#show me One scene of any of the families i am so curious.......

[cherimaho]

me after getting half the cherry magic the movie spoiled through tiktoks

[lurkingshan]

Wedding Impossible

I recently caught wind of a mainstream kdrama with a significant queer character and @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle pinged me today to say it's legit, so of course I had to check it out.

If you're curious, here's the set up:

Lee Ji Han (male lead) is the youngest grandson of a chaebol family. He wants to inherit the company but knows he can’t because of his position in the family, so he is pinning his hopes on his older brother who has no interest in the business to inherit so he can run things behind the scenes.

Lee Do Han, his brother, is a closeted gay man. He has been living in NYC for the last five years to escape scrutiny but is now being forced back to South Korean because his grandfather is trying to make him marry an heiress and take over the family business.

Nah Ah Jeong (female lead) is Do Han's best friend of 15 years and the only person in his life who knows he’s gay--she bearded for him in high school. She’s an actress but not a successful one, and she is always hustling for work including taking some very non-traditional acting jobs. She and Do Han are close and she knows his biggest secret, but she didn’t know he was a chaebol.

Do Han, under pressure from his both his grandfather and his brother, asks Ah Jeong to enter a lavendar marriage with him for three years to get them off his back and set him up to get out of the inheritance entirely. He frames it as an acting job and offers generous compensation, as well as appealing to her as a friend.

Yoon Chae Won, the heiress everyone is trying to force Do Han to marry, seems like a nice gal who honestly didn’t ask for any of this nonsense but is dealing with her own family pressures.

There is also a cabal of scheming half siblings (they have a different father from Ji Han and Do Han, it's a whole family scandal) who are fighting for control of the company, so will be working at cross purposes with Ji Han.

The primary focus of this drama is the enemies to lovers romance between Ji Han and Ah Jeong, as Ji Han does not know his brother is gay or that this romance is fake, and is trying to prevent the marriage by antagonizing Ah Jeong. He seems to love his brother but also doesn’t see what the big deal is about an arranged marriage if it means they get control of the company, probably because he himself has never cared about anything but earning his place. To be frank, I don't like his character and am not invested in this romance, and if that was all the show was doing, I probably would not stick around.

But Do Han is very important to the narrative, and the whole plot is built around his sexuality and his fear of coming out, so he has a very important role to play and will go on the extremely short list of gay characters with significant roles in mainstream kdrama. I don't expect him to get a romance, but I do expect that his story with his family and his pursuit of the life he wants will stay the B plot, and the tone of this drama lends itself to him getting a happy resolution. And I do genuinely like his friendship with Ah Jeong; she is a delight and their loyalty to each other is a really nice aspect of this drama. So I will be sticking around for them, and I do recommend folks who are interested check this drama out to support the production and make it clear there's an audience for queer stories in kdrama.

[bratzforchris]

The Joker and The Queen-J.G. ·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·

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Summary: In which Johnnie is convinced you would be better off with a mortal boyfriend, only for you to remind him that it isn't worldly things that please you. Loosely based off The Joker and The Queen by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran <3

Pairing: Vampire!Johnnie x feminine human!reader

Warnings: Smut, unprotected p in v, rough sex, missionary, marking, making out, creampie, emotional scenes, no aftercare scene

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: This is Pt. 2 to the vampire!Johnnie fic I posted a little while ago--you don't have to read Pt. 1, but I do recommend it! Also, I love this song so much. It reminds me of Johnnie so bad :')

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You had never believed in the supernatural or urban myths and legends. However, all that had changed three months ago when you’d met Johnnie. Somehow, in some strange turn of events, you’d met an actual vampire. In the world of vampires, each one had their soulmate, whether the other person be a mortal or another vampire. And so, only three months later, you and Johnnie were dating. Because of the soulmate tie, you two were much more intertwined than most couples were at this stage, but you didn’t mind it. 

Since being together, you had aided Johnnie in the repair of his once beautiful Harbordale Manor, turning it from disrepair to the glory it once was. The mansion was nowhere near as full of life and splendor as it once had been, simply due to the nature of keeping who and what Johnnie was a secret, but you didn’t mind. You were still able to attend your university classes, while living with your lover, your best friend Tara, and her boyfriend, Jake, who just happened to be a werewolf and Johnnie’s best friend. In your book, that was perfect. Though your small ‘found family’ was odd and rather creepy by societal standards, it was perfect to you. 

But even with all your confirmation of the life you were loving, Johnnie still worried about you. You were the sunshine to his darkness. He wasn’t always the good man you thought he was. His hands were stained with blood, while you were the purest soul he had ever known. 

“Y/N?” he asked as you two laid in your enormous canopy bed one evening. “Are you happy, my dear?”

“Of course I am!” You smiled. “Why do you ask?”

“I just worry for you, baby bat,” Johnnie mumbled, swiping a cold thumb across your cheek. “I’m worried you think I’m someone I’m not.”

“What do you mean?” You asked him, cocking your head. 

“You are perfect. You are innocent and kind and light. You’re what I’m not. I am a killer, Y/N.” Johnnie was beginning to grow frustrated at you not realizing who he truly was. 

“You couldn’t help it,” You insisted. “You were an innocent kid who went through an insane amount of trauma and you didn’t know any better than to feed on humans. You don’t do that now, my love. You’re perfectly okay.”

“I make you live here,” Johnnie said regretfully. “You should be out enjoying your life. You could have anyone else, blood flower. Someone that could give you everything you desire. You could have a king to your queen instead of a joker.”

Though Johnnie had lived to see modern times, he had been raised in a different time. He lived secluded, stuck in a past that wasn’t there anymore. His words were formal, but you could hear the hurt in his voice as he preached ideas he truly believed. 

“What if I don’t want that?” You asked, eyeing him. “I don’t need money, or fancy gestures, or whatever else you think a perfect man does. I need someone who shows they love me, and you do that, Johnnie. Vampire or not, I would love you either way,” You explained softly, kissing his cheek. When Johnnie didn’t respond, watching you with curious eyes, you continued. “I’ve been hurt before by men. Many times, actually. Rich human men at that.”

You moved into Johnnie’s lap, sitting so that you were facing him. You trailed a finger across his strong, clear cut jaw, feeling the smooth, cool texture that resembled stone against your own skin. Once you got to his plump lips, you planted a kiss on them before speaking. “Show me your fangs.” You commanded softly. 

Johnnie opened his mouth as asked, allowing his normally smaller fangs to grow to a healthy three inches. You went to trace the white points until your boyfriend grabbed your wrist, a dark glare in his eyes. 

“Don’t,” he bit out. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”

You and Johnnie both knew that his fangs held venom, and if you were to cut your finger by accident, there would be no choice but for him to change you or leave you for dead. “What if I wanted to be changed?” You asked. 

“I’m not doing that, baby bat. Not yet. You still have a life to live.” Johnnie seemed to soften, a regretful look on his face. 

He wanted to change you. He really, really did. But he knew that once he did so, you were bound to the immortal life, forever the age you were now. He didn’t want that for you yet. You needed to live first. You ignored his words, beginning to kiss and make out with him. Despite his cold skin, Johnnie’s mouth was warm and tasted like sin and heaven mixed together. You ran your tongue across his fangs as a soft ‘hello’, until your lover grabbed your hips, causing you to moan softly. 

“I want you to show me, Johnnie,” You said lustfully. “Show me that those other men don’t matter. That you’re the one I need,” You were beginning to grow warm with arousal as you felt Johnnie’s dick harden beneath you. “Show me I’m your queen.”

“You really want that?” he asked, raising a brow as a smirk grew on his face. “You want me to make you mine? Show you what it feels like to be fucked by a vampire?”

You nodded eagerly, smashing your lips to Johnnie’s once more as he grabbed your hips, flipping so that he was now on top of you. He used his fangs to rip your shirt off in one smooth motion, smirking hungrily at your breasts. Before you knew it, Johnnie was beginning to leave hickeys all over your body, marking every curve of your skin with his print. You moaned at the sensations alighting all over your body, making your nipples pebble into hard points. 

“Johnnie,” You whimpered, hands moving to tangle in his raven hair. “I need you.”

The vampire took that as consent for him to practically rip the small shorts and panties you were wearing off. He could smell your blood through the rhythm of your pulse, and part of him wanted to take you so bad and change you into something equally as sinful as he was. Johnnie knew he couldn’t do that yet, so he opted to flick his tongue over your pubic bone and graze his fangs across your slit. 

“You’re soaked for me, blood flower.” Johnnie grumbled, licking his lips. 

“I…” You panted, already close to climaxing and your boyfriend had barely touched you. “I need you inside of me.”

Johnnie wasted no time in taking off his pants and black, button up shirt. Without another warning for you, he immediately slammed his full length into you, pounding out a furious rhythm. You groaned with pleasure at the feeling of being suddenly so full, and you moved your hands from his hair to his back, clawing him with pleasure at the sensations you were feeling. 

“Oh my god, right there, Johnnie.” You whined and whimpered when he hit a particularly sensitive spot. 

“You gonna cum, baby bat?” Your boyfriend asked you, swiping a strand of hair from your face as his own black fringe stuck to his forehead. 

You nodded and whimpered, arching your back as you desperately tried for more. Johnnie continued to pound into you, until he gave you a look that you knew meant he was close to his own orgasm. 

“On the count of three, you’re gonna cum with me, love,” Johnnie commanded. “1, 2, 3…” 

On the last number, your boyfriend immediately released his load into you, throwing his head back with a beautiful moan at the feelings taking over his own body. You also went through your own climax, whimpering and squealing as your heat clenched.  Johnnie’s sex was unlike anything you had ever experienced before; it was rough and raw and straight up fucking, but it also held a sensual, passionate note beneath the surface. 

Johnnie pulled out of you, licking his fangs with a smirk. “Did that prove it to you? Or should I go suck the fucking life out of another man who even dares to look at you?”

Over the course of your sex, Johnnie had become dominant and possessive, taking you as his own, and showing you what he was at his core: a predator. You didn’t seem to care though, for you rolled on top of him on your sweaty sheets, peppering kisses across his face. 

“I don’t want a king, or a castle, or anything else,” You told him. “I want you, Johnnie. Forever.”

tags ♡: @aemrsy @jake-and-johnnies-slut @oobleoob @idek3000hi @melguilbert

note ♡: if you'd like to be added to my taglist, click here <3

[acommonanomaly]

Caranthir for @feanorianweek.

Inspired by a scene from my fic What Fades Away.

Excerpt:

“What is it, Moryo?” Maitimo finally asked, when Carnistir showed no sign that he would continue on his own.

“It is not fair that grandmother Miriel cannot return,” his said, his voice faltering as though he was admitting something very grave. The source of his solemnity was revealed when he continued, “If grandfather Finwë had not married Indis, then she could be with us.”

Makalaurë sucked in a sharp breath, and his eyes were heavy when they met Maitimo’s. Neither of them spoke at first, for each of them had their own conflicting emotions to sort through at the raising of this issue. But when Carnistir shrank down on the stool as if fearing their censure, they pulled themselves together.

Maitimo’s voice grew delicate, each word formed with care. “Although you may find them tiresome at times, would you wish that your uncles and cousins did not exist at all?”

Carnistir’s flushed cheeks paled. “No, I wouldn’t wish that.”

“So some good did come of it, you see.”

“But we will never meet our grandmother Miriel.”

“Oh, Moryo,” Makalaurë said tenderly. “It seems strange to miss someone you have never met, but so it is, and we miss her, too, and long for what might have been.”

Maitimo nodded in agreement with Makalaurë, but he was troubled. He could not help but feel as if he had been dishonest with Carnistir, somehow.

Although he did not regret that his grandfather had been allowed to remarry, allowing their family to grow and become enriched, he felt it an unnecessary cruelty that his grandmother should be forbidden to return because of it. The Valar claimed it was the will of Eru, and though it was not Maitimo’s place to gainsay them, he did wonder how this could be true because of the grief it caused. 

It was while Maitimo stood lost in his thoughts that Carnistir finally unburdened himself.

“I did something very wrong.” Carnistir would look at neither of his brothers, dropping his head again as he stroked the cat.

Maitimo raised his eyebrows at Makalaurë, who only shrugged. He tried to keep his trepidation out of his voice when he spoke.

“What did you do?”

At the same time, Makalaurë asked, “You mean, to those children?”

Carnistir shook his head. “I took something from Atar’s study.”

Maitimo’s eyebrows rose even higher, and Makalaurë gaped in surprise, but as it was obvious that Carnistir meant to go on, they said nothing.

Carnistir sighed and shifted on the stool, careful not to tip the cat off his lap as he reached into one of the pockets stitched onto his loose tunic. He pulled out a silver chain, lifting it until a large oval locket slipped out of the pocket and hung spinning in the air.

“Oh,” Makalaurë said.

They knew this locket well. They had all seen Atar holding it in his study when the occasional quiet, somber mood came over him. At some time or another, each of them had opened the locket to see for themselves what it held, or asked Atar to show them. It contained a miniature portrait of Miriel and a twisted lock of silver hair that glinted like starlight.

“I just wanted to feel closer to grandmother Miriel. But now I am worried that Atar will notice the locket is gone before I can put it back, and he will be angry with me.”

“I don’t think Atar will be angry with you for taking this, especially once he understands why you took it,” Maitimo hurried to reassure his little brother. “You must give it back to him as soon as we return home, of course, but I will talk to him first before you go to see him.”

Maitimo would have to decide how much to tell Atar, because he did not wish to upset him any more than he had to. 

He didn’t think the children who had questioned Carnistir meant any harm, likely only curious and repeating things they had heard adults say. It was unfortunate timing that their questioning had come while Carnistir was struggling with personal issues.

Makalaure seemed satisfied with this, and he stood, gesturing for Carnistir to stand as well. “I think Nelyo is right. Atar will be pleased that you wish to feel closer to grandmother Miriel. Perhaps you could take up embroidery, and learn the skill that was her delight.”

Carnistir stood and set the cat on the floor, where it wound around his legs and meowed in complaint. Determination burned in Carnistir’s eyes now, and he said, “Yes, I would like that.”

[jarofstyles]

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes 4- Preparations and Secret Keepers

Helloo my loves! They’re back. Lady Y/N and Princerry have returned and they’re ✨ in love✨ obviously. I hope you enjoy a bit more of them!

Check out our Patreon for exclusive writing and early access.

Warnings- a smidgen of exhibitionism if you squint

WC- 3.9k

Fic masterlist

————

The ballroom was beautiful.

Y/N had nearly felt tears in her eyes when she first saw it. Swirls of saturated color all around. Flowers in opulent garlands wrapping around the marble columns and up to the ceilings. The lights twinkled from them as they hung down from the dark vines that curtained the ceiling, looking like stars in the sky.

The tables were lined with expensive cloth, a deep red with a lace runner going through the middle. Fine dishware was neatly stacked, the golden designs etched and foiled on them shining in the lights. Bouquets were the centerpieces, red ribbon tied around the vases in delicate bows. There were no expenses spared for this. His and her initial was painted on the dance floor with the royal family crest, gold foiling making it sparkle. Staff scurried about to put on finishing touches on the scene while Y/N and the Queen did a last check up.

What had her truly gasping for breath were the specific flowers that she had shown Harry in their walk decorating the royal table, the bouquet specially made for her at her spot clear next to him. The first time she would be at a royal event… as a future royal. Her hands were a bit sweaty as she followed the Queen dutifully, listening to her comments as she made small adjustments for the headmistress to go over with staff.

Y/N admired his gracious she was. Saying please and thank you to staff was not something most nobility did, but she did. She wanted to be just like her. Friendly and kind. Not a feared woman- unless she was crossed. Respected. That was her goal, above all else.

As soon as they had a moment alone, she turned to her. “How are you truly doing, my dear?” Her soft hand landed on Y/N’s forearm, true compassion on her face. She could see her bristling nerves grating on her even though most couldn’t. “You are good at hiding your emotions. The reason I can see it is because I was in your shoes once.” She soothed. “Having good control of when you show them is important. But you’ve proven yourself thus far.” Her kind smile made Y/N relax a little bit.

“Thank you.” She replied. “I am… I’m good. I think it is a bit overwhelming but I remind myself this is the first one. I will get used to it. It’s to celebrate our love and union, too, so I should not be worried.” Y/N refused to let jealous and bitter women ruin the beautiful thing that Harry and her had created. Had been thrust into; his arms welcoming her like a warm bath. The Queen nodded at her statement, the pair walking slowly as they observed the royal table. “He remembered.” Her whisper was caught by the Queen, watching her fingers brush one of the flowers with a smile.

“He is a good man. I am happy with how he’s grown.” The Queen loved her son dearly. She wasn’t fond of the way most royals before her had reared their children, handing them off to nanny’s and other staff dedicated to the job. She wanted to be hands on. To raise him to be a good man, to make changes she had already started to implement. He would not be arrogant and rude. That was a fear, knowing the power could get to his head as it did to many, but she did it herself. She was spoiled with ladies maids who would tend to him at night as a wee babe, but she did everything else. The bond between parent and child was gravely important. “Though I will say… the change I’ve seen in him since he has met you has made me ecstatic.”

Y/N turned to her with curious eyes. “How so, may ask?” She was treading lightly, still wanting to be respectful but dying to know. Any bit of information about him from a reliable source made her giddy. Filing it away in her favorite folder in her memories, she wanted to soak it all in.

“He seemed more… excited about ruling. He learns with vigor. Speaks up. He wants to know the intricacies more and more. Before… he was unmotivated in some ways.” There was a pause as she exhaled. “I suppose that was partially our fault. We wanted him to remain as carefree as he could, to form his own personality without it being directly tied to a title. He learned a lot during his childhood but he had been seemingly nervous as he grew. Now he seems far more settled in it.” It was most definitely because of Y/N. “Having a reliable, trustworthy and level headed ruling partner is one of the most important and undervalued assets a King can have. They do say, "What is a King without his Queen.” She gave a slight smile as Y/N followed her words closely.

“You have those qualities, from what I can tell. Keeping a level head and still being able to defend yourself and the person you love is a beautiful thing to have as a ruler. It isn’t easy. People will disagree simply because you spoke, you rule. I can understand why, to a degree. Taking into account the stress of being a King, I think that you will be able to elevate him. I believe him the same as you. The King may seem to be the one who holds all the power… but know that it isn’t true. I’ve helped come to all of the most important decisions in our kingdom’s history. It isn’t a job to take lightly.” The Queen could see it on her face, how she was agreeing but still spooked. This wasn’t necessarily a test, but it was a reality she needed to face. She couldn’t just play royal. It was a job.

“That is why I was so worried about who Harry would end up with. Many women.. they think that being a Queen is being lavished with diamonds and pearls, being fed delicacies by hand and never lifting a finger. They think it’s the custom dresses and crowns, the balls and the galas, the travels. But it is so much more than that.” She squeezed her hand, giving her another smile. “I was terrified that my son would follow a man’s intuition and just go for whoever appealed to his physical senses without taking a woman’s brain and intentions into account. He was incredibly lucky to stumble across you.”

It was abundantly clear that Y/N loved her son- and if not fully there yet, close to it. She never indulged when she was at the palace, was polite, thanked workers and never threw fits. The girl was respectable, well read and could hold a conversation. It was more than a lot of the other women on the court could say when they were vying for Harry’s hand in marriage.

“Do you truly think I’ll make a good Queen?” Y/N asked quietly, looking her in the eye despite wanting to look at her skirts. This was an intimidating conversation but she needed to hear it. None of it was enough to make her leave. It was a lot more than she had ever expected to take on as a wife- if she had ever married at all- but Harry’s tender heart and gentle touch was well worth the challenges. She hopes.

“I do. I think you’ll be one of the best we have seen. Continue to be fearless, to speak your mind to your husband, to be honest and open with him, rule with a fair hand and you will do amazing. The council will try to intimidate you. Do not let them.” The word of warning was clear. Y/N’s tummy turned at the serious tone. “They will try and sway you. The reason for it, as you know, is to have the people given more of a say. But do not let individual agendas influence your decisions. Make them as your heart and mind see fit. Harry will be behind you.”

That, she didn’t doubt. The man had been continuously proving his devotion to her every single day. She had read in her books; the romance novels that had her flustered and fanning herself at times, about love and men. About how she could be treated. Harry far exceeded any expectation.

“I understand. I will do my best, and I will trust my husband. I know he and I have had some conversations about it. I don’t know if he told you of some of the other encounters I’ve had with some of the women, but I already know the way people will treat me. How they will manipulate and how I will need to be careful. But as long as I have Harry, I have my family? I am strong.”

“You will be wonderful.” The Queen replied. “You are wise beyond your years. I’ve heard whispers of what people have been saying, what they’ve been doing. I am not one to abuse power but if you wish to have anyone removed from this party? That is your right.” She wouldn’t want anything to ruin this. It was a step in the new direction of the kingdom, her first real taste. She needed it to be good for her.

“Thank you, my Queen. I will.” Y/N nodded, looking back towards the bouquet. For him? She would do anything. For herself? She would prove that she wasn’t someone to stand on.

—————

Harry watched as she walked down the hall, alone at last. She was stunning, his intended. So beautiful and strong, her head held high as she walked the corridor as if she knew where she was going. She didn’t. All she knew was that Harry had requested her in the library.

“Hello.”

“My goodness!” Y/N yelped, hand over her heart as it raced like a hummingbird inside of her chest. “Harry! You musn't scare me like that.” She still walked towards him, entering the library as she tried to shake off her bout of fright.

“I’m sorry, my love.” Harry peeked down the hall to see it empty, closing the door behind them. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Approaching her, his hands reached for her waist to pull her into his embrace. Smooth. Always so smooth and warm to the touch, making his fingers flex into the dress. Her corset hid the squish of her flesh, something he was dying to feel under his hands, but he thanked the world that she let him handle her this way. The light blue of the dress did wonders to compliment her eyes, ruffled at the bottom in a way he usually dislike- but again, his sweet Y/N had a knack for making him enjoy things he rarely did in the past. She made any dress she wore look like gold. It was impossible for her to dull her glow, a beacon of light that his eyes always wanted to follow.

“That is a lie, my prince.” She laughed under her breath. His grin made sure to tell her he enjoyed making her jump. “Luckily for you, you’re handsome and far too charming to hold a grudge, so I forgive you for it.” Her head tilted back, taking in his content features. Alone. Truly alone with one another in the Palace’s library. It was quite big, shelves upon shelves of books in every color imaginable. A top floor with a balcony overlooking the rest, dark wooden ladders to reach the tall shelves at the bottom, a large reading area in front of the fireplace and a padded bench in front of the window to make for a nook to hide away in. The large arched window let in beams of light, streaking across the room and illuminating the front of it effortlessly.

“I fear that I’ll spend every free moment here.” She returned her gaze to him after looking around. It wasn’t her first time in here, but she was still amazed at the quantity of books in one room. The palace was much larger than she had ever anticipated. “I don’t think I could read every book in here, even if I read every moment in my lifetime. You’ll have to read with me.”

Y/N had expressed a want for that. To find a book to read before bed, just for them. A tradition.

“Of course. I’ll read with you every night if it’s possible.” He released her waist, taking hold of her hand and letting her lead him into the darker aisles of the library. It was relatively quiet in the room, the sound of their steps clicking over the wood floors being the loudest thing they could hear. “What are you looking to read?” His question was soft spoken, aware of how little space there was in these aisles. They were meant for one person to explore, but he truly didn’t mind. Being close to Y/N was a blessing.

“I’m partial to romance. I love all books- I love learning about my flowers and history, I love fairy tales… but I particularly enjoy romance. Happy endings, mostly. All of them, though…they can be quite eye opening. You’d never guess it. People love to diminish the literature because men do not usually enjoy them- at least publicly. Some of the most breathtaking quotes I’ve ever heard of were in such books.” She ran her fingers along the spines of the cloth bound books, grazing the embossed titles. “You learn a lot about people in them. How betrayal can affect a soul, how love can heal. Above all else, loving is a choice. An action.”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked, unsure of what she meant. “I don’t think I had a choice. I think.. my heart was yours the moment I laid my eyes on you. I’ve never questioned it.”

“There’s different types of loving. Having your heart belong to someone… It is a different sort of love. A soul deep love. But to be in love actively, you choose it. You choose to show the person your feelings, to express them. You do the acts of love by stroking my hand, by choosing the flowers for our table.” A coy look was shot his way. “It won’t always be easy. You’ll have to choose love above all else, even if it’s harder than another solution.” She turned to him, placing a hand on the side of his neck, the dim light doing nothing to hide his beauty.

“I feel the same. I feel as though you plucked my heart out of my chest like harp strings and held it in your hands. There wasn’t much of a choice in that. But the act of loving? It is a choice. Being loved and in love are two different things. We just happen to have both.” And god, did she love him already. It was soul deep, like she said.

“I see…” he rolled his lips in for a moment before pouting ever so slightly. “I can understand that. I haven’t thought of that before but… I suppose it’s because I haven’t read as many romance novels as you. Or, perhaps you’re just a smarter being than me.” He had to chuckle because sometimes he believed it to be true. Y/N’s thoughts were vast, complex, something he wanted to dissect over time. He loved hearing what she thought about policies so far, what she thought of their system. Even just her thoughts on books and flowers. She thought about things he never would have imagined- and it’s part of why he loved her. The creature challenged him in ways no one else ever would, kept him on his toes all while providing a comfort in her presence many would die to have.

“No. You’re just as smart, but in a different way. It’s refreshing. We both have qualities the other needs. It’s one of my favorite parts about us.” She slightly scolded him for that. No self deprivation on her watch.

“Yeah? What are your other favorite parts?” He murmured, feeling the tightness of the space but not wanting to back up. Instead, he got closer. “For example… I love your brain. I love how you speak, how your lips curl around words. I love how I feel like I was submerged in the warmest bath with all of the sweet smelling oils when I’m around you.” His fingers rose to brush her cheek. “But… I hate that I am not able to touch you how I wish.” Speaking of love always got to him. His reminder of how much adoration festered in his heart, how much impatience he had towards expressing it to her in a physical way.

Y/N’s mouth dried as she felt the man close in on her. If her heart was beating fast before? It was ready to fly out of her chest now. Breathing quickening as she leaned into his touch, she found her words on the tip of her tongue, hands settling on his forearms. Against her better judgment, she allowed herself to speak. “How do you wish to touch me?”

The voice was much softer than she would have hoped, showing how she was weak kneed just from this simple touch. Back against the shelf, she peered at him through her lashes, anticipating the next words out of his berry hued mouth. Oh, how she wanted that mouth.

“I wish to touch you without these corsets. I want to feel your skin underneath my fingertips, the softness of your flesh dipping as I hold you.” He paused, inhaling shakily. “ I want to bury my fingers in your hair and tug your head back so I can kiss you. God, I want to kiss you so, so badly. It aches in my soul. I crave nothing more than your affections. You know that?” He looked pained as he leaned down, resting his forehead against hers. This was a dangerous situation, both of them in a state that they didn’t know how to handle. There were lines they could not cross, things he could not say, but he was feeling them all.

“You do?” She peeped, eyes round at his blunt words. He had expressed some of these things in a letter before but… hearing in person was a whole other experience. The low rasp of his voice as he kept it down, keeping their secrets between their ears and the pages of the books.

“I do. Words can not express how much I look forward to our wedding day.” When they would become man and wife, when he could take her the way they both wanted. “When I never have to worry, I can kiss you freely, in front of whoever I wish. I hate that there are barriers for us. I understand tradition, I respect it… but I can’t help but wish to break it.” He wouldn’t, but he had to hold his breath as he felt her nose brush against his own. The walls of rigid rules were so irritating for him, he wanted to make them crumble to rubble on the ground.

“I know. I crave it just as much, Harry.” She replied shakily, breath felt against his lips. “I want your touch on every part. But we have to respect the traditions. Don’t we?” She asked, feeling as though she could fall over as she felt their lips brush for a single second before his own rested over her cheek.

“We do.” He mumbled against the smooth skin. “But… I can kiss here.” His lips puckered ever so slightly on her cheek, dangerously close to her mouth. “I can kiss here… and it’s not breaking any rules. My ring is on your finger… I tend to claim you in the ways the world allows, to follow those rules.. but you are mine.” He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her to arch into him. A little gasp left her as she felt a firmer kiss placed to her cheek again, letting their lips feather together before he placed one to the opposite side. “My bride. My queen. My heart. I will never be as proud of anything… as I am to have been chosen by you.”

Y/N let out a whimper, pulling him close and returning the gesture. Dangerously close kisses, right in the same places. Temptation. She should have pulled away, but she couldn’t. Her body pulsed, a heartbeat felt between her legs as he let out a quiet groan.

“My sweet…” he rasped. “My self control is so little. It’s merely hanging by a fraying thread. I respect you more than to take you in a library aisle…” he paused. “At least before we are married.” The thought flooded her brain, her skirts lifted up and his firm palm holding her mouth to keep her quiet. Taking her deep and slow against the shelves, filling her to the brim. Her leg hitched over his waist while fingers clawed at him- he didn’t know how he was able to wait.

“Harry…” she gasped, feeling his lips press to her jaw. “You’re making it so hard for me to behave. I need to be…” she lost her train of thought as her eyes closed, head falling back against the wood. His kisses were feather light, brushing over her jaw and making her fingers dig into his arms. If she was in this much pleasure just from this? What would it be like without all of the barriers? Would his fingers make her tingle as much on bare flesh? Would his kiss her all over?

“I’m sorry…” he mumbled against her skin. “I’m sorry…” teeth grazed her ear, making her whine. “I’m sorry, my sweet. I will stop.” He had to drag himself away from her body, tempted to nibble on her smooth neck and leave marks all over. He couldn’t. But he wanted to.

Y/N wanted to gasp at his looks. His dark gaze, eyes glinting in a darkness she had never seen before. Lust. True lust, his cheeks flushed and lips slightly swollen. It would look like they did more than look for books if they were caught, but Y/N committed it to memory. She wanted this very look painted in a portrait. Her Prince’s desire for her. Nothing had ever felt more real. “My beautiful prince…” she sighed, hands prying away from his arms to hold his hands. “We must leave or we will get carried away. You’ll never forgive yourself.” She knew that much. Harry was very proud of doing this properly. Of keeping himself a gentleman.

“I know.” his fingers squeezed over hers, taking his own deep breath as he calmed himself. “I’ll behave. It is hard, having the affections of a woman as stunning as you and not be able to indulge… But I must.” Even if it pained him. He would do this properly, honor her and make her his wife before he devoured her in the way he craved.

[samflir]

What makes a good boot sequence?

A while ago, I had my first truly viral post on Mastodon. It was this:

You might've seen it. It got almost four hundred boosts and reached beyond Mastodon to reddit and even 4chan. I even saw an edit with a spinning frog on the left screen. I knew the post would go down well with tech.lgbt but I never expected it to blow up the way it did.

I tried my best to express succinctly exactly what it is I miss about BIOS motherboards in the age of UEFI in this picture. I think looking at a logo and spinner/loading bar is boring compared to seeing a bunch of status messages scroll up the screen indicating hardware being activated, services being started up and tasks being run. It takes the soul out of a computer when it hides its computeriness.

I think a lot of people misunderstood my post as expressing a practical preference over an aesthetic one, and there was at least a few thinking this was a Linux fanboy post, which it certainly is not. So here's the long version of a meme I made lol.

Stages

I remember using two family desktop computers before moving over a family laptop. One ran Windows XP and the other ran Windows 7. Both were of the BIOS era, which meant that when booting, they displayed some status information in white on black with a blinking cursor before loading the operating system. On the XP machine, I spent longer in this liminal space because it dual-booted. I needed to select Windows XP from a list of Linux distros when booting it.

I've always liked this. Even as a very little kid I had some sense that what I was seeing was a look back into the history of computing. It felt like a look "behind the scenes" of the main GUI-based operating system into something more primitive. This made computers even more interesting than they already were, to me.

Sequences

The way old computers booted was appealing to my love of all kinds of fixed, repeating sequences. I never skip the intros to TV shows and I get annoyed when my local cinema forgets to show the BBFC ratings card immediately before the film, even though doing so is totally pointless and it's kinda strange that they do that in the first place. Can you tell I'm autistic?

Booting the windows 7 computer would involve this sequence of distinct stages: BIOS white text -> Windows 7 logo with "starting windows" below in the wrong aspect ratio -> switch to correct resolution with loading spinner on the screen -> login screen.

Skipping any would feel wrong to me because it's missing a step in one of those fixed sequences I love so much. And every computer that doesn't start with BIOS diagnostic messages is sadly missing that step to my brain, and feels off.

Low-level magic

I am extremely curious about how things work and always have been, so little reminders when using a computer that it has all sorts of complex inner workings and background processes going on are very interesting to me, so I prefer boot sequences that expose the low-level magic going on and build up to the GUI. Starting in the GUI immediately presents it as fundamental, as if it's not just a pile of abstractions on top of one another. It feels deceptive.

There may actually be some educational and practical value in computers booting in verbose mode by default. Kids using computers for the first time get to see that there's a lot more to their computer than the parts they interact with (sparking curiosity!), and if a boot fails, technicians are better able to diagnose the problem over a phone call with a non-technical person.

Absolute boot sequence perfection

There's still one last thing missing from my family computer's boot sequence, and that's a brief flicker of garbage on screen as VRAM is cleared out. Can't have everything I guess. Slo-mo example from The 8-Bit Guy here:

[porryc]

While watching the show, I actually realized that there are a lot of similarities between Gabriel and Marinette and Emilie and Adrien

As someone who has read the leaked scripts, what I wrote will contain little information about the story of Gabriel and Emilie, and if you do not want to get not even a little bit of spoiler, don’t read this

Depicted with Adrien sitting in Emilie's place and Marinette sitting in Gabriel's place

Let's start with Gabriel and Marinette ,

These two characters are the main protagonist and antagonist of the show, they have a lot of parallels even if they are the characters with the most irrelevant personalities on the show

* Gabriel is one of the most famous fashion designers in the world and Marinette is a young girl who wants to be a fashion designer.

* Marinette is the daughter of a middle-class and family despies all the charachters with rich and powerful family backgrounds and Gabriel wasn't born rich, as we learned on Style Queen, Audrey discovered him and she said he wouldn't have had the big name in the fashion world without her

* The key point of the two characters is that they are obsessively and passionately in love with their lover, they would do anything for that person.

* They have deified the person they love a little bit in their minds , Marinette's entire room is covered with photos of Adrien and Gabriel has a huge portrait of Emilie in his study room , a statue of her in his garden, and small pictures framed throughout in his house

* They both use the person they love as inspiration in their art , Marinette watches with great admiration as Adrien puts on her own design hat in Gabriel’s fashion show and we see Gabriel sketching Emilie in the Felix episode, and he dedicates his 100th collection to her in the Ephemeral episode

* Both characters tend to have a tantrum when they experience something bad

* Two of the characters have another love interest that in love with them but allows them to be with the person they love for their happiness , Luka to Marinette and Nathalie to Gabriel

* The family of the person they both love doesn't want them because they don't came from upper-class , Both characters do not have a wealthy background during their youth, and this was disliked by the upper-class family of the person they fell in love with

“You’re clinging to Marinette because her mediocrity allows you to shine with less effort”

“Adrien , I am your father and I know whats best for you and I am forbidding you have any relationship with Marinette Dupain-Cheng”

“Mom told me how you met , you both came from different worlds too but that didn’t stop you from loving each other”

and in the scripts of Episode 24, Kagami and Felix put on a show telling the story of Gabriel and Emilie and we gonna learn that Emilie was rejected from her family for being with Gabriel but she clearly doesn't care

“Altought at first she was rejected and frowned upon by her family”

In this scene where Kagami and Felix perform, their real names are not mentioned, they are referred to as "The Curious Princess" and "The Tailor"

Kagami : Like the curious princess and the tailor before them, they simply wanted to be free and love each other

In this scene, we learn that Gabriel and Emilie are in a forbidden love just like Marinette and Adrien and they are not allowed to love each other.

Let's move on to Emilie and Adrien

Obviously Emilie is a character who hardly ever speaks on the show so it's hard to find many parallels like Gabriel and Marinette but they do have some similar traits.

* They both came from rich and powerful families , Adrien's father is one of the most famous fashion designers in the world and his mother is an aristocrat and actress , The Graham De Vanilly’s are an aristocratic and noble Britsh family, and since her twin sister Amelie had a "Lady" title, she also had that title this means Emilie’s father is either a Duke or a Earl

* Adrien is a model working for his father's "Gabriel" brand and and Emilie at one point in her life worked for “Graham Films” which was owned by her own family

* According to Gabriel, they had similar personalities

“I’m sorry Ladybug, my son is just like his mother…too overly dramatic”

In Simon Says, Gabriel tells Chat Noir that no one can give him orders, but when Chat Noir shouts at him, he is shocked and suddenly starts to smile and says that Chat Noir's temper reminds him of someone and looks at the Emilie’s painting

* Clearly their wealthy and powerful families didn't want them to be with loved ones because of class differences and they both didn't care even though Adrien knew his father could see him, he took Marinette on a picnic date right outside his office and Emilie left her family

* This restrictive behavior of their family of these two characters clearly shows that both characters have a toxic family or a parent figure that doesn't want their happiness

* The two characters had very similar appearance (Obviously tho they are mother and son) And in a show that puts emphasis on the parallels of green eyes and blue eyes, two couples have that trait.

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

Hello! Do you know that scene in mdzs where jyl comes to yiling with jc to show wwx her wedding dress?

What is your interpretation of wwx's attitude towards jc here?

I always thought he sounded pissed at him almost the entire time, telling him to shut up, saying it's none of his business when asked a question and getting annoyed at jc provoking him by toasting to the "yiling patriarch"

I've seen some comments where other people's reactions were something along the lines of "glad they're still friends" or laughing at the "banter" in this scene and I have a completely different view on this so i got curious and wanted to ask what do you think? And if you know how is it written in Chinese, what the tone of this scene is?

Maybe I got the wrong idea but it's almost uncomfortable for me how cold wwx is to jc in that scene, and justifiably so considering how jc fucked him over last time they met

Hello there anon!

For the scene in question (Seven Seas Edition)

The hanzi of it:

My translation:

Hearing this title, Wei Wuxian thought again of that domineering long flag fluttering in the wind, and his mind was filled with eight bright golden characters reading "Supreme Evil Lord Yiling Patriarch", and said, "Shut up!"

After taking a sip, Jiang Cheng asked, "How is your injury from last time?"

Wei Wuxian said, “It’s already healed."

Jiang Cheng hummed, "Ahh," After a pause, he added, "How many days did it take?"

Wei Wuxian replied, "It's been less than seven days. I told you, with Wen Qing, there's no need to worry. But, you were really fucking violent."

Jiang Cheng ate a piece of lotus root, "You asked him to break my hand first. You were sitting for seven days, and my arm was hung up for more than a month. "

Wei Wuxian hesitantly laughed and said, "How could I have not been cruel? It was your left hand anyway so it didn't prevent you from writing. A hundred days of broken muscles and bones to heal, three months of waiting isn't long."

Wen Ning's stuttering reply could be heard faintly outside the door. After a moment of silence, Jiang Cheng said, "Is this what you're going to do from now on? Do you have any plans?"

Wei Wuxian said, “Not sure. Those people don’t dare to go up the mountain, and no one dares to mess with me when I go down the mountain. As long as I don’t take the initiative to cause trouble, it's fine."

"Not taking the initiative?" Jiang Cheng sneered, "Wei Wuxian, believe it or not, even if you don't cause trouble, trouble will still find you. There is often nothing you can do to save someone, but there are more than a thousand ways to harm someone."

Wei Wuxian lowered his head, "One force with enough effort can defeat many, no matter the method. So, I will kill whoever comes. "

Jiang Cheng calmly said, "You never listen to any of what I tell you. One day you will know that what I say is right."

He drank the rest of the soup in one breath, stood up, and said: "Awesome. Amazing. As expected of the Yiling Laozu."

Wei Wuxian spat out a piece of bone, "Are you done yet?"

Before leaving, Jiang Cheng said, "Don't see us off. We don't want to be spotted."

Wei Wuxian nodded. He understood that this was not an easy journey for the Jiang family siblings. If others saw this, all the drama they put on for others would be in vain.

He said, "We'll go first."

So, as to my take for this, it's less of anyone is truly angry, as it is waiting for something to happen. The situation is played as a simple meeting when it no longer is, can't be, and will never be. There is a lack of this foreboding that overshadows the scene in the seven seas translation. Something I am not fond of as it uses more banter than Wei Wuxian exhibits in the scene. (Where snickers and the weird tone comes from with Wei Wuxian being surprised he was stabbed basically just brings more ire than I want that doesn't pertain to this question)

I think it's less that Wei Wuxian is angry at anything more than understanding what point they are at and him fully expressing he doesn't want anything further endangering him or the Wens after the defection was over and done with. If they keep low as he intends to, all could move on. Jiang Cheng of course doubts this as he thinks Wei Wuxian can't do anything else but cause trouble in his efforts to help. Two opposing sides of leave well enough alone, or, step in once again against cruelty despite the hurt.

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch (book spoilers edition): 2x4

Not only is this one going to have spoilers for all the aired episodes plus any teasers, it will also have book spoilers through book 14: a memory of light (haha let's pretend I didn't accidentally call it book 13 in my previous rewatch book spoilers posts). I am also going to talk about the trailer for ep5.

I love this change to the seals being what's holding the Forsaken -- and Lanfear's side-step of death at the end of the episode shows us why such a choice was required on LTT's part (I am currently assuming it was LTT who was the driving force behind this because of the memory echo that Rand had at the 'Eye of the World' where he was confronting Ishamael). He had to seal them up because they couldn't be killed conventionally, because the Dark One could just bring them back (Lord of the Grave). This is a great change for a visual medium because it means they can keep the same actors instead of needing to swap them out for a new body. It also adds a great new threat level to the Forsaken right off the bat and it gives viewers another reason to understand why joining the Shadow might be compelling. They don't want the wheel and reincarnation -- they want to live on as the person that they are now.

It's also interesting because it means that the Forsaken are potentially widely dispersed and it may mean that Ishy has to actively seek for where they've been sealed up (maybe asking his Darkfriends to try to find more seals like this) -- which may mean that the Forsaken are loosed more slowly than in the books, as Ishamael discovers where Lews Therin hid them. (or they were all released here and we were only shown Lanfear because she's the most relevant one)

3. The reveal that Lady Anveare is Moiraine's younger sister! This episode gives us a lot of information about Moiraine -- one of the big things that we learn is that she's much older than she was in the books. Which is a change I like; so many of the AS that we meet in the books are still within a 'natural' lifespan and it was kinda weird tbh. I think that she (and Siuan) took longer to make Accepted and Sister in this version (hence the note we get about how Cadsuane is the person to compare Nynaeve's rocketing through the ranks to and not the two of them) and that they were already full Sisters when they heard the prophecy from Gitara. This does track with them wearing blue in that scene from the trailer, which is potentially going to be a flashback to the prophecy (fingers crossed! would love to hear it!).

I am curious about how this may affect all the various familial relations in the show! But they were basically ignored completely in the books anyway, lol.

4. "My family have a cabin up near Kinslayer's Dagger". Wanting to take Rand up to the place that was named after how LTT killed his wife and all of the people that he loved -- I mean, yeah. That's Lanfear for you. So... has Lanfear used Compulsion on Rand at all or is it all pure manipulation? I am torn, tbh. She's manipulating him hard, both in the waking world and in the world of dreams. I'm not sure if she needed Compulsion to push him over the edge -- and I feel like her reaction to him implying that he loves her feels very genuine and I don't know if she would be quite that blown away by him saying that if she's been Compelling him to go along with her part of the way. They also might not want to lean too much on Compulsion for subtle things like this and save it for bigger influences. But we may find out more next episode, so I will be patient. He does abruptly change his mind in her favor a couple of times, so that may speak to a hint of Compulsion. If she is using it, she's picking and choosing her moments. (I don't think Compulsion has been mentioned at all on the show yet?)

5. An interesting thought to me about how Alanna approaches being an Aes Sedai with her family: this is potentially similar to how we're going to be seeing how the Wise Ones are integrated with Aiel society. They keep their families and are a vital part of their community.

6. Timing-wise, they do make it clear that Moiraine bonded Lan after her abrupt personality change -- so Lan is probably the same age that he was in the books, with only Moiraine (and some other Aes Sedai) being older. It's also interesting that Moiraine didn't feel any need to have a Warder before she heard the prophecy.

7. I will note again that Egwene does NOT tell Elayne the name of the person that she lost, which I am going to cross my fingers has pay-off later on in the season, with Elayne meeting Rand without knowing that he's the person that Egwene is talking about here. I really do want them to meet without the context of "this is my friend's ex-boyfriend who faked his own death" hanging over their heads. Right now, Elayne has zero facts or knowledge about Rand as a person -- doesn't know his name, his looks, or that he's a man who can channel (she does not even know that Egwene is talking about a man! Egwene says "someone I love more than anything").

8. We get some more foreshadowing of the coup in this conversation with Liandrin and Leane. "If she falls, you'll fall with her." I really am wondering when exactly Elaida will be introduced. I feel like it would likely be before the coup itself happens.

Liandrin, I suspect, will not be going back to the Tower (or, if she does, it will only be briefly, to collect a handful of other Black Ajah members and then head out to whenever it is that the Black Ajah Hunters plotline will take Elayne and Nynaeve next season -- whether that be Tanchico like in the books or Tear as @markantonys has speculated, also, to briefly go back to the previous scene, I am sorry that you did not get your boy! Hopefully we will hear something about him soon). Liandrin torched her bridges with the Wondergirls in this episode, so even if she does go back to the Tower, as soon as she learns that the Seanchan were pushed out of Falme, she would know that her cover in the Tower is blown and that she needs to leave before anyone can learn about what she did.

9. I think the placement of Perrin learning about wolfbrothers is so much better here than jammed into right after Shadar Logoth, lol. Elyas really just rolled up, infodumped, and then rolled away in the books, lol.

10. We still don't know that LTT was Lanfear's ex, which is fantastic and I love it, lol. Show-onlys guessing that Ishamael is the ex that Lanfear keeps talking about is the most hilarious thing in the world and I'm in love with it. I've seen it at least twice now in the non-reader reactions that I've watched.

Haha, Lanfear's reaction when Rand reminds her that he wasn't a virgin when they slept together. Her face is just priceless. She is stabbing Egwene in her mind right now. (does she know it was Egwene? I mean, Egwene being one of the ta'veren actually gives her a shield against Lanfear killing her that she didn't have in the books, since Fain established that TDO sees all five of the ta'veren as important)

11. The show has been establishing so strongly that Rand dreams of having a home, raising his kids, and doesn't want to be... idk a lone wanderer in the wilderness, and it does make me wonder/hope that they'll adjust his ending epilogue and have him going to his loved ones in the end instead of wandering off on his own and wondering which of the women he loves is going to be the first to abandon her responsibilities to join in him wandering around aimlessly.

(it's probably obvious from my description there that I am in favor of a bit of tweaking of Rand's ending!)

12. Learning that the person telling him to 'take' what he wants was, in fact, one of the Forsaken, might be something that leads into Rand pushing away the idea of being allowed to ever indulge in the things that he wants, which would match a lot of his behavior in the books.

13. So, in the books, Barthanes is a Darkfriend. I'm assuming that's the son that Anvaere is talking about, the one that she is marrying to the nameless queen who might be a Galldrian expy. Is Anvaere a Darkfriend? Lanfear didn't seem to like her in 2x3 but, well, she was A Woman who was talking to Lanfear's Man and that might matter more to her than any Shadow affliations.

...still, I'm going to guess 'no', because I don't think the Shadow would want Moiraine to get literally any information on Rand and Anveare's information is a straight line that leads to Lanfear's throat getting cut. But Anvaere's son being a DF while she is not is also very tragic to think about! While Anveare was trying to restore their house the honorable way, Barthanes may have taken a shortcut. Another possibility would be that Barthanes is not yet a Darkfriend but will become so because of the events of this season.

14. I think "Elayne is following them because she's suspicious of why they're sneaking out of the Tower" is a good way to get around the fact that Elayne doesn't know any of the people that they're going to rescue and she ends up getting caught up in it by accident, little knowing how the course of her life is going to change. It really feels like it needed to be something like this because of us losing Caemlyn from s1.

15. I am so glad that Min has a storyline that isn't about following Rand around like a puppy. She has a painful backstory! She has goals and desires that don't revolve around Rand! She has to experience moral quandaries and goes through trauma that actually focuses on her as a person, instead of her being Rand's post-trauma cuddle toy.

16. Okay, so now that we know that Ishamael specifically wants Mat in Cairhien, I feel like that gives us a bunch of information:

a. It implies to me that Lanfear is still working under Ishamael's direction for the most part and that she's essentially "the agent assigned to Rand's corruption".

b. We know that they want to corrupt as many of the ta'veren as possible (from what Fain said in the s1 finale). Rand is the Big Prize but if any of them turned that's a bird in the hand. So, Ishamael is approaching this in a few different ways.

c. It seems like he wasn't certain exactly what was going on with Perrin until 2x3 but as soon as he has realized more about the wolf connection, he worked to try to get Perrin to view it as something evil and dark.

d. Lanfear got put in charge (volunteered, I'm sure) to do Rand. In every possible way.

e. Liandrin got basically "everyone in the Tower" but chose to focus her efforts on Nynaeve and Mat. It sounds like that may be because they were the two that stood out to her more -- she had the (hilarious) impression that Egwene was the one who would 'know her place' when the time came. So she worked on Nynaeve by trying to mentor her openly (while doing some more subtle manipulation). And she worked on Mat by destroying him psychologically.

f. Once the Seanchan are settled in the far west (maybe once Suroth's soldiers are close enough to a Waygate), Ishamael lets Liandrin know that time is up to corrupt Nynaeve and we're moving to Plan B. We've gonna do this the 'easy' way by throwing her at Suroth and let the sul'dam break Nynaeve and Egwene to be obedient.

g. But BEFORE that happened, Liandrin released Mat (with Min tugging him along) out into the world, and we find out this week that Ishamael wants Mat to be brought to Cairhien. Why?

h. Theory: Mat is the back-up plan if Lanfear fails with Rand (which she did). One of the theories that I posted about Mat's viewing from Min (Theory #4) is that he is Compelled to stab Rand. We know from 2x3 that Liandrin could sneak into his cell without waking him. Easy enough for Ishy to do the same with some Traveling. Maybe Mat is already under Compulsion by one of them, with a trigger-event waiting to happen.

Which would be completely devastating for Mat (and Rand) and also (along with Liandrin's torment of Mat in general) lead to a very compelling (ha!) reason for him to seek out a way to prevent channelers from using weaves on him. It would essentially give him the same kind of emotional reaction that we saw from the flicker-flicker scenes in the book (where he was talking about how he's not going to betray Rand) without us actually needing the Portal Stones. Mat will be: a. absolutely traumatized by Aes Sedai in general; b. terrified about weaves being used on him; c. have viscerally been forced to betray Rand against his will.

There is also... hmm, to this point. The first shot of Ishamael in the trailer for ep5 might be a match for the 'Mat is tempted by the dagger' scene that we've seen in some of the other trailers. And Ishamael and Mat getting a scene together would complete the circle of him having an intimate little talks with all the ta'veren boys. Not certain if it's the same place, but it feels like the lighting is the same. Not the later shot of him walking with Suroth but the earlier one of him in a room that looks like it's got some fireplaces going on. I will brace myself for potentially not getting Mat next episode though.

(again, if this doesn't happen in the show, I might be forced to write it. We will see!)

Plus!

i. It could provide a real-time example of Min accidentally creating a viewing while trying to prevent it! She doesn't want to hurt Mat but she also would not want him to stab Rand. But since she is the one who would likely be bringing Mat into Rand's orbit (as she has no idea that Rand is in Cairhien, I don't think), it would show the viewers that Min's viewings are inevitable instead of it just being her telling us that.

I've seen speculation that Min is going to do a U-turn and take Mat anywhere else but Cairhien (presumably accidentally going to Falme) after learning that one of the Forsaken wants Mat there but... but I really really want Rand and Mat to get a reunion lol. Rand was THE most affected by Mat staying behind last season and it would be good to build them up again in anticipation of them spending s3 together, so I'd love if they got a reunion BEFORE Falme. Like, I was so excited to hear Min is meant to take him to Cairhien!

17. I do feel like something changes for Lanfear when Rand implies that he loves her. She stops for a moment and reacts to that, and the vibe of the scene shifts afterwards too. Great meta on the subject here: https://moghedien.tumblr.com/post/727929706072227841/1-it-immediately-sets-up-the-threat-of-going-up and I pretty much agree completely. This is where her true obsession with RAND as LTT was born. She just got everything that she wanted and then it was stolen from her.

Episode 5 next week! So excited!

Looking forward to seeing Lanfear unleashed in the next episode! The saa in her eyes was just... yes. Such a good decision for them to treat TDO's resurrection of his Chosen this way, I think, so that we can keep these spectacular actors. We're gonna get info from Moiraine about the Forsaken next episode, it sounds like, which is exciting.

We also are going to get AVIENDHA! So excited about this. She looks amazing in the trailer. She sounds amazing. She is amazing.

This is also when we're going to get some more insight into the Seanchan as a whole (Loial is with Ishamael and Suroth in the trailer), I suspect.

The other probable important event about next episode is, uh, gonna be more trauma for one of our characters, though. Lots more trauma. So far, most (definitely not all!) of Egwene's trauma has been "horrible things keep happening to the people I care about" (Nynaeve's assumed death; Perrin being tortured in front of her; Rand's assumed death; Nynaeve's assumed death again this season) but now her trauma will include "a horrible thing is happening to me". It might be the 'cliffhanger' of the episode; Egwene getting taken as damane. Since it looks like we're spending some time in the Ways with Liandrin & the Wondergirls first. Or it might happen earlier. I will brace myself!

[yuri-is-online]

for the 500 followers event, could i request prompt 6 for jamil and ace?

Of course you can my darling friend. This was by far the most popular prompt, which really should not have surprised me but it did because I am ever so slightly dumb.

notes: they/them used for Yuu, Ace is a brat, I decided to try and write Jamil post overblot but before Chapter 6 this time for a bit of a challenge, so he is a bit more comfortable with his feelings for the prefect. The other event requests can be found on my masterlist here.

Jamil

"It is easier to prevent a bad habit than to break one." Jamil remembers seeing that on your notes, a simple saying generic enough to have been thought up in both your worlds. Like many things in this world, Jamil had associated it with Kalim. So many bad habits formed over so many coddled years, certainly he was immune from such criticism himself. But he wasn't, there is a particularly nasty habit biting at his tongue, begging him to choke on his intended words and stuff his intelligence to the back of his mind.

"Prefect please take off your mask and see yourself up to the balcony. And with our first victim selected," Crewel waves his hand in a show of magical theater Jamil would have otherwise been impressed with "the night falls once again, as a reminder dear detective you only have one chance to make the correct guess, let's not be hasty."

Jamil had, without much thought he realizes now as he surveys the scene before him, intended to let this game go on for a good while. Middling results had been the only thing he was allowed to produce, and unless Kalim was the first "victim" he would be content to let the killer pick off a few students, and only naming them when he could be assured no attention would be drawn to his "brilliant reasoning."

That's not the outcome he wants from this situation. He keeps to the outskirts, eyes darting around for that poor actor unfortunate enough to have been placed in his dormitory, and completely at his mercy in both this game and whatever else the boy might have planned. It's a curious feeling, this desperation for a single person's praise instead of an entire room's, seconded only to the idly possessive anger at the thought of any genuine harm coming to Yuu that intensifies when he's forced to look into the shining eyes of this B-List Scarabia resident.

"Can I see your card please?" he presents his, wicked smile gracing his face at the brief look of surprise that the younger student gives, only growing as the shock stretches into awe.

"Wow Jamil," he passes over the killer's card almost in a daze "I didn't realize you liked the prefect that much."

"That didn't have anything to do with it." All amusement immediately falls, that fear from the before times roaring back when he was insistent on not admitting to himself, let alone other people, that he had any affection for anyone other than maybe his family and even then never out loud. "You started showing tells as soon as Crowley gave you the card." It's true, and directs him towards his appropriate shame for someone claiming to represent the Sorcerer's spirit of mindfulness instead of the truth he had intentionally unearthed.

Yuu has everything to do with it. There is a constant thrumming desire for praise in every beat of his heart that they sate like no other. Kalim would praise a fish for swimming, his dorm mates have had their expectations sadly lowered by his leadership, but Yuu, lovely despite their unpredictability Yuu has a voice that drowns out all others.

Praise me, praise me until I am completely satisfied and don't be surprised when I always demand more.

Ace

Sometimes you wonder why Rook chose to call you Trickster when Ace existed.

"Ahhh because Monsieur Heart wears himself on his sleeves so beautifully it would be a shame to not recognize it."

Bullshit, you huff to yourself as Ace laughs as Crowley reads out your death sentence and shooes you up to the balcony with his expected indifference, Rook just saw his Queen of Hearts mandated make up and got lazy. Sure, Ace's face settles into something more serious once he sees you are no longer looking, sure he flinches when he reaches out after you and gets ignored. And sure, Rook sees all of this with a self satisfied grin on his face, already satisfied enough with this victory to wonder just what he should do for the rest of the game.

It's not exactly like Ace is going to be an actual obstacle to his hunt after all.

~~~

This sucks ass and Ace doesn't really want to admit to himself why. Protecting Yuu is something he really prides himself on; as much as he might like to say that he only ever puts forward the bare minimum, or that his goals were only to beat his housewarden, or meet the measure of his upperclassmen, the real truth was that he just wanted Yuu to be safe. Most of the time he did a good job hiding that.

That time was not tonight.

"Say, did you see who Yuu was talking to before-" he mimes a knife across the throat and dies a little inside, despite the tight grin on his face. Hurting Yuu is unacceptable, even if it's in a game he's the only one allowed to make them the butt of the joke because he's the only one whose intentions are never actually mean. He barely registers Crowley announcing another victim, even as Ace makes sure to note the name he continues his line of questioning to those who were around them.

“Did you know that was the prefect?”  Most people did not.  What a bunch of losers, how could they not realize who they were talking to?  Did they just forget everything that had happened this past school year?

“They didn’t seem surprised to get picked.”  He noticed that himself genius, try harder.  Or don't, he doesn’t need another numbskull accidentally hurting Yuu with their stupidity.

“Oh they looked really annoyed!  Did you make them mad again?” 

“What do you mean again?”  Ace glares at the person even as he backtracks into his own mind hyper aware of all the times he’s made Yuu mad, some very much intentional as Crowley calls out yet another set of victims and he grinds his teeth together looking for a pattern.

“Vil Schoenheit!  Oh dear I thought you would be quite safe.  Please take off your mask and make your way up to-" As the headmage drones on Ace finds his head whipping around to make eye contact with an all too amused looking upperclassman, who suspiciously isn't wailing at all.

"Seriously?!"

"Monsieur Heart you look quite troubled," Rook's sympathetic head shake would fool most anyone in the room, but not Ace, not when he's this upset "has the loss of your bosom friend affected you that much?"

"Oh fuck off and give me your card." He tries to pass himself off as annoyed at loosing the game, but Rook circles him like a particularly annoying bird, if only someone could name one. "You're not the one who has to listen to their whining every time someone singles them out from the crowd." Rook tuts, not particularly annoyed at having "lost" as he passes over his card.

"Non, non, there are three things you cannot hide Monsieur Heart, a cough, poverty and-" mercifully Rook shushes himself as Yuu appears, but he doesn't have to finish his sentence. It shines through in Ace's eyes, the way he jumps at the little backhanded praise Yuu gives as he needles for more, heart firmly bleeding on his wrist as his hand seeks out the small of their back to guide them away from all perceived threats back towards the safety of the roses.

As if Ace could ever claim to be a trickster when he only ever wants to fool himself.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

The Sins of the Father

Honestly, at this point in Dangerous Romance I am not finding the relationship between Sailom and Kang all that compelling, BUT what I *am* very surprisingly so, finding myself constantly drawn in to within this story is the relationship between Kang and his father. I want to know what his Dad was like before his wife died, I want to know why Kang responds so quickly, and with a touch of fear to his father surprising him by coming home early when Kang was playing video games. The way I read Kang in that scene really made me feel like he thought that his father would react harshly. At the moment, I’m personally having difficulty finding problems with Kang’s father. Yet, I can’t stop thinking about how Kang’s response to being bested by Sailom was to escalate the situation based on something his father once said.

And it is so fascinating to me watching this show poke at this idea of what his father’s desire to *remove* pressure from Kang, rather than *place* pressure on him is doing to Kang. Kang feels like his father telling him he doesn’t have to try to be school president, he doesn’t have to wait to pass all of his exams to get the bike he wants is an insult. The fact that his father will be happy with Kang’s performance as long as he doesn’t have to repeat any classes should be a wonderful thing.

I love that Kang was the one who proposed an achievement award, that he was the one who basically begged his father for a little bit of competitive structure. The insistence of Kang’s dad to not push Kang in to anything is really great…except that he goes overboard with it. Kang is excited and interested in being school president, Kang wants to work hard *towards* accomplishing a goal and getting rewarded for it. But he feels constantly belittled by his father reminding him that he doesn’t have to work hard, that he doesn’t have to push himself, that he can just be a teenager.

I won’t speculate too hard about what the family dynamic was like when Kang’s mother was around but I will say I’m thinking about how much Kang’s dad is overcompensating and how much Kang is asking for a little bit of a test. I’m thinking about how at school Kang is constantly being told that he is stupid. No one really challenges him because of how influential his father is to the school’s funding. He has teachers falling all over themselves to absolve him of every single consequence.

Something that is really telling to me is that it really seems like Kang loves his grandma more than anyone else in the world, and she is also the only adult that Kang has been around that does not absolve him of any harm. When he fucks over Sailom, she makes Kang apologize. And Kang does not really fight that apology, not as much as he could.

I don’t know what I’m really trying to say here. I guess ultimately that Dangerous Romance has an opportunity to show a well adjusted, happy, and fulfilled child with a parent that does not place pressure on to them. But they aren’t. But they also haven’t started saying that having all that pressure is a good thing for kids either. Mostly I guess I’m just curious about whether they are making the point that the opposite extreme is also going to harm your children. I said something like this before on my page but Kang’s father could remind him that he doesn’t have to put all this pressure on himself while also encouraging him to go for the school presidency if he is genuinely interested in it. He could withhold the bike until after the exams, and either keep his promise and not get him one if he fails, or he could wait a bit and give him one anyway for trying his best. But instead he just constantly removes any and all expectations from his son, leaving Kang feeling stupid and useless.

[citrusotakutea]

Hey op just curious what makes you hate the new Hellsing fanbase. As a fellow Hellsing fan I was wondering if I’ve completely missed something strange going on lately.

The new Hellsing fandom honestly irks me because of the surface level probing of the source material*. Yes, to most it's a hard core, dark, violent, mad and bad-ass anime but, like I've said so often, for so long on this dumb blog, it has the BEST female characters I've ever seen, recently rivaled by Arcane. Incredible depiction of platonic relationships and morally grey characters. To me, it's primarily a found family story, among other things.

The side characters are incredible, Yumi and Heinkel are the most underrated of the show. I mean come on priest and nun lesbians (lesbian used liberally). Heinkel is confirmed by the author to be an INTERSEX HUMAN. Alucard shapeshifts into a female (which, looking at the Devilman fandom, everyone took for an obvious trans metaphor, why not here?). The source material is as homoerotic as it can get between a lot of the characters (the tension between Sir Integra and Seras during the blood scene). Let's not forget Rip van Winkle, Pip, Walter, and Alexander. Alucard's teasing, Seras' naivety and subsequent maturity, Pip's endurance and playful wittiness. These characters and relationships are stuck in my head forever, they're all incredibly unique, fleshed out and worth remembering, no matter how short a time they spent on screen. And the character designs? As a long-time vampyr and catholic guilt fan, can I just say. Rawr. This show shaped how I dress like irl and my own shitty characters, as well.

Sir Integra is my favorite character of the show and one of all time. Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing. Like, an actually good depiction of a no-nonsense, androgynous as hell, unabashedly commanding (dare I say) woman? And it's played completely straight? No "Whaaa that's a woman?" every 2 seconds or "heh, you will listen to me despite my womanhood" from her. Powerful in her own right despite being the few "magic"-less humans of the series. 0 sexualized Ultimate scenes (sorry Seras and the "hot down there" comment doesn't count, that was banter). She was fucking knighted by the Queen of England before she was even 25, hence Sir Integra. Canonically bi-racial and South-Asian. I'm not even going to go into her character's willpower and values but. Hellloooo??? 

Not to mention, something noteworthy about the series, but Hellsing works because Hirano made time for silly moments. I mean, hell, one of the scenes I remember most vivdly was the gag of Heinkel lighting Sir Integra's cigar and being mega-pissed about it during the final battle, it's funny yet in character, despite many fans saying the humor throws you out of the "reality" of the show.

Oh no, but what do the new fandom gremlins talk about? "Alufart rails Y/A" "OMG VLADCARD'S BARA HAIRY TIDDIES I WANNA RUB MY FACE AGAINST THEM" (you know who you are) “I drew the most fucked up version of Alucard I could think of in my twisted mind”

and my personal "favorite":

"omg 🥺 what if intewa and alucard kisswdd", it's almost as bad as Seras x Alucard.

Unfortunately, I am a part of the ship police, so I'm gonna say right now that these two are my most hated ships:

1) Sir Integra and Alucard's relationship goes beyond romance to me. Since none of the new fans know the lore, Sir Integra is and will die a virgin (canon), it's literally plot relevant because by having sex, if she gets bit she will become a zombie slave (obvious but apparently needed to be said) and, taking a note from the 2001 anime, gone is any chance to continue the Hellsing mission. If she was bitten, plot armor aside, she'd have to off herself instead of becoming a vampire. (and for you freaks out there/pos, dare I say… ace representation? you can argue about desire and subtext later)

2) Seras and Alucard's relationship was specifically noted by the author to be a father/daughter dynamic, which is kind of obvious in the show. Like I said, fundamentally a found family series. Yeah, you don't need to treat found family like family family but I gen can't stand this ship.

I know that people will ship characters who've never been in a room together before. I can't stop people from shipping them and these two ships have ALWAYS been popular in the fandom. I typically ignore this and, yes, "don't like, don't interact" is my main rule. However, new fans ONLY talk about this stuff. None of the rest of the show seems to matter, just Alucard's hairy mustached tig bitties and him fucking one of the two women in the main cast. Or someone's self insert.

((tangent but personally my favorite ships are Alexander x Alucard (obviously in an enemies to enemies way), Heinkel x Yumi, and a romance only Seras x s.Integra. Like, you want old women yuri??? There ya go! They were in a mansion for like 30 years (I forgot) together, probably going missions alone and sharing their grief over Alucard and their unique experience/history. Like I said, I can't help who people ship, I'm not trying to say the source material is in favor of my ships or "how dare people interpret these obviously gay characters as straight". like no, that's not why I'm upset and ik alucard and alexander weren't yaoi-ing it up but like. alucard and s.integra shippers dni /j))

Not to mention, I couldn't help but notice, despite this information being readily available to my middle school self, no one knows the fckn lore or background of this show?? I honest to god saw someone comment that Hellsing Ultimate™ was a bad “remake” because it diverged from the original anime.

Here's SOME fun facts:

-the 2001 version of the show has a different ending than the manga because it wasn't finished yet (duh). Hellsing Ultimate is "soooo short" because production took almost a decade and it was trying to be a faithful, well-animated (that takes time bruv) adaptation. Oh, and a bunch of directional changes that I won't get into.

-there are multiple OVAs following Walter's youth in WW2 (Hellsing: The Dawn). Young Walter's design honestly was one of my favorites from the series so. Walter enjoyers. Check it out.

-there is a bonus book explaining a lot about the characters and process of creating Hellsing written by Hirano himself. whenever I got a hold of it, though (8+ years ago) there was no English translation.

-Alucard didn't just transform into a girl that one time, he was in his girl form the entire time during WW2 (hence why when people mention his possible affair with the Queen it might've been a sapphic thing but I think that mostly stems from the abridged series. the queen thing not the girl thing)

-Hirano used to be a Hentai mangaka and actually designed many of Hellsing's characters in said hentai or in short stories (such as Crossfire, it's basically extra, non-canonical Hellsing content) beforehand. Which, this used to be the most popular "fun fact" but has been lost to the sands of time now, so prepare for a lot of people rediscovering this.

-personal lore is I almost named myself Rip van Winkle bc of this show (quirked up Portal, Grell Sutcliff, queer-coded, rifle-wielding shawty)

Anyway, to sum it up, I hate when people don't interpret characters in the same way I do. Yes, I am a bad “fandom elder”, idgaf I am fundamentally a hater.

*I keep seeing this happen with old shows that resurface. Unlike newer or more popular shows where every scene gets scoured, characters who showed up for one scene get analyzed, and endless cafe AUs are made- older shows mostly get fan art of the main charas and the ships of the two hottest characters and that's it. Discussion of lore and themes are completely off the table. So I'm not surprised, just disappointed.

[lurkingshan]

Every time I see a Wedding Impossible GIFs on my dash I keep thinking that when it's over I'd love to read your take on what went wrong with this show. In a form of a very spiteful rant preferably.

(the show probably doesn't deserve too much of your time but I am just very VERY curious and had to share)

WELL! I was considering just letting this show go quietly into the night, but I will take this excuse to do a good rant instead.

*cracks knuckles*

You asked what went wrong with this show, but truly, nothing went right with it. From top to bottom, it's an utter waste of a good premise and a total destruction of the rare opportunity to get some positive queer rep into a het kdrama for a broader audience than will ever be reached by a ql. Let me list the most glaring problems:

They made Do Han a supporting character in his own narrative. Do Han, his sexuality, his desire and need to hide who he is to protect himself, and his desperate plan to avoid a life he doesn't want is the core of the story. Despite that, the story treats him like a minor supporting character with limited screen time and virtually no interiority or character development that made any sense.

The relationships were poorly written and the bonds were not believable. Ah Jeong was meant to be Do Han's ride or die bestie, but nothing in their scenes together or her behavior towards him suggested this was actually true. They seemed more like acquaintances who were friendly enough but had no real loyalty to each other, or even like she was a random actress he hired to play his wife. And Ji Han and Do Han had no brotherly bond or affection to speak of; their relationship consisted entirely of Ji Han throwing tantrums and demanding things for no reason other than he wants them, and Do Han trying to avoid being forced into them.

The leads were terrible people and the show did not realize that. Do Han's brother and best friend entered into a romance while she was engaged to Do Han. Ji Han thought it was a real relationship and did not seem to feel any guilt about pursuing his brother's lover. Ah Jeong was under a contract she agreed to as both his best friend and as a job to protect him and did not seem to care that she was breaking her commitment and threatening his safety. They gallivanted around flaunting their relationship in public with no regard for Do Han or his reputation whatsoever. And the show tried to convince me that Do Han was the selfish one in this scenario for the great sin of being gay and not just fucking off and getting out of the way of their relationship. Ji Han and Ah Jeong were never held accountable for what they did to him; instead we got to watch many scenes of Do Han being shamed and berated. Anyone who contributed to the writing and depiction of this can get fucked.

Every element of the story was poorly written and the resolutions were either unearned or so badly set up that they fell flat anyway. Do Han was being harassed and stalked and the story only barely cared about this. The family drama was boring and the grandpa character was a mess of contradictions who changed on a dime depending on the demands of the plot. There was no chemistry to speak of between the leads. The romance was utterly unbelievable and developed so poorly that it was impossible to care about whether these two assholes got together. The show used romcom tropes randomly to fill time even if they didn't fit. The final episode was stuffed with cameos by actors with personal connections to the cast and crew in the hopes it would distract us from what an unsatisfying conclusion it was, and the whole thing ended on a bizarre wedding gag that didn't work at all. The only good part was Do Han coming out on his own terms and leaving to go live his own life in New York, but the way they framed that was so gross I couldn't even enjoy it.

Most importantly, the messages of this show were deeply, unforgivably homophobic. This story went out of its way to tell us over and over again that Do Han is a selfish coward for being closeted, that his sexuality is a burden for his loved ones, that his family and friends are the real victims for having to deal with him, and that he was the one in the wrong for trying to protect himself. At no point was he allowed to get truly angry at the way his family and friends were treating him; he remained benevolent and shouldered the guilt and blame for everything, despite doing absolutely nothing except try to live an authentic life. At every turn the show depicted his siblings and grandfather and friend being hateful and/or careless with him, but then told us it was Do Han's fault for being who he is. They wanted us to blame the gay character and sympathize with a brother who resented him for not being the straight business leader he wanted him to be, and a friend who betrayed him without a second thought. The show argued passionately that the lies Do Han told to protect himself were the real problem, not the homophobia and hatred and rejection he faced every day of his life. It was an abysmal and offensive message and exactly the opposite of what a responsible piece of media would be trying to communicate.

I don't know if the people who made this show are actively malicious or just deeply incompetent, but they had no business telling a story involving a queer character if they were going to do it like this.

[foxlored]

Deconstructing Luz & Hunter and Wittebane Siblings Parallels

Alternatively titled: Luz is actually not a stand-in for Philip and I will fight the show's writers on this myself if I must

Another Owl House mini-essay because this show's been on the mind. As the previous one, expect some mentions of abuse, murder, colonization, and so on (as per canon-typical Belos awfulness). Technically peer reviewed (my discord friends talked about it with me)

Luz & paralleling Philip/Belos

The show does a lot of work to make you see Luz as equivalent to Belos, partly in order to deconstruct that. I don't mind that actually, I think the subversion of the "just as bad as the villain" trope fits the show's themes of deconstructing the fantasy genre, given its similar takes on the idea of a chosen one and so on. However, I don't think these parallels are narrative as much as they are just a manifestation of Luz's anxieties and Belos feeding into that.

Stay with me here: We have a character who abandons the only family member they have left in order to stay in the Demon Realm. They fall in love with a witch, and fall in love with the world they're staying in. They unlearn the initial ideas they had about the world that dehumanize its inhabitants in some way—and are in conflict with Philip/Belos, who wishes to "save their soul" and get them out of there.

Am I talking about Caleb or Luz? That's a trick question, because it's both. It's literally the same character arc! And more importantly here—there's something to suggest that at least Belos sees them in the same way.

"We're human! We're better than this!"

Belos has a very peculiar dynamic with Luz in the fact that he is incredibly bent on trying to "save" her despite all she has done to go against him. He sees her as a potential ally, a human corrupted by the sinfulness of witchkind—and offers her an honestly that is pretty much never given to any other character. Now, compare this to the scene in For the Future where he hallucinates Caleb.

"I tried to save your soul. It's your fault this all happened!"

The mentality is strikingly similar—and while we don't have much content to show the specifics of Philip and Caleb's relationship, what we are given suggests a very real parallel between how he views Caleb and Luz.

What about Hunter?

A fair question, as the show poses Hunter as the Caleb to Luz's Philip—especially with him already being a grimwalker of Caleb. However, it's important to note that a significant part of that parallel is that it's incomplete—Hunter isn't the replacement for Caleb that Belos wants.

Because the cycle of killing and destroying grimwalker upon grimwalker is built off the fact that they cannot match what Caleb was. They... aren't Caleb. Even Hunter, who looked the closest, was just that: the closest. Not an actual replacement. Remember Belos had no qualms about branding him with a sigil, a death sentence on the day of unity.

Speaking of that—

King's Tide, & the curious case of Belos' Manipulation

King's Tide gives us two interesting scenes with Belos attempting to manipulate Luz, then Hunter. Both give a surprising insight into his mentality towards both characters.

Hunter, why are you hurting me? I only wanted to help you!

when trying to elicit hunter's help, belos is very much focused on that emotional relationship he cultivated in order to manipulate hunter. Why are you hurting ME. I only wanted to help YOU. but there's no further depth to it. Its a purely emotional attack. Contrast that both with his earlier scene with Luz, and what occurs in Watching and Dreaming.

And despite our differences, I want to help you, Luz. I can send you home. I have just enough Titan Blood for one more trip. Please. I don't want to see another human life destroyed by this place.

While Belos certainly isn't above using emotional attacks to weaken Luz's resolve—playing on her fears of being complicit in his crime, comparing his self afflicted monsterous form to Eda's curse, he also tries to connect with her on a logical level (at least from his point of view).

When he calls Hunter to stop fighting, it's purely because he knows he can eliminate a percieved threat by playing on his weakness—when he calls Luz to stop, it's because he wants to work with her.

You did do something good. I thought this one was another lost cause. Because of you, we can finish our work as witch-hunters, starting with them!

This exchange from Thanks to Them really encapsulates it all. Hunter is a tool for Belos to use, while Luz... I think the ambiguity in "we" in the above quote is purposeful. At face value, it's we as Belos possessing Hunter, an extension of Caleb—him and his brother together again. But he's addressing Luz, thanking Luz, and I don't think that's necessarily because Belos sees himself in Luz. A wayward human who needs guidance back from the clutches of humans... he sees Caleb in her.

Luz & Hunter, two sides of a Caleb coin

I think the two of them are both supposed to represent different facets of Caleb. They're the two characters who are deeply harmed by his manipulation, and both represent the ways in which Belos views his brother. A lost soul to be saved, family to be controlled; Someone who's loyalty must be maintained by emotional abuse and manipulation.

And I think the show becomes stronger when you look at it through this lens, instead of the forced "they're like siblings so they must be like these other siblings" comparison partially born out of Luz's insecurity.

[mikuni14]

Pit Babe - Ep 13

I don't have much to write about this, because with the exception of Way and his potential partners, nothing else really interested me in this series. And it's good that people who know the novel were throwing spoilers left and right without warning, because thanks to this I could mentally prepare for what will happen to Way 😶 Thanks to the fact that Way in this episode just stood there, then jumped, and then died, making it all about Babe anyway, and thanks to spoilers, his death didn't really affect me. It was oddly funny tho, when I thought wistfully again how great Pavel and Nut are together and how I wish they were together as a pair (this is my unfulfilled ship in this series). I watched for a bit after that scene, hoping that maybe Way had somehow survived, hehe, but it was a vain dream 🤡 I honestly chuckled in disbelief when PeteWay was reduced to Pete's little sadness and a montage of some 4 of their scenes, and when I realized that they didn't even have Kenta there to mourn his brother. Tbh I skipped through the rest of the episode, and since I wasn't interested in the rest of it in the first place, that was the end of my adventure with Pit Babe 🥳 Despite knowing the spoilers, I had quite high hopes that Way would survive, because he was actually VERY popular in the Pit Babe fandom, and killing off a fan favorite is always a risky move. Way could have been punished for what he did in many ways, he could have left the team, cut off contact with Babe, left the country, anything. Even go to jail, like in History 3: Trapped! And yet they chose something so final. Nobody even called an ambulance for him....

I liked that it was Kenta who ended The Tony problem, and that he wasn't overwhelmed by his own actions, didn't lose control and stopped Tony when he tried to hit him. It was actually my fav part of this ep. (and the whole Winner and The Boys scene lol) As I understand it, Kenta didn't have any more scenes after that? Even to cry over Way? Am I wrong? I ask, because maybe he did appear after all, and I have missed him by skipping scenes.

If you are a Charlie fan, don't read this part: Even though I'm allergic to Charlie and CharlieBabe, I forced myself to watch their scenes at the beginning because I was curious how Babe would deal with the fact that Charlie was alive, he lied to him in a most fundamental way, broke his heart in the worst possible way, sending him into mourning and a destructive need for revenge. Babe handled it with flying colors like a model grief stricken patient 👌 Can't help but wonder, why there was a ENTIRE episode about the grieving Babe when he acts now like Charlie came back safe and sound from visiting his mean family during Christmas. I don't know if I could be with someone who actively chose the most cruel way to hurt me but "for my own god", I certainly couldn't just forgive it, but that's just me 🤷‍♀️ Babe was used, abused, hurt, never asked for his opinion, for what HE wanted by everyone around him, over and over again, and everyone knows it and everyone continues to use him and hurt him because they know they CAN and there won't be any consequences. When Charlie, beaming happily, announced the reason for faking his death and traumatizing Babe, and Babe was liked, oh ok, I thought to myself, haha, ok, guys, you know what, I actually envy you this simple life of yours. This scene confirmed only one thing for me: yep, Charlie and this pairing irritate me just as much now as at the beginning 😏

I don't know if I understood correctly, Jeff had a vision and knew that Way was going to die? As I recall, he tried to stop his previous visions from becoming reality, and now he did nothing? Can someone confirm this for me or have I missed something here?

So. PeteWay and PeteKenta have carried this series for several last episodes, these ships have been heavily promoted by the series and the show's cast. The ending of these ships with Way's quick death, which is not even about him but about Babe and the disappearance of Pete and Kenta from the plot, in my opinion, is an insult to their fans who have invested their time, energy and emotions in this series (this is not about me, I mean all those people whose hard work I furiously reblogged, I love you besties). It sort of looks like baiting now , I thought Thai BL series of all were above that 😄

Sending hugs and kisses to Pit Babe fans and fans of things that could have been 😘 As for me? I hope there will be a lot of content with Nut from now on 💖

Pretty pics from @infinitelyprecious

[writingforfun0714]

So I wanted to wait and let the new Bad Batch trailer sink in before posting about it.

Warnings: Spoilers, some thoughts/opinions will be critical

Alright so I don’t think it’s any secret that I don’t care for the Bad Batch. Even ignoring the horrible, incredibly RACIST clone model, the writing is mid/passable at best and not even watchable for me. Most of S1 and 2 combined is the typical ‘mission of the week’ type of story where only a few Empire-focused episodes stand out. There are also instances of ableism concerning Echo in particular (CF99 are also super dismissive of him in general—going along with that whole fucking ‘superiority over regs’ thing—seriously wtf).

Most episodes were very bland and predictable. S1 had no stakes despite its finale. By Mando/ST it’s clear that something has happened to Kamino. Didn’t really need to see a 2pt ep of the city getting wiped. Plus AZI should’ve been sacrificed. Even Ahsoka learns the lesson that you can’t save everyone in S1 when she disobeys Anakin and Admiral Yularen. TBB S2 had no character development from anyone besides a little bit for Omega (and Tech—but that was always speculated by fans since S1 and he’s dead now so it doesn’t really matter). A lot of the dialogue felt…basic. I think the only thing that TBB does well is the music. It’s really amazing and beautiful along with the smooth, crisp animation/scenery. Shame they ruined it with racist clone models, racist tones with the ‘reg’ dispute in both seasons, and being ableist and dismissive towards Echo.

Which brings me to the trailer. Oh boy. First, right off the bat I noticed how similar the trailer opening is compared to the S2 trailer. I do like that Phee is back. She did take time to grow on me but I do like her character and am curious to see where they will go with her.

It’s interesting we are seeing Crosshair back with the group so soon. Personally I do believe that is Crosshair and not just someone else wearing his armor like some think. I like the idea of Omega and Crosshair escaping early on but Omega gets recaptured/separated and taken back to Tantiss.

I’m interested in Hemlock and his backstory (is his gloved hand robotic?). I wish they’d create more interesting and unique characters like Phee and Fennec Shand instead of relying on cameos of established characters/fan-favorites like Ventress. I loved Dark Disciple and I thought it was a great ending for her.

I know it’s officially said that Ventress’ story will follow Dark Disciple but I don’t see how unless they retcon her death or pull a ‘somehow she survived’. Either way that sucks. Reminder!! DAVE FELONY DIDN’T EVEN FOLLOW REBELS FOR AHSOKA. SABINE IS NOT FORCE SENSITIVE IN REBELS. DAVE RETCONS THE SHIT OUT OF EVERYTHING. I have no faith that they will remain loyal to DD. Anything that will be ‘canon’ will be mid at best because even Crosshair’s arc has been messy (which is due to the weird S1 ‘reset’ the characters go through. Like they totally should’ve appreciated ‘regs’ by the end of TBB arc in TCW S7–there was no need for that awkward food fight scene in S1).

I hate that this show has to rely on cameos to get the viewing numbers. Here is a list of every character cameo we’ve seen so far:

—Rex*

—Tarkin*

—Palpatine*

—The Lawquane Family

—The Syndullas/Chopper

—Nala Se/Lama Su*

—Cad Bane

—Bail Organa

—Riyo Chuchi

—Gungi

—Gregor

—Wolffe

—Cody

—Scorch

—Saw Gerrera

—Martez Sisters

—Kanan/Depa*

—Muchi/Rancor from RotJ

—Taun We/Halle Burtoni

—Ventress

*I consider these important/relevant cameos and am not bothered by them like the others*

What a list right? I might even be missing one. These were just off the top of my head. Some are big players, others smaller and almost not-relevant to the plot. Not counting the one’s I asterisked, it’s 15 characters. There are original characters but a lot of them, especially in S1 felt like one off, not important characters. And I hate Cid so much—glad to see she was absent in the S3 trailer. I’m really starting to love Phee and I’ve always loved Fennec Shand, and Hemlock is definitely an intriguing villain and Emerie feels like a total mystery (though the reveal was not shocking due to the similar design and accent to Omega). Like why can’t they create more characters like these? The rest just feel forgettable. And it’s clear that characters like Saw, Gungi, Scorch, Cad Bane and even the Syndulla and Lawquane families just felt like fan service. The rest kind of make sense that they’d show up but it also feels a bit like fan service.

Moving on..

I know a lot of people think that new weird dark trooper at the 1:40 mark is Tech. While I’m inclined to agree as I think the ‘Winter Soldier’ story is an obvious choice to pick, I also think that Tech is dead. I’ve changed my mind and kind of hope that Tech isn’t brought back.

I hope this is someone new. I also wouldn’t mind if it was a bounty hunter we’ve seen before. Due to the frame and stature, I could almost think of Boba due to him being older than Omega but it’s definitely more likely to be Tech than either of these choices.

It’s interesting a lot of cameo characters from S2 do not make an appearance in the trailer. Bail, Riyo, Gungi, Gregor and Cody are all absent from the trailer. Trailers usually show action shots to avoid story spoilers, but with Gungi, Gregor, and Cody all being capable fighters, I’m surprised they didn’t appear (usually stuff with politics is a story spoiler).

Overall I’m skeptical of the trailer. I don’t like Ventress being alive/in TBB being a Dark Disciple lover. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the story of S3 so I don’t feel like I can give an accurate take on that. I hate how Omega’s longer hair looks. Curly haired Omega is adorable!! The animation (everything but the clone model) is definitely getting better. However, based on how S2 was marketed as a ‘darker story compared to S1’ and was like 80% fetch quest I’m definitely skeptical.

Those of you that made it through this post, thank you for your time and I hope I gave you something to think about. If you wanna learn more about the racism and ableism portrayed in this show, check out @unwhitewashthebadbatch for more info.