#excel notes vs comments

[bleulikedaylight]

Cite Me Later

pairing: academic rival! natasha romanoff x academic rival! reader

synopsis: you’ve always been top of your class—sharp, confident, and unbeatable. in your world, there’s no such thing as a worthy rival. that is, until natasha romanoff strides into your class with a smirk and a sharper argument that throws your entire carefully controlled world into chaos.

warnings: none !! <3 | wc: 2.2k | genre: academic enemies-to-lovers

note: posting a lot 'cause i'm bored as hell. someone pls give me a hobby or a thesis deadline or smth. 🥲

also, to the anon who asked if i have a masterlist—i do now. yay !! here it is: bleu's intro & masterlist !! ♡

You’d always believed in one thing: there is no such thing as a worthy rival.

People either got in your way or trailed behind. You were always two steps ahead, first in every list, most respected, and most feared. That is, until Natasha Romanoff walked into your sophomore political theory class like she owned the world and immediately raised her hand with a better argument than yours.

You’d never hated someone faster.

And you’d never thought about anyone more.

For two years, the two of you danced through every class, every competition, every student council election like twin flames destined to clash. Professors took bets. Students whispered. Even the president of the university made a comment about how you two should “either get a room or co-author a research paper.”

You had no plans to do either.

That is, until your university’s elite debate championship dropped the bomb: final round—1 vs 1 debate: Natasha Romanoff vs Y/N L/N.

Of course. Who else would it be?

You were doomed.

Not because you thought you’d lose. No. You were doomed because last week, Natasha Romanoff looked you dead in the eye after a mock trial and said, “You blinked. I win.”

You did blink.

Because she smiled.

And your brain short-circuited.

—

You arrived at the auditorium ready for war—blazer ironed, cards memorized, hair sleek, lipstick perfectly placed. The student auditorium was packed, buzzing. Wanda, your roommate, waved at you with both hands from the front row while mouthing KILL HER.

Across the stage, Natasha adjusted her sleeves like she was getting ready for a date, not war. She wore her signature dark-red lipstick and a subtle smirk like it was custom-made. Her black turtleneck somehow made her look smarter. Infuriating.

The moderator explained the rules. Each of you got five minutes to open, followed by three rounds of rebuttals.

The topic: “Surveillance in modern democracy—boon or bane?”

You took the negative. Natasha took the affirmative.

Game on.

You were flawless. Your opening statement was clear, concise, cutting. The audience nodded, impressed.

But Natasha?

She spoke like every word was silk dipped in poison.

She paced slowly, making eye contact with the audience, then you, then the panel. Her hands moved just enough to make her point but never enough to be dramatic. And she had the audacity to say, “My opponent makes an excellent point—hypothetically.”

The crowd gasped.

You wanted to scream.

But you rallied.

The third round came fast. You delivered your argument with surgical precision—facts sharpened like blades, your voice unwavering, confident, borderline smug.

And then she took the mic.

Natasha leaned forward, lips brushing the foam cover like it was an invitation. Her tone? Silky and laced with that Romanoff mischief that made half the room forget how to breathe.

"L/N," she said smoothly, eyes gleaming with something dangerous, "you’re making this almost too easy. You always do."

You narrowed your eyes, unsure if she was insulting you or complimenting you—or both.

She continued, "But don’t worry. I’ll let you explain your logic to me again... over coffee, maybe? My treat. Winner buys."

A ripple of laughter tore through the audience. You blinked, thrown off for half a second.

Did she just—

You slapped your hand over your mic and hissed, “Romanoff. Are you flirting with me right now?”

She tilted her head, all smug and no shame. “No,” she whispered back. “I’m distracting you.”

The moderator cleared their throat.

You turned back to the mic, mind rattled.

The final bell rang.

The debate ended.

And the audience? Lost their minds.

—

You stormed out of the auditorium with heels echoing your fury. Behind you, Natasha followed, calm as ever.

“You cheated,” you snapped, whirling around.

She looked amused. “By being charming?”

“By distracting me.”

“I only distract you because you like me.”

You froze. “Excuse me?”

She stepped closer, the hallway quiet and dim. “Come on, Y/N. You only argue with me like that because you want to see if I’ll push back.”

“I argue with everyone.”

“But you only blush with me.”

You touched your cheek instinctively.

Damn it.

“This is why you’re still single,” you said, crossing your arms.

She tilted her head.

“No,” she said, smile softening into something dangerous. “I’m still single because you haven’t confessed to me yet, Y/N.”

Your mouth opened.

Nothing came out.

Your heart forgot how to beat.

And for the first time in your entire academic life—you had no rebuttal.

—

Back in your dorm, you paced while Wanda watched from the bed, popcorn in hand.

“Say it again?” she asked.

“She said—she’s still single because I haven’t confessed yet.” You paused. “Like, what even—what was I supposed to say?!”

“I don’t know, ‘yes, Natasha, I’ve secretly wanted to kiss you since Intro to Gov.’ Maybe that?”

“I’m not falling for her.”

Wanda gave you a look.

You fell back onto the bed. “This is bad. I can’t be falling for my rival.”

“You’re already gone, babe.”

You groaned and fell face-first into your pillows.

—

Fate, or some chaotic god, had a sense of humor. The next class project? Partnered research. Your professor announced the pairings with casual indifference.

Of course, the professor paired you with Natasha.

“She requested you,” your prof said casually.

“Sorry?”

“She said no one else could match her.”

Great.

Just great.

You met her at the library the next day, heart pounding.

“You look like you’re about to fight me,” Natasha said, sliding into the seat across from you.

“I am.”

She chuckled. “Good. I like it when you fight.”

You glared, opening your laptop. “Let’s just get this done.”

Hours passed in chaos. You bickered about citations, rewrote the thesis four times, and debated tone until your heads hurt. But each time her fingers brushed yours, your pulse jumped. When she leaned over to point at your screen and her hair brushed your cheek, you froze.

Once, she leaned over you to point at your screen, her hair brushing your cheek.

You froze.

“You smell good,” she murmured.

“Shut up,” you muttered, ears burning.

She grinned. “Make me.”

You stared at her.

“I will.”

“Do it.”

And just like that, the library air turned electric.

You broke the tension by knocking her water bottle over.

Twice.

—

It happened again at the library—but this time, it wasn’t her. It was Enzo—the third-year International Studies major who always managed to appear when Natasha wasn’t around.

Today, he came bearing coffee. Your favorite.

“You look stressed,” Enzo said, placing the drink beside your laptop. “Thought you could use this.”

You blinked. “I—uh. Thanks. That’s… really sweet.”

He grinned, leaning against the table a little too casually. “I was wondering if you’d want to co-present for Model UN next month. You’re kind of amazing, and it’d be an honor.”

Before you could even respond, a shadow fell across your table.

“She already has a partner,” Natasha said coolly, appearing out of nowhere.

Your heart stuttered.

Enzo straightened. “Oh. Hey, Natasha. Didn’t see you there.”

“I know,” she said. “Maybe next time, announce yourself with a trumpet.”

You choked on your coffee.

Enzo blinked, confused. “It’s just a coffee. No need to be—”

“Possessive?” she cut in smoothly, slipping into the seat beside you. Her arm brushed yours. She didn’t move away. “Good. Just clarifying.”

Enzo left shortly after, citing “a class,” but he looked like he might transfer universities.

You turned to her. “What was that?”

“Coffee makes me territorial.”

“That wasn’t your coffee.”

“No,” she said, voice lower now, “but you’re mine.”

You stared. “Excuse me?”

She smiled sweetly, pulling your laptop toward her. “Now. About that conclusion paragraph.”

You spent the next twenty minutes typing in silence while your brain combusted.

—

The moment it all came to a head happened on the rooftop.

You’d just submitted your joint paper—the professor emailed to say it was “the best submission of the semester.”

The sun was setting, city lights flickering awake one by one beneath your feet. You held a cup of coffee in one hand, a slice of banana bread in the other. Natasha leaned on the railing beside you, hair tousled by the breeze.

Neither of you said anything for a while.

“It’s kind of annoying,” you said finally.

“What is?”

“That we’re good at everything.”

She laughed, brushing a crumb off your blazer. “We are.”

You turned to her. “I didn’t think we’d work well together.”

“I knew we would,” she said.

“Why?”

She met your gaze.

“Because you’re the only person who scares me,” she said. “And excites me. At the same time.”

You blinked. “Is this your way of flirting again?”

“It’s my way of confessing.”

You froze.

“Y/N,” she continued, voice quieter, “I’ve liked you since you corrected Professor Ross on a constitutional clause in front of the whole class."

“That was two years ago.”

“I’m very patient.”

You didn’t know what to say. You tried to say something witty. Clever. Deflect.

“This is bad. I can’t be falling...”

“…for you,” you finished, barely audible.

You expected her to tease you. Maybe crack a smug grin or say something borderline insufferable.

Instead, Natasha just looked at you like she already knew. Like she’d always known.

“I know,” she said softly, stepping closer. “But it doesn’t have to be.”

You laughed, breathless. “We’re rivals.”

“Rivals don’t stay up editing each other’s citations,” she countered. “They don’t memorize each other’s coffee orders or steal pens just to watch you pout and roll your eyes.”

She reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear.

“And they definitely don’t make each other blush this much.”

You hated that she was right. And loved it, too.

Your lips parted to respond—but the rooftop door creaked open.

Wanda.

Of course.

She squinted at you both, eyes darting between your flushed face and Natasha’s proximity.

“I KNEW IT,” she screamed. “I KNEW YOU WERE FLIRTING DURING THE DEBATE.”

You groaned. “Wanda—”

“I’m telling the group chat.”

“You are not telling the group chat—”

But it was too late. She was already running back inside, shrieking something about ‘endgame lesbians’ and ‘slow burn finally burning.’

You turned back to Natasha, exasperated. “You’ve doomed me.”

“I’ll take responsibility,” she said, grinning. “Want me to draft a public statement?”

“You’re insufferable.”

“And you’re in love with me.”

You didn’t deny it.

—

You and Natasha showed up to your next class five minutes late.

Everyone stared.

You were glowing.

Natasha’s lipstick was smudged.

Wanda fist-pumped like she’d won the lottery. The professor didn’t even blink.

Later that week, your university released the final overall academic rankings.

You and Natasha?

Tied for first.

For the fourth time in a row.

She leaned over and whispered, “We’re good at sharing, huh?”

You smirked. “We’ll see about that.”

—

You didn’t sleep that night.

Part of it was the caffeine, but most of it was her.

You lay in bed staring at your ceiling, replaying the rooftop, the smile she gave you, the way she said “you’re mine” like it was a truth she never doubted.

At 2:41 a.m., your phone buzzed.

You stared at the message.

—

You met her outside your dorm, both in hoodies and sneakers, the city quiet and glimmering.

“I was hoping you’d say yes,” she said, falling into step beside you.

You rolled your eyes. “You’re lucky I’m already in too deep.”

You walked aimlessly, passing quiet cafés and flickering lamp posts, your shoulders brushing now and then like it meant nothing. But it meant everything.

“You know,” you said, hands stuffed in your hoodie pocket, “when I first met you, I wanted to push you down a flight of stairs.”

She snorted. “I thought you were a robot. Like, no emotion, just pure ambition.”

You smiled. “You were the first person who made me feel… nervous.”

She glanced at you, eyes soft. “You made me want to be better. And I hated you for it.”

You stopped walking.

“So what now?” you asked. “Are we... a thing?”

“I hope so,” she said, then leaned down, pressing her forehead to yours. “Unless you’d rather we keep flirting through footnotes and rebuttals.”

You grinned. “Maybe both.”

She kissed you.

And it felt less like the end of a rivalry—and more like the start of something real.

—

Your friends started asking questions. The professors started smiling when you bickered in class. You still debated her over everything—lunch menus, political philosophies, even what the best seat was in the student lounge.

But now, when you won, she kissed you.

When she won, you let her.

She still brought up the Enzo moment sometimes.

“Would’ve punched him if he asked you out,” she muttered once.

“You can’t punch diplomacy majors.”

“I can try.”

—

You lost your next debate to her.

On purpose.

She kissed you right after.

You decided maybe losing wasn’t so bad.

Not when it was to Natasha Romanoff.

And especially not when she pulled you aside after the crowd cleared and whispered, “Still rivals?”

You kissed her.

“Always.”

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Okay Mid Year Here We Come!

Pun intended.

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

May 2025 Week 5

Ongoing Series - Thai

Knock Out (Fri WeTV ) ep 3 of 12 - Sometimes, on my more philosophical days, I feel like this BL is the backstory of the brother & boyfriend characters who run the gym in Wandee Goodday. 

Meanwhile, massage oil scene with the secondary couple was excellent. Kind of came out of nowhere. (Presumably so did he.) But I’m not gonna complain. (Presumably neither did he.)

My Stubborn (Sun iQIYI) ep 5 of 10 - Sorn literally cannot keep his hands to himself. This show is the poster child for workplace sexual harassment. That said absolutely every employee seems to be doing it, so perhaps it was a hiring mandate. Company bonus? Your paycheck comes with a side of kabedon?

Pit Babe 2 (Fri iQIYI) ep 5 of 13 - Serving us a season 2 like no BL before has ever served. I am in awe. Mostly of Kenta's tatas on a platter and the cast joking about them and wardrobe's wholesale investment in their importance. Which is true. Very important work Pit Babe is doing for us right now.

Where was I?

What is happening?

I can’t with the scooters. I just can’t.

The plot (or whatever you wanna call it) continues a pace. There’s a lot of vrooming and canoodling.

Oh who cares, let us return to what really matters - black shirt tata chacha chacha.

Kenta brought a knife to a car fight. Best thing to happen in BL in years: a vroom vroom rescue.

Kim's protective doughnut of Kenta was, in fact, (as the kids would have it) legend. I am officially calling this maneuver the Bangkok Drift (and you can't stop me). I got nothing left to say. It spun out my brain meats.

(I should invent a very strong cocktail called the Bangkok Drift. I'm taking mixer suggestions in the comments.)

Also Kim = brimming with BDE. OMG is this couple BDE vs BTE (big tata energy)? Yes, yes they are.

Carry on Pit Babe, you clearly know what you're doing, even if no one else does.

(I should clearly be doing a Trash Watch of this but it's too late now.)

The BangkokBoy (Sat Gaga) ep 6 of 12 - Ooo hacker cutie, just what we all needed in our lives. Should we talk again about how incredibly hot Top is? Goes without a saying, I suppose. Also too pretty = likely the mole. (Too much to ask him to put that hacker up against a wall?)

I am still very much enjoying this, but I wish it was a bit less gangster and a bit more BL.

Eye Contact (Weds WeTV) ep 3 of 12 - NO SINGING. I figured it out. This is Make it Right goes to college and that's why I like it. That said, the terrible editing is beginning to grate on me. Perhaps if I were able to watch the extended version it wouldn’t be so bad. But as it stands  I’m losing patience with the whole WeTV platform in general, so I won't be upgrading on principle.

The Next Prince (Sat iQIYI) ep 5 of 14 - I'm enjoying it for the fantasy aspect. But we have got couple bloat happening. There’s too many. I am kinda into and excited by most of them (except maybe the leads), but still it’s too much for this show.

They aren’t Pit Babe, they can’t get away with it. (To be fair, Pit Babe really isn’t getting away with it either, it’s just so chaotic it doesn’t matter.)

While whipping boy is a favorite trope, and I did squeak in delight when that dog lead came out - Thailand going kinky rarely works out well for us. This pair is very "someone's been reading too much Slytherin slash."

My Sweetheart Jom (Fri YT) ep 3 of 12 - It's fine, but pretty missable. I dont get much chemistry from the leads. More parental tolerance meets childishness. I mean, if they’re aiming for a Daddy/brat dynamic, it’s not working.

I like that the same actor is playing the same psychopath in both shows currently airing. Aon is very good at being wild-eyed crazy.

On a completely different note wouldn't he be great as Song Qi if Thailand did a remake of Moon and Dust?

Boys in Love (Sun iQIYI ) ep 6 of 12 - I don’t know. They’re losing me on this one. It doesn’t seem to know where it wants to go or what it wants to do. There’s no major through line. And while that has worked for me in the past with pre-branded existing pairs (e.g. We Are) the profound lack of tension isn’t really working in this show for me. I hate Shane’s parents. Hate them. 

That is all.

Sweet Tooth Good Dentist (Fri iQIYI) ep 10 of 12 - Jimmy is back, yay! This ep was all backstory and dealing with past drama. I wish we got a little bit more of Sant’s story. But also I am v bored.

The Ex-Morning (Thurs YT) ep 2 of 10 - I don’t have much to say about this show. I found this episode dull. Krist is always the same character in BL, and frankly it’s an archetype that I intensely dislike. More importantly, I always fail to understand why any love interests are ever interested in dating this personality type. Frankly he’s a jerk and a bully. Were this any other couple and any other production house I would have already dropped it.

I Promise I Will Come Back (Mon WeTV) ep 2 of 10 - It’s a bit touristy for me. Look I don’t like seeing anybody’s travel photos, not even my own. This is not a framing convention I enjoy in my BL. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Sweetheart Service (Korea Fri YT) ep 4 of 12 - this installment was rough, confrontations but also successes. I feel sorry for the bartender character. But it is interesting to watch Strongberry tackle a true love triangle.

It's okay Taeha, there is a whole other cutie just gagging to be taken care of by you.

Just look to the left.

Moon and Dust (China YT) ep 2 of 6 - Is both absolutely terrible and terribly great. All of the triggers! But if you didn’t know that going in why are you even bothering to read my blog? You can't be taught.

Okay so just stepbrothers (not blood related). Fine.

White/black outfits? This is perhaps the least subtle BL of all time.

Fair price, China.

And so fucked up. Bite him! Yay!

Excellent.

None of this is going to end well for any of us but I am ALL IN.

Give me the fuck-up-a-tude. GIVE IT TO ME.

Fight for You (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 11 of 12 - This is common with Taiwanese BLs... once they are together and boyfriends they’re absolutely adorable, incredibly gentle, and very sexy - domestically beautiful. Meanwhile, add another to the Official Roster of Fantastic Grans in BL. This one is such a bad ass. Love her and her spoon - we soulmates. I wack at people with spoons if they come in while I'm cooking all the time.

The Sparkle In Your Eye (Singapore Sun Gaga) eps 1-4 of ? - Yet another celebrity BL (trend noted) but I am curious about Singapore's take on the genre. However this is one of my least favorite power dynamics (younger less powerful character has crush on older popular guy who doesn't like him). Also, far beat it for me to predict what a BL from Singapore will be like (when we have had so few) but the fact that they’re speaking in Chinese is indicative that this is gonna have that style, which means I’m not sure we can depend upon it to end happy.

It's airing but......

Loy Kaew First Love (Fri YT) ep 3 of 6 - Didn't drop for me. MDL says it aired but not where (usually means YT or Gaga, but not for me). I’m not particularly motivated to hunt. So I’ll let this one slide until I figure out how to get it or it ends badly and spies tell me... whichever comes first.

Top Form (Thurs WeTV) ep 11 end - Apparently I’m never gonna be able to see this final ep unless I pay for WTVs VIP? Which I’m simply not doing. If their interface or app were better and didn’t crash and have a bazillion other bugs, I might consider it. But the technology is terrible. Can’t condone this kind of behavior. So I guess I’ll live never knowing how this ends. I assume they're happily together blah blah blah.

Season of Love in Shimane AKA Ai no Kisetsu: The Season of Love (Thai) - Sequel to Kiseki Chapter 2 which I intensely disliked. I won't watch this.

Mission to the Moon (YT) 2 of 12 - Watching but I can't keep track. Too short, too many, too YT. I will report at end.

Next Week Looks Like This:

I've started including Thai holidays so we know why something might not be airing that day.

Coming Next Month

(I'm not confident on any of these, mostly rumor-based.)

6/2 Reset (Thailand iQIYI) - Yet another time travel kinda thing this time with Pond & Peterpan (we love this idea) but what a melodrama! And (shocker) celebrity romance again. On the night of his greatest success, famous actor Armin dies after being betrayed by his lover. However, death is not the end. Going back in time and meeting mysterious fan TD, the path to superstardom begins again.

6/5 Ball Boy Tactics (Korea Gaga) - After retiring from gymnastics, Han Ji Won thought his biggest challenges were behind him. Turns out, winning Olympic medals was easy compared to surviving university as a painfully shy ex-superstar. Enter Kwon Jeong U — campus heartthrob, basketball star, and a whole new world of trouble wrapped up in a perfect smile.

6/13 I Became the Lead in a BL Drama 2 AKA Zoku BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita (Japan ????) - Another 2nd season I certainly did not want. This time the story tells what challenges they have to face as a relationship. Also the story of the managers continues.

6/20 Depth of Field (Japan Fuji TV)

6/?? Revenged Love (China) - A remake of 2015's Falling in Love with a Rival. Wild.

2025 Line Up

BL Announced for 2025 - PART 1

BL Announced for 2025 - PART 2

20 BLs Announced for 2025 That I'm Really Excited About

GMMTV 2025 Line Up - My Totally Biased and Wildly Flawed Feels

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Well, see the Pit Babe 2 car rescue. Possibly best BL moment of 2025.

I can't I'm just eating this BL up. It's is beyond toxic. Are we in Forbidden Love territory? Will we go all the way to necrophilia? Depends on who dies first, i suppose.

Oh, someone's dyeing.

It was a really good kiss. As it should be! They have some seriously good "through the net" action to go up against. One of them from Taiwan.

What? It was a GREAT scene.

May I please point out that I called Boat as a great lead for a BL when he was a very minor side (and only good pairing) in the horrendous My Secret Love in 2022? I believe my case was made based entirely on this screen cap:

(last week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

[wisteriagoesvroom]

https://www.tumblr.com/wisteriagoesvroom/765425050649231362/what-happened-between-carlos-and-oscar-in-the-gap

Can you list the clues we have? 🕵️‍♀️

I am not sure I know what all happened but I’m ready to put my RPF brain into it 

i don't have many clues, but here are some thoughts if we wish to put the capital F in rpF:

🇸🇬 singapore

iirc, oscar was the one who roared past carlos in quali and carlos somehow put it in the barrier during q3 in singapore (oscar was the "another car"):

from

so in singapore, oscar qualified p5, and carlos in p10.

oscar ends the race p3 / podium, and carlos in p7

cue 3 week break, then, cut to:

🇺🇸 austin

oscar has a lacklustre sprint quali (he qualified so bad i had to zoom so far out to get the screenshot, rip). carlos starts austin sprint in p5, oscar p16.

oscar ends up fighting his way in this sprint to p10, vs carlos's p2 finish.

oscar drives relatively hard in the austin sprint, incurring a 5 second penalty for pushing gasly off in the process, and manages to hold yuki behind him. i say relatively 'cus he's still pretty clean, but he was scrappy here.

THEN, carlos defended oscar, fully on the record, in the face of the FIA penalty. which he thought was "harsh" on oscar...

much to consider...

from

later. carlos starts p3. oscar is side by side on the starting grid in p5.

carlos finishes p2 there, oscar p5. fairly uneventful race for oscar. not the case for carlos, where iirc ferrari allowed the two red cars to fight.

results from

then...

🇲🇽 mexico city

and BOOM for some reason by mexico city practice they are beefing again. but wait! what's been happening in the background?

my rpf mind says oscar is grumpy because he was denied the additional mclaren upgrades, where the team has prioritised lando. add in: helmut marko dragging oscar's name into the media discourse to mess with zak (who is busy defending lando's position as Prized Top Boy because helmut decided to play mind games with all of them as part of the driver and constructors' championship fight. max haunts the narrative).

from

meanwhile!! carlos is coming to the end of his ferrari run, the end of one of his childhood dreams. (launching his own karting business this year was another one - side note, interesting shift in PR strategy.)

anyway, he didn't win austin like he probably wanted. but, he's kind of doing excellent in mexico. i am not as familiar with ferrari's overall dynamics tbh, but it seems like he and charles were also openly at odds with each other over strategy again at some point in austin (??):

screenshot. + austin writeup from.

so BACK TO MEXICO CITY! where we are now. i think oscar thought carlos was in the way in fp3? which resulted in this lil throwaway snipey comment from oscar:

from

maybe it's a one-sided beef from oscar @ carlos atp. but one thing about carlos is he will NAWT back down when someone bares his teeth at him.

therefore. carcar is like. so fully back y'all.

and as a footnote. or maybe not a footnote actually. it's just. kind of. very funny. when carlos has ended up on pole / p1 in mexico city quali. meanwhile oscar is p17 behind...a sauber.

like. i love that australian twink, but this is kinda hilarious ngl. piastri + americas = no bueno.

make what you will of these. my third eye is OPEN 👁️👄👁️

[spacejade]

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle Directory

As requested, here is the excel sheet that I use as a reference to revisit chapters! Because what better thing to do while waiting for chapter 400 than reread the manga another 5 more times? 😄 Please feel free to make your own copy and edit it to be more helpful to you.

DISCLAIMER: This doc wasn't originally meant to be shared, so chapter descriptions are brief and written in a way for myself to understand and may not apply to you. Again feel free to make your own copy and add more comments or highlight your favourite chapters etc.

Also! If you used to read fan translations you may have noticed that the official viz localisation gave some different names. I decided to standarise the doc using the official names to make searching easier, so please note when searching! I also added this character legend for characters with multiple names/titles/names that can get translated differently.

That all said, I shall now use the rest of this doc to ramble abt the localisation of the names, because I can.

For the record, I do study Japanese, but I'm not fluent and I wouldnt consider myself a translator. The sleepy princess raws use pretty simple language, so I like to read them for practice, and I think it's really interesting to see the different translation choices. Also, maybe this might help you when reading JP fans posts/fanart

1. トリース (Tori-su) vs. Bard

Starting off with Cursed Musician, because the localisation of his name baffled me for a long long time. I mean, I know bards play music, but how do you get that from Tori-su (or Tris or Tweeth, as some tls have gone). Only when I noticed that Ch 274 is called "Bird or Bard" in EN and "トリースオアトリート(Tori-su or Treat)" in JP did it click that Bard is one letter away from Bird, just as Tori-su is one character away from Tori (bird in JP) 🤦 I'm not sure if the "-su" in JP has anything to do with music, so feel free to tell me if you know!

2. 睡魔(Suima/Sleep Demon) vs. Hypnos, ヒップノース(Hypnos) vs. Somnus

So thing is, "Hypnos" in the official EN translation is the Sleep Demon that lives in the Old Demon Castle, but "Hypnos" in the original JP is the God of Sleep in Heaven's Haven. For this naming choice, I have questions... namely, doesn't Kuma-sensei have to vet localised names? Couldn't this confusion have been avoided? 😭 I feel like I've seen JP merch of Sleep Demon with "Hypnos" in English characters written on it before. Given that the God of Sleep is introduced 250 chapters after Sleep Demon, I'm just assuming Kuma-sensei hadn't thought of adding the God of Sleep yet, and thought "Hypnos" for Sleep Demon would be OK back then. And since Poseidon, Hades and Zeus are Greek, the God of Sleep should have a Greek name, so Hypnos in JP is correct (Somnus is Roman)..... Still. I've seen睡魔 translated as "Morpheus" in other works, I can't help but think that wouldve solved most problems (actually given how many characters have title-as-name, they could've left him as Sleep Demon), but oh well.

FYI "Oneiros" has the same name in both EN in JP, so at least that consistent (and possibly plot relevant?)

3. さっきゅん(Sakkyun) vs. Bussy

This one is just.... unfortunate... Sakkyun comes from サッキュバス(Sakkyubasu), and I guess Succun doesn't look that nice. I heard the anime subs uses Kyubey (I haven't watched) but in the manga Cubie is used for her brother. The translator and editors probably didn't know what bussy is and thought it would be the best choice (bless their souls....)

4. The Demon Kings

For those who don't know, the demon kings are named after times of the night! See below:

Understandably they couldn't name Twilight's father "2:00 to 2:30am" , and I can't think of any one-word equivalent in English. Does anyone know where "Gloom" comes from though??

Other Did-You-Knows:

- "Goodereste" in JP is "カイミーン(Kaimi-n)" which comes from 快眠(kaimin) which means "pleasant sleep"

- Most of the character names are directly translated: Hero Dawner in JP is called アカツキ(akatsuki) which means "dawn", Agave in JP is call ゼツラン(zetsuran), etc

Thank you for reading this if you did!! I've always wanted to ramble, translation is difficult and its so interesting to see what gets carried over (and what doesn't) in localisation . Happy reading! 📖

[1ore]

That reminded me that I was recently designing a sign about invasive species, and went down a rabbit hole reading about inclusive invasive species communications. I tracked down a neat workshop and some other readings that I'll share my notes from.

Resources

NISAW 2024: The Invasive Species Language Workshop – 3 hr recording of lecture-workshop

2:06:34 – Angie Gupta provides alternatives to typical invasive framing. 2:27:48 – What cartoon zebra mussels taught me about invasive species communication

Crafting Normative Messages to Protect the Environment

Testing Emphasis Message Frames and Metaphors on Social Media to Engage Boaters to Learn about Preventing the Spread of Zebra Mussels

The efficacy of message frames on recreational boaters’ aquatic invasive species mitigation behavioral intention

Notes

Problems with Existing Language

Communications about invasive species often rely on two metaphors:

Nativism – basically “native = good and foreign = bad.” Military metaphors – framing invasives as an enemy that we must fight; existential good vs. evil. (invasion itself is a military metaphor)

- they’re punchy - stir up feelings of national identity + personal action as part of larger effort. - BUT: Can tap into xenophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment; parallels history of exclusionary U.S. laws (e.g. Chinese exclusion act, Japanese internment era) Especially in the comments section…. - Can backfire when audience identifies with the invasive species instead (the maligned immigrant; the foreigner; the underdog) - This excellent article illustrates that sentiment. - “Chew notes that post-World War Two, the plant was described in similar terms to the Japanese a few years earlier. One suggestion at the time was to burn the plant out with flame throwers, a callback to the Pacific campaign.”

Strategies + Solutions

Alternative metaphors

- Invasive species as hitchhikers - Invasives as ecological bullies - Invasives as ecological illness/injury - Invasives as over-enthusiastic children that need to be reminded to share

Positive framing: for my sanity and yours! (e.g. “when we removed invasive species from this woodlot, we saw bluebells bloom for the first time” or “when the park started managing invasives, visitation went through the roof.”)

- Combats sense of hopelessness in the public AND land managers that managing invasives is a never-ending battle or waste of time/money. - Respectful of peoples’ emotional energy (we’re bombarded with awful news, doesn’t it feel good to hear that your small act is part of something meaningful?) - One alternative: framing management as an act of healing (or like managing an injury, illness, or chronic condition; “the quiet work of maintenance.”) - Good for our mental health as land managers and communicators so that we don’t burn out, feeling like we’re fighting a losing battle. - Honors human history. (people have managed this desert for thousands of years (for better or worse); change is a constant feature of the landscape, but we can take responsibility for anthropogenic changes like species invasion by doing what we do best as humans, e.g. changing our ecosystem.)

Making it their idea: “we have a problem and we need help” feels very different than “you have a problem and you need help.”

- Community-engaged invasive management is more meaningful when the community identifies the problem and the solution on their own. (even if it’s the same as our pre-existing management strategy—maybe we can plant these ideas in a more subtle way?)

No shame, no guilt: shame causes us to dig in our heels; guilt is petrifying. We want to give people hope and agency, not resentment for The Institution (or at least our staff LOL)   

Inspirational solutions: it’s OK if the solution isn’t glamorous—sometimes the story of how we arrived at the solution is inspirational.  

Normalization: Frame it as something that people just do.

- Involve friends, family, community – creates accountability - Be careful not to frame “bad behavior” as normal. (E.g. showing people cleaning their boats before getting on a lake, instead of focusing on the uninformed masses who don’t clean their boats—inadvertently framing that behavior as widespread and normal)

Identify observable ways that invasives impact the environment / drive change: People are more willing to manage species when species are framed as drivers of change rather than passengers of human disturbance.

- The tricky part: invasives are passengers of human disturbance… But people seem to be more willing to change behavior when messaging targets the species, not them (in our current social environment, at least) - BUT focusing on species impact can be a positive shift away from focusing on place of origin (e.g. we care about managing this species because it encourages fires in an environment that doesn’t cope well with fire… we want to have a wide variety of species in our park, not a monotonous stand of one species… vs. this species is an interloper from south Africa, it doesn’t belong)

People seem to respond to injunctive / legal framing (e.g. “It’s the law” “Texans expect you to clean, drain, and dry”)

[gunsatthaphan]

Just wanted to speak up on your comment about The Heart Killers trailer being subpar from a trailer perspective--because I agree. It feels like a trailer made with intention that you already know a lot of context as opposed to being for someone who has no idea what's happening going in.

I watched it knowing that there was going to be some sort of Shakespeare interpretation and that it was likely going to be Taming of the Shrew; knowing that, a lot of the plot elements and dynamics came together more clearly in the trailer. If you had no idea, you'd be totally lost because it's using TOTS as a conceptual basis rather than something totally literal, and then it's also using that concept to jumpstart a rather big plot that isn't well explained. So much is happening that it looks like nothing is happening at all. Essentially, even though First and Khao may be representing the "secondary couple" of TOTS, the reason is because their characters are actually driving the plot. Jojo is using the scenario to jumpstart his story.

Lucentio and Hortencio are combined into Kant, who is initially less interested in ensuring he woos Bison/Bianca because he's in love and wants to court them like the original; rather his goals as a "spy" are the priority (ergo all those conflicted shots of Kant because he inadvertently fell in love in 0.5 seconds but still has a job). Bison is more central in wanting to play matchmaker for Fadel because he's invested in Kant (warping the "daddy won't let me" passive plot of the original into a more active "big bro won't let me (because we're assassins)" and creating a very different dynamic that we see in a few scenes; though Bianca is involved in TTIHAY to an extent). Kant's conflict between his job and his heart is probably going to take center stage in their portion of the story.

Joong and Dunk's Katherina and Petruchio have a dynamic more reminiscent of TTIHAY than the original TOTS with its intention to develop a genuine romance between Petruchio/Style and Katherina/Fadel and bring Kat/Fadel out of their closed off shell pretty clear and not...legit tame the shrew. And all of this is not even mentioning the dynamics arising from the practicalities of the assassin vs. infiltrators plotline (which was under-explained--like it seems like vigilante work given the context clues). "Trust" is probably going to be a strong theme across the board. Jojo, as you well know, has strong credentials in balancing drama with comedy, so I think this has a lot of potential. Everyone emphasized that this is a rom-com dressed as an action drama.

It's pretty clear to me that the four of them are going to be treated pretty equally (strong 4-person plot with lots of intertwining elements) and it seems like Aof weirdly even went out of his way to imply on Twitter that FK having strong scripts/characters was a priority for all of them.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant. I just wanted to put words to why you might be feeling the way that you did about the trailer and maybe even allay some fears. I never want to have too high expectations (I did the same with Only Friends lol), but I don't want to sell this short either.

okay so anon sent this back in April on the day of the lineup/THK announcement and I put it into my drafts with the intention to revisit it closer to the THK premiere date, but eventually forgot about it lol.

I didn't want to delete it however because obviously anon took some time to write this and it's intriguing to read. So in case you see this anon, thank you so much for this detailed analysis and sorry for letting it sit for so long, I think you're making some excellent points. I have not read the original TOTS but it's interesting to compare your notes to the final show and assigning the TOTS/TTIHAY characters to the ones in THK.

So I'm just gonna post this into existence for anyone who's interested - feel free to comment your thoughts below! 😊

xxx

[cerisesakurainspring]

The recent Argentina VS Japan match reminded me of Haikyuu's Japan lineup during the 2020 2021 Olympics. It made me wonder who would have been selected for the roster in this year's 2024 Olympics.

Some players I'd add or change:

It'd be interesting to have Tsukishima amongst them regardless if Sendai Frogs rose to Division I or not. I'd like to see how much this salty baby moon has grown.

Don't forget the 'future ace' Goshiki. He doesn't have to be on the starting line-up but his ambition to surpass Ushijima would be a great driving factor for him to excel.

Remember that all-star match Furudate dropped on us for the 10th anniversary? Oikawa playing for MSBY made me want to see him raise the Japanese flag although impossible given that Olympic players must be Nationals of their representing country. Him being a naturalized Argentinian citizen makes that dream far-fetched. Sadly, dual citizenship is a no-no because Japan does not allow it.

Yaku once played for a Russion League and if they weren't banned to play in international matches, it'd be riveting to see him play against Kuroo's "team" instead of playing for it.

Lastly, I was under the impression that Meian was a star player so it was a surprise that he didn't make the Olympic player listing. And, if he was truly ambidextrous, he could utilize that with surprise off-hand hits and his tall stature would be an advantage as a middle blocker.

》《》《》《

》《》《》《

Side note: Argentina didn't even get a single win during the Paris Olympic preliminaries. I saw comments of HQ fans saying to check on poor Oikawa lol.

And Japan didn't make it past the quarterfinals :(

Now, I'm rooting for Italia!

[eternalremorse]

Undisclosed Desires

Happy Weasley Wednesday! I began writing this fic for the Discord Quidditch theme over a week ago. This is also my first ever time writing smut, so it might not be perfect, but I hope you like it.

🔞 The characters in this story are set as 18+ - MDNI 🔞

Word Count: 4.5K

Pairing: Garreth Weasley x Sebastian Sallow (and maybe a little of someone else)

Warnings: This includes full blown smut between the characters specified in the pairing section.

Notes: Read on AO3 [here]

Hogwarts was buzzing with activity as the final Quidditch match of the season was due to take place at the school later today. The match would be between two house rivals – Gryffindor vs Slytherin!

Out of all the houses that compete, having these two go against each other – especially in a final – brought a more exciting atmosphere to the school.

Both teams have some of the best players in recent years. For Gryffindor, they had Nellie Oggspire as a Beater, Lucan Brattleby as the Seeker and Garreth Weasley as a Chaser.

The Slytherin team included Imelda Reyes as a Chaser, Violet McDowell as the Keeper and Sebastian Sallow as a Beater. It was impossible to tell which team would come out on top!

It would be the last season for Garreth, Nellie, Imelda, Violet and Sebastian as they were all now in their seventh and final year at Hogwarts. They were all determined to play at their very best and finish the season with a bang.

Imelda was perhaps the most determined out of them all. Since she was also Captain of the Slytherin team and was pursuing a career in the sport, she scolded the players by saying that she would not accept defeat. Not when this was her last year!

Lucan was Gryffindor’s Captain – hardly surprising since he was brilliant at organising the Crossed Wands duels. Because of this, he knew which positions each player excelled in. His pep talk to the team was a little more forgiving than Imelda’s. As much as he’d like a win before losing some of his best to graduation, he knew that if they played their best, he would be happy.

Every player’s popularity soared when it came to Quidditch season, much to the delight of some of the players. However, for Garreth Weasley, he wasn’t so bothered. Girls would try to throw themselves at him when it came to potentially bagging a Quidditch player boyfriend, but he’d always let them down gently. He just wasn’t interested in courting right now.

The same couldn’t be said for Sebastian Sallow – he was relishing in it! He was always accompanied by a small group of fawning “fans” in-between classes. Garreth would eyeroll him whenever he walked past and heard his insufferable flirty comments to the group.

Both Garreth and Sebastian had a natural rivalry going on, and not just because of their houses. They always found themselves bickering at one another about trivial things. Sebastian would often moan at being situated across from Garreth in potions class because he didn’t want to get his robes dirty with whatever concoction he decided to brew. Garreth would make jabs at Sebastian’s unkempt appearance if his hair was dishevelled, or if his uniform was creased or dirty, or if he hadn’t washed in a few days.

Because of this, their rivalry in Quidditch matches would increase tenfold! Sebastian would always try and smack the Bludger to Garreth to knock him off his broom. He was, so far, unsuccessful due to Garreth being exceptionally swift, but he did manage to catch him in the thigh and stomach at a couple of games. They left nasty bruises that Sebastian would tease him about afterwards.

For this final, Garreth was determined not to be caught of guard, not by that “Slytherin prick” as he often called him. He was going to make sure Gryffindor finished the day with the trophy in their hands!

Lucan gestured the Gryffindors to line-up by the doors to the pitch and gave a last-minute speech of encouragement. They all put on their goggles and mounted their brooms. When the doors finally opened, they were flooded with a huge roar of cheers!

Go, go, Gryffindor!

Garreth grinned as he and the rest of the team swept around the pitch; everyone fisting the air, clapping and cheering. They stopped in front of the Gryffindor side to encourage everyone to keep up the momentum.

Then it was Slytherin’s turn to bask in the brief spotlight as they invaded the pitch. The crowd in front of Garreth changing instantly to a sea of boo’s and thumbs down motions. The serpent supporters on the other side now gleefully shouting and applauding the emerald players.

Slytherin, for the win!

As well as the house supporters, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were spread across both sides. Most of them seated within the group they wanted the win to go to.

After a couple of minutes everyone flew to their positions. Garreth glanced at Sebastian, and their eyes met. Sebastian’s mouth curved into a sly smirk as he mouthed the words ‘You’re going down.’

Garreth glared back at him, but before he could respond, he could see that Madam Kogawa had entered the pitch and walked towards the crate containing the Quaffle, Bludgers and the Golden Snitch. She placed her wand tip against her neck so that her speech would be heard by the entire crowd.

“Welcome to the final game of the season! Gryffindor versus Slytherin!”

The crowd erupts into louder cheers! Kogawa laughed at the reaction, and then held up her hand to quieten down the audience to continue.

“This year has been Hogwarts’ best season yet! Every single player has played and fought hard. May the best team win!”

She signalled the players to close their eyes just before she set free the Snitch.

“Brooms up!” She set free the two Bludgers and threw the Quaffle up in the air.

And with that, the game began!

Imelda was the first to grab the Quaffle, weaving in-between the other Gryffindor Chasers that began to swarm her. Sebastian and the second Beater (a sixth year called Louis Morgan) eagerly crashed their bats on the Bludger towards the surging Gryffindor players.

Imelda managed to swiftly avoid being taken down and aimed the Quaffle at the middle goal. Sadly, for her, it was saved by the Gryffindor’s Keeper, Avery Beaumont. The sea of red supporters erupts into cheers! Imelda glared at Avery, and she smirked back.

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

Forty-five minutes into the game and the score was in Gryffindor’s favour. Seventy points to them and fifty points to Slytherin.

Imelda was growing impatient and started shouting at her team if they made the slightest mistake. She had already raised her voice at Sebastian three times, and he was growing increasingly irritated. Yet somehow that spurred him on to play harder and become less forgiving with his tactics.

Garreth had scored five out of the seven goals for Gryffindor, and noticed how the game was becoming progressively challenging with the Slytherins pulling out all the stops. He had to watch his surroundings more carefully and frequently as they were very good with their sneak attacks.

The Slytherin Seeker and Lucan were hot on the Snitch’s trail. Both trying to make the other lose their balance for just a second in other to have more of an advantage to grab the Snitch and win the game.

Then disaster struck!

Lucan’s balance did falter. After a particularly hard blow from the green Seeker, he tumbled off his broom to the ground below and was knocked out cold.

Shit!

Garreth could only helplessly look on as the medics scrambled to the field to take Lucan to Nurse Blainey. The Gryffindor’s chances of winning had plummeted.

Inevitably, the Slytherin Seeker caught the Snitch no more than five minutes later and won the final for the team. The green side of the stalls exploded into screams, shouts and cheers.

Garreth was upset and furious! Not too far in the distance he could see the Slytherin team hugging and patting each other’s backs at the victory. He paid close attention to Sebastian who almost matched Imelda with his enthusiasm at winning. Garreth grumbled when he saw him kiss his hand and blow it towards his entourage. The girls screaming with delight at his gesture.

Slytherin prick!

The Gryffindor team begrudgingly made their way back to the dressing room and had a debrief with Madam Kogawa. She assured them that Lucan was now conscious, and he will make a full and swift recovery. The team all breathed a sigh of relief at the news.

When the players were dismissed, Garreth decided to take a long shower. The post-game adrenaline was slowly wearing away and he was becoming exhausted. After washing his hair and scrubbing away the sweat, he closed his eyes and tilted his head back to let the warm water cascade down his body. It enveloped his aching muscles like an embrace.

His mind abruptly flashed to an image of Sebastian standing behind him in the shower, his arms wrapped around him, and his head resting in the crook of his neck. Completely naked.

What the fuck?!

Garreth’s heartbeat quickened, and an ache formed down below. He opened his eyes to look down and saw that he had become hard at the thought. This was new territory as he had never imagined Sebastian in that way before! What does this mean?

Garreth decided he didn’t want to know the answer to that right now, and shook his head to rid the thoughts before cutting his shower short.

Once he was dressed, he made haste back to his common room. Many of the older years were walking in the opposite direction to the Slytherin common room, as it was tradition for the winning team of the season to host a party for the evening.

Surprisingly enough, even the losing house were invited to this event – no doubt so that the winners could gloat to them. Garreth wasn’t in the mood for attending such an event. Losing his final ever game at Hogwarts was not the way he wanted to finish.

As he entered his common room, he was thankful to see that not many fellow Gryffindors were in the main lounge, and those that were did not pay him much attention.

Once he reached his dorm room, he angrily slammed the door shut, threw his Quidditch uniform on the floor and flopped down on his bed. What a disaster this day turned out to be!

Not long afterwards, Leander Prewett walked in with a small stack of books. He placed them down on his bedside table and turned to face Garreth. He was staring up at the ceiling – no emotion on his face. Leander walked up and sat down on the edge of his bed.

“I’m sorry about the game today. Why don’t you come with me to the Slytherin common room? I hear they snuck in some fire whiskey.”

Garreth closed his eyes and sighed. “I don’t think so, mate. I’m not in the mood.”

Leander gave him a gentle nudge with his elbow. “Oh, come on, Garreth! Maybe having a drink or two could help lift yours spirits a bit. I’m only going to piss of Sallow.”

Hearing him say the name he tried hard to forget just now somehow piqued his interest. He opened one eye and looked at Leander. “Sebastian?”

“Yeah, according to Nellie, he made a passing comment saying that he hopes the ‘two ginger dicks’ from Gryffindor don’t attend the party, as he can’t stand the thought of us being in his common room.”

Well, well, well…

Garreth took a moment to think about it. Maybe getting a little payback by attending the party could be what he needed?

“Oh, fuck it! Let’s go!” Garreth sat up from his bed. “I want to wipe that smirk from Sallow’s face when he sees us arrive!”

Leander laughed. “That’s the spirit!”

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

When the two Gryffindor’s entered the Slytherin common room, they walked down the stairs and scanned the atmosphere – the party was in full swing! Students were chatting, laughing, playing games, and a handful of the sixth and seventh years were sneaking swigs of contraband liquids.

Leander spotted their housemate, Natsai, standing with Poppy and Everett by the fireplace. She noticed them and signalled for them to join the trio.

As they walked over, Garreth scanned over the room, trying to spot the ‘Slytherin prick’ in order to feel the satisfaction once he sees them. There were that many students he couldn’t spot him just yet.

“Garreth, I’m so glad you made it!” Natsai exclaimed, swiftly pulling him in for a hug.

Garreth was a surprised at the sudden affection and chuckled. “Have you been at the fire whiskey already, Natty?”

She tried and failed to stifle a giggle with her hand. “I’ve only had a couple, but I feel a bit of a buzz already! I won’t be having much more the way I’m going.”

The group began conversing about school, the match and the other students. Garreth was listening half-heartedly, but his mind was pre-occupied with trying to find Sebastian. He was irritated with himself that he thought about Sebastian in such a lewd way – and liked it. They had never truly been friends and were constantly bickering if in proximity.

Before he could let his mind sink further, he decided to ask Natsai where the fire whiskey is kept. Maybe a drink could help ease his thoughts.

She pointed towards the back of the room. “Sebastian gave me some, he was over by the windows facing the Black Lake last time I saw him.”

Garreth grunted disapprovingly. Of course he bloody has it!

Leander gave him an encouraging pat on the back before reluctantly making his way over in the direction Natsai pointed. It wasn’t long before he heard that irksome laugh, followed by a sea of giggles. Sebastian was surrounded by larger crowd of girls this time, along with a few of the other Slytherin players. His arms were around two girls, and he whispered something into the ear of one of them, making them blush and playfully slap his chest.

Garreth rolled his eyes and took in a deep breath before entering his line of sight.

“Sallow.” He nodded, keeping his expression nonchalant.

Sebastian almost choked on his beverage when he saw Garreth and frowned. “Weasley. What are you doing here?”

Garreth crossed his arms and gave a little smirk. There’s the reaction he wanted. “Why I’m here for the party. My team may have lost, but I’m not about to turn down a good time.” He winked at the girls, who each gave a little giggle. Sebastian gripped them both to him a little tighter.

“So, I hear you’re the person to ask about getting some fire whiskey?”

Sebastian maintained his frown but didn’t move or speak for a moment. The two girls looked at each other in confusion at his silence.

“There’s a box of flasks and bottles just over there,” one of them spoke up and pointed towards the small crate behind Garreth.

He looked over and spotted it, then he looked back at the girl and gave her a seductive grin. “Thank you, sweetheart. Have a good night.”

As he walked over to the alcohol, he could hear Sebastian scold the girl for telling him where he could find it. Another wave of satisfaction swooped over him. Maybe this party won’t be so bad after all!

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

A couple of hours later, Garreth and his friends were merry. They weren’t drunk but a little buzzed from the fire whiskey. He was chatting to the girl that Sebastian had scolded earlier as he “dumped” her for the other in his arm. She was a sixth year Ravenclaw called Lucy and was nice on the eyes. She was clearly flirting with him, but Garreth wasn’t really interested, however, he did enjoy the attention.

Every now and then Garreth would glance over Lucy’s shoulder to peek at Sebastian. He noticed that Sebastian was also frequently making eye contact to glare at him. No doubt annoyed that he had taken the attention from one of his “fans.”

He would pursue the conversation with Lucy to keep the satisfaction reeling in. The poor girl really thought he was interested with her and might have a chance with him.

Eventually Garreth politely excused himself for a toilet break. As he climbed up one of the stairs, he soon realised he went the wrong way as he was where the dormitories were. As he turned around to retrace his steps, he felt a sudden pull on his arm and was yanked into one of the dorm rooms before the door slammed shut.

“What the bloody hell-“

“Why the fuck are you here, Weasley? Trying to steal one of my girls away as payback?”

It was Sebastian.

Garreth scowled as he regained his balance. “I’m not trying to steal anyone! Lucy is her own person, and she can talk to who she wants! She’s not a possession, Sallow!”

“Oh yeah? Well, I know she likes me. So back off!”

“Or what? You don’t scare me, Sallow! I can take you on if I need to!”

Sebastian’s eyes darkened. “Oh, you really don’t want to do this.”

He slowly closed the gap between himself and Garreth. He could smell Sebastian’s musky cologne mixed with fire whiskey and sweat.

Garreth’s breathing hitched as his mind reminded him of the shower thoughts. His cock twitched in his pants as he could feel his warm breath on his cheeks. Garreth wasn’t just getting intoxicated by the alcohol alone.

Fuck!

Sebastian’s demeanour slowly changed; his face went from irritable to perplexed and his breaths quickened as he glanced at Garreth’s lips. Garreth could see that mind was whirring with uncertainty before he uttered the words…

“Don’t think into this too much.”

And with that, Sebastian vigorously pulled at Garreth’s shirt and crashed their lips together.

What the hell? What is happening?

Sebastian kept a firm grip as they kissed. Garreth’s eyes remained open, but Sebastian’s was closed as the kiss deepened. He slid his tongue across Garreth’s bottom lip, and the Gryffindor could taste the slight saltiness of his sweat. Sebastian clearly hadn’t showered since the game finished hours ago.

Garreth slowly closed his eyes and relaxed into the kiss. He allowed Sebastian’s tongue to sweep inside, and the Slytherin groaned into his mouth. Garreth’s undergarments felt restricting with the warmth that ached in his groin.

Their tongues glided over each other accompanied by the wet, smacking sounds of their lips. Sebastian’s grip softened and his hands began to roam across Garreth’s chest. He started undoing the top buttons.

“Wait!“ Garreth abruptly pulled away from the kiss. He noticed that Sebastian’s eyes were glazed with lust.

“What exactly are we doing?” Garreth asked breathlessly. As much as he wanted to go further with this, less than an hour ago they were at each other’s throats – a rivalry that had been ongoing for years.

Sebastian blushed as he looked down to the floor and scratched the back of his neck. “I… I guess for a while, I only kept up the façade of being mean to you because...”

Sebastian squeezed his eyes shut; his hand moved from his neck to rub his brows.

“Go on.” Garreth whispered, he wanted to hear this to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

“I actually like you. A lot. At first, I thought it was only admiration, but then… I began to feel some sort of attraction.”

Sebastian paused to look up at Garreth. His eyes were almost pleading for a response, even if it was for him to just walk away. But Garreth did no such thing. Instead, he lifted his chin with his index finger and smiled.

“I’m glad we’re finally on the same page.”

A relieved chuckle escaped from Sebastian before he was pulled into a kiss again. This time they were hungrier and more passionate. Sebastian tugged at Garreth’s hips to bring him towards the bed. As Sebastian lowered himself on to his elbows, Garreth could make out the large bulge that pushed against his trousers. He bit his lip at the thought of what was under there.

“Take your clothes off.” Sebastian demanded, giving him a playful smirk.

Garreth returned the smirk and began undressing himself. He could feel the burn of Sebastian’s gaze as he revealed more of himself when more clothing was shed.

As Garreth unbuckled his belt, he could see that Sebastian’s hand was under his trousers. He was caressing himself.

Fuck, that’s hot!

Garreth’s trousers fell to the floor, Sebastian eagerly looked down at his protruding erection as he continued to stroke himself, licking his lips in anticipation.

Garreth began teasing the elastic of his boxers, his eyes locked on the chocolate brown eyes of the Slytherin in front of him.

Sebastian grunted. “Show it to me. Show me all of you.”

Garreth didn’t need to be told twice and discarded his final piece of clothing. A slight whimper escaped from Sebastian’s throat. He took his hands out of his trousers and sat upright. His eyes darkened at the sight in front of him.

“Beautiful.”

Sebastian wrapped his hand around Garreth’s cock and began slowly pumping. Garreth hissed at the contact. Sebastian then used his tongue to lick around the tip, tasting his pre-cum before taking him fully in his mouth.

Garreth gasped and ran his hands through Sebastian’s hair. “O-oh, that feels good. Keep going.”

Sebastian continued his motion, sucking and pumping at the shaft as Garreth’s whimpers grew into moans. He used his second hand to play with his balls which caused Garreth’s legs to buckle.

“S-Sebastian. You’re going to m-make me cum.”

Sebastian moaned in approval, and he began sucking faster. The vibrations from Sebastian’s throat felt exhilarating against his anatomy. He gripped onto Sebastian’s hair and aided in his speed.

“Shit! I-I’m about to-“

Garreth gripped Sebastian’s head with both hands as he spilled his load into his mouth. Sebastian grunted loudly at the sensation, making sure to swallow every drop. After sucking a few more times to make sure he was empty, he slowly released himself from Garreth and looked up. He seemed rather chuffed with himself.

Garreth felt a trickle of sweat drip down his forehead and leaned down to kiss him again. He could taste his sperm on Sebastian’s tongue as they slowly entwined together. Sebastian stood up and began undressing himself as Garreth laid down on the bed.

“I want you on your knees by the time I’m naked.”

Garreth chuckled. He quite enjoyed seeing Sebastian take control of the situation.

As he turned his back to undress, Garreth positioned himself so that he was on his knees facing Sebastian. He was relishing in the sight before him. He never noticed how perky his bottom was until now, all that Quidditch practice really paid off! He could see why the girls loved him!

Sebastian turned his head to the side to check on Garreth and smiled darkly. “I hope you’re ready for me.”

He faced Garreth and hummed in approval at his position. The redhead stared longingly at Sebastian’s arousal – oh he was big!

Sebastian could see he was entranced and kneeled onto the bed, guiding his cock to his lips. “Feed on this for me. Make me feel good, won’t you?”

Garreth nodded. He opened wide and maintained eye contact as Sebastian entered his mouth. It took a few soft thrusts before he could take all of him.

Sebastian groaned. “You feel exquisite, Weasley. No one has been able to fully take me like this before. Shit!”

He picked up the pace with his thrusts, Garreth making all kinds of ungodly noises that only fuelled the fire within Sebastian’s core. He became hard once again from Sebastian’s praise.

Sebastian abruptly pulled out of Garreth’s mouth, making him whimper slightly at the loss.

“Turn around. I want to be inside of you.”

“Fuck, yes,” Garreth whispered breathlessly. He turned around so that his bottom faced Sebastian and spread his legs. He gave Garreth a sharp spank which made him grunt.

“Let’s ease you in first.” Sebastian lubricated his finger with saliva and began to fondle at his arse.

Garreth’s breathing hitched. He had never been touched there before, and somehow, he was surprised at how good it felt. Sebastian clearly had experience at this, and a small part of Garreth grew jealous of the fact.

Sebastian slowly pushed his finger inside. Garreth bit his lip and pushed against his hand.

“Heh, someone’s keen, aren’t they?” Sebastian cocked an eyebrow at Garreth’s eager movements.

“Shut up and keep going!”

Sebastian let out a giggle and continued to finger inside Garreth. He used his other hand to stroke himself at the sight of his tight little arse begging for more. Sebastian briefly took out his digit to lubricate them again, and this time eased two fingers inside.

Garreth cried out at the pleasure. “Oh Merlin! That feels amazing!”

Sebastian slapped his other cheek this time and picked up the pace. Garreth’s moans becoming louder at the pleasure. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be doing this with Sebastian. Not even the shower thoughts were this explicit!

Sebastian grew impatient at Garreth receiving all the pleasure and used his wand to create a lubricant on his dick (a spell he read in the Restricted Section). He released his fingers and immediately lined himself up to Garreth’s hole before carefully sliding himself in.

“Oh Gods!”

“Fuuuck!”

Garreth had never felt such euphoria! Sebastian’s cock had filled him right up. His head reaching a sweet spot he never knew existed inside of him until now. Sebastian pulled himself out slowly before plunging deeper. They both tried their best not to cry out expletives and have the whole common room know what they were up to.

As he thrusted faster, the wet sounds from the slapping of their skin made Garreth quiver. His fists closed into tight balls on the bedsheets to stabilise himself and head buried in the mattress to stifle his groans. Sebastian clenched his teeth, trying his best to remain as quiet as possible.

“You make me so fucking horny, Weasley!” He growled. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this!”

They were both so lost in the moment, they didn’t realise someone had walked into the dorm room until the door clicked shut.

“Sebastian? What’s going on here?”

Sebastian gasped and immediately stopped what he was doing. Garreth also froze and turned his head towards the door.

It was Ominis.

“You’ve brought someone else to bed again, haven’t you? For goodness’ sake, I knew this would have happened!”

Sebastian’s throat dried up instantly. He was still balls deep inside of Garreth whilst being scolded by Ominis. Things couldn’t get much worse… could they?

“Ominis, I can explain-“

“Who have you bed this time?” Ominis demanded as he folded his arms.

Sebastian looked down at Garreth, his eyes wide with fear. He didn’t know what to do! Sebastian sighed in defeat and mouthed the word “sorry” to him.

“I have, uh… Garreth.”

Ominis looked taken aback. “G-Garreth?”

There was a moments silence before Sebastian answered him. “Yes…”

Ominis blinked a few times. He began to tap his chin with his index finger.

“Hm. Maybe we can come to some sort of… arrangement.”

Sebastian and Garreth looked puzzled. “W-what do you mean?”

Ominis chuckled. “Don’t worry, your desires will be left undisclosed with me.”

He began loosening his tie. “Now – is there room for one more?”

[angelasscribbles]

Dialogue Discussion Summary

Thanks once again to everyone who showed up. It was another great discussion! Sorry the notes took a minute this time. Life side tracked me.

Dialogue tag: Dialogue tags are phrases that are used to break up, precede or follow written dialogue to convey which character is speaking, making it easier for the reader to follow the conversation. The most common dialogue tag is the word 'said.

Action beat: Action beats show what a character is doing before, during, or after their dialogue. These can be gestures, movements, or facial expressions. 

The “Said” controversy: Always/only use said. Never use said. Use a variety of descriptors instead of said: exclaimed, confirmed, agreed, pronounced, announced, commented, explained, replied, stated, whispered, rambled, chimed, bemoaned, scolded, etc.

Notes:

Don’t overuse adverbs when a verb would be better, let your dialogue tags or action beats speak for you.

Okay: “Fuck this,” he said irritably. Better: “Fuck this,” he grumbled/snapped/growled. Action Beat: “Fuck this,” he slammed the book down onto the table.

Any of those convey that he is irritable. Personally, I prefer action beats whenever possible.

From The Write Life:

Dialogue tags are handy and quick, but action beats can add much more detail and meaning to a conversation. When you’re using them, keep in mind:

They don’t necessarily have to involve actions! An “action beat” might be a thought or description instead.

An action beat can often convey the way in which a line of dialogue is spoken: For instance, if a character slams his fists on a desk before saying, “Get out of my office,” you won’t need to tell the reader he’s angry!

Even if the action beat doesn’t add a great deal of meaning, it may be a useful way to create a pause in dialogue — changing the rhythm of it subtly. It can also “ground” the reader in the scene (without any action beats at all, the characters can feel like disembodied talking heads).

Dialogue Tag vs. Action Beat

Action beats let you SHOW INSTEAD OF TELL!!!

Surprise:

Dialogue tag: “What? Why didn’t you tell me?” she yelped in surprise. Action beat: Her fork clattered onto her plate as she dropped it, “What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Thinking:

Dialogue Tag: “Hm,” he said thoughtfully, “I’m not sure that’s the best course of action.” Action Beat: “Hm,” He peered at me over the rim of his glass for a long moment. “I’m not sure that’s the best course of action.”

Here is an excellent example.

Where do they go? When a character speaks, their dialogue should be on the same line as their dialogue tag or action beat. When a different character speaks, start a new line. (It's also often helpful to start a new line if they act or react — e.g. if they shake their head, even if they don't actually speak.)

Incorrect: “Hey Sarah, catch!” Sarah caught the ball and gave him a smirk, “Wow, great catch!” Correct: “Hey, Sarah, catch!” Bruce sent the football spiraling across the clearing. Sarah caught the ball and gave him a smirk. “Wow, great catch!”

The first instance makes it look like Sarah is the one speaking when it's actually Bruce.

Incorrect: She walked into the room to find him standing there, watching her. “What are you doing?” Correct: She walked into the room to find him standing there, watching her. “What are you doing?” he asked.

See how the first can leave the reader confused about who is speaking?

Incorrect: “I’m happy you made it.” She gave him a smile. “Was it hard to get away?” Correct: “I’m happy you made it.” She gave him a smile. “Was it hard to get away?” Add a dialogue tag or action beat: (so it’s very clear who is speaking) “I’m happy you made it.” She gave him a smile. “Was it hard to get away?” He handed her a drink.

One more example:

Incorrect: I wasn’t sure if he was going to show up. “There you are!” I looked up at the sound of his voice. Correct: I wasn’t sure if he was going to show up. “There you are!” I looked up at the sound of his voice. With Dialogue tags: I wasn’t sure if he was going to show up. “There you are!” He called out. I looked up at the sound of his voice. With Action beats: I tapped my finger against my lip. Was he even going to show up? “There you are!” A voice called out. I looked up to watch him jog across the room in my direction, my heart dancing in my chest.

When do you need them?

If you have more than two characters in a conversation you must use dialogue or action tags to avoid confusion. If you have only two, you can get away without them, especially if their tone is distinct. Start with one so the reader knows who is talking.

Frank handed her a cookie, “It’s hot, be careful!”

“Oh, thanks!”

“You’re welcome.”

“Do you have any milk?”

“In the fridge, help yourself.”

Change where you put your tags/beats to avoid monotony. (before, in the middle, at the end):

Sara considered his offer for about two seconds. “No, absolutely not!”

“Have you actually thought this through?” Marco shook his head. She was being intransigent.

“Thoroughly,” Sara crossed the room and peered out the window, “Now get ready, they’ll be here any moment!”

Special thanks to @karahalloway who took the time to put the following together for us:

Punctuating Dialogue

DIALOGUE TAGS AND HOW TO USE THEM – dialogue tags are the verbs that you include around your dialogue text to indicate who is speaking and how. There are a few different ways you can achieve this:

Before the dialogue – normally the dialogue tag is enhanced by an action tag because you want to emphasize the character’s mood or reaction:

Her face paled as she whispered, “This cannot be…”

He casually picked up the newspaper as he scoffed, “Don’t kid yourself, Joseph.”

Punctuation rule: Where the dialogue tag immediately precedes the dialogue, separate the tag from the dialogue with a comma.

After the dialogue – can be standalone, or include an action or a reaction:

“You cannot be serious,” she derided, rolling her eyes.

“Freeze!” he yelled.

Punctuation rule: Where the dialogue tag immediately follows the dialogue, separate the tag from the dialogue with a comma, and keep the subject lowercase (unless you are using the person’s name or official title, in which case you would capitalise e.g. Markus, President Carter, King Leopold, Duke Warrington, Lady de Winter, etc.).

In the middle of the dialogue – this is where things get interesting because there are a couple of different ways you can drop dialogue tags into the middle of the dialogue:

Option 1 – Complete sentence

“Ah! I see you have arrived!” he exclaimed, opening the door wider. “Please! Do come in!”

"Let me guess..." I sigh, picking up the tumbler to tip the rest of my drink back. "This was your bright idea?"

Punctuation rule: In the above examples, the dialogue is interspaced by a dialogue tag and some actions on the part of the character. Since the first part of the dialogue is a complete sentence/thought (i.e. it can stand by itself), you indicate this to the reader by putting a full stop at the end of the dialogue tag / action sequence. Then, you pick up the second half of the dialogue as a new sentence.

Option 2 – Interrupted sentence

“First of all,” she interjected, raising a finger in the air, “that is wildly inaccurate. I was nowhere near the building when it blew up!”

“Now,” he declared, opening up the massive tome in front of him, “if I recall correctly, we were just about to start on Chapter 89.”

Punctuation rule: Like in the first set of examples, the dialogue is interspaced by a dialogue tag and some actions on the part of the character. However, the difference here is that the first part of the dialogue is not a complete sentence – it is merely a ‘teaser’ or an ‘intro’ of what is to come, and the ‘meat’ of the dialogue comes after the dialogue/action tag. In this case, to indicate that the first half of the dialogue is only part of the story, you end the dialogue/action tag with a comma, and then pick up the rest of the dialogue in lower case. This is a great tool to use if you want to build suspense for the reader.

ACTION TAGS AND HOW TO USE THEM – action tags are the verbs that you include around your dialogue text to indicate how someone is speaking or reacting. It is possible to use action tags in conjunction with dialogue tags to add depth to the character’s reactions, but you can also achieve a surprising amount with just action tags. Here are a few examples of the latter:

Before the dialogue – especially where someone has an emotionally charged reaction (shock, anger, etc.) you can create suspense for the reader by placing the action tag before the dialogue:

His brows furrowed. “This is doesn’t make any sense…”

She gasped in sudden realisation. “Oh, my God! You are absolutely right!”

Punctuation rule: Where the action tag is not followed by a dialogue tag (s/he said, etc.) you end the action tag with a full stop to indicate that the action took place before the person started speaking.

After the dialogue:

“No.” He crossed his arms, indicating the finality of his decision.

“I give up!” Throwing his hands up in the air, he stomped out of the room in a huff.

Punctuation rule: Where the action tag is not preceded by any dialogue tags, you end the dialogue with a full stop (to indicate the end of the dialogue), and the start the action sequence as a new sentence, also ending in a full stop.

In the middle of the dialogue:

“What?” His mouth dropped open in disbelief. “Where on earth did you get that idea from?”

“Like hell!” Pulling her sword from its scabbard, she spurred her horse forward. “We’ll kill them all, or die trying!”

Punctuation rule: In the above examples, the dialogue is interspaced by a standalone action tag. Since there is no dialogue tag preceding the action sequence, the first half of your dialogue will always end in a full stop (as will your action tag), and you will pick up the rest of the dialogue as a new sentence after the conclusion of the action sequence.

DIALOGUE AND PUNCTUATION FUN

There is a lot of fun you can have with dialogue, and it’s a great way to build suspense if you use punctuation creatively. For instance,

You can use a dash (i.e. —) to indicate an interruption of dialogue (e.g. “Yeah, but I d—"), while you can use ellipses (i.e. …) to indicate trailing off or uncertainty (e.g. “Yeah, but I don’t know for sure…”

You can use italics (i.e. “What!”) to indicate emphasis

You can combine exclamation and questions marks to indicate anger or disbelief (e.g. “Did you hear me?!”)

You can use ALL CAPS to indicate shouting/anger/distress (e.g. “HELP ME!!”)

Or any combination of the above.

Here is an example of how it all fits together:

"No."

I swear I hear the sound of Bertrand bursting a blood vessel. "I beg your pardon?"

I set my jaw determinedly. "First of all, I am not hiding. I switched rooms because someone — whether intentionally, or not — assigned me to the same room as last time, and there was no way in hell that I was going to sleep in the bed that I got attacked in."

I give him a moment to let that sink in.

"Oh. I-I see..." The consternation in his voice is palpable. "Erm... Yes. Of course... How crass of me... I—"

"Second," I continue, leaning into Drake as he bends down to drop a good-bye kiss into my hair, "you better have a damned good reason for waking me up before the crack of dawn—"

"It is hardly—"

"—especially since you told me in the car yesterday that today's event doesn't start until mid-morning, and we'd agreed that the way-too-early-o'clock wake up calls would stop."

A few other punctuation pointers:

There is no hard and fast rule about whether dialogue should be indicated with single quotes (i.e. ‘Hello’) or double quotes (i.e. “Hello”). American authors/publishers tend to prefer single quotes while British/Commonwealth authors/publishers tend to prefer double quotes, but ultimately it’s down to artistic choice

Dialogue punctuation should always be placed inside the quotation marks

Any time a new person speaks or performs an action, you need to start a new paragraph to make it clear to the reader that we’ve changed speaker

DIALOGUE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES - there may be times in your writing where you decide to incorporate one or multiple foreign languages into your characters’ dialogue. This is usually done to assist with characterisation (some characters may speak a different language from the rest of the characters and you want to emphasise this in the interactions; there may be certain cases where characters use foreign phrases, even if only in passing; or you want to use a foreign phrase as a segway to indicate that some conversation is about to take place in a different language).

There are a multitude of ways in which foreign languages can be conveyed in your write:

All-In - you can go full out and write entire conversations in a foreign language. While this is great for character and world building purposes, it is certainly an undertaking if you are not a native (or at least, a very competent speaker of the foreign language), so be prepared to spend lots of time researching or talking with a beta reader who is a native speaker:

"Vous voyez l'appât?" he demands without preamble.

I steel myself. "Non. Je—"

A low growl of frustration. "Putain de merde..."

"Attendez," I interject, forcing myself to stay calm, even though my gut had already twisted itself tighter than barbed wire. "Que s'est-il passé?"

"Nous ne savons pas," he grits. "Une minute, nous avions une ligne de visée sur lui, mais la suivante, il a plus simplament disparu."

I frown. "Comment ça, 'disparu'?"

However, in this case, you will need to be conscious of the fact that your readers will most likely not be familiar with the foreign language, and will not actually understand what your characters are saying. So, you may need to think about ways to ‘translate’ for your readers:

In-dialogue translation - one character translates for the other character(s) in the context of the interaction what is being said

In-dialogue summary - one character can provide an executive summary of what was said to another character

Footnotes/End-notes - you can provide your readers with a translation in the form of footnotes/end-notes (this is more common in e.g. fanfiction than in published fiction:

"Avete imbarazzo non solo voi stessi, ma ancu e vostre famiglie," I continue with a stern stare. "Ora. Ascoltate attentamente, così non vi far dei coglioni ancora più grandi."

They eye me sheepishly. Even if they understand zilch, they would've picked up on the key words: imbarazzo... famiglie... coglioni. The message is clear.

That said, the lack of reader and character understanding of the foreign language dialogue can actually be a storytelling tool that you consciously use to ‘hide’ information and create dramatic tension (information is being revealed, but your character(s) do not understand it, which gives you the chance to reveal it in a different context later).

Half-in - if you want to tone things down slightly, you can start an interaction with a segway phrase in the foreign language (usually a greeting) to set the scene, and then you continue the rest of the conversation in English. This usually works well if both characters that are part of the interaction are conversant in the language. You can also add a dialogue/action tag to indicate that the conversation is happening in a foreign language:

"Oui?" I ask, switching to French on autopilot as I answer the call.

Alternatively, you can interspace your character’s dialogue with foreign ‘slips of tongue’ where they deliver only certain words or phrases in the foreign language. This is especially useful from a characterisation point of view if you want to indicate that your character’s first language is not the same as the rest of the characters’, or you want to highlight the fact that your character is in a foreign setting:

"Unless you don't know how to count, gul'," sneers the third guy with a gold cross around his neck, "all these beers are ours."

"That they are," I nod. "But how is the waitress supposed to bring me my refill from here?"

"She's not, stronzo," growls the one that had Gail, leaning forward territorially.

Steering clear - however, you may decide that you do not want to get lost in the rabbit warren of a whole different language. In such a case, you can simply indicate with dialogue tags that the conversation is taking place in a different language.

"What do you mean you 'lost his signal'?" I demand in French, so Gale didn't accidentally overhear something that she had no clearance for. "We have a tracker in—"

Foreign phrases should be written in italics to visually indicate to the reader that you are switching languages:

All that said, if you do decide to include foreign languages in your writing, here are some things to keep in mind:

"Come stai?" he asks, grabbing my hand out of his brother’s grasp to drop a loud smooch on it as well.

"Sto bene, grazie," I reply graciously.

Mario and Luca stare at me in bewilderment before simultaneously lighting up in wonder. "Ah! Sorprendente! Parla italiano? Hai un così bell'accento! Tu che sembri—"

"And, this is Drake," I add in English, somewhat apologetically, having exhausted my limited Italian. "My husband."

The brothers' faces fall. "Ah. Piacere."

Make sure to include correct spelling (including accents) if this is a characteristic of the foreign language:

"Était-ce vraiment nécessaire?" demands Kiara huffily, hopping off the tailgate. "I don't know what your issue is with Drake, but you could've at least waited until we'd finished talking, instead of interrupting si grossièrement..."

Google Translate is not super accurate – you can use it to get the initial gist of the translation, but better resources are websites that take real-life bilingual text to give you a more accurate translation, such as:

https://context.reverso.net/translation/ 

https://www.linguee.com/ 

Where possible, ask a native speaker to proofread, as there are a lot of nuances in each language (grammar, turns of phrase, conjugation, etc.) that you will not be aware of if you are just relying on online sources.

Please, if I've missed anything, feel free to mention it in the comments and I'll add it!

Also, check out these articles on Dialogue:

Writing Dialogue

October Event:

Live Discussion on pacing/chapter and story length AND Scene Shifting on Friday, October 27th, 2023 12:00 p.m. CST

Future Events:

Friday, November 17th

Friday, December 15th

Word Warriors:

@karahalloway @aussiegurl1234 @harleybeaumont @alj4890 @peonierose @petiteboheme @twinkleallnight @lizzybeth1986 @noesapphic  @thedistantshoresproject

@ryns-ramblings @tate-lin @nestledonthaveone

@aallotarenunelma @kristinamae093 @coffeeheartaddict2 @memorias-depresivas

@jerzwriter

[insanitysilver]

(Hi, sorry to be awkward and barge into your inbox, but if you’re still giving writing advice, I’m hoping to get an opinion on how to let of my anxiety about writing. But if not, please feel free to ignore.)

A while back, I tried to write my own take on a character backstory for my fandom. The fandom already had a well-known and beloved backstory fic that was recced all the time for the character and that also established much of the standard fanon. So I was very insecure about my version that didn’t use the known canon and instead uses my own ideas. Still, I managed to push through my self-doubt, complete my fic, and post it. But my fic utterly bombed, no one remembers or cares about it, and even though I like the fic, I frequently think about deleting it because of how everyone ignored it and preferred the astronomically more popular fanon-fueled version. (I don’t believe kudos are a measure of quality, but I do believe they’re a measure of how much fandom wants your writing.)

The problem is that whenever I get a fic idea for any fandom at all, if my plotting/brainstorming produces ideas I know go against popular fanon, I feel like I can’t use them, or else my fic will suffer via stats. I constantly worry about if I’m writing the most popular and accepted version of the character, but it’s so frustrating that I can’t include any of my own ideas. This conflict of writing for the audience vs. writing my own ideas constantly paralyzes me, and I generally feel that if I write, the characters will just be cardboard boxes of the standard fanon. Because if I diverge from what’s popular, I might end up with another humiliating flop of a fic that most readers didn’t want or notice, and I’m not sure if I can stand the 2nd realization that I’ve been screaming into void the entire time.

What do I do here? How do I let go of past failures and start concentrating on what I can do, instead of constantly angsting about if I’m wasting my time by writing an idea that doesn’t align with what the fandom itself values?

Firstly, congratulations on publishing your backstory fic! Sounds like you had to fight your anxiety to do so, and that’s always a worthwhile victory!

Let me challenge this: “I do believe [kudos are] a measure of how much fandom wants your writing”. For this to be Good and Proper Science™, we’d need everyone in the fandom do a blind taste test with both usernames redacted and then keep a record of which everyone preferred.

But, that’s not how fics are experienced in the “wild”. Lots of Ao3 users sort by popularity metrics to find fics. Kudos accumulate so older fics have an advantage, and popularity compounds on itself. Readers aren’t making value judgements about you and your work. They just have five minutes to wait at the bus stop, so they whip out their phones and grab from the top of the metrics bag.  It’s really nothing personal.

The median number of kudos on AO3 is 12 (and that’s counting works that have been around forever). I’ve been posting various forms of art on the internet for 10+ years.  Most never found an audience. 1 note, 5 notes, 0 notes, a 200k word fic that I worked on for four years that approximately 3 people have read per year since (if that). And yeah, that can sting. I get it.

So, what’s the solution? My advice is two-pronged:

1.) On Wanting Fandom Recognition

A desire for internet metrics is actually a specific need in disguise. These excellent posts go into this far more eloquently:

@ao3commentoftheday's 'People Don't Actually Want Comments, They Want Community '

@sinigangsta-ao3's 'On Fandom and a Sense of Belonging Part 1' & 'Part 2'

What do you want from that fandom interaction? Prestige & respect? Encouragement? A creative peer group to bounce around ideas? The more specific you can get, the easier it will be for you to work on a solution that fills that need that isn’t reliant on the capricious whims of the greater internet.

Prestige? – These authors write a lot. Relentlessly. Also typically involved in the fandom somewhere offsite and tend to build things. Events, rec lists, secret santas.

Encouragement? – Voice this need in your relationships. Don’t have writer friends? Drag irl friends in or look out for positive fandom subgroups. If there’s a discord server, maybe ask about making a channel just to celebrate wins? If not, invite fandom ppl you’ve interacted with in and make a server of your own.

Idea Sharing? – Nearly the same as above. Groups, in my experience, thrive with something to do. I wanted to practice fundamentals more, so I dragged a group of friends in and made a writing circle where we followed a prompt to write a short story every month. At the end, we shared and critiqued each other’s work. Massively nourishing. (I can post the “curriculum” if there’s an interest.)

2.) On Writing for You

Two practices have helped me on this front. First, I put the watcher away. I make work I never intend to share. I see that blank page and say “whatever happens here is for me only, and I’m going to stick to that”. I also advise hiding your ao3 stats. [This site skin will replace your personal stats page with an image of choice]. [This site skin will hide every stat on every work except word and chapter count]. (I use both together when my brain gets naughty on me). [How to Use AO3 Site Skins]

Second, digging into what excites me. I made huge list of my favorite characters, tropes, themes, narrative tricks, everything. Found patterns. After that, you just cram as many as you can into one story until you’re obsessed with it. Until it haunts you and you simply can’t stop yourself from writing it regardless if anyone reads it.

All-in-all though, noticing your brain is pulling a fast one on you and wanting to make a change is much further then a lot of people get, so I am very serious when I say you should congratulate yourself and celebrate that. You’ve already done the hardest part. What comes next won’t be effortless, but it will be worthwhile. 🌱☀️

But, I’ve rambled enough, and I’ll open the floor up. Anyone else want to weigh in? If you have a writing buddy, how did you meet with them and how do you stay in touch?

[elvenbeard]

Q&A with Mikolaj Szwed and Björn Schalla at Phantom Liberty Tour Cologne

(Björn (male V's German VA) left, and Mikolaj (CDPR localization director) right)

I cannot believe my luck still about having been able to attend the Phantom Liberty Tour in Cologne yesterday (Aug 25th 2023)! I'll make a separate post just about the event as such once I've emotionally recovered xD But I wanted to make a separate post for this topic for reasons!

Around two months ago I made this post. I'm currently on my second playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077, playing with the German dub and English subtitles. That's because I'm streaming the game for some international friends via Discord as I go, for fic-writing purposes, and finally just out of general interest for the difference between dubs and translations and such. In short, it has been a super interesting experience noting all the differences in tone, word choice, and more, between the English and German translation. It stood out to me for example that in English Goro adresses Wakako as "Okada-san", but in German as "Okada-sama".

Now, imagine my face yesterday (something like this probably: 🤩) when it was announced there would be a Q&A with Mikolaj Szwed, Localization Director of Cyberpunk 2077, and Björn Schalla, who voiced male V in the German dub.

I took some notes on the whole Q&A, since this is a super special interest of mine, and I think it might definitely be interesting to some of you too! Therefore though this is gonna be long, so I'll put some more tidbits and details they spoke about below the cut (such as what it's like playing a game with a character that has your own voice, and how CDPR views and uses AI voices - excellent questions asked by some of the other attendees).

But, the thing that confirmed to me what I had been wondering about in my above post, is this:

The VAs of the various different localizations were somewhat free in what they said and how they said it, therefore 100% bringing something of themselves into the characters they played. Mikolaj told them precisely "this is what your character is doing/feeling right now, they're facing this or that guy, so-and-so is with them" along with their translated lines, but there was always wiggle room. The translations are not blindly following a "canon" script, for lack of a better word (as CDPR games are written in Polish first, then translated to English, even though English is the primary dub everything's recorded in "first"). Also, unlike in dubbing movies/TV shows, the VAs are not bound to characters' lip movements (the talking animations are made to fit the respective dub, which is so, so neat). They only have to fit a similar timespan as the "original" line and scene. Therefore, each dub is unique to its language to a degree, and not a mere translation of some original source text (resulting in me sometimes laughing about some chars being a lot more crude or making a completely different joke in one or another scene). An example I remember at the top of my head: in the English dub, when talking to Dennis at Afterlife, V will call his lack of details on the "very simple, easy money" Big in Japan Gig "duty-free and detail-free". This just doesn't work as a funny alliteration and play on words in German. They settled on something else there that also kept Vs comment humorous, and that's common in "regular" TV show/movie dubs too. The other way around, during the interrogation of Hellman, English Johnny will say something like "well, fuck me sideways, (...)" on one of Hellman's comments, while in German he's like "well, fuck me and call me animal names" in a slightly more crass way expressing how pissed off he is at the corpo just admitting he's kind of useless to V. No direct translation, but same vibes fitting the mood, and making each dub and each interpretation of every single character unique to their respective VA and language in a way. And I love that so much!!

Back to my post above. While I didn't get to ask Mikolaj directly myself, cause there just was not enough time really to answer all burning questions, I think with what they spoke about it seems realistic to me that Takemura's German VA definitely added that "-sama" to Wakako's last name as a bit of flavour he deemed fitting for his character in that scene. Which, in my eyes, is making German!Takemura just a tad more sly than other incarnations of him I know of. Björn also said he was able to use his own sadness or not feeling well on some days to really sell V's sadness or pissed-off-ness at his shitshow of a life, and put something of himself into the performance. He definitely shed a tear here or there, and it really really shows that he gave 110% doing this character and his story justice. I'm totally not biased here because my V is male and I love the German dub so much, obviously xD. But no, for real, not just him, I think every single person working on this game put their blood sweat and tears into it, it's a huge labour of love and filled to the brim with creative passion on all ends, on every level.

But yes, so much to VAs influencing their characters, confirmed! More of what they talked about in the Q&A under the cut while my memory's still fresh! Thanks for reading this far, like with my above post, I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences as well, especially if you played the game with different dubs yourself!

For this part I'm gonna vaguely paraphrase the questions that were asked by other attendees as I remember them, followed by what Mikolaj and/or Björn replied, respectively!

Q: How did the casting process for the German dub go?

Mikolaj was presented with 8 different VAs that could fit the part of V originally (for both masc and fem V respectively iirc, but could also be it was 8 altogether). Four of them were invited to an in-person casting, respectively. Björn recalled having to say some lines and only understanding half of what he was saying really, not really knowing the context much yet xD But he had voiced characters in games before and had had a lot of fun with that, so when he was presented with this opportunity he happily jumped at it. A little while after the casting he then received a call going "Glückwunsch, du bist V!" ("Congrats, you're V!") to which his initial, surprised response was "Ja, wie?!" ("Wait, what?", more literally "Yes? What?" Note: "wie" is basically pronounced like "V" xD).

Also, Mikolaj has people for all languages the game is dubbed in on his team and the process is the same for each dub, more or less.

Q: At Björn: did you have someone to "act with" or off of in the recording booth?

V was actually one of the first, if not the first to be recorded so other VAs had lines to use as base to respond to with their acting. Björn was solely in there with Mikolaj who directed him and responded with dialogue where conversations happened, if need be. That kinda ties into what I said above the cut, that Vs VA really could shape the tone (together with Mikolaj) based on but not copied off of the English script.

I don't recall how long the overall recording of all the dialogue took, but it was 8+ hour long sessions, not every day, but over the course of weeks.

Q: At Björn: Is it weird to play a game as a character that has your own voice?

He mentioned he is only now having the time to play Cyberpunk himself for the first time and already incredibly addicted (what a mood). He doesn't find it weird hearing himself constantly, because through his job alone he is used to hearing his own voice (even though he could just play femV, too, he prefers playing male, "his" V xD). Also, he's usually so immersed in the world anyway that he doesn't think about it much, can distance himself and his voice from the character. He did note being a little self-critical about his work though (also such a mood xD), especially about lines that ended up with a slightly off intonation that he'd fumbled. That simply happens though, in dubbing in general, and in video games moreso because you're usually just using your imagination for picturing a scene instead of talking over an already filmed sequence. BUT actually, when they went back into the studio to record for PL, they re-recorded some of those messed up lines with mispronounced names or off intonation, which is making me look forward to my 3rd playthrough even more now! Gonna come with patch 2.0 I assume :D

Q: At Björn: What kind of character is your V?

A very nice and friendly one! He likes playing a goodie two-shoes. He also noted he's not far into the story yet, just finished Automatic Love, and it may have awoken something in him xDD He said when he had to pick a doll at the start of the quest he got distracted by his cat pissing on the carpet. So he didn't pay attention, just picked any, and ended up in Angel's booth, whom he didnt mind but also wouldn't have chosen otherwise. But then he wound up weirdly enticed by the scene and quite enjoyed it xD And honestly who wouldn't be, Angel is lovely 💜

Q: How do you both feel about the rise of AIs and AIs potentially replacing VAs in the future?

Björn said this is a concern to a degree, but will likely not affect him much anymore in his career (he's been in this line of work for 40 years, started as a kid, and is not doing only voice acting). It is a thing though that is discussed and unions and such are looking into means and ways to protect VAs rights to their own voices through contracts, for example, if VAs wish so. He also briefly touched upon the fact that some iconic German VAs are simply getting old and dying without enough new people following and able to take over their iconic roles for example, or even finding VAs that fit certain parts AND get them accepted by audiences (there was a huge shitshow around the German The Simpsons dub a couple of years back when Homer's German VA died of old age and his predecessors were not well-liked by a very entitled audience).

Mikolaj said he is generally not opposed to AIs as tools that should be used, in fact, they should be used but not abused for more than what they're good for. An AI can never convey the human range of emotion necessary to really "sell" a line, that is something you just need VAs made of flesh and blood for that are capable of understanding complex emotion (which AIs, who are not intelligent in the way humans are, cannot). Then again, in certain, highly specific cases, there could be exceptions made. He said that Viktor Vektor's Polish VA died after being sick for a long time. Before his death he'd heard about what AIs could do though and gave his okay to have his voice "live on" in a way after he is gone. CDPR also discussed this with his family before doing anything, but to have him remain a part of Cyberpunk they cloned his voice and artificially created some voice lines for him based of the material they already had. To Mikolaj, the decision on whether or not to use AIs and in which context always needs to be an ethical one done on a case by case basis.

Q: Some Hollywood stars like Johnny Depp never watch movies they acted in - how do Mikolaj and Björn feel about this sentiment?

Both of them agreed that they actually really like looking back at their old works. Mikolaj started at CDPR with the localization for The Witcher 2, and sometimes he cringes at some of the decisions he made there when going back. But it also shows him how he's grown as he realises "I'd do that differently now".

Björn is similar (he is not just a VA, writes screenplays as well and does voice directing iirc). He likes looking back at older stuff and, as mentioned in an answer above, both he and Mikolaj are a bit self-critical sometimes and see things they could improve when revisiting old ideas. It's a good thing to do to live through the awkwardness of looking at your old art xD

Q: What were your favourite lines/scenes to record?

Since Phantom Liberty is fresh in their minds (and Björn noted how nice it was to be back in the studio with everyone again), they kinda had to omit answering this for spoiler reasons xD There is supposedly an extremely emotional scene to come though that had everyone go absolutely quiet and sad in the booth, when usually there was always joking and laughing to a degree. You could've heard a pin drop (what are we gonna bet it's the new ending? 👀).

On that note, Mikolaj also mentioned how he loved seeing everyone come back to reprise their characters with new confidence, knowing them and how they wanted to play them now already, and they had a blast during the recording of the Phantom Liberty dub.

Out of the main game Mikolaj said though, the lines that hit him the hardest, that make him super emotional still, are the voice messages left to V in the suicide ending epilogue. He especially mentioned Judy and Panam (his faves 💜), who gave their all and poured all the despair and sadness into those, it was and still is hard for him to watch.

And on that super happy note the Q&A ended xDD I definitely didnt include everything that was said, I think I missed a smaller question or two as well, I'm just really going off of my memory mostly and a handful of notes I took during the talk xD

But yeah, I think this was definitely one of, if not the highlight of the night for me, at least looking at the schedule and what the local team had prepared for the Cologne stop of the Phantom Liberty tour :D

I still feel super privileged to have been there, given how new I'm to the game and fandom still, but yeah. I'm still so pumped and hhhhhhhh about everything, hope I can share some of my joy and excitement through this post with you all as well!!

\o/

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: Manner of Death, and What is a BL Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I cover Manner of Death, a MaxTul crime show that leads us to wonder if we can call it a true BL.]

FINALLY! Yeeeeeeah! I’ve waited a while to get this one out, and I’m so excited to finally drop this review: this is going to be a fun one. Let’s pour one out for the retired homey, Tul Pakorn, as I dive into Manner of Death! (MaxTul after a weekend of PerthChimon and FirstKhao, huh? GIMME!)

So, first things first: I cannot remember who exactly recommended Manner of Death for inclusion on the OGMMTVC watchlist. I APOLOGIZE. I am going to GUESS that it was a combo of @manogirl and @miscellar (and if I’m wrong, friends, please forgive me, and whoever really suggested it, give yourselves flowers in the comments so I can give you a high-five!). In any case, though, as I’ve mentioned previously, @manogirl gets the OGMMTVC Trophy for Hyping a Homey To One of the Best Ships Ever, for real -- MG, your repping on MaxTul has paid DIVIDENDS in my life, DIVIDENDS! I LOVE MAXTUL. I love them, your honors! And they are important, historically, for reasons illuminated below. 

Okay, ha, with that out of the way, Manner of Death as a show gets included on the OGMMTVC list because, as was discussed in the comments of my review of Together With Me, MoD may or may not be a BL by way of the “rules” of the genre. The majority commentary on MoD established that MoD was a show that had BL elements in a crime genre-based show that served as an influence for future genre shows in Not Me and KinnPorsche. 

Now, I will note, during my MoD liveblogging, that @true-unicorn-queen came thru to say -- actually, it IS a BL (thank you, TUQ, for jumping in the comments!). I am really going to enjoy digging into this, and I think there are some good examples that serve as evidence on both sides of the argument. A little outline to help us out, maestro:

1) The frame of this piece is going to center on whether we call MoD a “genre” show of another kind that’s not TECHNICALLY a BL (like a crime story, or a workplace drama), vs. whether we call it a BL because there were quite a few BL tropes in it, and I’ll also talk about 2) Why I think this argument works by way of who worked on this show (and who may have influenced this show), 3) The general excellence of the acting of this show (...okay, we’ll gently poke Tul a bit, ha), and 4) Touching a bit on the conversation of whether or not MoD impacted future genre shows,

along with some other floating bits about MoD and its wild ending, ha.

Off the bat, I think this show worked because it played with successful elements of BOTH the crime genre AND the BL genre. It was like, fusion television. The actual twists and turns of the mystery (I will try to not give away too much if you haven’t seen it yet!) were FABULOUSLY done, and I love suspecting everyone during stories like this. Hell, I was suspecting Oat, for heaven’s sake!

So regarding the is-it-a-BL-or-not conversation: I’m not a person who dabbles in binaries and hardcore definitions. I really think art is best when it is dynamic and NOT definitively binary -- when art is influenced by many things, by many elements, by many tentacles. (You’ll notice that this is why I LOVE this OGMMTVC project.) I really felt that I enjoyed MoD, purely as a fan, in part because this show used the best elements of the crime and BL genres to construct a story that was exciting, that was SMART, that was driven and crisp -- and most importantly, that was not DRAGGED or HELD BACK by EXPECTATIONS of EITHER genre. 

I myself would not call MoD a BL, in part because I don’t want to set up expectations that it needed to MEET certain elements of the genre in order to CALL IT a BL. BUT -- to @true-unicorn-queen‘s point -- maybe I GET to call it a BL, because it used BL tropes so well? I’m not going to quibble in this too much (and honestly, if folks have thoughts on this, jump into the comments, because I think the conversation around this will automatically be fascinating and interesting).

I want to also add that MoD shares many elements with another well-known crime show that is also not a BL, but arguably BL-adjacent -- Jojo Tichakorn’s 3 Will Be Free. 3 Will Be Free is ABSOLUTELY NOT a BL. But what 3WBF established -- on GMMTV! -- was a show that was not CENTERED in queerness or a queer romance story. It was, instead, INCLUSIVE of queerness as a GIVEN of the environment and community in which the show was set. I thought this was groundbreaking for the GMMTV network.

Like I wrote recently about YYY, and akin to 3WBF, Manner of Death, very importantly in its writing, did not hew to a NEED to CENTER the burgeoning queer romance between Bun and Tan -- which I think many would argue is a necessary element of a BL. Their relationship was an important ELEMENT to the show, but it wasn’t a CENTER of the show -- until the end, when we got a bunch of fan service flowers..... and fuckin’ gun whips with a proposal, but let’s leave that alone for another sec, HA. 

I really liked YYY for its macro-level commentary about what BL creators and performers face, by way of pressure, of NEEDING to include and/or CENTER a relationship in a BL. The character of Porpla served as a symbol of that internal and external pressure on BL shows to be ABOUT the romance.

Manner of Death just... didn’t deal with that. The center of the story was: who killed Jane? That was it. It was a murder mystery, first and foremost, with two dudes falling in love as a side story. 

I’m shaking my head in wonder at this, because Manner of Death did the love side story much differently than 3WBF, all while paying homage and respect to the inclusion of queerness within the show itself. How did the show do it? 

As y’all know from my MoD liveblogging, I totally marveled at how WELL this show included some important BL tropes. We had tender gay uncles AND a side couple IN THE SAME SCENE! ThatSorn were a NATURAL side couple, great chemistry, GREAT comedy, and BunTan totally knew what was up with them. Utterly cute! And I cackled at some other tropes, including BunTan choosing to MAKE OUT instead of checking the LAPTOP THEY STOLE from BUSTING A CAR WINDOW, lol. 

The inclusion of these tropes was done VERY well, VERY sophisticatedly. Unlike 3WBF, where I did not expect to see BL tropes -- because 3WBF’s crime story was clearly not a home for BL tropes, at all -- I LOVED SEEING THEM in Manner of Death. It was like seeing old friends again. 

I wanted to know what was up with that. So to MDL I went, and found that Title Nirattisai is MoD’s screenwriter. I knew I knew that name, and I went a-clickin’, and went -- AHHHH. 

Title is the screenwriter of He’s Coming To Me. THE SCREENWRITER OF *HE’S COMING TO ME!!!* And he, along with Au Kornprom, wrote Dark Blue Kiss. As we know -- they are both Aof Noppharnach shows of the highest order.

WELL, WELL, FUCKING WELL! That solves THAT mystery. Why is the writing of Manner of Death so great? Why does it balance a crime genre story so well with the very best of BL tropes?

It’s because we have a writer in Title who defied and/or played with BL tropes in HCTM and DBK. HCTM, as I’ve previously established, was WELL AHEAD OF ITS TIME by way of storytelling, mood, and BL genre subversion. DBK was the first GMMTV BL to focus on an ONGOING and ESTABLISHED relationship -- à la Still 2gether, later in GMMTV’s history, but a decision that goes against the grain of your usual BL assumptions in seeing a relationship BEGIN, complete with flirtation, with longing, with yearning, etc.

Title is a screenwriter who is CLEARLY comfortable with playing outside of the boundaries of BL expectations -- HCTM is DEFINITIVE of that position. Again, I wondered broadly why Manner of Death was just such a GOOD and watchable show. It’s because its writing was flowing, seamless, and SMART. And I think Title knew, that by centering the show in CRIME and MYSTERY, as opposed to romance, that he could actually play around with expectations of BL romance in a new and singular way. 

This is some cool-ass shit. 3WBF established that you could lead a crime story and include queerness. Manner of Death took this a touch further, and brought BACK the very best of BL tropes within a crime frame. BRILLIANT. And, listen. I have He’s Coming To Me on the OGMMTVC list as a BL. If we continue to extrapolate this argument, then -- I might contradict myself, and agree with @true-unicorn-queen, and maybe call Manner of Death a BL. In the end, I’ll give this argument to whoever wants to pick it up, because for me -- MoD was just a good damn SHOW that used mystery, BL, and romance tremendously well in its composition. And that’s why I think it was so successful. 

(One last tiny note on this: let me not forget to note the director of Manner of Death is Ma-Deaw Chookiat, the director and screenwriter of Dew the Movie. He, like Title, is certainly someone who plays on the very interesting fringes and intersections of the BL genre.)

For my pure simpy pleasure, I also thought MaxTul were way better in this than in Together With Me, Max especially. (As I’ve now established -- MoD was an excellent show itself, with the script of Together With Me being shaky at best, except for dear Yihwa.) I previously noted that there were some little fumbles in Tul’s acting in MoD, but nothing that kept me from enjoying the show. But Max was REALLY damn good. AND: listen. I mean, I love how jocky both of these guys were in the show, but Max REALLY did fighting and gun stuff and like, physical crime stuff VERY well. It was exciting -- he didn’t seem like he was doing it for the first time. If the show felt like it nailed CBS primetime shit like, I dunno, Hawaii Five-O or whatever, by way of its fight scenes, then I call that a win. I CLEARLY don’t normally watch those kinds of shows, HA, but I’ll watch a crime show if it has MaxTul in it, dammit!

Really quickly, on the point about whether or not MoD had an influence on future genre shows like Not Me and KinnPorsche: I will await my Not Me viewing, and my rewatch of KP, to make that final judgement, and I promise I’ll include MoD analyses in both those reviews. I think this is an important conversation to have continuing over the course of the OGMMTVC project, because aligned with this conversation is still a lingering awareness and analysis of the pressures that BL creators face and struggle with vis à vis romance, as I mentioned before. This is a struggle that continues to this day, as we most recently saw in Tee Bundit’s Step By Step, and whether or not that show was meant to be a romance, a workplace drama, and/or a macro-commentary on BL and BL expectations. I’ll be watching Not Me for the first time -- and I was not aware, at all, of any of these kinds of pressures when I first watched KinnPorsche. I’d like to go in fresh with both shows to be aware of what they WEREN’T doing by way of tropes to create very unique art, and to understand if and how Manner of Death opened that door.

One other floating point: à la A Tale of Thousand Stars that follows Manner of Death, MoD is centered in the rural town of Viang Phra Mork, showing off Thailand’s gorgeous northern scenery. I actually didn’t fully put this together until I had moved on to ATOTS on the OGMMTVC list, but as I was watching MoD, I loved that over the course of the show, many of the characters, especially Rungtiva, were shown wearing more ethnic Thai-inspired clothes, just like Khama and the villagers in ATOTS. I love that over the course of the OGMMTVC, we have gotten to see more and more deep dives into Thailand and Thai culture (Moonlight Chicken being another excellent example). Y’all who follow my blog know that I’m particularly interested in tracking Thai politics and Thai cuisine in our shows, and any bits of Thai culture that I can glom onto in our shows is so welcome. I loved it, and I’ll refer more to this in my ATOTS rewatch review. 

Finally, oh finally: MoD’s ending, HA. FIRST OFF: I mean, THE WEDDING, GAH. COME ONNNN. What a lovely farewell to MaxTul. At that point, I think it was assumed that we’d see them one more time in Transplant, but alas. But I really loved that we got to see BunTan in full-circle commitment.

And that proposal. Y’all. Y’ALL. I. WAS. DYING. So not only did that proposal NOT NEED GUN WHIPS, LOL, but as @kattahj pointed out to me, the proposal included GIVING SORAWIT/SORN A GUN, which, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. 

Listen. I didn’t get into the actual deep meat of the show itself, of the UTTER success of the mystery story, in part because I don’t want to give it away for folks who haven’t watched it yet. But -- if you haven’t watched it, please watch Manner of Death. It’s a wonderful break from the BL norm, done absolutely wonderfully by a stellar screenwriter in Title, acted very well by Max, acted very attractively by MaxTul, and the supporting cast was spot on. I know I’ll be checking out Triage at some point to say my final-final farewell to Tul Pakorn, and I wish him all the very best in his next career. We’ll see Max and Toptap next in The Outing, and while that show looks -- confusing? -- I’ll definitely be following it for Max, to see what’s next up in his career. (I hope his health is doing better.) MoD kicked ass, with that classic MaxTul heat, crime, intrigue, AND romance, and it was an utterly successful show that’s absolutely worth celebrating.

[We’re truckin’! I’m making process on my review queue: we have my A Tale of Thousand Stars rewatch review dropping next week, with Lovely Writer after that, and then a double-review of Last Twilight in Phuket and I Promised You The Moon. I’m also going to squeeze in a review of The Warp Effect on Thursday for that Only Friends-flava.

Not Me, 55:15 Never Too Late, and Bad Buddy/Our Skyy 2 rewatch on the horizon. Boom boom boom!

List below. As ever, feedback to ya gal is welcome!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche)  25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (review coming) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review coming) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review coming) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review coming) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 39) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 40) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 41) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults) 42) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 43) Only Friends (2023)]

[randomisedgaming]

Xbox 360 XBLA titles without Xbox One /Series X Support, still available to buy!

Following our latest video on the Xbox 360 store shutdown, here is the full list of Xbox Live Arcade games still up to buy on the Xbox 360. If you haven't seen the video you can watch it below.

With the Xbox 360 store closing on the 29th of July, this list baring the odd error shows all the XBLA games in the United Kingdom Xbox 360 Marketplace Shop. That don't work on Xbox One or Series X and will be lost for good at the end of the month. Some have Xbox One releases, but many are Xbox 360 exclusive. Now the final price drop event on 360 is due to happen on the 16/17th of July.

It seems unlikely any DLC will get reduced so the expensive Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends DLC you will just have to pay through the nose for! If we get time we will try to cover on Demand Games and DLCs next week.

Note at present we are still notes games not all games with extra download content on XBLA are listed correctly yet same with Xbox One versions of some games. As we discussed in our previous videos using the website to buy content is next to impossible and we are buy content via the Xbox 360 in console store.

Warning as per our previous video about the problems we had with the Rabbids Invasions Season Pass. We advice users avoid season passes on the service most are broken.

Any mistakes or omissions please do let us know. Drop us an email, comment or send us a tweet. Also let us know about any Japanese, North America or other games not available in the UK on XBLA and still up and we will add them. If you are looking for games already delisted then visit the excellent website https://delistedgames.com/ for a full list.

XBLA Titles still available to buy on the digital store:

# - Symbols - No games now listed

A (12)

Abyss Odyssey

Alien Breed Episode 1 (On Xbox 360 retail disc in UK Alien Breed Trilogy)

Alien Breed 2: Assault (On Xbox 360 retail disc in UK Alien Breed Trilogy)

Alien Breed 3: Decent (On Xbox 360 retail disc in UK Alien Breed Trilogy)

Alien Rage

Alien Spidy {Has DLC}

Amy

Ancients of Ooga {Has DLC}

Anna - Extended Edition

Arkadian Warriors

Assault Heroes

Awesomenauts [Has Xbox One version] (Released on modern formats with more DLC)

B (18)

Backbreaker Vengeance

Bastion [Has Xbox One version]

Batman: The Telltale Series [Has Xbox One version] (Warning to all, there is a retail version, but this is a season pass disc, which only has the first episode on it and must download the other episode, after the shutdown you will only be able to play the first episode on them.)

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - Deluxe Edition (Listed as Blackgate Deluxe Ed.)

Battle Academy

Battlezone

Bejeweled Blitz LIVE

Bionic Commando Rearmed (Listed as BionicCommando Rearmed)

Black Knight Sword

Blade Kitten

Blazing Birds

Bloody Good Time

Bomberman LIVE {Has DLC} (On Xbox 360 retail disc in Europe, but base game only, no DLC)

Boogie Bunnies

Boxing Fight

Brothers [Has Xbox One version]

Bubble Bobble Neo! {Has DLC}

Burnout Crash!

C (11)

Call of Duty Classic

Capsized

Charlie Murder

Child of Light

Choplifter HD {Has DLC}

Cloudberry Kingdom

Cobalt [Has Xbox One version]

Constant C

Crazy Machines Elements

CrazyMouse

Crimson Alliance {Has DLC}

D (18)

Darkstalkers Resurrection [Included games featured on Xbox One version of Capcom Stadium 2 & Capcom Fighting Collection]

Darts Vs Zombies

Deadliest Warrior Battlegrounds (Listed as DW: Battlegrounds)

Deadlight [Has Xbox One version]

Death Tank

DeathSpank

Deep Black - Episode 1 (Listed as Deep Black - Ep. 1)

Defenders of Ardania

Defense Technica

Diabolical Pitch

Dogfight 1942

Dollar Dash

Double Dragon II

Duke Nukem 3D [Has Xbox One version]

Dungeon Defenders {Has DLC}

Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale

Dust: An Elysian Tail (Only Xbox release, also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC)

Dustforce

E (3)

Ecco the Dolphin [Included on SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis Classics]

EXIT {Has DLC}

EXIT 2 {Has DLC}

F (12)

Fatal Fury Special (Not shown in A-Z listing has to be found using Bing search on console) [Has Xbox One version by Arcade Archive, but that lacks online play]

Fez (Only Xbox release, also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC)

Field Goal Contest

Final Exam

Fire Pro Wrestling

Fireburst

Freefall Racers

Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition

Frozen Free Fall: Snowball Fight {Has DLC}

Fruit Ninja Kinect {Has DLC}

Full House Poker {Has DLC, most is delisted}

Fusion Genesis

G (7)

Guilty Gear XX A Core Plus (Listed as GGXXACP in store, make sure to download the free DLC upgrade) {Has DLC}

Gel

Geon

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

Goosebumps: The Game

Gotham City Impostors {Has DLC}

Guncraft: Blocked and Loaded

H (9)

Happy Tree Friends

Haunt

Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit {Has DLC}

Hexodius

Home Run Stars

How to Survive [Has Xbox One version How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition]

Hunter's Trophy 2 - America

Hunter's Trophy 2 - Australia

Hybrid

I (1)

Ion Assault

J - All listed as Xbox One supported

K (2)

Kinect Fun Labs {Has DLC} (Not shown in A-Z listing has to be found using Bing search on console for both game and DLCs. Base game is listed as an add-on in store and can only be run via the Games & Apps page on the guide button, select recent then press RB twice for all and scroll down.)

Kinect Party - Base Game {Has DLC}

L (4)

Leedmees

Life Is Strange Episode 1 [Has Xbox One version] {Has DLC}

LocoCycle [Has Xbox One version] {Has free DLC, required to play game}

Lucidity

M (12)

Mark of the Ninja [Has Xbox One version Mark of the Ninja: Remastered]

Mars Rover Landing [Free Game for Kinect] (Not shown in A-Z listing has to be found using Bing search on console)

Marvel Puzzle Quest [Has Xbox One version] {Has DLC}

Masquerade The Baubles of Doom [Has Xbox One version]

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood

Meteos Wars

MicroBot

Mighty No. 9 (Has Xbox One version, but 360 doesn't have broken achievement) {Has DLC}

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (Outdated version released on all modern consoles) {Has DLC}

Minesweeper Flags

Mini Ninjas Adventures

Mortal Kombat Arcade

N (1)

Naughty Bear Panic in Paradise {Has DLC}

O - All listed as Xbox One supported

P (11)

Panzer General Allied Assault

Penalty Saver

Penny Arcade Episode 1

Penny Arcade Episode 2

Pinball FX2 [Has a now delsited Xbox One version, most table are on Pinball FX3 & FX4] {Has DLC}

Ping Pong

Prison Architect: Xbox 360 Edition [Has Xbox One version, 360 version is unfinished trash] {Has DLC}

Prize Driver

Puzzle Arcade {Has DLC}

Puzzle Bobble Live!

Puzzle Chronicles

Q - All listed as Xbox One / Series supported

R (15)

Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! (Listed as Rainbow Islands: T.A.)

Raystorm HD (Only Xbox release, newer ports also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC, however this version includes content not on the newer ININ Games release)

Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Listed as RE Revelations 2) [Has Xbox 360 retail version] [Has Xbox One version] {Has DLC}

Reaction Rally

Red Johnson's Chronicles

Rekoil: Liberator

Renegade Ops {Has DLC}

Rez HD (Only Xbox release, newer Rez Infinite release on PS4, PS5 & PC)

Risk

Risk Urban Assault

Rocket Riot

RocketBowl

Rotastic

Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot

Rush'n Attack

S (22)

Sanctum 2 [Only console port, PC Steam version has more content] {Has DLC}

Schizoid

Sealife Safari

Section 8: Prejudice {Has DLC}

Ski Race

Skulls of the Shogun (Only Xbox release, also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC)

South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!

South Park: Tenorman's Revenge

Space Channel 5 Part 5 (On Xbox 360 retail disc Dreamcast Collection America & Europe)

Space Invaders Extreme (Only Xbox release, also on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC)

Spare Parts

Spyglass Board Games

Star Raiders

State of Decay [Has Xbox One version State of Decay: Year-One]

Storm

Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting (Listed as Street Fighter II' HF) [Included on Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection & Capcom Stadium for Xbox One]

Street Fighter III: Online Edition [Included on Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection for Xbox One]

Streets of Rage 2 [Included on SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis Classics & Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage for Xbox One]

Strider [Has Xbox One version]

Super Time Force [Has Xbox One version]

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (Listed as SuperStreetFighter2THD)

Syberia 2

T (18)

Takedown: Red Sabre

Tempest

Terraria - Xbox 360 Edition (Newer versions, more updated)

The Bluecoats - North vs South

The Bridge

The Dishwasher Dead Samurai (Listed as The Dishwasher)

The Dishwasher Vampire Smile (Listed as The Dishwasher: VS)

The Fancy Pants Adventures

The Path of Go

The Wolf Among Us {Has DLC}

Things on Wheels

Thunder Wolves

TiQal

TNT Racers

TotemBall

Track and Field

Trials Fusion {Has DLC}

Tron (Not shown in A-Z listing has to be found using Bing search on console)

Twisted Pixel Games Bundle (Bundle of games)

U - All listed as Xbox One / Series supported

V (3)

Valiant Hearts [Has Xbox One version]

Vigilante 8 Arcade

Voodoo Dice

W (15)

War World

Warlords (NB: Not to be confused with the 2012 release of Warlords on Xbox 360 which is a different game and is back catalogue support, this one is the original arcade & an evolved update.)

Warp

Watchmen The End is Nigh

Watchmen The End is Nigh Part 2

Way of the Dogg

Wik: Fable of Souls

Wing Commander Arena

Wits & Wagers

Worms {Has DLC}

Worms 2: Armageddon {Has DLC}

Worms Revolution {Has DLC}

Worms Ultimate Mayhem {Has DLC}

Wreckateer {Has DLC}

Wrecked Revenge Revisited {Has DLC}

X- No games now listed (RIP X-Men Arcade)

Y (5)

Yar's Revenge

Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Yo-Ho Kablammo

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels Plus {Has DLC}

Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium Duels {Has DLC}

Z (5)

Zeit 2

Zeno Clash 2

Zeno Clash Ultimate Edition (Listed as Zeno Clash UE)

Zombie Driver HD [Has Xbox One version]

Zombie Wranglers

0-9 Numbers (4)

0D Beat Drop

10 Frame Bowling

1942: Joint Strike

3 Point Contest

Japan Only XBLA Releases

Cyber Troopers Virtual-On

Virtua Striker

Any mistakes or omissions please do let us know. Drop us an email, comment or send us a tweet.

Follow Randomised Gaming on Tumblr, YouTube, Twitch & Twitter for video gaming & video content! Buy us a tea on Ko-fi

[bedlamsbard]

🌟 for The Horizon Line

Oooh, let's do one of the Endgame prologue flashbacks from Chapter 6! Mostly because this is a scene I really like and it's not one that people tend to comment on.

Then

This is one of the chapters that has an alternating "then-now" structure, and it's the first of two (the other one is 16) to flip very quickly. This is the second of three flashback sequences in Horizon that come directly out of the Endgame prologue (a.k.a. the 2018 part of Endgame, not the 2023 part). I do a fair amount of rewriting canon scenes; it's always an interesting experience. I get to know that scene really well and I tend to find out how difficult it is to translate between mediums.

“Oh no,” Rocket said.

Steve stared down at the gauntlet with his expression gone completely blank – not even horror, just a kind of flat incomprehension that any of this was happening. Natasha heard the faint sound she made only after she had made it, a faint stunned gasp like a wounded animal, and even then was wondering who it had come from before she felt the ache in her own throat.

Steve's behavior in this scene and throughout Endgame is really interesting, because especially in the 2018 scenes he's very blank. And Chris Evans is generally pretty expression (so much of Steve's excellent Avengers characterization is carried out through microexpressions rather than what Steve's actually saying), so his blankness in this sequence is interesting. One of the things I have to do when I'm rewriting a canon sequence is basically add in the character interpretation that may or may not be there onscreen.

The Infinity Stones weren’t there. Nothing was there, just empty, blackened hollows where Natasha still remembered the Stones gleaming the last time she had seen Thanos, energy running in multi-colored rivulets up his arm before he had snapped his fingers.

“Where are they?” Steve said, his voice so toneless that it was nearly a statement

The only response was a low groan, until Carol tightened her grip on Thanos’s throat and hissed, “Answer the question.”

“The universe required correction,” Thanos said, his voice coming out in harsh gasps of pain. “After that, the Stones served no purpose beyond temptation.”

“You murdered trillions!” Bruce said, and shoved him with both hands. The Hulkbuster’s strength threw him backwards, making Carol lose her grip and knocking Rhodey out of the way.

Thanos pushed himself up onto his remaining elbow and said, “You should be grateful.”

This sequence is directly out of canon, dialogue and action. Also Thanos's dialogue is a nightmare to write, especially pulling it straight from canon -- I noticed this when I was writing the Thor flashbacks in Morning too. He doesn't have a very natural cadence, and it makes hard to put into prose vs. onscreen.

Bruce lunged for him again, but Loki’s hand closed on his wrist, his heels digging divots into the floor as Bruce strained against him; the Hulkbuster might be able to beat the crap out of the Hulk, but apparently couldn’t move an Asgardian who had decided not to be moved. Loki released Bruce a moment later and put the blade of his polearm under Thanos’s chin. “Be careful,” he said softly, “not to speak of gratitude again.”

The scene diverges here with Loki's involvement. In canon Bruce keeps beating up Thanos until Natasha asks about the Stones.

Note that the Hulkbuster is not at the Hulk's strength, at least going up against an Asgardian.

Natasha walked around Bruce’s massive form so that she could see Thanos, resisting the urge to start screaming and not stop, but there was an unfamiliar tremor in her voice as she forced herself to say, “Where are the Stones?”

Pulling character interpretations from what's onscreen again; Nat's less blank than Steve is. She's also trembling in that scene, which is a detail I like.

“Gone,” Thanos said. From his expression, he had no idea who she was. “Reduced to atoms.”

Does Thanos actually know who Natasha is? Open question, never confirmed one way or another by canon; canon really only identifies that he knows who Tony is and not any of the other Avengers.

“You used them two days ago!” Bruce said.

“I used the Stones to destroy the Stones,” Thanos said, and gestured at the damaged gauntlet, ignoring the way the razor-sharp blade of Loki’s polearm opened a thin line on the underside of his chin. “It nearly killed me, but the work is done. It always will be. I am –”

“If you say ‘inevitable,’ I will cleave your head from your body,” Loki said.

Canon divergence: in canon Thanos finishes his line, here Loki interrupts him.

“We have to tear this place apart,” Rhodey said, his voice shaking. “He has to be lying –”

“My father is many things,” Nebula said. “A liar is not one of them.” She flicked a look at Loki anyway, as if asking for confirmation, and he gave her the tiniest headshake in response. God of lies, Natasha remembered, very distantly; maybe it meant something other than just another title. It didn’t seem very important right now.

Loki and Nebula have an interesting relationship and this hints at some of the places it's been in the past. Loki, walking lie detector.

Thanos looked from one of them to the other, as if seeing Loki for the first time, and made an expression that wasn’t quite a smile. “My daughter,” he said to Nebula, and then, to Loki, “My son.”

Divergence. In canon he says, "Ah. Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly." Thor kills Thanos immediately after his addresses Nebula in canon.

“My parents were Odin and Frigga of Asgard,” Loki said, soft and dangerous. “I’d think you’d remember it, since a son of Odin was what you decided you wanted more than another child of yours.”

Loki, who just lost his entire family, is having none of this. I don't think all of Loki's backstory with Thanos has come out in any of my Yonderverse writing, but it is revealed in Morning, and I use the same backstory between universes. Loki started as part of the Black Order, one of the Children of Thanos, during a period of time when he wasn't using his own name (Nebula uses his Black Order name in the Horizon 3 flashback), but when Thanos found out that he was Odin's son he decided Loki was more useful as a way to get into the Nine Realms to get the Tesseract (with the later intention of getting the Reality Stone).

This time Thanos’s expression was definitely a smile. “And where did it bring you? Back to me.”

This line is from 2014 Thanos in Endgame, not 2023 Thanos. 2014 Thanos uses it in Yonder 4, too. (I do think Thanos's dialogue is pretty overwrought, but sometimes it works.)

“To kill you,” Loki said bluntly. “I don’t care about the Stones. I don’t have anyone to bring back. You made certain of that before the culling.”

Loki straight-up is just here for the murder because as far as he knows all of Asgard is dead. As is revealed later on in the scene, he has no way of knowing that any of the Asgardians made it off the Statesman and has been operating on the assumption they didn't. He also doesn't really care about the Snap at all because he doesn't have anyone left to lose.

“Wait – wait, Loki, hang on –” Bruce said hastily. “You don’t know that he’s not lying, the Stones have to be here –”

“No,” Nebula said. “All my life, my father has only ever wanted one thing, and having achieved it –”

“They are beyond the reach of any living thing,” Thanos said. “As they should be. The work is done,” he repeated. “And it cannot be undone.”

This is added dialogue for this scene and isn't from the original canon scene, since Thanos is dead by this point in the canonical scene.

“Loki, get out of the way,” Steve said abruptly.

They all turned to look at him, startled; even Loki’s gaze flickered away from Thanos for an instant. Steve stripped his shields off and dropped them to the floor with a clatter as he took a step forwards, his fists clenched.

This is actually my favorite part of this sequence -- Steve planning to beat Thanos to death with his bare hands. I give Steve a lot more sharp edges than I think most writers do and I am here for his violent tendencies, which are pretty consistent throughout the MCU; it's really just Endgame where it's not there, because he's so muted throughout the film. (I read Endgame!Steve as being very, very depressed, though functional, which I think I've talked about somewhere.) It was important to me that it was his bare hands too, which is why he takes off the Wakandan shields for it.

Loki raised his free hand, green-gold glimmering on his fingertips. “No,” he said. “Your right to vengeance is not greater than mine.”

Loki about to get into it with Steve over who has a better right to beat Thanos to death.

“You should be grateful to me, Asgardian,” Thanos said. “Is this not what you wanted? Is kingship not what you claimed when the Chitauri’s claws were at your throat? The rightful king of Asgard, king once more?”

Hints of Loki's backstory with Thanos and the Chitauri here, touching on whatever happened immediately prior to The Avengers and calling back to Loki's conversations with The Other there.

Loki looked back at him and put his head a little to the side, his teeth showing like a wolf’s. “You murdered my brother,” he said. “You slaughtered my people. You scoured Asgard root and stem from the branches of the World Tree and you speak to me of kingship? King of ashes and atoms, shattered bone and spilled blood, spread out across the stars where you hunted us? I would kill you for Thor alone, but the blood-debt you owe my people can never be paid in full.”

"Ashes and atoms" is a callback to what Loki says during the coronation sequence in Chapter 1: "Asgard is ashes and atoms."

“I took only what I was owed,” Thanos said. “You should never have tried to keep the Tesseract from me.”

“I owed you nothing then and I owe you nothing now,” Loki said, “save a death that will be far quicker than those you gave my brother and my people. And when I’m done, may the spirits of all Asgard stand forth to rip you to shreds on your passage through the great void of Ginnungagap.”

Yonderverse Loki gets very formal and traditional about Asgard in a way that most of my other Lokis don't, because his whole thing is that there was literally nothing left, and he has to be all of Asgard and the Asgardian royal family. Without him the Asgardians likely wouldn't have survived as Asgardians and he's extremely cognizant of that in a way that Thor isn't in the main line canon -- probably because Thor has never really had to think very hard about his own identity and what's important to him as an Asgardian, and Loki has. Thor doesn't have to decide whether or not to be an Asgardian and Loki does.

"I owed you nothing then and I owe you nothing now" is an echo of something Loki says to Proxima Midnight in Yonder 5: "I owe the Chitauri nothing and I owe you less."

“‘All’ Asgard?” Thanos echoed him, and smiled, the scarring on the left side of his face making the expression even more dreadful than it might have been normally. “I destroyed only those who came between me and what was rightfully mine. I am not unkind, my son. Those that fled rather than fight a losing battle, I allowed to escape.”

Until now Loki didn't know that the other Asgardians had survived. Endgame never addresses how Thor finds out or what his reaction is, but it's pretty vital for how Yonderverse Loki is, so it has to be on the page.

Loki’s eyes went huge.

“Oh, god, they’re alive,” Bruce said, sounding stunned. “Oh, god – the Asgardians in the escape pods – the Valkyrie and all the others, all the kids –”

Bruce didn't know either, of course -- remember that he was on the Statesman too.

Loki dropped his polearm and lunged forward, twisting his fists in the front of the Titan’s shirt. “Where are they?” he shouted. “Where are my people?”

First sign that Loki might have something to live for other than vengeance because at this point he really didn't believe that he did.

This sequence is interspersed with the Atlanta operation in the present day -- the last operation the Avengers did as a team and the first operation they're doing as a team post-Snap. I actually do write these as they appear in the chapter, which is to say that I alternate between writing the flashback sequence and the present-day sequence, rather than writing all of one and all of the other and then stitching them together. For me, this makes the transitions between past and present really snappy and lets them flow thematically from one to the other -- the next scene after this is Natasha going after what she believes is Clint (Sir Not Appearing In This Story), and reveal of the Hulk-Widow that closes out that scene leads directly into Loki's shock about the surviving Asgardians that opens the next.

One thing I struggle with in rewrites of canon scenes is that very often the ones I'm rewriting are big multi-character scenes where a lot of the characters are simply not doing anything most of the time and this is one of them. Despite being a Natasha POV scene, she really doesn't have any input past the opening, which does stand out to me on reread. She's also not doing anything in the canon scene. (And I'd bet there's a high chance that when they filmed the scene, all of the actors were not there and it's just stitched together because Endgame did a lot of that.) It's one of those places where I can either add in the character having more interaction in that scene, which I do back in the Chapter 3 flashback with Tony's arrival, because Natasha doesn't say anything in that scene in Endgame but does have dialogue in my version or just live with it and hope it doesn't show too much.

[a-bucket-full-of-feels]

Hibike! Euphonium S3 Review and final thoughts

When I first watched S3, I came in with a casual attitude, just wanting to follow the season because I've been watching every Hibike season and movie thus far. However, what I didn't expect was to be so consumed by the season and the entire series again in general, after several years of not watching any fictional series ardently.

In my opinion, S3 excelled in the same areas that made S1&2 stand out plot-wise. The pacing of the drama was excellent, from the slow build up of dread through the events in the first few episodes and all the foreshadowing through Mayu, Kumiko and Reina's actions and words, to the height of the drama during the Kansai audition and the final emotional payoff in episode 12. Everything from the choice of dialogue to the non-verbal storytelling to the voice acting made the tension palpable and made me want more each episode. As I've mentioned in my previous essays and rambles about the series, I love how real the drama and characters feel, and S3 is no exception. Although Mayu is the perceived antagonist of the season, she doesn't feel antagonistic and in fact you can fully empathise with her emotional turmoil as she struggles to be true to her own music vs her desire to please everyone in the club. The heartbreaking plot twist regarding Kumiko's solo which was a creative decision by KyoAni really drove home the realism of it all - that you may not win everything (even as the main character of your own anime lol), but you still can have your own happy ending and most importantly learn and grow from the experience.

Having last watched the Kumiko 2nd year movie a few years ago, I felt that the movie suffered the most in pacing due to time restraints, so I'm glad that a full anime season for Kumiko's final year allowed the plot to breathe and made the drama so much more impactful. I say this having not read the third year novels though, so I can't comment on that pacing-wise, but for the anime as a standalone piece I felt that it was great.

Of course, I do have some minor gripes about the season - while it excelled in the plot, like many, I do feel that it compromised on the music this time round. We only really got to hear one full ensemble performance, which was the free piece at the end of the entire season which doubled up as a climatic ending and also a nostalgic flashback to moments in the entire Hibike canon. However, other than that, the music scenes were limited to a few excerpts like Midori and Motomu's contrabass duet, Mayu's excerpt of Moonlight Serenade, Reina and Kumiko's soli excerpt, and a few phrases of Polovtsian Dances from Mizore's orchestra. It would be great if we could hear the SunFes performance, or a bit more of their set piece, Scherzo. Here's hoping there's a recap movie with more musical moments haha.

Finally, on a personal note, I found that S3 came at just the right time in my stage of life. I'm currently at a crossroad career-wise, feeling jaded about my career trajectory and a lack of purpose and passion in the work I do, and soon I'll be embarking on a Masters program in the hopes of changing that trajectory or finding a new sense of purpose in my career. As I watch Kumiko reflect on her high school concert band journey and grow as an individual, similarly I can't help but be re-ignited with a renewed sense of passion and hope of the future. Among other things, I really liked what Midori said in one of the last few episodes (11 or 12) about her current choice in university akin to sowing seeds for the future. You may not know if all the seeds you've sown will sprout into full grown trees, but as long as you've planted that seed in the soil, the possibility that it will grow up as desired is still there. And this is a thought I want to hold on to as I move on to the next chapter in my life.

[barbiegirldream]

Honestly kind of crazy how someone like Iida is a legacy kid but has less control/abilities than Bakugou, which is in part due to quirks but even with Todoroki or Momo, they have the funds and ability to get tutors and help and Bakugou outclasses them. Like Todoroki goes for glaciers or massive bursts of fire and Momo tends to have canons (in terms of weaponry), but theres no creativity. Vs Bakugou who's at most middle class, doing it all himself and has 10 different super moves before he hits high school.

I think as well that in training to have such excellent self control, he'd figure out the minute details of his quirk like being able to make flash bangs instead of explosions and stuff

Todoroki can tbf do precision moves with his ice very well it's just more intimidating to go for big ice walls instead of say freezing Iida's jet boosters in a sneak attack move. He was trained heavily and ended up making one of his insanely powerful finishing moves flashfire on the spot in the sports festivals. Like a baby Phosphor.

Bakugou is just so intune with his body it's like when he temporarily gets one for all it's super easy for him to work it out. And he genuinely is pushing himself all the time. Plus Recovery Girl made a comment during the All Might final exam that Bakugou's grades are phenomenal on top of his fighting in the sports festival. He's kind of got it all.

Also side note I saw this long post with chemistry people explaining why "it's not confirmed that Bakugou sweats nitroglycerin reee it said like nitroglycerin". Which yeah obviously saying something is Like a chemical but not exactly that chemical gives you now writing leeway to make your kind of but not really chemical do whatever it wants with a general concept of how it should work. But he highlighted that chemical because it's obviously supposed to be the most similar thing idk why people are so bent out of shape as to what chemical is exactly going to make explosive sweat <- it's none of them you would die