#Romeo and Juliet reference for the title

[museforblooms]

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀CURSE OF CAPULET is the fictional debut mini—album by the idol band BELLADONNA released on February 14, 2024. After their win on Superband, Belladonna would take five months to write and produce their first album with the help of Plastic Flowers SALEM and OLIVER and former Lush member DALLAS LINWOOD. Along with the songs written by the members, Salem had gifted them an old draft, RENEWAL, which was supposed to appear on Wind and Rain in 2019 but was replaced with another song. The album takes on themes of love, desperation, mortality, and the inevitability of fate with their concept changing from girlhood to medieval and renaissance imagery, often seeing the girls depicted as saints. The album had one title track, BURN ALIVE, but RENEWAL was also promoted as a b-side.

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀Curse of Capulet comes from the play Romeo and Juliet by Williams Shakespeare as it's themes closely resemble the overall meaning of their debut album. It is a reference to Mercutio's death in Act III, scene I in which he curses both the Capulets and Montagues with "a plague o' both your houses!", blaming both of them for his death. He wants Romeo to know that he blames the feuding families for his fate and remind Romeo that his love for Juliet was the reason for his death to Tybalt, Juliet's short tempered cousin. The album was released with TWO versions: ROMEO and JULIET, with the back cover featuring quotes from both characters alongside the tracklist.

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀TRACKLIST.

‘ # 001.⠀ ⠀OLIM ──── written by kwak yulli, produced by oliver song, and performed by belladonna. olim is an introduction track to belladonna's debut track and mimics catholic hymns, with the word olim itself representing the beginning of a fairytale. the translation goes as: "once, long ago God arrived in this age of brightness / He will come again" and is repeated twice. all members of belladonna referred to this as the hardest recording session that they've ever had. the idea was brought up by oliver as a joke, but yulli saw it as the perfect time to flex her old latin skills from attending catholic skills. it was almost cut completely, but the girls were able to save it at the last minute.

‘ # 002.⠀ ⠀TITLE TRACK: BURN ALIVE ──── written and produced by bae haena, performed by kwak yulli. in their debut single, belladonna comes out swinging as they depict themes of addiction, self-destruction, and the sacrifices made for love. the main imagery of the song is a toxic relationship where both parties are consumed by their vices and are unable to break the cycle of destructive patterns. because of this relationship, they are no longer who they aspired to be and desire to capitalize on their own pain, a reflection on modern society.

‘ # 003.⠀ ⠀THEATRE ──── written by ko sarang, produced by dallas linwood, performed by kwak yulli. theatre explores the desire for love and acceptance through the lens of a theatrical performance. it delves into the idea of yearning for a love that feels like it belongings in a grand gesture from a movie or performance. the narrator is willing to go through the motions by pretending and faking emotions just to fulfill this dream of being loved. they yearn to be loved and adored as a film star, swept up in a fantasy where all their desires are achieved.

‘ # 004.⠀ ⠀FORTUNATE ISLES ──── written by kim eulsun and kim wonhui, produced by dallas linwood, and performed by kwak yulli. this song is often the one that gets the most criticism as professionals and netizens alike believe it doesn't fit the sound of the album. however, the girls are always ready to double down on how much they love the song. taking it's name from the greek island where all their greatest heroes lived, fortunate isles conveys the story of a letter being delivered to an ex lover who isn't quiet over their relationship yet, asking to be reborn in spring so they can live together forever.

‘ # 005.⠀ ⠀RENEWAL ──── written and produced by salem kueakulsri, performed by kwak yulli. renewal was a gift to the members of belladonna from plastic flowers leader, salem kuekulsri. in an instagram live, she confirmed that it had intended to be a plastic flowers song, but it was cut and eventually left in her vault of music. she said that she gave it to belladonna to remind them that they always hold the power in their lives and as a way to keep them strong. it explores themes of personal growth and resilience in the face of adversity, wanting to start anew and find solace in oneself after experiencing setbacks and challenges. by "growing a new plant in your head", the narrator can reach a new sense of personal transformation and optimism, leaving anyone that doubted them behind.

‘ # 006.⠀ ⠀LOVERS ──── written by bae haena, produced by oliver song, performed by kwak yulli. haena is quickly establishing herself as the queen of heartbreaking ballads in the group and fans absolutely love it. in this slower track, yulli really shines vocally as she laments on a relationship that failed, but only just realizing how good she had it. with only two verses and a chorus, their message comes across very well as they repeat "i wish you were with me" and "me as yours, you as mine".

‘ # 007.⠀ ⠀PAGAN POETRY ──── written by kwak yulli, produced by oliver song and dallas linwood, performed by kwak yulli. this song explores the spiritual connection between two people as the singer s pedalling through the dark currents and finding an accurate copy of another's pleasure inside of her. this connection is described as a secret code carved into black lilies, something deeply romantic and spiritual. the concept of paganism is reflected in the individual's connection to the divine as deeply personal and the beauty and spiirtualiy is celebrated.

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀STYLING.

★⠀⠀ ⁄ ⠀⠀ERA SUMMARY.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS: 200,000 sales in the first week and a nomination on every major south korea music show. fans were unable to get them a win, but they would only place behind the actual winner by a few points, making it possible for the next era.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀belladonna's fandom name, DOVES, would be announced by the girls in a video on how to cheer for burn alive. it was chosen because doves are often seen as a symbol of peace, freedom, or love—all things their fans provided for belladonna.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀the budget was the talk of the town. everyone was supervised to see how lavish and beautiful their concept photos, music videos, and performance outfits were. it drove poppies mad and they demanded for equal treatment for the two.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀ fan wars started between DOVES and POPPIES as soon as it was confirmed salem and oliver were working on the album. many accused belladonna of not being able to write or produce their own music, which is objectively not true as seen by their superband run, and were just overall nasty towards the girls.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀ the OLIVER and YULLI DATING RUMORS. . . someone had posted a video of them looking a bit too close after plastic flowers' performance at cheeky's and twitter just ran with it. superbloom had to issue a statement saying they were just friends and had a close "senior—junior artist" relationship.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀ enough about plastic flowers! DALLAS LINWOOD was praised for his work on the album! after announcing his retirement from performing, most were excited to see him working on music again and he did not disappoint on these arrangements.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀ belladonna performed and WON their first time on immortal songs: singing the legends. they were on the PATTI KIM episode and sang MOTHER'S HEART IN SEOUL! it was praised by the older generation of domestic netizens and the girls will definitely be returning.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀all of the girls were supposed to have their natural hair colors for this promotional period, but haena had over plans. without telling superbloom, she bleached her own hair and it surprisingly came out well! when the company found out, she was forced to tone it and it remained a white color.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀many pre-debut fans were disappointed by their concept shift. though it was hinted at in the later rounds of superband, many wanted them to keep their "girl—rock" sound because they could relate to what they were singing about. there's a clear divide between these stans and those that enjoyed the curse of capulet.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀they were given a reality show called THE BELLA'S, which was filled with fun challenges and the girls getting to know each other! it's a loved series by fans and is still being uploaded even after promotions ended. they had a whole episode on haena's hair, which was an instant classic.

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀despite knowing each other for less than a year, BELLADONNA seemed very close. they have amazing chemistry together and even showed how well they knew each other on BLOOM WITH US, with YULLI being the overall winner because she "loves her members".

‘ # 000.⠀ ⠀they also posted various covers including EDGE OF SEVENTEEN by stevie nicks, NIGHT SHIFT by lucy dacus, CHILL KILL by red velvet, THE CHAIN by plastic flowers, DITTO by newjeans, and many more.

[taeyongdoyoung]

summary: a vampire and a werewolf want to put an end to the war between their families. in their dangerous attempt to achieve peace, they find love where they least expected... pairing: werewolf!mingyu x vampire!wonwoo x witch!reader genre: adventure, fantasy, a lil romance warnings: mentions of blood, burns, cutting, death, killing, suicide & other supernatural themes author's note: the title is inspired by taylor swift's bad blood, while the plot is vaguely influenced by romeo & juliet with the lore loosely based on twilight & the vampire diaries; some song references in italics hehe word count: 6.2k

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Seoul, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where bad blood makes good hands unclean.

The werewolf Kim clan and the vampire Jeon clan had been enemies for as long as Mingyu could remember. He didn't recall a time when the two families didn't fight over something. There was an unwritten rule that the werewolves shouldn't go into the vampires' territory and vice versa. And for the most part, the agreement was followed. But occasionally, there were casualties. Occasionally, Mingyu lost a distant cousin or an uncle to the feud between the Kims and the Jeons. He was so tired of it. He wanted peace so desperately. Little did he know, he was not the only one who felt this strange longing.

Wonwoo was exhausted of this war going on between his family and the Kim one. He no longer wanted to participate in the pointless fights. He no longer wished to see another vampire fallen victim to the vicious werewolves. He had no idea how it had all started so it seemed completely devoid of meaning to him. Wonwoo wished he could find a way to put an end to it. Once and for all. And just then, as if some magic force had heard his plea, a piece of paper fell into his hand. From the sky. Right there on a balcony in summer air. He was stunned but nevertheless, he read the words written on it, which said:

What you seek you shall receive Go to the golden mountain If you wish your heart to grow Be prepared a sacrifice to give Drink from the magical fountain May all bad blood cease to flow

At the same time but in a different place, a twin paper landed in Mingyu's tent. It was cryptic as hell and it might as well have been a trap. It might be something that the Jeons, those smartasses came up with to cause more damage to the Kims. And yet, he was in such need for peace that he wanted to try whatever it took to find a solution that would ensure a tranquil future for him and his family. He put a couple of snacks in a bag, a few bottles of water and went out into the night.

Wonwoo did a similar thing, gathered a bunch of essentials, only he was caught by his younger brother and sister.

"Where are you going, hyung?" Jungkook asked.

"Yeah, you're acting suspicious!" Somi exclaimed.

"I'm going on an adventure," Wonwoo said simply.

"Take us with you, oppa!" Somi pleaded.

"I have to do this alone. It's too dangerous," Wonwoo was firm in his decision.

"Promise you'll come back!" Jungkook insisted.

Wonwoo knew he shouldn't make promises he wasn't sure he could keep. But he owed it to his precious siblings to reassure them that everything will be okay.

"Promise," he said and walked out of the door.

A couple of hours later, Mingyu found himself in the golden mountain. He could immediately sense something was wrong. It smelled like…death and decay. He sniffed aggressively into the air and seconds later he found himself pressed against a tree. By a stinky vampire!

"What are you doing here, Kim?" Wonwoo asked him.

"I could ask you the same thing, Jeon!" Mingyu growled. He tried to transform himself into his werewolf form and yet there must have been some sort of magic inside the golden mountain that prevented him from doing so. His suspicions were proven to be correct when he managed to escape from the vampire's grasp. Aha! He was slower than usual. Which meant he couldn't use his vampire speed around here.

"How…" Wonwoo was shocked by how quickly the werewolf had fled. "Why are you running?"

"Because you wanna drink my blood!" Mingyu screamed as he kept going.

"No, wait…I just wanna talk!"

"Yeah, right, and fish can fly!"

"Some can actually!" Wonwoo pointed out.

"Nerd!" Mingyu cried out and then he saw a big light in the air that said the exact same words in the paper! What even?! Something compelled him to stop running and moments later, Wonwoo hit his nose into the back of Mingyu's neck.

"Ow," he complained, taken aback by the fact that Mingyu was no longer trying to escape. "No way!" he had a similar reaction to Mingyu's upon seeing the mysterious words.

"Wait a second…" Mingyu started connecting the dots. "Don't tell me you received one of those as well."

He was probably taking a huge leap of faith but something was telling him that if the vampire wanted him dead, he would be dead already. Mingyu took out the crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to Wonwoo.

Wonwoo's eyes widened in shock and he pulled out an identical-looking paper from his own clothes.

"What are the odds?" Wonwoo laughed bitterly.

"So…if we both want peace between our families, then I suppose we should work together," Mingyu offered sweetly.

"We might not have another choice," Wonwoo nodded reluctantly. "I'm Wonwoo, by the way."

"Mingyu. I would say nice to meet you but I'm not fond of lying," he tried to joke.

Wonwoo shook his head, amused by this encounter.

Seconds later, the sign in the air disappeared. In its stead was a golden door. Seemingly leading nowhere. Right in the middle of the mountain. How strange.

"Shall we?" Wonwoo suggested.

"Vampires first," Mingyu gallantly waved his hand.

Wonwoo didn't want to waste energy in arguing and opened the door. Mingyu followed him and the two were immediately greeted by the most beautiful creature they'd ever seen.

"Welcome!" you said. "If you've come this far, it means you've already taken the first step towards peace."

"Who are you?" Wonwoo asked.

"My name is Y/N. I'm a witch and it is my purpose to guide you through the seven challenges you must face if you wish to bring peace to your families."

"What kinds of challenges?" Mingyu inquired, suspicious of this whole situation.

"Well, it wouldn't be fun if I told you now, would it?" you chuckled mysteriously.

"How do we know we just won't get killed or something?" Wonwoo insisted.

"You don't. Guess you'll just have to believe that the possibility for a better future is strong enough to get you through these challenges," you explained patiently.

"Did you come up with these challenges?" Wonwoo wanted to know.

"So many questions," you laughed once again. "No, my ancestors did, I'm just a carrier of their will. Here's what I'll tell you. If you work together, you have a very good chance at succeeding."

"Not very reassuring," Mingyu complained.

"Still better than no chance," Wonwoo sighed.

"And if you complete the first six challenges successfully," you continued. "I will help you with the seventh one."

"I'm assuming the seventh one is the hardest," Wonwoo muttered.

"Clever boy," you smirked. "Are you ready?"

"Not really," Mingyu shrugged. "But let's do this."

"Well, good luck, guys. I'll give you a hint for the first challenge. If I eat I live yet if I drink I die. What am I?"

"Huh?" Mingyu looked at Wonwoo in a confused manner. "Any idea what this means?"

"No, but I don't like the sound of it."

You disappeared and in front of the two men, a wall of fire appeared. Great, so the hint was fire.

"So we just have to jump above it. It's not very tall," Mingyu observed.

"No, Mingyu, you don't get it," Wonwoo responded. "I will literally turn into ash if the fire touches me. I'm a vampire, remember?"

"Right," Mingyu nodded. "Well, then, hop on my back and I'll jump. I'm tall enough and I'll make sure the fire doesn't touch you."

Wonwoo shook his head hesitantly.

"I don't know…"

"Do you trust me?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Smart answer," Mingyu grinned. "But do you want peace or not?"

"More than anything," Wonwoo replied.

"Then, hop on."

Wonwoo did as Mingyu suggested and closed his eyes. In no time, the werewolf jumped and the fire was behind the two. Wonwoo opened his eyes and got off Mingyu's strong back. You had returned.

"Congratulations, you have completed the first challenge!" you greeted them cheerfully. "Keep up the good work and peace shall be yours soon."

"Well, that was easy enough," Mingyu smiled confidently.

"Easy for you to say," Wonwoo shuddered at the thought of fire.

"Do you guys want a hint for the second challenge?"

"Yes, please," Mingyu asked, guessing that since the first one was something dangerous for Wonwoo, then the second one would, logically, be something lethal for Mingyu.

"This is a type of color But it’s not yellow or blue You’ll need this type of bullet If a werewolf’s after you," you recited dutifully.

The answer was glaringly obvious. Silver.

"No," Mingyu groaned in fear as you vanished once again. The two somehow ended up in a room. There was only one way out and forward - a door at the end of the room. And in front of the door was a machine designed to shoot silver arrows. How fun. "What are we going to do?"

"Let me think," Wonwoo tried to analyze the situation in a way that would ensure Mingyu's safety. "If I run on zig-zag with you glued behind me, we might be fast enough to go behind the machine and open the door."

"But the arrows could shoot you?" Mingyu gasped in horror.

"I think they won't. The first challenge was designed to scare me and the second challenge is designed for you."

"It's very risky."

"Well, we can't let that stop us."

"Let's do this."

The two began running and surprisingly, the machine started shooting arrows their way. However, it was only capable of doing so in a straight direction, so it didn't manage to hit them once. With some great luck, Wonwoo and Mingyu squeezed themselves behind the machine. Yet, Mingyu was too impatient to grab the door handle, which, was, of course, made of silver. It burned his hand pretty badly but it wasn't lethal like arrows or even worse, bullets, would have been. Wonwoo immediately opened the door and pulled Mingyu with him to the other side.

"Are you okay?" Wonwoo asked, overwhelmed by a sudden concern for his werewolf companion.

"It hurts but I'll be fine," Mingyu tried to convince himself as well as Wonwoo.

Wonwoo quickly bit his own finger until a small streak of blood appeared.

"Drink this, it will help you heal faster."

Mingyu looked at Wonwoo doubtfully but went ahead. In no time, the burns disappeared and his hand no longer hurt.

"Wow, thanks a lot!"

"Thank me when we've completed all challenges," Wonwoo puts his hand on Mingyu's shoulder in a friendly manner.

You once again surprised them with your sudden arrival.

"Two in a row! You're really something else," you cheered them on loudly. "I was about to offer some healing herbs but the vampire beat me to it."

Wonwoo bowed dramatically, making Mingyu and you laugh.

"I won't ask whether you need a hint, because I'm feeling generous. I’m often running, yet I have no legs. You need me, but I don’t need you. What am I?"

"Ugh, another riddle," Mingyu was so done with them.

In front of the two men appeared a table. On the table, there were two cups filled with some kind of liquid. Next to the cups was a note:

"One may kill a vampire. Another may kill a werewolf. Drink all to move forward. Drink none to stay behind."

"I'm guessing one has vervain and the other wolfsbane. We drink the wrong cup, we both die. We drink the right one, we go to the next challenge," Mingyu started thinking out loud.

"What if I drink both cups?" Wonwoo suggested boldly. "That way I can ensure that you will move forward."

"Are you crazy?" Mingyu exclaimed. "First of all, there is no guarantee the witch will allow me to do the rest of the challenges by myself. Second of all, there is no guarantee I will succeed without you. Third of all…I don't wanna do this alone."

Mingyu sounded so vulnerable and like a lost puppy in that moment that Wonwoo felt so bad he cursed himself for offering something so dark in the first place.

"You're right, sorry I mentioned it. Do you have any better ideas?"

"Let's think about the riddle instead of rushing to poison ourselves," Mingyu replied. "I'm often running, yet I have no legs. You need me, but I don't need you…"

"But of course!" Wonwoo shouted triumphantly. "Water! It's just a trick, Mingyu. There is nothing but water in both cups!"

Mingyu eyed the two cups suspiciously.

"They don't smell like anything," he pointed out.

"Do you trust me?" Wonwoo repeated Mingyu's question from earlier.

"Not even a little bit," Mingyu teased. Even though a part of him was beginning to…

"Great. Drink up."

"Oh, what the hell." Mingyu and Wonwoo both grabbed a cup at random and downed them in one go. Nothing. No burn. No pain. No death. Just plain old water.

They both let out a sigh of relief and started laughing.

"We did it! We passed the third challenge!" they grabbed each other's hands happily and started jumping in circles.

You appeared yet again to congratulate them.

"You two are so smart, I'm genuinely impressed!"

Wonwoo and Mingyu let go of one another's hands, as if embarrassed that the witch witnessed a vampire and a werewolf behaving like this.

"How about a little break?" you offered.

"Not another challenge?

"Nope. Just a small something to reward you for getting so far."

Mingyu and Wonwoo exchanged a look.

"How do you plan to reward us?" Wonwoo raised an eyebrow.

"What would you like?" you smiled mischievously.

"Something more useful than those riddles," Mingyu asked.

"Okay, okay, no more riddles. Wonwoo?"

"Help us in the sixth challenge, as well. Not just the seventh one."

"Ambitious. I like that. Alright, then. Make sure you pass the fourth and fifth and I will give you a real advantage in the grand finale. Now, how about a snack to gather your strength?" you said and handed Mingyu a couple of big, juicy hamburgers. The werewolf gulped the first one hungrily.

"I'm a vampire, this is like plastic to me," Wonwoo complained.

"I know, silly," you chuckled and offered your wrist. "Come on, help yourself."

"How do I know it's not a trick?"

"Why would it be a trick?" you blinked at him innocently. "Mingyu already ate his burger and he's still safe."

"It's just a burger. I don't think the blood of a witch has the same value."

"Aw, I'm touched," you cooed. "Fine, suit yourself, then. Starve if you want."

Wonwoo shook his head, determined to reject the temptation.

"I'm not hungry."

Your smile suddenly transformed into a quite sinister one.

"Good. You just passed the fourth challenge."

"W-what?" Mingyu, who'd just swallowed the last bite of the third burger, asked in shock. "But…we didn't do anything, did we?"

"Wonwoo did," you explained. "The virtue of restraint is incredibly rare among vampires nowadays. Him rejecting my blood so easily shows that he is truly determined to achieve peace."

"But…me eating the burgers is okay, right?" Mingyu kept worrying.

"It's okay, Mingyu, don't worry," you laughed. "Still, previous participants never made it this far."

"Wait…we're not the first ones?" Wonwoo was shocked. "Others from our clans have tried these challenges before?"

"Of course. They all failed, though. These challenges are held once every seven years. Since…since the feud between your two families began."

"But…why?" Mingyu asked.

"I'll tell you if you make it to the end."

"Is the fifth challenge a hidden one like the fourth? I mean…you said we were having a short break, I didn't even know it was a test," Wonwoo complained.

"You asked for no more riddles. You didn't say anything about tricks," you pouted, the picture of blamelessness.

"Witches, man," Mingyu murmured, causing Wonwoo to smile. You didn't look offended by these words, considering the circumstances. Still, you were just doing your job, so you refused to feel bad for it. Besides, you genuinely believed that your actions would help them succeed. You wanted peace just as badly. For your own reasons.

Suddenly, the full moon shone brightly in the sky.

"Oh, come on," Mingyu groaned, as he felt overpowered by his transformation into his wolf form. It was more painful than usual and he experienced such intense anger towards everyone and everything. He wanted to ravage the vampire and the witch. Consequences be damned.

"Control it, Mingyu," Wonwoo tried to calm him down as he saw the werewolf approaching him and you like a predator stalking his prey. "It's just another trick. You have to show restraint, like I did. We're so close to success, don't give up now."

"You know what they say. A wolf can change his coat but not his character," you laughed maniacally.

"Stop goading him!" Wonwoo reprimanded you. "Mingyu. Remember why we're here. Remember what we both want. Peace."

It was like that one short magical word unlocked something inside the werewolf. His eyes that were full of rage seconds ago became full of warmth, kindness and hope. And in no time, Mingyu was back in his human form.

"Peace," he repeated, shivering, as the poor guy was naked after returning to his humanity.

You snapped your fingers and by magic, his clothes were back on him.

"Astonishing. I've never witnessed anything like this before," you were truly amazed by their willpower.

"I take it the fifth challenge was a success?" Mingyu wanted to make sure.

"Not only a success. It was your golden ticket to the grand finale," you beamed with excitement.

"So, what is the sixth challenge?" Wonwoo inquired.

"You'll have to fight each other. The winner gets to move forward to the seventh challenge."

"Excuse me?" Mingyu cried out indignantly. "We didn't go this far only to end up hurting one another, we're supposed to go through these challenges together!"

"You promised you'll help us!" Wonwoo was also flabbergasted by the turn of events.

"And I will, relax. I'll give you a hint. The challenge requires you to fight. That's all it says. Nothing about killing," you winked and once again disappeared.

"Damn, she's got to stop doing that," Mingyu complained. "So cryptic."

Wonwoo laughed quietly.

"I don't wanna wolf out on you," Mingyu confessed.

"And I don't wanna suck you dry," Wonwoo responded.

"So what now? How do we fight each other without harm? How do we decide on a winner to go to the final challenge?" Mingyu was panicking as he couldn't seem to find a solution.

"Look, there's the table from the cups of water challenge!" Wonwoo observed, surprised by its return.

"But of course!" Mingyu exclaimed. "We can arm wrestle. A fight without killing."

"You're a genius! Just don't break my arm, alright?" Wonwoo smiled.

"No promises," Mingyu teased and the two knelt on two sides of the table. Mingyu easily defeated Wonwoo and then they were confused that nothing was happening. No seventh challenge.

"Maybe we're both meant to win to move forward?" Wonwoo suggested. "Like you said, these challenges ought to be done together for true peace to be achieved."

"Oh! Right!" Mingyu took hold of Wonwoo's hand once again, not putting any strength into his grasp this time. "Go easy on me, night kitten."

"Right back at you, moon puppy," Wonwoo teased back and as Mingyu allowed himself to be defeated, a large sign lit up the sky, announcing the beginning of the seventh challenge.

"Grand finale, here we come," Mingyu declared in amazement that they'd gotten this far.

You greeted them as enthusiastically as ever:

"It truly is a wonder you made it to the seventh challenge, I can't believe the peace between your families is so close."

"It's too early to celebrate," Wonwoo, ever the realist, observed. "The final one is the hardest, no?"

"Yes, but I intend to keep my promise and give you a strong advantage. As it was hinted at in the piece of paper you received, you have to be prepared for a sacrifice. Only that will put an end to the bad blood between the Kims and the Jeons."

"What kind of sacrifice?" Mingyu asked, already anticipating the worst.

"A blood one," you stated grimly.

"You've got to be kidding me," Wonwoo rolled his eyes.

"We don't want to kill each other, I thought it was clear we came here looking for peace!" Mingyu cried out.

"I know you grew attached to one another throughout the course of these challenges," you nodded morosely. "However, the prophecy doesn't specify who has to be sacrificed. You…you can kill me, instead."

You gently placed two daggers in their hands.

Wonwoo and Mingyu were beyond appalled by your suggestion.

"But…you're just doing your job," Wonwoo murmured. "Why would we kill you when you helped us get this far?"

"Yeah, I'm with Wonwoo," Mingyu was adamant. "You didn't do anything wrong to us. There has to be another way."

"It's the only way," you announced, your eyes tearing up. "If you don't do this, you'll fail the seventh challenge and you'll be automatically turned into ash like all the previous participants were when they couldn't pass one of the challenges. Don't you want peace more than anything? I'm not important, just one life that could potentially save the lives of many vampires and werewolves. Is this not why you came here?"

Mingyu and Wonwoo looked at each other, weighing out the pros and cons. The witch's point was a solid one. But was it really worth it? They would have to endure the rest of their lives haunted by what they'd done…Was it really peace if it was marred with innocent blood?

"I'm not doing it," Wonwoo decided and dropped the dagger.

"Yeah, me neither," Mingyu agreed and let go of the weapon.

"Even if you die instead by the design of these challenges?" you were amazed by their willingness to sacrifice themselves, to abandon their cause just to save her - a witch they'd just met.

"Even so," Wonwoo confirmed his previous decision.

"How much time do we have?" Mingyu wanted to know.

"I don't know. Like I said, no one's ever gotten this far," you admitted.

"Can't we try something else? These challenges were full of loopholes and tricks and whatnot. Maybe another kind of sacrifice?" Wonwoo kept trying to think of a way out.

"I've got some snacks in my bag? And water?" Mingyu suggested.

"I'm pretty sure my ancestors would not be satisfied with snacks," you chuckled bitterly.

"Be prepared a sacrifice to give Drink from the magical fountain May all bad blood cease to flow…" Wonwoo repeated the last lines of the prophecy.

"We did drink from cups of water but there was no magical fountain so far," Mingyu mused out loud.

"That's true," you replied. "And there's the sacrifice and blood part…maybe I'm reading this all wrong."

"What do you mean?" Wonwoo was desperate to hold onto any piece of hope.

You grabbed one of the daggers from the ground.

"Give me your hands," you urged them.

"Erm…" Mingyu eyed you with suspicion.

"Quick, I'm not sure how much time we have left," your eyes were telling them that you genuinely wanted to help.

Wonwoo took a leap of faith and gave you his hand. You pressed the blade into his skin until blood started pouring out and soaked the earth beneath you. Mingyu figured he had nothing left to lose as he might be dead very soon and also offered his hand. You did the same thing with him. And finally, you cut your own skin. As the blood of a vampire, a werewolf and a witch started drenching the soil in the golden mountain, the three creatures witnessed something they hadn't expected. The blood started turning into water and soon enough a small fountain emerged in front of their eyes.

"The magical fountain!" Wonwoo exclaimed.

"Hurry, we have to drink from it!" you rushed them, the prophecy finally being fulfilled.

The three beings took turns taking sips of water and their bloodied hands were healed in no time.

"Does this mean we succeeded? We passed the seventh challenge and peace will reign between our families?" Mingyu was curious to know.

"I guess there's only one way to find out," you shrugged mysteriously. "Go back home and see for yourselves."

"You promised us something," Wonwoo reminded you. "You said you'd tell us why the feud began in the first place if we make it to the end. Here we are."

"Clever boy," you once again said the words from your very first encounter. "It's a long story, though. You sure you don't wanna check up on your families first?"

"Don't try to weasel your way out of this," Mingyu warned. "We want answers. We've spent long enough living in the dark."

"Nicely put," you laughed. "Very well, then. But first, let us sit down."

The three creatures sat in the grass and so, you began telling the story of how the Kims and the Jeons had started resenting each other.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful witch named Yunchae. She was not only as elegant as a flower but was also smart and kind and her whole family adored her. Tales of her beauty reached the vampire and werewolf families. Haneul the vampire and Kwang the werewolf fell madly in love with her. Yunchae, being so sweet, began spending time with both of them separately. She was unaware of dangers such as jealousy and genuinely considered both of them her lifelong companions. One thing led to another and friendship blossomed into love. One dark night, when there was a full moon, Kwang the werewolf wanted to surprise Yunchae so he came into her chambers earlier than the appointed hour. When he saw her embracing Haneul the vampire, Kwang, affected by the curse of the moon, was overwhelmed with wild rage and possessiveness. In his anger, he ended up tearing Haneul apart. The vampire had been caught unprepared and could not defend himself. Yunchae, in her grief, stabbed herself to death. Kwang, upon seeing his beloved lying cold and shaken by the consequences of his actions, could not accept the reality and threw himself off the tower where Yunchae lived. Upon hearing about the tragic turn of events, Haneul's family and Kwang's family began blaming each other. Yunchae's family was so distraught by the loss of their precious flower that they cursed the Jeons and the Kims to be in constant war unless representatives of the two families desired peace so strongly they were ready to risk their own lives. And here we are."

Wonwoo and Mingyu were silent for a while, trying to think of what to say. The story was so tragic but Mingyu wanted to lighten the mood.

"They were so stupid. Why couldn't they just have a threesome and call it a day?"

"Mingyu!" Wonwoo scolded the werewolf for his slightly inappropriate joke.

You cleared your throat, suddenly feeling awkward.

"Anyhow, this is all in the past. The curse should be lifted by now. I wish you all a peaceful life."

And with that, you vanished into thin air.

"Seriously, when will she stop doing that?" Mingyu groaned.

"She just did. Do you think we'll see her again?" Wonwoo was doubtful but had to voice his concerns.

"Who knows? Maybe we were all meant to find each other."

Mingyu and Wonwoo returned to their homes and they were relieved to find how things have changed. As if by magic. The werewolf Taehyung was freely chatting with the vampire Jungkook. The vampire Somi was holding hands with the werewolf Dahyun. Peace truly reigned between the Kims and the Jeons. Whenever Wonwoo or Mingyu brought up the issue of the past, everyone reacted with surprise. As if there was never any feud. It turned out only the two winners of the seven challenges and the witch who'd helped them get this far remembered the truth about the history of the three families.

Time passed and Mingyu found himself wanting to see you and Wonwoo again. Though dangerous, that one night he spent in the golden mountain was the most magical memory he had and he couldn't stop replaying it in his head. He wondered if Wonwoo felt the same way. Now that peace was established between the Kims and the Jeons, Mingyu could easily go to the castle where Wonwoo lived and ask him to hang out and maybe accompany him to the golden mountain in the hopes that they would find you somehow. Since the challenges were over, he had no idea whether you would still be there or whether you lived somewhere else, but it couldn't hurt to try.

"Hey! Psst!" Mingyu started throwing little rocks at Wonwoo's window in the middle of the night. He could smell him from a mile away.

"What the heck, Mingyu?" Wonwoo exclaimed in surprise as he came out on the balcony. "It's 1am!"

"I thought vampires didn't sleep!" Mingyu pointed out.

"We don't but I lost a very important game because of you," Wonwoo complained.

"Oh, boo-hoo. What I came here for is much more important," Mingyu insisted.

"What is it? Don't tell me there are problems between our families again…" Wonwoo whispered, worried that something bad had happened.

"What? No, everything is fine. I just wanted to see you…" Mingyu confessed nervously. "And ask if you wanted to find Y/N again. Go on another adventure in the golden mountain."

"Huh? But why? We passed all the challenges. Why would we go back there?"

"Because…I can't stop thinking about that one night. If it's just me, I'll leave you alone and go by myself. But if a part of you, even a small one, feels the same…then, please, come with me, night kitten," Mingyu begged, his eyes wide and moist with unshed tears.

Wonwoo didn't want to admit it but he knew exactly what Mingyu was talking about. His no longer beating heart was warm all of a sudden and he couldn't bear the thought of rejecting Mingyu's tempting offer. Still, he tried to play it cool.

"Whatever, moon puppy. Wait for me down there," Wonwoo said and hurried out.

When he faced the werewolf outside, Mingyu attacked him with a tight hug.

"I knew it, I knew it!" Mingyu squealed happily. "I knew you'd come! We're gonna have so much fun!"

"Gee, alright, relax," Wonwoo muttered but deep down, he was overjoyed to receive so much affection from his…what were they? Once enemies but during the challenges, they had become allies, something like companions. But now that there was peace, what label could he put on their strange…was it friendship? Before he could come up with an answer, Mingyu grabbed his hand and led the way towards the golden mountain. Wonwoo couldn't bring himself to push him away. He wondered why…

As they arrived at their destination, they started calling your name but to no avail. With the challenges over, it was logical to assume that you went somewhere else. They should have asked you where witches lived before you'd vanished in that typical but super frustrating way of yours.

"What do we do?" Mingyu asked. "Should we summon her somehow?"

"She's not a demon," Wonwoo chuckled. "Do you know any other witches?"

"Nope. You?"

"No. How can we possibly find her?" Wonwoo sat down and touched the ground with his hand. Mingyu mirrored his movements. And as if the earth beneath them recognized them, flowers started growing and glowing in the dark!

"Wow!" Mingyu was in a state of disbelief.

"Incredible," Wonwoo stated and as the picture before them transformed into an image out of their wildest dreams, they finally heard a familiar voice.

"Looking for me, fellas?" you asked.

"Y/N!" Mingyu grinned happily and rushed into your arms. Wonwoo was more reserved…for now.

"Hello there, big puppy," you laughed affectionately. "What brings you here? Don't tell me there's trouble in paradise."

"No, actually, we just wanted to see you," Mingyu admitted.

"Why didn't you show up rightaway when we called your name?" Wonwoo inquired bitterly.

"Hello to you, too, Wonwoo," you shook your head, scolding his manners. "How have you been? Very well, thank you. And you?"

"Hi," Wonwoo corrected himself curtly. "Now tell me."

"I couldn't hear you, so to speak. However, most witches are linked to the earth and your touch sent a signal to me. Does that answer your question?"

Wonwoo nodded but didn't press the matter further.

"Where do you live? How can we find you more easily next time? What do you do now that the challenges are over?" Mingyu started bombarding you with more questions.

"Whoa, there, relax, Gyu. Let's just say I know a place that can give you answers."

"Lead the way!" Mingyu replied enthusiastically as you took hold of his hand.

Wonwoo stood there for a couple of moments, thinking.

"You coming?" you wanted to find out.

Wonwoo followed you wordlessly. Something was off about him and you intended to find out what pretty soon.

You showed them where you lived - in a small cottage near a beautiful lake. You told them that they could come visit whenever they felt like it and Mingyu offered that you also come to the werewolves' camp sometime. Now that the challenges were completed, you spent your days creating spells and gathering herbs. It was peaceful and you couldn't ask for more. Or so you thought. As the three of you explored the golden mountain, you felt closer to the werewolf and the vampire than during the challenges and enjoyed the time spent together more than anything. You could tell that Mingyu felt the same way as he was very cuddly and clingy. Wonwoo, however, was more difficult to read. As morning was nearing and you were all exhausted from your late-night adventures, the three of you ended up sitting in the grass. You and Mingyu ate some sandwiches, while poor Wonwoo starved. You offered him your blood (no tricks this time), but he refused. In your defense, he said he wasn't hungry. Mingyu fell asleep with his head in your lap, so you took this opportunity to ask Wonwoo what was up with him.

"Why are you so cold?" you confronted him directly.

"I'm a vampire?" Wonwoo reminded you needlessly.

"Not literally, you dumbass. During the challenges, you were different. What changed?"

"I know the whole truth now."

"What are you referring to?"

"I'm scared, okay?" Wonwoo admitted. "What if…history repeats itself? What if both Mingyu and I fall in love with you and we all end up hurting each other? What if this peace we fought so hard for is fragile and gets destroyed quickly?"

"It won't, I promised you," you reached out and held Wonwoo's hand gently.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because…we're here now and we're happier than ever. And besides, if we fall in love, we can do like Mingyu suggested our ancestors should have done," you joked.

"Ha-ha, very funny," Wonwoo rolles his eyes.

"I'm serious, though. Would you kill Mingyu if he fell for me?" you asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, he's my...friend," Wonwoo confessed, surprising himself.

"Do you think Mingyu would kill you if you…if you felt the same?" you kept up with the hypothetical questions, even though it all seemed very real.

"He managed to control himself pretty well during the full moon challenge, so, no, I don't think he would."

"Would I kill you? If you two fell in love with each other?" you teased.

"I don't know. Would you?"

"Of course not, my sweet vampire friend," you chuckled.

"Good. Then, I guess my fears were unjustified," Wonwoo felt more at ease.

"Yay! So, threesome?" Mingyu suddenly joined the conversation.

"Mingyu!" you exclaimed.

"Hey! I thought you were sleeping!" Wonwoo was taken aback.

"I was, but I kept having dreams about you two. Must have been because you were talking about me, weren't you?"

"Are we so transparent?" you groaned.

"Nah, it's just that I'm irresistible. Witches and vampires alike can't stop thinking about my puppy charms," Mingyu kept talking.

You leaned down to kiss him to shut him up. Then, you reached out to Wonwoo and gave him a kiss, as well. The werewolf, no longer in the mood to sleep, also embraced the vampire and touched his lips with his own.

"The sun will rise soon," Wonwoo observed sadly. "I have to go unless I want to turn into ash."

"The rules don't apply in the golden mountain. You're safe here," you explained. "You can stay as long you wish and leave when it's dark."

"How about the moon?" Mingyu was curious. "Why did it affect me if the rules don't apply?"

"It was just an illusion designed by my ancestors as part of the challenges. If you were here in the golden mountain during a full moon, you wouldn't have to transform anymore."

"Pretty convenient way to get us to stay, don't you think?" Wonwoo eyed you suspiciously.

"Mm, but don't take advantage of my hospitality. I'm totally coming over to check out your castle next time!"

"How did you know I live in a castle?!" Wonwoo was shocked.

"A witch never kisses and tells," you winked and disappeared.

"Man, not again!" Mingyu complained loudly.

"Just kidding," you came back and rushed into their arms.

The End

[writingquestionsanswered]

hello, do you have any tips for getting more creative titles? Like going for a more poetic style without it being too much. I like for example, "These Violent Delights" and "Our Violent Ends" by Chloe Gong. They're simple, telling, and short - and I just think it's different (from "The" type titles, and the Blank of Blank and Blank format). I also think "The Folk of the Air" is simple yet creative. I feel like I don't know enough words to get the title. I appreciate any advice! Thank you.

Coming Up with Poetic Titles

Some of the most beautiful, poetic titles often stem from actual prose quotes, either from poetry, classic literature, song titles, public domain lyrics, plays, etc.

These Violent Delights and Our Violent Ends, for example, are actually derived from a quote from Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet ("These violent delights have violent ends...") which is appropriate since the These Violent Delights duology is a Romeo & Juliet retelling. Other examples are The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (I knew a woman, lovely in her bones... “I Knew a Woman” by Theodore Roethke), The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/But in ourselves... Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare), Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (What immortal hand or eye/Could frame thy fearful symmetry? "The Tyger" by William Blake), Across the Universe by Beth Revis ("Across the Universe" by The Beatles), To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han ("To All the Girls I've Loved Before" by Hal David and Albert Hammond, made famous by Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias.)

Series titles, like The Folk of the Air series and A Song of Ice and Fire series are usually broad references to what the story is about. I haven't read The Folk of the Air, but I know it's about faeries, so I'm assuming that's a reference to the fae in that story. A Song of Ice and Fire is a reference to a prophecy and history book in the series, but the imagery also references many of the themes and events in the story.

So, whether you're titling a book or series, here are some places you can look for a title:

-- references to relevant source material, such as original fairy tale if you're doing a retelling (Ash by Malinda Lo)

-- references to relevant poems, song titles, lyrics, plays, music, classic literature (Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertson)

-- relevant quote, title, person, place, or event that appears in your story (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Cruel Prince by Holly Black)

-- beautiful imagery that appears in your story (Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes)

-- who or what your story is about (The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, The Martian by Andy Weir, All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater)

My post Coming Up with a Book/Story Title has more tips!

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[bakanokiwami]

TOP 10 THEATER FANDOMS ON AO3 BASED ON NUMBER OF FANWORKS (2009-2022)

To make these bar chart race, all series titles in the Theater Category on November 29 (or the closest date to it) of every year were copy-pasted from Wayback Machine to Google Sheets, rearranged according to number of fanworks, and then inputted to Flourish to turn into a bar chart race.

Locked fanworks aren't included in the count because Wayback Machine can’t view those, only Ao3 users can.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan was in the Theater category in November 29, 2022, but has been removed by the time this post is published, so I'm leaving it out of the chart.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon may be in the top 10, but only 1% of its fanworks come from Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Musicals).

Fandom tags that are no longer in the Theater category tag as of posting this are left out of the bar chart race. These tags are usually either miscategorized or already have other tags referring to the same fandom.

For tags that existed on the same years before eventually merging into one tag later on (such as Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types which later on merged with Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare, and Hamlet - All Media Types which later on merged with Hamlet - Shakespeare), I use the data of whichever tag has the highest number for that year.

Please refer to this post for more bar chart races.

Thanks for understanding and hopefully I didn’t mess up anywhere! 🙏

[daeva-agas]

Speaking of the Senshi/Shitennou pairs. I was kind of curious why those stones in particular, right. Kunzite and zoisite are so unusual that I think only gemstone aficionados know them, and even though jadeite and nephrite are somewhat more commonly known names IIRC it still made people mess up the mineral names back in the day.

Well, uh, so, it was alleged that Takeuchi-sensei chose them to match the character and personalities of the senshi they're partnered with, so... Excuse me while I go overthink this and have a meltdown in suffering.

In the first place, supposedly the "inner senshi" are officially meant to be called "guardians"/"guardian deities" (守護 or 守護神). Haven't seen the raws, so I can't confirm, but that's what the JP media says. The term "Shitennou", as many are already aware of, are originally a term used to refer to a set of 4 Buddhist guardian deities.

If true then it just feels like they're all intended to be perfectly matching sets from the start, and it just never made it into the story.

I read that Sailor Moon was originally meant to just end with the Dark Kingdom plot, so maybe sensei intended to have a Romeo and Juliet sad ending where everyone just dies in the end?

These are all based on Japanese gemology guides (same as what I used to research for the Shitennou knight titles), since I imagine it's more likely to be the one Takeuchi-sensei had access to. These may differ from international ones.

(Warning: Long post)

In the manga sensei specified that the zoisite is the blue one, that's also known as "tanzanite". The blue variety of zoisite, among other things, means "calm and intelligence".

The connection to Ami/Mercury's character is very straightforward and obvious.

In terms of romance, a zoisite also means "subdued expressions of love". It really makes me think of how gentle this pair looks in the splash art sensei drew.

Kunzite means "premonition of a lover". It's specifically oh dang when I saw this because Minako was "special" among the senshi in the way that her character vibes are based on "love" (because Venus, goddess of love), rather than the original elemental name attached to the planet. It fits enough to make you pause and wonder if this it truly a coincidence.

The planet venus originally has the element of "gold/metal". The gold is reflected in her design somewhat, but her senshi identity is more related to "love". The other girls' names matches their planets' element names. E.g Jupiter = mokusei = wood, Ki(no) = wood/tree. Mercury = suisei = water, Mizu(no) = water.

Also Venus's relationship with Kunzite ended up being the one who got the most hints actually shown in the manga, so... I do wonder.

The two jades are less overly specific like this, especially Nephrite, but well.

Jadeite is the native jade from Japan, and has been long used to make magatama since ancient times. As such it's always seen as a deeply spiritual stone, that can protect against and/or ward off evil. A perfect match for Rei, who is a miko. One wonders if sensei chose the stone because of Rei being a miko, or if she made Rei a miko after choosing this name for the one matched with her.

Edit: Japanese Wiki claims Rei being a miko was based on Takeuchi-sensei's personal experience as a part time miko. So then Jadeite had to have been named/chosen to fit her, if this theory is true.

Not to mention that Akuryou Taisan, the evil-banishing spell, is something that she uses quite often.

Nephrite is the most confusing one here, because I'm not really able to find the connection. That's why I initially had strong doubts about the rumour/claim about the gemstone names' connection to the senshi.

In the gemology guide that I referenced, its meaning is "charm of maturity". I suppose Mako has always felt like she's older than the other girls, because her hobbies (cooking and home decor) feels really motherly.

Other than that and the stone being a deep green colour similar to Jupiter's senshi outfit I'm not entirely sure. (in the manga, sensei says nephrites are "always deep green" even though IRL that's not the case)

----

Just my additional comments after reading everything that I did:

In terms of colour, I like to think Jadeite is a red jade. Not just to match Rei, but in the manga Jadeite's stone is always coloured the darkest (it's almost all-black). Of all the various jades, red is one of the darker-toned ones.

The shading can be arbitrary, especially if sensei was just tracing from reference photos. Dark green jadeite also exist, so for all I know this is intended to be green too.

But if I use the logic that the stones are matched with the girls' character, I think red just fits the best. In gemstone language the red jade means "tenacity" and "willpower". Green jades tends to be associated with things like harmony, prosperity, luck, and so on. It doesn't feel very Rei-like.

Also, the nephrite jade being a "soft jade", it's associated with very cuddly meanings such as "warm" or "gentle", which makes me laugh even more than the "wisdom" one.

Unless, again, these words are more attached to the matching girls' character, rather than the guy in question, because yes I think Mako is definitely very warm and gentle and fluffy and very huggable.

Although other-coloured zoisite varieties were said to have different meaning, it looks like blue is the predominant zoisite colour in Japan. A lot of Japanese gem sites tend to automatically just say "it's blue" while describing zoisite, even though there's obviously other colours out there.

Sensei did specify it's "blue zoisite, a.k.a tanzanite" in the manga, so I think she's aware of the other colours having different meanings attached. Some articles also had mentioned Takeuchi-sensei's family runs a jewellery store?

I wonder if this is why Crystal went with the gemstone's healing properties for Zoi's title though, because the gemstone words overlaps too much with Mercury in a very in-the-face way. The other meanings are Hope, Mystery, Pride, and Noble, and maybe those don't make very good title names? Like, the only viable one is probably Hope, though I feel like it would be even more confusing if Crystal said Zoi is the "Knight of Hope" or whatever.

Another thing about Kunzite is that its meaning also include "pure and everlasting love", but the website caveated this that this is a saintly kind of love (for the gem's association with Holy Mother Mary). So it's not necessarily something to get overly excited about in terms of SenShi headcanoning, but, well, it's there.

"Shitennou" in Japanese pop culture is generally used to just mean "4 very important people", so it didn't have to actually mean anything. Like, a few samurai in history had their "shitennou", who are just the best 4 generals serving under them. Most famous being the Tokugawa shitennou, but other samurai lords actually have their own so-called shitennou. It's just that if the senshi are officially named "Guardians", then this changes the context.

[jedimandalorian]

Something I noticed in the Ahsoka premiere was the Macbeth reference. Episode 2 is called “Toil and Trouble,” and with the Nightsister witch Morgan Elsbeth as a primary villain, it’s not surprising that we got a reference to Shakespeare’s famous witches:

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.

This isn’t the only reference to Shakespeare that Rebels and Ahsoka fans have been discussing lately.

@jedi-nurse shared this with me recently. It’s an official Topps digital trading card featuring Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger. The card is titled “Star-crossed.” This could be a reference to Shakespeare’s most famous lovers, Romeo and Juliet.

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

Whole misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

And the continuance of their parents' rage,

Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,

Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;

The which if you with patient ears attend,

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

The term “star-crossed lovers” is generally used to describe two people who love each other deeply but cannot be together due to tragic circumstances, and I think this is where Sabine and Ezra are at the beginning of the Ahsoka series. They aren’t the first pairing in Star Wars to be associated with the term either. In Attack of the Clones, John Williams gave us a beautiful love theme for Anakin and Padme’ called “Across the Stars” which suggests that they are the tragic “star-crossed” lovers of the Star Wars saga. Being an eternal optimist, I believe that Sabine and Ezra will have a different fate than Anakin and Padme’ and hopefully a much happier ending.

@jedi-nurse I am updating this post with the screenshots you shared on Discord today.

All of these cards feature pairings with chemistry and the potential to become canon, or they literally are/were canon couples in Star Wars. Some of these couples even had children together.

We are not delusional to ship Sabezra.

I have spoken.

[juuuulez]

this may be a stretch, but did you get capulets name idea from romeo and juliet? like the whole capulet vs montogue thing…idk it fits in my opinions with like it being an enemies to lovers or forbidden romance—as seen in romeo and juliet 😭

YES YES THANK YOU FOR NOTICING

i wanted a subtle romeo and juliet reference for the title because it was a huge inspiration (forbidden romance, feuding families etc), so i went with capulet (juliet’s last name)

also i had references to romeo and juliet in prologue: part two, as lucille used to read it to the reader and then negan reads a few lines later, and that same book appears in maayyybbee chapter 5? as carl finds it on the readers nightstand

basically i love references and i love hidden meanings and continuity so i’m a freak for going this in depth but i’m so glad you’ve noticed

[sl-vega]

✧Going of Script✧-prologue

prologue-a little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now

THIS SERIES IS CANCELLED: announcement about the cancellation

placing your phone back into your purse, you took shallow breaths

you choked back sobs as you walked through the rain. your fancy dress clings to your body as you hear your heels click against the sidewalk.

you didn't care where you were going as long as it was away from him.

today was supposed to be special, perfect even, it marked your four-year anniversary with your boyfriend chaoxi. you made reservations at a fancy restaurant, got dolled up and everything. only for him to forget the whole event, and break up with you.

he confessed that he was cheating on you. there was another woman

except you felt like the other woman in the situation, seeing as how you were the one being dumped.

you let out a bitter laugh, still walking down some random street, hugging yourself trying to keep yourself warm.

your phone buzzed

walking down the street, you saw lynette's car. she got out holding an umbrella and towel.

"you're soaked" she said as she held the umbrella above your head while handing you the towel, it had her signature teal diamond patterns.

you nodded, whispering your thanks to her as you got into the car, settling down into the passenger's seat. swaddling yourself in the towel as if it were a blanket.

lynette got into the drivers seat and started the car. the two of you sat in silence for a bit.

lynette spoke up breaking the tension:

"do you want to talk about it?" she asked

you looked at her, with your tear-stained face, trying to calm yourself down, but you could only sob.

lynette put her hand on yours, gently brushing her thumb over yours, she was focused on the other cars passing by, but you could tell that she was genuinely trying to comfort you.

"you don't have to talk about it now"

additional notes:

-yes ik this chapter is a bit boring but i gotta set the scene

-only lowercase for the aesthetic

-for those of you who don't know, chaoxi is an npc in liyue who is dating three girls at the same time without them knowing about each other

-the title of this chapter is a reference to the song "a little fall of rain" from les miserables

-i considered making the title "in fair verona where we lay our scene" the title since it references the prologue to romeo and juliet, but it just didn't work

-lightmode cuz why not

✧Going off Script✧

synopsis: Xingqiu's next major english project requires him to write a romance short story, the only problem is that he has zero romantic experience. meanwhile, you just found out that your boyfriend cheated on you, and you need to show him that you're 100% over him, the only problem is that there's no way you can get an actual boyfriend that quickly. clearly, the solution to both of your issues is to fake date each other. all you need to do is stick to the script

spoiler alert: you go off script and end up falling for him

masterlist

(CLOSED) taglist: @freyao7

this series is cancelled

[crazyw3irdo]

hi, I just want to ask; What compelled you to make that Romeo and Juliet quiz

i’d wanted to make a r&j personality quiz for a bit- hell, when i opened uquiz to make it i realized i already had a drafted version saved over a year ago, but it had no questions, just the title. i considered making it like, a normal quiz, but… i didn’t think anyone would really get it y’know? it’d probably be seen by a couple people, be just some random quiz, and everyone would move on.

i love romeo and juliet, and i want other people to too. if i made it normal, only people who already liked it would get it. i reblogged my original post with some tags of people reacting to it pretty quick too, to try and show yknow, it’s more than what it says on the tin, because i figured if i’m some random person whose only understanding of r&j is pop culture stuff, i’m not gonna click on a personality quiz for it. there’s only like, two characters anyone knows, and unfortunately the common perception of them is just stupid teenagers.

thing is, i had no ideas for questions for a while. none at all. the other day, though, i remembered that post circulating that was a screenshot of a quiz someone made where, iirc, the question was “you are orpheus” and the only option was “turn around.” and the idea popped into my head immediately for “do you believe in free will” with the only option being “no.” going only off that idea i rode the hyperfixation and created that quiz! i made the questions in whatever order and then rearranged them so that they got… for lack of a better term, worse as they went on.

oh, and two things i haven’t yet mentioned! first off, i was gonna include an obligatory song lyric question at first, but uh… i could only come up with two answers lol. they were “it ain’t about all the friends you made but the graffiti they write on your grave” for mercutio and “raised in the city in the halo of lights product of war and fear that we’ve been victimized” for tybalt.

the other thing is uh. i thought the quiz was funny lol. like some heavy themes and stuff but the free will question was hilarious to me lol. idk ive just… never really been bothered by whether it’s A Thing or not? the way i see it is: if we have it, then great! we can do whatever! if we don’t have it, then whatever! we’ll be doing stuff anyways! as for the character descriptions and things, i literally was just describing the characters in second person and changing some things to be more generic (i.e. changing “she” to “they” in the nurse’s description so that instead of referring to juliet it could be about anyone)

[neerons]

Please spoil me. What does it mean with the new pop up for Kei in Love 365? Is he really a prince?

Hey! I'm so sorry for replying to this ask a bit late. I wanted to finish reading Kei's Eden's Love story to be able to reply accurately to you, since we never know what kind of plot twist we could get

Since I have other stories I read and that this story was quite long, my process took longer than intended 😅

Here is an explanation:

In Kei's stories, you might have noticed that Kei is often refered to as a "prince" due to his charming and angelic, fairy tale like appearance. He is also a member of the nobility as the adopted grandson of an Earl, Chad Romley.

Kei is someone people fantasize about, as he is more often than not at the core of people’s fetishes, so him being called a prince, a doll, as well as an angel or anything else is mostly due to how people like to view him

Due to his career as a special diplomat, he is also very loved by other members of the nobility, as well as royalty. So the reason he's seen as a prince is mostly due to these similarities he shares with princes you hear about in fairy tales on the surface, he’s actually not from a royal lineage

But there's also the fact that he's the biological son of a ducal family, which means he and Kai are sons of a duke, the duke of St. Alfans. Being from a ducal lineage makes you closer to royalty, although that does not make Kei nor Kai princes. However, it means they're from the highest ranking of nobility

So the answer is simply that Kei looks like an ideal man and prince with his appearance, charisma, relationships and social position in English society. Kei and MC are also often compared and refered to, among other titles, as the prince and the princess along Kei's story. This is to sometimes highlight either how perfect and ideal they are, but also how tragic their love story is, like Romeo and Juliet (although they’re not royals, but you get the idea) until they reach their happy ending, their Eden

[adarkrainbow]

Quite an unusual subject today but: music! More precisely, a "fairytale" album.

Have you ever heard of Joanna Wang? She is a Taiwanese-American singer, quite known, and I want to briefly evoke here an album of hers released in 2014: Midnight Cinema.

As the name and the album cover show, this album is entirely dedicated to a specific type of cinema, which does contain - and this is why it is interesting for us fairytale afficionados - fairytale movies. In fact most (if not all?) the songs of this album are covers and reprises of songs from movies!

And the very first song of the album sets the tone for what this "Midnight Cinema" is about: titled "Alice in Wonderland", it is actually taken back from... Disney's Alice in Wonderland.

Outside of this song, the album also contains a cover of "Pure Imagination", the famous song from 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And we do know that Roald Dahl works are considered "modern day fairytales"...

What I find most interesting with this album, however, is how it also chooses songs and melodies from what I consider to be "fairytale-adjacent" movies. I haven't spoken much about this (except for when I did a "Spooky fairytale" series back in Halloween) but there are stories and movies that have the feelings or are deeply linked to fairytales, without being fairytale themselves.

The most obvious of these choices would be how Joanna Wang covered "What is a youth", the beautiful song from the most famous Romeo and Juliet adaptation to this day, the 1968 movie. And if you know your Shakespeare, you will understand why his works are all "fairytale adjacent" - from his constant reuse of the exact supernatural characters involved in fairytales (kings, fairies, witches, star-crossed lovers) to him actually quoting and reference numerous fairytales (lines from "Jack and the Beanstalk" are found in King Lear, itself having a plot belonging to the "Love like salt" type of fairytale, while the British fairytale "Mr. Fox" is referenced in Much Ado about Nothing).

Another interesting choice would be the Moon River song, from "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Why? Because interestingly, there was a short study of the evolution of the figure of the "fairy" ("la fée" in French) I recently read, and among the various incarnations, this book stopped upon the classics of the American cinema to point out two female characters from non-magical movies that still were perfect fit for the archetype of the "fairy" as she was developed by medieval tales and literary fairytales. One was precisely Audrey Hepburn's character of Holly Golightly (I believe the other was the character of Lisa Carol Fremont, played by Grace Kelly in Hitchcock "Rear Window").

After these specific movies, the other tracks can have some names and lyrics evoking fairy tales... But they come from movies that have no relationship whatsoever with fairytales. Like the track "Love from Once Upon a Time" which actually comes from... "A Better Tomorrow", an 80s action movie of crime and battle considered to be the epitome of the Hong Kong genre called "heroic bloodshed".

I am not going to put here all of the songs of the album, but if you want to know the full list, here are the remaining songs:

Forgotten Times. From 2002's Infernal Affairs

The Dream Chaser. From 1990's A Moment of Romance.

The Scent of Roses. From 1994's "Red Rose White Rose"

Night Shanghai. From 1946's All-Consuming Love.

In the Mood for Love. This one does not come from a movie, but from a 2000 album by Tony Leung.

You Only Live Twice. From the 1967 James Bond movie of the same name.

This Precious Night. From 1991's Prison on Fire II.

If I Had Words. From 1995's A Little Pig Goes a Long Way.

Fun fact: While the album was sung and created by a Taiwanese artist, mixing Hong Kong cinema with America movies, it was actually recorded in Finland, with the music produced by Finnish musicians.

[marine-indie-gal]

Been awhile since I haven't drawn any Tabaluga lately, not since that I've finally got a chance to watch the Kristin Fairlie version online since I first found the Mackenzie Ziegler version from it's Alternate Stupid Title, "Ice Princess Lilly" only to fool a lot of people into thinking it was a Frozen knock-off from a Regular Old Dollar Store. Though it's still not a big surprise from Me for the US to give out some CGI Movie Adaptations of Kids Shows from an Old Decade under their own Cheap Titles like "Here Comes The Grump" to "A Wizard's Tale" and even "The Magic Roundabout" to "Doogal" (seriously, the last one sucked ass. Even though I haven't had a chance to watch the British version, I heard a lot of good things about the OG version of that Other Adaptation much better than how Weinstein butchered it with their own Pop Culture references).

So I had a small talk with my Friend, @djinarocks of how we loved Tabaluga and how that Arktos is one of our Favorite Villains of Musical Theatres (compare to Von Rothbart from "Swan Lake" and even The Mouse King from "The Nutcracker") after I introduced her to this German Franchise.

While that both Me and My Friend love Obscure Media a whole lot, we both ship Tabaluga/Lilli together as a Romeo and Juliet like pairing (since these Two Elemental Kids did reminded Me a lot of that Other Elemental Romeo and Juliet Movie made by Sanrio (not to be confused with the Pixar one that is)). During in one of our conversations, we talked about on how we wondered if Lilli didn't leave Iceland and started her own New Life up in Space if Arktos did raised her and treated her as his own Actual Heir (something as if his own Mother would've liked to have Grandchildren if the Son were to pass the Whole "Dictator" thing to his own Children like a Family Thing).

If you're one of the Fans who both love the Musical and the Show other than the Movie, you'd probably would know that Arktos created Her, only to lure Tabaluga in for exchange of his Fire (in which the 2018 Adaptation did by its own self, but without the Whole "Give Your Own Fire to Me" thing and replace it into having "One Last Hero to be Killed" scenario that made Arktos into a much more Sinister Creepy Dragon Genocidal Monster as an Akin Contrast to the OG Arktos). But since Me and My Friend had this "Thought" if Lilli didn't leave Iceland, what if Arktos had a different way with her? Something like raising a Heir and make them a Future Dictator for your own Country. If anything, that could've had make Lilli give her so much more character other than just a "Love Interest" (akin to the Movie's Lilli as well).

Basically, Arktos creates Lilli through Sculpture (but it goes different than the last one than in the show through a twist), instead of creating a Trap for Dragon Bait, he actually creates Lilli as a single heir of his own so that way she'd beat Tabaluga to rule all over the lands one day. After trying to wind her up with a Wind-Up Key, Arktos thought of a better solution by breathing her into Life to make her Real. He names his own Daughter, "Lilli" because after researching through a Book about Humans, he mispronounced the name "Lilith" (The First Wife of Adam) into "Lilli" and mistaken Her as Eve (Adam's True Wife) (because that's clearly how he created her according to some of the Musical's lore from what I can remember). Although while Tabaluga was deeply in love with Arktos' Humanoid Daughter, Arktos forbid their own love and didn't want to be a Father-In-Law to his own Arch-Nemesis (whose the Son of his First Enemy).

Teaching his own Child everything about Iceland Life, Lilli was somehow fascinated by the World of Greenland and wanted to explore around Other Countries instead invading to in which, She and Her Father have a Huge Conflict about. Unlike the Movie's Lilli, this AU Lilli has more personality than the one in the show of her single appearance; She is more Meek and Shy with a Quiet Personality but is still Curious about the Entire World that she demands to ask a Whole Lot of Questions (even if her Father dares to answer one of them). Despite their own disagreements, Arktos loved his own Daughter deeply similar to how his own Mother passed on her Son's Spoiled Love to Another (even James would still have to be Lilli's own Manny whenever his Penguin Butler would have to keep an eye on her whenever the Father's not around).

When Tabaluga got over his own crush for her after their first meeting, he basically decided on how to teach Lilli to be more "Independent" whenever she'd come and visit Greenland (either with or without her own Father), even with the help of her own Friends. Although that while most of the Greenlanders didn't like Lilli at first, the Ice Princess then expand more of her Kindness to her Surroundings as throughout her own Arc between Seasons 2-3, She and Tabaluga develop more of their Romance (instead of having a Rushed One). After the Frozen Defeat of Arktos, Lilli then decides for her own life that it is best to join her own Boyfriend and become the Rulers of both their own Lands after a Long Journey ahead of having Each of The Four Seasons be released every year as they start their own New Life together, thus, ending their own Families' hate feud.

I've probably should've had put this in my version of Tabaluga but oh well, at least this is probably from a Simple AU where if Lilli did had more Character than just being the Main Character's Love Interest. 🤷‍♀️

BTW, when I finally got a chance to watch the First English Dub Movie online, I was so Happy that I got a chance to seeing the Scene where Tabaluga and Lilli sing their own Love for Each Other from one of the Musicals and let me tell you it was sooooooo Adorable to see Tabaluga and Lilli's love for each other, which makes my Love for the Both of Them even more 🥰

And while that I still haven't checked out the Rest of the Musicals and their Songs (since I still can't understand German as Someone who wishes to learn more about Any Foreign Language for the Same Person who watches Foreign Cartoons all the time), I did try out the Original versions for "Devil In White" and "I'm Feeling You" as I still need to practice more of my own Tabaluga homework. XP

I was also afraid on how I would deal with my own first time drawing with Canon Arktos after doing my own version of Him (since his Left Arm was a bit hard for Me), but I think I nailed it after trying to draw out their own Canon Designs from the Franchise.

Arktos and Lilli (c) Peter Maffay, Rolf Zuckowski, and Gregor Rottschalk.

[princesssarisa]

Tell me, Sarisa There are some stories of forbidden love?

There are thousands and thousands.

The most famous in Western culture is obviously Romeo and Juliet.

Predating that one – and parodied by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream – is the similar Greek myth of Pyramus and Thisbe. For that matter, the plot of A Midsummer Night's Dream itself is started by Lysander and Hermia's love being forbidden.

Then there's the Turkish novel Aşk-ı Memnu, which translates as Forbidden Love. Although that's a complicated example: while the title most obviously refers to Bihter and Behlül's extramarital affair, it can also refer to Behlül and Nihal's later budding romance, impossible because of his prior affair with her stepmother, and to the slave boy Beşir's impossible love for his master's daughter Nihal, and platonically, to Nihal's love for her father and impossible wish to stay with him forever like a child.

But I couldn't list every story about forbidden love ever written. There are too many.

[ay-chuu]

hioooo I finally decided to make an order, take as long as you need for it :33, well I would like headcanons for pomefiore with a fem mc who used to be a stubborn and naughty little girl but after graduation, she became an icon in cinema and fashion like the divine audrey hepburn, I mean all that air that radiated fragile and radiant, looking both childish and feminine, sweet and graceful, well in summary mc being Audrey hepburm version twisted Wonderland (* ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟthank you and take care <3

Twisted Blonde

Pairing: Pomefiore students x fem!reader

Warning: The "blonde" in the title and headcanons is referring to "dumb/smart blonde" roles, so please dont take it as appereance reference <3

A/N: Hi love, sorry for late responding. Here you go <3 Hope you'll like it!

Vil Schoenheit:

You can turn to the best person in the world if you wish. Vil will remember the old you and hold a secret grudge and jealousy. He was able to grasp your talent when he first saw you, but! With your behavior, you can't even go near the dorm, let alone study with him. Vil doesn't like spoiled and mischievous, oh unless you want a first hand etiquette lesson from him ;) (Vil... calm down man...)

Still... Vil can't hold back the voices in his heart for very long. And the reason it came to light was one day when he compared you to Epel. He got weird when he saw that sweet face and kind smile in the magazine one night. Just like Epel, you had a distorted but good personality. Maybe that's why you were here... "Twisted" in Wonderland.

One day, you sent him a sincere letter apologizing for your past behavior. And that really impressed Vil because you didn't have the personality and the place to be praised without effort like Neige, or you didn't give up on your stubbornness like Epel. (And you didn't take pride in nonsense like him but he will never admit that...)

Let's say he couldn't swallow his pride and took you to a date and made you have the best night despite his rude behavior.

Oh Romeo, Juliet can change personality many times over... But you're in love with her, remember? (;

Rook Hunt:

Rook is the only one who will accept you both before and after. He finds any personality trait beautiful, let's say you crack an egg on the guy's head. He will praise the way you shoot and the way you show emotion ✋️ However, the person who he fall in love with will be the next you. Because oh, in the name of beauty, the fragrance and dignity of a grown flower that has discovered itself... who wouldn't fall in love with you, Mon amour

One day, he went to one of your theater plays and started crying in the middle of the skit for the ballerina role you played. Well... although the audience found it strange, he just saw it as a flow of emotions. Ah, you beautiful black swan, how beautifully you describe yourself.

You were just shocked when you noticed the man in the middle of the game, Rook, has always been a strangely fascinating mystery to you. So, to both cover the sweet wounds from your past and shoot through the heart with an arrow through the receptive eye of a hunter, you gently sent him a kiss at the end of the show and pointed backstage with your body language.

After the coffee and conversation on that set, Rook wanted to text Vil excitedly to let him know that he had found his true love.

Ah, black swan, let your heart steal your passion from you with the greed of his heart you hit him with an arrow, let your heart be so greedy that its love fills it...    

Epel felmier:

Epel admired you a lot, even though he treated you a little differently than vil did. Because you were brave and fearless enough to do any kind of behavior that he couldn't. And frankly... After your change, when he looked at you, he saw the shadow of himself. But he was no longer the angel and you were the devil. You were the complete opposite. Like black and white.

Epel, who was already impressed by you from the very beginning, admired and emulated you in the show you gave to warm the people of the village in his town, no matter how deeply he refused and wanted to defend his manhood. He wants to play games like this too! Why is it that only gentlemen prefer blondes, after all, aren't blondes is the one who decide to end?

After the show, you shook the hand of Epel's grandmother with a sweet smile. . "Hello... I didn't know seeing you would bring so much happiness..." Epel said, trying to maintain the tone of his voice and the beating of his heart. The ex thought, he loved you more. Oh dear, opposites used to attract, don't you know, sweet poison apple?

That night, he gave you a tour of his town, and both he and his family pressured you to stay there a little longer. Well... you couldn't say no to the beautiful face and the kind grandmother. Even after leaving town, your conversations with Epel have progressed quite a bit and are starting to reach your desired ranks. Still, if he didn't had Rook, that stupid boy would adored you too much to not understand that his feelings are love.

What do you prefer, miss lorelei? A kiss or a diamond? Oh don't be afraid of choice! Because this lover can be both your poisonous kiss and the most beautiful diamond that suits your hand...

[jarenka]

Sudden guest post under my music tag.

My friend @erlenwein recently introduced her students to the different styles of Chinese opera. She also showed a video of these styles to me with some commentaries and I asked her to translate them into English (these commentaries very much expanded in the process).

Fragments of 2024 Lunar New Year Gala from CCTV-1 (main TV channel in Mainland China)

Here are @erlenwein 's commentaries:

1:33 Beijing opera 京剧 presented by two laodan 老旦，the role of older women. The play they're presenting is called ”杨门女将“ ("The female generals of the Yang family"), one of many plots based on the fictionalized story of the military Yang family (Song dynasty period). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Generals_of_the_Yang_Family

2:36 Yuju 豫剧 (Henan opera)， Kunqu 昆剧 (around Shanghai, one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera), presented by wenchou 文丑 (comical role, in this case literati). The name of the piece ( “话梨园” ) can be translated as "Talking about the Pear garden" (Pear garden being the metaphorical name for the opera world), but I couldn't find any specifics, and I frankly couldn't be arsed to read the subtitles, sorry. Fun fact: the white patch on their faces is called 'a piece of tofu'.

3:15 Chuanju 川剧 (Sichuan) presented by a huadan 花旦. The play is ”别洞观景“ ("Looking from a different side of the cave"? Seems like it). The main character singing is 白鳝仙 (Immortal White Eel?) who came to the world of mortals. Check out her use of pheasant feathers! Usually the most known thing about Sichuan opera is their technique of 变脸, changing the masks really fast, but they decided to showcase a different role here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ayy7wcfeHU - Face-changing performance.

3:57 Chaozhou (Teochew) opera 潮剧 (Chaoshan region, southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong), presented by xiaosheng 小生 (young man, usually a romantic character) and huadan 花旦 (young woman in a romance plot). The play is “苏六娘” ("Su Liuniang").

4:34 Pingju 评剧 (Hebei opera), presented by huadan 花旦. The play is “花为媒” (“Matchmaking flowers").

5:07 Yueju 越剧 (Shaoxing opera, from Zhejiang), presented by xiaosheng 小生 and huadan 花旦. Both performers are women — it's typical for Yue opera, since the art form switched to primarily female troupes in 1930s. The play presented is “梁山伯与祝英台” ("Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai"), a very popular story often referred to as "Chinese Romeo and Juliet". You might've seen it also being called "Butterfly Lovers".

6:31 This part is just called 武戏, "military opera". It starts with a wuchou 武丑, comical military role, then wusheng 武生 (military male role) and wudan 武旦 (military female role) come out to present their fighting, juggling, and acrobatic skills. The flags behind their backs show their status as generals/officers. I can't imagine the skill needed to do this all so seemingly effortlessly. *I've seen mentions that the flags 靠旗 represent an army under the command of the character wearing them, but I can't find any info on it again to back up my claims. If you know something about it, please let me know! The piece is titled “杨威奋勇” (I'm not quite sure how to translate it, but it seems to refer to the Yang family again).

8:32 And back to 京剧 with laosheng 老生 (older men, also known as bearded sheng 须生). The play is “龙凤呈祥” ("Dragon and phoenix bringing prosperity").

[allmoshnobrain]

WAIT WAIT WAIT-

did you watch Saltburn? if so, I wanna know your full opinion plz

I've heard so many contradicting opinions and yours is very important to me

💚🖤🤍

I did, love, I watched it last week! I only watched it once though, I want to watch it at least one more time so I can really absorb and process the whole thing

I'm not sure if you want my opinion on any specific aspects so I'm gonna ramble for a bit

This might get quite long though so, opinions under the cut!

(Please be aware this will have spoilers. Like, a lot.)

First of all THE AESTHETIC OF THIS MOVIE!!! Everything looked so beautiful and I just loved the way they chose to portray everything, I'm a bit of a design and arts nerd so the photography and lighting choices made me so so happy because it fit the movie's mood perfectly

Also, did you know that the title card was made in stop motion and it took like MONTHS to make it because every frame took forever to be hand drawn and animated?

I saw Emerald Fennel comment somewhere that the movie is all about a beauty that drives us mad and I am so not normal about this concept. Like please I just need more of this in my life

I had been spoiled about the "shocking" parts and honestly they were a lot more okay than I imagined based on what my friends were saying lol

BUT NOW TO THE PLOT

I just love the whole unreliable narrator thing. The way the film starts with Oliver's narration and finishes with it - we only ever get to see his point of view of the whole thing and I think the main thing here is how he was drawn to Felix since the beginning. Maybe because Felix represented the life and status he wanted to have, maybe because he was just in love because, well, he says all the time I WASN'T IN LOVE WITH HIM but then we get all of this shots of him just LONGING over Felix and well, yes, I do think he was in love, at least with the idea of him.

I don't think he planned to murder the entire family from the start, I think he wanted to get closer to Felix in that mix of infatuation over him and over his status, I think he was very happy manipulating his family to like him and driving away anyone who could threaten that, like Farleigh. But things kind of get out of control when Felix figures out he's lying and I think also when Farleigh gives him the "you'll never belong here because it's a blood/family thing and you are nothing" speech.

And now he's drunk and heartbroken and angry and then no one even knows his name when they sing Happy Birthday to him and I think he realizes then that even if he gets Felix to forgive him he'll always be just a pet to these people. Their little "poor" friend who's a novelty to all of their rich aristocratic friends and families. I think that's then that he decides to murder Felix.

And there is all this Romeo and Juliet references/subtext, like they both swallow the poison but then Felix is left to die alone because Oliver refuses to drink the poison. I've seen some people saying he was planning to die with him and gave up last minute but I don't think that's what happened, I think he decided to kill Felix that night because he realized he was never gonna have him the way he wanted. I don't think he even wanted to kill anyone else at this point, I think he just kind of wanted to kill Felix and then take his place in the family, to sort of become him.

But then after when he talks to Venetia he realizes that plan's never gonna work because apparently Elspeth is the only one still under his spell. So he's never gonna have Felix, he's never gonna have Felix's place in this family and now Felix's sister and dad know how obsessive and manipulating he is, so he's probably gonna lose his spot in the family as Elspeth's darling real soon, so he kills Venetia as well. Now I don't think he actually kills her in her sleep or something, I think he just knew she was unstable as fuck and left the razors there knowing she would do the work. I think he would have planned something real quick though, had she not taken the bait.

And then there's the ending where he gets everything - Saltburn and probably the family fortune as well - and he finally gets to become and own the beautiful, beautiful things he longed for SO LONG. I've seen people saying Oliver is a genius and stuff, and I think yeah his plan worked for the most part, but only because he adapted and eliminated his prey swiftly. I think his original plan was to be with Felix, so when that couldn't happen he wanted to become Felix, but that went wrong as well, so he resorted to the last option - devouring everything Felix held dear. In the end, he was obsessed with Felix - he loved him, he admitted that himself.

And I do think he was in love as well lol

I think Oliver is such an interesting character - he's fascinating at times, but also repulsive. He's smart, sure, and he knows how to pull the right strings at the right time, but I think his original plan failed. He just let himself be driven mad by the fascination he felt for Felix and for how everything about him was so, so beautiful, and then devoured everything he could with no restraints. And that was sure a crazy ride to watch!