#Tien x Tai

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Body Language in La Pluie Ep 12

I told @bengiyo the other day that I didn’t know that I had much more to say on La Pluie, because I thought the show was perfect and when it’s perfect I don’t have a lot fo analysis to write up at the very end. 

“For you, Captain Hands, who writes 20,000 word essays, that is unacceptable” 

But I was truly at a loss for what I could talk about because this whole show was phenomenal and I was seeing such good meta coming out from so many other people, I felt like most of it was covered. So I consulted the clowns and they were like “baby you’re a one trick pony, you know what you need to write about…body language,” and I went ‘oh yeah you’re right!” 

So here is a breakdown of the body language in the two confession scenes in Episode 12: Tien and Lomfon, Tai and Patts. 

Tien and Lomfon 

Judging for the sheer number of gifs of this moment, it appears Tien and Lomfon’s reconciliation and kiss was universally beloved in the fandom. And I can understand why because it is 

So 

Fucking 

Good 

Because Suar is 

So 

Fucking 

Good 

And because Copter is delivering his best performance of the show. 

So let’s just jump right in, I want to start at the very beginning of this confession because there is a lot happening in the classroom itself. The scene opens with the film teacher calling Lomfon’s name, and asking if he is ready to present. The camera cuts to a semi-close up of Lomfon’s face:

Now, generally speaking, I think Copter has a long way to go in his acting, particularly around how mobile he makes the lower half of his face, because he rarely tends to move it. But it cannot and will not be denied, that Copter has some truly expressive eyes and Lomfon’s anxious energy does bleed through in the way he sets his jaw, his shoulders, how his eyes are shining. Up until this point, Lomfon has approached almost every single possible romantic moment completely wrong, and fucked with the lives of Tien, Tai, and Patts for the sake of better understanding his own feelings. He realizes that he likes Tien, he knows Tien likes him, or that he did at one point and that he may have fucked that up. So he has absolutely no idea what this is going to do, if it will help or hurt, but he has to try it anyway, so the movie starts to play. 

Tien, notably, is very intentionally looking at the ground. He will not meet Lomfon’s eye, he will not seem interested in the film, he will not give Lomfon the time of day. Lomfon blew up three people’s lives, and didn’t seem all that remorseful about it. The film starts, and a compilation of Tien’s radiant smile graces the scene, and Tien is for the first few moments, completely unaware. That is, until the rest of the class starts visibly, physically reacting to what is airing on screen. At which point Tien risks a tentative glance towards the screen…

And sees himself over and over and over again, in so many private little moments that Lomfon has captured. And where first his eyes were transfixed on the floor, they are now transfixed on the screen. Everyone in the entire classroom has turned their eyes away from the screen and straight towards Tien, and Tien and Lomfon become the only two people in the room that are watching the movie. 

The film continues, unrelenting clips of Tien as seen through Lomfon’s eyes, and though Lomfon told Tien he would show him he cares through his actions, that is not what Tien needs. And there is a moment, though it is small, where you can see Tien’s anger/frustration click in to place. 

It’s right here, in the inhale, in the setting of his jaw, slightly crooked as he continues to process exactly what he is seeing, exactly what Lomfon has done. And he pries his eyes away from the screen, slowly meets Lomfon’s eye for the first time since their fight, and does not break eye contact until his friend leans over and asks the question “Tien, how come you’re the thing from Lomfon’s heart?” at which point the spell is broken, the anger boils over, and Tien, being the third child who has his head on straight and is used to suppressing his own emotional state, rockets out of the room with a bitter, half-assed “I have to use the bathroom” excuse everyone can see through. 

This is not the reaction that Lomfon was expecting based on the way his body is turned to face Tien, the way his jaw has dropped just a touch, the way his eyes are glued to Tien and following him out the door. Lomfon is clearly surprised and slightly distressed to see Tien flee the room like that, clearly upset, and he is up and running after him within a few seconds, determination setting in his face. 

Tien is hustling, even as Lomfon is running after, even as Lomfon is calling his name hurried and slightly panicked. It is not until Lomfon calls out “Don’t go” that Tien stops, but not for long. He pauses just long enough to decide whether or not he is going to read Lomfon the riot act, or just walk away and hope that ends the conversation forever. Tien spins on his heel and starts swinging right out of the gate. 

“Why did you do that?” and his weight shifts a lot as he settles into place, and Lomfon matches his energy, also shifting around a lot as he grinds to a halt. 

“That’s the topic ‘A message from the heart’”

Tien is pissed now, like well and truly pissed. Even in the rain, even after Lomfon blew apart his brother’s life, Tien was calm, even-keeled, almost withdrawn when it came to his own pain. He was loud and aggressive, and very clearly livid when it came to what Lomfon did to Tai and Patts, but when Lomfon shouted in his face “I want to know my heart. I want to know who I like, what does that have to do with you?” his disappointment was palpable, but he responds in the softest voice ever.

Here though, it is time for him to be mad on his own behalf:  “Then why was I in your video? What are you going to say?” 

And Lomfon does look upset, and slightly vulnerable in this moment in the way his mouth is open, in the way his eyes are laser focused on Tien, in the way his eyebrows are slightly crooked like he is furrowing his brow: “I already told you, I would show you with my actions” because that is supposed to be obvious. I mean, Lomfon blatantly told Tien this before he ever showed the film. 

But that is the wrong answer. Tien, frustrated, turns back around to storm off because as @neuroticbookworm has already discussed, conversation is what needs to happen, not grand gestures. Grand gestures from Lomfon are what got everyone in to the messes they are in, grand gestures are not what is going to get him out. Tien will not entertain grand gestures in the slightest. 

“I did this because I like you!” Lomfon shouts to Tien’s back, and that’s what gets him to pause. 

And my refusal to learn how to make gifs bites me in the ass because Suar absolutely demolishes a micro-expressive face journey in this scene, there are at least four internal monologues Tien is cycling through as he listens to Lomfon’s speech. There is surprise, suspicion, annoyance, and slowly, slowly he begins to soften, and soften, and soften as Lomfon continues to say the right things. Like, legitimately, seriously I feel like I can tell when Tien’s stomach twists and heart picks up from the way Suar is moving his face. 

Which leads us to the best bit of acting that Copter has done the entire show: 

“I know that I like you. I like you very much. I like you so much that I don’t know what to do. I like you so much that I think if I don’t tell my feelings to you, I will regret it for the rest of my life” and he says the whole thing in tears. His face crumpling, his lip trembling, his eyes red. Tien’s back is turned throughout the monologue but he too is fighting back tears, because he can hear Lomfon’s voice, he can hear it waver and crack, he can hear Lomfon sniffling. And the camera reinforces that by cutting to Tien’s turned back twice during the monologue, his face moving almost imperceptibly as he listens, really listens to what Lomfon has to say. 

And when Lomfon falls silent, Tien turns to face him. 

I think it was @kyr-kun-chan who said “I like that when Tien turns around I can’t tell if he is going to kiss Lomfon or punch him” and honestly same. Like, looking at Tien’s face here, his eyes don’t match his mouth. His mouth is soft, slightly open, willing to forgive Lomfon, but his eyes don’t have their typical shine. There is a seriousness in them we haven’t seen that often. Tien is thinking, he is processing, he is calculating, and then the camera pans out to a wide shot.

Which makes me crazy over the costuming and positionality. Tien and Lomfon stand in completely the opposite places as where they sit in the classroom. Tien stands so that his entire chest is exposed to the audience, but closed off to Lomfon. Lomfon stands so that his whole chest is exposed to Tien, but closed off from the audience because Lomfon is pouring his heart out to Tien, and Tien is keeping his own reactions to Lomfon’s confession to himself. 

Tien’s face crumples and he barrels towards Lomfon, and similar to @kyr-kun-chan, Lomfon does not seem particularly certain whether he is about to have lips or a fist planted on him. 

Eyes transfixed on Tien’s face, eyebrows furrowed as he tries to decipher the look on Tien’s face, eyes still red cause he’s been crying, and then BOOM:

I am sure everyone has seen this kiss scene a million times, either rewatching the scene or reblogging the gifs, so I am not going to talk about the kiss, BUT I WILL TALK ABOUT THE HANDS BECAUSE I AM SO INTRIGUED BY HOW THEY HANDLED THE HANDS IN THIS KISS. 

So obviously, we start with the moment above, where the kiss itself is the center/focal point, but Tien’s hand is completely visible. His fingers comfortable and curled, and digging in to Lomfon’s neck to stabilize him from the force of the kiss. Tien sinks lower, because he is shorter, and his hand helps keep Lomfon pressed against him as he settles. And that is all well and good, and I love the shape Tien’s fingers make here. But then we get to some shots that are truly a marvel to me, they confused the hell out of me in the best possible way, in the way that makes me want to question the cinematographer because the next time the camera focuses on something other than the actual kiss, we get close ups, but these close ups are of a shoulder and a back. The only thing truly interesting to look at in those shots, to me at least, is the hands. But the hands are cut off. We don’t see Lomfon’s fingers at all, we don’t see precisely the way that he is holding Tien in the way that we see how Tien is holding Lomfon.

And it is fascinating to me, that the close ups cut off Tien’s fingers, like we see his thumb stroke Lomfon’s back a little, we see Tien’s hand move up Lomfon’s shoulder and further out of frame. And it intrigues me so much, because when Tai and Patts have their kisses, their hands are constantly visible, you can see it when Tai squeezes Patts’ back, you can see it when Patts scratches Tai’s back, you can see it when Patts is grabbing at whatever piece of skin he can so he can steady Tai on his lap while he kisses down his chest. But here, Tien and Lomfon’s hands are rarely completely visible. In fact, when never see Lomfon’s entire hand during the kiss, one is out of frame for most of it, with his fingers flat and therefore barely visible across Tien’s shoulder blade, the other buried in Tien’s hair so deep you can’t see anything.

And Tien’s hand(s) are only completely visible when the camera pans out on the kiss, rather than when it pushes in on their bodies. 

Which works so well for me, because it is so counter to Tai and Patts. As I said, when Patts and Tai make out, their hands are always visible, the camera pushes out to a wide shot and their bodies are making beautiful shapes. But that isn’t happening here, when the camera does a wide shot, Tien and Lom are standing pretty straight, with some distance between their bodies. They aren’t playing around too much with sensation, and with the reveal at the end of a possible sequel, it makes sense that we wouldn’t see a fully formed picture of what intimacy between Lomfon and Tien looks like. 

What we do get to see, however, is how Tien and Lomfon are personally impacted by this kiss, by this confirmation of their mutual interest in one another:

gif by @piningintrovert

GOD I WILL NEVER GET OVER THE LOOK ON TIEN’S FACE WHEN THEY FINALLY PART. The way his eyebrows furrow, the bliss on his face, that Oh. moment when Tien realizes how good it felt. The way Lomfon smiles and the way Tien beams and how Lomfon, having learned his lesson, tells Tien that he’s happy, tells Tien he will have to get used to him smiling, tells Tien he will see that smile every day. You know communicates. 

In summary, this is a beautifully handled, beautifully performed scene and I want to give mad props to Suar and Copter for how they navigated this moment. 

Tai and Patts

Now let’s talk Title and Pee, or rather Tai and Patts during Tai’s confession, which was another beautiful performance by our two leads. A truly underrated moment that I don’t see getting enough love from the fandom considering I have seen a total of one gifset of it, and because it is the most perfect confession Tai could ever give to Patts. 

After spending multiple days looking all over Chang Mai for his boyfriend, Tai finally spots him giving a little girl her kitten back and calls after him. And the look in Tai’s eyes, the way his mouth is agape, Tai looks like he’s seeing a ghost, like he scarcely believes that what he is seeing is real, that Patts is really here, that Tai has really found him. 

And because they are perfect for each other, Patts looks…exactly the same. Just, much more haggard like he has not slept well the entire time he and Tai have been separated. Patts, respectfully, looks like shit. 

As he should because he is fucking heartbroken. Tai approaches slowly, tentatively, like he doesn’t know what to expect, like he is no longer certain of his place in Patts’ life. And even though Tai is moving slowly, Patts is still not fully processing what is happening. Tai approaches and Patts stays firmly rooted in place, but he is leaning slightly away from Tai, like he still isn’t sure this is real, like he needs to get a better look at Tai to be certain. 

When Patts sees Tai his eyes go wide, he blinks, he swallows like he isn’t sure of his place in Tai’s life anymore. He is paralyzed trying to figure out what Tai is doing here, if he’s about to have his heart healed or broken further. 

Tai, of course, immediately bursts in to tears, as is his god given right. And good golly miss molly, Title is fantastic at getting Tai’s tears off the ground. He looks at Patts, the man he loves, the man he has failed, the man he has hurt, his eyes start to well, his nostrils flare, his lip trembles and he starts his confession. 

“You know what? For these past few days I have been looking for you. I’m so terrified that I can’t see you again. I’m terrified you don’t want to meet me anymore.” 

And, I mean, props to Tai for being honest, but goddamn, Patts is already Straight Up Not Having a Good Time Right Now and telling him you were worried that he wouldn’t ever want to see you again has got to feel like a knife is being twisted to him, knowing how much Patts loves Tai. Seeing how haggard he is from being away from Tai for only a few weeks, how close to tears he is just from seeing Tai’s face. 

“You don’t have to say anything,” Tai continues, which is wonderful, because Patts has always been the person to reach out. The first to use the soul mate link, the only one to talk through it for the first two years, Patts was the one who approached Tai in the coffee shop, Patts initiated and stopped their first intimate moments, Patts is the one who tried to face their problems head on after the fight with Lomfon, and to follow up after their fight over how Patts handled the Lomfon situation. But Patts is in so much shock from seeing Tai here, where he thought he couldn’t be found that he hasn’t said a word anyway. 

“This time, please let me say it. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I acted stupid, I was selfish, I was too emotional. I didn’t talk to you well, I let it slide until it’s bad like now.” he says through shaky breath. 

And then Tai looks down, gathering his strength, gathering his words, but bearing the weight of the shame and sadness he feels for how his failure to properly communicate has hurt Patts.

“You know, I had not idea that the sound of rain could be so hurtful and lonely,” and I love that when Tai says “the sound of rain” he looks up at the sky. Like he is looking for rain clouds, like he is expecting rain.

“As for all of the soulmate things I was curious about, I know that through myself, Lomfon, my parents. I know that now. Love is about two people, it doesn’t need destiny to pave. I don’t care whether you are my soulmate or not. The most important thing is our feelings.”

Patts nods slightly, and bites his lip. Now, there are a number of ways I think it is possible to read Patts’ face in the next couple of close ups, but I personally read them very much as Patts steeling himself to be officially broken up with. 

“What’s most important is our feelings” Tai says, Patts braces himself to hear that Tai does not feel love for him anymore. 

“Do you remember? There was a time when you asked me whether saying “I love you” was hard?”

gif by @liyazaki

“No Patts, it’s not hard,” and Patt’s face falls, his lip starts to tremble. “So I kept asking myself how I feel about you. My feelings have not changed at all.” 

And once again, Patts nods slightly, swallows hard, and his face falls even more, he’s closer to tears.

“I love you Patts, I don’t care if it rains or not. I do love you, no matter what happens” and before Tai can say anything else, Patts is rushing to embrace him in a hug. Because he finally knows, for certain, for real, straight out of Tai’s mouth, that Tai loves him. That Tai has always loved him, and that Tai will continue to love him. 

And, going back to my conversation around Lom and Tien’s hands and how they differ from Patts and Tai, we get So Much Hand in the hug between Patts and Tai. And you can see how tightly Tai is squeezing Patts, how deep he is burying his head in Patts’ shoulder. Patts is wrapping Tai up as much as he can, he is touching Tai in as many places as he can. Patts’ hand on Tai’s shoulder, in his hair, across his back

On his elbow when they kiss.

gif by @liyazaki

And their kiss is slow and tentative, both certain and uncertain, like they need to re-establish where they are and where they have been. LIke they need to check in with each other and make sure that this level of intimacy after such a strenuous fight and break up is okay with both of them. 

I don’t have any impassioned speeches to give at the end of all of this, Patts and Tai are together, they are happy, we leave them where they always should be, happy in each other’s arms. Tai had some major growth at the end of La Pluie, getting called out by his brother, introspecting and realizing that Tai was handling the conflict with Patts like his mother has handled conflicts with him. Realizing how lonely the silence is, and understanding that the way he feels about only ever having silence in his head is horrible and that he left Patts to feel that way for years. Understanding now, why Patts could not bear Tai’s silence when he was upset at the way Patts handled Lomfon kissing him. 

La Pluie is one of the best written shows I have seen. The script is so smart, it understands the realities of relationships, highlights the importance of communication, gives proper consequences for ill-advised actions, and subverts the traditional soulmate trope by having the soulmate connection only ever act as a barrier between Patts and Tai getting together. It has truly been and honor and a blessing to clown with all of you about this show, it made me so happy to see more and more people getting in to this show, and more and more people writing about this show. It may have taken me a couple episodes to get in to the story, but looking back on it, I have loved every minute. Thanks for reading and I look forward to (hopefully) doing this all again for season 2. 

(tagging @lurkingshan cause she asked me to)

[syrena-del-mar]

La Pluie meets Nora Roberts

This week we open up with a shot of Saengtai (who is slowly learning to believe that maybe having a "soulmate" isn't all that bad) reading Nora Roberts.

Now as a former teen Nora Roberts aficionado, I immediately clocked that Tai was reading the first two books of her MacKade Brother quadrology. For those that are unfamiliar with Nora Roberts and this series, it revolves around four brothers, with each brother having their own, separate novel. So it's a little on the nose that Saengtai would be reading this series out of the numerous ones that Nora Roberts has published, especially the books that are based on the oldest and second oldest of the four brothers.

All four novels of the MacKade brothers takes place in Antietam, which if you have any knowledge on the American Civil War, you will likely recognize for being home one of the bloodiest battles of the war. While each brother and their lovers attempt to forge a connection, there is a supernatural element with the restless souls that still haunt Antietam.

The one that Tai was reading was one Robert's bundles, which included only the first two novels, centering around the first two brothers, Rafe and Jared.

I'm going to give a brief synopsis of both books below, before doing a bare minimum dive of the significance I think La Pluie was attempting to draw.

The Return of Rafe MacKade

Here, the main protagonist is Rafe MacKade, who had left his hometown years prior after making a name for himself as the handsome, hot-headed, rebellious, good-for-nothing second-oldest MacKade brother. He's the black-sheep out of the four brothers, yet the incident which drove him away from Antietam, 10 years prior to his return, was one where he was attempting to protect a woman from her abusive boyfriend so he turned to punching the crap out of the man; but y'know how rumors develop in small towns. He returns to his hometown after 10 years as a successful businessman, something that townsfolk couldn't believe which shut them up about all the gossip they used to spread about him. He buys the local haunted house to turn it into a B&B, which in doing so leads him to meet his heroine, Regan, an antique dealer that is helping him decorate the B&B.

At first glance, Rafe and Regan seem to be complete opposites, with Rafe being a 'rough-around-the edges' type of guy and Regan, an elegant and classy dame. Rafe, while being the typical loud-mouth 'alpha-male' guy that is stereotypical in 20th century novellas, you come to find out is just a guy that is unable to fully articulate his own emotions and understand his developing feelings for Regan. Regan, on the other hand, for all her elegance, is a bit arrogant and unapologetically opinionated and definitely not looking to get into a steady relationship, much less with Rafe. They're both two incredibly stubborn individuals that are always butting heads, which leads to both miscommunication and a lack of communication, but they slowly start to learn that they actually need each other, even if they try to deny it.

The Pride of Jared MacKade

The second book revolves around Jared MacKade, who currently works as an attorney who, unlike his hot-headed brother Rafe, is much more level-headed and collected, yet just as prone to being purposefully ignorant to his romantic emotions. Jared is the oldest of the four brothers and had previously been married but ended up divorced, which lead to his distaste and shrewdness when it came to love. His story with his lead, Savannah, first starts when he meets her to let her know that her father had left her some inheritance. Savannah, having been disowned by her father as a teen and kicked to the curb due to her pregnancy, understandably pissed and initially wants nothing to with Jared.

Both Jared and Savannah are stubborn as mules, but their instant connection was undeniable. Jared was a traditionalist in love, which created some conflict due to Savannah's past and what she had to do as a teen mom to survive. The connection between them was palpable, within their second meeting they were already all over each other, making out. Yet, for all their connection, they're both initially a bit skeptical of doing more than toying around. Both Jared and Savannah had to overcome their own obstacles, Jared and his prejudice and Savannah and her hidden insecurities (that arose when she started to work alongside Regan), but despite their rocky road with love, they find a way to make it work.

La Pluie in connection to Rafe and Jared

There are some very obvious parallels that I believe La Pluie is attempting to draw with having Saengtai reading the MacKade tetralogy, but I also think there are some running themes that may be hinting at the future development for our Saeng brothers and their love interests, Phat and Lomfon.

First, the obvious parallel of the four MacKade brothers with the four Saeng brothers.

Second, the first novel, I'd like to argue, seems to hint at the future for Lomfon and Saengtien. From what we've seen so far, much like Rafe MacKade, Saengtien is perceived by almost everyone in his life to be brash, hot-headed, and rather incompetent. We've seen this from how Tien's own mother treats him and even from how Lomfon treated him in the first couple of episodes. Similar to Rafe's brashness, Tien's own brashness tends to spill out either in protection of his family, particularly Tai, or in the midst of his own confusion regarding what he wants. And just like Rafe, Tien is only starting to learn to comprehend the feelings that he's developing when he's with Lomfon. Tien has taken it upon himself to be the backbone for Tai and his family, that in turn he has sacrificed a part of himself. Instead he turns to his brashness as a mechanism to appease everyone, a shield and a distraction of the pain that he is also incurring while caring for everyone.

Lomfon on the other hand, while he seems to have a good grasp of his own self, seeing how he works independently but never seems to be ostracized, rather (seemingly) he chooses who he surrounds himself with, he also hides himself. Lomfon, similar to Regan is opinionated, especially when it comes to the idea that the one you hear during the rain is your soulmate. I'm sure in a society that has attempted to find reasoning to the deafness, that sentiment is likely taboo to express, yet he's willing to against the norm to create his own happiness, much like Regan did in opening her antique shop.

If Rafe's story is anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised to see Lomfon strongly denying his developing feelings regarding Tien, as he's still primarily focused on Tai. Lomfon's seems to be developing some kind of feelings towards Tien, if the small head caresses and playing with Tien's hair is anything to go by. His feelings towards Tien seem to be slowly developing, even if he doesn't fully realize it. Meanwhile, I think it'll take Tien something big or in the heat of passion to get him to confess to Lomfon his growing feelings, especially once he realizes that Lomfon wants to get in between Tai and Phat. Tien, the ever-sacrificial loving brother that he is, will always put Tai and his happiness over his own, even if that means that he has to argue and destroy his budding friendship with Lomfon.

Tien let's himself be still, let's go of his prickly exterior, only when he's around Lomfon. He needs Lomfon, to provide the quiet energy that allows Tien to just exist for himself and nobody else. Now it's time for Lomfon to figure out how and why he needs Tien as well.

Frenemies-to-lovers is sometimes an even longer slow-burn than enemies-to-lovers, but it's okay, we can play the long game. I have hope that they'll get there.

Thirdly, the parallel of Jared and Saengtai, really comes to their demeanors and their anxiety that develops from impressions of failed love, yet they are still classic romantics at heart. Saengtai, similar to Jared in the beginning of his book, has been burned by the illusions of love. Yet, both, once they meet their soulmates, instantly feel some level of attraction to them. Their attraction is palpable to both of them, but attempting to overcome their own fears and prejudices, even when everything seems to be outwardly alright, can rock the boat.

It's going to be interesting here to see if Phat has some hidden insecurities that arise when he realizes that he has some potential competition. That just maybe Saengtai could be swayed by the man who shares the same interests and that solely being his soulmate may not be enough, even if, for all intents and purposes, he may be the right person for Tai.

Phat and Saengtai obviously feel a spark and found an immediate connection, but it'll be interesting to see if their relationship will end up in shambles, like Tai's parents, or will their bond only serve to be strengthened beyond the idea of just being soulmates.

[respectthepetty]

@plantsarepeopletoo, I never mind a colors question!

TLWR: I've thought Lomfon was a Green Guy who would develop his color as his feelings evolved (people's true colors surfacing and all that jazz).

Last week, before entering the finale, I recapped my thoughts:

Patts is a solid dark blue

Tai is a lighter blue with stripes but hiding his yellow

Tien is yellow (and orange) - Some said he was also carrying some blue which was due to his brotherly connection to Tai and the finale said that was right!

Lomfon is green

So the reason I brushed off Lomfon wearing blue was because he was attracted to Tai, who is a Blue Boy. He was attempting to pick up Tai's color.

But the reason I've always believed Lomfon was an uncover Green Guy was because 1) we originally saw Lomfon in green (with that cream shirt which is close to Tien's yellow)

and 2) every time the hard-coded brothers were around him, they picked up green, which was NOT their own color,

especially Tien, who had the strongest feelings for Lomfon; therefore, he would be involved in a color exchange.

Lomfon was allergic to color AND his feelings, yet the more he hung out with Tien, the more his green showed up; then, when he realized his true feelings, the green was front-and-center

And that carried over into the finale.

My thoughts:

For a guy who didn't believe in predetermined soulmates, he wouldn't want to abide by the rules of color-coding, which is basically a predetermined color. He is logical, and feelings aren't logical, so as his feelings started to emerge, so did his color. He can't control his color nor his feelings. Tien, who liked him, picked up on Lomfon's color quickly because Tien took the time to examine his feelings, which is also why Tien and Tai end up in yellow/blue because they realized even if they have a soulmate (and a predetermined color), they still have a choice.

But Tien is still yellow in his heart and head with that "Sunshine on My Mind" saying on his shirt

EDIT: I think even the teacher was rooting for Lomfon and Tien.

[heretherebedork]

I now fully believe that the keychain Lomfon has somehow came from Tien.

Because La Pluie is entirely about the idea that any belief in destiny and fate are what hurt love. The more you believe in fate and destiny, the more you are going to be hurt and reluctant to love.

So how does this relate to Lomfon, who says he doesn't believe in fate or destiny in anyway?

He talks about the keychain's importance and the person, who he doesn't know, being the one who saved his life. And that's a lot like Tai remembering the anonymous notes and gifts that saved him during the turmoil of his parent's divorce

So there's a direct connection between those two concepts. And now there's a direct connection of the soulmates in the rain and the hearing loss. And now we're taking a close look at that idea that all these assumptions about who you're going to love and who you're meant to love keep hurting people.

Lomfon is about to face a crisis next week. He is faced with hearing voices in the rain that should be his soulmates but already have each other and his own feelings towards Tien that he has yet to acknowledge (even to himself, I suspect) while still holding onto his crush on Tai.

And the keychain has to matter somewhere in this. That keychain came to him at a time that he desperately needed it and is connected to his first love. Who is his first love? Just like Tai and Patts, his first love is Tien.

But just like Tai and Patts, neither of them knows it.

They fell in love before they know each other. They gave each other love without knowing who they were loving would forever in their lives.

It's destiny but it's also not destiny because all destiny does is give you the chance, all fate does is give the choices.

You have to make them. Lomfon and Tai both had to, have to, make their choices.

Patts and Tien both fell in love without fate but Tai and Lomfon each have something that matters to them and holds them back. They are the ones that have to choose the love that destiny has offered them, that has to open their hands and their hearts to what fate is giving them.

Tai was so attached to the idea of his soulmate and his fear of losing him that he never even tried to explore love. Lomfon is so detached from the idea of fate and destiny and soulmates but still holds onto this keychain and the first love that saved him alongside his crush on Tai.

But both Patts and Tien simply fall in love. They aren't looking for soulmates or for destiny or for fate. They are simply there for love. Patts had Nara but also fell for Tai not knowing who he was and willing to leave his soulmate for this love he found. Tien might be confused by the entire experience but he isn't trying to resist the feelings.

Soulmates and the ideas of soulmates has only ever gotten in the way of their love stories because destiny and fate aren't just placed in front of you. They're a choice you have.

Love is a choice.

To love is a choice; to be loved is a also a choice.

[sunshinechay]

So I want to talk about Tai for a second.

Specifically I want to talk about this moment right here:

Tai says point blank that he’s wanted to get rid of his hearing loss but he doesn’t feel any better now that it’s gone.

Of course I think he hates the way it happened, no one wants to go through anything even remotely similar to what he is going through right now. The emotional pain of having argued with someone important to you, the mental pain of knowing you fucked up in so many situations that you can’t figure your way out of. But this is something he’s wanted for at least the last 2 years. But by his own admission, he doesn’t feel better and I don’t think that’s going to chance any time soon.

It’s been talked about by everyone that Tai’s conflict resolution style is to clam up, to go silence and refuse to communicate. This is why this moment and the ensuing arguement with Patts is so painful. I agree with @bengiyo when he said that Tai is someone who reads too much romance. He has a skewed view of the way relationships are supposed to work. I also think though, that as time as gone on Tai has become more aware of that. He is still naive and fucks up so badly it’s completely understand why Patts reacts the way he does, but I don’t think he’s unaware of his fault. However he lacks the ability to convey the way he feels ( @lurkingshan and @ginnymoonbeam both have great posts here and here in which they discuss his conflict style and lack of ability to communicate) and now he has lost the best tool he had for making Patts believe that Tai finally knows that he will always choose Patts.

For all of Tai’s hang ups about the soulmate bond, I think he also recognizes that Patts doesn’t have those hang ups and that he does hold the believe that it means that they were meant to chose each other. It’s why Patts gets anxious, angry and upset when Lomfon acts the way he does. Why he is so frantic when he tries to confront Tai about it. Sure Tai might not have talked to him for 2 years, but he was still there and they still found their way to each other and that had to meant something, right?

But now it’s gone and Tai doesn’t know how to tell Patts that he does choose Patts because not only should Patts have already known that but the connection was also always there to prove it. Tai shouldn’t have to say it out loud because he shouldn’t have too. Again he thinks Patts should already know that. It’s horribly naive and shows Tai’s lack of dating experience but it’s what he believes in that moment.

The show is of course trying to point out that they don’t need it to have a successful relationship. They need hard work and good communication, but within the internal logic of the universe, I get why Tai would think this. Why should Patts doubt that Tai would choose him. They’ve already said they choose each other and they have (had) that connection.

But now that connection is gone. It’s gone because of Tai and he already regrets that it’s gone and that he took it away. I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out later that he wants it back. A classic case of don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.

Hopefully before that happens (if it does), Patts and Tai will finally communicate with each other and get on the same page and learn how to work around their conflicts in way that both are able to do. Tai needs to grow up a bit more and learn that life’s not a romance novel (even though we might want it to be sometimes) and that it’s hard but worth it to try and make the best of it.

[thedooristhebluecushion]

If you (like me) are sitting in your feels after La Pluie & Step by Step tore your still beating heart out of your chest and stomped on it this week, may I recommend Secret Crush on You?

It truly cures whatever ails you in that most satisfactory BL ways.

<& Seng Wichai deserves a God Damn Oscar>

[plantsarepeopletoo]

Message from the heart

[ppeonppeonhan]

La Pluie - Ep. 10 Theories

> The Throuple? 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️

So interesting that the minute their cosmic soulmate connection is broken, the lines of communication are broken too.

"If you don't understand my silence, you won't understand my words."

Mmhmm

> Supernatural 🪄 vs. Science 🧪

But for real though, is Phat a witch? Cause before the thunder, it kind of seemed like what bound them to each other was trauma, not love. Like Phat and Tai bonded over the loss of a guardian, and then Phat and Lomfon made a connection when Lomfon almost died. 🤔 Like in his most vulnerable moments he called out for comfort and companionship, and sucked these two (conveniently nearby) guys into his inner sanctum inside his mind. Witchcraft would honestly be a more interesting story than inexplicable science.

> Lomfon's Obsession 👀

Are you telling me Lomfon is out here, head over heels because someone pushed his dumbass onto a sidewalk and yelled at him when he almost walked into traffic? That's it? That's all it took? That should've inspired him to pay him back, not date him....

> Tien's heartbreak 💔

I can't even understand what Tien sees in Lomfon. That boy is a dark cloud. Rarely if ever has a nice thing to say. Please find someone less moody, Tien. Save ya self girl.

> Tai's Red Flags 🚩

I would love to say I don't recognize this verbally abusive and extremely aggressive version of Tai, but the only thing I've ever seen him do is flirt with Phat, try to sleep with him, and be possessive. Not sure what we're trying to save here.

> Phat & Tien's Dad 🏳️‍🌈

Phat, sweetie....I think your dad is gayer than you are. Let it go. Let your parents live their best lives.

[mooninagust]

i’m extremely confused by lomfon’s story, but it seems to me like he’s kinda pushing the ‘tai is my soulmate’ agenda to the point where even the disease is confused. 

now, i know i sound very crazy right now but isn’t it weird how he’s sure tai is his meant to be, how he’s the one who saved him (i’m still more than sure it's tian)?we don’t yet know if he can hear everyone around him when the rain falls and happens to hear patt and tai too, but we definitely know he can hear tian (both based on when he fainted and in the snipped of the ep10). 

so what if his real soulmate is tian (it’s not really a what if, i’m sure it’s him), he’s the one who saved him, and he’s the one lomfon has been looking for all this time, but he’s been so confused, so into the idea of it being tai (we know he used to read his old articles and knows quite a lot about him) that he completely internalized this idea and because of that he’s messing up the system. 

i really don’t think he was able to hear them before because i doubt it would have such a strong effect on him that would cause him to faint. (he also said that this never happens when talking to tian and i have a weird feeling he wasn’t actually talking about fainting). i also don’t think he would be so good at hiding it seeing how everyone could tell something was up the whole episode. so what if in his confusion he messed up the system. 

even thought it sounds wild its the only thing i could come up with to explain this weird situation to myself (i’m not very bright), well this or.... 

the universe is just being a silly goose, torturing lomfon like this because they didn’t like how he disrespects the soulmates thing and keeps talking about how weird it is that the universe picks your soulmate for you. 

[suomiplorpoturnaus]

Suomiplorpoturnaus: Kierros 1 • Äänestys 27

Propaganda leikkauksen alla...

x

Tiina Lehtola (Tiina-kirjat)

“Anni Polvan hahmo Tiina Lehtola (tai Koskela? jos muistan oikein niin sukunimi riippuu vähän kirjasta :D) oli lapsuuden lempparihahmoja ja nyt aikuisenakin kun nostalgialukee Tiina-kirjoja niin arvostus pysyy. Todella kiltti ja hyvä ihminen. Rohkea ja aito oma itsensä. Ansaitsee parempaa kuin Juha. Ansaitsee voittaa suomitumblrin plorpokisan ykköspokaalin. Hän pelastaa kaltoinkohdeltuja kissoja ja puolustaa aina heikompia. Kun hän tekee mielestään jotain väärin niin tunnustaa sen rehellisesti ja joskus rankaisee itseään virkkaamalla. Ei koskaan valehtele. Feministi-ikoni, pärjää isommillekin pojille tappelussa ja urheilussa, ja jos ei pärjää niin yrittää ainakin aina parhaansa. Auttaa mummoja tien yli ja antaa köyhille jätskirahansa.” – nimetön

x

Tuttiritari (Tuttiritari)

“Tuttiritari on high concept fantasiahahmo, soft masculinity King, sekä Freudin pahin painajainen. Hahmona Tuttiritari on romantiikan ajan ihanne: urhea, rakastava ja samalla vaatimaton. Tuttiritari on kuva suojeliasta, joka ei häpeile vastaanottaa hoivaa kuin lapsi, samalla rikkoen maskuliinisuuden ja feminiisyyden välisiä rajapintoja leikin voimalla. Vilpittömällä rehellisyydellään ja leikillisyydellään tämä häpeämätön ja innovatiivinen uudelleenkuvitelma ritarigenrestä ylittää cringen rajat ja lentää aavan meren tuolle puolen satumaahan.” – @lunar-system

[wen-kexing-apologist]

The Language of Love in La Pluie Ep. 8

Alright internet, my Pride events have ended, and I have returned home, so though I am a day late and a dollar short, you know what time it is….

Alright so I want to get a couple of smaller details out of the way first, as an appetizer before we get into the meaty parts of the episode. 

Gif from @ueasking

I counted and Bow and Kung hold hands in three separate scenes and that is enough evidence for me that they have fucked nasty. Moving on. 

There were two micromovements that I really appreciated in this episode, one from Lomfon and one from Patts. Unfortunately I will be bringing them to you in the form of screenshots because we *still* need people to be getting louder and gayer about this show and I am seeing a grossly low number of gifs for a show this fucking good. 

We know that Lomfon is interested in Tai, from the keychain he has, to the way that he immediately started questioning Tai’s connection to Patts vis a vis the soulmate thing, and those feelings Lomfon is still hung up on manifest in these very small ways. Namely, that Tai says he is bringing lunch to Patts and Lomfon’s head whips up

He looks a bit sad, and then he turns his head away so that he isn’t being obvious about this quiet devastation he has every time that he hears Tai talk about Patts. Because even though this show is clearly setting the stage of Lomfon and Tien to get together, London really needs to see that Tai understands that the hearing loss may not actually make you hear your “soulmate” and that Tai and Patts chose each other anyway, before he can truly allow himself to move on. 

By the by, one thing I am curious about with Lomfon is if now that he has heard Tai and Patts when it rained, if he will start changing his own mindset about soulmates. Kind of like a switcheroo, you know? Tai believes in soulmates so strongly that the divorce of his parents shook him to his core because it went his core belief that the hearing loss connects you to your soulmate, and he has learned throughout the course of this story and throughout the course of navigating his relationship to and with Patts that he cares less about whether or not the hearing loss connects to your soulmate, and more about the feelings he has for Patts. Lomfon believes so strongly that soulmates don’t exist because he has a crush on Tai, if he can now hear Tai, will he start believing that actually soulmates do exist and he and Tai are meant to be together, or will it further solidify his belief that soulmates don’t exist and he and Tai are meant to be together. Either way, he’s spent a total of like 1 minute of screen time with Tai so we know how this is gonna go, and it will not be pretty for Lomfon if he doesn’t wake up to his feelings for Tien soon. 

Ok, second micromovement is with Patts, who takes a microscopic step back when Nara tries to hand him the Bento Box

He wants to be fed by Tai, (or more accurately wants to eat Tai but I think we’ll be getting to that in Episode 9). Patts sees Nara and immediately knows why she is here. 

And what I love about Patts is that he isn’t mad or angry, he knows the ways in which his hearing loss and the potential of a soulmate has consistently harmed his relationship with Nara and how much she was willing to sacrifice of her own peace of mind to continue a relationship with Patts because she loves him. He loves her too, although not romantically anymore, and I know this because this is not the face of a man who is like “why the fuck is my ex coming over here when we very clearly separated?” This is the face of a man who knows precisely why she is here and is already feeling guilty about having to let Nara down once again, and confirm the fears she had while in their relationship about losing him to the stranger in his head. 

So in terms of body language, Patts cannot be more clear that he is no longer interested in Nara, and it is why I love that Tai explicitly tells Patts that he isn’t mad about what happened. 

Patts hands stay at his sides, he does not respond to any of her movements, he never touches her, he doesn’t deepen the kiss, he doesn’t even move his lips. If we look back at other examples of times he has kissed someone he loves, we know that this is not his standard operating procedure. Even in the flashback to his last kiss with Nara two months prior, he was in to the his, he was touching the back of her neck, he was an enthusiastic participant. Here, he lets her kiss him because he knows that Nara needs both a final confirmation that his feelings for her are no longer what they once were and a final goodbye so she can transition in to a new phase of her relationship to Patts, friends. (At least I hope they are able to remain friends, with the way Nara care about Tai’s wellbeing and the way she understands how important Tai is to Patts, I want more stories that allow exes to be friends.)

Tai sees them, drops his bisexual flag coded bento box he prepared for Patts and runs off to the mountain to spiral about his feelings about Patts, soulmates, and his sincerity of his connection to both of them. 

Patts finds the lunchbox, uses that veterinarian brain of his to make the connection and immediately starts looking for Tai. Which leads us to the first crack in Tien’s armor. Something I already talked about in my stray thoughts post because I was too busy being gay and my brain was too busy coming down from the high this episode brought me that I was not able to turn my analysis brain on.

We got Tien breaking down, running off to go do something brash and stupid…like climb a mountain with no preparation…like brother like brother I guess…and Lomfon chasing after him to make sure that he does not. 

Now, Tien says “Doi Mae Pilang. Soul mate.” with a concerned and searching tone in his voice, and Lomfon reacts by looking genuinely concerned back.

We can argue back and forth about whether or not this concern is for Tai or for Tien, but the fact remains that Lomfon’s eyes are laser focused on Tien. He is worried and waiting, and it takes less than a second for Lomfon to go chasing after Tien when he takes off towards the mountain. 

At which point we get our first intentional, certain touch from Lomfon to Tien. Whereas previously, we saw that Lomfon was struggling to figure out where and how to place himself, and his hands when Tien took a nap on him, here, he is does not get lost in his head. He grabs Tien firm by the arm

Gif from @ueasking

By the shoulders

Gif from @ueasking

By the chest

Gif from @liyazaki who is as much of a hands demon as I am

Who keeps Tien pressed closely too him, and tells him, firmly, sincerely that he is here for Tien 

Gif from @liyazaki from their before and after post

And though this moment is washed the fuck out because of the light, I love that effect explicitly because to me, this is a visual representation of the idea that Lomfon is bringing light and warmth in to Tien’s life. Or that he will be. In this scene Lomfon is acting like a guide to Tien, making sure that he does not run off and get himself hurt too, making sure that he knows that he has support, comforting him when he is upset. 

And while at first Tien is turned away from it, trying to break from it, running from it, eventually he melts. 

Gifs from @liyazaki

And Lomfon reacts initially with a brief moment of surprise, before once again placing all his attention on studying Tien. This is a moment of vulnerability for Tien, something we have not seen, and Lomfon is taking it in stride. In fact, the only people that Tien has really let himself lose control around has been Lomfon. He trusted Lomfon enough to get drunk around him, to take a nap on him, to cry in front of him. 

Even with Tai, while he allowed himself to be mad, and to hug his brother tightly, and to cry, Tai did not see and will not see the full on breakdown Tien had the previous day. Tien does not let Tai know how impacted he is by anything, because he has been acting as an emotional support for Tai for the past two years. As a fellow emotional laborer, I have an extremely difficult time asking people for help and an even harder time when it comes to people who I know are also emotional laborers. Tien has been doing a massive amount of emotional labor for Tai, and that means not letting Tai in to the entire depth of his own thoughts and feelings. At least, that’s part of my read on it. 

So what do we get from Lomfon’s physicality with Tien in this scene? When Lomfon places his hands on Tien, he does not move his fingers, not like Patts does with Tai. But that does not mean that there is no movement in these scenes. His head moves, he is turning his attention to Tien. His eyes move, he is analyzing Tien and trying to read his emotions, trying to adapt to this new version of Tien he has never seen before. Lomfon moves his body, he rocks with Tien when Tien starts to collapse, when they hug, Lomfon is moving with Tien, but his hands remain steady. When Tien hugs him at the end, he pats Tien’s back and while he’s not slapping him, he is certainly not patting his back gently/softly.  Lomfon is solid, stable, logical. He will pull Tien back when Tien’s passion escapes from its leash. He will ground Tien when the world feels like it’s falling out from under him. But he he will not be so rigid that Tien is unable to do things he wants/needs to, he can still move the way he needs to, when he wants to change his position, he breaks free easily from Lomfon’s grasp, when he turns to hug Lomfon, Lomfon is not expecting it but he leans in to the hug, he roll with it. He lets Tien feel what he needs to feel, but makes sure that Tien is safe. 

We head up the mountain.

Gratuitous inclusion of Tai’s hand because I am absolutely obsessed with those rings on his fingers. 

Anyway, 

Rain and as a result, water, are incredibly important as a theme of this show. First of all, water belongs to gay people, second of all, rain and as a result, water connect Tai and Patts together, connected Tai’s parents together, still connects them together because as far as we know they will continue to remain voices in each other’s heads. So it is incredibly apt that Tai, when walking up this mountain to get clarity on where he himself stands in his beliefs around soul mates, in his relationship to Patts, falls and lands in water. 

Again, @respectthepetty taught me to look out for lines as barriers and lines as connectors. Here we have Tai’s hand, keeping him connected to water, and his sweater has two likes that visually still block his hand from the rest of his body. He has not yet figured out what his connection with himself and his beliefs are yet, and therefore despite the fact he’s reaching for it. Reaching for that knowledge, dipping a finger into the cleansing waters, he still does not have the clarity he needs. 

Until Patts shows up. 

Touch, again, this time with Patts hand resting over Tai’s shoulder, with Tai’s head cradled in Patt’s arm, with Tai’s back leaning up against Patts’ leg. Patts’ hand brushing gently across Tai’s side. 

Tai, injured, in pain, and about to faint called out to the man he’d refused to talk to for two years, and got an answer, and then Tai fell silent once again. 

“I was so worried about you”

“I can always find you”

“We are soul mates” 

And Tai smiles at that because he doesn’t care anymore, because he doesn’t care if the rain is right, if soul mates are real, Patts is here, Patts was worried, Patts will find him, Patts is patient, and reliable, and caring, and Tai can allow himself to give in to loving him. 

And if you will entertain me for just a moment, I want you to scroll back up a little to the wideshots of Tai cradled in Patts’ arms, and I want you to look at the hand that is draped along Tai’s ribs, and I want you to see the way Patts fingers move. We know from their previous make out scenes that Patts is constantly moving his fingers, scratching, and pressing, and ghosting over Tai. Here too, we see the trend continue, of these small ways that Patts gives comfort to Tai. Whereas Lomfon’s movements with Tien are bigger, firmer, more solid, because Tien needs stability and reliability like that. Tien’s emotions are simple but big, needing to be contained. Patts’ movements are smaller, gentle, softer, because Tai needs patience and comfort. Tai’s emotions are more complicated but simmering, needing to be carefully and meticulously tended to. 

Patts carries Tai down the mountain.

And Tai owes Patts an explanation. You know what, no, not an explanation, a conversation. Tai is ready to talk about these thoughts he has been having, the fears and hesitations that have been bubbling just beneath the surface, close enough to Patts to see them, close enough for Patts to rein in his horniness because he can tell that Tai isn’t comfortable having that level of intimacy with him yet. Because Patts knows a little bit about Tai’s hesitations, he has heard twice now the story of Tai’s parents’ divorce. 

And though at first he gave Tai comfort, when he found him by the water, when he wasn’t conscious, when he was more disoriented, and though he carried Tai down the mountain. Here is where conversation grows serious, and Patts, not being certain of where Tai is going to land with all of this, keeps his hands to himself. Tai tells him about how seeing Patts and Nara kiss got him thinking about, worrying about, wether Patts was giving up a truly good thing with Nara under the assumption that he and Tai were just supposed to be together. Tai tells him about everything, about how much it fucking hurts to worry about all this soulmate business, to be scared of all this soulmate business. About halfway through this monologue Patts starts fidgeting with his own hands, whether that is to rub out the growing anxiety in him or to get out some of the need he has to touch Tai I am not certain, but you can tell the gears in his brain are turning.

And it is not until Tai after Tai says he is not mad about Patts and Nara and after he admits that all “it fucking hurts” to grapple with whether or not soulmates exist and what that means for him, where Patts finally reaches out to comfort Tai. 

Even when he doesn’t yet know where this conversation is going. Even when it is entirely possible that Patts has just risked his life to rescue Tai, carried him down the mountain, and may still be broken up with because Tai is scared or uncertain. Even here in this moment of limbo, Patts still reaches out to Tai to make sure Tai feels how much Patts cares for him. 

Then he doesn’t let go. His hand moves from Tai’s back, to Tai’s elbow, to Tai’s thigh, Patts never breaking his attention on Tai while Tai talks him through his realizations. 

Patts is honest too, and destroys the last remaining threads of doubt Tai had in this relationship by assuring Tai that regardless of whether or not soul mates exist, regardless of whether or not that telepathic link that people get somehow miraculously connects them with their soulmate, that Patts loves Tai and would love Tai anyway. Patts may call Tai his soul mate, but he doesn’t have to see Tai that way, and he doesn’t need to be seen that way by Tai in order for their relationship to work. 

The theme I am loving the most that is coming out of La Pluie centers around that subversion. Tai believed wholeheartedly in soulmates, and that belief was shattered before his very eyes with his parents. Patts sees Tai at the bus stop with a cat, and finds him cute, before Tai and Patts even know they are the voices in each other’s heads, there is an obvious attraction. They are interested in each other because they are interested in each other, not because of the hearing loss. Tai holds himself back from falling too deeply for Patts, for being too intimate with Patts because he cannot get over the idea that one day it might possibly fall apart. But Tai’s father himself told Patts that these relationships take work. All relationships take work. If soulmates exist, and if you are somehow connected to them in your head, and if one day you meet, and fall in love, you cannot rely on the knowledge that you are soulmates to save you from ruining a relationship. If you don’t talk, if you don’t compromise, if you aren’t honest, if you don’t work at it, you won’t make it out the other end. 

And again, that is if soulmates exist, and I think with Episode 8, La Pluie is planting a flag firmly in the “soulmates do not exist” camp. 

Tai relinquishes the ideas he had about soulmates, and finally allows himself to love Patts.

Going back to physicality you can see Patts visibly relax and smile after Tai tells him he is happy that Patts is there. At which point 

gif from @liyazaki

Patts gets playful and cuddly, his hands wrap familiarly around Tai’s waist, Patts’ head slots in perfectly right where it belongs on Tai’s shoulder, and Tai lets himself be enveloped. 

gif from @liyazaki

Patts breaks out the first couples kiss, with that soft, fast sniff kiss on Tai’s cheek, because despite the fact they have not yet officially established they are boyfriends, Patts and Tai know that something in their relationship has changed.

gif from @liyazaki

Tai has come a long way from his make out session with Patts in episode 6 where he barely moved his fingers. Now, Patts and Tai war silently over who gets to hold the other’s hand. 

gif from @liyazaki

And we get a lot of lovely non-verbal communication here, both of them exhausted, needing to sleep, pressed up against each other. With Tai being hugged from behind, in beautiful parallel to his brother. They say goodnight, but Tai spends these last few minutes of consciousness before falling asleep, gently comforting Patts by gently stroking his thumb along Patts’ hand. Because he knows that Patts was worried, and that Patts has been through a lot today, and because he loves Patts, and because he can. Because he can touch Patts, because he can have these little

moments of intimacy, where he can feel Patt’s breathing against his back, where he can give small moments of comfort to someone he cares about. 

They stay like that all night, and when morning comes, Tai is still holding on to Patts. Letting Patts know that he is still there, letting Patts know that he will keep a hold of him as long as he can. From here through the end of the episode, they are touching as much as possible. 

When Tai wakes up, and sits up, Patts slides over and the inside of his elbow makes contact with Tai’s arm

They sit here together, and they talk, and Patts finally asks the question he has been wanting to ask for awhile. 

And it’s funny, isn’t it? How everyone was rushing around them? How they were strangers and then soul mates and Tai and Patts were trying to figure out how and where they fit into each others lives while at the same time knowing that regardless of whether or not this worked, that they would always be in each other’s lives in some form, because of the hearing loss. Patts and Tai can talk about boundaries in the car soon after they have met, and Patts can meet Tai’s father, and they can refer to each other as soul mates, but what does that even mean? 

What did it mean to them? What did it mean to Tai? What it meant was that Tai had something to fear, and while Tien was running around referring to Patts as his brother-in-law, Patts and Tai were in a “testing phase” as it were. With obvious attraction between them, but without having put a label on their relationship because they didn’t know where they stood. Because Patts did not know where Tai stood. 

Will you be my boyfriend? Up through this episode, we have really only heard Patts and Tai refer to each other as soul mates. Because that is what society labels people connected through the rain as. In having this conversation on Doi Mae Pliang about how it doesn’t matter if they are soulmates, Patts would still choose Tai and in Patts asking if Tai will be his boyfriend, I will be curious to see if they refer to each other differently moving forward. If we can trust the trailer for this show, we know that Patts refers to Tai at least once as his boyfriend. I think it would be especially poignant if the show moves forward with Tai and Patts referring to each other only as ‘faen’ and stepping away from the soulmate label, because the show has told us from the beginning, it’s not about soulmates at all.

gifs from @liyazaki

(tagging the la pluie defense squad: @bengiyo, @lurkingshan, @ginnymoonbeam and @shortpplfedup because its about damn time she starts the soulmates don't exist show)

[syrena-del-mar]

La Pluie: A Tale of Tender Hearts

It's already been a week since La Pluie has ended and I'm still left in awe of how unsuspecting this show was presented and just how lovely it turned out to be. I tend to have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to shows that I consume, but La Pluie has been different. Starting with the cameo of Nora Robert's MacKade Brothers, I find that La Pluie has challenged me to look beyond what meets the eye at first glance and really engage with the message that they are attempting to convey. La Pluie asks you to watch the characters challenge their own beliefs while also challenging your own beliefs of the romance tropes they utilize.

Love in media is always romanticized and dramatized as something that is designed by the stars and predesignated in fate. In a world in which La Pluie takes place, it makes sense why people want to believe in the notion that the one you can hear is your soulmate. Humans are bound to creating answers out of what is unknown and confusing. La Pluie uses all the world-building that they established to subvert the notion of a destined love and instead utilized it to emphasize the active and deliberate choice to love someone and maintain a relationship, even when you're faced with challenges. They subverted the 'stars aligned' trope to show that love is an intentional commitment and ongoing effort, no amount of destiny is going to be sufficient to keep a relationship alive.

I think another running theme, though mostly in the undercurrent of the show, is that any form of love without work just ends up hurting all parties involved. La Pluie, for all intents and purposes, is a romance drama, but they allowed themselves to show so many different types of love. Love is often wrapped up in the idea of consisting solely of eros, and this is especially true in any romance drama, but La Pluie did such a good job at depicting different forms of love. And how they all take the conscious effort to keep the love alive, whether it be romantic, friendly, or familial. Each of these forms of love take a shit ton of work and effort to cultivate and keep safe, without it misunderstandings brew and resentment grows.

If episode 11 really focused on that for familial love, this final episode really continued to cement that message into the relationships of our main four. Lomfon stuck to his guns and publicly professed his feelings through his project, but a starry-eyed edited collage does not mean anything and Tien essentially states as such. Saengtien didn't let himself have hope until Lomfon verbally stated that he was in love with him. Lomfon, who used to be a bit proud, finally learned how to fully communicate. It was a long journey and he fucked up more than once, but he made the effort and he grew as a person from his mistakes. Their whole arch from frenemies to friends to lovers was weaved through the show. Their development depended on how they communicated and if they were even able to communicate. You can't start any relationship, whether friendship or more, if you can't learn to communicate.

Lomfon's biggest fuck-up came from the lack of communication, he expressed vague ideas to Saengtien, but was never nearly as forward as he was in the final episode. He learned his lesson at the cost of his relationship with Tien, both romantically and as his friend. He even warns Tien that he'll show him through his actions as well, and he does. Meanwhile Tien, who has been sidelined his whole life, has finally found his own place of comfort in Lomfon. As I've seen @bengiyo say multiple times throughout his reviews, there's no magical dick that will solve ones problems, and that rings true here. Saengtien will always be one to willing self-sacrifice in order to protect those that he loves, but this time around Lomfon will be there to look out for him. To have his best interests and welfare at heart. There's finally someone in his corner.

Saengtai... Oh Saengtai, I had such a love-hate relationship with his character because he was so finnicky and frustrating throughout the whole show. That signifies that both La Pluie and Title did a good job, because I don't necessarily believe that he was supposed to be a loveable protagonist. We finally get full-blown development from him, and he for once becomes pro-active in his life. It came full circle that Tai had to utilize both his words and his actions to salvage his relationship with Patts, after shunning him out for years. Now without the soulmate connection to assist, Tai has to put in the work to locate Patts.

It was never the lack of love that was the problem in their relationship, it wasn't even that their love was flimsily based on a notion of soulmates, but rather Tai had to unlearn his self-absorbed tendencies for Patts. A relationship won't survive in the long-term if it's one party that gives and gives, especially not when Patts has reiterated the need for Tai's affirmation of their love and relationship. This time, it finally clicked for Saengtai that he needs to communicate his care. Actions may speak louder than words, but if you're conducting yourself in a manner that is contradictory (even with the best intentions), those actions are obscured. Patt's needed that verbal confirmation and Tai finally learned how to give it. They love each other beyond the soulmate bond, they love each other because they choose to do so.

Tai finally came to that realization and understanding because he was forced to face the reality of his own parents and their bond. Saengtai was a traumatized kid of divorce who had their same ailment, it's not crazy that his understanding of love was shaken. He just didn't realize that there was no loss of love between his parents, their love had just taken on a different form. His parents loved each other, but they knew that they weren't good for each other. Priorities had changed and expectations clashed, their separation was a choice to salvage their love. The catalyst of his initial questioning of the soulmate bond brought him the answer that he needed to hear after destroying his own bond. Love is work. Love will always be work. It just depends on you to choose to work with it.

This show will always be a memorable one for me. It probed on ideas that romance shows and novels tend to shy away from, glossing over the fact that no relationship can survive without work. Love is a choice. We will never know if the choice we make will work things out or if it'll cause us the pain that we want to shield ourselves from, but without making that choice, we seclude ourselves. We rob ourselves of experiences in fear. Instead of fantasizing about allowing destiny leading us to who we love, we need to take control. People aren't simply meant for each other, they work to become meant for each other.

La Pluie is more than just another romantic BL, as the story unfolds, it allowed us (the viewers) to witness every single characters' journey of self-discovery, vulnerability, and gradual understanding of what it means to love and be in love. It's not a high stakes drama and it was never meant to be, instead from the first episode we were made aware that this was a show that was going to challenge deep-seated beliefs of the characters. In a world that was built around such a otherworldly, fictional disease, it allowed for an in-depth analysis of what it means to find love and what it means to keep it alive. This show was never meant to be a simple soulmate trope BL, and that much was clear when it set its mission statement in the first episode. It only continues to reiterate that idea as it concluded with this last message from Saengtai.

"In the end, the hearing-loss and soul-mate stuff are still questions that no one finds an answer. Or in fact, no one chooses to find an answer anymore. Because whether or not we know, it doesn't have anything to do with the path each person chooses. And, we will never know whether the paths we choose are the best ones. At least, we get to choose our own paths, instead of destiny determining it for us. There may be sadness, happiness, struggles, or convenience. But all in all, it's the meaning of life. I wish you all a happy journey in life."

For my last La Pluie post, I just want to say a big thank you to @lurkingshan, @bengiyo, @shouldiusemyname, @wen-kexing-apologist, @neuroticbookworm, @sunshinechay @shortpplfedup, @heretherebedork, and so many other users for posting such thoughtful insights that really made this show even more enjoyable to watch. I used so many metas that you all made as a stepping stone for my own ideas. The show was already enjoyable as it was, but the community made this experience even better.

Also, @lurkingshan brought to my attention all the negative reviews La Pluie has been getting on MyDramaList, so on a whim I decided to leave an overall review on the show. So if you fell in love with this show just as much as I did or even enjoyed it, here's the link to that, feel free to upvote mine and any other of the other positive reviews!

[kpwx]

Poesía anónima compuesta entre el siglo X a. C. y el III d. C., traducida directamente del chino, anotada y precedida por una completa introducción de cincuenta páginas. El único punto negativo que tiene es que las notas van al final en lugar de ir al pie, lo que entorpece bastante la lectura, pero de resto es perfecto. En lo que respecta a los poemas en sí, me parece que los escritos en siglos posteriores son notablemente mejores, aunque eso no quita que se puedan encontrar varios bonitos aquí. Pero aun si no, la gran cantidad de notas y la introducción son una buena manera de conocer la cultura china durante las dinastías Zhou, Qin y Han.

“Suspiros”

Qué bullicio de gente bajo los dátiles. La floración, la apertura: todo tiene su momento. Cuando empiecen a enrojecer la gente acudirá de todas partes; pero el día en que ya no haya dátiles, ¿quién los vendrá a contemplar?

“Qué finas, qué finas las dos puntas”

Qué finas, finas las dos puntas de la luna que empieza a sentarse y qué blancos y negros, mitad y mitad, las pupilas de los ojos. Cómo aletean, aletean los gallos que empiezan el canto y qué lluvia, qué lluvia de estrellas al amanecer.

“La parra trepadora sigue al viento”

Las parras se balancean con el viento sin quebrárseles ni tronco ni raíz; no sienten pero no se separan ¿por qué nosotros, que sentimos, sí?

“Poema de la pena”

La fuerza, el Cielo es perpetua y duradera, la vida del hombre, una y breve. Súbitos como una vela apagada por un golpe de viento los cien años de una vida plena son apenas un instante. Raro es toparse con un viajero bueno por segunda vez y la vida, ay, la vida no se puede prolongar. Estemos en un solo lugar o en cien distintos todos vamos atados al «Libro del monte Tai». Dura aún la felicidad entre los hombres y de golpe hay que ir al Pico Oriental. Hundámonos, gocemos en los sentimientos, ¡que nuestros viajeros corazones logren sus deseos!

“La luna que sale”

La luna que sale brillando, hermosura de quien yo amo. Qué suavidad y qué calma la suya, y qué pena mi corazón cansado. La luna que sale luciendo, belleza de quien yo amo. Qué suavidad y qué calma la suya, y qué zozobra en mi corazón cansado. La luna que sale alumbrando, perfección de quien yo amo. Qué suavidad y qué paz la suya, y qué dolor en mi corazón cansado.

[heretherebedork]

I am going to lose myself in Tai and Lomfon having to finally work for their love, having to make that choice and take those actions.

Patts and Tien have been taking care of them, respecting their boundaries, talking to them, giving them advice, working with them, helping them, supporting them. They have been carrying their relationship on their shoulders and in their own pain.

But now it's time for Tai and Lomfon to see the work they're doing and to give them back the same effort.

Tai will find Patts and give him the reassurance, give him the choice that he needs him to make. He will find him and he will let him know that he is loved and that he is not alone in this despite their broken soulmate connection.

Lomfon will make a film to show Tien he is loved and he will give him the chance to be seen by the world for who he truly and absolutely is, the caring and compassionate and brash and loving young man that Lomfon has realized he loved.

Love is a choice.

Love is a verb.

And now Tai and Lomfon will show that they understand that love is what you do and what you say and what you choose and not just what happens to you.

Love is not destiny or fate.

Love is what you do.

[vuonhoatuoivn]

Bo hoa Hong do Mix Thuy Tien tai Sai Gon 

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