#love to see it and love to explore it!

[rafent]

a kiss from someone the other didn’t think thought of them that way

Time willingly spent together began at the Somniel with training alongside casual talking between breaks. Now? Time spent together would start for any reason, a meal to share together, their good ol' friend training or something simple as 'today was a good day for a walk' any reason would be one good enough.

To Alfred that was perfect as is, he greatly enjoyed Rafal's presence after all, whatever chance he was given to enjoy it the prince would gladly take. Today's chance bloomed from talking about flowers, ones they could simply look growing in bushes or ones that simply had come to mind as they spoke.

"In Elyos there are many kinds of flowers," He began speaking keeping his distance close to the dragon's. "and with it many meanings, i'm sure there are even more I don't know about." What came with a world that had bloomed bigger was more room for new knowledge. Customs, fauna, flora and many more things were information the Firenese prince hoped to embrace as time passed and little joys made their way through his heart.

Alfred notices Rafal looking at a bush with roses, in a way it reminded him of the dragon. "You took a liking to roses? They're gorgeous flowers with many different meanings based on their colors, they remind me of you." A beautiful bloom with thorns, yes that sounded like Rafal easily. "Their thorns may hurt as a protection to the world would, but once you get past them they're a flower as wonderful to have a hold on than any other harmless one."

He carefully looked around the bush investigating the flowers and choosing which would make the perfect gift based on their color. Had it been any other moment he would've chosen one which meaning led to friendship, familial bonds, but just one quick look at his crimson eyes staring at his ones the color of nature and Alfred felt his heart skip a beat. What would one day been a yellow rose now was a red one, bright and passionate.

Who he once thought of as a 'brother' now felt wrong to even say, he was family, but not that way. He swallowed hard as he pulled out a rose of the most vibrant red he could find and handed it to Rafal. "For you." He said, his eyes shifted from his 'friends' hands to his lips and the saliva he thought he swallowed made its way to his throat one more, making him repeat that action once more. And Alfred who always acted true to his heart felt his heart struggle with a choice—do what he wished or let his fear to ruin a perfect bond take place.

After what felt as an eternity of silence looking at the spot he was craving with all his heart to kiss, he had come to a conclusion. Right hand reached for the dragon's cheek, unsure he was he felt a push the moment his fingertips felt soft skin. With new found confidence he leaned in, pressing his lips against Rafal with such gentleness that the motion instead of expressing he wished for a bit more than that, showed that it was alright for him to keep it this way.

At this point he didn't know how long he had spent his eyes closed and their lips together but he pulled back all the same at the realization he likely spent too long that way. With a expression of clear and loud worry he rarely wore, Alfred spoke. "I'm sorry Rafal—i shouldn't have done that." He had ruined everything, hadn't he?

𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐈𝐒𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓

Rafal had never possessed particular fondness for the outdoors. The nose-itching pollen, the noisy birds, the waves of heat that inspired sweat and sunburn- all were fiercely argued points of his dislike. Their single redemption came only at a few seasonal windows of opportunity within the year, but as there were no fruit trees in sight then Rafal's interest too would remain hidden. So why he was here? Dragging his feet admirably to the pace that Alfred set. Gazing down at the flowers that were indeed beautiful and charming and all sorts of stirring qualities, but hardly warranted his willing trek through the hot mire of a summer's day.

That answer, perhaps, would accompany him to his grave.

He could never admit to the fact that his participation in this senseless, self-hating, meandering pastime was purely for the sake of being at the other prince's side. Took a liking to roses? Rafal as he feigned gazing at the intensely red petals hadn't been thinking of them. But he indulged the theory regardless, smoothing over the signs of his distraction with the masterful smoothness of his voice; with a wistful lie that just so happened to be honest.

"If there is an impression of my interest in roses, then you may believe it to be for rarity. The garden of our Somniel once possessed flowers such as these. With the death of our Divine Dragon, they died out without a trace and remained absent in our world for hundreds of years." Carefully his eyes- red and vivid as those very roses- tracked the Firenese man as he plucked one at the stem. Anxiously fearing that Alfred would in some unwanted flourish of fate and irony hurt himself on the thorns he likened to Rafal.

That, however, didn't happen. Never happened. He was left only to weather the sight of a friendship crumbling in fast fall. That same flower offered to him with a tension that even the unworldly, love-inexperienced Fell Dragon could not mistake. Soon after came the greatest sealant; a hand curved around his cheek. Horrified, shocked, or simply gauging- it was hard to say how Rafal felt when his eyes were so impossibly wide. Swallowing the human in their depths. "You. W-What do you think you are doing?" But actions spoke louder than words and with Alfred they certainly did.

He froze at their slotted mouths, his snow-colored hair extending its impression of ice to near paralyzed limbs and a ghostly pallor. Arms suddenly without purpose dangled uselessly at his sides, until they slowly regained their function- pressed to Alfred's chest for balance. The lines had blurred with his hesitation, then solidified at his steady acclimation to the other's lead. Alfred, a prince of flowers, kissed as the petals did and he could only marvel at that touch.

It ended just as sweetly- tapering to a stop- though his companion's next choice of words would do plenty to disrupt the moment, in his opinion.

"Shouldn't have done that? Don't be ridiculous!!" Whatever condemnation flared from Rafal hadn't been flame but ember, something residual from the warmth of an embarrassed but not entirely displeased blush. "I wanted it, too. Would have waited a thousand years for it. So—" He looked away on the unspeakably honest admission, ears pink. ". . .That's not for you to decide."

[astearisms]

but it ain’t called love without a little tragedy 🍁

[macaro-mochi]

Come watch dungeon meshi we have a (seemingly) typical white autistic man who doesn't understand social norms, an autistic man of colour who overcompensates for social deficits by being too good at social norms (while still struggling socially), and we even have the "grew up autistic but also Asian so I have a very good understanding of cultural and social norms but I still struggle socially" variety of autistic man.

[redysetdare]

enough stories about how someone learns to truely be happy through love. i want a story where someone is desperately seeking out love thinking it's the only way to be happy only for them to learn by the end that happiness is what they make of it and they don't need love at all to make it.

[nancywheeeler]

hopeless time loop. the way out isn’t to save everyone. the way out isn’t to save even one person. the way out isn’t to change anything. the way out is accepting how it happened the first time is how it always will be. that’s how you acted, that’s how they acted, that’s how you would have acted every time if you weren’t given the curse of hindsight. the way out is accepting you can’t fix the past; you can only forgive yourself for it.

[peanuttoffee]

played Fallen Order for the first time and, guys, my heart

everything was so… beautiful *sobs*

here’s baby Cal to celebrate✨

[chloesimaginationthings]

oughh.. your movie william affers design is too silly… love him ❤️

Tbh I haven’t drawn him nearly enough, gotta fix that

[daftmooncretin]

james Tiberius Kirk is pro choice and pro contraceptives just fyi

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Mix Sahaphap gets to perform (and has the performance chops to perform) in a style that I’ve never seen any other male actor get to embody. Mix gets to unironically play the #strongfemalecharacter. The Beatrice, the Elizabeth Bennett, the Jo March. Strong-willed, emotional, kind-hearted.

Not only do the plot points line up, but Mix, more than any BL actor I’ve seen, fully leans into the embodiment of this archetype. In his roles, he rolls his eyes, pouts, banters flirtatiously, softens his posture and expression at small details. He doesn’t over-exaggerate and imposition other characters but his face also doesn’t hold back his character’s thoughts and judgments. And when the moments arrive, he lets all the hurt and anguish pour out in shatters of tears and visible heartbreak—the star-counting scene, anyone????—in a way that harkens to the operatic emotionality of well-done melodramas, soap-operas, and their contemporary Thai equivalent of Lakorn. It’s only that these have never been men’s roles in those.

It’s no surprise that one of Mix’s roles—Cupid’s Last Wish—is explicitly a gender body-swap, and Tian in A Tale of Thousand Stars is (albeit explicitly denied within the show) heavily connected to gender body-swapping. What Mix specializes in as an actor, and does exceptionally well, has been defined as feminine. To depict a kind of queer expression in this style is novel because it’s not camp, it’s not okama, it’s not a soft or femboy, it’s not a BL twink (Mix has been mostly excluded from the schoolyards and quads of the BL universe except for a role as a senior crush in Fish Upon the Sky). It’s too sincere and too adult for any of that.

In Moonlight Chicken we get to see, without the pretense of gendered mysticism, this performance style’s seduction, warmth, wit, and explosiveness within the framework of a general gay form of expression. It says that this kind of femininity might just be a gay thing. Not all gay men exhibit it, obviously—queer men aren’t a monolith. Still, it gives us something to consider about how we observe performance of queerness on screen, especially in front of an audience that puts so much more emphasis on ships, heat, and pairing chemistry to assess how well they perform a BL role. Could we look for other features to judge performance of queerness instead of how well they kiss?

Seme and uke roles would be the major performance style categories loyal BL fans assess actors with, yet even within the archetype his character’s fill within BL narratives, Mix’s performances differ from the typical uke depiction in BL because he really doesn’t perform them as passive. Rather, Mix’s characters and his portrayal of them are dynamic and demanding. It certainly fits certain stereotypes of ukes (Gilbert!) and their gay stereotype equivalent of bottoms as pillow princesses and brats. Mix’s characters, though, have more drive, agency, and compassion than that, and he plays them with all of those currents running underneath.

We certainly have openly gay writer/director Aof Noppharnach to thank for writing this kind of queer character for Mix to play in Tian and Wen. But for Mix’s specific commitment to the performance starting off with his (debut!?) role in ATOTS, we first have Earth to thank for believing in Mix’s ability and recommending him to portray the role of Tian, and then Aof’s acceptance despite his differing initial expectations for the character. Mix, Earth, and Aof have all been open about how Mix in his personal life and nature holds a lot of similarities to both his role as Tian in ATOTS and Wen in Moonlight Chicken. Some people might knock points off his performances because he’s like them. But his relationship to the characters, rather than dampening my enthusiasm for Mix’s performances, helps me appreciate his willingness to give an authentic performance in a style that hasn’t been encouraged on screens previously. It’s made more impactful that he chose to risk vulnerability to bring something personal that had previously been excluded from screens because of its gender deviance (and in broader society explicitly condemned). This doesn’t make a claim on Mix’s actual identity, but simply shows his willingness to understand and perform the expressions of his queer characters with an effort at empathy that many other actors would feel challenged to bring.

Some actors are chameleons, but some actors have a gift of a type within which they can explore depths and range that no one else can best. For me, that’s what Mix does in his work when directors and casting understands his talent. There’s a BTS video of Mix actually fainting during a scene while in Earth/Phupa’s embrace on the mountain that immediately brought to mind the wildly famous final scene in the film Camille where Greta Garbo as Marguerite dies in her lover’s arms.

For Mix, it was a serious incident due to regrettably extreme conditions and requiring the on-set paramedics, but these levels of theatrics, for me, are emblematic of what Mix is capable of as a performer, as well. After all, he had to faint in Phupa’s arms multiple times on purpose. It’s the kinds of Old Hollywood and heightened sentimental romance realms Mix takes his performances to! Then he can turn around and make it look easy to take that same character into grounded quips or dedicated everyday tasks. It only takes writers, directors, and audiences willing to see that men can feel this way and act this way. Mix has paved the way.

[livinginadumpster]

The way Dead Boy Detectives handles queerness and labeling of sexuality is honestly so refreshing. The way it's handled makes is very obvious that it's not the kind of media in which characters are assumed straight until proven otherwise; the characters' sexualities are left undefined because the focus isn't on specific labels, it's on the relationships between characters.

As the show goes on, it becomes abundantly clear that the characters' sexualities are a non-factor. Sure, Jenny dates women, but a label is never put on that. Same with Edwin - he is clearly interested in men, but not once in the show is he labeled as gay. It's not necessary in either case; labeling these characters wouldn't add anything to their stories or character arcs. The show is completely relaxed about labels because they're almost never a part of or even relevant to the plot.

And so, in a show that is so utterly unconcerned with labels, it would also be exceeding strange to impose the label of "straight" on any character. Characters like Charles and Crystal, who clearly demonstrate attraction to the opposite gender, don't come across as strictly heterosexual, they come across as people experiencing human emotions. And a character like Niko, who never expresses romantic attraction to anyone, really can't be assumed heterosexual either, because it simply wouldn't be in line with what we know about her.

Heterosexuality never comes across as the default in this universe. It never seemed as if the writers automatically assumed any character, no matter how background, to be straight. Queerness is explored not as a defiance of the norm but as just another way of loving someone. In a world where being queer is always viewed as alternate or deviant, and where coming out is a lifelong process that begins again every time you meet someone new because you're always assumed cishet, this kind of complete abolishment of heteronormativity is a breath of fresh air. Seeing queerness handled in such a casual way onscreen honestly feels a little bit revolutionary.

[solarmorrigan]

[cw: weight loss, body image issues/body dysmorphia]

Consider: Steve whose migraines become unmanageable for a while, or who falls into a harsh depressive episode after everything with Vecna, or who experiences reduced mobility or chronic pain due to the many varied injuries he's picked up over the years, or any combination of the above

Steve who loses his appetite and who isn't able to keep up with the workout routine he used to have and who loses weight and loses muscle mass and fucking hates it

He's always been on the lean side, but he hasn't been skinny since probably eighth grade, when he was still gawky and growing into his frame. But this is different; this isn't awkward adolescence, something he'll grow out of, this is the sight of his ribs through his skin and his hipbones jutting out and his wrists getting too skinny for his watch. This is feeling cold all the time and struggling to lift things he used to be able to pick up without much trouble

(It's fear, too. Not just a fear that he'll never get back to where he used to be, but fear that something will happen and he'll be too weak to stop it. Too weak to help. Too weak to protect anyone the way he should)

There are days he can't quite stand looking at himself; can't stand the sight of baggy clothes that used to fit perfectly, can't stand looking at tired eyes staring out of the sharpened angles of his face. He feels insubstantial this way. Like anyone could look right past him - right through him

Eddie never does, though. He never treats Steve differently, except to worry about his health - but never what he looks like. He hugs Steve as tightly as before, kisses him just as hard as before, whistles at him when he catches Steve in the middle of dressing, just like before. Like he isn't disappointed that Steve doesn't look good anymore, like he isn't even bothered

He'll hold Steve, and pull him close on bad days, and he'll let Steve be upset, but he'll never stand for Steve speaking badly about himself. He'll always push back, sometimes gently, sometimes loudly, always reminding Steve that he loves him, and what he looks like is a part of that. Reminding him that Eddie loves it all

"But you can gain it back, if you want to. When you're doing better," Eddie tells him

"What if I'm never doing better? What if I can never get back to where I was?" Steve demands. "What if this is just my body now?"

"Then it is." Eddie kisses his shoulder, his neck, his cheek. "Then I'll help you learn how to love it as much as you did before. As much as I still do."

And he says it so openly, so honestly, that even on bad days, Steve thinks that maybe - maybe he could be okay

[heyitsspaceace]

doctor who companion idea. person who is literally any humanities major.

sick and tired of the doctor always choosing where to go, give me a classics major who is like “i have a thesis on this werid niche greco-roman practice due soon can we go check it out?”

give me a archeology major who wants to go see the things uncovered at their dig sites before they fell into ruin

give me a drama studies major who asks to go see lost forms of historical theater and performance

tell me the doctor wouldn’t love that, because you know they would. they would adore that.

[jahdefender]

So I found this posted to reddit and I wanted to share it here because I'm sure there are some fans who haven't seen the Adventures Bible stuff. (I had not so this is just referencing myself)

[jakeperalta]

I am deeply obsessed with the manuscript as the closing track of the anthology. returning to that first big life altering heartbreak, the one that inspired some of the most acclaimed and beloved work of her career, but it's a distant past now and it's almost as though it happened to someone else. and then, in the wake of all the intense loss and turbulence that the past two hours have documented, she knows what the agony was for. because just like all that now remains of that past relationship is the art that came out of it — including all too well, a song that was changed for her over the years into something beautiful and joyful — one day all that will remain of this period will be this manuscript, this album and all its feelings that eventually won't even be hers anymore but will belong to her past self and to its future listeners.

[bottombaron]

oh ok so its the usual no-homo bullshit you always hear, good to know.

[thatbuddie]