#i have watched many other episodes as well i promise haha

[samanthaswishes]

Me: You should really continue your full rewatch of agents of shield and finish your posts instead of rewatching seasons 1, 2, and 7 over again. It’s been like over a year since your last rewatch post. You’re on season 4, you love season 4

Also Me: *knows season 5 is next*

Me: You know what, never mind

[galadriel-blue]

I want Celeborn to be present in The Rings of Power and here’s why:

A lot of people love Celeborn more than I thought, so it gave me the confidence to post why I want him to be in the show and what I think his character should be like. Hopefully this is coherent. There may be mistakes despite me proofreading it 100,000 times haha! I kind of rambled here, but I hope my fellow Celeborn enjoyers like my random thoughts nonetheless. Share your thoughts with me because I'd love to hear them!

(p.s. I finally watched the new episodes, so this post will have small mentions of The Rings of Power Season 2, so if you don't want spoilers, don't read!)

I don’t care when they introduce him. I’m secretly hoping it’s soon, but if it’s not, I simply hope they bring him in eventually. But when they do make his introduction, I hope they do it well. And by well, I mean that I hope they don’t water down his character, and his relationship with Galadriel, just to make Sauron the better love interest.

Now, do not jump to conclusions about my opinion just yet. I am not slandering the ever-popular ship of Haladriel/Saurondriel. It may be true that I have a love-hate relationship with the pairing, but that is a topic for a different post. If I am completely honest, I don’t see anything romantic between Galadriel and Halbrand/Sauron. I can recognize the undertones, which I sort of mention in this post, but I personally see the pairing as a non-romantic bond. If you are a Haladriel/Saurondriel shipper, know that I love you and appreciate you, and even though I have complicated feelings surrounding the ship, I am eating up all of the content that is being created for it. You guys are amazing. Seriously.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I will now discuss my thoughts…

When Celeborn arrives in the Rings of Power, I want him to be like Halbrand/Sauron, but slightly to the left. Let me explain.

What makes Sauron and Galadriel’s dynamic so appealing is their bond. How they have been and become connected by fate to be the opposites to each other. He binds her to power, his power, and she binds him to the light. It’s such an interesting connection: Two people, two enemies, bound together by some unspeakable force, bringing them closer in a circle that seems like it’s unbreakable. Many find romance hiding between the lines, and while I do think there is a romantic temptation there, it’s been doomed to fail from the start.

Because when we face it, we see how one-sided it is. Sauron may hold love for Galadriel, but it is only in the way that she makes him feel about himself. She was the first one to forgive him, despite her not knowing who he was at the time, and she was the only one who made him feel like what he was doing was good. His desire to keep her for himself is entirely selfish. He may promise her power, but it’s not her own. It’s his. And even if she did join him, there would be no sense of equality between them. He would always hold more, and in turn, he would hold Galadriel back. Even if at some point he did (or does) feel a true romantic attraction for her, it still would never work because his lust for power, and love for himself, will always be stronger no matter what Galadriel makes him feel.

But it is tempting for Galadriel to want this power because he twists it so beautifully. He is a deceiver, and he catered his deception to her desires. Galadriel likes to be in control. She likes to be strong. She likes to be a leader. Combining that with her stubborn nature and her unsteady, grief-stricken mind, it is no surprise that she fell under Sauron’s spell. Not to mention, he turned himself into exactly what she needed at the time. Someone who pushed her, someone who didn’t hold her back. Sauron became the most ideal partner in the most toxic way because he only became that for her in order to achieve what he wanted. He was using her the whole time, regardless of the feelings he developed as he got to know her, which makes their dynamic so incredibly complex.

Because that’s what evil people do. They convince you that they are your friend and that what they’re doing to you is good, and when you contradict them, they cast the blame onto you. “Sauron lives because of you.” Suddenly it’s Galadriel’s fault for finding a connection with him in the first place. Because she resisted him, it is now her burden to bear all of his hatred inside of her. She’s the one to blame. He makes it her fault that he lives because she was strong enough to push the darkness away. Now he is making it a point to haunt her with darkness wherever she goes by filling her with guilt.

And part of her hates him for it but part of her wants him back. “I felt it too.” She keeps thinking back on that moment because it felt good to be understood for once, after thousands of years of people telling you that you were wrong and that you needed to stop. She felt loved and seen with him.

So basically, I want Celeborn to be Halbrand if Halbrand was just a bit softer and wasn’t a master manipulator hiding behind the guise of a nice, attractive man.

Galadriel and Celeborn are bound by an invisible string too, they just don’t know it yet. The Silmarillion describes that they “had great love between them.” I don’t want the show to erase that. We saw how she spoke so fondly of Celeborn as she reminisced with Theo. She spoke of a glimpse of who she was before the war, with a faraway look and tears in her eyes. Galadriel was a woman in love, one who danced outside in fields of flowers and had a sense of humor, even as she was watching her beloved being sent away to a battle they did not believe would last so long. She thought she lost her love.

She literally thinks Celeborn is dead, and it tears her heart apart. Because in my mind, Celeborn was the only other person who truly saw her, other than Finrod and now Halbrand. And Morfydd even said it in an interview where they asked her about Celeborn. She said that there is a part of Galadriel that isn’t awake because she believes her husband to be dead. Because of his supposed death, the quote, “softest part of her” has been closed and hopefully Celeborn will return and make her feel safe again. How tragically sad and romantic is that?

Galadriel’s heart is lonely. She doesn’t know Celeborn is still out there. That’s another reason why it was so easy for her to open her heart to Halbrand. I feel like a part of her saw what she used to have in Celeborn in him. Then, it was so easily torn apart, and she was hurt again after being built up. What a blow to her self-esteem and her mind.

In Celeborn’s character, I want him to be similar to Halbrand in certain ways. I want him to be clever and strong. Perhaps even a little bit stubborn himself. I want to see him as a man who pushes Galadriel to be the best version of herself and keeps her in check when she starts running too a bit too fast, (but not so much that we take away the spitfire that Galadriel is) as Halbrand did for her on Numenor. I want to see him as someone who challenges her brain. Allows her to make plans but helps her navigate when things become difficult. I don’t want Celeborn to be someone who holds Galadriel back because her steadfast nature is what I love most about her. Her ability to be emotional is something I want Celeborn to support. I want him to be a bit of a dork who loves his wife no matter what. I see Celeborn as someone who is sweet, tender, and kind, but that doesn’t take away from his own strength. I want him to be all of Halbrand’s best traits because then we would see why it was so easy for Galadriel to fall sway to her enemy’s schemes. It would also just be super interesting to watch how two different people, with similar personality traits, both had a connection (and fell in love if you like the Haladriel route) with the same person and both followed different life paths. Celeborn as good and true despite the darkness in Galadriel, and Halbrand, is the darkness among the light that Galadriel holds.

This is why I hope they cast someone who looks like Charlie Vickers a bit because maybe she found comfort in a “familiar” face. It would make sense why she was so quick to trust Halbrand if she saw the traits of someone who loved her the most behind his eyes.

And here’s another thing. I don’t want Celeborn to be used to diffuse Galadriel’s personality. I keep seeing arguments (mainly angry YouTube men) use Celeborn to hate on Haladriel and to make Galadriel fit their ideals of what her character “should be” in their minds.

All of the dudebros sitting in front of their computers, arguing against Haladriel/Sauron by using Celeborn as their point of reason (“Why add enemies to lovers?? It doesn’t make sense to the canon blah blah blah”) only want Celeborn in the show to reel Galadriel in. They hate Haladriel because it denies canon, but they want Celeborn to be the main focus instead of Galadriel, because strong female characters can’t exist in the Tolkien universe without a man apparently.  And they use “canon” as their scapegoat, but what’s the deeper message they’re spilling? They can’t stand seeing a female character being badass (excuse my language) without a man to back her up in the way they want to see it. In their eyes, Galadriel is supposed to be soft, ethereal, quiet, mystical, and never fighting in armor. They want her to be their perfect male fantasy of what a mysterious woman should be. But are we forgetting how she banished Sauron in The Hobbit? Everyone acts like Galadriel was never a fighter, but we see her use her immense power to send away to greatest evil she’s ever seen. Where is the logic??

These people who insist Celeborn be introduced, simply to be the “proper love interest because that’s what canon says” are completely missing the point of his character. Their version of Celeborn is soaked in prejudice because they want him to be the stereotypical man to hold Galadriel back and take away all of her stubbornness and strength (I.e. the parts of her that make her such a relatable character for me). That is not the Celeborn I want.

I want a Celeborn that enhances and supports the traits that Galadriel already had from the start of season one, and the traits she will continue to have as the series progresses. Heck, I want these traits that she possesses to be the reason he fell in love with her in the first place. Galadriel is feminine, and regal, with an heir of beauty, but she is also clever, quick-witted, and even quick to anger. She’s not a picture-perfect woman, and I love it. And I bet Celeborn loves it too. I’ll say it again: “There was great love between them.” Great love comes with knowing every part of a person, even what we consider bad, and loving them despite of it. Regardless of how they bring him in, or if they do at all, I want him to be a strength for her, without getting rid of all of the parts of her character that made me love her in the first place.

The difference between Galadriel and Halbrand and Galadriel and Celeborn is that while Haladriel’s dynamic is centered around selfishness (from both of them desiring power and possibly each other so much so that it blinds them) Galadriel and Celeborn could be centered around selflessness. I mean, we see it in their story. When Galadriel eventually decides to go to Valinor, Celeborn doesn’t make her feel bad for leaving. He is understanding and compassionate. He respects her decision. And she respects him for staying behind. He returns to her eventually, but in their time apart there is no hatred.

I am not saying that the Haladriel ship is selfish, I am just saying that the two characters are selfish. I am analyzing the characters in the ship, not the ship and the shippers, so please keep that in mind.

Both Galadriel and Halbrand/Sauron are obsessed with each other (albeit in slightly differing ways) which makes them do things they can’t control.

Galadriel pleads with Elrond to help her in S2. “I can’t let him in again.”

“He never left Galadriel.”

She knows the control Sauron has over her is too strong. She knows it’s bad, but she still wants it. It’s unhealthy and wrong, but the heart follows where it wills when it is weak. Galadriel needs support and I hope we will eventually see Celeborn provide it.

The thing I am most afraid of is that they will turn Celeborn into an easily dislikable character, simply because they are following what most of the fans want. It’s not a bad thing to cater to an audience, but if they butcher his character for the sake of it, then I will be greatly disappointed. I want Celeborn to have just as much depth as Galadriel, and I want their relationship to have as much depth as Haladriel does. I don’t want Celeborn to be perfect, and I don’t want Galadriel to be either. I want their relationship to have flaws, but I also want to see the great love between them.

Galadriel is going through some complicated emotions. She’s experiencing the most dramatic situationship of all time. Perhaps that will hurt Celeborn in some ways, watching how his lover is tempted by another man, and I want to see that. But I also want to see him strengthen her in the process, by helping her through it instead of abandoning her. Even though it hurts him. Even though it hurts her. Because let’s face it, the best relationships are built on communication, and when one person makes a mistake, you don’t just get up and run when things get tough. You battle through it. The good and the ugly. Until one day, your connection is stronger because of it.

To sum it up, I ship Galadriel and Celeborn, and I can’t wait to see their dynamic onscreen, whenever it ends up happening. I just hope they do it right. I feel like such an unpopular TROP fan when I talk about them, because in all honesty, I favor Celadriel much more than Haladriel/Saurondriel, and we all know between the two what the most popular ship is. That’s not to say I don’t get excited when I see moments between Galadriel and Halbrand that could be interpreted as romantic, or when my friends post Haladriel fanfiction with so much enthusiasm. I eat that stuff up because I love it when people get excited about what they love. I just hope there are people out there who will be excited when it’s my ship's turn to shine, or when I gush about the Celadriel fanfictions I am bound to post.

 Like I said before, I have complicated feelings about Haladriel/Saurondril that I will explain at some point, (and again, I am not a Haladriel hater by any means) but I want to explain my opinion of it right because I just know some people will come after me if I say something that disagrees with them. I want to be delicate okay-

I don’t even know if I explained my thoughts on Celeborn clearly, but I hope I can find some people who understand where I’m coming from with this. The moment Galadriel talked about Celeborn, how he saw her dancing, and how he looked like a silver clam in his armor, I fell in love with the ship. That may make me the odd one out, but perhaps I’ll discover some people who feel the same about them.

Feel free to discuss your thoughts with me! I’d love to hear them! (If you disagree, make sure to make your point respectfully please-)

[chahnniesroom]

tenderness | chapter 3: inevitable

[noun] /ˈtendərnəs/

1. the quality of being gentle, kind, or loving

2. the feeling of pain, aching, or soreness

pairing: bang chan x female reader

summary: in a world where soulmates are rare and precious, you don’t know why the universe has decided to give you one. you never could have imagined that they would be an idol, and one that you worked with at that, or the challenges that would arise from your bond.

chapter word count: 3.5k

chapter warnings: arguing, implied that reader doesn't have a good relationship with her family

a/n: this is the first chapter with mixed pov! time to see some things from chan's perspective :)

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter | read it on ao3

The first time that you had watched Channie's Room in person, it was an accident. You had had dinner with Chan and lost track of time until a reminder had popped up on his phone. You had started cleaning up all your things when he had shyly suggested that you stay and watch. Technically, Chan doesn’t need any staff with him as he does Channie’s Room, but occasionally if they were being done in his studio then someone would sit in. After so many episodes, he’s trusted enough to know what he can and can’t do on stream and he doesn’t require any technical support. 

It was fun for you, watching him interact with Stays and enjoy music. These streams were fanservice, but you knew Chan well enough by now to be able to tell that he was genuinely enjoying himself. After his customary sign-off and making sure that the stream was actually over, he had turned to you and asked what you thought. You had told the truth, that you liked being able to see this side of him, and that since he was clearly enjoying himself, you enjoyed watching too. It was different to be in-person and you had to make sure that you didn’t laugh at any of Chan’s reactions or the comments that were sent in, especially when he read out a few cheesy pick up lines and quickly glanced over to where you sat.

You weren’t sure if your presence made a difference for him- he had only looked at you a couple times during the stream- so you figured that it’d be a one time thing. But the next week when you were at your desk, you got a text.

[8:14pm - received]

Hey Y/n

I’m planning on doing Channie’s Room in 15 min

[8:14pm - sent]

okay! Have fun :)

[8:15pm - received]

Want to come watch? No pressure if you’re busy though haha

[8:15 - sent]

Oh! Sure, I’ll be down in a second!!

It had gone about the same as the first time. You didn’t say anything and he didn’t acknowledge you during the hour and a half that he was live for. Still, every week you would get a text and every week you find yourself in a chair in the corner of his studio, carefully out of sight from the camera.

—

This Sunday is similar to every other, you have the stream pulled up on your phone with the sound turned off, watching as the comments fly past. He’s eating dinner, even though it’s well past the time that you would consider to be acceptable for dinner. You catch yourself smiling at how excited he is for each bite and have to school your expression in case he happens to look over.

A notification pops up overtop of the video and you freeze. 

You come back to yourself when Chan calls out your name. When you blink, you’re still looking at your phone, but the video is blank. The stream is over and you didn’t even realise.

“Y/n, is everything okay?”

“Oh nothing, just saw a weird comment and it caught me off guard,” you laugh.

“What did it say?” Chan asks, instantly concerned.

“Nothing, it’s not important. It wasn’t even anything, I promise.” 

And really, it’re true. It was just a text with a date and time. After all, how could you say that it was a text from your eomoni that caused such a strong reaction? It would just lead to more and more questions and you’s not in the mood to deal with that. You know you'll have to bring up your family with Chan eventually, but you don’t know how he’ll react and you don’t know what you’d say anyway.

For now, you paste on a smile and promise that you’ll tell him tomorrow when the time is right.

—

A couple weeks later, it was a rare evening that all the members plus yourself were available to have dinner at the dorms. Minho had taken advantage of an afternoon free of schedules and used the time to prepare a feast of bossam, kimchi jjigae, dubu jorim, as well as a spread of banchan.

Eventually the topic shifts from work related to the upcoming time off they had for Chuseok. They go around the table, sharing their plans, even though everybody knew what to expect. You had talked to most of the boys beforehand and knew they were going to visit their families, while Chan and Felix were keeping each other company at the dorms. By extension, that meant you were also going to be staying at the dorms, something you were more than happy to do.

When the conversation makes it around to you, you are somewhat preoccupied with scooping some more rice and tofu into your bowl. Felix playfully nudges both you and Chan while asking, “Any special plans, you two?”

“Nothing,” Chan replies at the exact same time that you grimace and say, “dinner with my family.”

The whole table stills as the boys look between the two of you and Chan noticeably stiffens. They've never heard the conversations you've had with Chan about meeting your parents, but the lack of information you've shared with them is likely telling enough.

You determinedly mash together everything in your bowl, trying to ignore the stares from everyone and the way your cheeks are heating up.

"We celebrate Chuseok together every year. I'm- I'm required to attend," you mutter into your food.

"That sounds nice. You don't see them often, right?" Felix says cautiously, breaking the tense silence that has settled over the table.

"I-" Before you can finish, Chan abruptly stands up, pushing his chair away from the table. He heads straight toward the door, slinging a coat over his shoulders and shoving his feet into shoes.

"I'm going to the studio." Is the only explanation he gives before the door is swinging shut behind him.

Your knuckles turn white around the handle of your spoon. The braised tofu in your bowl has been turned to paste and though it smelled good a few minutes ago, your appetite has vanished. 

You knew that your Chuseok plans would eventually have to be brought up, but you had been dreading it. Even if you had never mentioned anything, it sat as a heavy weight on your shoulders for the past few days. You had spent hours trying to think of the right things to say, but had never built up the courage to talk to him. You knew he really valued family connections in a way that you never would. Chan's curiosity about your family paired with his close relationship with his own had left a bitter taste in your mouth that prevented you from speaking up any time the two of you were alone. You had hoped that it wouldn’t be a big deal, but clearly that wasn’t the case.

You definitely regretted it now. Practically anything would have been better than him finding out in front of the rest of the members because you had absent-mindedly spoken.

You close your eyes for a second before also rising from the table.

"I'll go after him," you say breathlessly. "I'm sorry for… that. I should have talked to him before. I- I'm sorry. Thank you for dinner, Minho-ssi. Sorry."

You bow quickly to avoid making eye contact with anybody and quickly gather your bowl and utensils. Chan had left his phone on the table in his rush to leave, so you grab that too and pocket it. Once you put everything down on the counter, you stand over the sink and massage your forehead. You really didn't want to have to talk to Chan, but knew he was like you and would be stuck in his head if left alone for too long. 

You can hear the boys starting to talk to each other in low voices and that is enough for you to force yourself towards the door.

—

When you finally make it to Chan's studio and inch open the door, he's already on his laptop with his headphones on. Either he doesn't notice your entry or is trying to ignore it, but he's not actively working on anything, just staring blankly at an unfinished track.

When you say his name, he startles and jerks his arm, making his cursor skitter across his computer screen.

He half pulls off his headphones while turning towards you, but pauses when he recognizes who's at the door.

"I'm sorry," you say immediately, stepping further into the room. "I-"

"I don't want to talk right now." Chan cuts you off, shaking his head and turning back to his laptop to continue glaring at the track he has open.

You don't know what to do, so you edge back towards the exit. You're just reaching for the handle when he calls out.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" He's still not looking at you, fists clenched and his whole body tense. "Or was I just supposed to find out on the day of the dinner?"

"I was!" you say defensively. "Of course I was going to tell you! I've been meaning to for days, just haven't… haven't gotten around to it."

Chan swivels around and impatiently gestures towards his couch and you quickly take a seat, acutely aware that this puts you directly in front of him. 

"Just tell me? No invitation? Not even going to give me a choice to say if I want to go?" he presses. You shrink into yourself as he continues on, not even giving you time to respond. "I introduced you to my family, even though they're in Australia. You met my sister in person! I don’t know a thing about your family other than that you have one. Do your parents even know about me?"

"They know," you say in a small voice, but don’t elaborate further. Chan doesn't look satisfied by your response, frustratedly running a hand through his hair. He blows out an angry breath and his posture suddenly deflates.

"I just- I don't get it. Is it me? Are you embarrassed to introduce me to your parents?" Chan asks, sounding defeated.

"It's not you-" 

"I just don’t understand. Is it because- I know that being an idol is unconventional, but-"

“No, it’s not that,” you interrupt before he can spiral further. 

“Then… why?”

"It's not- Chan-oppa, there's nothing wrong with you. Or you being an idol. You're fine. You're perfect. It's me," you say miserably, voice hoarse, "I just, I didn't- I don’t want you to have to see the kind of person I am when I'm with them. I don't like how I am, who I am when I'm around my family."

You bury your face into your hands and swallow hard to try and remove the lump that has formed in your throat. When Chan settles beside you on the couch and wraps an arm around your shoulders, you soften, both at his presence and the warm buzz of the charge.

"I'm sorry," he says gently. "I shouldn't have pushed so much."

"No, I should have told you," you reply, voice muffled by your hands. "I knew I had to tell you."

His hands enclose around your wrists and carefully pry them away from your face. When you open your eyes, you see that he has leaned forwards to try to look at you better. 

“I just want to get to know you better. I want to get to know your family, your background. Please, let me in.” He looks so young like this, earnestly looking at you.

In response, you tip forward and rest your forehead on his shoulder. Although you normally avoid skinship like this, especially at the company, anything was better than seeing his concerned but confused expression. You want to tell him everything, but how can you explain the twisted and complicated relationship that you have with your family? What words could describe the facade that you have created to pretend you're not affected by their disappointment?

"I promise, I'll tell you everything eventually. I just need some more time, okay?" you ask hesitantly. Chan agrees immediately. "I want to talk to the boys too. I know they must also have questions. Can we? Have a meeting tonight?"

—

Y/n decides that she wants to tell the group all at once to avoid having to repeat herself and Chan is secretly relieved. It’s not that he doesn’t like one-on-one conversations, but he hopes that the rambunctious nature of the other members lightens the mood. He’s looking forward to getting any information he can about Y/n’s family, his not-so-subtle attempts to learn even a little bit about them have been fruitless thus far.

As Chan and Y/n make their way back to the dorms, he texts the group chat to gather in the living room. By the time they make it back, everyone has crammed themselves on the couches, leaving an empty space on the loveseat for the two of them.

Y/n takes a deep breath to steady herself.

When she says her parents’ names, Chan doesn't recognize either, but Changbin's head immediately shoots up and he lets out an "Oh shh-" that's quickly cut off by a well placed elbow of Minho. Y/n makes a face at that.

"Yeah," she says, clearly unsurprised by Changbin's reaction, but resigned. On the other side of Minho, Jisung speaks up.

"I don't get it, is he famous?" He also receives an elbow to the stomach, to which he whines, "Hyunggg, that hurt!"

“Be sensitive.” Minho scolds. Y/n laughs at that, but there’s no humour in the sound.

“No, it’s okay. I get that you guys are curious,” she says. “My parents aren’t famous, but they are well known in some circles. You guys know the hospital that Hyunjin goes to for check-ups of his hand?”

Everyone nods at that. Even Felix is familiar with that hospital, as he’s gotten treatment there when he injured his back. Chan himself has visited a few times regarding various injuries or procedures. The hospital is large, fairly new, but most importantly, has a reputation for being discrete. It’s definitely a favourite for idols who don’t want to take the chance and be photographed or have personal information shared.

“Your parents are doctors?” Seungmin prompts.

“My abeoji is. My brother too,” Y/n confirms. “But he also… My abeoji owns the hospital.” She looks down at her hands as she says it, as if scared to see what the reactions of everyone will be. Chan feels like his brain is short circuiting and can't get himself to do anything but stare. 

"Noona, does that mean you're loaded?" Jisung asks, eyes wide. Minho immediately turns on him, but Y/n shocks them all by laughing loudly at that.

"I wouldn't say I'm loaded. My parents definitely are though."

“That’s awesome! What’s wrong with that then?”

“Well, you know how Asian parents are. They had certain expectations for me, for my future that I didn’t meet. They didn’t exactly approve of me deciding to go into the entertainment industry, so we’re… not close. I see them twice a year, Seollal and Chuseok.”

Chan can sympathise with that, although his parents have always been supportive of him, even when he was a trainee and they were worried or didn’t understand why he never gave up, a lot of families weren’t the same. 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Felix says. He stands and pulls Y/n into a tight hug, which she melts into. It soon becomes a group huddle as everyone joins in, surrounding Y/n in love.

“We’ll be your family, Y/n,” Chan promises, and everyone else murmurs their agreement. He pretends not to see the tears that gather in the corners of Y/n’s eyes.

—

A couple days after Y/n’s announcement, Changbin knocks on Chan's studio door.

"Hey," he says when Chan rolls over on his chair and opens the door. "Just wanted to talk to you about Chuseok."

"Okay," Chan says slowly.  "What about it?"

“Are you going to Y/n’s family dinner?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan.”

"What are you planning to wear?" Changbin asks bluntly.

"Uhh." Even though Chuseok has basically sat in the back of Chan’s mind for the past few days, haunting him every time he has two seconds to think, he hadn’t even considered that aspect of it. He’s been too occupied worrying constantly about not knowing what to expect and yet not wanting to talk to Y/n about it. "I don't know, something nice?"

"Yeah, you have about 10 outfits, all of them are black, and almost half of them are hoodies. Do you know what Y/n is wearing?" Chan grimaces at that.

"I didn't even know that she was going until a few days ago man, of course I don't know what she's wearing."

"Listen, hyung. Her family… I don't know them personally, but I think you need to either talk to her about it or make arrangements to borrow clothes from a stylist."

"Borrow clothes from a stylist?" Chan laughs incredulously. "Can't I just buy something myself?"

"I mean you can do whatever you want," Changbin says, putting his hands up in surrender. "Be my guest to buy designer brand formal wear that I'm pretty sure you'll only wear once since you'll have to have something else for the next time you see them."

“Designer formal wear?” Chan repeats. “What am I, going to a wedding? This is a dinner with just her immediate family, do you really think they would care that much?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I just think that they’d be the type to really value appearances. Clothing is one part of that. Just… Talk to Y/n, okay? I want things to go well for you and I know that you want to make a good first impression.”

“I- okay,” Chan acquiesces. He trusts that Changbin’s just coming from a good place even though he dreads having to talk to Y/n about this. “I’ll bring it up.”

—

A week before Chuseok, Y/n knocks on their bedroom door while Chan’s trying to work at his desk. By the time he’s taken off his headphones and has started standing, she’s managed to get the door open and enters. Even after his conversation with Changbin, Chan still hasn’t been able to broach the topic of Chuseok with Y/n again, even though it’s been occupying his mind an increasing amount. He feels a rush of relief when he sees that she’s carrying two garment bags, lifted above her head to prevent them from dragging on the ground.

“This is for you,” she says, thrusting the larger of the bags in Chan’s direction. He peels it open carefully to find a black suit with golden details embroidered into it. The jacket is more traditional, the design is clearly a modern version of a hanbok, and the fabric of all the pieces look luxuriously thick. Without even trying it on, he can tell that the outfit has been tailored to his dimensions. It’s beautiful.

“Is this for-”

“Chuseok? Yes. My eomoni is… particular about what people wear. You’ll look good in this.” Y/n assures him.

“What are you wearing?” he asks, curious about the second bag that Y/n had hung up while he was inspecting his.

“You’ll find out later. Don’t worry, I won’t be outshining you.” she replies playfully.

“Hey!” Chan laughs. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I know, it’s just fun to tease.”

Chan carefully places the clothes back into the garment bag and zips it up to hang in his closet. He’s dealt with his fair share of expensive clothes, most of which have to be treated with extreme caution as they have to be returned at the end of the day, but this feels different. Not only is it now his to keep, but it’s also one of the first gifts that he’s exchanged with Y/n, giving it special significance.

He knows this gift is more than just clothes. It also represents Y/n opening up, letting him into this side of her life that she’s kept to herself for so long.

“Y/n,” he says, waiting until she makes eye contact. “Thank you.”

“No worries,” she says, cheeks pinkening. She looks down at the ground. “It’s the least I can do, you’re going to have to put up with my family for an evening.”

Chan doesn’t know what to make of finally meeting them, Y/n’s mentions of them have been sporadic and cryptic at best. He’s desperate to learn more about her and he knows that her family, although distant now, likely played a key role in the way that you conduct yourself. But over time, and especially these past few days, he’s growing more wary of what he might learn. He just can’t understand how someone as kind, soft, and thoughtful as Y/n could have such a stilted relationship with her family.

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[funnierasafictive]

hilarious bit about the "key to not fanonizing your favs" post: we split SO MANY FICTIVES AND AUS OFF THEM and HARDLY ANY ARE CANON ACCURATE

because 1) they've had time to explore themselves and their identities

2) we survived years of not interacting with source media due to adhd looking at 100+ episodes and 10+ seasons of hermitcraft and being intimidated so we can only micro dose source material. (especially when Techno was alive we loved makings aus and concepts around his dsmp character. survived weeks of no content because of it.)

3) idk WHAT is going on with body but we've had like?? this rule in our system that we cannot watch/read something twice unless to find specific things to send our friends, why is this?? we don't know!! we think it has something to do with the 100+ times we watched how to train your dragon when we were little and loosing the ability to cry over a scene that the first watch made us cry before in that movie(and having similar experiences with other movies and shows like this). it's distressing for some of us that things like that (watching it "too many times") make us unable to experience the distress the scene caused the first time???

For your first point: very interesting! Yes, a lot of us, you could say, are definitely canon-non-compliant. Canon-wise or backstory-wise, we are very compliant. Personality-wise, not always! Kris is a very good example.. His canon is mostly compliant, but.. well, he is such a huge extrovert. He is a social butterfly, and is our "socializer alter" =)

I know what that is like! Both for ADHD reasons, and also for..? other reasons? That are hard to explain, haha. But I find it funny.

I can understand what it is like to no longer show emotions towards something, haha. But it never means that how you felt about it before was never real! It was very real. You can never take that away. That might not be enough, but I promise that you are not strange for "not feeling" something. Over-exposure doesn't mean anything. It is like.. "emotional boredom" =)

[goldiipond]

watched the promised neverland

what is s2 and why does everyone hate it

OHHHHHH OH YOU WATCHED IT??? LETS FUCKING GOOOOO IHOPE YOU LIKED IT!!!!!!

also thats a quastion with sooooooo many answers i'll try to be brief but. there is so much and i am very passionate abt it <3 heres a general summary of everything i can think of that sucks ass by your best friend skye:

-the biggest one is easily the amount of manga content that is changed/just outright cut altogether. s1 was a wonderful, faithful adaptation of the first 37 chapters of the manga. this manga has 181 chapters and had been finished for a while by the time of s2's release. essentially they tried to squeeze the framework of the remaining 144 chapters into one 11 episode season and it went about as well as you'd expect

-the decision to cut what is easily at least 80% of characters introduced after the escape arc. this includes a character who is, in my opinion, one of the funniest and most well-written characters in the series and a huge fan favorite in general

-the decision to cut literally the entire goldy pond arc, which is widely considered to be the best arc in the manga. every character that comes with it also gets the axe. haha goldy pond reference

-several major plot points and entire chunks of other arcs are also cut out, leaving a messy and frankly sad skeleton of a plot that they try to salvage with original plot points that only serve to make an even bigger mess of this story or to make a setup to what could be a really cool new plot direction and immediately disappoint you. i watched s2 before reading the manga and can count at least 3 separate instances where i went oh youre fucking joking

-i cannot stress how bad this gets. the final episode ends with what is quite literally a glorified powerpoint presentation in an attempt to wrap up an obscene amount of plot before they hit the episode length limit. i said 'this is bullshit' aloud to my sister on my first watch and coming back after reading the manga it was frankly insulting. a character fucking meets god and makes a deal that changes the laws of the world itself and in the anime this is told through a singular still frame that is onscreen for about 8 seconds. it is so bad

-this season fucking gutted pretty much every female character (and every character in general tbh) and turned a series with an amazing emphasis on freedom of expression and defying gender roles into another generic shonen misogyny fest. the significance of emma refusing to wear a skirt after escaping gracefield's oppressive environment is thrown out by putting her back into a skirt by the 3rd or 4th episode, literally every post-escape female character besides 2 are cut, including but not limited to an androgynous girl who kicks ass and is never treated like a joke and a girl who shoots a rich scumbag point-blank in the face to avenge her sister

-i dont see much talk about the racism but god its soo racist. every post-escape character of color is cut with the exception of one, a black guy who is given a 'ooooh hes secretly a villain' cliffhanger at the end of an episode that is entirely non-existent in the manga. they dont even commit to it and he's revealed to Still Be A Good Guy Actually at the start of the next episode, they literally had no reason to do this. at one point they have don tell a terrified 5 year-old not to cry because 'boys don't cry'. don cries more than literally any other guy in the manga and most of the girls as well, and he is never ashamed of this. i am greatly downplaying the amount of rage that line makes me feel

-they cut 4 canonically disabled characters, 2 of which are disabled by the time they're introduced and 2 of which end up disabled after events in the story, all of which are treated with nothing but respect in the manga

i could probably go on but im running out of brain juice so. heres the gist of it <3 in short, season one was for the most part a beautiful adaptation of the first arc and in a lot of aspects i even like it better than the manga, with my only major complaint being the addition of that weird doll krone talks to and the amount of times she's drawn as a caricature even after being toned down compared to the manga. s1 was made with so much love by people who clearly cared abt the story they were adapting, and s2 is a frankly heinous attempt at finishing it up in a very short amount of time. it is so impressively bad that literally no one, from the entire team that worked on the last 2 episodes to THE GODDAMN CREATORS OF THE SERIES wanted to take any credit for those 2 episodes. thank you <3

[akuaya-eng]

(Card story) Rosé SSR - Splendid Cabaret Bunny

- ALLURING ROSÉ AND ALCOHOL -

EPISODE 1

Rosé:

Huh~… he's not coming~…

Vanis:

(walks in) Not coming? Who?

Rosé:

Vani-tan! Just in time ♪

Vanis:

… Can you stop calling me that? Besides, you weren't waiting for me, were you?

Rosé:

Well, no. It's not you who I want to destroy.

Vanis:

Destroy…?

Rosé:

Seriously, that guy. He's got some nerve to completely miss an appointment with me-- I'll definitely destroy him.

Vanis:

I don't know who you're talking about, but I feel sorry for him.

Rosé:

Then help me out ♪

Vanis:

Um… I don't understand the connection of this conversation.

Rosé:

To completely crush someone, you need to prepare properly, right? And for preparation, you need people, right? Just come with me ♡ (walks towards Vanis)

Vanis:

Wait… don't pull me. You're stretching my clothes… (both walk away)

--------------------

Rosé:

...Hmm, is my makeup good enough~? No, should I make it even more dark and bold?

Vanis:

Rosé. I brought the things you asked for, but I wonder if this accessory is okay.

Rosé:

Hmm… no, I'll find them myself. Your taste is too safe… If I want to destroy him, it has to be flashy ♡

Vanis:

You ask for help and then act all picky… What are you getting so worked up about?

Rosé:

There's someone I want to bring down and utterly destroy.

Vanis:

I see. So, that's the person you were supposed to meet earlier.

Rosé:

Yeah. He made a promise, and he broke it just like that. Well, I didn't think it would go smoothly anyway~. After all, he boasts that there's nothing he can't obtain: "power, money, even people's hearts".

Vanis:

Ah… If it's the same person I'm thinking of, why don't you just give up? That person seems like a hassle.

Rosé:

Huh? If you think there's anyone I can't defeat, you're out of your mind. I'll give you a front-row seat to see him fall. So keep your eyes peeled and wait ♪

Vanis:

Alright, alright… I got it.

EPISODE 2

(clapping)

Rosé:

Yeah, yeah, the dancers I hired are great. It's good to have my solo stage, but having a supporting cast is nice too.

Vanis:

(walks in) Rosé. You’ve put together another spectacular event. Isn't this one even more extravagant than the other day?

Rosé:

I invited him by saying, “I’m holding a special event just for you.” This time he’ll definitely show up. I'm talking about someone with a big ego. He won’t miss a lavish show held just for him ♪

Vanis:

Well, after blowing off the last appointment, he’s probably curious to see how you're reacting.

Rosé:

If he shows up with a smug grin, that’ll piss me off. I’ll just smile back at him in return~… Oh! By the way, what about that drink we talked about?

Vanis:

I’ve taken care of it. Here.

Rosé:

Perfect ♪ With this, I’ll crush his ego.

(door opens)

Vanis:

Ah…

Millionaire:

(walks in) Hey, Rosé.

Rosé:

Hi. I’ve been waiting ♪

Millionaire:

Well, I came here just for fun. But I have many people who want to spend time with me, so I can’t just focus on you.

Rosé:

Huh, that’s a shame. But make sure to take a look on my stage. OK ♡

Millionaire:

Haha, if I feel like it. See you. (walks away)

Vanis:

… He’s just like that, but are you sure it’s okay?

Rosé:

No problem at all. We’ve got the special drink. Well, I’m heading to the stage. Make sure to mess with his drink, please ♪ (walks away)

Vanis:

Good grief… (walks away)

--------------------

Rosé:

Come come, everyone! (flashes and applause) The Rosé Belladonna Cabaret Show is about to begin~ ♪ The last show was a hit, so we’re doing it again, but that’s not the only reason for tonight. There’s someone I really want to see it… that’s why ♡

Millionaire:

…Hmm.

Rosé:

(thinking) Alright, he’s watching.

Vanis:

Here’s your drink. Enjoy. (pours)

Millionaire:

Ah, thank you. I have plans later, so I’ll just have a little.

Rosé:

(thinking) Nice, Vanis ♪

Now, let the greatest showtime begin~!

EPISODE 3

Rosé:

Phew, that was fun ♪

(thinking) The dance was perfect. The audience's excitement was at its peak, and it felt amazing ♡

Now, onto him.

--------------------

Rosé

(walks in) Hey there, enjoying yourself?

Millionaire:

Ah, Master Rosé…!

Rosé:

(thinking) Oh? Looks like it's working. I didn’t think it'd go this far, though.

Millionaire:

The stage was magnificent! I… no, I cannot stop crying tears of joy…

Rosé:

I'm glad you're happy ♪ I danced just for you, you know?

Millionaire:

What an honor…! Now I can become your dog or anything you want!

Vanis:

… That's strange.

Rosé:

What?

Vanis:

(thinking) The special drink Rosé asked me to prepare. Whoever drinks it will temporarily lose their grip, rationality, and act according to your desires…

But he only had one drink. There's no way it should be this effective.

Rosé:

Hmm~? What do you mean?

Vanis:

It’s not just the drink. He’s probably also been mesmerized by your show and fallen for you… completely.

Rosé:

So… You mean that my overflowing charm made him this helpless!?

Millionaire:

Master Rosé…?

Rosé:

Oh, sorry for ignoring you. But-- you completely ignored me the other day, didn’t you?

Millionaire:

I have no choice but to do anything to apologize…! Please forgive me! (falls to the ground)

Rosé:

Haha! Rubbing your head on the floor to polish it. If you want my forgiveness that badly… you’ll do anything I say, right?

Millionaire:

Of course! If that will earn your forgiveness…

Rosé:

Then sign this contract, please ♡

Millionaire:

With pleasure! (walks away)

Rosé:

Okay, thank you ♡ Haha. Now, all the souls you possess are mine. Including your own soul…♡ I recently lost one of my sources of souls, so I needed to find a new one. Thanks to my charm, I got it. I’m such a sinful man.

Vanis:

… I definitely don’t want to make you my enemy.

Rosé:

? Did you say something?

Vanis:

No, nothing.

Rosé:

Oh, okay. Now, let's put ourselves together and pay attention to the stage~. The fun is just beginning… Enjoy. Hehehe ♪

[laikahh]

explaining every song on my ngro playlist cause im bored as fuck yayyy . feel free to ignore the shit out of this post as it is Nothing

keep in mind this is supposed to be listened to in the order i put the songs in 👍 its like Chronological and shit. its their road to world cup...........

enter goddess by nigel godrich (from the scott pilgrim vs the world soundtrack) - i wanted to have an instrumental track on this playlist so that i could feel superior to others. i dont really have any like Deep Analysis of the song itself locked and loaded rn but the title reminds me of how both nagis and reos lives were literally Nothing before the other showed up. like yeah sure reo had like. being rich? and nagi had Video Game but. you know what i mean uve read the manga too. ALSO this is like such a nagi pov song to me... reo just thought nagi was a little freak that could be good at soccer maybe but i truly do believe nagi fell in love right then and there on those stairs <- no he didnt

harness your hopes - b-side by pavement - well this song to me is a whole lot of words so i dont have much to say. but like reo sure as hell kinda did harness his hopes on just one person. so yeah.

scott pilgrim by plumtree - so many scott pilgrim songs at the beginning of this playlist this is so embarrassing i have watched one movie. its a little bit nagi pov to me. i think hes down horrendous for jeff bezos jr.

you belong to no-one (but i belong to you) by dead slow hoot - well i know nobody is forcing me to write this post but like i dont want to explain this one . it fits!

there is a light that never goes out by the smiths - reminded me of nagis dont die before i do bullshit. i think he would be so down to die by reos side like he really would not mind getting hit by that double decker bus. also the lines about home (in the context of ngro. and just overall when listening to this song outside of my yaoi playlist) make me crazy?

by your side by beachwood sparks - their promise to stay together............ i will kill msyelf\

drain you by nirvana - im honestly not sure about the placement of this song. it definitely reminds me of them so i dont wanna delete it but. augh. but yeah theyre both so normal about each other & im sure staying together forever would do them wonders

lounge act by nirvana - every nirvana song on this brain turn off . anyway Bye Reo

i guess by mitski - the lets meet again beyond our dreams panels sound like this

i just threw out the love of my dreams by weezer - reo breakup blues . its a weezer song i dont wanna talk about it

why didnt you stop me by mitski - moreee reo breakup blues. this one doesnt exactly fit but im so used to it being here going straight from i just threw out the love of my dreams to the next one on this list would sent me into cardiac arrest

ill see you when were both not so emotional by american football - haha i put a midwest emo (dont talk to me about is american football midwest emo discourse) song on this playlist. do the nagireo (taylors version) playlist havers even know what midwest emo is? no the fuck they dont. i am better than them. anyway read the lyrics and Trust Me on this one okay? trust is very important in a relationship.

goodbye my danish sweetheart by mitski - listen either you are a teenage girl who had what reo thought happened to him happen to you irl at the same time you first got into this manga and you Get It or youre Not and you Dont. simple as that. support group for girls who are like reo mikage if reo mikage was worse and also not rich

drunk walk home by mitski - i really wish i could images in this post without fucking up my formatting. anyway google "episode nagi im not your toy reo panel"

running up that hill by kate bush (car seat headrest cover) - well i mean . they do not fucking Get one another. so. csh cover cause theyre sad teenage fa[i am dragged off stage] [I CAN RECLAIM BTW]

pantyhose by tv girl - i am thinking about nagis gloves. he got them from reo... did you guys know that...... and i mean they were divorced as fuck during the u20 game......... i am going to jump i am not kidding i Will do it

tommys party by peach pit - blue lock fandom heaven is nagi seishiro hell its a very efficient system. shibuya mustve been great for nagi . like hi reo has new friends now and hes hanging out w them and having fun. talking about stocks and shit (desperately checking his phone to see if nagi has texted him but its not like nagi knows this)

creatures in heaven by glass animals - i miss my wife choki. i miss her a lot

pork soda by glass animals - early manshine... before the basmun game... wahhh wah waahh

pink in the night by mitski - can i try again try again try again and again and again and again and again and again and again. i need you reo.

i want you by mitski - reo pov of this ^ whole event. kinda. it Kinda fits i rly ran out of manshine songs...

breed by nirvana - i see a lot of people say that kurt cobain described this song as being about marrying you high school sweetheart at 18 and having a baby and fucking hating it in an interview somewhere but i cannot find a solid source for that. even if he Did Not Fucking Say That i still like this interpretation of the song so its what im running with. basically um their current relationship is Not Good? so unless they improve (begging reo to give you some new heat does not count as improving nagi. telling nagi that you have a play also doesn not count as improving reo.) im trapping them in married at 18 jail. ill move this song to a different part of the playlist if they stop sucking sometime soon but for now its staying here.

✌

[unluckyozzyart]

Hi! I just wanted to tell you that I'm very interested in your drawings of ash and red being half siblings or just very good friends. May I ask you if you have any headcanon of them together? Like, how long have they known each other, considering they are from the same town? If they are half brothers, who would you think their father (because I guess their mothers are different (or not)) is? And was red jealous of kukui when ash went to live at his house in Alola and not with him? That'd be all.

Hello!

Thanks for being interested! The reality is that I always think of 3 possible scenarios when I draw them. I'm not very good making headcanons (′•ω•‵ ;) But here there are:

1-They are from the same universe:

● They half-brothers: their father undertook his journey a long time ago like his grandfather but their names do not appear in the official list of the pokémon league (something a bit in keeping with the novel)

● Ash was going to watch a Red Pokémon battle on TV: Do you remember in the first episode when Ash watches a gengar vs nidorino battle on TV? Well If Delia hadn't changed the channel, Ash would have seen a Red battle.

● Ash doesn't have many memories of Red: They separate when Ash was very young, Red undertook his journey with Green and Leaf / Blue. Little Ash trying to chase his older brother went into the forest getting lost in him and thanks to the pokemon in the area he was able to be safe. When they found him, many of his memories were mysteriously erased, several of them included Red and his father.

● Red and Delia have a good relationship: Although Red doesn't see Ash very often, Red sees Delia much less often but to her Red is another child of her own. That's why it was very important to her when Ash met Red again.

● Red is practically a "legend": Red spends a lot of time training on the Mt. Silver. He hasn't come home for a long time so rumors have spread about a mysterious trainer who managed to become champion and "disappeared" in the Mt Silver so many think he is a legend that "doesn't exist (Lol Red just doesn't like being on TV and cameras haha). Some people confuse Ash with Red

2-They are from differents universes/dimensions but they are related. (Wait...What?):

● They half-brothers (but how?): A bit similar to the previous case, they have the same father, but with the difference that their father is a traveler of dimensions/universes. That explains (I guess(?)) why Ash's father's name doesn't appear in the pokémon league.

● The reason Ash and Red separated is because his father confessed to Red that he is a dimension/universe traveler: Red lived with Ash for a while, but once his father confessed the truth, he had to separate from Ash to return to his dimension/universe and start his journey so as not to damage the "natural order" of things.

Just like the 1st scenario, Ash tried to chase Red into the forest, losing himself in it. When he was found and returned to Pallet Town, his memories of Red were mysteriously erased.

● In addition to becoming stronger, Red has traveled to all regions looking for a way to meet Ash again: For Red it is much "easier" to look for information about it than to look for his father to explain how these "dimensional travels" work.

● They met several times by chance but at the end of the day Ash always lost his memories about Red: Sometimes Red was accidentally teleported to Ash's dimension/universe. Every time he met Ash, he couldn't remember who Red was, even if they had met before. Red realized it the 2nd time they met again, that is why he traveled looking for a way in which he could travel at will, perhaps this way Ash could keep his memories about him or maybe recover their childhood memories together

●When Red found a way to travel again and miraculously Ash didn't lose his memory, Red promised to spend more time with him: Red wants Ash to recapture their childhood memories together and talk about this whole "universes/dimensions" thing. But sometimes Red just wants to keep listening to the stories Ash has from his travels to tell him. (Well, it's not like Red was very talkative...if you know what I mean...)

● Red helped Ash get his first hat: not much to say. Do you remember primape episode about how Ash obtain his hat? Yep Red helped with that (this also applies to the first scenario where they are from the same universe)

● Red is grateful to Kukui for taking care of Ash: It's good for Red to know that Ash was in very good hands.

3-They are just "counterparts" from differents universes (Like Spider-verse! (just for give an example (?))

● They are just counterparts they are "conected" but no related: When they met they noticed too many similarities between the two especially for his love of battles... and food

● Ash greatly admires Red for him is the closest thing to "being a pokèmon master": The term pokémon master is too ambiguous, even for Ash, that is why Red is a "close" reference (Red does not consider himself a "pokemon master" since he thinks he still needs to get stronger).

● Red is amazed at the connection Ash can make with Pokémon:

Although Red also connects well with Pokémon, it is different from Ash's ability. (Well, this can also apply to all scenarios)

● Even if they're not related to Red, Ash is like a little brother and to Ash, Red is the closest thing to having an older brother: Red: "I've only had Ash for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself"

● More chance to meet Mangaverse Red!: YES POKESPE RED! and maybe the others counterparts from differents universes. A meeting between these 3 could be interesting things (like spiderverse!)

● Red entered to win the official pokémon league hat, but he didn't win lol: That's why he's surprised that Ash was able to win.

that all for now (?

I'm so sorry if too much text or if a have grammar mistakes (english is not my first language) I have more ideas for the 3 scenarios but is too much for now I guess

I usually use the second scenario, it is more flexible for me and I can imagine more things. Don't take this too seriously is just my imagination with some canon and non-canon elements you can agree or disagree is okay

(I am very happy for all the messages you send me, it is that I do not have much time to respond, but I want you to know that I appreciate it very much, thank you very much)

(*●⁰ꈊ⁰●)

[saturdaynightghostclub]

hi hello!! honestly so happy to see you on here, I came from tiktok and I’m obsessed with your writing and just your vibe in general??!

So I’m just knee deep into stalking your tumblr and I wanted to ask what you meant by the Ted Lasso-ification of media? It’s the first I’m hearing of it and would love to hear more of your thoughts. Take care 🫶🫶🫶

Oh bestie I am SO happy to talk about the Ted Lasso-ification of Media™

Disclaimer: I don’t mind Ted Lasso at all! I think it’s cute and funny and wholesome, and that’s a lot of folks’ niche so I am in no way shitting on the show or any of its fans—it’s just that I think it pretty much perfectly encapsulates the phenomenon I’m talking about w/r/t the larger entertainment-sphere at the moment. Also, this is super nuanced and there are obviously exceptions, there’s nothing wrong with engaging in entertainment media however you see fit, etc etc. All love to the wholesome media enjoyers, I promise!

Basically I think, in some way, we’ve grown into the mentality that we should never be uncomfortable, and therefore recent entertainment has trended extremely conflict-avoidant. That doesn’t mean there is no conflict, although it certainly can—really I mean that, when there is conflict, or when characters are flawed and make mistakes, or when uncomfortable topics are brought up, everyone seems to have a magical bag of buzzwords from which they can pull the perfect solution by the end of the episode. And while that’s great, it’s unrealistic and unsatisfying.

It’s baffling to me because part of the human experience is discomfort, and when characters enter into conflict it shows their humanity. How they deal with that conflict should, In My Opinion, reflect that humanity. While I don’t hate Ted Lasso or any of the other shows that are dealing with our current social climate in that way, they do get a ton of vitriol and frankly I can understand why. It feels like you’re being lectured at rather than entertained, like an After School Special instead of an adult TV show. Off the top of my head I can think of Ted Lasso, Grown-ish, Sex Education (which I LOVE by the way), Schitt’s Creek, and any other number of shows whose sole goal seems to be to state in very clear terms what is Right and what is Wrong so that we can pat ourselves on the back for agreeing with them. I understand the goal here, but I think there’s a huge discrepancy between the people who need to hear those messages and the people who don’t, and the latter group is the one watching those shows.

I think we need to let go of the idea that being Likable is the primary thing a cast of characters should be, and instead embrace likability in the face of human flaws. If a character screws up and can’t wave a magic wand to fix it in a tight 30 minutes, doesn’t that just make them more interesting? Doesn’t it make them feel real?

There are a ton of “wholesome” shows that I think do this really well:

Pushing Daisies

Northern Exposure

Ugly Betty

Malcolm in the Middle

And a couple of not-so-wholesome ones:

Twin Peaks

Hannibal

Succession

The Bear (could go either way tbh)

Barry

Fleabag

And many, many more!!

Basically my word isn’t law, but speaking as an individual: I want my entertainment to reflect the human experience, good, bad, and ugly, and there are ways to do that without being gross—just write like a human!

If you want to get more into this train of thought, Neil Gaiman’s talked about it a few times (ie “I wasn’t aware that I was making comfort content, I thought I was making thinking and feeling content too” or something along those lines) and there are countless essays and interviews with Ursula K. Le Guin where she makes a similar (albeit entirely more articulate) point!

Also thank you sweet anon, I appreciate your presence here and the fact that you’ve let me rant about my media frustrations haha

[kaolinite91]

My review about One Piece Live Action (OPLA)

(Pic source: OPLA Netflix twitter)

Okaaay, you probably knew that I was one of old Nakama, since I've been following one piece for around 20 years (since elementary school haha)

And honestly when I saw the first plan about OPLA from Netflix.. I have a very great cynicism..because you know how baaaaad most of Hollywood anime adaptation were. The good anime adaptation which I think best was Gintama n Kenshin live action, but that's has major Japanese casts and in Japanese languange. But One Piece gonna have diverse casts..how scary. I really put my expectation bar..really...really low back at the time.

But then I saw the list of the casts and honestly, when I saw Inaki Godoy as Luffy for the first time, I kinda unsure and was like "hmm..let see his IG profile first", and I saw him somehow being naturally cheerful and goofy just like Luffy. And I saw his still from one of mexican drama where he looks really cool and badass. I was like " maybe this kid can be Luffy", my expectation kinda growing.

The cast for SH crew looks promising after I saw their profile..except from Taz because back then he has no IG yet. Very2 limited info from him. But after some times, I can see how he & the other cast really2 love the characters they are playing and worked hard for it. They were working with heart and it's shown..

Oda- sensei gives his thought about the adaptation too..and apparently he was the one who want the OPLA to be happened, tho he will be really strict about it. And I honestly I was starting to believe (I mean if the creator already said so), but great doubt still lingered in my heart.

Some months pass..finally the first picture of the cast with full outfits appeared, the first teaser during One Piece day..my expectation started to grew again. I got really hype tho people around me still really sceptical.

More info about how Oda approved Inaki as Luffy because his audition tape made Oda laughed. How Inaki got a strawhat from Luffy's seiyuu,Mayumi Tanaka, and all original anime seiyuu gonna voiced the chara in the live action too. He got a warm support from Shueisha and even met Oda himself and got a STRAWHAT from Goda? Well I started to BELIEVE!! I mean..this OPLA got support from the original source material!! How very awesome! I want this to succeed!

As a long time fans I got a secondhand nervousness.. I really want this live action to be successful. I already saw how the casts chemistry works really well during the interview etc..I want it to succeed!! I even shared a lot of the promotional media to my IG story which was rarely happened from me..hahaha

and after a bit more wait, the series released Yesterday at 31 August 2023. It's during weekday, on Thursday and the Netflix premiere in indonesia was at 14.00 wib. I applied for leave just to watched this Live action yesterday. How was it?? WORTH IT!!

I am so glad I love One Piece and so happy that my favorite manga got a very well made live action.

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SPOILER SPOILER

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Spoiler

Here're some of my faves things & moments:

- Many different approach in telling the story, so it felt fresh!! Because the main point were still conveyed but the location differ and some interaction between characters got adapted to catter the limited episodes (only 8 eps)

- many interesting new interaction!! Luffy and Nami interaction, zoro & nami, zoro & sanji etc..haha loves when SH crew appears

- I got teary eyes during flashback moments (Shanks gave his hat, Zeff advice to little Sanji, Bellemere moments 🥲🥹)

- Zoro very very cool and awesome..and honestly trying to rewatch with JP dub really made him even more WHOLESOME..omg

- when Sanji called Zoro mosshead

- when Ussop and Kaya kissed..hahaha (so there will be romance?)

- when Nami only hugged Zoro and Usopp & Sanji only saw from the sidewalk..

- love Nami theme song because it's pretty and sung by Aurora!

- loves the hidden easter egg: binks sake song, anime ost instrumental, mentioned Jaya, and story of Mobran Noland (even the story book!) Etc

- Garp denden mushi looks cute somewhow haha

- how Buggy looks super creepy like Joker hahaha but I love it! It's super interesting

- Helmeppo really annoying just like in the comic, Koby looks very similar with the comic counterpart too!!

- I love how the story combines SH POV with Koby as marine POV (which should be after vol 45), but it makes the introduction of the world more seamless and easier for the new fans ro enjoy

- JP Dub really a whole other experience!!! You must watch it at least twice I think! Hahaha original voice and JP dub!!

What I don't really like or can be improved:

- need more episodes, 8 was too short and made the story telling too packed.

-This also impacted the timing of the screen which supposed to build up the impactful scenes: like when Gold Roger dies,Zoro almost died from hunger, Shanks arm got eaten, Sanji's thankfulness to Zeff, Luffy's promise to helps Nami and when he yelled that Nami is his Nakama from Arlong park ruins.... it's not really highlighted. Kinda felt like just another ordinary scenes 🥹🥲😭

- somehow Luffy fight not really as dynamic as Zoro, so I kinda feel sad..but in east blue saga he still kinda weak(?) So maybe that's okay

- No Hachi in arlong park, no battle with Krieg...No usopp's little kids crew and somehow Merry died (I know he's more like NPC but it still sad because Kaya alone now)

- a bit more gory with blood etc

- Garp characterization...somehow a bit confusing. He seems a lot stricter than in the manga, and rarely laughing too.. which is okay. But why he really want to captured Luffy is still not understandable for me...? In vol 45 he just want to Meet Luffy as his Grandpa, but not sure in OPLA, is he still want to makes Luffy a marine? (Maybe I need to rewatch it). He contacted the Shichibukai to captured Luffy a bit stretched too..since Garp division in manga should be the part of marine who didn't believe in Shichibukai as 'protector of the sea'.

- how Genzou not have importance to the plot as Nami's and Nijiko's father... He should be the reason for the pinwheel, but in OPLA Bellemere the one who made it.

- Bellemere's name in the EN subtitles only written as Woman.. during Nami episode her name never mentioned and only written in her graveyard (saaaad)

- Sanji needs more screentime!! Huhuhu he just started join the crew in EP 7 and the episodes already finished at 8...saaad. I need more of him too 😭

- the SH crew interaction very limited because of the packed pacing and short number of episodes. I wish they can be explored more. It's funny because the screentime got divided into coby, helmeppo and garp interaction too. They really felt like another main characters.

- how Luffy recruitted the crew also not really highlighted, thus it's a bit weird on why suddenly Zoro want to follow him as his crew. it's kinda felt random..

-Luffy a lot more...wise and mature? I wish he looks more goofy like how Inaki in his IG stories. And because not many interaction with usopp yet..his childish part seems not really explored?

Maybe that's that for now.. but TLDR. It's a fun & fresh live action and I recommend you to watched it and be a new Nakama!

For me OPLA season 1 score was: 8.5/10

Ps. Above was the objective score from me because I kinda particular.. but subjective score with EN dub was 10/10, for JP dub is 11/10 because I love how fun and fresh it is!! (I still rewatching it for the JP dub hahaha)

[agirlnherfandoms]

Omg same though, i was all about zutara growing up! Recently, my bf saw atla for the first time, and I was watching it with him (its been years, it was so fun!)

I guess back then I was kinda using katara as a self insert?? Haha I just had the biggest crush on zuko 😭

But watching it again recently idk I found this new appreciation for kataang, and aang especially! I just think aangs so charming and cute? 🥴

Like the headband episode? I mean, come on! Gahhh that episode made a kataang stan (the near kiss, and the way they look at each other at the end of the dance 🥺). Also that last atla comic had such a cute art style, and the kataang stuff was adorable!

AND LET ME TELL YOU! WHEN👏🏼 I 👏🏼 FOUND 👏🏼 OUT 👏🏼 WE'RE 👏🏼GETTING 👏🏼 AN 👏🏼 ATLA 👏🏼 MOVIE 👏🏼 WITH 👏🏼 ADULT 👏🏼 KATAANG 👏🏼 / GAANG 👏🏼 🤯🤯 (and katara and aang as the lead characters, I CANT WAIT!)

Also one thing I hated about shipping zutara was all the aang slander that came with it by other zutara fans, I couldn't stand it 😭😭

Hi anon!! 😊

Yay love seeing people relate to the post I posted about becoming a Kataang shipper during my re-watch of ATLA 😘 (you can read it here if you haven’t already).

Firstly, yesss, watching ATLA is still fun after years. Ngl I think when I was younger (mostly because Netflix wasn’t really big), I watched Avatar but not thoroughly. It was more like, if the episode is on the TV, I’m going to watch it. I might have missed an episode or I’d have to wait till next week to see the next episode. This is compared to when I got older and I could do a full binge watch of the whole thing on Netflix (which I recommend 😉).

Secondly, haha I soooo relate to crushing on Zuko. Honestly, still do lol (literally have you seen what he looks like in the comics!?! I didn’t know his hair could get better than season 3 but 😍). And yeah, definitely understand using Katara as a self-insert for the Zuko love 😂. Love an enemies to lovers!!!

(The above two are from The Promise)

(…and these two are from The Search)

Aww yes, I don’t think I paid much attention to Aang when I was younger (other than him being the main character lol) because of how much I loved Zuko. But truly, every single character is so amazing that they all deserve the same amount of love and attention 🥹.

THAT DANCE!! I don’t know what’s in the air at the Fire Nation but Aang was too smooth. After watching that episode, my standards went up by 5000%. I feel like that might have been the episode on my rewatch that made me think a bit differently about Kataang. I think prior to that I was still fully on the Zxtara (going to x the ship name out again in case shippers don’t want to see this xx) train but then that episode happened and I thought this is fricking cuteeee (then of course proceeded to rewatch again).

I’m so happy they’re giving us more adult Gaang content!! So so excited for that movie 😍 and all the Kataang content to come.

Yeah, and on your final point, I do remember lots of Aang hate from some shippers (I do think there might still be some even now). Definitely not saying all Zxtara shippers hate Aang (and definitely don’t think that was what anon was implying)!!! I do think it was a small minority who were probably just trying to find an excuse to hate Aang but I have seen many Zxtara shippers who absolutely adore Aang which always makes me happy because he is a sweet sunshine who deserves all the love and appreciation ☺️.

(This above picture still forever makes me soft 🥹)

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Disclaimer just in case you didn’t read the post anon’s replying too / you don’t want to read it lol: I still ship Zxtara and this isn’t Zxtara hate. I just found that rewatching ATLA has made me ship Kataang as well. Perfectly fine if you favour one ship over the other! I’ve just found love for both :)

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Love hearing opinions because none of my friends or family want to talk about fandoms with me so please keep them coming 🥺.

[idealisticrealism]

TCL 2x07 recap

The great thing about not looking at spoilers or promos: you have no idea what’s coming, so you get to experience the thrill of surprise at everything that happens!

The terrible thing about not looking at spoilers or promos: you have no idea what’s coming, so you are completely unprepared when the show decides to subject you to insane stress levels and then stab you in the fucking heart omg

(Fair warning, the amount of swearing done during this episode was very high, so expect some in the ensuing recap lol)

Okay so like ten seconds into the ep and having so many thoughts immediately: thank god for the show picking up exactly where it left off, and thank god for Arman being fine and not running into any trouble at his end of the deal (ngl I would have liked to see at least a brief shot of him pacing and stressing over Thony’s safety, but oh well, I’ve half-written yet another fic that will pretty much cover that). As much as I would have liked to see him and Thony go straight to one another when she arrived,  I definitely enjoyed watching her immediately striding up to and challenging an FBI agent haha. She really is a queen. But ugh when she starts to flip out and then Arman soothes her with his touch and the promise that they’ll get through it together?? Ughhhhhhh I already can’t handle these two and the ep has barely even begun. Lord help me

Like seriously the way they walk into the club together so united and clear in their plan– Arman could have suggested that he meet with Robert alone, but instead they went together as a team. Tbh I think Arman has learned that there’s no point trying to protect Thony by doing things alone, because she will just ignore him and come with him anyway, because that’s how she protects  him. But oh shit you two better lie your asses off now that this Nick guy is here! Tbh seeing Robert pick up the knife was kinda funny tbh bc it was like ‘oh geez is Arman going to get stabbed AGAIN?’ lol. Poor boy is practically a pincushion by this point and ngl I dig it. But anyway oh man the way I gasped at Robert’s “Well maybe I do know a few things [about Thony]”– these writers really enjoy getting me all excited at the idea of Arman finding about the forced undressing, and then yanking the moment away from me lol. And to have Robert basically threaten her family instead? Booooo. Thony was so badass to tell him to leave her family out of it though– she’s becoming more and more of a badass mob boss every day ugh

Is it too pedantic of me to say that that blood spray pattern is very unlikely with that wound? Or that that was likely too short of a timeframe for that man to actually asphyxiate? But oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter lol. The more important thing is that Arman’s immediate reaction to them killing the guy was to try to shield Thony from it; and hers was not to let him– she held onto him like he was the only thing keeping her upright (and tbh maybe he was) but she didn’t look away, didn’t try to hide from what was happening. This man was being killed because of what they did, and even though she literally looks like she’s going to be sick, she owes it to him not to turn away. And what really gets me is that Arman actually says something to her while he’s holding her– it’s hard to hear, so I can’t tell if it’s ‘I’m sorry’ (ie, ‘I’m sorry I got us here’) or ‘It’s okay’ (as in ‘It’s okay, you’re safe, I won’t let that be us’), but either way I am not okay lol

And then ugh when they leave the sportsbook he follows right after her all the way to the car door as if he’s so focused on her– on watching over her and making her feel safe– that he forgets that he has to get in the other side of the car lol. I’m also in love with the way she immediately says “Let’s go home”, rather than “Take me home”– it makes it sound like the home belongs to both of them, like they belong there together. Ugh. Help. But ugh my poor baby is flipping out yet again, which tbh is goddamn fair considering the day she’s had. Not to mention the fact that Robert now knows where she lives, which is so much worse than back in 1x01 when Arman knew where she lived, because even then Arman had already shown that– unlike Robert– he was human and capable of kindness and mercy. Plus, he immediately recruited her so he couldn’t be forced to hurt her, and then shortly after that he helped get the appointment for Luca when he had no reason to. Meanwhile Robert is just an unpredictable sociopath who clearly has no qualms about hurting or killing people, and now he knows about Luca. Hell, I’d be flipping out too. 

Okay so I actually kinda like this conversation where Arman is demanding to know more about Maya– tbh I really think that he would have already asked about her at the end of 2x05 after Garrett let them go with the drugs, since Thony mentioned her a few times when trying to convince Garrett, so I think he already knows that she was an informant. And then when he finds out that she and Garrett had an affair, he’s frustrated and hurt, thinking that Thony knew but deliberately kept it from him. Except she didn’t; she literally only found out about the affair from Maya while at Cortes’ place like 2 hours ago, and she’s had some other stuff to focus on since then?? And ugh normally I wouldn’t like them having an argument but tbh I love that Arman’s frustration literally comes from fear for her, and anger at Garrett for putting her in harm’s way for his own personal cause.

Speaking of which, I’m guessing it’s the next morning now by the Garrett costume change, and he’s dropping Maya off at a safehouse that honestly does not look nearly as secure as I would want my safehouse to be. And I guess it’s sweet and all that these two genuinely seem to care for each other but also I just don’t really care lol

Alright, points to Garrett for actually thanking Thony straight away for what she did for him though, as he should. Ngl I got excited when I heard the motorbike, especially because it meant Thony respected Arman’s wishes about them meeting with Garrett together– would have felt a bit gross if she still deliberately met with Garrett alone despite Arman explicitly saying he wanted to meet with him too.  But omg Arman immediately attacking him was glorious, as was the fact that despite her size, Thony could get right in between them and shove them apart and yet be completely safe the entire time– because she knows Arman would never let her be harmed, even unintentionally. And omg “You touch me again and I will break your little pretty face”– honestly between this and Garrett calling Arman handsome in 2x05, I am definitely getting some repressed attraction vibes here lol. Like c’mon Garrett just admit you think Arman is sexy, it’s okay! Literally everyone else agrees anyway so you don’t have to keep pretending lol. But ugh anyway I’m definitely in love with the fact that Thony literally holds so much power over these two physically-intimidating, powerful men that she can just give orders and they will obey even when they don’t want to. And lbr the whole altercation is about Arman being pissed that Garrett put Thony (and himself too, but definitely to a lesser extent) in danger, and the moment Garrett realises that, he backs down from the fight and helps them. And ok I know Garrett gets a lot of hate in the fandom but honestly I simply can’t hate someone who genuinely cares about Thony, even if he is a jackass a lot of the time (but like I’ve said, he’s our jackass lol)

Oooh I’m glad they finally addressed the Luca/school situation! But anyway aw I love that Fi can tell just by looking at Thony that something big is going on. But ugh Thony, just freaking tell her what’s happening! There’s no point hiding this stuff anymore ugh. Honestly I’m amazed Fi tolerated her not answering her questions, especially with how freaked out Thony seemed, but then again I guess maybe that’s why she doesn’t keep asking– like she knows Thony well enough to know that pushing her would just make her spiral more? Either way I am so looking forward to the day when these ladies don’t have to live their lives in fear anymore ugh

Robert’s style is literally so funny to me. The man’s like late 40s and rocking leather pants and a shirt with a pattern that looks like it belongs on a porcelain vase. Like if he wasn’t such a bastard I would be applauding him for living his best life as a freakin peacock lol. But anyhow I’m so glad that it’s becoming increasingly clear that Nadia doesn’t want to reunite with him again– she enjoys his admiration, sure, and is satisfied by the way she can (somewhat) control him and dictate her own terms with their arrangement, but she knows he’s unstable and can’t be trusted– that line where she deftly heads off his growing paranoia shows that she’s been through all this before, and while she has learned how to manage him, it’s no guarantee he won’t suddenly snap and do something dangerous if he gets angry. Tbh I actually quite enjoyed this conversation for a few reasons– firstly for the above, but then also the “trouble in paradise” line, considering that last ep was called ‘paradise lost’, and also Nadia saying that “whatever business you have with Arman, it has nothing to do with me”. Definitely quite a difference from early in the season when she corrected Arman by saying “OUR debt”-- I am loving every sign that this marriage really is over and the writers are certainly providing them willingly. Also lastly “please, bring a date” lollll girl is NOT interested in Robert and not afraid to show it haha

Gotta admit that Garrett putting a big X through Nick’s photo had a certain flair lol. But honestly I respect that he listened to Thony (and even to Arman) and went into bat for them to get the meds back. I appreciate that he actually acknowledged that it was the FBI that put the two of them in danger and they owe it to them to protect them from the ramifications of that. Also his line “if we want her help taking down Kamdar, we need her alive” is presumably about Thony, but I liked that it was probably deliberately written to be vague bc he is likely thinking of Maya too in that moment. Anyway all the respect for Russo and her burger lol

I wonder if it feels different for Arman to walk into La Habana now? It’s only been a few days since Nadia kicked him out, and of course it’s still his club, but so much of his life and focus now revolves around Thony and getting free of Robert that I can imagine that he’s starting to feel like more like a guest at La Habana than the person running the show. Also lol I literally only just realised that it is named La Habana after the capital of Cuba because the main part of the business is selling Cuban cigars. I sure am quick haha. But anyway ngl I love that Arman doesn’t even blink as he lies to Nadia about his and Thony’s involvement in the FBI raid/Cortes’ death; by saying that it happened after they left, he’s literally protecting all three of them, because what Nadia doesn’t know, Robert can’t get out of her/hurt her for, and the only way to keep himself and Thony (lbr, mainly Thony) safe is to prevent Robert finding out the truth. I also loved the line “It’s best if you don’t know”, because like when Thony said “better if I don’t know” back in 1x07 (about the guy Arman killed), the whole point is protecting the other person by creating distance between themselves. Back then it was important for Thony to avoid knowing these things so she had plausible deniability– so the FBI couldn’t get the information out of her and use it against Arman. But now he and Thony are completely united in all of this, and it’s Nadia who is separate, and who needs to be kept at a distance to protect both herself and them from Robert. But ugh honestly I loved this conversation between them; the way he asked her how bad things were, and from her simple ‘it’s Robert’ we can assume that she has told Arman a lot about him in the past– clearly including how dangerous his anger is– and to me that definitely adds another layer to Arman never wanting Nadia to be anywhere near Robert. Because Arman knows her, knows she thinks she has matured now and that she can handle Robert herself (which, as I said before, she absolutely can to an extent) but he also knows Robert is still a threat to her, even if in a very different way to how he’s a threat to Arman.

And ughhhhh I love that even after how betrayed she feels about him and Thony, and despite all the pain of their breakup, she is still trying to help him. I definitely don’t see this as a romantic moment between a fighting couple who still want to be together; I see it as two people who have shared a lot and who still care deeply about each other, even when they’re at odds. Honestly I desperately hope that this is the dynamic we’re going to get between them for the rest of the season, which tbh is all dependent on Nadia and whether she accepts that she and Arman had been heading for their ending for a while, and that he had no choice in falling for Thony. Bc either she’ll accept it, or she will try to ease her own pain by lashing out at him and Thony and making them suffer in whatever way she can. I am really crossing my fingers for the former, though, especially with the genuine worry in her voice as she tells him “Cut Thony loose. She’s going to get you killed.” Ngl I loved this line too, bc my understanding is that the phrase ‘to cut someone loose’ comes from mountain climbers who are tied together, and one has fallen (and maybe is already dead/injured) and the other has to cut their weight loose in order to not be pulled down to their death with the other. So Nadia is saying here that Thony is dragging Arman over the edge of the cliff and that if he doesn’t free himself, he’s going to go down with her. But this is where Nadia shows how little she understands what’s truly between them, and how she has completely missed the truth of what’s been happening to Arman (the truth Thony saw in Robert’s office in 2x05)– because the reality is that it’s ARMAN who is dangling off the cliff, and it’s Thony who is gritting her teeth and digging her heels into the dirt to try to pull him back up, even as she’s getting pulled closer and closer to the edge. 

Bc the thing is, despite her visit to collect the money from Robert, she had remained largely off of his radar– just a  low-level associate of Nadia’s who was beneath his notice– until he overheard Arman and Nadia’s fight and realised that Thony was of far greater significance than he’d first assumed, and realised that he could use that knowledge to both further drive the wedge between Nadia and Arman, and also to make Arman suffer in an entirely new way. So he made it clear to Arman that since Thony worked for Arman and Arman worked for him, Thony now belonged to him as well– all the while challenging Arman to fight him on it, to reveal that Thony was more to him than just a cleaning lady, and therefore fall even more deeply into his trap. And so Arman– dangling from that cliff with no way to save himself– calls Thony, and she comes running; and she, unlike Nadia, sees the truth of what is happening to him and she says I’m going to help you. She ties herself to him, and by doing so, gets pulled into the absolute clusterfuck that is selling the drugs/getting caught by Garrett/being forced by the FBI into setting up Cortes and Robert/nearly getting murdered by Cortes/getting rescued at the last second but then being made to look like a rat to Robert and having her entire family threatened (which we now know isn’t even the worst of it). And okay sure, you could argue that Arman only needed her help to get out of Robert’s control because he became indebted to him to get out of jail which he was mostly only in because he was protecting her from going to jail– but man if you follow that thread then it just goes on and on, like well she was only in danger of going to jail because of her connection to him and having been lying to the FBI on his behalf, and then you could say that the FBI was only able to use her because she felt guilty about the role she played in Theo’s murder and its cover up by Arman, etc etc. And to be completely honest it’s actually even far more complicated than that, making it basically impossible to say which of them brought all of this on the other– like with everything else in their lives, it’s just too intertwined. But tbh the point I’m trying to make here is that when Nadia says ‘she’s going to get you killed’, Arman’s silent reaction is No, I’m going to get her killed. If he had the ability to cut her loose in order to save her, he would in a heartbeat, but he can’t– not now that Robert has her in his sights. So his only option is to see this through and do whatever it takes to bring Robert down, and if he has to give everything, including his life, to make that happen– to give Thony her freedom and her life back– then he will do it gladly.  

God Robert is so extra, writing down the address to La Habana lol (15 N Main, if you’re wondering haha). It’s a smart move by him, obviously, though lbr it’s a total dick move in regards to Nadia– if there was FBI involvement, that would totally screw her and her dreams for La Habana. So much for him being all supportive of her in terms of one day owning it. But anyway ngl I did enjoy the way he included Thony when he mentioned the buyer meeting them on ‘their’ own turf. I think he likes highlighting their partnership, firstly as a subtle reminder that if Arman messes him around, he’s not the only one who’ll pay, but also as a taunt that he knows that she and Arman are ~a thing~ and that his and Nadia’s marriage is basically over as a result. Anyway ooooh interesting that Arman called her on her regular phone this time– the only other time he called her on that was when he was in jail and knew she likely wouldn’t be carrying her burner (bc why would she, when she thought he didn’t have the ability to call her?). Maybe now that the FBI is fully aware that the two of them are very much connected and working together, they decided there’s not really any point in having the burner anymore? Orrrr maybe I’m just overthinking it haha. But ugh anyway I really enjoy the way they seem to often answer a call from each other by saying the other’s name? Idk if that’s typical in some places (it’s certainly not how I answer the phone) but idk it feels like a little ritual for them, linking them together across the phone line. And ugh they just really are so bound together; Arman is the bridge to the criminal side (the logistics of the deal), and Thony is the bridge to the FBI side (getting the meds back), and this deal only works with both of them. 

Dammit Thony, just put Fi out of her misery and tell her what’s going on?? Although then again, if you actually say out loud that you think you might possibly be going to get murdered tonight then she might flip out and not let you go lol. And then how would you protect Arman, which is clearly the main thing you care about?? But anyway saved by the knock at the door… well, not really, because it’s Hot Detective Flores and she is here to REALLY fuck up everybody’s day lol. But ughhhh this show is so good at subtly evoking emotions in the viewer, like the fear and confusion of someone being coerced by the police with no idea about what their rights are. Like I get that Flores thinks she is on the side of good here and is catching a killer or whatever, but honestly I still hate everything about this. Except her black nail polish haha, because that looks badass (and tbh a little gay? Please let her be gay lol).

I like the callback of having the aeriaist performing at La Habana (I hope it’s actually Lexi again!). But okay I am definitely getting a vibe as Robert asks Nadia if she remembers these two specific women– like did they all have an orgy back in the day, and Robert’s rounded them up for a reunion tour?? His memory lane comment definitely seems to indicate that lol. But loollllll at her being so unimpressed with it all– that little eyeroll? What a queen. Bc for all his talk about how La Habana is lucky to have her and should be hers etc etc, rn he’s trying to take her away from her job and her duties as a host to instead be his Plaything #3. And oooh Arman watching from across the bar– again, I am convinced a big part of his enmity for Robert is the way he keeps trying to reduce Nadia to a possession. But also obviously Arman just hates his face lol. (Don’t we all).  Again I enjoy that Robert’s first words to Arman are him asking where Thony is; like I said before, he knows now what a package deal they are. And you know Arman is asking himself the same thing, but he smoothly deflects; tbh I’ve missed seeing him here in La Habana where he is so in his element, so in control. His explanation about spotting the buyer, and then outright calling Robert a sociopath to his face? Hotttt. Though tbh idk how he thinks they could go ahead with the deal without Thony? Like the dude is not going to hand over his money without seeing the meds, so what is Arman hoping to achieve by trying to get things going now? Ngl my angst brain is imagining that his plan is to tell them the delivery is down in the loading dock, and then when they all go down there he’ll shoot Robert, even though it’ll get him killed too. But at least then Robert would be dead and Thony would be safe ugh….… but even if that was his plan, it’s thwarted by Robert insisting on waiting for his ‘better half’ (yes, I know you know I loved that, lol). But ugh Arman calling Thony– there’s no accusation in his voice when he says ‘where the hell are you’, only concern and a little desperation, because he knows that only something serious could keep her away, and he’s powerless to protect either of them right now.

But maaaaan that abrupt transition from the upbeat club music to the silence of the interrogation room certainly packed a punch. And omg I literally lost count of the number of times I yelled DON’T SAY ANYTHING!!!! at Chris– and omg Fi admitting she’s undocumented? Ugh my beautiful brave mama bear. So fucked they can question a minor without a parent or a lawyer though!!!! Wtf Nevada!!!. God though Garrett’s appearance was so well done, because like Thony, I breathed a sigh of relief expecting her to immediately get let out, and then he orders her to sit back down and for a moment I was like ???? is he putting on a show for someone watching, pretending to be ‘bad cop’ to throw them off or something????  What is happening???? And then he pulls out the photo and it’s like OH SHIT. And honestly I actually kind of feel for Garrett here?? He genuinely cares about Thony and has done a lot to help her, and now it looks like she has been lying to him and manipulating him this entire time, and using him to get away with multiple crimes, including covering up her own husband’s murder?? He’d have to feel betrayed, especially bc he thinks she’s covering up that Arman killed Marco for her (an impressive feat from within jail lol), and also lbr his somewhat overly inflated ego has no doubt taken a hit as well, which is even more dangerous. But omg when he asks what she thinks Chris will say about the picture, you can see the horror in her eyes as she realises Chris may very well confess to protect her (though finally my boy shows some sense and insists on a lawyer. Phew!). But honestly holy shit man, Oliver and Elodie nailed  this scene. Like Thony trying to take the fall and yet in doing so actually proving Garrett’s suspicions that she didn’t kill Marco, and then her calling him out on treating her like this after what she did for him with Cortes? Amazing.  

(sidenote: I remember that some fans were pissed after 2x05 that Arman ‘threw it in Thony’s face’ that he killed someone for her, which imo is not at all what he did– he raised a completely valid point about the way she was treating him after he helped her in an EXTREMELY big way– yet I can bet you so much money that no one will be mad at Thony for doing much the same thing to Garrett here. And in fact, she’s far closer to actually throwing it in his face than Arman ever was, but again, it’s Thony doing it to Garrett so no one will care or think there’s anything wrong with it. Idk I’m just very protective of Arman because I think his character gets misinterpreted a lot because he’s a man whose main defense mechanism is anger, and also bc no one seems to consider the fact that he’s been through a veritable fuckton of trauma even in just the past month alone. But ugh okay I need to get back on track bc otherwise I will literally talk all day about how Arman deserves so much better than what he gets from a large proportion of the fandom.) 

But yeah anyway honestly Thony and Garrett’s thread of who is indebted to whom (like hers and Arman’s) is very long and tangled by this point so it’s impossible to know which of them owes the other more, but that doesn’t really matter; he wants to keep Maya safe, and the only way to do that is to take down Kamdar, and right now Thony and Arman are the only people that can do that.  And Thony obviously can’t help if she’s in prison for aiding and abetting a murder, so she makes a very good point that if he wants her help, he needs to help her. (and lbr the sass in ‘isn’t that what your little badge is for??’ was amazing lol).  Also lol at Thony not sounding very convincing at all when she told Flores that she didn’t admit to finding Marco bc she was scared– c’mon Thony you’re a better actor than that! I almost feel sorry for HD Flores here but at the same time it’s also like ‘take that, sucker!!! ACAB!’  haha.  But man poor Thony having to go straight from that almost-got-pinned-for-murder stress to meeting with a crime lord who may or may not decide to have her killed at any moment.  Like I keep remembering her line from 1x08 when she was getting the tour of the ‘wellness centre’ in Mexico, and Julio mentions serenity of the mind and she replies “It’s been a long time since I’ve had serenity of the mind”. Bc lbr, like Arman she has been through so much trauma in the last few months, and ugh all I want is for her to be happy. But anyhow I’m getting distracted again. I actually really liked the moment between her and Garrett in the hallway; they’ve had their little spat and now they’ve emerged as allies once again. Never would have thought I’d say this, but I actually really enjoy their dynamic and the unexpected camaraderie that has formed between them. 

(But okay so like are the FBI going to give her a makeover too or?? How did she get the outfit or this party?? These are the things that keep me up at night– and lbr that outfit will probably keep Arman up at night too lol)

Anyway speaking of Arman, lol at him and Robert sitting and awkwardly staring at each other in the club for all that time? Poor Arman– not only is that supremely uncomfortable as it is, but there’s the added layer of his worry for Thony and what might have happened to keep her away, and also the knowledge that if she can’t come through with the drugs, he’s likely going to be dead before the night is over. I love that Nadia recognises that something is happening and that Arman needs help, and so she tries to rescue him by offering herself up as a distraction for Robert. Like I said, these two still care a lot about each other, and I love seeing that. Though not nearly as much as I love seeing Arman looking completed floored when he sees Thony walking towards him; not only is she likely saving his life right now, but she’s doing it looking like that?? (Poor man has never seen so much of her skin on display at once; no wonder his mouth is hanging open lol). Even Nadia looks stunned by her, and I mean we all already know from 1x01 that Nadia finds Thony attractive lol, but this is more of a realisation that the woman she so often dismissed as ‘just a cleaning lady’ has become more of a central player in the high-stakes world of these men than she herself has ever been– and not only that, but she steps right into place at Arman’s side like she belongs there, and he looks at her like he never wants her to be anywhere else. It must feel to Nadia like her suspicions are being completely proven right in front of her, and I love that both Arman and Thony glance at her before engaging with Robert, as if in silent apology for how this appears. As for Robert, he’s obviously irritated at having been kept waiting, but I wonder if he respects her a little for it too? Like damn she literally saw him have a guy murdered right in front of her yesterday and yet she still makes him wait for her today– if it had been deliberate, it would have been quite the power move lol. But ugh I loved the shots of her striding confidently through the club, leading this collection of powerful men. Love that Mob wife energy ughhh. Meanwhile poor Nadia has been forcibly left behind and relegated to message-bearer for Robert’s dates lol, but I do like that Arman looked back and gave her that small nod in reassurance and apology. This moment just further demonstrates how their paths are diverging, and how his and Thony’s have become so completely joined.

Also the shot in the service elevator was cool– I love that Thony was in front of them all, including Arman; I’d like to think he hung back a little to keep an eye on Robert and to watch Thony’s back. Ngl though I’m giggling at the idea of it being a regular elevator instead, and they’d all had to squeeze into it together, with some tacky elevator music playing over the top haha. But anyway this drug buyer is hot and I really enjoy his voice, and also the way he was respectful to Thony lol. But goddddddd the way Arman looks at Thony after they complete the deal, like he’s just thinking ‘As soon as this is over I am going to kiss her SO MUCH’ lol. Tbh I’m tempted to write a little ficlet where everything actually goes fine and Robert is satisfied by the deal and leaves, and then once Arman and Thony are left on the loading dock alone she starts to be all stressed like “the FBI won’t be happy about the drugs” and “what are we gonna do” and Arman just steps closer and says “Thony. I’d really like to kiss you now. Please.” and she freezes and looks up at him and then gives the tiniest nod and he takes her face in both his hands and kisses her slowly and she forgets all about the FBI for a while and uggggghhhh now I am distracted again haha. Where was I? Oh yeah, the buyer leaving. Ngl this is so petty but the fact that the business logo on the truck is called ‘Elegance’ and yet has a really inelegant looking design (seriously what is up with that fork??) drives me a little crazy lol. But anyway honestly I’m a little amused by Robert literally snatching the briefcase (he is such a child??), but then oh shit I did not see the kidnapping coming??? Help???????

Love that Fi calls Garrett out on whatever he’s got Thony doing, and how dangerous it seems, and yasssss “what is wrong with you??” (so much, Fi, so much). I appreciate that he acknowledges that Thony’s doing it for him (though to be fair she’s mostly doing it to keep herself and Arman alive, but whatevs lol). Is it ridiculous that it kind of irritates me that when Chris appears and Fi yells “get back to your room”, she points the wrong way? His room is to the right, not the left lol. But anyhow. God this episode just wants to keep throwing more stress at me haha, and when Chris admits to killing Marco??? God. I actually love Garrett for his response though– tbh we’ve seen his compassionate side before, usually directed towards Thony, but this was huge, especially from a guy who was previously all ‘there’s good guys and bad guys and that’s all there is to it’. (Though really, for someone who claimed to hold those views, he has always been just fine considering himself a good guy while doing pretty bad guy things). @enigmaticfox made a great point that in absolving Chris for Marco’s death, it’s almost like he’s trying to absolve himself too for killing Cortes, like both of them were just victims of their situations and had no choice in what happened. (Except of course it’s not the case; Garrett had far more of a choice than Chris ever did.)

Obsessed with Armony in the back of the car and how even with hoods on, their heads turn towards each other like they’re straining for any sound from the other, any connection to hold onto. But uh oh this is really not looking like the kind of secondary location you want to be brought to by a violent sociopath, especially with all that plastic sheeting haha. But ugghhhh the way Thony’s steps falter when she sees Maya, and then the way they stare at each other– Thony may not be tied up like Maya, but she is just as bound, just as powerless to get them out of this situation. Honestly almost this entire ep was stressful as hell (reminded me of 1x09 in that way, but even worse) and this scene was the absolute pinnacle of that stress; my entire vocabulary was reduced to the word ‘fuuuuuuuuuuckkkk’ from the moment they stepped into this room lol. But ugh my precious boy standing up to Robert and telling him no, telling him he won’t murder an innocent for him, even if it means his own death– I was so proud of him but also so very scared lol. But then Robert pushes the button he already knows will force Arman to obey; he may have only actually seen them together for the first time a few days ago, but he has seen enough to know that Thony is Arman’s weak point, and that with a gun to her head, he could be made to do just about anything. Robert knows it, and Arman knows it; hell, even Thony knows it too, which is why she tries to tell him not to listen, not to give in to what Robert wants, even though doing so means she is literally arguing for her own death. She wants so badly to live, but she doesn’t want her life to come at the price of both Maya’s life and Arman’s soul. It seems almost like she’s trying not to look at Arman– like if she does, he definitely won’t be strong enough to resist what Robert is trying to make him do– but even still she can’t completely keep herself from looking at him, because if she’s about to die, it’s his face she wants to see, not Robert’s. But ugh you can see Arman starting to panic, his brain running through every possible option to get all three of them out of there alive, but it doesn’t take long for the realisation to hit that saving all three of them isn’t going to be a possibility. Maya was found in an FBI safehouse; there’s no way Robert will ever believe she’s not a rat, meaning there’s no chance he will ever let her live. So if Arman continues to refuse to kill her– and he and Thony die as a result– it will be for nothing, because Robert will just kill Maya anyway. And even if Arman were to grab the gun and shoot Robert, Robert’s men would likely kill him and Thony in response; so as much as he wants Robert dead, Thony’s life is not a price he’s willing to pay for it. His own life, maybe, but not hers. Never hers.

Which means that when the count hits three, there’s really only one thing he can do– and in truth, deep down he knew it was inevitable from the moment Robert threatened Thony. And tbh I’m so glad we didn’t see the actual shooting, a choice which was clearly designed to create that moment of suspense before Thony appears– ngl, even I had an ‘omg but who got shot??’ reaction even though it was obviously not Thony, bc she’s a) the main character of the whole freakin’ show lol, and b) if she’d been the one shot, Arman would have reacted by either dropping to the floor beside her and pulling her body into his arms, or by grabbing the gun and shooting Robert and as many of his men as possible before they took him out. But from the way he comes out of the building, we immediately know what really happened. In my headcanon, at the count of three Arman grabs the gun and shoots Maya, then immediately drops the gun back to the table (or tosses it away from him, can’t decide) and turns and stumbles out without looking at Thony, because he can’t face her, especially not when he hears the little sob she lets out in the silence after the gunshot. She’s left in there staring numbly at Maya’s body, and Robert waves off the guy who has his gun on Thony, saying something like “Well, there we have it. Thony, Joseph will take you and Arman home. Do say hello to dear little Luca for me.” and then he basically turns his back on her to start giving orders about disposing of the body, so she dazedly walks out after Arman. She’s in shock so when she steps outside and sees him walking away, her body kind of instinctively follows after him, but then she continues past (sidenote: his face when she walks past without even acknowledging him? Lord help me), and heads straight for a tree where she braces herself against the trunk and vomits. And Arman stares at her for a moment, wanting to help, wanting to go to her and hold her hair back and comfort her, but instead he imagines her shying away from his touch the way she did back at Isabel’s wedding– back when she’d looked at him like he was the monster he feels he has truly just become– and silently turns away. 

But anyway ugh I’m getting distracted with headcanons again lol. Tbh I will never recover from his absolutely wrecked expression when he leaves the house, or the silent tears running down his face in the back of the car; honestly, the song choice for this scene was freaking phenomenal, because it really captured it all with ‘I keep feeling smaller and smaller’-- like I’ve said in past recaps, Arman has been being slowly crushed by the weight of the pressure he’s under, and has had bits of himself steadily stripped away as a result (by everything that has happened with the FBI, the prison, Hayak, and of course Robert), and this moment dealt the worst blow by far. The ‘I need my girl’ was of course absolutely perfect, both as an explanation for the choice he made– to let Thony die would be impossible, because he needs her like he needs to breathe– but also as a sign of what will follow after this event, because after the wound that was just inflicted on his soul, he needs her now, more than ever. And in that moment in the car when the haze of shock wears off and she comes back to herself like she’s just waking up from a dream, her first instinct is to look to him, and she sees it, sees the way he is drowning, and immediately reaches out, binding them to one another, sending the silent message that they are still in this together, that she hasn’t turned her back on him and never will. And ugh the way his lips press together and he swallows, then lets out a shaky breath? You just know there was a little voice in the back of his mind that had him half-convinced she would shun him for what he did, that she would ever be able to look at him the same again– and so when she proves that little voice wrong and tethers herself to him, it seems like all he can do not to break down and sob.  Honestly, when I first watched this ep I had a moment of panic that all this trauma might push the two of them apart temporarily, that there’d simply been too much pain as a result of their connection to one another and that they’d need to walk away for a while to recover and to realise how much they needed each other– but that was only a very brief moment, because what I actually think is that the opposite will happen; that everything they’ve been through will just bring them closer, will cement them as two people who are so indelibly bound together, and who would go to the literal ends of the earth for each other. I’d like to think that Joseph dropped her off first, and that she and Arman kept their grip on each other for a long moment, only reluctantly letting go when she was already halfway out of the car, like she wanted to pull him with her but understood that she couldn’t– not now, not yet, and certainly not with Garrett waiting there in her house.

And tbh I am actually really bummed about the Garrett situation? His and Thony’s partnership was really growing on me, and now it will never be the same, because sooner or later he’s going to find out the truth and everything will go to hell. I wish that Armony had had the chance to maybe discuss their strategy– like what if they’d told Garrett immediately that Maya was dead, but told him that Robert had shot her in front of them? He would have believed it, since Robert had just killed someone else in front of them the day before, and then they wouldn’t have had to worry about him finding out about her death. Basically they could have controlled the narrative from the start… but obviously they were both too messed up to be thinking that far ahead, and also there was the little problem of being in the car with Robert’s right hand man and definitely not being able to speak openly about the FBI lol. Which means now we’re going to have the absolute trainwreck of Garrett finding out that his kind-of-nemesis Arman killed the woman he loves, and that his kind-of-partner Thony lied to him about it in order to protect Arman. It’s going to be messy and terrible and I will likely enjoy it even as I hate it lol. But tbh I’m comforting myself with a line from back in 1x10 (which I conveniently happened to rewatch it the other day) where Garrett says to Thony about Arman supposedly killing Theo: “Whether he pulled the trigger, or had one of his boys do it, it’s all the same”. So hopefully once his initial shock and anger and betrayal fades, he will be able to recognise that in this situation, Arman is the one being forced to follow orders, and it’s Robert who really carries the blame for Maya’s death. And then once he realises that, I hope he will team up with Thony and Arman to finally take down the man who has put them all through so much pain. 

Also sigh apparently Arman is the only one around here who can actually hide a body successfully– first his guys did a terrible job disposing of Theo’s body in 1x01, and now Robert’s men appear equally useless (unless Robert wanted her to be found, to send a message to the FBI, which is also very possible). Tbh I was briefly worried that Robert would also plant the gun somewhere to be discovered and used against Arman, but it looked like a custom piece and also he touched it with his bare hands before Arman used it, so it would have been far too much of a risk to let the police get a hold of it. But ugh I have to say I really do feel for Garrett here, knowing that he failed her–  there’s a parallel between him and Maya vs Arman and Thony, and how desperately both he and Arman wanted to protect the women they love, and now they are two sides of the same coin– Arman saved his love, and Garrett lost his. And having ‘I need my girl’ still playing over the top as Garrett stands there staring at Maya’s body? Damn, show, you really didn’t have to go this hard, geez. And you know I just keep thinking about the fact that when they were at Cortes’ mansion only two days ago, Maya and Thony had seemingly managed to throw off Cortes’ suspicions about them for a moment– until a guard burst in to say that one of their other guards had been found incapacitated (by Garrett) and all hell broke loose. I can’t help but wonder– if Garrett had stayed out, would any of this have happened? Or would Maya have been able to convince Cortes that there was no connection between her and Thony, and then the deal could have gone ahead as planned and Thony could have walked out of there safely with the cash? I guess we (and Garrett) will never know….

Anyway ugh this episode was So Much (and holy shit the actors absolutely knocked it out of the park, especially Elodie and Adan) and I am both excited and terrified about what the coming eps will bring… but no matter what happens, it’s clear that Armony will face it together, and honestly I couldn't ask for anything more.

[auspicious-poppy]

Well I just finished the romantic killer anime and as promised here are some thoughts:

1) The over dramatic screaming got annoying as it does in any anime but Anzu’s facial expressions are unparalleled 2) I don’t like the sparkly filter slapped on the guys in the early episodes, that wasn’t in the manga 3) I really hope romantic scenarios being crushed by the power of friendship become a new trend 4) Hijiri should’ve moved in too, that would’ve made everything way more chaotic if he was always commenting on how the commoners live 5) if anyone can complete this series without thinking Anzu isn’t at least somewhere on the aspec really need to get their eyes checked 6) even though I knew it was coming the dark turn toward the end still hit weird with such a change of tone and 7) /hj as an aroace who has been a lifelong chocolate addict and only loves her cat I’m so happy to finally have representation 🥹 overall a pretty fun watch, there needs to be more fiction mocking amatonormativity & I stand by my comment of it being viewed as a satire of the aromantic experience

Hope you’re having a good day/night 👋

Hey! So sorry for the VERY late response, life got very busy. :') Glad to hear from you though!!! 1. Perhaps we're both getting too old for dramatic anime screams aha. Used to watch so many slice-of-life and romance animes back then sooo.... 2. Interesting... what else was different from the manga? :0 Were they just presented normally in their manga panels? I wonder if the sparkly filters is supposed to exaggerate the romance part or represent Anzu feeling attraction (which is what those shoujo filters are used for usually yeah? I forgot lmao.) 3. BIG AGREE WITH YOU THERE!! WE NEED MORE OF THIS. THE POWER OF PLATONIC RELOS!! 4. BIG YES TO THIS TOO! Can totally imagine Hijiri dying internally over a million times seeing how commoners - especially Anzu - live their lives. Though I wonder what situation would Riri cook up to force Hijiri to live with Anzu though, might need to take more than just flooding a room. 5. In defense of the allos - aromanticism still is relatively unknown. But yes, Anzu's experiences resonated with me somewhat as an aro. Hopefully other aros feel comfort as well. 6. I personally love it when stories take a fucking turn haha. It did reveal Kazuki's past, pushed Riri to do something selfless and most importantly, cemented the power of friendship!! 7. Don't really know much fiction mocking amatonormativity - we certainly need more of those. :( And if anyone has recs, pls send them through!! Buttt, I can recommend an anime that parodies anime in general and bonus bonus, the protagonist is aroace (while the word is never explicitly stated, he literally says that he doesn't experience romantic attraction!!). Watch The Disastrous Life of Saiki. K!!!

[lenteur]

i appreciate you a lot, i hope you know that <3

i would like to use the hug card <3 i feel like i need a big biiig group hug, i just want to be squished <333

i hope they do, otherwise i feel like it may drive them apart or away from the company itself(which wouldn't be a bad thing, there are better companies).

your puns are spectacular, i only wish i had that same power ;) it's not that hard to just LOVE him, i mean he is the definition of precious <33 i feel like seungkwan is one of those idols that if you were to ever meet him, he'd be the same as what we see <3 a kind individual <3 though i have watched older fansignings and he seems so sweet <33 i'm having a lot of scoups feelings atm HELP...........

thank u !! we kinda went off criminal minds for the last week or so, my s/o is rewatching smallville and i've been rewatching riverdale <33

it's really, really good <3 i rewatched it this week, also started watching revenge of others, i'm on ep 2 and i am HOOKED <3 it's basically about a girl who transfers to her brother's school in an attempt to find his killer (who pushed him out of a window) >:( i feel like i know who the killer may be but i'm probably wrong :(

you are honestly so sweet <3 you are a ball of sunshine :)) i'm glad you're happy to continue talking with me <3 although if u were not, that would be absolutely okay <3 and you're welcome 🌼

they are both girls!!! <33 they are the cutest beans <3333

hello my dear bestie 💗 i have missed you soooooooooooooooooooooooo much but i'm glad you took some time for yourself and i hope you're feeling better than during the holidays 💕 and i also hope you know i appreciate you as well. very much so!

of course! come here 💓 we'll squeeze you with our love 😘

thank you so much for appreciating my puns 💘 very few people can enjoy them. only the big brained are able to. so therefore, i can share my secret with you :D i went to this amazing pun school ;) i can't mention their name or else they'll receive too many applications. the only thing i can tell you is that it was a lot of PUN (haha get it?)

omg! yes exactly. i knew you'd be able to translate what i'm trying to say about my boo (seungkwan) super well 💝 he's one of those rare idols where you can feel he's practically the same as what he shows in front of cameras. i can't confirm that because i don't know him personally but he kind of seems like he's not that different off camera. ah scoups scoups, that man is very dangerous indeed... i've watched back it up fancams during the caratblr event and i haven't felt this attacked in a long time. he has made a (s)coup(s) d'état to my heart 💞 (i'm proud of that pun)

smallville. a name i haven't heard in a long time. i remember watching it as a teenager, i recognise the faces of the actors but i have no clue as to what's going on in the show. the only thing i know is it's about superman (am i sure? not really) as for riverdale, the only thing i've watched are the yt video edits/the memes. some of the videos are kind of funny. especially when you know nothing about the show hahaha

oh wow congrats on actually keeping your promise of watching kdramas 👏👏👏 so revenge of others is a thriller mixed with a little bit of detective stories? (i don't remember the name of the genre lol) i hope the k*ll*r (just in case tumblr wants to flag this post) is not the person you're suspecting because then it ruins the story :/ at least in my opinion ^^ i mean, it's nice if you guess who it is while collecting clues during the first few episodes but if you already guessed by episode 2 then it's a bummer :( but again maybe the story is not entirely focused on finding the culprit and more about how the main character reacts and what will happen to the culprit? i'm sorry those are just random guesses >3< and i'm sure you've got the right answer. you're smart, very smart!

no need to worry about talking to me 💖 i very much enjoy talking to you and getting to know more about you (and your cats) 💟 you're honestly one of the highlights of my days/weeks when i see you pop up in my notifications so never worry about me not enjoying talking to you. it's the opposite actually!

my little beans are so cute 😻 every time i think about them, i get this huge smile on my face :D it's hard not to when they're this pretty and awesome 💗 a little kiss on both their foreheads because they deserve it for being so amazing 😘😘

[moononmyfloor]

Video Rec: Bite of Canton- Food Blogger

Some Context:

Some of you may have heard of the acclaimed Chinese food documentary show Bite of China. (If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for! It is the most amazing, go watch and thank me later!)

This was such a hit and it spawned many spinoffs, sometimes more localised takes such as Bite of Chongqing, Once Upon a Bite.... etc

This particular video I'm reccing is from Bite of Guangdong, also called Bite of Canton. There are many seasons (you can find them easily on Youtube) and it showcases the culinary habits and food culture in general of the Guangdong area.

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Why am I reccing this episode:

There are a number of gorgeous cottagecore/craft making/cooking etc Chinese videos on internet. A lot of us who have never been to China take these videos as windows to the life in China, how China looks like....etc. This is all fine and is in good fun, until it's not. Some people take these as literal "representations" and start having...arguments and generally causing havoc over..... what?

This video will show you what goes behind the scenes of some of those scenic videos.

These bloggers, in order to ensure they get enough traction to keep in business, work their hardest to bring "realistic" looking content. They may pretend on camera what they might not feel in reality.

Does this mean all these videos are "lies"? No. Does this mean people don't live these kinds of life? No. Liziqi's cottagecore videos were called "China's beautiful lie" which I honestly think is too harsh. Why?

There are people who live the kind of life portrayed in these videos. In extreme climates, in pastoral villages doing DIY...Just because it looks unreal doesn't mean it actually is BUT

They have not been lying to you. If you took what was in the video at face-value, then it's a you problem. As a viewer one must keep in mind that a vlog is first and foremost, in most cases, an entertainment piece. It is carefully planned and designed to bring the viewer a pleasant watch, especially if the vlogger is signed under an agent or a company etc.

Vlogs and variety shows may have started with the promise of giving a "more real, unlike a drama" vibe but in lots of cases, it is a partial illusion. They are not candid recordings of people going about there lives but rather portrayals of it. There's a difference. And the common sense that applies to watching dramas apply to these vlogs as well.

1. Do not necessarily expect them to have accurate "representation". They are not documentaries. They are not obliged to.

2. In the same guise, just because they are "acted out" doesn't mean everything they do and say are "fake" either.

Simply put, they are part real, part staged. And you have a brain to logically think about how deep you should digest these content. To go around quoting these videos, holding them to unreal standards AND putting them down as pretentious... both are equally as bad, in my opinion.

One needs to do their own research before blindly throwing around takes, which does more harm than good. Stay curious. Ask questions. Be polite and aware.

Lastly, I am thankful for all these creators for their dedication, your hardwork has brought comfort to many of my stressful days.🥰

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Have fun watching Bite of China (and other Bite... shows haha!) 😋

[namuneulbo]

week one hundred and thirty six

monday i woke up in turku. i slept really bad but i got some sleep at least and i wasn't as anxious as expected which was nice. i walked into town and went shopping for snacks to bring home and then i sat at a coffee shop for a few hours while having a second breakfast and watching two episodes of succession. i've gotten really into it. i think i watched like around 6-8 episodes that day alone probably, mind you they're one hour long.

afterwards i did more shopping. i went looking for more specific things i've been meaning to get, like contour and powder. i haven't used those before with my makeup. haven't felt the need to until recently. i feel like sometimes my makeup would look more put together with contour and because my base has been looking a little rough, i want to try and fix it with powder. if anything, powder will be useful to just fix oily spots throughout the day. i got more boring stuff too. an adapter for my phone charger and melatonin because i'm almost out of my current one. melatonin is way cheaper in finland. i honestly don't know if melatonin does that much but even if it's placebo, placebo is still a real thing that exists so if it helps me calm down when anxious or help me sleep better when i need to, i'll be fine paying for that.

had the meeting with the bank and it went smoothly. then i tried looking for a banana clip. i found out about those recently and i think those will be revolutionary for me as someone who's terrible at putting my hair in a claw clip. i couldn't find one though. i went to hesburger for dinner, of course, my finnish pride. watched succession in there and then left to go to a nerd store.

almost as soon as i walked in someone looked at me kind of weird. i didn't think too much of it but i noticed they like... peeked at me around the shelf. i was genuinely thinking like "oh my fucking god, here we go. now the incel weeb is gonna walk up to me and say some weird shit about boku no pico or some shit," BUT FEAR NOT! after they took a peek at me again from the other side of the board game section i saw them say something and i took off my headphones and they were like: "i like your shirt!". way nicer outcome. i had borrowed my sister's my chemical romance hoodie but good thing i love my chemical romance too. i thanked them and then they were like "what's your favorite song if you can't say helena?". i mean... hey! i get the bit but don't worry, boy, i wouldn't have said helena anyways. i was like "hm, i like drowning lessons and my way home is through you (which took awkwardly long to pronounce correctly, so many words in one title)... what's yours?". they seemed a little caught off guard i think haha. they said it was i'm not okay (i promise). solid choice. solid choice. then they continued like "oh my god, did you see everyone freaking out about them maybe having a comeback and doing a concert?" and i was like "yeah! i did!". i hadn't or... so i think? i'm confused. i understood it as mcr5 but that was ages ago or am i super slow? i mentioned that i saw them when they played in stockholm a few years ago and i was like "yeah, i even have tattoos!" and showed off my knees through the holes in my jeans. they made my day <3

went back to the port. watched succession. had a shitty sandwich before bedtime and boom woke up tuesday. slept surprisingly well. no interruptions which is rare for me. i didn't know what time we would be in land though and ended up waking up a bit too late so i had to stress out of the room. got home at like... 8 am. long day of nothingness in front of me. it was epic.

i however caught a cold. i had a bit of a sore throat on tuesday evening but now i have a full-blown one MIXED with pre-menstrual symptoms. it's rough. like my entire body was already sore from the cold. chill out, man.

i have just rested really since then. i picked up a package on wednesday since i had to go to the store and get pepsi anyways. i'm telling you, soft drinks are so nice with a sore throat. it was so bad i felt sick just drinking water because of how weird it felt in my throat. hot tea and soft drinks forever!

it was a sellpy package, by the way. i ordered some stuff and it all ended up being really cute and fit really well. i got quite a lot. i got a leopard print v-neck blouse, a red velvet top, a black mesh top, a satin pajama set, two bracelets and some cups for my pencils and markers.

now, i will continue watching cities: skylines videos and long for the steam summer sale so i can buy the base game so i can buy dlc. bye for now <3

sotw: charli xcx - guess