#Essence Project

[manor-tea-time]

Tea Time Holidays - Christmas Carol Collab

A fuzzy feeling fills the air as that festive time of year once again comes around. From the harmonious noise of carols echoing down the street, to the ever so sweet tastes of handmade goodie, not to mention the joy of finding the perfect gift for a friend! Oh! Its all too hard not to get caught up into the merriment of it all, isn't it?

But oh? What's this?

It seems someone isn't as thrilled to be apart of such activities this year... ⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆

-Collab Details-

Hello!! Happy Holidays everyone! Its crazy to think that soon this is gonna be the second Christmas this blog has seen. Time flies by so quickly, doesn't it? It makes me feel so reminicant and happy.

Anyways, this essance is a little special in comparison to the other 2 I have made. Why? Well, this one will have a fully written retelling of a Christmas Carol made for it done by the lovely @littlegloriosa! Thats right - a silly holiday fic featuring some of your favorite goobers!

The upload schedule will be twice per week after this post goes live! So keep an eye out for installments in the story under the following tag:

#AVeryIDVChristmas

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆

-Costume/Character List-

"Scrooge" - { Wayne Strickland / @manor-tea-time }

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

Mr Cratchit - { Alden West / @ask-idv-astronaut }

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

"Tiny Tim" - { Memory / Just IDV in general Lmao }

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

"Jacob Marley" - { Allan Crowell / @bloody-trio }

No Chain Ver

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

The Ghost of Christmas Past - { Archer / @ask-archer-idv }

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

The Ghost of Christmas Present - { Tatya Baudelair / @tatya-time }

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - { Kanat / @friedclownshrimp }

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

Festive Niece - { Therese Bernadotte / @ask-the-identity-5-senses }

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

Past Love - { Jamie / @manor-tea-time }

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

Note: Character Art will unlock as the story progresses! If you volunteered a lad, and don't see finished art of them here, don't panic! They will be revealed at some point before the 24th.

If you wish to see them before hand though, feel welcome to ask for their sheets via DMs or Anon :] ⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆

And now some words from Emma! Take it away pookums!

AHEM!!!! I write stuff. Please enjoy. :3

"Christmas is approaching, but Wayne isn’t feeling it. Everything is ba humbug! Unfortunately everyone around him loves the holidays. It would take a miracle to get him on the same page, though. Or maybe a few friendly ghosts…"

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆

[guzhufuren]

do you have a post for wlw shows in specific? i dont mind just going through your main masterlist if not

as well, do you have any wlw shows w transfem leads? that one might be asking for too much, lol.

i don't have an asian wlw list yet, but i will make one here for you bun! i will only be including shows that pass my personal minimum standard for dramas. all shows are sorted in a recommended watching order

WLW

1. She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat neighbours; self-discovery; food; comfort watch

Nomoto loves to cook, but tends to make too much food and has no one to share it with. Luckily for her, turns out her neighbor Kasuga has a big enough appetite for the both of them.

No international streaming available, translated to english by Furritsubs, S1 & S2, watching instructions provided, consider supporting the translator on kofi.

2. The Loyal Pin period drama; princess/noble lady; childhood friends to lovers; forbidden romance

A love story set in 1950s Thailand, about naughty but charming Princess Anilaphat and prim but kind Lady Pin, who are close friends and have grown up together.

YouTube

3. Uranus2324 movie; sci-fi; astronaut/diver

Story of Lin, an astronaut who is about to embark in a remarkable space mission and Kath, a passionate free diver who is willing to defy the limits of time and space just to meet with her lover over and over again.

Netflix of South Asian countries (can be accessed with VPN)

4. Petrichor crime; investigation; cop/forensic doctor

Lieutenant Tul, a rookie officer and Dr Cherran, a physician from the Institute of Forensic Sciences, become reluctant partners.

iQIYI

5. 23.5 high school setting; secret admirer

Ongsa moves to a new school and meets Sun, a cute popular girl who she immediately falls for. However, she decides to approach Sun in instagram dms under the pseudonym Earth, leading Sun to believe she's talking to a guy. But Ongsa does not want to lose the opportunity to talk to Sun, so she decides to keep the fact that she is a girl a secret and continue talking as Earth.

YouTube

6. Ayaka Is In Love With Hiroko office setting; comedy; misunderstanding

Ayaka, a young office worker, is madly in love with her senior team leader, Hiroko. As Ayaka tries to make her attraction known, Hiroko consistently misreads the situation, thinking that Ayaka is a straight girl.

GagaOOLala

7. Soul Sisters period drama; wuxia; crossdressing; arranged marriage

Gu Jinyu has disguised herself as a man since childhood. While undercover, she is kidnapped by Bai Yunxi, the sweet but clumsy heiress, and forced into a marriage. The two form an unexpected partnership to save the failing stronghold, facing rival plots, enemies, and challenges.

iQIYI. *Because of chinese laws demanding censorship of queerness, the romance is censored and toned down to sapphic homoerotism for the show to be able to be broadcast. Nevertheless it's pretty obviously meant to be a romance.

8. Couple of Mirrors period drama; socialite/assassin

You Yi is a kind-hearted socialite and a successful author. Her perfect life is turned upside-down when she discovers a betrayal by the two most trusted people in her life. With no one left to turn to, she finds refuge in the friendship and support of Yan Wei, a lonely female killer disguised as the owner of a photo studio. YouTube. the show doesn’t have a happy ending, but it can be a happy ending for you if you stop watching at episode 12 timestamp 28:02. *Adapted from an explicitly queer novel, the show is undeniably and obviously queer, but nevertheless the queer romance part is censored.

9. Affair childhood friends to lovers; love triangle

A girl's life is upended by family bankruptcy. Her best friend becomes a source of comfort. They get separated, but years later they reunite, reigniting old memories and feelings amidst changed circumstances.

YouTube & iQIYI

10. Us love triangle

Dokrak crosses paths with an older dentistry student Pam during her coffee shop shift and gradually develops a crush. When her brother Kawi meets Pam, he falls for her at first sight. Kawi turns to Dokrak, asking her to play matchmaker and Dokrak agrees.

YouTube

11. The Secret of Us exes to lovers

Dr. Fahlada guards her heart due to a past love, rendering her unable to open up again. Her situation becomes complicated when she has to work with Earn, her ex girlfriend, who has come to work with her at the hospital.

Netflix & Ch3+

12. Pluto twins; blind character

Twins Ob-oom and Ai-oon are worlds apart until Ob-oom's wedding, when she tasks Ai-oon with breaking up her affair with May. A tragic turn leaves the newlywed comatose, and Ai-oon must carry out the request, only to find May is blind. And fall in love with her.

YouTube

13. Reverse 4 You superpowers

One sister foretells the future, and the other controls time. When a promised love seems doomed to tragedy, the pair sets out to change fate itself.

Netflix

14. She Makes My Heart Flutter bar setting; niece and aunt dynamic

The extroverted Gang Seol is hired by her aunt Jung at her only-women bar. Even though they are both lesbians, they seem to be worlds apart and have very different love stories.

YouTube

15. Sleep With Me radio; disabled character in a wheelchair

A science textbook writer with a sleep disorder meets a wheelchair-using radio host who runs the midnight shift. This chance encounter at the radio station quickly sparks their interest in each other.

GagaOOLala

16. GAP The Series office setting; boss/employee; class difference

Long after Sam first came to Mon's rescue when they were kids, Sam is unambiguously Mon's idol. In order to be near Sam, Mon gets a job working under her. When they finally meet again at the office, Mon is surprised by Sam��s icy exterior, so different from the image she'd had of her. Mon and Sam aren't just different in demeanour; they stand apart in class and age.

YouTube

17. Lucky My Love office setting

In the pursuit of love, Nabdao has been doing everything. She has got her fortune read. She's gone on a string of blind dates. Unfortunately, no one seems to be on the same page as her. She starts to think that perhaps her gorgeous and caring boss Pheem could be the one for her. Then Vela, her new team leader, comes into the picture and shakes things up with her observant and affectionate care.

YouTube

18. Show Me Love beauty pageants

Meena moves to Bangkok to achieve her singing dreams. She chances across Cherine who asks Meena to join her in a beauty pageant. The girls' journey for the crown begins and a romance between them sparks.

YouTube

19. My Marvellous Dream Is You magical dreams; actress/personal stylist

Dawan's father abandons their family to elope with a neighbor girl's father. Turns out this is Kimhan, who Dawan has been seeing in her strange yet lovely dreams for years. While they become friends in reality, Dawan hides her deeper feelings, as in her dreams their bond goes far beyond friendship. She never realizes that Kimhan shares the same dreams.

YouTube

20. Unlock Your Love

Rain locked up her heart after getting disappointed in her past relationship. However, things turn around when Love enters her life. They embark on a journey to “unlock their love.”

YouTube

21. Love Bully barwoman/heiress; obstacles

Irene and Night meet at the bar Night works in the night Irene returns from overseas, and hit it off instantly. However, their passionate relationship is threatened by meddling people who want to ruin it.

YouTube

Various chinese WLW mini web-dramas.

Various chinese WLW short films.

WLW as side couples:

1. Wedding Plan mlm wedding planner/groom; lavender marriage

Nuea is a professional wedding planner. Sailom happens to be the perfect man for Nuea based on his visual considerations for a man. But the universe has an unimaginable sense of humor as Sailom and his fiance Yiwa turn out to be Nuea's new clients.

Uncut 18+ on iQIYI or cut on Youtube & iQIYI (special episode), girls don't have high heat scenes here so you can just watch Youtube version for them

2. Love Sea mlm rich big city writer/countryside diver; class difference; wlw personal assistant/celebrity

Tongrak is a writer of popular romance novels. After travelling to countryside in search of inspiration, he chances to meet an irritating southern man Mahasamut. When they end up in bed together, however, Tongrak finds himself hooked. Tongrak has a secretary Mook and a popular actress best friend Vi. Vi enjoys ordering Mook around as if she was her own assistant.

Uncut 18+ on iQIYI or cut on Youtube

With smaller screentime there are wlw side couples in shows: Bad Buddy, I Feel You Linger In The Air (this one has period typical homophobia and assault though, so careful).

Bigger list of asian GL shows: link [tumblr post].

Transfeminine representation in asian QLs:

1. 23.5

Secondary couple are a pair of teachers, both of them trans women played by trans women. For now this is the only show that has a sapphic trans plotline, even though small.

YouTube

2. 3 Will Be Free polyamorous trio; on the run; mafia

After an unexpected event that involves sex work and mafia gangs, three individuals find themselves on-the-run together as they attempt to escape death. Important secondary character is a trans woman played by a trans female actress. Has a trans storyline in the show (the girl gets male romantic partners). Trigger warning for transphobia. YouTube

3. Secret Crush On You “nerd”/popular guy; queer friend group; university setting

A nerdy young man Toh fell in love with a popular third-year senior. Because his dream is so far from reach, observing is the only thing he could do. Toh has a queer friend group, one of them is a transfeminine/3rd gender/kathoey character Daisy. Can be a bit jarring for a western person at first, but her story is very lovely if you give this girl a chance (also gets male romantic partner).

YouTube

Noticeable small appearances of trans female characters: The Sign (the actress Yoshi was the 2019 winner of Thailand's biggest trans beauty pageant, YouTube), Not Me (YouTube), You're My Sky (Viki), KinnPorsche (iQIYI).

Sadly we aren't at a point where Thailand makes shows with trans people as leads yet, even though I so badly wish it was already a thing. But trans women and kathoey generally have supporting roles in BL and GL shows very often, so you can see them a lot in stuff! It's the transmascs who never ever appear here!

Queer shows directed by trans women and transfem people:

Anucha Boonyawatana is a trans woman and the director of Not Me, mlm show about anarchist freedom fighters (YouTube).

Golf Tanwarin is a nonbinary director and the first openly transgender person to have been elected as a member of parliament in Thailand. They were the one who submitted the thai marriage equality bill to parliament, which since then has been approved in 2024 and came in legal force 2 weeks ago. Their directing works: Love Bully (wlw, listed above), The Eclipse (mlm show about repressed boys in a corrupted school system, YouTube), Wandee Goodday (mlm boxer/doctor romcom, Viki).

Just in case, adding shows where I personally enjoyed headcanoning characters as transgirls or enby transfems sometimes:

1. Meet You At The Blossom

Romantic interest is wearing female clothes and makeup for disguise in the first episodes, and despite not passing well no one questions that this is a woman. The character is happily called "wife" by the lead character until the end of the show.

YouTube & GagaOOLala & Viki & iQIYI

2. The Sign

Main character used to be a female snake princess in his past reincarnation. Sometimes played by a female actress, sometimes by a male actor, but always referred to as a princess and wearing period thai female clothes. It's also possible to headcanon the character as a transmasc here though, it's really neat.

YouTube

Many of all these shows are free on YouTube, in other cases I recommend paying for subscriptions to show appreciation and support of content in order to get more of it in the future, but if you can't or don't want to, you can watch online on KissKH or get files from MkvDrama!

Blogs you can follow to get updates and posts specifically about asian GLs: @girlsloveupdates @glgifs

[kerizaret]

Bonus tenmas. Becsuse i love them

[insecuregodcomplex]

Buck will grapple with how he responded, and what he didn’t say for a while

[akito-shinonome-daily]

🎤 day 343 🎵

➥ today’s akito is from the project sekai comic anthology chapter 20!!

wah

[1very1fancy1doilies1]

moral of AoT: don't give a mentally ill teenager the ability to destroy the world (he will do it)

[virtues-end]

I was here a few years ago following a bunch of IF Blogs (your old one was one of them) and then i took a long break. Came back and you're still working on it and i don't have enough words to tell you how glad i am about it!!! VE has such a delicious setting, protagonist and characters I AM SUCH A SUCKER FOR the whole mood your game has 🥺. Like. Thank you so much for making it?

Welcome back! I took a break as well, but VE kept haunting me. 👻 And thank you for taking the time to send me such a kind message!

[ar-ymoth]

Wip wednesday plus doodle

I have acquired a new *Looks at folder*, uuhh another underpaid over glorified secretary. *Places WJC next to fox and prowl*

The fox is a vent art of sort, portraying me after I had to send out my tenth email to the same person. He had to write another email to Palestine explaining why the speech he gave was not good or something idk. It involves the raisin man

[jessmindspace]

A crop of the villain in the Con Story within Parallels: Bastien Farran! He's the CEO of Completeo Vita Inc, a company that develops a drug that superhumans can use to inhibit their powers. Farran is very much the obnoxious "hipster CEO," with headquarters that boast video game parlors, climbing walls, and twenty different types of snack food brands, complementary for employees.

Behind the charismatic facade, however, Farran hides a viciously competitive and mercenary mind. He'll do anything to get what he wants. Experimenting on employees without their consent? It's their fault if they don't read the fine print when they sign on. Hiring mercenaries to take out his competition? That's just business, baby. Outright m*rder? Well, it's not like he's the one who's actually killing people, now is he?

[manor-tea-time]

PART 2 - GHOSTLY ADVICE

꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆⋆꙳

After his long day of work, Wayne went home to his large house, where he lived very much alone. He sat by his fire with tea and brandy, a good book in his lap that he wasn’t bothering to read. 

“Christmas…” he muttered. “Enough of that…”

And the room fell cold. The old man looked over to his fire to see it still roaring, yet now wreathed in frost. He rubbed his eyes in confusion and when he opened them again, the ice was gone. 

“I must have had too much brandy,” he said as he stood up slowly to tend to the fire. His old bones shivered as he walked. The fire seemed to offer no warmth as he grabbed the poker and leaned over it. 

⋆⁺₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.

Suddenly, the flames grew immensely. 

They engulfed the entirety of the fireplace, licking the sides of the wall. Wayne stumbled backwards and fell onto his back as he tried to scramble away. The flames only grew higher and the sound of rattling chains filled the room. 

“Wayne,” a ghostly voice called, “Wayne Strickland.”

“Who is there?!” He looked around the room, which was now freezing cold despite the raging fire. 

The sound of metal upon metal grew louder. “Wayne. Wayne Strickland.”

“Please! Leave me alone! I have done nothing!” He got to his knees to beg at whatever force was calling to him. 

And despite the fire's presence the corners of the room began to be engulfed in frost. The chandelier. The door. His cup of brandy. They all had fractals of ice covering them like lace.

And from the flames, a face emerged. Bright gold eyes like coins stared at Wayne with malice and regret. Connected to the face was a neck and then shoulders and then arms that were clawing out onto the floor.

And the figure was terribly familiar. 

“Allen,” Wayne whispered, “Oh god. You’re dead. You are supposed to be dead.”

“I am!” the ghost cried out. “Oh, great death did come for me with shadowed eyes and cold hands! I am long dead! Long dead!” The chains scraped against the floor as Allen swung his arms outwards.

Death had made the man no less dramatic. 

Wayne cried out, “I must be dreaming!”

“Do not be a fool, Strickland! I have risen out of my cold suffering with the blessing of the beyond to warn you, old friend! Your heart is cold and shriveled and weak! It is chained like I am now!” The ghost pulled on the chains around him but they did not budge. 

“Please, spirit! Allen Crowell! My friend! Leave me be! I have done no wrong!”

“You lie! Oh! How you lie!” The spirit flung himself towards Wayne as he groaned. “You have grown greedy and cruel and forgotten the true spirit of Christmas!”

Wayne paused before a moment as he stared up at the deathly visage of his long dead friend. “Ah… I must be dreaming! That’s what it is. The brandy must have given me the strangest of dreams…”

“You fool!” Allen cried out. “I have come from the cold embrace of death to help you, so that you might have a chance and I may be freed of just a few of these horrible chains! Oh these chains! Each weigh as much as my sins in life! They are so terribly heavy, Wayne!”

But, Wayne, despite being terribly frightened, had already decided that it was all just a nightmare.  He stood up and began to walk away, but was quickly wrapped up in icy metal. 

Allen floated closer so that he may loom over the old man. His gold eyes like two furious and wicked suns beating down upon the weary. “Tonight, dear friend. You will be visited by three spectres. The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come will arrive in all their glory and show you the truth! Your truth! And should you not see the error of your ways before the light of Christmas Day, beware! You will end up in the cold grip of iron in death, just as I did.”

And a great flurry filled the room and Wayne cried out in fear. 

“The first ghost,” Allen continued, “Will appear to you upon the first stroke of midnight… Be ready, old friend…”

꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊❅.☃︎⋆⁺₊❅.⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙̩̩͙❆⋆꙳

[Character Unlocked!]

[hpheisler]

CV#0428

[ystk-archive]

Man capsule was so f*cking cool back in the day, I don't care what anyone says, I will always wish there were more people in the creative world with the means (and interest) to design their own clothes, edit their own music videos, make their own album covers, just put your entire vision up on display

[sakitenma-everyday]

day 51! they are making an even better band..

[heliosphere-underthesky]

I've been pretty busy! Here are some previews for the updated character art for 2024. I'm planning to make this for the main cast (Sun + 8 planets, likely including Pluto).

The two smaller pictures on the right of the screenshots are from 2020 and 2014, respectively.

I'm so happy with these. It feels like their personalities are finally fleshed out! Let's hope the entire cast gets redrawn by Heliosphere's 10th birthday!

To clarify: The webcomic debuted in WEBTOON last year, 26 April 2023. (anniversary) The project was released to the public in 22 May 2014. (birthday)

If you wanna see how my messy sketches look like before the lineart (and how big Uranus is compared to Earth lol) here he is!:

[hack-saws]

Late night mspaint Chip doodles upon ye

[tsunagite]

ak+q!

It was unintentional that Vexaria and Ignotus ended up looking similar oops

…It sorta looks like Vexaria has a regular ass knife, lmao.