#so it's like........... is the story going to change into gl or is it gonna stay non-romo?

[isekyaaa]

Talking about the checking an author's other works is that like.... it's really junk when you're reading a story that has no romance, but when you go into the author's other works, the only things they've ever written were romance. So you're stuck trying to figure out if they'll eventually turn the story romantic or not.

[bleghxy]

GL manga recs:

Summary: Maki's first love was her high school classmate, a girl named Midori. But Midori broke up with Maki at graduation, saying they were now "too old to be fooling around dating girls." Ten years later, Maki still can’t get Midori off her mind, and when the two women reconnect after a chance encounter, Maki realizes that, while her feelings haven’t changed, Midori has long moved on—in fact, she's engaged. Yet the more Maki hears Midori talk about her soon-to-be-husband, the more red flags she notices. And Midori has another secret, one she hasn’t yet shared with Maki. Will it be the last blow to Maki's hopes that their romance might be rekindled? Or will it be the push that sets them on a new path—one they'll travel together?

Review:

There's so much depth to this. At a glance it looks like a simple story. You read the summary and think oh well it's the same old plot of getting back with your ex but it's not. It deals with heavy topics like abusive relationships, comphet and the fear of being alone. It's very realistic in its portrayal. Both of the women are very well written especially Midori.

Status: Completed

Summary: Cooking is how Nomoto de-stresses, but one day, she makes way more than she can eat by herself. And so she invites her neighbor Kasuga, who also lives alone. What will come out of this dinner invitation?

Review: This manga is such an excellent read. There's so much that I love about this manga. I don't wanna spoil it so I'm gonna let you find out on your own. It points out the troubles women face due to the stereotypical portrayal of them in society. There's a good amount of discussion on lgbt especially on Nomoto's end. I won't say much about Kasuga because I don't wanna mistakenly spoil her past. There are also new characters in vol 3 who are as well written as the main characters. The women in this story are very well written! I really recommend this one! Also trigger warnings are given before anything heavy or disturbing is mentioned in this manga.

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Dani's promising future as an elite athlete is cut short when, during the middle of the television broadcast competition, her heart collapses. This ordeal will not only affect her health, but also destroy her relationship with her mother and skip her tennis career. In order to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city and all its problems, she decides to go with her cousin to the small coastal town Levant and it is there where she will meet Blanca, a girl full of life and love for astronomy who will remind her that life can be beautiful and that Dani can shine again as the stars do.

Review: This is very short but still a good read. Even though I wished it were longer, it still managed to carry out the development between the two main characters. The only issue I had with this is, since the manga is very short, it fails to properly carry out the development between Dani and her mom.

Status: Completed

If you want more GL recs:

[gunsatthaphan]

the asks are piling up already lol so here are some initial thoughts on the trailers from today (in order of release, BL/GLs are marked with a 🏳️‍🌈, favorites with a 🌟):

Ossan's Love Thailand 🏳️‍🌈🌟: HELP this looks so chaotic lmao. I forgot about the show for a second and thought we were in for another EarthMix office romance kjdhgd. But yeah I have a very soft spot for Earth in chaotic slapstick roles and Mix fits in there just perfect as well. I have not seen the original and was concerned as a lot of people said it's not very good but I had a very good time with this trailer and I'm excited!!! .

Leap Day 🌟: I've been curious about this project ever since that casting call for younger versions of Dew and Pond lol and the trailer did not disappoint! The story seems interesting and I know Gun will eat in this role lol. It's going on my watchlist. .

The Heart Killers 🏳️‍🌈: **edit: not gonna lie, initially I was very disappointed by this. I was excited for the Jojo show but this seemed very random to me. I couldn't follow the story and the trailer just seemed like FK and JD were given a few guns and thrown into a dark setting which just seems like a clash of NLMG and OF. If JD weren't there, I would think this is a SandRay spinoff lol. I now know about the Shakespeare adaption which does change the way I view it a little bit but I still have concerns because I still have no idea what's going on lmao. I was hoping for something simpler and calmer for FK's new project so I really hope the show will be better than the trailer. .

Friendshit Forever: Legit thought this was a GL for the first 30 seconds of the trailer lmao but turns out it's another Beauty Newbie type of toxic friendship lol. I love the vibe though!!! the cast is amazing, Pat never fails to deliver and my girl Mook is back as well!! 🥺 I'm very much into the energy and the chemistries are on point as well. Sign me up!! .

Perfect10 Liners 🏳️‍🌈: If I took my glasses off I would think this is We Are season 2 lmao like do we really need another gay ensemble. And there's SO many others as well??? There were like 30 people on that stage lmao. New really said who doesn't have a job this year? done. I don't know what else to say, it looks very generic. I didn't expect PerthChimon to be part of an ensemble for their second bl and I sure did not expect ForceBook to get their 5th gig lmao. Good for them though. I'm still gonna take a look. .

Us 🏳️‍🌈🌟: YES I LOVE THIS 😩😭 I was hoping we would get another GL and I loooove the energy of this. It's giving all the COA vibes and I'm SO glad it's not another highschool romcom. 23.5 is nice but I'm so happy this is taking it one step further. I'm here for it. Emi was born for sapphic roles you can't change my mind lmao and her chemistry with Bonnie is on point. Simple story, big emotions and a strong cast - This is right up my alley. It's going on my list for sure. .

Hide & Sis: The title still cracks me up lmao but YES this is everything lol. The PLL/PSIHY vibes are STRONG and I love it. Snap25 never fails to deliver us badass girl gangs and I'm here for it. The toxic family trope is generic for these types of shows but if it's done right it works. And I think this will. Sign me up! .

Heart That Skips a Beat 🏳️‍🌈🌟: god don't even touch me this looks so lovely 🥹 I'm always down for a good idol x mundane romance lol and EstWilliam are a good pair for sure. It was kind of obvious that they would get something together but I'm still very excited. I didn't expect the whole LYKN group to be in it but I feel like this plot fits them very well. Plus the trailer is absolutely beautiful. Thumbs up!! .

Break Up Service: This looks meh to me, I'm surprised to see Jorin lol I didn't know she was acting. The story seems fun but the trailer did not catch my attention. It's a maybe for now. .

Revamp 🏳️‍🌈: Honestly I did not expect them to give us another trailer for this lol I was set on a different project for BounPrem. But yes this looks very expensive lmao and I'm hyped we're getting another vampire show this year. I also approve of the other cast members, especially Kay since I haven't seen him in forever lol and also Santa!! I will be tuning in! .

Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist 🏳️‍🌈🌟: *starts vibrating violently* YES I FEEL NORMAL ABOUT THIS kjshdf call me crazy but this is my highlight of this lineup lmao. I got deeply attached to MarkOhm over the last few months and this is all I could ever ask for lmao. Ohm is my little squish and my boy Mark finally got his main role 😩 I'm so proud. The plot is not the most sophisticated lol but I am SEATED. GIMME. .

Dark Dice: This did not intrigue me whatsoever. Pass. .

The Ex-Morning 🏳️‍🌈: Anyone who spent any time on the internet in the last few months knew this was bound to happen lmao. I feel torn about it, K. is not off the hook but KS were my very first bl on-screen couple and I'm feeling very nostalgic about this comeback lol. I'm fond of the trend to bring back OG couples and I'm not gonna lie, yes, it looks good. The story is interesting and the fact that they play exes,,,, art imitates life lol. I think this genre suits them and hey, maybe this will become the second Cherry Magic. Let's see how it goes. .

Scarlet Heart Thailand: The trailer gave us next to no information, I'm guessing that if you saw the original you might have a better idea of what's going on but other than pretty costumes, this didn't give me much ground to make a judgement on lol. Let's see.

conclusion: All in all this lineup seems a lot more colorful than part 1 which is very exciting!! It had the typical light-to-dark structure that the first part (and all the previous ones) had as well but it's still more diverse than I was expecting. There are some disappointments and concerns but compared to part 1, this has a lot more promising projects that I will be tuning in for - Even the lakorns. I spent a lot of time on Twitter leading up to the event, so almost everything I put on my bingo card became reality lol. I noticed some changes in the production of the trailers where it seems that they are more carefully made and edited and I found myself connecting emotionally with them a lot more than in part 1. Overall I'm very happy with this lineup and I will be putting all of these shows on my watchlist with the exception of 1 or 2, which is something I couldn't say about part 1. Thumbs up!! 🧡

Let me know your thoughts!

[absolutebl]

This week in BL - I am all over the place, But Laws of Attraction is Phenomenal af

July 2023 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Thai Sat iQIYI) 1 of 8 - Icky picked it up but it’s not airing for me until Sundays so I held this post specifically to watch and talk about this show. Stars the pair from To Sir With Love with the same production team. IT’S SO GOOD Y’ALL. A morally corrupted trickster lawyer with a tragic past, sad eyes, and a beautiful smile that he uses like a weapon. Meets paladin martial arts instructor from other side of the tracks (who is out, at least to his baby sister). Corrupt police. Spoiled rich kid evil. Ambitious politician. Tragic death. Terrible subs.* This show is very like Manner of Death but so far it is a much better/tighter story. It’s NOT BL but it is fucking phenomenal. And you shoudl watch it. Not wait to binge it. WATCH IT. On a global scale this might be the best thing currently airing featuring gay romantic leads. Its really fucking good. It’s Lawless Lawyer but more complex character motivation and gay af. Fuck yes please and thank you. FINALLY. Triggers for violence, beatings, death & torture depicted on screen. Like MoD they are not holding back.  (* A lot of the familial names they are using are not gendered in Thai but translated as such, like “nephew”. This one is gonna go down a lot easier if you know some Thai.)

Step By Step (Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 12fin - 2 years pass and no one’s hairstyle changes? Srs. Them meeting again = hella AWKWARD. Both still pining & hurt. NO SINGING. The reconciliation scene was great. I enjoyed that on the “do over relationship” they went with phi/pom (instead of the super formal khuns). So cute and so much more relaxed. Also lots of neck kisses! Charming final ep. It’s only flaw being they dropped the side couple, but I wasn’t really into them anyway. Ultimately? This is what Boss & Babe should have been and could we please have Up lead out another BL? I miss him and he only gets prettier. Full review below.

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 12fin - I adore the tiny little baby GL thread that we almost got. And I wish we had had more of it throughout the show. The side couple turned out to be good too. Emotional crying kisses are my favorite. Sunshine netted himself an earnest serious romantic boy, we likey. As for the main couple? Well... Tai’s search story arc was dull and dragging in a final ep and it felt bloated and slow as a result. It was a good confession reunion with Tai figuring all of his shit out, not surprising but fine. Kind of a a weak final ep. Full review below. 

Hidden Agenda (Thai Sun GMMTV YouTube) ep 1 of 12 - JoonDunk are back and we have all seen this a million times before, but Thailand never executed a successful formula it didn’t want to repeat a million times over, drunk bathroom and everything. Welcome (back) to Thai BL (and back and back and back). Basically they just added glasses, a new 1-shared-brain-cell friendship group, and different uni departments. Ah GMMTV, forever trying to recreate the magic of 2gether. But also I’m enjoying it. I’m a simple person. (Hi Jamie! Still in college since 2018 I see.) Anyone else notice that Chinese phrase that they did not translate for us? Mmm hum. Cute. Still... NO SINGING. 

Low Frequency (Sat iQIYI) ep 2 of 8 - Thames is in coma and getting slagged off on the socials. It’s moving a bit slowly but the premise is interesting despite the poor quality of the execution. 

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 3 of 8 eps - Major trigger for self harm depicted on screen in part 2/4. I skipped it. Then there is assault and verbal abuse. I told you Ultimate Troop is NOT to be trusted. 

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 2 of 12 - Look, I don’t really mind this show but I also don’t like second hand embarrassment and I sense a metric butt ton incoming.

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 8 of 12 - I was not best pleased with this episode. Ya’ll round the tumblr-sphere seem to be enjoying it but I have officially hit the wall on Kawi. There is not enough booze for me to cope with his shizz. I may be alone in this. But gotta say how I feel... Unlike him. Trash watch here.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 8 - Poor Ren, he feels compelled to take on the burden of protecting everyone from sexual assault because he blames himself. And he can’t even talk to his boyfriend about it. Oh fuck me the pair of shoes at the door. And neck kisses? TOO MUCH. Argh. Japan. Why must you hurt so good? 

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) 3 of 10 eps - It’s a very cute show. All the tropes and archetypes with no fuss or attempts to be clever, just executing them (sometimes over and over again). Even hiccoughs as a result of flirting! I haven’t seen that one in ages. The show feels old fashioned as a result. Nostalgic. I’m good with that. 

Tie The Not (Pinoy YouTube) ep 6 of 8 - Sad boys still sad now drunk. (Noooooo shoes on bed! Argh.) Finally kisses! Also good ones for a large portion of this ep. Plus hair pulling. And verse rep! And after sex convo. Then side dishes have a whole proper gay ax covo about top/bottom. Everyone say thank you Philippines! get down with your queer selves! 

Stupid Genius (Vietnam Fri YouTube) ep 6fin - I believe this was the final episode. It was cute. This is a standard sort of semi-crappy VBL high school drama. Enjoyable in its floppy friendliness, weirdly like a queer after school special promoting education. Dead fish kisses but fine for what it is. 7/10 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) 2 of 12 eps - Activate cohabitation trope. They okay bfs. Minato not as frustrating this week, but still frustrating for me and Shin. Next week = cute outfits and dumb miscommunication yay!

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) ep 11 of 12 - again it didn’t show up on my dash in time for this. I’ll pop it into next week. 

It’s airing but ...

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end.

Stay (Pinoy YouTube) 7 eps - It’s mostly English & set in LA (shudder) so I’m not bothering.

Stay With Me ... NO I WILL NOT! And you can’t make me.

Ended This Week

Step By Step Series Review  

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted (and failed) to give said brother his own side BL. That one flaw made it a 9/10 for me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

La Pluie Series Review

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL. By activating + examining the soulmates trope this show is challenging a foundation of romance: the idea that there is one person meant to be your one romantic partner all your life. This means that we, as viewers, spend much of the show worried about it having a happy ending, and that’s the source of both its brilliance and tension: would the narrative have the strength to truly challenge its own romantic core? But, ultimately, all this elevated complexity was executed in a somewhat shaky manner with the narrative derailing into some serious pacing issues and characters manipulated by miscommunication. However, with good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn a 9/10. I enjoyed it even as it made me think, so despite its flaws: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting:  

7/19 Wedding Plan (Thai Wed YouTube & iQIYI)  - It's Mame and she's coming for our GL. She's such a misogynist IMAGINE what we will get with a GL side dish? It's going to be absolute carnage. To crane your neck as you drive by the car wreck or not? That is the question. Me? I'm wallowing in the guts. Trying to decide to trash watch or not... 

7/20 Jun & Jun (Korea Thu Viki) - From 2022 I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT! So excited for this one. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

FYI roselle juice is made from hibiscus (a flower) so technically neither a tea nor a juice. (Hidden Agenda)

Tie the Not = all the verse rep this ep. I love this for them. 

The giggling was SO DAMN CUTE (Step by Step, na?) 

We all guessed it but it was still fun. (Stupid Genius) Also miracles of miracles, two actors who actually look like they could be brothers play brothers. 

First time I’ve seen faen translated as significant other. (Laws of Attraction)

THE PAIN! (Tokyo) 

(Last week.)

[lesbianspeedy]

Sorry if this is a bad question or more likely just hopeless. I’ve been trying to find a good Connor Hawke comic to read (first found out about him in Damian’s Robin solo and he and Rose were the only two things I liked besides the Robin chase but I’m a bat brat) and I’ve only read the Silver Monkey story and as I’m not a fan of Oliver Green at all (my exposure to him has in no way been positive) and I HATE Dixon and I know he’s the main writer for Connor, but I had to drop the Tim solo because of his obvious, I guess bigotry would be the right word to use here, but he is one of the three writers I refuse to let myself read anymore to try and keep my blood pressure low. Are there any Connor stories or series that exist outside of those parameters to read because I’m having 0 luck. I’m also not sure if you’re a fan of Mia or Emilio or have any go-to stories for them, but I know nothing about them and I’d like to change that if at all possible.

i understand, i do i do. while i think dixon is capable of good character writing, and he did manage to do it in connor's run, i also understand his very very obvious politics shine through all the time and it gets tiresome (at one point in his ga run he manages to write OLIVER QUEEN "both sides"ing literal nazis that he and hal fought in GL/GA). here's the best i can do for recs outside of dixon (though few and far between)

Before i start, i do wanna clarify that his character in robin is. well. pretty different from his actual pre-established character. I'm not saying you won't like him, and im genuinely begging you to give him a shot, but if youre looking for the snarky brawler type, you might be a lil thrown by the polite buddhist monk you're gonna get.

you are in luck, as his first few appearances were by kelley puckett, so if you havent already read GA vol. 2 #0, do that first! #91 and #92 are also by puckett until dixon takes over for #93, so read those if you dont mind just stopping in the middle of an arc, otherwise avoid.

now this next rec IS 1/3 written by dixon but if you can get through it, the crossover connor has with wally and kyle is enjoyable, thats Green Lantern Vol. 3 #96, GA Vol. 2 #130, and The Flash Vol. 2 #135

Connor's JLA run! JLA Vol. 1 #8-#15, #8 and #9 are specifically about connor saving and joining the league, the rest of the issues just feature him in a team setting, as, well, its the league.

if you want to read mia as well, read Green Arrow: Quiver (GA Vol. 3 #1-#10), Connor plays an important role but its almost entirely in the very last issue, and it's more about Ollie's role dynamic with him than anything else, so just read that if it tickles your fancy.

I wish i could recommend more of GA Vol. 3 for connor, unfortunately he's pretty fucking sidelined, and for every good moment theres 2 bad ones. (immediately after quiver he is shot and put in a coma for an arc, somehow this isnt the last time this happens.) Though i do recommend #11, and i think #21 is a good issue to read for ollie and him, but it also includes a pretty huge retcon to Connor and Ollie's past

Other than those, he has One-shots in Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular: "One", DC Pride 2022: "Think Of Me", and DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration: "Hawke & Kong"

to answer your second question, my URL aint lesbianspeedy for nothin! Mia is what i breathe and bleed, my recs for her are here!

as for Emi, your best bets are Green Arrow Vol. 5 #18-#20, #22, #28-#34 for her origin (though read N52 green arrow at your own risk, even i havent properly read these), Green Arrow Vol. 6 #1-#7 (this may feel like a completely new character, i'm sorry, dc has a angsty characterisation problem, if you enjoy either of these characterisations, i'd recommend you keep reading said runs past my specific recs for more issues with her!) and Stargirl Spring Break Special + Stargirl: The Lost Children #1-#6

[empressofthelibrary]

Tell me about Jamie and Rachel

......Okay, I've been trying to keep my mouth shut about them because I'm worried I'll lose the motivation to write if I spill the beans, but... When I look at the pace I'm actually writing at, I might not get there until I literally retire. So... Here we go. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

Long story short, they're Bailey and Dick's daughters. I'm not sure how obvious that was, but I'd be shocked if nobody had put that together yet, honestly. And they might be from another dimension. They hatched from eggs that grew from a plant Bailey got as a wedding gift from the girls' fairy godmother.

...I'm gonna explain everything, but it's a helluva ride, so buckle up. Time travel is heavily involved, so be warned. It gets confusing.

The earliest seeds of this start not in Bailey's relationship with Dick, exactly, but with a cryptic warning from a random blonde girl with a very strong grip and intense orange eyes. She tells Bailey to "stay away from the peacock man" and... Vanishes back into the crowd.

Bailey brushes it off as a prank from some weird kid.

Fast forward a little bit, and Bailey gets called in to body-double for Princess Lydia of Valdania. The country is in political turmoil, Lyd is announcing a marriage of state, the risk of assassination attempts is high. There's a masquerade ball involved, because what's the point of fanfic if not self-indulgence, and Bailey encounters a man dressed as a peacock. She has completely forgotten the warning from the weird kid, but her "bodyguard" steps in before she can accept this wierdo's request for a dance. That becomes important later, I promise.

At some point, through some kind of Star Trek Bullshit, I'm sending Bailey into the 30th century. Someone else needs to be with her; it can't be Wally, for obvious reasons. She gets back with the help of Cary Wren, the GL of the time, but... Cary misses the target by about a decade. Bailey lands about ten-to-fifteen years ahead of when she left, practically in the lap of a twenty-something Lian. (Lian is growing up normal, fuck canon, this whole "Shoes" thing is stupid.) Bailey panics once she realizes she's not when she's supposed to be, and who she's looking at. She's familiar enough with the scifi genre to know that finding out your own future is bad. Lian is trying to do damage control, making sure Bailey learns as little as possible, while still getting her home. But she can't keep a perfect lid on things, and Bailey comes face to face with a very curious child -- One with red-gold curls framing her freckled face, a gaptoothed grin, and giant, almond-shaped eyes, blue as cornflowers.

Everyone freezes. Chris -- now also an adult -- scoops the child away as fast as he can. Bailey does not understand the tension in the room. She has a niece, clearly. That kid looked exactly like her nephew Aiden did at her age. Obviously Phoebe had another kid. Why a civilian child is here is a mystery, but she's trying really hard not to think about that.

The other person on the adventure with her points out the obvious. Bailey laughs it off -- It's pretty much physically impossible for her to have kids. And who would the dad even be? She'd be an awful mother besides. Nah, no way. That cycle ends here. (The thought had crossed her mind, but it scared the shit out of her, so she shoved it down deep.)

Fast forward a bit. Bailey freaks out and runs away from an actual relationship beginning with Dick, because change is hard and scary and good things never stay and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah commitment. I've talked about this a little.

To be more specific, she runs away to space with Kyle. While in space with Kyle, the party runs afoul of a Black Mercy. Bailey gets sucked into a dream. She's married to Dick, and has been for fourteen years. They're both going gray, getting old. Together. They have a little yellow house with a porch swing and a picket fence. There's a shelter cat, a cranky old-as-hell ginger tabby with one good eye. The sidewalk is covered in chalk drawings.

And they have two fantastic, adorable, smartmouthed daughters. Jamie's older, eleven, and already almost as tall as her father. Rachel is six, and steals the chocolate chips from the pancakes Dick makes on Sundays. They're both bright, compassionate, opinionated girls, so full of light and life and joy. Jamie has Bailey's righteous anger and outspoken nature. Rachel has Dick's quick mind and mischievous tendencies. Bailey loves them, loves this life, so much. It's everything she's ever wanted. Everything she didn't realize she wanted. Everything she was afraid to let herself want.

But she does. She wants it so, so much.

And then Zyzzanyx, the imp she'd... encountered... previously (that's another post) pops in. Explains that she's gonna die if she doesn't make herself wake up -- that Kyle and Laney and the others are gonna get hurt if she doesn't help them. And Bailey has to let it all go.

(The Man Who Has Everything did not do enough exploration of the long-term psychological ramifications of this concept to suit me, okay?)

Bailey is deeply shaken by this dream. She starts to realize that she does want to be a parent, but the idea of stability and putting down roots still scares the hell out of her. It takes someone else pointing out that she's already basically adopted Lanos, the amnesiac navcom AI who is from another Earth, for her to really start to come around to the idea.

...This is what leads to her freakout that has her knocking on Ollie's door at four in the morning, unleashing a wall of text, and recounting the whole tale so far over several bowls of chili.

Unfortunately, Laney leaves. Bailey doesn't really have a stable place to share with a teenager, and... Lanos has a big sister to get to know, and a whole new universe to explore. They stay in contact, but it's a bit like sending your kid off to boarding school.

Shortly after that, she leaves for Los Angeles. She doesn't really have anywhere to stay, having lost her apartment while in space, and she's been couch surfing. Bette offers her a proper room in her penthouse apartment in LA, and a chance to rebuild the Titans West. Bailey takes her up on it. Staying in the Gotham/Metropolis/NYC area was too close to Bludhaven and Dick anyway; the further away she could get from him, the better.

From there, the next big chapter we get in this saga is what I refer to as the Little Mercies Arc. And this one I need to do a lot of research before I write, I know. But essentially, someone is making designer drugs derived from a Black Mercy they got ahold of and embiggified to a truly dangerous degree. You know those century-old rhododendron bushes that are the size of a small car? It's like that. But Bailey and Jason take this person down, and burn the stash.

...Or. Most of the stash, anyway. Bailey picks up a single sleeve of the Little Mercies. She tells herself it's for research. Study. Finding out how it was made. But it's not. She knows it's not.

She misses her daughters. She misses the life she could have lived, if she hadn't fucked things up with Dick. She's only human, after all.

You can see where that's going.

Bailey stabilizes, gets some help, starts getting better. She gets more involved with the local community, doing volunteer work and stuff; that was Ollie's idea, and it's a good one. She forms connections with people, even starting a new relationship with an old acquaintance, Jonah Pavoni -- a nurse, formerly from Central, who helped her decide to take up being a superhero.

...Cut ahead about... Twentyish years or so. Metropolis. Four teenagers in spandex are in hot pursuit of a man in a peacock-themed outfit. They are:

A speedster in green -- Kickstart, also known as Trenton Swift; currently the second-youngest ward of the West-Allen clan, until his parents can be found.

An acrobat in blue-and-black -- Madcap, Blythe Phillips; daughter of forcibly-retired minor-league supervillains Punch and Jewlee, seeking to redeem her family name through vigilantism.

A blonde Kryptonian girl with orange eyes -- Liora of Kandor, once Liora Tyr-Van; an escapee of the bottled city, hoping to find a way to unshrink her people before their resources run out. I'm leaning towards Spitfire for a name.

And at the front of this quartet, a young archer, black-haired, blue-eyed, and both enraged and terrified. Rachel Marion Grayson-Adler, Fledgling, third-generation superhero. She's eager to prove herself, and desperate to stop the man ahead of them.

He's headed for the Jules Verne Museum, after the time-bubble Clark donated, the one he used to visit the 30th Century growing up. If he gets ahold of it, if he jumps back to when he wants... It could literally wipe her family out of existence.

Unfortunately, they don't make it. The guy gets away with the time-bubble. So what do a bunch of 15-17yos do to solve this problem?

Steal the other time-bubble from the Flash Museum, obviously.

They leap into the timestream after him, but none of them know how to pilot the dang thing. Ray and Liora are trying to shoot the other bubble down. Blythe is hitting random buttons because one of these things has to help, right? Trent is just trying to steer while the three girls move around the tiny, cramped ship.

...Both bubbles crash. All five time-travellers are now scattered along the timeline. And this is where it gets confusing, so stay with me.

Blythe lands on a random rooftop in Gotham, just before the whole thing with the dragon-wizard from another dimension. That is also its own post. But that happens after Bailey gets back from space but before Laney heads out.

Liora tumbles into the middle of Bailey's team-up with Kara, Bette, and Shayera. She helps, but she also has to gtfo because the giant robot dinosaur they're fighting is kryptonite-powered.

Trent... Actually snaps back to the time they left, and goes for help in the form of the Team's Designated Older Siblings, Jamie and Wade.

Rachel crashes into the middle of the West-Park dining table, appearing out of thin air, at roughly the same time Bailey is getting her head back on straight.

And the other guy, the one they were chasing? His bubble lands in the wrong time, but not too far off the mark. He's outside a small volunteer clinic in Keystone City. It doesn't take much use of his touch-telepathy to steal the knowledge, training, and clothes of an unlucky nurse, a witness to the crash, and he slides in seamlessly. He's now Jonah Pavoni, RN.

Jonah's plan all along was to steal the time-bubble and go back to before the love of his life -- the woman who saved him, the brilliant, shining angel, the ethereal wonder he's loved since childhood -- before she married some asshole who didn't deserve her. When he crashed in the wrong place and time, he didn't know if he'd ever find her again. But three days later, the Pied Piper drags her in. She's injured, but the wounds are more mental than physical. Of course -- his goddess couldn't be brought down so easily. She just needs... A little encouragement. A nudge or two. He can help with that.

It's like fate brought him exactly when and where he needed to be, placed him in an even better position to convince Bailey of his devotion. Now nothing could keep them apart -- not the misalignment of their ages, not distance, not that stupid neglectful jackass. No, now he could be here for Bailey, from the very beginning, building her up, adoring her, showing her the worship she deserves. Finally, he could be hers, and she could be his. As it was always meant to be.

...Man's a little bit not right in the head.

Blythe and Liora are trying to find their friends, and worrying about Jonah later. Liora crosses paths with Bailey once, and in the interest of still having her best friend to find, tries to warn Bailey to be careful. It doesn't work that well.

Rachel, however, needs to find Jonah right now immediately. While also keeping her identity secret from her extended family and avoiding the hell out of anyone who might recognize her, so she doesn't Marty McFly herself out of existence. She's a walking ball of anxiety, my poor lanky dorito girl.

Wally would like to help, but she keeps saying she isn't allowed to talk to him about it and there are time-travel rules and he has no fucking clue who this sassy lost child is but she called him Uncle Wally so clearly she's family of some kind. But his family is really damn big, and he doesn't know who he's supposed to help her avoid. She's an archer with super strength, she might be Roy and Donna's kid? Somehow? But she also used the phrase "Uncle Clark," and her eyes are really blue, and she has that dorky little forehead curl -- Kon has weird time-travelling clone daughters, right? And... He and Bart are close...?

While all that is going on, Trent, Jamie, and Wade arrive in the present day. They're in Gotham. It's a full moon. On Friday night. Naturally, things are going sideways all over the city. The addition of two speedsters and an acrobat are easy enough to hide. ... For a bit. Eventually they get spotted by the local nosy busybodies. Wade is completely unfazed by the arrival of the bat, Trent is mildly shocked to see Mr. Wayne still in the suit, and Jamie is dying because that's her grandpa how could this go any wronger.

More bats show up, that's how. Including Dick.

They eventually nab Blythe -- who has been having fun stopping criminals, harassing the local vigilantes, and bonding with Steph in the few months she's been stranded -- and as they're trying to leave, Dick puts it all together. He has a daughter. From a future that, after Bailey literally left the planet to avoid putting a name on whatever was happening between them, seems unreachable.

Things get emotional, obviously, and moreso when they part. Jamie can't stick around, she has to find the others. No, Dick can't help, he's already figured out too much and putting the fabric of spacetime at risk. Or something.

Dick, reluctantly, lets them leave to go find Liora. I'm not totally sure where she's been during all this, but I'm batting a few ideas around. They grab her and set to finding Rachel.

While all this is happening, Jonah reveals the full truth to Bailey. He's the kid she saved in her latest adventure. He's been in love with her for two decades, since that fateful moment. He's crossed time and space and warped the laws of reality just to be with her. He'd planned to just come back to this point, but what he'd gotten -- this chance to get to know her, to watch her become the hero he always admired -- it was more than he ever could have dreamed.

And now, now they could be together. He's finally repaired the time bubble. They can sweep away to the time he left, have a life together. He's waited for her for so long, can't she see how much he adores her? Won't she be his?

...Bailey, on her end, has had a series of bombs dropped on her. By a guy she's not even sure she can call her boyfriend yet. Ending in what sure as hell sounds like a proposal? And he... Might be a kid?? She says no, like any sane person would, with a few expletives thrown in.

Jonah does not like this answer. He didn't want it to go like this, but... He reaches for Bailey. If she won't love him willingly, he'll just make it happen.

THWIP!

Suddenly there's an arrow sticking through Jonah's palm.

"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HER," Rachel screams, barely clinging to her vantage point.

A fight naturally ensues. I don't have it choreographed well, but we wind up with all three parties -- Bailey and Jonah; Rachel and Wally; Jamie, Wade, Trent, Liora, and Blythe -- all in the same space. During the chaos, Rachel falls from some great height, while injured. Bailey dives after her.

It's too great a fall for her to survive, if she can't recover. And with her wounded -- maybe Jonah has, like, feather-shaped daggers and he stuck one in her side? -- she can't do much. Bailey is trying, but she can't quite reach --

-- and then two feathered wings, shining a brilliant gold, like flame and sunrise, unfurl from Rachel's back.

Ray scrambles to pull up, flapping awkwardly, moving on instinct alone. She pulls up, rising into the air, crowing and laughing and on one hell of an adrenaline high. Bailey helps her get back to the others. Ray gets patched up. There's celebration and relief and joy. Someone makes a "Literal Flying Grayson" joke. Wally still wants an explanation, please and thank you?

Once all that gets shook out, Bailey turns to Jonah. He tried to kill her daughter. He is a threat to her girls, and he won't stop until he's stopped permanently. Clearly, there's only one thing to do.

Wally steps in, trying to plead for mercy. Bailey laughs, and agrees. She'll show him mercy, alright.

...Remember that giant mega Black Mercy? It went into the care of one Dr. Pamela Isley, retired since her wedding to Harley, and considered mostly rehabilitated. Her indoor garden has a real nice skylight.

So yeah. Bailey can show him a little mercy, alright.

There's a whole lotta crying as the time-travellers make their goodbyes. Bailey tries to put on a brave face, because you gotta for your kids, but she doubts she'll ever see their future. But she's so, so proud of them, and she loves them so much.

Fast-forward a bit again. Throughout Bailey and Dick patching things up and figuring out a relationship for real, there's a whole lot of dramatic tension as they both try to keep their mouths shut about the possible future they've both seen, but don't know the other one knows about. Bailey is scared to death that Dick would be with her for that future -- only a possibility she doesn't even know how to reach -- and not for anything inherent to her, and Dick doesn't want to put any pressure on Bailey and make her run away again. It's a whole thing! But they do work it out, and... Well, wedding bells do ring.

And Bailey gets a very unusual wedding gift from Zyzzanyx, her old ally. A small chest, containing what sure looks like two tulip bulbs. Zazz explains that these'll grow into the girls, so... She and Dick can plant 'em when they're ready. It's old magic, and it'll take a drop of blood from each parent, but, well. She's fond of the little rugrats too, she guesses. And watching Bailey be miserable about not having them is, y'know, depressing or whatever.

Bailey thanks Zazz for this, and releases the imp from her life-debt. (Like I said, that's it's own post; this is already a mile long.)

The girls eventually happen. Jamie is roughly of an age with Wade, less than a year younger. Ray is born about five years after that, I think. They grow up safe and happy and loved, with a phenomenally huge number of aunts and uncles and grandparents.

There are many arguments and discussions regarding youthful vigilantism and sidekickery, but once again, Bailey cannot stop the future. It's allowed, but under very strict conditions regarding school and social lives. Jamie begins training at age fifteen, taking on the name Dawnbird, and patrolling with her dad.

Rachel learns archery from Aunt Cissie, and then from Uncle Roy and Grandpa Ollie, when she won't be deterred from masking up once she turns fifteen. She uses Fledgeling as her moniker, one of her mother's nicknames for her, as something of an olive branch. Bailey relents and lets Ray be her partner.

I could go on, but I think this post is long enough as is. Most of the rest of what I have is bits and pieces and fun facts anyway. If there's anything anyone's curious about or wants me to elaborate on -- or if you need a diagram, 'cause I got a little Charlie Day here -- my askbox is open!

[ayuki-ikuya]

I’ve read your ennead fanfic and i’m already in love with your writing😭 pls i need more ennead content 🫀❤️‍🔥

Tbh, I wasn't sure on how people would like Ennead Fanfic content since it's originally a BL, and people (specially in genshib fandom) that finds anything canon or close to being canon, will get offended by people making Fanfic that isn't GL or BL like the canon and will attack them for it.

While understandable, it is a FANFIC for a reason. A Fanfic is a person own interpretation which could be also seen as a timeline. By changing events to something else, it branches from the original to create something entirely different from what it was intended, which doesn't harm the canon version as it's all FICTIONAL.

If a person feels like their ship isn't getting represented, make the content yourself rather than bashing the people for it.

BTW, this is regarding about Yae Miko x Ayato and Yae Miko x Ei. I'm not a shipper myself because genshin is a fairly messy fandom regardless. Majority of the fights going on are literally going straight into "He said she said" fights. Lesbian Coded, that's fine, but unless explicitly said by the company themselves, it is merely there. And Proshipping (if you don't know is where an adult watches over a child until they are a legalized adult and enters a romantic relationship) is a common trope that is used in some fictions. If you don't like the content, don't attack or harass them about it. It's all fiction, they're simply characters that you don't know personally and they don't know you. Joke or not.

Anyways, sorry for my ranting, I'm just tired of all the shit going on in Genshin fandom about their ships.

Anyways, onto the ENNEAD content Anon has requested!

I'm gonna be fairly honest tho, I didn't know what fiction to write for ENNEAD, so I just wanted to establish who Apep/Apophis!Reader is.

Before I get straight into about Reader's character, I'm going to say that I combined Apophis/Apep with Nehebkau.

Nehebkau is a snake god who is considered a funeral god connected with the afterlife before they ended up considered an evil spirit. This god fitted nicely with the theme I had going on, which was Apep/Apophis originally being Nehebkau before ending up corrupted.

I'm just going to spit it out here, and I apologise, but you're name is going to be considered your sacred name, Nehebkau is your human name, Apep is your god name and Apophis is your fallen god name

Originally, you were named Nehebkau when you were human, but God had decided to bless you, and upon you reaching god hood thanks to Seth's curse and Ra, he renamed you Apep/Apophis.

Originally you had shoulder length hair that was the color of the sea. Although it was unfornately dirty since you were in poverty due to Seth. Now as a god, you're hair grew to the floor, and thankfully, you had managed to braid it to where it reached to the back of your knees. It maintains it's blue color, however, there is golden highlights amongst the blue.

Ra had blessed you with golden eyes to withstand the sun and see everything within the past in an individual along with being able to predict the future. This became difficult for you when you became god, and ended up wearing a veil to cover your face to obscure seeing the person directly despite the see through cloth. (The veil was actually made from the Ra's hair who found this amusing) You also have small faded blue scales around your body (underneath the eyes, your shoulders, sides)

Your headdress is much like the others except a cobra snake's head covering over your head with a veil hanging from it's fangs and sides.

As the story progresses, nearing about towards the end, you had accumulated a lot of chaotic energy to the point of no return. Thus, putting you in agony for days on end as you began to change, your hair had turned into a golden color, and the small blue scales are now fairly large and golden. You're eyes which used to be pure gold are now twinged with an amber red, resembling the sun. You had forgo the headdress and braid, your hair is moving and coiling even without the wind.

Even though you're a fallen god filled to the brim with Chaotic energy, you maintain rationality which is shocking as most who ended up becoming a fallen god, go insane and attack others. You? No. You are as calm and calculating as always.

Except, your aim is to attack Ra and fulfill your true duty as the true oppressor in order for Seth to become the hero. (And thus leading to where Seth protects the sun boat by fending off the snake)

And now onto you as a character.

In the beginning, you're shown to be a bit of an outcast, as there aren't a lot of snake gods, and snakes are often the sign of a bad omen. You're childhood friends with Horus, which is how you ended up meeting Seth when you were young.

When you met Seth again, you were merely watching from the sidelines, occasionally appearing alongside Horus or Isis depending on what fortunes you've have seen. So unfornately, Seth didn't have a very strong opinion in the beginning until during the trial as you were also an unknown god who isn't born a god.

both you and Horus undertook the trials together as one, occasionally splitting apart to do the trial in fairness. The trial you did was the water breathing trial. Which is fairly easy for you since you're pretty much a snake.

Unfornately, this lead to a draw as you both injured each other pretty well since your own ability is able to control snakes and able to shift into a snake. However, instead of a normal sized snake, you turn into a giant golden snake that reached across the entire Nile river, putting Seth under pressure as you were too large for him to take on, but because you haven't angered him nor cheated, he was particularly peachy, but okay with the draw if it was you.

The boat race turned to be the same since it's Horus.

During THAT night, you were in serious pain due to the chaotic energy you kept to yourself, and Horus offered you to sleep with him like you two did often when you were younger, which you agreed to since it would provide some comfort even though you're still in pain. (If you're a woman, think of having a cramp, but 10× worse. For men, think of a pounding headache but 20× worse.)

Horus became overly alert before you did as you were too focused in on the pain to notice anything. But when the covers were pulled off you, you had squinted to see who had lifted the blanket to see Seth there, staring at you.

But you turned away and ignored him with gritted teeth while you continued suffering until you were pulled on top of Horus and then yeah. NSFW content from there until Seth became fearful due to Horus being like his father and had unfortunately swept you along with him since he was still in you. And then so on forth with NSFW content.

I'm not gonna delve into all of it, but if you guys are heavily interested in this idea, I can start up a book on Wattpad!

[canonically-a-genloser]

Please tell me more about the gl symbiote au. I'm frothing at the mouths like sneeg just gave me rabies

LMAO ok so i don't have a whole ton yet? but Sneeg and Charlie are very Very heavily influenced by handplates except Charlie got the really short end of the stick

so the whole thing of Charlie being Showfall's favorite is still a thing and to his five year old brain, they treat him decently, so there's gotta be some good in Showfall.

Sneeg doesn't believe it in the slightest. especially once Charlie nearly died the first time and started hoping more that Showfall would care about them than actually escaping the way he used to talk to Sneeg about before.

To make a long story short, Sneeg finds his symbiote (that was Not really finished with the developing/testing yet) and ends up bonding with it. He decides not to tell Charlie about it until he figures out what it does, but Charlie ends up finding out anyway when Sneeg picks up something way heavier than a normal seven year old would be able to pick up.

So basically then Sneeg takes Charlie back to the lab thing that night and they find Charlie's which doesn't give him the same abilities Sneeg's gave him, but he could see without his glasses. That ends up being both a blessing and a curse, since now wearing his glasses makes his vision blurry which gets them found out once Showfall finds out the symbiotes aren't in the lab (hitting him with the spiderman beam)

so yeah going off that thinking about the employees has been pretty cool as well, I'm not entirely sure what Randy's and Henrik's would do for example though i am Spinning them in my brain. Paislie's (and this is way way down the line) is somewhat able to keep the effects of getting resurrected from having diminishing returns on their lungs

i'm liking this a Lot so far even though parts of it are probably gonna get changed down the road since i've only spent like three days total thinking about it LMAO

[someones-thing-is-here]

Honestly i need something to give my self a break from the fic I am working on so I'm gonna say something that might be controversial and then try to justify it.

I think that the Parallax retcon is a great retcon. Specifically because I think it improves future stories far more than it detracts from past ones.

Now I feel like I will have to give some context to this belief, I read GL Vol3 knowing that Emerald Twilight was going to happen and while I did see what could in retrospect be good build up (such as the league being terrible co-workers), it felt even more like character assassination to me for one reason the issue right before it now I know of the editorial mandates I know that Emerald Twilight was a last minute thing so of course things wouldn't mesh well but it helped solidify my belief that Emerald Twilight alone wasn't what made Pre-retcon Parallax good change or even interesting but all the work done later.

Now for the good thing about it - It gave use Kyle Rayner who is firmly one of the best set ups for future characters in any store to me but even then I only like Kyle in the more related Green Lantern stories and think he was either wasted or annoying in most of the other stories from that time.

But in the end Kyle has always been a character for me that has always had soring highs and crushing lows that also carry over to read about him though despite any issues I have with Emerald Twilight I wouldn't change it only because of Kyle as he is one of my favourite legacy characters and he is well worth what happened to get him.

Now I will also mention Zero Hour and Final Night to personal favourites of mine and also where I see the idea that the retcon cheapens them which I don't believe.

As for why I think it isn't liked much the stories of Hal as The Spectre now I like Hal as The Spectre but at the same time I'm also frustrated by it because stories like Soul War are really good, but the series I mostly hate, look I understand that Spectre is a really religious character but it was to much and took to much away from any agency for me, and made me feel to much like I was reading two books stitched together so in the end despite losing Helen I think it was for the best to bring Hal back to life.

Now enough explaining my issue of pre-retcon now let's get into why I think the retcon is both good and works.

Hal wasn't made completely blameless by it.

It gave us more lore more aspects of universe to considered

It made the Guardians look even worse (Which is always fun to watch)

Finally Parallax is an interesting type of character (Not including the whole exist to explain away things part of it)

Point one while to a reader the retcon does exist to remove blame from Hal, in universe he isn't trusted right away and most (expect for Guy) do not trust him either at all or very much and also Hal doesn't care I was still him who did it demonic possession or not, and I admit I view most of Hal's behaviour after Green Lantern Rebirth as him obviously putting on an act and feeling like he can't stop and has to keep going to keep trying to redeem himself bit by bit even after Spectre.

Now points two and three go together telling use more about the Guardians mistakes and arrogance, which I have always felt was a big part of them and having something like Parallax just gives another face to it which is always at least interesting if not satisfying to see them be knocked down a few pegs.

Now point four this is entirely self indulgent, as if the rest of this isn't already, but I just really like Parallax I think he's fun to read, has a cool design and all around a really good and a really effective eldritch horror that is still fightable and how he acts towards Hal is what made him fascinating to me a possessive, obsessive in a way that I have always felt is a nice addition to Hal in have he is always unable to keep a relationship and then you have Parallax who wants everything about him and wants to keep him referring to him as his precious and as his, as it has just felt like the thing Hal probably wants more than anything else, someone who wants him for him who doesn't want parts or get mad when he can't live up to the expectations and it is through Parallax an obviously evil and controlling person. This dynamic has always fascinated me.

Now I did use to have criticisms with this retcon as Hal was never scared only angry so why was he possessed by fear? But then I read it again and that Kyle is one to say that. So it hit me as someone who does feel fear and someone whose life has it, this isn't really what happened but how Kyle thinks should be what happened with your home gone and things getting to be too much.

And now the bit that is far more headcannon-ny because there is no true explanation no even a whole he liked the control/chaos that happened and that is the reason that Parallax didn't reveal himself until far later was because he was happy just staying with Hal, like the Guardians were mostly dead and even then he does deal with Ganthet later so any real threat was gone and considering how Parallax speaks to Hal it has always felt to me that Parallax either believes or knows that he and Hal were meant to be together hence why he didn't reveal himself until their merged self was threatened by Spectre because there was some (probably sexual considering the hole gas lighting + wanting his body and soul) happiness that he didn't have before thus having no issue letting Hal do what he thinks was right because he was satisfied just having him.

Ultimately while pre-retcon Parallax is good and does have some very well done emotional moments I much prefer the retcon with one exception convergence Parallax outside of the tie in the possession stuff didn't add anything, I liked there being one version of Hal that just lost it but for the main universe the retcon is just more of everything for me.

Hey if you took time out of your day to read this thanks I know how frustrating it can be to read someone's not super thought out rant so once again thanks.

If you agree with this cool and if you don't also cool it's one of the best things about comics being able to find the characterisation or character that you like and hey if you want to disagree with me cool, I'd love to here why and what you favourite version of Parallax is.

[ultfreakme]

Can I ask for advice? I read your answers to ask, and it seems about random thing too (not just fandom characters)....So, I just got into JJK this year, and my friend is estatic (they were a fan for almost 3 years). They ship yuuta/maki, choso/yuki and gojo/utahime (I think the first 2 ships are cute and I don't mind either ships, too). But when I told them that I ship gojo/getou, they become defensive and told me, "but they're only bffs and it's only platonic relationships and bromance. It's not BL you know..." and I was iritated like, it's okay to ship what we like right? Do you think I should hide my love for this ship from my friend and preted only like het ships, too?

P.s Love your analysis on JJK (especially satosugu and itajun). Now I get more of the story, because of your blog. Thanks to you I also ship ItaJun 😄.

Also your answer to that anon (who loves BL /GL more than het romance), I kinda get their feeling. I'm so grateful to found your blog... Hope you have a wonderful day...

Absolutely not don't hide your love for satosugu! A ship doesn't have to be from the BL section to be mlm. Someone sent me an ask talking about how Blue Flag's end couple is two boys and it was published as a shonen manga.

I'm gonna be a bit of a bitch....and say well Gojo/utahime, Choso/Yuki, Yuuta/Maki can't be shipped because JJK is shonen, it's not romance or shojo. Also they're all bros and friends too! None of those couples said I love you, none of them kissed or really hung out all that much and none of these are canon(although tbh I would argue that based on subtext and a billion comments from anime production and creative staff it practically is) so......

Okay bitch moment over.

You're nice to your friend and their ships despite being ambivalent about one, they have to show the same courtesy to you. They don't have to start shipping it too but like it's just good friend behavior to be accepting. If it's a point of tension, it's best not to argue over it, or try to convince the other person of something. If your friend can't hear you out and dismisses you entirely, THEY are in the wrong, never you.

Also, I've often hid my own interests and loves in the past because my friends were super judgemental(like, "oh ew how could you like anime?" or "oh gross that's two boys/girls that doesn't work"). None of them stuck around me long and I wasn't happy being friends with them. I was miserable pretending to be something I'm not, even if it was something as silly as my interests.

Nowadays though, I do have friends who don't get shipping but they're respectful about it. End lesson; Don't ever change yourself, how you express yourself or your interests for another person. You are totally valid for liking the things you do and if others can't accept that, that's their problem. If they can't let this go or keep telling you to not talk about it or try to change your mind....well I hate to be extreme and this is worst case scenario, but, ditch em, there's better people out there who'd take you as you are.

Thank you so much!!! I love doing metas and analysis like it makes the experience so much richer and there's new depths to enjoy~~ glad you enjoy it!! This is super sweet <3<3 (\^_^/)

The BL/GL thing is so relatable and I think more recently, a pretty common experience for people in the anime/manga fandoms. I used to feel super alone with it but hopefully because of social media we can all feel a lot better in knowing we're not alone. When it comes to fiction, just do what's fun and makes you happy.

Have a nice day too anon!!!

[tessavillaverde]

VTuber Re-Starter Kit (2023)

Who knows wtf Twitter is gonna look like by the end of the year? Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, Tumblr, and all the other cesspits? I’ve got it all covered! Social media is changing and we must change with it. I’m so tired god please weh

Twitter is in free fall. Panic ensues. Valid. Many of us need that hellsite. Badly. It’s imperfect trash, but its *our* trash, understand? Fuck these “alternatives”. They are all noise right now. Cohost doesn’t allow commercial activity in its TOS, Mastodon has low engagement right now. Twitter Blue is here to stay. As VTubers, we all benefit from having it, actually. For $8/mo, you will be prioritized and boosted with mentions and replies. This means that threads and replies to you bump you up on the TL. Even if you pay for it, Lists and Twitter Circles are still a good idea. Heck, rotate people out of Twitter Circles to make sure you’re able to talk to more people. Continue to use Twitter to network by providing value to others and help others in their journey. Be chill and don’t use people for clout--it’s disingenuous. Treat people like people.

I can’t guarantee that things will be the same here on Twitter and neither can anyone else. The current data sets I see from clients and others may show that not much is changing, but this site is changing every day. We need to play it day by day and not worry too much about it.

Twitter has shops, utilize tf out of the business features. Given how much of a mess the site is with its daily tweaks and the loss of valuable engineers at Twitter, things could be topsy-turvy. Who knows? Be active!

This being said, you shouldn’t rely on Twitter alone. It’s not good for your business nor is it good for growing your brand recognition. So I’ll list where to go and the use cases. Don’t use this list to go to literally every place. There’s just not enough time in a day to maintain it all.

Instagram

Don’t make Insta your mainstay. Please, for the love of God don’t. Everything wrong with FB is still wrong with Insta with the added bonus of it being Diet Tik Tok. That being said, it still is a good networking tool and can help your sales with its shop features (for businesses/brands/media that don’t want to use Twitter). So what to do with Insta? Repost your Tik Toks and hit it n quit it. Post your schedule (3:2 format, crop down with 1:1 squares and schedule out posts to upload your schedule). Update your stories with important things (they’re pinned tweets basically). Have a link in your profile and reply to people when you can. Use relevant hashtags and hashtags that aren’t super saturated. GL;HF

Tik Tok

Hit it n Quit it

Post in prime times

Turn brain off

Be unhinged with your originals

Remix and hf with trends

Repost best shorts elsewhere

Tumblr

It’s 2012 again and we have no character limits and post gif memes

Relax, hf, life moves slower with an older audience

Not a Twitter replacement

SEO can be a benefit (technical jargon I’ll save you from), but you must remain authentic. What works on Twitter doesn’t fly on Tumblr. You will not get traction from doing what you do here.

Pay attention to etiquette. You can have assholes, but many are willing to joke as if nothing had happened. Be consistent by liking and reblogging things. Turn off your brain and follow blogs and tags that are up your alley and QUEUE up things to keep posting throughout the day. Tumblr humor is ironic, but not irony-poisoned. It’s punny and quirky and you must kill the chains that bind your inner cringe. Truly be yourself, share your personal thoughts more (it's a blogging site ffs), share your fandom of things, and things’ll be okay.

Also important on the ettiquite as a first tip: dont act like you do on Twitter. Its a different audience and the normal ways of crossposting wont work here. This is not Twitter. Tumblr is a blogging site where blogs share each other and it is fandom-heavy (meaning sharing who your favorite oshii is for example and hyping up others). It comes naturally. Be yourself and focus on building up a presence on your blog to give people a good idea of who tf you are. Nobody is really a celebrity here and you can't act like you are here. USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGSUSE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGSUSE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGSUSE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGSUSE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGSUSE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGSUSE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGSUSE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGSUSE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TAGS USE TA--

YouTube

I made another mega thread for this, read it later. YouTube should be one of your mainstays as a VTUBER. It’s more work, yes, but they also have Community Posting for everyone now. Scaling up your brand and having better brand recognition is crucial here. As you post more videos, ALWAYS improve your pacing, thumbnails, and titles.

Twitch

We know it. We love it. Consistency is key. Start with Rule of 3s: 3 days/week, 3 hours/day, 3 social media outlets. This is a general rule for a reason, but it's a good minimum to start with because I’ve seen too many clients in deep need. If you need to start half an hour later to catch your regular audience, then do so. Starting out, you need consistent numbers, engagement, and retention. I’ll explain later, but you want to do what you can to increase production value and give more interactables for chat to use.

Advice for partners, you need to continue to carry the momentum to scale. By this point, you likely know what it is you need to do, but perhaps there’s a discrepancy with engagement or retention, or god knows what that holds your audience back. Collabs help, but not as much as you’d like. This comes with raids being a nice networking tool funnily enough. Raid people with similar content and vibe as you to continue to network with people. Switching audiences and using adjacent categories to find that audience may be what you need.

This is all hard to determine for partners so plainly on social media without analyzing data, audience, content, branding/design, and personality. There’s a lot that goes into your churn (how many folks you lose in your audience on average). Fixing that can either require optimization and turning your personality up to 11 more consistently and differently, but also can mean taking a leap into faith with a “big risk, big reward mentality”. One thing I know works would be the optimization tweaks here and there by looking at data (or not looking at all and just gathering feedback from your audience and friends and staying objective and factual), and diversification on different platforms so more can know who you are.

Try tools like Streambee to simplify the VOD review process Streamloots to increase engagement and have better monetization TITS, VRChat, and curation to invite viewers with “planned exclusivity” rather than total exclusivity (how you do this is up to you).

Discord Not really a social media site

Great for talking and engaging your community and breeding loyalty. VTubers need fewer “groups”, fewer individual servers, and more community servers where you can pool your resources and hype each other up. Effectively make use of what Stream Teams are good for and raise each other up.

Monetization

Use Kofi for tips, a shop, comms

Use Gumroad for another shop that has more discoverability

Use Patreon for memberships to slowly phase out Twitch subs. Be creative and have fun with Patreon rewards

Use Streamloots and have fun with it

There’s more I want to discuss, but for now, you can follow me on Twitter and here on Tumblr for this data-backed advice, the nitty gritty nerdy jargon for social media with data and whatnot, and my personal thoughts with my positive experiences managing and consulting folks.

If you yourself are terrified still even with all of this, I have restructured my business with Build-Your-Own Bundle type of consultations and management. Services are 50% off. 69% off after your first purchase (nice)

[space-specs]

for the fanfic ask meme- 🎃 👀 🧠 (guy gardner bc i want you to talk about my blorbo)

🎃 Do you write fics for certain holidays? Which is your favorite holiday inspired fic?

I have yet to write any fics for any holidays (unless you count Pride Month, in which case, gonna promo my criticism of Devin Grayson's Jon Kent Pride story here). I may write a Christmas fic if I can ever get the time in the holiday season because it's fun. I also have a soft spot for Jewish batfam content, but I would need to do quite a bit of research before I wrote a fic for any Jewish holiday.

On that note, I'll rec some other people's holiday fics, lol.

Latkes and Other Fried Foods by metukah — a collection of very sweet and fun Hanukkah stories featuring the Bats!

Cherish The Present by Listentothelittlebird — part of a larger AU (Code Bat) that I love very dearly and will not shut up about. Fluffy Christmas content!

Holiday Trappings by Cloaked Sparrow — also part of a larger AU that I actually need to read the rest of. I stumbled upon this one and really enjoyed it. Jason is loves his family and fjdklfgjfkjfh also....gift-giving as a love language is my shit.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

teehee, this one is fun because I have like 5 open wips + nearly 20 just snippets sitting around.

I'm behind on the Year of the OTP stuff, so I actually have two timberkon fics going at the same time (and I'm hoping I can finish one of them before the end of the month at least). March is a cryptid-hunting road trip fic and April is Kon being oblivious af and not realizing he's been dating Tim and Bernard for weeks because I think that trope is fun.

There's also my big Jason wip that I've been working on for over a year (this was supposed to be a quick thing and it got WAY out of hand). I have a lot of feelings about it, but the basic premise is Jason gets to Gotham and starts his whole plan, but the Bats kinda realize that while he IS killing people, he's definitely more vigilante than criminal and their goals kinda align. So they decided to just work with him rather than against him (because Bruce has an established history of working with characters with different modalities on killing, both in and out of Gotham). And then Jason goes "well, now what?" and just....fails to tell them that "hey, btw, I'm the dead Robin" for like a year while he bonds with them and also gets to see how his death changed things up close and personal. (I'm not kidding, I'm keeping a timeline for this for my own personal reference and we're up to 70% of a year now. Also over 20k words. Holy shit.)

But because it's YOU asking and you get to hear about most of my fics as I'm writing them, I will add a bonus of the summary of wip I have not really told you about:

His siblings all follow Bruce's no kill rule for one reason or another, but the realities of vigilante life is never nearly so black and white. Jason’s there to help with all the grays. Or, 6 times Jason hides a body from Bruce + 1 time he nearly finds out.

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

Oh, you want me to talk about your blorbo. I see how it is /lh.

Trying to think of something that isn't just straight up lifted from headcanons we've already discussed....hold on.

Being a GL isn't exactly conducive to having a stable job, so when he first starts out and is in space more often than he's Earth-side, he fills his time on Earth doing volunteer work with kids because he likes helping out and it gives him something to do for the like week he's back home. It doesn't really provide income, so he usually just crashes at other people's place. Hal, John, the jl:i peeps at some point, Oliver Queen on one memorable occasion. Eventually, he gets the bar and his own place, but he still tries to keep up the volunteer work when he can.

Speaking of the bar, to me, Guy's strength in the kitchen is his adaptability, and being a GL only enhanced that. Between having to figure out what makes for good eats on various alien planets and having to come home from long space trips to the 6 shelf stable items left in the pantry, Guy is something of an expert in turning a handful of mismatched ingredients into something enjoyable. This is in direct contrast to Hal Jordan, whose time as GL has just made him used to eating whatever, and now he has the most bizarre palette and will just throw together the strangest combinations and enjoy it. (Both of them have developed a keen sense for what kind of foods will keep their bodies fueled longer and their eating habits reflect that).

[yes-i-have-thoughts]

Who wants some tidbits about OCs that I never talk about because my Tumblr profile has slowly been getting murdered thanks to hiatus

[REDACTED]/KREATUR/WESEN

- Spawned from the one (1) time I drew GL!Ranboo as a creature (because why not) while listening to ‘Bloody Mary’ on a five-hour loop and the idea that came from it went so far off course from canon that it went from an AU to an original story idea

- (In my defense I drew him when I was only 20 minutes into the first episode. I barely had any idea what I was getting into at the time so of course my creative drive was going to derail)

- (My brain needs to stop dragging people up when I’m 30 seconds into their source (iykyk))

- ANYWAY.

- Wesen’s real name has been lost to time. He’s not that old, he just doesn’t remember his name due to being punished whenever he tried to correct his captor on what it was

- His captor called him Kreatur ("Creature"; "die Kreatur - creature, creation, wretch, minion") to dehumanize and objectify him. This drove him insane for obvious reasons so he somehow got his hands on a German dictionary and fought to change his name to Wesen ("das Wesen [German] being, nature, essence, creature, character, entity") instead. Because if you’re gonna call him a creature you could at least be nice about it

- His captor let it go and he’s gone by Wesen for years since.

- Wesen’s also a walking bomb! He has a kill switch built in to the base of his skull that can also be used to give him a headache ranging from “oh owie” to “my brain is pressing against my skull and I am in agony”. If his captor cranks it all the way up his head will explode. It’s supposed to stop any act of rebellion and is therefore a literal explosive leash.

- He’s not aware of its existence and his captor gives him a headache severe enough to make him pass out from the pain if any of his fellow prisoners draw attention to it, so he won’t know it exists until it’s too late.

- It likely might’ve been put on him since he killed two people when a team tried to catch him. Maybe they should’ve left him alone, then.

- Wesen isn’t human. Avery (a fellow prisoner) calls him a canine, and she’s half right. He’s a dog-like bipedal creature with white fur covered in black spots

- I’ll get around to drawing him one day. He’s on the planned roster for Art Fight.

- He wouldn’t hurt a fly, most of the time. He’s sort of a doormat. That said, he’s not totally innocent and he does have blood on his hands--not all of it unintentional, either. His captor holds this above his head as a reason why they can’t let him go.

- He’s a lot smarter than he acts. Turns out he’s playing dumb, since—as he’ll later tell Avery—it’s saved his life over and over again.

- He’s masculine-leaning agender.

BELPHALAGOR

- Goes by “Bel”. Also masculine-leaning, but more genderfluid than agender.

- Belphalagor is a bipedal goat who swears he’s average height and everyone else is just a tallass. They use Wesen as its “proof” of this, but Wesen’s barely an inch over average height (5′ 9″)

- Whereas Bel herself is 3-4 feet tall.

- Bel is made of ink, sort of. He has flesh, but their blood is black, smells strongly of something not natural and is poison to ingest (as some more feral enemies will find out). It obviously wasn’t born this way but tends to dodge the question as to how this came to be.

- She’s stuck in a suit most of the time, but prefer wearing dresses. The once time he gets a chance to they jump on it.

- Bel’s eyes are closed 90% of the time, rendering them blind. It heavily depends on Wesen to guide her around.

- Something happens later on that reveals why he prefers to keep their eyes closed as much as possible.

- (he/they/it/she pronouns. Bugger’s collecting the things.)

[REDACTED]/AVERY

- Avery is the must humanoid of the bunch. This is because unlike the other two she’s not a canine creature or Mountain Goat stolen, experimented on, then stolen again. She’s a human that got kidnapped and freed herself when they tried turning her into a bird woman. (These people really like amalgamating animals with the weirdest shit.)

- She acts like your typical action woman cliche—no-nonsense, only sane person in the group, tragic backstory, “I don’t need a man”—but she’s not immune to being silly. She slowly drops her guard the more time she spends around idiots 1 and 2 (affectionate).

- They’re both fools but they’re HER fools and she loves them. (The sentiment is returned ten-fold once she drops the “I’m too good for you” act.)

- She’s a bit of a fool too, though she won’t admit it.

- She has a plague doctor mask pretty much fused to her face. A modern-day one, based off a crow. She can take it off, but it’s very painful and what’s underneath isn’t pretty.

- Her hair is pretty short and growing...Weird. It’s all spikey and feathered. She’s kept it short as much as she could until she can find someone to reverse this bloody bird transfusion.

- She’s also got feathers growing out of her arms. It’s painfully slow, but they’re becoming more noticeable as time goes on.

- She and Bel butt heads often over who should do what in what context. Sometimes they fight for so long that by the time they’ve worked it out Wesen’s solved the problem already.

- She and Wesen didn’t exactly hit it off immediately. She was a bit patronizing towards him; treating him like a dog or very slow human. Once she learns that he’s not that fucking dim, though, they bond very quickly.

- She’s the only cisgender one of the group. Bel calls her the “token female” despite also using she/her pronouns (likely just to piss off Avery, who always takes the bait).

- Avery’s name was given to be a play on “aviary”. She can’t stand it, but she doesn’t remember her old name so she’s currently stuck with it.

[nongnaos]

bl / gl tag game

I was tagged by @icouldhyperfixatehim in probably Feb/Mar but I literally just had not watched enough bl/gls to actually do this. Then got tagged again by @talays-portkey recently (it is no longer recently, this has been in my drafts, 98% done for a month??) and was like ohhh I can probably do this now!

your all time favourite bl character and why

I'm gonna say Pat and Pran both bc bb is SO dear to my heart and I feel like they are a good representation of "opposites attract" bc they handle things/think differently a lot but are so similar it works.

what's your one character from a bl you wanted to punt into the stratosphere ( you only get one so choose wisely )

Honestly none? If there has been any show where I've really disliked the leads then I've probably given up watching, as for side characters I'm willing to forgive a lot in fiction that I probably wouldn't IRL. Also shitty people give the story more drama and I do live for the drama. One thing that I do find bizarre and I struggle with are characters who ship other characters in the show and will tell them, or post about them on social media... it's just something I would feel weird about if it happened to me (and I can't imagine that happening realistically as someone who grew up in Ireland in the 2000's.)

the best music moment from a bl

Ok ok, living for bb and the rooftop kiss but the very specific moment when Pat is telling Pran all the things he liked when Pran was gone (I didn't need to compete, or be paranoid, or know what your GPA was etc) and Pran is clearly upset about it and then he says "but it was so depressingly lonely for me" and Pran looks back at him and it's the moment where everything starts to change and just as Pran looks back into Pat's eyes with hope for the first time there's a little 4 note drum roll (@10:14) and it just perfectly encapsulates that feeling of anticipation when your heart skips a beat, I just [muffled screams into a pillow]. Also the Not Me industrial sounding background music. It was so different for a bl but works perfectly with the aesthetic and the feeling of the show. Same with Heartstopper, great soundtrack, perfect vibes for the show. Also the intro song for The Eclipse, I really love it too!

what's a popular heterosexual text that you would like to see adapted into a bl / gl ?

Looove a cheesy romcom so maybe a GL 10 Things I Hate About You, or maybe one day my dream of seeing A Cinderella Story with Austin Ames realising she's a trans girl will come true!!! Or the lesbian 13 Going On 30 where she goes to the future to realise she's in love with her best friend (a girl, sorry Mark Ruffalo) and realises she's gay and maybe that's why people picked on her at 13 bc they all knew she was ✨️different✨️ and she goes back and is like "i know being gay is scary rn but it actually does get better and I've seen it!!". Coyote Ugly!! The Prince and Me!!!! Gimme lesbian romcoms I beg!!! Most of these gave off wlw vibes anyway, making them gay now would just be righting the world.

a scene from a bl that always makes you laugh ?

We Best Love where they almost get caught on the couch and Shuyi introduces himself overly formally and Shide just laughs at him and Shuyi gives him the 👀🤨 (gif)

Also, that moment in Semantic Error after Jaeyoung gets asked to work on Sangwoo's project and he's in slow-mo dancing down the stairs like "yeah, I'm gonna ruin this kid's life".

what two random bl/gl characters would make hilarious exes ?

Not hilarious but Namu from Not Me and Ink from Bad Buddy. They meet when Ink is taking scenery photos and sees Namu's graffiti and they get to talking and they have similar ideas and ideologies, Namu starts bringing Ink to protests and Ink brings her to some exhibitions etc etc they stay friends after bc wlw.. and then in the future the BB gang inkpa&patpran all start attending protests together. (Didn't P'Aof say patpran would definitely be joining those protests if they were in the same show? Like it all makes so much sense)

biggest disappointment ?

The way Not Me just sort of fell off in terms of storyline in the second half. Its only a disappointment bc those first episodes were incredible and the show deserved better.

who would be the funniest person to watch a bl in its entirety and which one would you make them watch .

Tankhun, and seeing as we've seen his reactions to steamy scenes and action or horror shows I feel like we should watch Manner of Death? I haven't seen it yet but I've heard it's steamy and mafia based so he could pick apart the mafia stuff and go wild at the smut.

best wardrobe moment / or character wardrobe from a bl

Shuyi's emo boy wardrobe from season 1 of We Best Love.

Wei Wuxian's emo boy wardrobe but make it historical.

Ink's lesbian art teacher vibes from Bad Buddy. (Extra shout out to Pat's ep 12 teal shirt and Pran's jumpers)

Tagging: @wkxs @talaypuens @wahgifs @snimeat @surajmukhis no pressure if you don't have time or energy! 🥰🥰

[pickledpascal]

The Missing Link

Chapter Five: Into The Fire

Warnings: Some legal jargon that’s probably not right, 18+ themes, swearing.

Word Count: 2.1k

The Missing Link Masterlist

Previous Chapter  |  Next Chapter

Police boat sirens wailed in the distance, red and blue flashing against the ocean water as they got closer and closer to the island. Ezra blinked as Elle tightened his tie slightly, pulling him back from his memory. He gave her a light smile and pressed a kiss on her forehead as he brushed a few hairs away from her face. As expected, Miles wanted to go to trial. Helen did burn his entire house down but he helped inadvertently. The public didn’t necessarily know that just yet. The unfortunate part about all this was that it’s been a few months since everything on the island, the seasons had slowly started to change.

Ezra hasn’t seen Benoit much in that time.

Of course, he knew why Benoit was turning him down. He didn’t want Miles’ lawyers to try and manipulate the narrative that Ezra only sided with Helen because he had a crush on Benoit. They would probably explain it as some twisted way to appease the detective. If they wanted that, they should investigate Birdie instead.

With the way the media was these days, there was so much coverage on the trial and what happened at the island that it made Ezra dizzy. He was used to the flashes of cameras but not all these questions about stocks in Alpha or how it was strange he barely had any scratches on him when leaving the island. How the fuck would they know that? 

Benoit and Helen’s lawyer, Matthew Murdock, walked up to Elle and Ezra. Matt was a recommendation from Ezra for Helen, he took a lot of work pro-bono so she wouldn’t have to pay him if she couldn’t. Not only were Mr. Murdock’s services free but he was highly experienced and won a lot of the cases he was involved in. If Ezra was Miles’ lawyer, he would be sweating bullets. Thankfully, Matt was on their side. Ezra’s heard stories of the way he’s absolutely destroyed an opponent in court. His speech was fluid, to the point, and his tongue was sharp like a razor. 

Matt was everything that made a good lawyer.

“Just remember the questions I briefed you on.” Matt said as he adjusted his red-lensed glasses. He leaned slightly on his cane before he made his way inside the courtroom to take his place next to Helen. 

Ezra let out a small laugh. If he could remember a ten page monologue then he was sure he could remember a few questions. “This is gonna be fun…” He sighed as he shook his head slightly.

“You’re tellin’ me.” Benoit joked softly. He was dressed in his signature tweed suit, something Ezra wasn’t able to see in real life until then. It was a little depressing that this was the first time he’d seen Benoit like that. 

Elle wrapped her arms around her father in a hug. Thankfully, they didn’t even attempt to call her to the stand. Ezra was very protective of Elle and didn’t think that being put on the spot in such a way would make her feel better about anything that came out of this. “Kick some ass, dad.” She winked, lightly punching Ezra’s shoulder.

“You know I always do.” Ezra shot back with a light laugh as he disappeared behind the courtroom doors. 

Benoit stared at the door after they closed and leaned down slightly to whisper to Elle, “He’s a nervous wreck, ain’t he?”

“Yeah…” Elle pursed her lips then shrugged, “He likes to go by the saying, ‘fake it till you make it.’” She looked back up at Benoit and gave him a slight smile of reassurance. “He’ll be fine.”

Somehow, they both doubted that. 

—-------

Miles’ lawyer began with a simple request. “Can you state your name and occupation for the court, Mr. Wayne?” 

Ezra nodded, not wanting to be snarky when it could be taken the wrong way. Not only that, but Matt warned him against it as well. “I am Ezra Wayne and I am an actor.” He said simply, his hands clasped in his lap.

“And your relationship with Mr. Bron, Mr. Wayne?” 

Right, they would use this against him somehow. Ezra glanced at Matt before his eyes were fixated on the lawyer in front of him. “We’re not friends but I wouldn’t say we’re enemies either. I don’t like him but I don’t think I despise him.” He explained.

The lawyer hummed and nodded, “With your dislike of Mr. Bron, why did you attend the weekend festivities he was holding at his island?”

“Objection, leading.” Matt raised his voice slightly, just enough for the entire court to hear but he never left his seat.

The judge nodded, “Sustained. Mr. Anderson, reword your question.”

Anderson let out a light huff and nodded. “Mr. Wayne, why did you go to Mr. Bron’s island?” His question was much more to the point without implying too much which was what they–Ezra and Matt–wanted.

“Why wouldn’t you want to go to a Greek island in the middle of summer?” Ezra shrugged with a light smirk. “My daughter was getting stir crazy in our house during the height of the pandemic. We needed to do something and I assumed the island would be isolated–which it was–I didn’t think we would be hurting people by going.” He explained just as practiced. 

Anderson’s eye twitched slightly before he took a quick breath and asked his next question, “It has recently come out that Mr. Blanc,” Ezra’s eyes flicked to the man as he entered the courtroom with his daughter. “was hired by Ms. Brand. Did you know this?” 

“Not at the beginning of the day, no.” Ezra confessed truthfully. He quite simply thought Benoit was going on his own sort of getaway, nothing particularly stood out to him that Benoit had some ulterior motive. Either way, half the time the detective was around Ezra, his face was flushed red both because of nervousness and the feelings he felt for the actor. 

“But you did by the end of the night?”

Ezra cocked his eyebrow slightly then remembered… they hadn’t called Benoit to the stand yet. Possibly to save him for last, to fill in some details the rest of them didn’t know. “Well, yeah. He explained his purpose for being there with a huge speech though I don’t remember many details about it.” 

“What do you remember?”

Ezra pursed his lips slightly, “Details are foggy but the big things were that he explained both the murder of Duke Cody and Cassandra Brand were committed by Miles. Not only that but he attempted a murder on Ms. Brand's life earlier that night.” A ghost of a smile was on the corner of his lips as a gasp broke out among the court, chattering starting as journalists scribbled in their notebooks.

“Order! Order!” The judge smashed down her gavel, quickly shutting up the crowd in the gallery. “Proceed, Mr. Anderson.”

Anderson’s eyes narrowed at Ezra as he pursed his lips before he turned back to Matt and retreated to his place next to Miles. “Your witness.” He said.

Matt let out a small chuckle, he could sense Anderson’s defeat as he stood. “Good afternoon, Mr. Wayne.” He smiled slightly as he approached the witness stand. “Did you happen to see how the fire in Mr. Bron’s house started?” 

“No. Me and my daughter went outside a few minutes before the fire started. She wanted to get some air and relax.” Ezra explained which wasn’t necessarily a lie but just not the full truth. Then again, he didn’t exactly know what was going to happen when he followed Benoit outside the Glass Onion. 

Matt nodded as if he didn’t send Ezra his questions weeks in advance so he was prepared for everything he was going to ask him. “Mhm. Did you happen to know what Klear was?” He asked with a slight cock of his head.

“No.” Ezra huffed out a laugh. “I haven’t spoken with Miles in years before the invitation arrived on my doorstep. To be frank, I’m still not exactly sure why he invited me.” He admitted softly as he adjusted his position in his seat. 

“You didn’t know that Klear was a highly flammable substance?” Matt asked, adjusting his glasses slightly.

Anderson quickly objected, “Leading!”

“Sustained.” The judge responded. At least she was fair.

Matt hummed for a moment before he reworded the question, “Did you have any idea of the properties of Klear?” He asked after a few seconds.

“No. Not until Lionel Toussaint said that it could be unsafe for people to be around.” Ezra explained and pursed his lips slightly. “That was enough for me to want to get out of there as soon as possible. My daughter’s safety is much more important than my own.”

“As one would imagine.” Matt nodded as he leaned on his cane slightly, turning his head in Miles’ direction before he turned it back to Ezra. Anxiety was rolling off the billionaire in waves. “I have no more questions at this time, your Honor.” He said clearly before he made his way next to Helen.

—------

Week passed with each witness called to the stand, more and more pieces started to fall into place. That was until Benoit Blanc made his way to the stand when all the pieces began to fit together, providing information that only he had. Benoit was hired by Helen to find her sister’s alleged murderer and with the evidence available at the time, they believed it to be one of Miles’ friends. They didn’t exactly expect it to be Miles himself though that was one of Helen’s first instincts. But, as they eventually learned, they should have trusted Helen. 

To the surprise of the gallery, the trial slowly turned into a murder trial rather than one about property damage and defamation. And to everyone’s surprise except Ezra’s, Miles was found guilty with first degree manslaughter, life in prison, and no posted bail so no matter how much money the man had, it wouldn’t be enough to keep him out of jail. 

Walking out of the courthouse with his daughter, Ezra met Benoit and Helen at the bottom of the steps and gave them both a light smile. Thankfully, it was night so there weren't too many reporters outside. “The shithead got what he deserved, huh?” He chuckled softly. 

Helen nodded with a laugh. She looked good these days, not as similar to Andi anymore. Her hair was growing out, the ends remained blonde while the roots started to grow out black. “Finally. I think I would have slipped something in his drink if he didn’t.”

“Not the most brilliant thing to say in front of a court of law.” Benoit shook his head with a light laugh.

“Whatever, we won the case. It don’t matter anymore, Blanc.” Helen shrugged as she patted Benoit’s shoulder slightly before she gave the group a goodbye smile and made her way home. 

Elle looked between the two men, both of whom she appointed as her fathers. And well… she could sense something between them needed to be resolved. “Uhhh, I’m gonna wait by the car.” She narrowed her eyes a little and awkwardly skirted past her black-haired father.

The pair watched her walk away until she was out of sight. “I believe I owe you a date?” Benoit asked with a light smile, eyes showing a playful emotion. 

“Yes, you do, Detective.” Ezra smirked, no shame evident in his features as his eyes raked over Benoit’s figure. Something about the way he looked in those colorful ties and tweed suits. “Saturday at six work for you?” 

Benoit nodded with a small hum, “Even if it didn’t, I’m sure I could make it work for you.” He teased softly. The shyness from the island was all gone and Ezra had to admit this sense of confidence made him weak in the knees. 

“Oh, detective…” Ezra licked his lips lightly before he narrowed his eyes momentarily. Giving into his thoughts, Ezra grabbed onto Benoit’s tie and pulled to press his lips against his. 

A light, surprised noise escaped Benoit before he relaxed and wrapped his arms around Ezra’s neck. When Ezra tried to pull away, Benoit quickly chased his lips to keep him trapped in the kiss. The actor didn’t mind it much, in fact, he loved it. He was sure the remaining reporters were taking pictures but he didn’t care. Benoit Blanc was kissing him so hard that he was sure his lips would be bright red afterwards.

It’s been a while since they last kissed and they both craved it more and more with each passing day. The month of August arrived and the trial ended so the dam, with all its cracks, simply broke. The pressure disappeared into thin air. 

[alazyparallelworld]

13, 30, 31?

13. what’s your opinion on the dr 3 anime?

30. which character would've deserved to survive?

31. is there a character you think who shouldn’t have survived, but did?

spoilers, obviously

13 - as mentioned in the tags, i, don't particularly care for SDR2... despite my appearances, and fixation on sai/ou, i lean towards GL and HL, and the most of SDR2 gives me for those is kuzu/peko, and... well, chapter 2...

and the anime, kind of obliterates the - themes, arc, intent behind chiaki. kodaka has hisssss waifu biases (this happens with haru, too) - and the cast's induction to the remnants is, weak, and i am a MASSIVE sucker for brainwashing, so me going 'meh' at it, says, a lot.

altogether it soured my... already soured feelings on SDR2. there is a lot of interesting concepts here, but, the only character i feel was executed well in the SDR2 portion of the anime is ryota. who is a new character. i love him and his relationship w twogami is amazing, etc. so, uh, despair arc. is bad and boring and was painful to sit thru.

future arc! i like it, honestly, even if it's another 'mrhghg this is cool in theory but done really poorly,' and honestly i really think. a lot of things introduced in dr 3 come to fruition in v3. i joke that, 'kodaka just wanted to work on v3, but they made him make an anime,' and i'm PARTIALLY kidding. and the best episode of dr 3 happens during this - altho it's not on the cast, either, it's the udg episode, and it blows the rest of the anime out of the water.

tl;dr Haha This Sucks, Man. this is an anime you can only watch w/ someone else, i feel, otherwise you'll go crazy. i like ryota and miaya a lot, i genuinely enjoy ruruka... in HPA aus, i make a point to, include ryota. my special hikikomori boy.

30 - mmmm not sure. i think, tojo - she shouldn't have survived into endgame, no, but one of the reasons i am so aggressively MEH abt her is that, she doesn't have time to develop or shine. she is, nothing, and the translation treats her motivation as a cheap joke. politicizes it. fun fact, the guy who handled the monokubz, and by extension gonta n angie, is the same guy. yeah, that guy. =_= responsible for a lot of the very shitty decisions in the localization. if SC thinks it's ok to make her primary motivation as a joke, why should i take her seriously?

i think she should've survived until ch3, to have some time to flesh things out. she shouldve been a bit undecided abt, you know, betraying her classmates. she should've become a temp antagonist, especially since she tries to set ouma up as untrustworthy and thus unreliable for his testimony in the trial - and she is very, very angry at sai, and gaslights him to hell and back. and it's EFFECTIVE. w/o momo, sai would've crumbled. give me, more of that, dammit!!! GOD!!! but no, so i am just.. ugh... tojo, right. i always forget abt her while doing cast stuff.

hoshi, i think, is another obvious 'I WANT HIM TO LIVEEEEEEEEEEE' but i don't know how well that would've worked with the ult. ending and intent of v3.

uh... mmm... thh, i don't really know... haha. i actually quite like, hifumi, but he was nevverrr everrr gonna survive. too bad...? some of the joke characters im like. Wait, I enjoy them, give me more, and at least hagakure survives!!! i'm happy abt that!!!

31 - unpopular opinion incoming, but i don't think any of the survivors were 'undeserved' - while i quite... dislike SDR2's cast... they made the right choice of who got out of the game alive. i wouldn't change any of them there.

for THH, i, mmm... i never quite 'clicked' with togami. he's fine... i suppose... but i don't find him and his attitude quite as compelling as ouma. nor komaeda's, who i am so, 'I AM SO OVER THIS GUY, EVERYONE STOP FUCKING TALKING ABT KOM!!!' about, lol. maybe he's more basic bc thh is, at its core, a very basic story... it was the first, and in a game series that afaik was not Planned to have sequels etc.

v3 literally all of them deserved to survive. i like each and every one of them. i am glad that yumeno didn't have, the pitfall of, 'suffers massively but grows bc of x's characters death, only to die later,' like ishi and hiyoko did. she's lovely, i really do think she is.

haru... haha, i... do like her... totally not in the way kodaka intended, but i was like. OHHH OK HARU IS WAY MORE COMPELLING when i realized that she and angie are narrative foils. that opened my eyes to her character - i appreciate her a lot more now, and the line abt saihara realizing 'do you want to die' always being a joke made me smile. i also think fandom shows her a LOT more aggro than she is - her first, chokehold, was instinctual fear. "everyone is scared of her," once they know her talent, as she says. and in a death game... ofc her first reaction would be of panic... and the second - ffs, ouma just threatened them with a bomb! this girl does not hate ouma. she is the second to last, second to kiibo (WHO, IS A STANDIN FOR THE AUDIENCE, SO LIKE-) to finally be Done with ouma's bullshit. she loses her cool when ouma injures momota for the 2nd time. ETC ETC. and, she has to be deliberately manipulated, by shirogane to actually kill ouma. she does not for real hate this guy, she would not bully him in school, or try and get saihara to break up w/ him. lol

while kodaka's waifuism really shines thru her (he got angry that she wasnt ranked high in popularity, if you didnt know...) i think there's a lot to love abt her, even if it takes a bit to think abt. the things i appreciate abt her probably don't appeal to others. so, yeah!!! i like that she survived!!! i'm glad that she got to - live, and not as the ult survivor for 54... that she steps into the world with sai and yumeno. she is friends with saihara on her own, i'm glad that they have e/o, after everyone else... and that yumeno isn't alone, herself.

saihara deserved to survive end of story like beyond '(real) protag plot armor' - which ALSO isn't true, kiibo is the FOR REAL protag in the eyes of the meta audience - his arc is very grueling and long. it may not be.... that super in depth, but he is not this emo depressed boy who listens to MCR, either. he has a lot of trauma prior to the game - ppl don't talk abt his scopophobia often enough, and the 'eyes on him,' and the - the perjury, effect, has a bunch of eyes, investigating, judging you... while it is the same for aka - come on. it is very clearly intended to show sai's fear of the truth and of lies. he goes thru a lot of twists n turns, and it would've, killed me if he died... or, at least, if he died and the others had survived. either all of them die, or he has friends... which he does...!! altho the epilogue was SUPER CONTROVERSIAL in house, lol.