIOUSLY! and fort's low "im expensive" and "woof" line delivery is PEEAK I SAY. SO GOOD. they've truly outdone themselves with this one. im practically speechless. and BEST BELIEVE IM REWINDING IT LIKE A MADMAN!!

this is Not the horny speaking btw, peat's face is so cute here. when his eyes go a little wide ↓

nc aside, the motorcycle ride is so cute. rak clinging onto mut with both arms like OKAY!! I SEE! mhm mhm olivia wilde nod

tiny break from our main couple- we get vimook this week!! even a forehead kiss and the preview for next week asking mook out?? wow we're moving fast!! side note: are those chanya's real tattoos? because the small flower one on her arm is pretty. also enjoying palm just popping up constantly out of nowhere. he's simply a chill dude.

i liked that scene at the restaurant a lot. both the scenery And the food on the table looked great. i think that was the first time mutrak actually have a nice, proper conversation with each other. and they were very sweet! we get mut's backstory, and a bit of rak's thoughts on his job.

now i have No idea if anyone else has this error, but when i watched ep2 on the iq app on my tv, there was a line of subtitle here right before rak says because it's fun, though there was no actual dialogue:

it was something along the lines of 'actually, it's an escape' which would match rak's line of thought in the book. but it doesn't show when i watch the episode on the iq website. not sure if they forgot to put the audio into the scene or what.

similarly, when mut texts kom in the scene afterwards, the iq site only has the punctuation while the tv app showed the texts' translation. same thing with some of tongrak's flashbacks at the end. i don't know if it's just on my end or anyone else has this problem! not surprised tho the eye kew site n tv app both operate terribly imo :-) why are the subs placed so high on the website :-) ui and ux nightmare :-)

my hatred for this corp aside, WE GET DIVING AGAIN THIS WEEK!!!!! i'm so excited to see the behind the scenes for this part. i love seeing the logistics of filming underwater. and because this one involves a panic almost-drowning scene, it must've been hell to film, especially if they had to do it more than once. really looking forward to it. the visuals so far in both episodes are killing it.

shoutout to fort in the wetsuit... he's so hot

i really like how they're slowly dropping rak's trauma in bits and pieces in these 2 eps. (and i know we're supposed to focus on the trauma, but my brain went 'omg peat with his hair down so cute' during that scene with rak's sister sorry). compared to mut, who spells out his past with ease because he's made peace with it, rak outright avoids talking about his problems.

also, i LOVE mut's character when he's being serious. any time fort's tone drops to talk lowly or softly, i ASCEND. please give fort more serious roles!!! he deserves them!!

and we end with the title drop tongrak mahasamut!

the ending song changing from rak by himself in the first ep to mut sitting with him in this ep is a nice touch! it's the little details.

overall, pacing for this ep was good. i love it more than ep1, though idk if my opinion is influenced by the nc frying my brain. also, the boy next world poster!! just in time for their workshop starting this week whoop whoop

as always, if you found this post and read til this point, thank you so much for your time! anyways, if you'll excuse me, i have to rewatch some uh parts of this episode again haha. my screenshot folder is um. quite filled. just like tongrak. alright im out.

[bird-inacage]

A Fortpeat Gifset | Peat Sitting on Fort's Lap

Those sturdy thighs sure do come in handy. Top left is my absolute fave. Peat looking absolutely teeny tiny perched atop Fort and squished into a car.

PEAT: (*is offered a chair*) No, thank you. Fort will do nicely.

Other Fortpeat Gifset Compilations

The Bridal Carry

The Signature Smoulder

Fort Laying in Peat’s Lap

Peat Sitting on Fort’s Lap

Fort being grabby with Peat’s waist

My Favourite Fortpeat Cuddles

[toadlett]

A comic today for #repostober! this is a short comic about peat for an environmental-themed anthology that sadly never ended up happening.

ID/ comic script:

PAGE 1 (5 panels)

1. close on a mound of sphagnum

CAPTION: There it is again, that singing.

2. look up, see the expanse of the peat bog, the sky above, a mountainside.

CAPTION: Liquid, urgent, rising as it drops, a bright thread trembling, spun out of thin air.

3. close in on tiny bird flying and singing.

CAPTION: Ah, a there it is! A skylark.

4. back down to the sphagnum. Big panel, show a pool nearby maybe, asphodel and sundew and green stars of butterwort.

CAPTION: There is so much life here, tiny and bright.

5. series of small panels of newts, orchids, sundew plants, blue butterflies.

CAPTION: The air tastes sharp. All things struggle.

PAGE 2 (5 panels)

1. cross-section a sphagnum mound, if possible collage in real moss scanned in. fading down into thick dark peat.

CAPTION: The sphagnum lays down a history of everything that ever grew here. Pollen, tissue, documenting thousands of years. In a good year they might create half an inch of peat. Here, it is metres thick.

2. indistinct shape in the murk, humanoid.

CAPTION: Cold, acid and airless, tannin-cured, tea-stained. Sometimes, not just plants are offered to me.

3. blackness, maybe imprinted with leaf impressions – play around with ink and collage.

CAPTION: The smell of it is oak and smoke, whiskey, myrtle, bitter, icy and rich.

4. the blackness cut and segmented, stacked neatly, a person working on it with primitive tools.

CAPTION: They used to cut it, press the caramel-coloured water from it, and dry it to burn in their hearths, keep them warm through long winters.

5. see an empty, skeletal crofter’s cottage, a square scar on the hillside.

CAPTION: The scars they left in the moors are still there, centuries after they were driven from their homes. I watch bracken grow in their crofts. The glacial creep of lichen over hearthstones.

PAGE 3 (6 panels)

1. a modern garden centre, sacks of peat compost in rows.

CAPTION: They still cut it, though, faster than ever. Drain the land for farming or forest, more lucrative landscapes. Burn the peat or mix it into compost to grow prettier plants than my milkworts, sundews, orchids.

2. someone buying flowers at the supermarket, a bunch of tulips.

CAPTION: They used to stack it high to last through the winter. Something crueller and longer than any winter is coming, and every mile they drain or dig belches more carbon than can be replaced in centuries.

3. back to an asphodel flower, a bed of sphagnum.

CAPTION: It’s so difficult for them to see the consequences.

CAPTION (another voice): Yes, but they are realising.

4. open up, the whole red moorland hillside.

CAPTION: A third of the planet’s soil carbon held in peat. An archive they are just learning to read.

5. open up further, to the mountain.

CAPTION: They’re running out of time. I feel the change in my mosses, the seasons stretch and warp,.

6. the whole range of mountains.

CAPTION: One thing they have always been, these tiny, frantic creatures, is quick.

CAPTION: Quick to tear things apart,

CAPTION: But quick to learn as well.

CAPTION: I hope you’re right.

ENDNOTE CAPTION: You can help protect peat bogs by using peat-free compost in your garden, avoiding greenhouse-grown produce such as cut flowers unless they are peat-free, and choosing a renewable energy supplier!

[babyangelsky]

My Favorite Expressions in Love Sea Ep. 7

On a personal level this week has been a very mixed bag but I know that if nothing else got me, this show got me. It's gonna come in clutch for me every time, spider bites and potential hauntings be damned.

I. Love. It. Here.

Will I ever not take psychic damage from the expression Tongrak makes when Mahasamut tells him that he cares about him? The answer is no. It's wonderful and devastating every time.

"How would you rate me out of 10?" Mahasamut asks while Tongrak's face plots teasing and mischief.

Opening a safe shouldn't look so much like staring down the gallows but here we are. Not being able to see how Tongrak's hands were shaking in a screenshot is a blessing.

The panic and terror on this man's face when he saw the read receipt on his phone is something I never want to see again. My hatred for Rak's piece of shit sperm donor is murderous and profound. How actually fucking dare he put this look on his child's face I'm going to kill him with my bare hands.

Peat's acting is so genuinely good that it hurts me. Tongrak was trembling so much that he was struggling to put the phone away and when he gets back to his room, he practically tries to crawl into Mahasamut's skin to hide and feel safe. Look at him, he looks so tiny and scared and I want to cry.

Let us take a break from the sad with this supremely horny shot of Mook unzipping Vivi's dress. Everyone say thank you.

And pour one out for our girl, as is now a weekly custom. Vivi my girly is dying CONFESS TO HER AND MAKE OUT ABOUT IT.

"I'm not going to the event! >:(" Yes you are, mi alma, look at your face when Mook threatens to quit.

Not pictured: One (1) resigned sigh

The grumpiest kitten in the whole venue.

Tongrak: *complaining* Mahasamut: *heart eyes*

My favorite moment of the face journey Tongrak goes on when he realizes just how good Mahasamut looks and that he will be Perceived and decides to mess up his hair about it. The grumpy kitten is a jealous jellyfish.

It's the fact that Tongrak looks surprised that his fans like his books and have consumed his entire body of work. I'M GOING TO SOB.

The smile is polite and professional but the eyes are sparkly. He genuinely enjoys interacting with his fans.

The proud husband smile means everything to me.

THE LOOK OF ABSOLUTE LOATHING AND DISGUST! INCREDIBLE PHENOMENAL OUTSTANDING.

IF YA'LL THINK I'M NOT GONNA MAKE A SEPARATE POST ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS MAN YOU'RE SO FUCKING WRONG

If I have to have this demonic nasty hell witch on my screen, at least I get to watch her face make this expression after Tongrak calls her out for imitating him because he got it right on the money and she knows it.

Tongrak and the visceral hatred in his eyes said play me another waltz I'm tired of dancing to this one.

God love you, but you look so tired.

This entire scene was more brutal to watch than the fight outside of Tongrak's house. It was obvious that something more was going on from how calmly he was speaking and how non-responsive he became toward the end of it, but look at his hands. Look at how tightly they're clenched. Maintaining his composure while Prin stuck that knife in his wounds and twisted it as viciously as she could cost him, and it would be obvious even if we hadn't already seen them fight.

Tongrak, you're my fighter. He still looks tired because he is, but he also looks like the imperious ice prince he's had to be to survive. Then the utterly dismissive way he turns and walks out and cuts eye contact?

We can barely see Nouel's smile but it's so clearly saying "bruh that's cringe".

He's not just my fighter. He's Mahasamut's fighter, too.

Do ya'll remember how Tongrak was acting when he first brought Mahasamut to live with him and Vivi was teasing him?

Look how far they've come.

I can't quite articulate how, but the way they look at each other has changed, and I don't just mean because they're being lovey in front of Vivi and Mook. There's this undercurrent of sweetness that wasn't there before, even in private. That scene way back in episode 3 where Tongrak told Mahasamut to ask him to stay on the island which had so much softness and fondness to it did not have that same something that's now present.

I'm gonna leave ya'll with that and then go take more screenshots so I can properly scream about Mahasamut. And let me know if you wanna be tagged in these weekly writeups!

[fortpeat]

OH LORDDD 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Come now Peat you have to know the fandom is crazy for your pretty legs and this was pretty inevitable. Also if this was what just 4 stills did to Fortpeat fandom then I can't imagine what the series are gonna do 🤣🤣 it's gonna be thirsting 24/7 ... 🤭

LOOK AT THAT... 🫣🫣 TBH I THOUGHT SKY WAS SEDUCTIVE WITH HIS HALF OPEN SHIRTS AND TINY SHORTS 🤣 BUT TONGRAK IS JUST MASTER LEVEL ON THAT 🤣 I pray for Mahasamut's sanity 🤭🤭

[makoredeyes]

Itty bitty baby Ginko Biloba sapling I started from seed about 18 months ago graduated into a bonsai training pot today mostly because I cannot focus on anything else and even though it had plenty of room in the 4” pot it had it was still in its peat moss seed starting media still and having some real soil will be good for it (helloooo nutrients!)

I was really shocked at how tiny it’s roots are for something that’s had significant growing time at this rate, especially compared to the canopy. I’m not sure if this is typical of Ginko or a product of not having very good soil so far, but it seems healthy and happy overall anyway. They’re tough trees.

(That’s it, that’s all it has for roots)

I also suspect the seed wasn’t very good. It was one of 5 I started and the only one to germinate, when they’re easy enough that if they were sent to me healthy they should have all gone no problem. But here’s the one! I have other bonsai experiments going outside (with mixed results, all looking particularly haggard rn or maybe dead idk yet because of some terrible heatwaves) so no pictures of those, but this little one is so young and tiny it lives inside in my kitchen greenhouse window where I can keep a very close eye on it.

(I gave it a friend cx )

I decided to take the time to clean up the window just a little so y’all can see I uh.

Like plants. And have a few.

Finding the poor little Ginko is like playing Where’s Waldo 😅

[bengiyo]

BL 2022 Review

I debated how I would go about reviewing this year, and quickly tossed out any sort of list approach. Anything like a top 10 or 20 would feel disrespectful to many of the smaller projects I watched this year that had something worthwhile to discuss. Instead, I’ve decided to talk about BL with major topics that stick with me as I review the 80+ shows I watched this year. 

Reviewing the totals, as of the writing of this post I have completed, attempted, or am watching three shows from the Philippines, 49 from Thailand, five from Taiwan, 20 from South Korea, one from mainland China, 14 from Japan, and five from the West, for a total of 79 completed or watching plus 13 attempted. This included other QL projects as well. I’m reviewing a list of all BL projects from this year and the number was approximately 131. We’ve never had more choice than this, and I absolutely cannot watch this much again next year. 

In this long essay, I plan to talk about what I enjoyed out of the actor chemistry this year, the ways BL has become more political, how specific and powerful coming of age narratives continue to be in genre, the ways BL used the supernatural to talk about grief and loss, the intergenerational relationships appearing in genre, the expansion of the genre into adulthood, the ongoing competition amongst college narratives, our first forays into GL, and the continued divide with the West. That’s a lot, so I’m just going to put all of that behind a cut.

First, Some Thanks

Before we get started, I want to give shoutouts to the clowns I got to know this year and who have been so much fun to engage with this year since we met on Bad Buddy. In no particular order: @shortpplfedup​, @kyr-kun-chan​, @liyazaki​, @elnotwoods​, @flukenatouch​, @gilly-bean​, and so many more whose handles I always forget outside of our other chats. Also a shout out to the 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us fandom. We were tiny, but I loved interacting with all of you.  

The Boys Who Were Ready to Risk It All

I don’t always require the boys to have high levels of heat in my romances, but I do like believing that the characters genuinely desire each other. With Japan reentering the genre with their specific brand of reticence, and with Korea clearing the lane for their own form of clean romance*, I was not surprised to see Thailand turning up the heat in their shows to compete. All-in-all, this was an absolutely stellar year for chemistry across the board. 

Starting with the Philippines, I noticed that I watched far fewer shows from them this year, but two in particular made me BELIEVE. In Gameboys 2 Elijah Canlas and Kokoy de Santos continued to display the absolutely electric and believable desire between Cairo and Gavreel. You could feel how suddenly their attraction came on, and the desperation of their quarantine bubble’s time ticking away as they tried to make being a couple work. I especially enjoyed how they explored their differing levels in sexual experience and readiness before delivering one of the better bed scenes of the year.

Meanwhile, in Sleep With Me Janine and Lovi made the first time between Harry and Luna look genuinely fun for their characters. The morning after sharing between them was one of the most comfortably intimate things I’ve seen all year.

Thailand offered up a wide array this year, from the extremely light or chaste La Cuisine and 21 Days Theory; to the passionate in Dear Doctor, I’m Coming for Soul and Triage, to the shows-with-something-to-prove in KinnPorsche, Love in the Air, and Love Mechanics. However, I’d like to highlight how much I genuinely believed in the sexual desire from Mile and Apo in KinnPorsche, Boy and Tod in Ghost Host, Ghost House; Zee and NuNew in Cutie Pie; both Boss and Noeul, and Peat and Forth, in Love in the Air; and Mos and ISBANKY in Big Dragon. No disrespect to Yin and War, but we already knew they could bring it. 

With Apo and Mile, we saw expressions of sexual acts and desire from guys in this genre that it almost feels taboo for the genre to use with its preference for top/bottom acts. “A blowjob in a helicopter” became a “jumping the shark” joke for this year for a lot of valid reasons, but Kinn and Porsche engaging in mutual masturbation and oral sex was the most refreshing part of the sexual chemistry of that show.

Tod and Boy gave such a believable show of wanting each other that it gave me flashbacks to ITSAY Episode 3. Pluem’s clear love for Kevin’s legs, and their frank conversation about sex and readiness, along with their language play about making each other equal with English pronouns, made them one of my standouts for the year. Beyond that, the way they quickly fell into casual intimacy in the latter half the show elevates it above much this year.

We knew Zee could deliver on heat from Why R U (2020) with Saint, but I was surprised by how effectively he arrived at that same level with newcomer New Chawarin. I still think about the kitchen scene where Lian lifts Nu-Kuea onto the counter to stare up at him with open love and desire as he reassures him that he is everything to him. Thai fans jokingly review bombed the kettle model used in that scene for interrupting it, that’s how intense that scene was.

As usual with MAME, Me Mind Y casts for high heat and chemistry well, and clearly has an effective process for building up physical comfort between their casts, because everyone brought so much enthusiasm to their scenes that they literally let Boss and Noeul take charge of their own bed scenes. During my watch, I praised the way they used angles to allow for some actor modesty, and it’s clear everyone had fun working with their partner. Truly something special. There is a lot to unpack with Love in the Air, and I don’t think it’s for everyone, but in terms of heat, the cast delivered.

Speaking of shows that didn’t really work for me, I wasn’t a fan of Big Dragon. That being said, ISBANKY and Mos were absolutely willing to go there physically with each other, and managed varying levels of emotion and intensity in their intimate scenes across the season. I didn’t want to end the year without acknowledging that. 

As expected from Japan, they were about as chaste as I expect them to be outside of their darker BLs, but we have a few things worth mentioning. The final minutes of episode 4 of Old Fashion Cupcake was the most sexually charged interaction to come out of Japan all year, and I’m glad it happened between characters in their 30s and 40s.

I was proud of Minato’s Laundromat for delivering a satisfying pair of kisses in the finale, and confirming that the characters were finally getting it in in the final shot. We also got some solid bed work from Sora Inoue and Komiya Rio in Eternal Yesterday, but the fact that Koichi was dead probably excused that for Japan’s weird relationship with onscreen intimacy. Finally, we almost hit something really interesting about first desire in Takara-kun to Amagi-kun, but the show backed off and never went back.

While we’re talking about heat and Japan, I’m going to vent for the final time that the show was called Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss!” and yet they didn’t give a satisfying kiss! Something MBS kept experimenting with this year was having a dubcon or asymmetric emotional kiss very early in their shows, and then not delivering on a good couple one later. It felt a bit cheap and manipulative, and I’m quite glad we didn’t get that in Eternal Yesterday nor so far (as of episode 2) of Color Candy Paradox. 

With Korea, this was as @absolutebl​ calls it, the year Korea learned that boys can kiss. We returned to To My Star 2 this year for a very messy BL that I loved for the chemistry between the leads. Hwang Da Seul did it twice with the pair in Blueming.

Watcha showed a willingness to go there with Semantic Error with the Parks that was a real relief after the forgettable kiss in Light on Me the previous year. Strongberry proved again why they’re one of the best with both couple dynamics in Choco Milk Shake, the Cherry Blossoms After Winter pair were willing to go there, and the branded pair from Kissable Lips did it twice this year with Roommates of Poongduck 304. Holland and Han Gi Chan did a decent job in Ocean Likes Me, which was significant for me because Holland is a Known Gay. Seriously, Korea came to play this year.

*NOTE: Because of the impacts of military occupation in the first half of the 20th century, I don’t often comment on Korea’s particular brand of kissing or heat levels. If they’re still sorting out how they want to be perceived when it comes to intimacy and romance, I’ve elected to stay out of that cultural conversation and praise what I enjoy only. 

BL Got Political

Across the board, it felt like BL realized it could not longer remain politically neutral and remain relevant. Almost every Thai show went out of its way to call for marriage equality this year, with the standouts being Cutie Pie for its entire focus on marriage and Big Dragon with a memorable lament about the issue. From Japan, Cherry Magic: The Movie elegantly illustrated why marriage is so important for queer couples.

I want to highlight the shows that went a bit further and explored some queer themes beyond the ongoing struggle for marriage equality in Thailand.

In 21 Days Theory, we had a side plot where Q’s gay uncle traveled with Q’s mom to talk to their father off-screen about Man’s queerness and start rebuilding their relationship.

180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us focused on the way bullying and internalized homophobia leave wounds that shatter the people connected to that trauma, and became one of my standout shows of the year.

My Only 12% asked what the value was in queer media that leaves queer people feeling sad and broken at the end by questioning the role of Love of Siam (2007) in our history.

Papa & Daddy 2 challenged the artifice of rainbow capitalism and how only an acceptable brand of queerness is allowed to make money.

DNA Says I Love You explored a section of the alphabet mafia that we rarely touch upon (I don’t want to spoil it).

Both Not Me and The Eclipse challenged the structures of Thai society.

Outside of BL, Koisenu Futari did not mince words in its demands that aromantic asexual people should not be forced to form procreative units for the sake of others happiness.

We accelerated rather quickly on this, but it’s good to see that the makers within the genre know the score.

The Summer ‘22 High School Extravaganza

Starting this summer, we were treated to an amazing series of shows exploring first love in high school with Minato’s Laundromat and Takara-kun & Amagi-kun from Japan; About Youth from Taiwan; 21 Days Theory, My Only 12%, and The Eclipse from Thailand. We didn’t let up into the fall with Eternal Yesterday, and the currently-airing My School President.

There were so many shows this year, but statistically, the high school shows made up such a small portion of the genre overall. I appreciated how all of these shows tackled the commonalities of coming of age. 

With Minato’s Laundromat, we got to see Shin struggle against the barriers that said he couldn’t care for someone older than him, while Minato struggled with the way he’d refused to let himself mature from his own internalized homophobia.

We got to experience first desire and intense infatuation in Takara-kun to Amagi-kun, and how you’ll need the help of your friends to manage that intensity.

We had an absolutely adorable pair of couples falling in love in About Youth in the gentlest of these shows. Truly, this is a show so enjoyable that I have watched it more than once on my own.

My Only 12% explored the reality of falling in love with your best friend, and having them finally fall back years later as you also come to terms with your own queerness.

The Eclipse tackled the institutional and long-term effects of internalized homophobia across nine different characters and how they were all impacted by it.

21 Days Theory gave us a somewhat messy process of falling in love, but gave us support from a queer elder that let the show end up being shorter.

My School President is shaping into the much-needed successor to Lovesick and is turning Bad Buddy into a blueprint.

Finally, Eternal Yesterday tackled the grief of losing your first loved one unexpectedly to tragedy with a grace I think only Japan could pull off.

Yes, there were a lot of high school shows this year, but I think they were among the best offerings this year.

Ghosts! The Supernatural as Allegory for Grief

With BL reaching for higher concepts to stand out in the crowd, supernatural stories opened up spaces for shows to explore impossible romances and grief within the genre. I wrote extensively about how Eternal Yesterday tackled this, and how it is beneficial for some viewers to unpack their feelings. Even though I didn’t enjoy all of the shows I will mention in this section, I want to reiterate that I don’t ever want creators to stop trying to reach a strong thematic core with these supernatural concepts. 

Thailand displayed a specific notion about posthumous bureaucracy in both Dear Doctor, I’m Coming For Soul, Something in My Room, and Ghost Host, Ghost House. All three of these shows expressed a ton of rules about the afterlife for ghosts that I couldn’t always track, but has felt specifically Thai. Ghost House stood out for me amongst these offerings with the way Kevin continued to mourn his friend who died in the US, and how the ghost of his friend continued to protect Kevin without his knowledge.Something in My Room ended up feeling like a weaker version of He’s Coming to Me (2019). 

Japan relied on magical forces to draw people together in Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But To Kiss! and Cherry Magic: The Movie. The yin and yang dynamics about unluckiness and luckiness led to a truly enjoyable pairing between the leads. Adachi not losing his powers until he was truly ready to connect to Kurosawa ended up being far more enjoyable than I expected. Meanwhile, in Korea, Color Rush 2 without one of the leads ultimately left the series feeling incomplete on a somewhat disappointing note.

Korea has had three different reincarnation stories this year with First Love, Again; Choco Milk Shake, and The Director Who Buys Me Dinner. Choco Milk Shake ends up being the weirdest, what with Jungwoo’s pets reincarnating as very hot human men to try and help him manage his loneliness. In the other two shows, one partner is either immortal or has full recollection of his previous lives as he tries to reconnect with the other partner.

Kissable Lips tried out vampires, mostly unsuccessfully. Without enough time, it didn’t get to explore some complex themes about long-lived beings. Interview With the Vampire will be the queer vampire show that gets remembered this year for the toxicity of their failed marriage and the abuses therein.

We had two different time loop shows with Triage from Thailand, and Once Again from Korea. I enjoyed Triage more for the way it showed how hard it is not to love someone when you become obsessed with them, but there was something special about the painful way Once Again doled out a sliver of hope.

Vice Versa managed to tell something interesting with the body swapping across universes concept, even if I found myself frustrated with one of the leads. Self also attempted to use the supernatural with a character losing his reflection, but it ultimately felt like a plot delivery shorthand.

Whew! For all the talk about the number of high school shows we got this year, we had more supernatural ones.

Finally: Adults to Take To Brunch

We had a lot of standout adults this year that I want to highlight. Inter-generational queer relationships are extremely important to me. No matter how loving and supportive families may be, most queer people are going to be raised by straight people. We have to venture out to find our people and each other. So, being able to find that within your family or within your own community is so important. As such, these are the characters from this year I’d want to take to brunch and hang out with.

My favorite pair this year are Cheep and Dej from My Ride. The breakfast they share with Mork and Tawan in episode 8 about how maintaining a long term relationship is not so much about amorous love and romance, but more about trust, commitment, and communication. The frankness with which they discuss how they don’t always get along, and yet continue to choose each other, was so stellar. I hope someday to have a love as durable as theirs.

I also want to mention Uncle Man in 21 Days Theory. I suspect the show introduced a gay uncle to accommodate its short run time. They needed a queer presence to explain Q’s familiarity with queerness, and Uncle Man’s advice and guidance saved us a lot of navel gazing as a character came to understand himself. Regardless, at one point in the show, Q gets jealous of Man because he thinks Man is flirting with X. Man pulls his nephew aside and reads him to pieces for being so irrational, and reminds Q that he’s not interested in boys. It was such a stellar moment that has stuck with me for months.

Framboise from Kabe Koji Nekoyashiki-kun Desires to be Recognized is probably my favorite character of the year. From his first appearance, he radiates queer self love and joy. He is so excited to be amongst his people and connect with them, and them to each other. He gives solid advice in the few interactions we had with him, and he’s so determined to make sure Mamouru joins in with other creators. I have so much more to say about him, but know that he is what I aspire to be. (Gif credit to @liyazaki​, used with permission)

Alex from My Tooth Your Love needs to join us so he can have a break from holding the entire restaurant together. Alex may have been stern, but it was so fun to see a character set in where he was in his life while helping take care of others. He also deserves to be teased for being so fond of a baby gay.

Mama Xu from About Youth is also invited to the brunch. Not only has she managed to keep her son in good spirits after the painful loss of his father even as her brother terrorizes them, she also does that while staying out of his business.When Ye Guang came to her for advice about Qi Zhang, she kept her advice nonspecific enough that she didn’t invade their relationship. I love her, and she deserves to be pampered.

Though he had such a small role that they only named him Uncle, Uncle from Choco Milk Shake needs to join us because of the way he’s clearly supported his nephew without judgment for years, even knowing that a deep melancholy gripped him. 

While talking about My Tooth Your Love, all of the 30-somethings that got together this year are welcome at brunch, including Xun’an and Bai Lang from My Tooth Your Love; Nomoto Yuki and Totoko Kasuga from She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat; Togawa and Nozue from Old Fashion Cupcake; the entire adult cast of Papa & Daddy 2; Seo Joon and Ji Woo from To My Star 2; and the entire adult cast of Plus & Minus.

Lian and Yi from Cutie Pie are not invited because they are too wrapped up in the lives of young 20s folks and will bring the wrong energy to the brunch. Speaking of which, we’ve invited enough people that this has turned into a luncheon. 

QL Got Jobs This Year

One of the real joys of being part of the genre for so long is seeing enough money enter the field  that we can afford to leave the school settings. This year, we finally started seeing office romances more often. 

Scrolling through my watch list reveals: 609 Bedtime Story, 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us, Accomplishment of Fudanshi Bartender, Candy Color Paradox, Check Out, Cherry Magic: The Movie, Choco Milk Shake, Close Friend S2, Coffee Melody, Dear Doctor I’m Coming for Soul, The Director Who Buys Me Dinner, Even Sun, First Love Again, Gameboys 2, GAP, Ghost Host Ghost House, Happy Ending Romance, Kabe Koji Nekoyashiki-kun Desire to be Recognized, KinnPorsche, Koisenu Futari, Love Stage!!, Meow Ears Up, My Ride, My Tooth Your Love,The New Employee, Ocean Likes Me, Oh! Boarding House, Oh! My Assistant, Old Fashion Cupcake, On Cloud Nine, Physical Therapy, Plus & Minus, Rainbow Prince, Roommates of Poongduck 304, Senpai This Can’t be Love!, She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat, Sleep With Me, Sky in Your Heart, Tinted With You, That’s My Candy, To My Star 2, Triage, To Sir With Love, The Tuxedo, Vice Versa, War of Y, and What Zabb Man!. 

That’s 47 shows; that’s more than half my watch list. We can talk about how much stuff happens in school settings, but we had some options this year!

In a real relief for me, we started to see more workplace romances or romances starting between adults. Early in the year it started with My Ride for me, and then the slate of Korean shows. I suspect it comes down to where it was pragmatic to shoot. In Seoul, there’s probably office space for rent for these sorts of productions because of kdrama, whereas Thailand seems to have a disused campus that hosts many of the shows. Still, I count at least 16 that involve people falling for people they work with.

A special note for the Philippines: Rainbow Prince was fantastic. Yes, the production values are way lower than most people’s tastes, but that show was so funny. They absolutely committed to being the first BL musical, and the songs are a ton of fun. That show has “a heart so big it could crush this town.” It even does the classic musical thing of giving an antagonist one of the better songs on the set.

Looking at the projects being advertised next year, we might see non-school shows take the vast majority. What a time for us!

The College Shows That Didn’t Suck

Where I found that the high school shows have done a fantastic job this year, the college shows were really hit or miss for me. I’m not sure if it’s because that particular setting has run out of intriguing ideas, but I want to highlight the shows that I think didn’t suck.

First up: Thailand.  You’re My Sky felt like the first true post-ITSAY pulp. They really reached for solid production values and tried to bring a higher level of cinematography. I also think they handled the three relationships really well. Many folks dropped it, but it was a quiet gem of this year for me. Cutie Pie was a bit of a slog sometimes, but I still recommend it. Mark and Vee are not my favorite pairing, but the new version of Love Mechanics was still well done. It needed a side couple though.

Next: Japan. Despite my gripes, Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But To Kiss! was actually a really fun watch. Obviously we can’t end a year without acknowledging the continued parody fun of Absolute BL 2.

Finally: Korea. Semantic Error is going to be one of the banner shows of this year when we refer back to this year and talk about how people got into BL, what with the way it brought K-pop fans into the genre. Blueming gave us another stellar entry from Hwang Da Seul (To My Star). While I don’t really enjoy stepbrothers pairings, Cherry Blossoms After Winter was compelling. Love Class held its own, even if it wasn’t exactly to my taste.

Finally, though it isn’t exactly a school show, DNA Says I Love You is a really special show from Taiwan worth checking out.

LET’S GO LESBIANS! We Finally Had Multiple Quality GL Offerings

We finally started seeing GL productions on the field. Surprisingly, Korea has had the most offerings. I’ve watched She Makes My Heart Flutter and Our Relationship Ended Before it Began. My favorite pieces so far are Sleep With Me and GAP.

Sleep With Me worked so well because of the way they focused on disability and how it impacts romance. The queerness mattered to the storytelling, but it doesn’t spend much time in angst about that, when their material concerts are so much more present. I’ve been shouting for months for more people to watch it, so please sign up on Gaga and watch it. You can check out the first episode on YouTube.

GAP is still airing, but oh my goodness am I having fun with the costuming on this show. There is a specific lesbian gaze to this show that has been so refreshing to experience. It’s even unlocked all new tropes with us with “let me put this lipstick on you so I can taste it.”

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat feels like the lesbian little sister to What Did You Eat Yesterday? Unlike WDYEY, the pair are not together at the beginning, but it has been a darling of a show that I really hope NHK continues next year. I do love the shows where everyone cooks.

In Koisenu Futari, we got to see two aromantic asexual people build a platonic support system together while dealing with a lot of unwanted allosexual scrutiny. This was one of the most vital things I watched this year.

While there aren’t a ton of offerings yet, it’s been an encouraging start. 

Meanwhile, In the West

Though it pains me how many Western fans of queer media will not cross over into BL, there were some things from the West I enjoyed this year. 

Closest to BL, I enjoyed Heartstopper and Young Royals. Both fit into the same coming of age space BL loves and were easy recommendations for people who enjoy high school romance. 

Probably my favorite show was Chucky. That the Chucky character has been terrorizing victims across five decades is amazing, and I’ve enjoyed how some of the queer themes always at the core of the series are now front and center. A young romance between two boys undergirds much of the drama of the first two seasons, and it's a rare American show that became appointment television for me.

The biggest surprise of the year for me came from HBO with Our Flag Means Death. Obviously, we all know that pirates are gay culture, but I was not expecting HBO to be this explicit and play a textual romance out between Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi as Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard respectively. It also featured an explicit open relationship between two other crewmembers, and had a clearly nonbinary character aboard as well. All of this is handled with a comedic grace that felt so easy.

Also distributed by HBO is the Canadian show Sort Of, in which a trans-nonbinary nanny deals with the fallout of one of the parents falling into a coma. I first saw it at TIFF 2021, and it is really just so good. It’s hard to really sell in text like this, but it’s a fantastic show.

Finally, of what I watched, AMC gave us an adaptation of Interview With the Vampire, that shows a gay romance souring into something truly toxic over decades. I had a few qualms with specific choices the team made, but this show was absolutely compelling.

While I’m impressed with a few of the offerings we have here, I’m still not sold on Western queer storytelling funded by the major distribution systems. 

So…What’s Next?

That’s the real question, isn’t it? I think, for me, I’m going to have to be more discerning next year. Watching this much stuff really isn’t sustainable for me anymore, and it means I’m going to have to pick my winners, because I find I have little time to catch up on shows. I also enjoy the week-to-week interaction about shows too much to be late to the party. 

Overall, I’m genuinely encouraged by what I’ve seen teased so far for next year. GMMTV is getting more confident in its post-school storytelling, and is doubling down on using veteran talent instead of newbies to lead their shows. With their original stable starting to age up, they’re trying out more high-concept stuff. The Midnight Series begins airing this week, and I think will be our first glimpse of what’s to come. 

Beyond GMMTV, Star Hunter Entertainment and Domundi seem like they’re going to hold strong for the coming year. Me Mind Y also doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. That means we’ll be covered on high heat and genre stories as well. Finally, Wayufilm is still active, so we’ll continue to see them experiment.

Unfortunately, I don’t see Korea taking a big leap forward yet. They seem satisfied with the 20 minutes max for their shows and at most 8 episodes. Still, I expect them to dominate the low-heat shows that focus exclusively on romance. 

I’m not sure what to expect from Japan after this year of BL o’clock ends for MBS. My only hope is that the relationships with GagaOOlala and Viki don’t end, and what new productions do come out Japan make it onto both platforms. 

I worry about the Philippines getting too walled in. I haven’t been able to watch a production from The IdeaFirst Company easily in a very long time, and I don’t know what’s going on with their international distribution anymore. I’m still watching to watch Pa Thirsty and Two and One. I have hopes for Oxin Films’ next productions, but they always seem to be working on a thin budget that delays their projects.

I’ve also fallen off of Vietnamese productions for now. The fundraising pushes are too much for me. 

That’s all from me. It’s been the most enjoyable year in BL I’ve ever had, and maybe all of queer media. It’s so fun seeing different kinds of BL fans in the space now find their niches, and to see fandom wars moving off my dashboard as people find other people to engage with instead. We passed supersaturation a long time ago, so I hope the bubble doesn’t burst any time soon. 

See you all next year!