#your hearts are golden

[guzhufuren]

upcoming thai ql prayer circle 🤝🤝🤝

[lily-s-world]

I need DC Comics to give the Justice League the "Wayne Family Adventures" treatment because I'm convinced that the environment in the Watchtower is exactly like a high school.

[forgetful-nerd]

I think they should all meet up for tea so they can gossip together or something.

[untitledgoosegay]

re last reblog I do see fanfic culture pushing/replicating a certain model of "what trauma looks like," "how trauma works"

this is a problem across all areas of society obviously, but transformative works are, well, transformative. they're about crafting and modifying narratives where the fan-creator sees a flaw or a lack -- often for the better! don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of "I take a hammer and I fix the canon," it's the main thing that gets my creative gears spinning -- but what happens when that "flaw" is simply a narrative not conforming to popular expectations?

some people just don't get PTSD from events that sound obviously traumatic. they're not masking, and they're not coping; they just straight-up didn't get the permanently-locked stress-response that defines PTSD. they walk away from a horrible experience going "well, that sucked, but it's over now." some people do get PTSD from events most people wouldn't find traumatic. we don't really know why some people get PTSD and others don't. but fandom has an idea of events that must be traumatizing, of a "correct" way to portray trauma. you see the problems with this lack of understanding in e.g. fans pressuring the devs of Baldur's Gate 3 to add dialogue where the player character badgers Halsin about his own feelings on his abuse -- because he must be traumatized, and his trauma must fit a certain mold and presentation of sexual trauma, under the mistaken impression that anything outside that narrow window is somehow "wrong" and disrespectful or even harmful to survivors.

take, for another example, the very common trope of a traumatized character who hates touch or sex "learning" to like touch or sex as a part of their healing process. certainly that can be healing for some people; other people will never like, or want, touch or sex, because of trauma or because they just don't. the assumption that someone who doesn't want sex or doesn't like to be touched must be traumatized, must be suffering from this perceived lack, is seriously harmful -- to asexual people, to people with sensory issues around touch, and to people for whom healing from trauma means freedom to refuse sex or touch.

and there's a secondary trope, one that's slightly more thoughtful but ultimately repeats the problem -- that once someone has learned that their boundaries will be respected, they'll feel it's safe to soften those boundaries. once they feel safe refusing touch or sex, they'll feel comfortable allowing it on their own terms. but many people don't, and many people won't! many people will simply never want to be touched, and never want sex, and they are not suffering or broken or lacking because of it. the idea that proving you'll respect someone's boundaries entitles you to test those boundaries -- the paradox is obvious, and yet this is something i've seen hurt (re-traumatize) people i care for.

people are imperfect victims. people don't heal in the ways you expect. many people have positive memories of their abuse, of their abusers. many people hurt others in the course of their trauma, in ways that can't easily be unpacked in a 5k oneshot. very few narratives of trauma and recovery actually fit the ones put forward by popular children's media and romance novels -- which are the ones I most see replicated in fandom spaces, because they provide the clearest narrative and easiest catharsis, and so they're easy and soothing to reach for.

that's not necessarily a bad thing! i am not immune to goopy romance tropes. i am not immune to teary catharsis. not every fic has to grapple with ugly realities. but there's a problem when these narratives become predominant, when people think they're accurate and realistic depictions of trauma, when the truth of trauma is unpleasant and uncomfortable, and doesn't fit any single narrative, let alone one of comforting catharsis

[sciderman]

the mcrib is back

[marzipanandminutiae]

when there's a dog

and you pet the dog

and the dog wriggles hard against your legs like it wants to press itself into your very being, tail going turbo-speed, because it loves you and it loves being petted just so much

is there anything more sacred in the world

[stuck-in-jelly]

The Dragon Prince started off their sibling dynamics with “haha look at these pairs of siblings! How they laugh and tease each other!”

And now its “what if you watched your sibling go down a path you can’t follow. What if your sibling, who once held and cradled you in your darkest moment, turned their back to you. And you still have all this love in heart for them that you dont know what to do with anymore.”

[art-from-within]

Godrick but I ungraft him

“The first portrait looks familiar? You are loosing your mind, tarnished”

+ pov you watch your lord return after badmouthing lady Malenia to her face:

[hyunsung]

GEMINI NORAWIT as HEART and FOURTH NATTAWAT as LI MING in MOONLIGHT CHICKEN (2023) for @loversmore

[beanghostprincess]

This is probably my favorite genre of Sanji/Nami moments because he's just always there to catch her no matter what

Edit: I found this one on my phone somewhere in my Sanji folder. That's a gold mine. Making a collection.

[writinganon1]

@cokoweee

You are off the list 😌

I fear I hyped it up too much coz it’s literally just my old lady hobbies. I just stared at ur drawings for way too long and made ‘em needlepoint/ embroidery

THERES DETAILS AND SHADING I SWEAR!!!Tumblr just stole the quality>:( it looks cool in person you’ll just have to use your imagination

Yes I was gonna fill Cali in but I stabbed my finger threading the green and took it as a sign

Uh I forgot you’re some weird freaked up raccoon thing so I made your little sona guy normal raccoon colors. He has jorts because my little brother insisted that he couldn’t run around with a shirt and leave his balls hanging out. His words not mine 🫠

Sorry

Anyways if I had given this to you in person I would have also given you cookies from the bakery, but I can’t do that so the recipe is in the tags :)

(Look up how to make brown butter if you haven’t made it before)

Ok bye I’m sprinting away coz I’m mad embarrassed

🧍‍♀️🚙💨💨

[3cosmicfrogs]

I am envisioning a yuri so toxic it violates the Geneva convention. take my hand lets create this beautiful world together.

[invisiblegarters]

(Absolutely Not) Mircro (Mostly) BL Reviews

I really should find a new title for this. So often none of these are micro nor are they all BL. But I am lazy and bad at titles in general, so it will stay this way forevermore.

With that riveting introduction out of the way, let's just get started, yes?

In no particular order.

Completed

The Loyal Pin (Thai, GL): Enjoyed this one a lot for most of it. I had a great time just looking at it, everyone and everything was so pretty. I swear the show lingered on Freen and Becky's gorgeous faces abnormally long always just to highlight how gorgeous they both are. This is not a not a complaint. The acting was on point, as always, especially Freen who I just loved as Pin. And I loved seeing Becky playing the pursuer and the one who was a bit of a spoiled brat. The plot did get a little meandering here and there - I am not complaining about the length because I would have watched 80 more episodes but it did drag on occasion, and some of the cuts were a little odd. Anin especially seemed to have teleporting powers on occasion. One thing I really did like although it made me furious was how it mostly realistically engaged with the real struggles that Anin and Pin would have to go through to be together. I was furious at Pat more than once for ignoring things that were right in front of her face that spelled out what a shit Kuea actually was and just ignoring it, but the reality of Pin having to marry a man she did not love felt very realistic, especially considering her station relative to Anin's. Not sorry that they went the happy route in the end but I did like that Pin's struggles were real. Kuea was an impressive dick. That guy is really good at sucking, kudos to him. My one real quibble (and what dragged this down an entire point in the end) is the "joke" the king played on Pin when she was removed to her forever house with Anin. I'm not against messing with people but they literally ripped her out of a sobbing Pat's arms, blindfolded and driven off to who knows where. The poor girl was terrified and call me humourless but I didn't find it funny in the least. Not with everything else she'd been through. So final verdict is 8/10.

Kidnap (Thai, BL): This one I actually stopped watching about halfway through and then just binged when it was over. It was okay. I didn't have the ton of criticisms others had, but it also really wasn't my favorite, either. It was a turn your brain off and watch the pretty kind of show, I genuinely do not believe that it ever aspired to much higher than that, and I think that as a show like that it served its purpose. To be honest, unless the show was completely unwatchable I'd have finished it simply because the people losing their tiny minds over the fact that Ohm was paired with someone other than Nanon annoyed the everloving fuck out of me. I am not one who is hugely bothered by branded pairs working together over and over but if I was, the reaction to this would have been a great point in its favor (another is the way far too many "fans" of branded fairs treat the less popular or less liked one, but that's also just people being dicks and would probably happen anyway - it's just having to see the same person get it over and over that is rough). Aside over, the show was fine. It didn't do anything revolutionary but I don't really think it was trying to. Ohm was great as always, other Ohm was a great as the little bro, Leng was fine (he's green and it shows, especially when he has to do some of the more emotional scenes, but he's not bad. And I think he did Q's panic attacks and PTSD related trauma very well indeed). All in all, it was your standard romcom fare. Easy to watch, and easy to forget when it was over. 7/10.

Unknown (Taiwan, BL): Adopted brother trop baby. Don't look at me I don't care I eat it up. I love me a good stepbrothers / adopted brothers who fall in love tale, and so does Taiwan. I had a good time with this one. All episodes were out so I binged it all via Viki which is honestly how I like to do it with shows like this - I just don't have the energy or the mental strength to wait on tenterhooks for another episode when I get super invested and things aren't going well (Jack & Joker nearly broke me and THK kind of puts me in a frothing rage - more on this later maybe), plus it helps when I can consume this type of stuff all on my own. Stuff that I imagine people have Opinions about. Opinions that will probably annoy me. It's why to this day I'm still glad I watched most of MLC in a vacuum and wasn't watching live until the final eps. I just know the opinions on that one would have send me 'round the bend. But this isn't about those shows, it's about Unkwon. I quite enjoyed it! I liked that everyone was kind of a mess, pretty much exactly as you would expect them to be, considering. No one here has their shit together, especially not the one who seems to have it the most handled. I also really liked all the pining and yearning. If you know me at all you know that I am the biggest fan of reverse pining and this show delivered that to me in spades. I could have watched thirteen episodes of Wei Qian missing Xiao Yuan so badly he could taste it. Chemistry was also on point, but honestly Taiwan almost always delivers there, I might worry about the story but I never worry about the chemistry. 8/10.

Night Has Come (Korea, gen): This one absolutely had me hooked pretty much from the beginning, and I loved it so much for pretty much the entirety of the drama. The cast is excellent, I was infuriated, I cried, I sat on the edge of my seat wondering what was coming next...and then the end kind of annoyed me and made the story fall apart just a little. Not enough to kill my enjoyment, but enough to drag my overall score down to 7/10. Would still recommend it though, if only for the ride. But man, one thing Kdramas are very good at it making me furious at the characters. Weak Hero Class 1, The Glory, All of Us Are Dead, Squid Game...just to name a few. All of these had me incandescent with rage at some point or another. Kudos?

Peaceful Property (Thai, gen or "bromance"): Oh my gosh this show. I knew I'd like it, but I did not expect to love it quite as much as I did. Home was such a delightful character. Peach, Pang, and Kan (my girl!) were great too, but for me Home is what made the show. He was a little naive and far too unaware of his own privilege, but one thing I loved about him is that he was never cruel or even that greedy. He was a little (a lot) useless in the beginning, but through meeting Peach and Pang and Kan he learned to be less so, and also finally found a place where he could belong - something he was looking for for the entirety of the show. Family. This show did the found family thing so well without making it too treacly, which I loved. These four people needed came into each other's lives, each of them having what the others desperately needed, and I love that for them. This show just had so much heart. I don't know how else to say it. I loved it so much. 9/10

Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart IThai, BL): Oh, this show. So I only recently watched Love Mechanics for the first time this year, and I had no clue about YinWar until then. I know, right? But hey, I watched it right in time to actually get jazzed for this show. I love that we had two different shows airing about mafia-esque at the same time that took very different tracks. While Kidnap went the more romcom slapstick route, Jack & Joker did engage a bit with the darker side of it. Literally everyone at the top sucked, but Boss was the worst of them all. And the worst part about him was that he convinced himself that he was doing it for great justice. I was amused, though, because Mark was my darling baby who could do no wrong in Love Mechanics but in J & J it was absolutely Jack. I loved Joke too but Jack was my darling boy who was so sweet and hopeful and that just kept getting kicked down by life every time he came close to finding a way out. I felt for that man so much. My one criticism is that I didn't love the end. Everything felt a little too pat and perfect after what had happened. But it's not that big of a complaint. I don't think I would have loved a bleak ending either. So many of the side characters helped make this one - I loved Tattoo, Aran and Hoy, Hope and Save grew on me, and Nang was gorgeous even if sometimes the things she did made me want to scream. Grandma was the best and Toi Ting was a delight and stole nearly every scene she was in. Love that little girl. So often with shows I find myself just wanting the main characters to get back on screen but with J&J I felt like that way less. Also, I didn't even mind the long run time of the eps. One last thing I will say is that I really did wind up enjoying the character of Rose. I know that she was rough for some people - it can be very hard to like someone that has no clue about their own privilege or how their wealth has opened doors for them that are impossible for other people to open, or how the people around her played with the lives of others like it was no big deal - but I do think that her slow realization about it was pretty well done. She may have started out extremely naive but by the end her eyes have been opened and she's committed to making some real changes. I like to think she succeeds - girl's tenacious. Also, even if I hadn't liked her already, the way she reacted to being rejected by Jack would have made me like her. It was classy. 8/10

I went on for so long about High School Frenemy that I eventually gave up and gave it it's own post. Do what you will that that one.

Currently Watching

The Heart Killers (Thai, BL): Came mostly for FK, am staying entirely for JD. This is absolutely going to be one of the shows where it's best if I just watch in a vacuum, I think. Especially because I'm more than a little bitter and it's going to get worse rather than better, if I'm right (and I almost always am It's a curse). I do think that we can all agree that Fadel deserves the world, though.

Spare Me Your Mercy (Thai, BL): I am in love with this show. There is so much going on here and every week I'm excited to watch but also not wanting it to be over. Tor and JJ are doing so well and I like that it's making me think. Dr. Kan has never done a thing wrong in his life and I will fight people for him. I also kind of love that neither he nor Wasan are both playing a game and are still managing to fall into the trap anyway, both their own and each other's. Just a great show. Also has me wanting to watch Manner of Death so I will be starting that shortly.

Petrichor (Thai, GL): it's a procedural but everyone's a lesbian. I love it. And everyone is so hot. Like I can barely focus on what they're saying half the time my god. I'm really having a good time with this one.

Pluto (Thai, GL): This show is so fucking good. Namtan is so amazing - I love how different Oom and Ai are, even when they are making the same expressions the way they carry themselves is so opposite you always know who you're dealing with. Film is also doing great as May - a delicious mix of vulnerability and strength, uprightness and manipulation. Also my gosh I keep getting slapped in the face with how ridiculously pretty she is like very five seconds. Did NOT expect the memory loss curveball but I am here for it. Also if the PimJanPang triangle doesn't end in a throuple I might actually cry, but if they all make out with each other a little I will forgive the show if it doesn't end with them all together.

ThamePo (Thai, BL): still not committed but I enjoyed the first episode. Someone should have told me Ciize was in it and I'd have been there with bells on anyway. I love her. So far though it's not like what I thought based on the mock trailer, so I'm cautiously into it.

Looking Forward To

Ossan's Love Thailand: we'll see on the comedy. Sometimes it hits. Sometimes it does not. The more slapstick stuff is iffy for me but I do love EM so.

The Boy Next World: oh my god this looks like exactly my thing. I can't wait.

My Golden Blood: No trailer but I don't even care. GIMME already it's been 84 years.

[daily-hanamura]

[i-cry-everytime]

Bruabbas wip + the fanfic I'm working on!! I'm so sorry if the characters are ooc or the writing is off, this is my first time writing a fanfiction so it's not gonna be amazing 😓

[bhaal-battle-beer-bard]

❀ꗥꗥ❀ 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 ❀ꗥꗥ❀

🍂 𝓓𝓪𝔀𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓱𝓸𝓷𝓮𝔂 𝓰𝓸𝓵𝓭𝓮𝓷 𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓼

I got inspired by the first night of Tav and Astarion in the forest and thought about it: How does it feel for a Tav who is already hopeless in love with Astarion at this point, but recognizing in the morning that he is not, not even close? Dreaming of some truth in his words...

🍂🌅🍂🌅🍂🌅🍂🌅🍂🌅🍂🌅🍂🌅🍂🌅🍂

Dreams of love and caress By the trees and river Vanish with the morning Honey sweet words from silver tongue Fade into the morning light Promises of love flee with the night I dreamed of touching your soul Only found shards of ice and stone You build up a wall Too tall to climb, too strong to tear it down with my bare hands Dreams of love and caress By the trees and river Vanish with the morning Honey sweet words from silver tongue Fade into the morning light Promises of love flee with the night Lay my heart and soul open for you Naked, bare and vulnerable One last try to reach you Just reach out and take my open hand Waiting for you Never letting go Embracing forever Warm and lovingly Can your crimson eyes see? Waiting for you in the depths of the dark night Following the river With hope of love and silver locks Animalic red eyes glistening in the dark Wolf and sheep Cat and mouse I will follow you into the dark Dreams of love and caress By the trees and river Vanish with the morning Honey sweet words from silver tongue Fade into the morning light Promises of love flee with the night

This is the ballad counterpart to my fanfiction "Hold me without hurting me".

At first, Saulus was supposed to sing this song while she strokes Astarion's hair to guide him into a peaceful trance without dreams about Cazador. But then, while writing, I was inspired to do something different again and instead of a sad love ballad of the past, Saulus prefers to sing about the fiery but beautiful, warm uncertainty of the present.

I got inspired to this by the first night of Tav and Astarion in the forest and thought about it.

Most of I thought about Astarion, how he feels. How much does he perform? Does it cost him a lot of effort? Does he already feel a little more affection for Tav or does it really only start after that he catches feelings like a cold?

Replaying, reliving the scene again really made me thinking about it closer. Yes this is me still thinking about this Act I Romance scene.

But what does it mean for Tav? How does it feel for a Tav who is already in love with Astarion at this point?

He promises you this night the stars and almost the whole world. Tells you all those wonderful things with his most beautiful voice. His starry eyes looking into your soul.

Even if your Tav knows his flirting is a bit over the top and cannot be taken literally.

Especially when you pass all the insight checks before.

But maybe Tav wishes for Astarion's words to be true. Because Tav is already hopeless in love with him. Only him. Wants to be near him and thinks maybe this time, did he mean it that he likes them.

The most sad thing, is when they already sense it by saying “Did you enjoy it? It felt like you weren’t fully there…”

He promised so much before and then…Tav can already feel that the night wasn’t as hoped.

They didn't connect.

Tav does not fall for his "I was holding back."

Of course he never ever promised Tav love, made his intentions of lust very clear, but what they believed in his "growing to like the whole package". Thinking Astarion likes them the same way as they do.

And what an awful feeling, after this night of promises and honey dripping words, it must be, to see by the morning light most of this illusion is gone. An illusion all it was. Just like the vision he is.

Astarion really quickly pushes Tav back to camp.

No cuddles, no more sweet talk. Just let's get back!

Duty has been done.

Of course it has to do with his scars. Talking about Cazador always kills the mood for him. You seeing it, getting closer to him and learn something about him, that he doesn't lie about…he totally shuts down immediately when he notices that the convo is getting too close and personal. Tav is getting to close to him, the real him...his heart.

And pushes Tav back to the camp.

But if Tav does not get that immediately, all that Tav feels and can see is:

Lying there. Asking for cuddles afterwards (mine would).

Lied to as why he still seemed so distant. Emotional absent.

Offering to translate his scars.

Just getting pushed back to camp. No cuddles 😢

An unpleasant feeling for a Tav already in love with Astarion, knowing something is not alright, seeing through his lies…just not recognizing the exact truth and extent .

At least I know, for my Tav it feels awful.

Because not believing is mascarde but secretly hoping his pick up lines just mean a hint of truth, hold onto this hope, is a whole different thing.

I wish there was a way if Tav passes all these insight checks, she can start the romance with him differently and maybe talk to him about it.

So...it is really the stuff for ballads 😊