#i really like to give them starcrossed lovers vibe

[praxieserver]

no new content tonight but i think eli and menorah should kiss gn

[jolie-goes-downton]

Why are you so sure that the thing between Thomas & the actor guy in the DA2 trailer isn't mutual? The vibe I get is that Thomas doesn't hate what's happening. Barris are my otp, too. Just wondering.

I don’t know about vibes, but how about narrative logic?

In canon so far, we have seen Thomas interact with six men in a way that suggested a romantic and/or sexual attraction or interest, at least on the part of one of the participants. In chronological order, these six men eare: The Duke of Crowborough, Kemal Pamuk, Lieutenant Courtenay, Jimmy Kent, Chris Webster and Richard Ellis. (I know there’s a not inconsiderable portion of the fandom who would like to see Tom Branson included in this list, but IMHO the canon evidence is too ambiguous and uncertain to include Tom in this analysis.) These interactions play out very differently of course; in fact no two of them are alike. And each of those are a unique part of Thomas’ journey as a character.

With the Duke, we see a hopeful, young and maybe slightly naive Thomas whose hopes are cruelly dashed by either Philip just being a heartless bastard, or because they’re both victims of their complicated and incompatible circumstances.

With Kemal Pamuk, we see Thomas’ sexuality weaponised against him. Manipulative arse sets a trap, poor infatuated Thomas pitches into it headlong and pays the price.

Thomas and Edward Courtenay are the classic starcrossed lovers, doomed from the word go, ripped apart by an evil force stronger than both of them - and we see the depth of Thomas’ grief afterwards. Many mainstream/casual viewers realise for the first time at this point that this is definitely not a man with a heart made of stone.

With Jimmy Kent, we see for the first time just how far Thomas is willing to go for a man he loves. No matter whether you ship them romantically or see them as just friends, the enormous sacrifice Thomas makes at the Thirsk fair shows his selfless, caring and dedicated side. And the Jimmy story also gives us that beautiful moment, “I’m not foul”, which shows an amount of pride and defiance and courage that Thomas himself possibly didn’t know he possessed.

Chris Webster, as far as we know the first man since 1916 to express a romantic/sexual interest in Thomas, hooray! ultimately fails to give Thomas a happy ending in all senses of the word, because evil society destroys their chance at happiness. That's a recurring theme in Thomas’ love life, but it's never before been shown so brutally and scarily as in the Turton’s raid. Thomas has surely never been so happy and so frightened within one single hour of his life.

Richard Ellis ends up initiating the first on-screen kiss involving Thomas since the effing first episode of the effing first season of the entire show, so hooray to that, too. The kiss is preceded by a lot of bonding, both over an outrageous prank and a far more serious matter, and it’s followed by a promise, “till we meet again”. This may just be Thomas‘ first real chance at having his feelings requited and being allowed to make it work. Understandably, he’s overwhelmed.

So, what does that tell us about any potential future storylines for Thomas that involve romantic and/or sexual attraction to (or by) another man?

It tells me that the actor guy (Dexter) will offer a new angle, a new insight into Thomas’ love life. How exactly? I don’t know that. There are many possibilities. Thomas‘ sugar daddy? Make up your own minds how IC that would be for Thomas, never mind how likely in a PG film. A friendly mentor figure? Maybe! A provider of unwanted attention? Yeah, we haven’t seen that yet, either.

I think this latter option is actually the most likely, because we‘ve had Thomas wanting guys he (sadly or luckily) couldn’t have, we‘ve had guys wanting Thomas whom Thomas wanted back (with varying success), but we haven’t yet had a guy wanting Thomas when Thomas really wasn’t interested or had given his heart to someone else already. So I find it most plausible that that’s gonna be Mr Dexter. And no matter whether that’s just a short moment, quickly resolved, or whether it’s a storyline that’ll keep us on the edges of our seats throughout the entire movie, it will teach us something new about Thomas, too.

Because while we may joke all we like about the Bateses and their ever-repeating prison drama, Julian Fellowes does not tend to repeat himself where romance is concerned. Just like Mary/Henry isn‘t just another Mary/Matthew dynamic, Daisy/William played out very differently from Daisy/Andy, Edith/Bertie do not re-enact Edith/Michael and Tom/Lucy is probably not going to be a carbon copy of Tom/Sybil, I can’t see history repeating itself for Thomas either. Especially not for Thomas, who has been many things in this show, but never a static character!

According to this logic, Guy Dexter is unlikely to just be the new Philip, who - again - dazzles Thomas with the promise of a more glamorous life than he can ever hope to have as a servant, and then fails to deliver on his promise. He won’t just be the new Pamuk, again weaponising Thomas’ sexuality to do something nasty to a third person. But he won’t just join the ranks of the three tragic might-have-beens (Edward, Jimmy and Chris), either, because we’ve had every variation of that before, too. And neither will he be another Richard. Thomas finally ready to embark on something solid and long-term with someone who wants just the same? Been there already, too, thanks. No point in showing it to us twice.

[elliepassmore]

An Arrow to the Moon review

4/5 stars Recommended for people who like: magical realism, contemporary fantasy, multiple POVs, Chinese mythology, starcrossed lovers, magical mysteries I don't really read contemporary...anything anymore, but since I got this as part of May's Fairyloot I figured I'd give it a shot. It does have a lot of the stuff that you would expect from a contemporary (fantasy) novel, like the characters going to school and dealing with college stuff and their parents, etc., and there's less emphasis on the magic for a lot of the book. While this is obviously a contemporary fantasy, I wanted more of the 'fantasy' aspect. Even when the characters acknowledge that magic is a thing, it's really just brushed to the side as a 'huh, that's weird' sort of event (including the massive cracks in the ground that everyone just seems fine with??), so that is the main reason I knocked off a star. On a more positive note, I did like the fireflies. I thought they were a neat addition to the story and did add that nice mystical element to a lot of the scenes that were otherwise normal. Likewise, I thought that Hunter's 'perfect aim' was a good way of paying homage to the original Houyi. Luna's life seems perfect. She gets good grades, has parents who love her and each other, and the whole world in front of her. Of course, things aren't what they seem, and there are cracks in Luna's life that she struggles to navigate in the book. One of them is dealing with her future and uncertainties over where she wants her life to go. Overall, Luna is pretty mild mannered and funny, and most of her rebellions are small ones (eating candy in the library, talking to Hunter, etc.). One thing I wasn't really a fan of was how she was treating her parents toward the end of the book. I understand that they were turning out to be different people than she expected (and tbh, I would be angry at her dad too if I was her, so it's mainly her & her mom I have an issue with), but Luna definitely takes things a step too far at times. Hunter's life, on the other hand, is anything but perfect. He's got a reputation for being a prankster, though he's actually fairly respectful and rarely does any of the pranks himself. I liked the way he was with his brother, Cody, and with Luna. The poor guy gets shortchanged a lot by his parents and that definitely translates into a resentful vibe on his part. I definitely felt for him and the situation he was in. It was nice to see the scenes where he was able to relax and just be himself, either with Cody or with Luna. Neither of the dads turn out to be very good characters in this one, though for different reasons. On the one side there's Hunter's dad, David. I could definitely feel for him at the beginning since the family is hiding and he's doing his best to keep them safe but...well, he ends up letting that turn him angry and desperate and it leads to some not-so-nice things. Additionally, his wife is clearly the smarter one and had to give up everything in order for the family to survive...though considering the amount of work she puts into 'David's' publications, I'd definitely say she's still the one doing the work, which was infuriating and I definitely felt her frustration and the way it sapped at her soul. Luna's dad, Hsueh-Ting, on the other side, comes off as a doting father and husband at first. He stays doting and loving, but it does become overbearing toward Luna and he ends up making decisions that are 'best for her' without really considering how she'd feel. Further, he has a hand in some other stuff that just isn't great but isn't really related to his family. While there are other characters (including other POV) characters, most of the focus is obviously on Luna and Hunter. Their relationship is cute in a 'first love' kind of way, and I feel like it does end up developing fairly naturally. Things get pretty wild there at the end, and I do kind of question their decision making skills there since it doesn't really feel like either of them has a plan other than to escape the situation(s) they're currently in. Admittedly, I do think the ending felt a little too neat (if bittersweet). Huang obviously wants the stone that's been passing hands throughout the book, and he wants the Yee's debt repaid. Luna and Hunter want to escape. These two things crescendo together and there is some action, but Huang's side of it gets resolved too quickly and easily, and I feel like we never fully get an explanation for everything the rock does and how it ties into Hunter and Luna's escape. *SPOILER* Like, could someone explain to me why everyone forgets them? Luna seems to know it's going to happen but I don't remember seeing that explained anywhere. Also, why can't Hunter ever hit Luna when he's aiming for her? *SPOILER END* Overall, this was a good book. It's got a bit too much contemporary in it for me, I would've liked to see more of the fantasy elements.

[mejomonster]

im missing Secret of the Three Kingdoms again (and ma tianyu)... maybe I’ll watch that when I run out of Love Between Fairy and Devil ToT (rip I actually caught up now I have to wait for eps aaa if only I’d checked it out a bit later lol)

I’m also watching Checkmate and missed them, love me a murder mystery and agatha christie stories, so its a fun time. But it hasn’t hooked me quite yet.

I think the thing just is like... I REALLY like a good romance between very different people. And a lot of cdramas do a partial version of it but like not as different as the trope that gets me? Like Goodbye My Princess is one of the closest to my preferences, because the drama REALLY works hard to depict each region and culture differently so the princess and prince feel like they have WAY different points of view when interacting. But its still ultimately a princess and prince. Whereas I’m like where is a total loner assassin or commoner and a princess, etc. Secret of The Three Kingdoms also is one of the Closest to my preferences - its an empress and a much lower noble-adoptee, and while that noble adoptee is actually the emperors brother, that is not how he was raised at all so they come at situations completely differently. Love and Redemption again, does similar but doesn’t quite hit my preference totally - they’re both important people in their clans (Xuanji for being the leaders daughter, sifeng for being the start disciple), and they’re a human/demon pair until you find out oh actually... they’re a devil-god-human/demon pair which is a bit less different. But it does hit that starcrossed lovers vibe I like, and that ‘different backgrounds equal different perspectives they approach things with’ that I appreciate. 

Love Between Fairy and Devil is probably giving the closest to my preference right now - while Lanhua is ultimately going to be some kind of god, for all intents her perspective and status when dealing with others has been a nobody in the Fairy Realm who just managed to pass a test for fairies to work in the palaces. She’s a disciple of a person sort of on the outside (the Arbiter who doesn’t seem to interact with the palace much), she is untalented in magic and skill, she had to deal with HER OWN status incompatibilities in the Fairy Realm before you even factor in her status in Cangyan Sea. Meanwhile, Dongfang Qingcang is the ‘big bad emperor’ character type, he is the ‘strongest’ person in the world talent wise, he rules the Moon Tribe, and being a figurehead for the Moon Tribe he is the boogeyman/supervillain in the Fairy Realm’s eyes so he’s about as far background wise as you can get from Lanhua. Even the way they were raised is different (at least from what Lanhua can remember) - he had a dad (who ultimately abused him) and a sibling and a bodyguard/friend, she had no parents and just a teacher (but one who seems to have treated her warmly) and few close friends just a few plants she talked to and occasionally Changheng/Jieli. Jieli/Shangque being their friends is probably the closest ‘background’ similar experience they’ve got (I could be forgetting things though to be fair). My point is: a drama is finally delivering on one of my favorite set ups. They really don’t have the same culture background OR the same status background. Usually the cdramas I see, one or both of those is usually the same (usually status - like in Eternal Love Bai Qian isn’t quite the ‘future-emperor’ level of Ye Hua, but she is the future Fox Clan leader and therefore also super high rank ultimately. in Love and Redemption once Xuanji has strength she and Sifeng both become symbols of power for the human clans and Sifeng’s demon clan respectively. In Goodbye My Princess both are prince and princess hence they are ultimately interacting because politically they’re at the level they CAN interact and accomplish goals due to each other.) To be fair it does make writing a story easier... even Guardian, where they’re very different mutant/human, its a chief and and hei pao shi who both sort of have mid-level political power. (Now I’m contemplating and Ice Fantasy both does the status-match pairing and its LEAD romance actually isn’t - its a human Guardian and a Ice Kingdom Prince - which may be part of why i loved that show, and may be partly why LBFAD is reminding me so much of Ice Fantasy).

Maybe I should be checking out disciple/shifu pairings, maybe that’s less likely to have same-status setups?

[anxietyrobot]

finally got around to finishing these! i used @idolomantises‘ picrew to make some ocs! i also included just the icons because i think they look great

idk if im ever gonna do something with them but i had fun afdasdf also i learned two things: 1) i really gotta work on wings and 2) i love white hair apparently adfadf

some notes on the characters under the read more! also if you click on the pics on desktop you should be able to read their names

1) pearl! shes like 50ish and the ceo of a pearl business which has been in her family for generations. she is very business oriented and has the mouth of a sailor.

2) chaos! exactly what it says on the tin. ageless and stupid. thats it. will sometimes hang out with love and might scheme together

3) aurora! shes a nerdy magic space princess! she also gives me huge big sister vibes but i havent actually decided if thats just her personality or if shes really a big sister afdadf

4) love! also ageless and stupid but has marginally more brains than chaos. BIG romantic. also a big fan of starcrossed lovers so you dont really want their blessing because shit will get complicated if you get it adfasdf