#fof thoughts and musings

[kandadze]

Bai Jiu woke up and chose violence lol I was so appreciative of the fact that ZYC says this more than once.

Even though back at the Mount Kunlun, it could be read as him being jealous over ZYZ and WX's bond and trying to diminish the specialness of it by pointing out that there are other bonds that are just as meaningful, and it does sound as if he was trying to console himself rather than to express his beliefs (which I find hard to get behind because I don't see ZYC as someone who would lie to himself. Also, seeing how queer this show managed to be, I'm convincing myself that they played it for surface laughs for the uninitiated 😅)

Here, he's talking about his feelings directly and not in context of what others might have, and I have no issues believing that he genuinely means it. Whether he's trying to say that his love for WX is different than what Bai Jiu might have in mind, or to hint at something else entirely (or both lol), that I find less important.

When you're not ready to discuss the nuances of your sexuality with your younger brother.

And how this isn't the first time Yichen has said that phrase.They couldn't have hinted louder.

[forestofforever]

Meet the Muses: Forest of Forever Edition

From left to right: Sylvester, the Crow (FoF), The Crow (M. FoF)

Sylvester Crow is a man who has been through quite a lot. After his brother's passing, he struggled to cope with the loss. The accident that claimed his brother caused Sylvester to develop Nosocomephobia and as a result, he lost his job as a surgeon. He began practicing taxidermy, quickly developing an unhealthy obsession with the craft, as well as death itself.

The Crow (FoF) is a protector of the Forest. He can turn into an actual crow and will often fly around the Forest to ensure everyone's safety. When he spots a threat, he will shed his feathers and use his deadly touch to dispose of those that are about to harm his home. His memories and thoughts get fuzzy from time to time, but he never lets that get in the way of what must be done.

The Crow (Modern FoF) knows he must continue to fulfill his task, but it becomes more painful with each death he brings about. The Heart has become cruel and unfair, but the Crow has no way to fight against his control. If he disobeys, either the Heart will take full control over him and use him as a puppet, or he will simply die just like all the others who got in the way. There is no choice here. Just do as you're told.

[timetbl]

open to: anyone ! muse: jo ikyeol, umbra witch  summary: it has finally arrived that time in which ikyeol is supposed to find a familiar, probably expecting some butterfly or cat to present itself at his door ... and last thing he expected was to take care of a huge wounded werewolf who crashed into his shop and even ruined a few dresses.

“ talking about today being shitty. ” just right when he thought that the clan’s leader jab at the fact he still was going to proceed with finding himself a familiar when she still believed he was supposed to stay caged somewhere like his mother ━the sight of his shop in complete disarray, mannequins with associated outfits completely destroyed and a huge, bleeding ball fof fur seemingly unconscious on the floor clearly giving him a hard time in staying calm and collected. with a whip of his wrist he made sure that at least the window would return as sturdy and whole as it was, before walking to the creature. “ hey, are you okay ━and don’t even think about biting me or i’ll make you regret getting rid of your milk teeth. ”

[thecreaturecrossroads]

♡♡♡ :3

I'm gonna assume you're asking about Caoimhe? XD

#1 Her potential partner has to be passionate about the things that are important to them. And she needs to see that she is one of those things. They gotta make time for her and do little things that show they thought of her. And it doesn't have to be extravagant. If they see some flowers and pick them for her, or a cool rock or shell that they think she'd like? Food is always a good gift too. If they're a feral ass mofo(which she is very attracted to) snag her a wild boar or some fish or something and bring it to her! Go with her when she actually goes out to hunt! That's a big one.

#2 Don't be afraid to argue with her or make mistakes. She doesn't judge someone for being imperfect. Imperfection is part of life! Part of Nature! But if her potential partner does something that hurts her... apologize sincerely! If they gotta cool off first that's fine. So long as it happens. One of her biggest pet peeves with her Ex was that he NEVER once apologized. He stomped all over her boundaries and did things that physically harmed her. But never once admitted what he did was wrong and apologized and try not to do it again.

#3 If they want to do the horizontal tango with her then they're going to have to go a bit slowly. She's absolutely down for it if her partner and her have a connection. She likes the wild/rough stuff but like I said earlier don't go all hard core on her right off the bat. She's been f-ed up and unsure about that for a while, so ease into it and fof the love of everything do NOT try coercion. Along those lines, be adamant about aftercare. It MATTERS to her. She's going to freaking spoil her lover(s) rotten after they do the deed. Getting water, snacks, a shared bath where they help eachother with their hair and stuff, and cuddles after is her aftercare Dream.

Bonus because I can: Make her Laugh! This is HUGE. And pretty common amongst my muses. If your oc can make them laugh it is an instant key to getting them to want to be around your oc.

[kandadze]

Speaking of Bing Yi's mask (just as beautiful as the demon-turned-human was), when ZYC sees him in his delirium in ep 24, the mask is back on Bing Yi's face. He turns to ZYC and removes it, and it's as if the vision of him that ZYZ shared with ZYC was a "forced" reveal, only related to the sword form (which has a special connection to ZYZ via Ying Long), while this one was "real," because it was happening via ZYC and Bing Yi's connection through their very blood.

Thank you @kseniyagreen for this wonderful post about mask symbolism in FoF, it immediately made me think about the first time ever we saw Bing Yi!

His appearance wearing a mask has always fascinated me and I could feel it was also deeply symbolic because we've seen these other characters using masks metaphorically and literally.

I think Bing Yi's mask is a symbol of him staying hidden for so long, unknown and unseen by Zhuo Yichen, who was his direct descendant (that, and his very reincarnation). And when we first get to meet Bing Yi in that pretty fighting sequence showing his power and his fighting prowess, he appears in a mask, and it almost immediately shatters into pieces, revealing both the character, and the force, and ultimately, the very true nature of Zhuo Yichen, which is and has always been connected to demons, on a much deeper level than just fighting with them (well, he was kind of fighting himself when he was fighting the demons, including Zhu Yan who used to be his worst nightmare).

And it's interesting that it's Zhao Yuanzhou who reveals this memory(?) of Bing Yi to Zhuo Yichen, whether it is his own (from the times when he was Ying Long) or he's simply using his mind power to evoke the memory of Zhuo Yichen's blood which has the force of Bing Yi passed down to him, enabling him to use the Cloud Light Sword.

It all ties nicely with the idea that Zhao Yuanzhou and Zhuo Yichen are not simply repeating the fate of Ying Long and Bing Yi by some weird coincidence of fate, but are, in fact, their reincarnations (and everything points to that, really), which makes me think that maybe ZYZ even had memories of Bing Yi prior to them visiting that ancestral burial ground with the remnant of Ying Long's soul staying there.

That would explain why Zhao Yuanzhou knew so much about the Bing Yi force - he could tell that Zhuo Yichen wasn't using it at full power just from the first glance upon meeting him in ep.1, and he could actually teach him how to use that Bing Yi force later. Like, he's a Great Demon, sure, but how on earth would he know about that ancient dragon who passed away thousands of years ago? If he didn't come in contact with Bing Yi closely (and dare I say, intimately), so he knew exactly what it felt like and the icy forms it could take. And how Zhuo Yichen was not using the sword made out of Ying Long's horns at full capacity. Like it makes sense, and it's my little headcanon now :D

[streetcornertwoam]

I was tagged by @mssr-cellophane for this game

Rules: put your music on shuffle and write the first 13 songs that come up then choose 13 people to tag! So here’s my set:

Riff-off - Pitch Perfect cast

Everything Can Change - Spectacular! Cast

A-G-L-E-T - Phineas and Ferb

Ready to Go - Starkid (Space Tour)

Don’t Forget to Remember Me - Carrie Underwood

Goin’ Back to Hogwarts - Starkid (AVPSY)

Enemies and Allies - FIVEOHfirst (AJDKLFJAS OH FOF!!! I haven’t listened to them in ages...)

Dentist! - Steve Martin (Little Shop of Horrors)

Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off - Joe Nichols

Just The Way You Are/Just A Dream - Pitch Perfect

Invincible - Muse

Fare Thee Well - Rob Benedict (ROBBIE!!!)

Better Than This - Kimberly Locke

(already did this once, having to do it again ‘cause my computer fucked up and I didn’t have anything I wrote saved hooray! typing all this before doing the music ‘cause had to reopen itunes and now it’s being a dick)

Ok now that I’m finally done (again) I have to say...I’m glad I had to redo it ‘cause while there’s a few that make me cringe lol, I still really like all these and again...seeing FOF just...makes my heart happy

Tag: @falling-stars-and-pockets @captainhaterade @fan-is-an-understatement @adventureready @treefrogie84 @sandraugiga @eriquin @chalerbs @loveistheultimatetrip @lamentedfyre @samwellhaus @applesauce-pack @dragonseason

anyone that I tagged don’t feel pressured to do this, just a bit of fun...and I hardly ever do these things so thought I’d change it up a bit

[kandadze]

Oh, I have a lot of feels about these two as well XD

30,000-something years is honestly a timeframe that I cannot comprehend, but there are a few things that stand out to me as potential turning points.

First off, I think that at least in the beginning, ZYZ and LL's connection was that of forces of nature - the whole sequence of them moving together as streaks of light, then running while still half carried by their respective energies - the sheer power of that, the freedom they must've felt, the exhilaration; how they made each other feel then, no one else could match that. This was them at their most visceral and uncomplicated. (And I agree that LL, as a being equally powerful to ZYZ, might have helped with the malicious energy flare ups.)

Then there's the lore about how long it takes for demons to cultivate emotions. I believe the show gives us enough proof that ZYZ and LL's emotions did not develop in harmony; they don't seem to have developed the same emotions, or to the same degree, or at the same time, either. I believe that as they kept developing and cultivating different emotions, the discrepancy created a point of disconnect, but it was still not enough to break them up-

Until human world and their laws came into the picture. In my mind, their biggest difference was their views on and attitude towards humans, as well as their ideas on how to co-exist (if at all) with them. LL losing his head and killing the guards in WZY's dungeon was not a dealbreaker. Killing unrelated humans just because they were humans ZYZ had more issue with, and even then it wasn't what broke them up.

Again, that's my interpretation, but the accidental injury that ZYZ caused LL (I'm not sure if we were told at that point that it would turn fatal) was the final straw. Since it happened as ZYZ tried to prevent LL from killing the last person who was still alive in that blasted clinic, in LL's eyes it equaled a betrayal of their thousands of years old, demonic bond, in favor of species he barely tolerated before, and now actively hated. So he left, and even if there was a hope for reconciliation of sorts (which I'm sure they both wanted), we're told it never happened.

(I have many thoughts and feelings as to why, but this is already way too long, so I'll stop now. Thank you for indulging me if you got this far lol)

Ep 4 opening sequence is fucking insane.

[kandadze]

I've just had this half baked thought (while writing JingXiao, funnily enough) that one of the reasons why ZYZ's soul could - and did - fly to ZYC was because WX let go of that first "contract" he signed for her. As in, literally, removed it from her person and placed it on the creation stone, but also mentally and emotionally, she released the last physical trace of his old self. 

Seeing how much of his time with them at DHB was about oaths and contracts, I feel like only once he was released from that one last vow (as his body was released from the malicious energy's hold) he could really start anew. And so, she helped to set him free.

[kandadze]

The death of the nameless guard in FoF ep 1

I was planning on including this in my bigger meta on deaths in FoF, especially since it's shown in juxtaposition to the death of the bunny demon WX caught earlier in the episode, but seeing that I'm here anyway...

I think that especially on the first watch, this senseless death, basically a kill in cold blood to make a point, is understandably considered a serious flaw in ZYZ's characterization overall. I also think that on the first watch, and in the very first episode, we're *supposed* to be disturbed by this. We're *supposed* to sit there with our mouths gaping open, going, what the fuck, man? Because in ep 1, ZYZ is supposed to look and feel and *be* the villain. We shouldn't forget that this is a powerful being who ZYC must hate for a good reason; oh sure he folds like a wet tissue when WX knifes him later, hahaha, great demon who? but she's the only one he allows to treat him like this, and we need to remember how terrifying this guy could be, if he chose to - he can literally kill someone by crooking his finger at them.

Cool motive still murder? Sure it is. The great demon killed a human being in cold blood. A few blocks down the road, the Chongwu Camp killed a defenseless bunny demon, also in cold blood.

Now what I didn't quite think of on my first watch, but realize is pretty obvious now, is that we need to look at the context of where we are when ZYZ makes his point so drastically, which will help us realize that there's (at least) one key difference between the bunny and the nameless guard (or at least the one difference I'm going to focus on). Our nameless guard is *not* a defenseless petty criminal, or a random human who just waltzed in from the street. (Like, y'know, not to look far, those patients who stepped into WZY's clinic that just happened to be situated above a dungeon full of captive demons.) He's a guy who signed up to work for a Demon Hunting Bureau. His *job* is to hunt - and often to kill, no doubt - demons. Right at the time ZYZ taunts ZYC with his powers, this guard, along with 15 others, is at the ready to step in and help ZYC to subdue the great demon, by any means necessary. Our nameless guard should know the risks of this line of job - how easy it is to turn from hunter to prey; heck, he probably signed a Tiandu equivalent of a safety waiver.

So, was this guy's death untimely? Sure it was. Was it senseless? No more than the bunny's. The difference is, even so early in the story, and painted as the villain, ZYZ didn't kill a civilian. For all intents and purposes, he killed a fantasy equivalent of a border patrol officer, who was ready to kill *him*.

(I have more thoughts but I think I got my point across. Off to gif stuff.)

[kandadze]

This drama is great at showing how our goals and priorities can shift, drastically so, as we change and mature. I have a different take on WX's "ending," not that I disagree with you on it being tragic in a way, I just choose to look at it as temporary. As in, yes, at a time that the drama ends, WX is alone. But she hasn't lost what she gained (love and friendship, and confidence in herself etc), rather her grasp has become very loose.

Someone said that once ZYZ died the whole squad scattered to the winds, and I think it's only natural that after living in one another's pockets for a while, especially considering how eventful that "while" was, there will be a moment where everyone will need to be by themselves. Simply to process, away from outside influences, but without losing touch with them.

Going back to WX's main relationships. ZYC and her were practically inseparable since she arrived at the Demon Hunting Bureau 8 years prior; it was high time for him to come to terms with his feelings both towards her and ZYZ, and act on them as he saw fit, and he does just that. I cannot imagine WX would try to stop him from finally doing something just for himself.

I believe WX left PSJ to give the archer a slight push to figure out whether she actually wanted to pursue what seems to have started between them at the beginning of the drama. She showed clearly enough that she was interested, but PSJ has to make that final step.

And it might have been me who said that WX gave ZYZ's soul the freedom to fly to ZYC (though I'm pretty sure I just expressed a lot of folks' exact same thoughts out loud) by leaving the contract at the altar stone, but in my mind it wasn't giving up on the relationship with him... or rather, it was giving up the relationship with who he was before - the great demon, full of malicious energy and suicidal ideation to boot, who could never be truly hers. She might still be able to have a new relationship with the "new" ZYZ, if he comes back, and if he comes back early enough, and the thing is, at the end of the drama, we can't know if any of that will come to pass, just as she can't.

But she can hope, and so can we.

I paused my FoF rewatch for My Journey to You but reading fanfics about FoF has me thinking about how tragic Wen Xiao’s ending is. When I watched it the first time, I was so focused on the tragedy of Bai Jiu, Pei Sijing being left alone, and how how happy I was that ZYC and ZYZ got a hopeful ending that I didn’t pay that much attention to Wen Xiao. But I keep coming back to how sad her ending is and maybe it doesn’t seem as sad as it actually is, at first, because nominally she got exactly what she wanted — the restored powers of the Baize Goddess. In fact…EVERYONE gets exactly what they wanted at the start:

Wen Xiao starts out seeking the Baize token and trying to make herself useful — at the end she is the fully restored Baize Goddess, very much alive and useful

ZYZ starts out wanting to die at ZYC’s hands — ends dying at ZYC’s hands

ZYC — wants to restore the Demon Hunting Bureau and kill ZYZ — ends with the Bureau restored and kills ZYZ

Pei Sijing — wants to solve the mystery of her brother death — solves it

Bai Jiu — wants to bring his mom back/find out what happened to her — brings her back

Ying Lei — wants to become a cook — becomes a cook

But as each character gets what they said they wanted, we see that their priorities have shifted and they are now focused on something else. This ranges from Bai Jiu, who is overjoyed that he succeeds in his original mission, but is now focused on saving his found family, to ZYZ, who doesn’t want to follow through on his original goal at all.

For Wen Xiao, like ZYZ and ZYC, getting what she originally wanted turns out to mean sacrificing her personal desires for the greater good. But unlike ZYZ and ZYC, who manage to duck out of their worst ending at the last minute, Wen Xiao is trapped by her fate as the Goddess without reprieve (as far as I can tell?! someone come tell me i'm wrong?!).

Not only does ZYC leave her and Wen Xiao leaves Pei Sijing, she also probably gives up her relationship with ZYZ (someone wrote a great meta about how she places her contract with ZYZ on the alter stone and this is her letting go of him and that only by releasing him in this way is he able to find his second chance with ZYC).

She ends the drama completely alone in the Wilderness, having lost everything she gained over the course of the drama except the token itself! It’s what she's been working towards the whole time and it’s only made possible by her selflessness and it’s a complete fucking tragedy!!

Wen Xiao’s selfless generosity is a dreadful and heart wrenching thing.

[kandadze]

Agreeing with what's been said already. Also,

3: I'm fairly certain they mention the puppet master demon being 100,000 years old, so I'd assume the original goddess goes back pretty far.

4: I'm not sure dividing of the token/ every Baize goddess needs to have a demon counterpart was actually a norm? The goddess who sealed away Fei and Qing Geng seemed to be able to do her thing without any help. And ZYZ might as well have been Zhao Wan'er's counterpart the way he was, as her friend and confidant.

6: Hm, as far as I can recall LL's energy looked the same in the blood oath scene (I think they show it briefly in ep 29), so before the ever burning fire happened. I think I actually giffed that, hold on...

Hopefully the novel has more lore in it. Till then, it's a field day for fanfic writers 😁

Fam, I need your help. I have so many questions about Fangs of Fortune lore, but I don’t think I can handle rewatching the show yet- if you know the answers, can you please share?

(Pretty baby!ZYC to catch your attention)

1. Did we ever get an explanation as to why ZYZ, the forgiving and allegedly chatty old demon, didn’t bother to go and talk to his “best friend” of 30k years after they had a fight? I just don’t get what stopped him? Li Lun didn’t hurt the Baize goddess (much), nor did he hurt ZYZ . Killed humans? Yes, but that argument is out of the window since ZYZ had no problem exploding a man’s heart in the first episode just to prove his point. So, why not go and make up? After all they’ve been through? Especially considering that ZYZ knew that the magical STD he accidentally gave LL was killing him, and then helped Baize lock him up for all eternity “to save him”?

2. In the light of the first question- when did ZYZ find out that ZYCs sword can remove the ever burning fire? if he knew that before he showed up at the Bureau, why didn’t he convince ZYC to do it on LL? (It would be a hard sell, yes, but strategically speaking, it would solve most of their future problems- LL would be healed (or dead), and would either stop helping the big evil or even join them).

3. ZYZ and LL at some point fixed a tree and a tower (when they exchanged wedding vows oath at that bloody stone. Why did they have to do it? Where was the Baize goddess then? Or mountain gods? What was it even about? Did we ever get more info or was it just for the visuals?

4. If every Baize goddess was destined to have a demon counterpart / lover (as per that puppet demons story), why wasn’t ZYZ Wen Xiao’s masters destined lover? He spent more time with the master than with WX? And if he wasn’t, where was that masters demon?

5. Is Baize goddess immortal unless killed or suicided, or does she have a mortal life span? Or, does she stay young and healthy until it’s time for her sacrifice for the greater good?

6. Li Lun’s original energy signature was blue with white light. It later got corrupted by the ever burning fire, but when he reconstituted himself from a tree branch, the fire was gone, so why was his energy still smoky black with yellow flashes in it?

[kandadze]

This show is pretty much *made* of foreshadowing, mirrors, and parallels lol

That's an excellent point, about WX having regressed to her younger self. It's like she's locked in a triggering flashback, reexperiencing her trauma; of course her short-term memory will go out the window.

I should add - this show is also made of obsessions. Everyone's fixated on something/someone (no wonder our heads are swimming with meta...)

[kandadze]

Heh, I just randomly thought today of how, when ZYZ's feeble self-control finally snaps in that ep, it's due to his "evil" part mentioning ZYC. It's as if longing for ZYC belonged to the "greedy" part of himself, whereas WX is "safe" because the emotion there is so different... If they had more time, I wonder if ZYZ would have learned to balance those two ends of the spectrum better so that he could stop suppressing a big part of who he is. (And I know that could be a whole other drama lol)

About Zhao Yuanzhou's personalities and their dreams.

I see a clear symbolism in the fact that the diametric opposite of the crazy demonic part of Zhao Yuanzhou is the fantasy of a quiet life with Wen Xiao.

And this makes sense regardless of whether you see their relationship as romantic or not (I prefer to see it as platonic).

When I saw this scene for the first time, I thought - " it is a perfect image of a mental health center". Nature, a simple quiet life, in some very isolated place.

If the "evil" part of Zhao Yuanzhou represents his greed for emotions and desire for absolute freedom. Then, fighting with this part, he turns to the other extreme - and this is the role of Wen Xiao in his life.

She is associated with an image of some kind of normality. Like a goddess, she has "pills", I mean, divine power, calming all demons. But what may be even more important is their history together.

When Zhao Yuanzhou was in a severe depression, the former goddess asked him to look after the young Wen Xiao. Probably not only for Wen Xiao's safety, but also for the demon's own mental stability. This contact could not cure Zhao Yuanzhou's depression, but such a calm presence in the life of another person gave support to his existence. And this is the beauty of their connection for me.

For me personally, this connection is not about passion, but about the fact that Wen Xiao gives others the strength to continue to be.

We often tend to underestimate the importance of such people in our lives. Their role is not as noticeable as those who make the heart beat faster and the soul sing. But in a difficult period, it is these people who separate us from jumping off a cliff. In this, I see the power of Wen Xiao as a person (not fully revealed, in my opinion, this could have been realized better), but as it was probably intended.

That is why she was able to grow that tree for three hundred years. It is not just about patience. It is the gift of being, which is different from the gift of life, but precedes it. The ability to give strength and stability to the world around. And to rely on reality as it is.

Therefore, it is Wen Xiao who represents for Zhao Yuanzhou the ability to exist without his entire internal opera theater of passions and desires. This part is stable, but it is absolutely separated at the other pole from his demonic part.

What is also symbolic is that in those moments when Zhao Yuanzhou does not argue with himself, but as if mixes in some kind of semi-delirium, he sees a completely different dream.

And this one is not at all peaceful and harmonious, it contains pain and a shade of nightmare, and at the same time it is also a way of life of his dream - the one in which Zhuo Yichen becomes a demon and takes the place in his life that Li Lun used to occupy.

And this dream is feverish and painful, because only the one who can make him alive can kill him, and being alive goes with pain, fear and confusing, these two sides go together.

[kandadze]

Reblogging for this excellent addition. And to add to what you said about LL, it's easy to overlook that he *is* in fact a dying man - burning up from the wound ZYZ inadvertently caused him, shortening his lifespan every time he posseses someone, and finally from WZY's poison - because we don't find out about any of it till we're well into the second half of the show. And also because LL just feels so damn alive for most of the time. The irony of then learning about his condition, and his fear, is unparalleled.

Every polycule must have: the babygirl, the guy that's dying, and the mass murderer... (Insp: x x)

Fangs of Fortune, ep 32/ ep 19/ ep 29/ ep 6

[kandadze]

Absolutely. Hence why we have many characters express the sentiment throughout the show, death is "easy," it's the living who can change fate.

Still thinking about how the greatest act of love is not sacrificing your life. But the willingness to take a burden on your soul and carry it for many years for the sake of one happy moment for the one you love.

The greatest feat of love is to continue to hold on to something that is destined to disappear.

For the one who holds on, it is a painful feeling that his whole world is slipping through his fingers.

But for the one who must disappear, this last touch, this last look, this last feeling of being loved never ends.

The burden of death is carried on the shoulders not by those who die, but by those who remain alive. Their story is the most tragic.

[kandadze]

Hence why I consider FoF to be of the best queer shows I've seen in a while, since not only does it gift us with numerous constellations of connections, it also takes time to explore them all without putting too much emphasis on just one kind. As an aroace I also appreciate the fact that we get to choose what each of those connections is - they mostly remain unnamed or just loosely hinted at, and again, not one is suggested to be more important than the other. They literally have ZYC spell it out for us at least twice, in case we didn't get it lol

(Polycules are hard work, but also so much fun; and fun to write! Wishing you lots of inspiration!)

Fangs of Fortune & Polyamory

I don't think I've ever seen a drama explore polycules or, dare I say, polyamory in such an effortless and non-toxic manner. The show that came closest to this trope, I think, was the Wachowski's Sens8, but it was more about mind-sharing in various sometimes increasingly intimate ways, which is a different angle altogether.

It's incredible to see a show explore actual human (or demon) relationships and different kinds of love within a team of close people who can be considered as a found family. It also touches upon their other relationships and familial bonds in a lighthearted, but respectful tone that discovers and acknowledges those different types of love, and fondness, and affection. I loved it to the point that I actually found it to be a healing experience for me.

We put so many labels on people and our own different types of loves and affections (along with a society still devoured by numerous taboos about same-sex relationships or about having different types of relationships all at once simultaneously). But that's like… we're doing it anyway (if we allow ourselves some exploration). Some people are like soulmates but you do not necessarily have that physical spark with them. Others may be like that toxic magnet that brings out the primal desire, but you wouldn't be able to build a relationship with them even if your life depended on it. While others, still, are more like friends that sometimes turn into lovers (or vice versa). And it's a whole net of interconnectedness. And it's about love more than anything else (in its various forms).

And I love how the show doesn't even draw those lines, so we don't have very definitive couples as actual couples, we just see people sharing different kinds of bonds and sometimes doing romantic things together (and that equation changes all the time, whether it's M/M or F/F or F/M). And those bonds also differ - they can be deep and important, or painful, or loving and hopeful, or brotherly, and isn't that what human relationships are all about? They don't necessarily fit into some formulas of being 'one and only' or 'till death does us apart', and there can be many important people in our lives - each with a different flavor.

I might not have the mental and energetic capacity to support multiple relationships like that, but this show enlightened me at least to the possibility of those different types of loves that can co-exist with each other and not be mutually exclusive. The beauty of Fangs of Fortune is that they actually showed us how all that can work, setting that tight-knit little family of the Demon Hunting Bureau as an example. Of course, there's lots of drama, and doomed narratives, but this undertone has been evident throughout the whole series and it just made me all warm and fuzzy inside (and wanting to write fics not only about couple relationships, but throuple and, if possible, polycule as well :D).