#source: office romance

[gammija]

ok since the Magnus Protocol is confirmed AU from tma, and jonny and alex have purposely not said that their voices are not reappearing in TMAGP, consider:

evil AU jon and martin. mostly because I just know jonny and alex would have such a good time acting that out. And also because i want to see a completely unhinged jon and a web!martin used to their full potential damnit

[hojiteaversion]

Laia: I cannot keep myself from Vlad. Everything he does is sexy.

Vlad: [tries to throw food into his own mouth, misses and hits himself in his face instead]

Laia: He has this undeniable animal magnetism

Vlad: [Trips over nothing]

Laia: He's a jungle cat

Vlad: [sits around covered in cheeto dust without noticing]

Laia: The man exudes sex

[anamorozov]

[bl-bam-beyond]

Oh My God. Old Fashion Cupcake is the epitome of absolutely amazing. Two lead actors that are beyond amazing. A story told with grace and elegance. An unexpected sizzling chemistry. Wow. Wow. Wow.

[pucksandpower]

Max Verstappen x Leclerc!Reader - Social Media AU

formulagossip added to their story

f1wagupdates

Liked by lightsoutmax, verstappenupdates, and 152,836 others

f1wagupdates Max Verstappen spotted leaving his hotel with a mystery woman this morning after celebrating winning his third World Championship last night. According to sources, the two partied together with the team and friends at a club following his victory before heading back to the hotel. Her face is hidden but rumor has it this could be a new romance for the World Champ. Looks like Max is enjoying the spoils of another successful season!

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lightsoutmax probably just a random groupie, max isn’t the relationship type

dutchlioness no way that’s a groupie

f1wagupdates i’m inclined to agree, they look pretty serious!

formulanone am i crazy or does that look like y/n leclerc to anyone else?

redbulletin you’re crazy

gridgossip i mean i wouldn’t be surprised. i bet this has been going on for a while between them! it would explain how she got the CTO job out of nowhere

f1girlie or she got it because she’s qualified and was literally trained by adrian newey to take over for him? it’s 2024, leave the misogyny at the door

maddermax i don’t think max would get involved with someone from his team

circuitqueen she looks so familiar but i can’t place her! it’s driving me crazy

verstappenupdates whoever she is, i need more details! our world champion’s love life is suddenly looking very interesting 😍

survivetodrive you need to learn how to stay out of drivers’ business

rblover for real! let the man live

maxverstappen1

Liked by y/n_leclerc, redbullracing, and 2,094,617 others

maxverstappen1 Five World Championships!

This one feels extra special because I get to celebrate with the love of my life who has been by my side for over three incredible years now ❤️

So I want to dedicate this championship to Y/N

Seeing Y/N thrive as Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer and pursue her passion for motorsport after everything she has been through has been so special. Her brilliance and determination inspire me daily, both on and off the track. And her contributions to the team have been invaluable to our success. I am so lucky to have such an incredible partner to share these championships with

Winning races and championships is great but sharing my life with someone as smart, driven and caring as Y/N is the greatest gift I could ever ask for. I truly am the luckiest guy in the world. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us both. Here’s to many more years of continuing to chase our dreams together!

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redbullracing our world champion found his perfect match! wishing you both continued success and happiness 🤩

christianhorner so proud of you two. the ultimate power couple!

danielricciardo i knew something was going on there. congrats you two!

maxverstappen1 you don’t have to pretend like you didn’t know about us

y/n_leclerc you literally third-wheeled our last date night … and the one last month … and the one over summer break

y/n_leclerc i love you with all my heart, champion! thank you for always being my biggest supporter. so blessed to have you in my life 🥰

charles_leclerc how could you do this, y/n? after everything our family did for you?

*this comment has been deleted*

*this user has been blocked*

verstappenupdates our guy is all grown up 🥹 you two are goals!

f1wagupdates omg! when did this happen??? why has it been a secret for so long?

lightsoutmax pretty sure they got together the year before y/n was hired by red bull

redbulletin and they probably kept it a secret because people would have found a way to twist it into something negative

officialorangearmy relationship goals to the max! you two are perfect together 🧡

y/n_leclerc

Liked by maxverstappen1, redbullracing, and 473,825 others

y/n_leclerc What a season! Winning a double championship for the second time feels so surreal. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for my incredible team at Red Bull Racing who made this possible through their tireless hard work. We did it 🏆

And most of all, I am grateful for my incredible partner. Max, you’ve supported me every step of the way, encouraging me to follow my dreams and become who I was meant to be. You showed me what true unconditional love feels like

I am where I am now because of you. Your spirit pushes me to achieve greatness. Your kindness lifted me up when I needed it most. Your smile keeps me going on tough days. I couldn’t ask for a better teammate in life ❤️

The future is so bright for us. I can’t wait to see what we create together next. I love you! Let’s keep aiming for the stars ✨

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maxverstappen1 you make me so proud every day! loving and winning with you feels incredible. can’t wait for the rest of our lives together ❤️

redbullracing the ultimate teammate on and off the track! you two are unstoppable 👊

christianhorner red bull is lucky to have such a power pair leading our team. more glory to come!

danielricciardo you guys are relationship goals! congrats champs

charles_leclerc how long until you throw away this “fairytale” like you did our family?

*this comment has been deleted*

*this user has been blocked*

y/n_leclercfanpage our inspiring queen found her king! you give us hope that dreams do come true

f1girlie not me literally crying tears of joy 😭 they are so perfect together

womeninmotorsport seeing powerful women thrive in f1 gives me life 👏

[diejager]

Hello hellooooooo

I hope you are doing great !!

(I was waiting patiently for your requests to be open again lmao)

So, my brain was just thinking of something for monster!141 and I just need to share it somewhere 😵‍💫

As you may know, penguins' love language is giving pebbles to their loved ones

Penguin hybrid!Hunter just giving monster!141 pebbles and little rocks to show them that they love them 🥹

Alright, I'll go back to my knitting now BYE

*gets out by the window with a parachute*

Pebbles Cw: weird courting, tell me if I missed any.

You didn’t have any noticeable differences to a human, having the appearance of any human with a some quirky and funny behavioural traits that all of them enjoyed. You had your moments of oddity, but you didn’t seem that far from a human, having no tail, ear or horns, your skin as smooth and soft as any. They dropped their suspicions of you being a hybrid, a monster or even an inter dimensional creature of some unknown source.

And somehow, they find small trinkets - small, round pebbles picked out of a bunch to be perfectly rounded, smooth edges and glistening under the light, and sticks, long and robust, but small enough to sneak into the base without being caught - placed in the areas they often found themselves frequenting.

Price would find a cluster of pebbles on his desk, arranged neatly in a ring, a curious little thing that he shrugged off, putting them away for the time he’d be able to catch the culprit red handed in the act. Price chucked it up to being Soap and Gaz pulling a prank on him, an unsuspecting and benign trick for a little laugh between them, he didn’t bother with it too much.

Ghost found his small collection of sticks and rock on the books he liked to read, placed near the corner of his desk in his office, the arrangement was neither crude nor clean, it was a chaotic abstraction that he didn’t understand.He didn’t know what to make of it, no one would be brave enough - stupid enough - to pull something like this on him and on his stuff without knowing the risks they put themselves in.

Soap and Gaz had a few placed that belonged to them alone, like their rooms or their locker in the armoury, small areas that everyone knew was theirs. Gaz was the first of the two to find flowers and pebbles in the top compartment of his locker, picked with utmost care to keep the petal from bending. Soap found his collection of sticks and flowers stitched in a pretty crown placed around the collar of his vest, a little present full of romance and adoration. Both of them couldn’t help but find this weird act endearing.

Until Price saw you rush out of his office, a sweet, love-filled smile plastered on your face as if you’d been given the miracle of your life. If he pushed the thought farther, he could almost see a little tail wagging behind you, oh so overzealous and overjoyed with something you did. Peaked by it, he looked into his room and caught the bright petals of a daisy gently placed in the middle of a wreath of stick. He looked at it with a renewed aww and curiosity, feeling your affection roll of your intricate design, made and catered to him as if you’d made each and every single one of his boys a little courting gift-

It was an instinctual courting behaviour seen in monsters and hybrids alike. It stopped him in his tracks, causing him to question himself and your file, he’d been sure that you were human through and through, holding not a single ounce of monster blood in your veins, you’d done tests. Tests, he had to remind himself that these tests were - despite being physical and DNA tests - noted down if the recipient had any traits deemed worthwhile, something useful in the minds of a battle or in a dogfight.

That would give reason to some missing holes in your file, the little things that made you so charmingly you in every aspect was missing from your papers, reserved for people who came to know you. It warmed his heart, to see you so comfortable with them that you ended up forging such strong, emotional connections that you started giving them gifts. He’d have to take it up with the other boys, tell them what he just found out: your little, courting gifts, your hybrid roots that they could explore and your lovable smile when you’d successfully given your gift, and see where they would go from there.

Taglist: @craxy-person @crowbird @dead-cipher @iwannabealocalcryptid @iizx7y @mxtokko @yeetusspagheetus @capricorn-anon @perfectus-in-morte @sae1kie @yeoldedumbslut @bvxygriimes @distracteddragoness @konigsblog @angelcakes-22 @cassiecasluciluce @ramadiiiisme @ramblingsofachaoticthinker @ki-cant-spel @im-making-an-effort @love-dove-noora @jinxxangel13 @daisychainsinknots @0alk0msan @mul-pi @danielle143 @virginalsacrifice @beau-min @makayla-666 @urfavsunkissedleo @mixplara @notspiders @brokenpieces-72 @luvecarson @petwifed @aldis-nuts @randominstake @stay-088 @heartelysia @jggykhug09090 @cassiecasluciluce @hayleybarnesx @shironasumi

[chocsra]

"Gentleman, you say?"

15! Chuuya x reader

Reader is implied to be fem!, could still be gn!

Warnings: swearing, alcohol

Contents: your mafioso roomate being annoying, fifteen era, mafia! reader, pre-relationship, idiots in love, teen romance, fluff, ooc? chuuya (idk)

Sorry for grammar! Not proofread!

Working in the Port Mafia wasn't so hard.

You were granted a new family, money and status. There were a select few members who were noteably young, as young as teenagers. This was mainly because of the gifted, limiting manpower into making criminal organizations choose children as their subordinates.

You didn't really mind it--being a kid in the mafia. It had it's ups and downs, yes, you did murder; but what would you have been really doing if you tried to live as a civilian as a gifted?

One thing you didn't like though--even hated, was the Port Mafia dormitory.

Constant parties, the overwhelming scent of alcohol and cigarettes in hallways, and don't start on the drama. Your only source of peace was the empty unit next to yours--at least that gave some sort of silence in the dreadful nights of Yokohama. Cramped in the tight apartment that secretly held mafioso teenagers, ones which the other residents thought of as school delinquents.

Until that asshole took it; the short ginger boy with a permanent scowl on his face, the boy who had the best style you had ever seen. And you hated it. Ever since you were fifteen, he and his smelly bandaged friend would storm into his apartment; have the loudest arguments--no, fights in the middle of the night.

Before, if you couldn't sleep, a nice cup of hot milk and basking in the night's breeze would do the trick. Now, there was a 50/50 chance he was there smoking on the balcony next to you, alone or with that annoying mummy boy.

It's been a few months since then, and you were sure that he hasn't even recognized you once as his neighbour; and it pissed you off, considering the amount of sleepless nights he caused you. It was safe to say you had one-sided-beef with the boy who used screaming as his fight or flight response.

And because finding someone absolutely insufferable meant asking numerous people about them, you asked a few of your subordinates who were into drama about said boy, eager to learn more information about him. Because he pissed you off, is why.

"Oh, you mean Chuuya? He like, used to be the King of the Sheep before he joined the mafia, I'm pretty sure." Your friend chided, you and a few other girls were standing in front the doorframe of Kouyou's office, all surrounded in a circle. "Really? That's wild." You scoffed, folding your arms over your chest. "Yeah, and the guy who recruited him is that emo guy; he's supposed to be Bosses successor, right?" She asks, twirling a strand of her hair. "His name is Dazai, and yeah. They're called 'Double Black' or something." Your other friend joined in.

Just as you were talking, a tall woman with ginger hair and pale skin stepped out of her office; her elegent hands clasped together under her pink kimono.

"What are you girls talking about?" The woman questioned, her hair tightly held up by long gold pins. "[Y/N] was just asking about Chuuya, sis." Your friend replied, you scoffed in response. "I was just asking because he's an annoying neighbour!" The other girls laughed. "Oh, Chuuya, I was recently requested to take him under my wing." Kouyou responded, revealing more information. "Actually? What do you think of him?" One of the quieter girls asked enthusiastically, the woman only chuckled in response.

"He's quite the gentleman, I'll say."

Kouyou's words only echoed in your ears as you lay in bed, a pillow ontop of your chest. "Gentleman.." You repeat, staring mindlessly at the ceiling. "Gentleman my ass!" You kick the wall next to your bed to no avail, tightly wrapping your arms around the pillow. "If he was, he would've seen how tired my eyes are from not sleeping.. and finally shut the fuck up.." You mutter with heavy eyelids. It was around 2 am. And it was one of those quiet nights, thankfully; but you still had trouble falling asleep.

As you were about to finally drift off to sleep, cradling your pillow in your arms; a loud strum of a guitar sprung you awake. It sounded like a electric guitar, and the person playing it had a shit ton of energy. A sultry voice sang melodically as loud waves of music crashed from his guitar. You had an idea of who it was.

Storming out of your cramped apartment, only in a thin t-shirt along with loose shorts, you scrammed over to Chuuya's apartment door angerly. "I swear to God.." You curse under your breath, the damn guitar still audible. Closing your fist, you firmly knock on the boy's door.

Knock, knock

The fast-paced strum of a rock song quickly stopped, light footsteps could be heard behind the steel shaft, before he finally unlocks it.

"Yeah?" The boy cracks the door open, he had his short ginger hair down; and he wasn't wearing the black fedora and choker like he usually did. A red and white electric base guitar slung lightly over his shoulder and stomach, the cord connected to the bottom, leading to what you assumed was his bedroom. Chuuya was wearing loose black sweatpants along with an oversized white t-shirt. Even though the boy was small and lean, you couldn't help but notice the exposed muscles on his forearms. 'Shit.' You cursed at yourself, before meeting his stormy blue eyes once more.

"You're so damn loud all the time, can't you play that at another time of day?" You huffed, crossing your arms. "There are people trying to sleep." It wasn't the safest option to yell at a criminal who had possible connections you had no idea of, but you were also a criminal, and would definitely kick his ass if he tried anything, right?

Chuuya looked at you with a slight frown, but you were right in the end, so he sighed and ran his lithe fingers through his ginger locks. "My bad." He mutters, feeling a bit embarrassed. "That's all you can say?" You murmur, you felt a little bad, but he was the waking cause of your terrible eyebags. "You could be a little more quiet next time." You add on, looking off to the side.

"Yeah, I know. My fault." The redhead said, apologizing begrudgingly. You only sighed and assured it's okay now before you soon left. Knowingly storming off into your apartment as the boy watched you with guilt yet irritation on his face.

Although the next morning, you rubbed your eyes and opened the door to take out the trash. Only noticing a small box infront of your doorstep with a yellow sticky note on it, you crouched down to properly read it.

'Sorry we had to meet that way, neigbour. Take this as a peace offering.

- Chuuya N.'

As you opened the box curiously, it was homemade packaged bento, along with a small corgi made out of rice on the side. The stupidity of it made you laugh a little. Even though his handwriting made you question if he knew how to write at all before this; a smile still crept on your face as you took the box and note inside.

"Quite the gentleman, huh?"

[so-many-sainz]

hiii would you be doing a part 2 of this one? 🥺

we love you, max. — Max Verstappen

social media au

max verstappen x divorced!yn

this is part II of new daddy alert

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

A YEAR LATER...

Liked by sophiekumpen and 12.374 others

dailypaddock Max and his girlfriend YN arraving at the paddock today for the French GP. It's been a year since the rumours of their romance started.

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redbullinfo better focus on the championship @maxvertappen1

_norstappen low profile king and queen 🥹🥹

ohmaxiee SOPHIE IS YN AND MAX #1 FAN

clchamp the clownstappen clan desperate to suck her fame 🤡

username234 where's her daughter? smh

Liked by carolamtz1 and 365.812 others

yninstagram honeymoon race weekend 💗💑🌙

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ynssister no diaper changing weekend 😎🍾

maxverstappen ❤️

danielricciardo love you, next time bring belly 🙄🧡

isahernaez 💗

victoriaverstappen, sophiekumpen, yninstagram added to their story

.

Liked by redbullnews and 208.647 others.

maxverstappen1 Family time is always the best. 🧡🥳🐝

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yninstagram that cake looked so good, wish i had some 🙄

maxverstappen1 sorry, we claimed it first

maxstappen uncle max 🥹🥹

heidiberger_ belly's change of outfit 😂

yninstagram not funny! the white dress is full of paint 😭

victoriaverstappen 😍😍😍

Liked by sophiekumpen and 287.349 others

yninstagram we love sundays, p1 for our champ 🧡❤️🦬

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victoriaverstappen my babiesss 😍💗

isahernaez see you soon love!!

maxverstappen my lucky charm🥇🍀

landonorris call me when you need a nanny!!!

carlossainz55 belly will have to babysit you 😉😉

FIVE MONTHS LATER...

Liked by yninstagram and 9.357 others

maxielsupremacy Some fans met YN outside her office in Monaco, after a couple of minutes talking Isabella and Max showed up in his Aston Martin to pick her up. (Source: @alwaysmv33)

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alwaysmv33 Isabella is the cutest and Max is the ultimate girl dad, he is super gentle and calls her bee 🥹

fancypierre THE PET NAME IS TOO MUCH PLEASE STOP 😩😭

yninstagram thank you guys for the pics!! 💗

Liked by danielricciardo and 105.378 others

maxverstappen1 After giving it some thought, i want to set some things straight; I am well aware that Isabella is not my biological daughter and I don't need all of you to remind me that she already has a father. However, this past year i had the honor of watching Isabella grow up to be the most loving little girl in the world, and i am so proud to be in her life. Blood-related or not.

So please stop commenting about my life and relationship like you know anything, because you don't.

Thank you.

View all the comments

schecoperez Well said man👏🏻 she's such a blessing

yninstagram you don't have an idea of how much your little bee loves you 💗 you're the best

victoriaverstappen you're the best daddy ever and blood has nothing to do with it

landonorris i see she's a number four type of girl 🧡🧡🧡🐝

maxverstappen and you will never shut up about it

danielricciardo congrats mate, she's a legend

sophiekumpen so proud ❤️

danielricciardo look at her, she´s so cool 😎

[absolutebl]

TOP 10 BL Trends of 2023

This is just me with my analysis hat on. 

1. 2023 = the year EVERYONE went outside their lanes

Everything went topsy-turvy this year in BL. 

For example, Korea gave us agonized yearning and outright queerness (The 8th Sense, The New Employee) while Japan served up soft office workers and tender family (Our Dining Table). 

The BL world went askew for a while, especially in the spring of 2023. 

Not that we still didn’t still get Korea’s soft angsty bubbles or Japan’s “what are you doing and why does it hurt?” kink-fests. But there were quite a few BLs that made us chronic watchers sit up in confusion and wonder if Korea was dabbling in Taiwan’s territory or Japan in Thailand’s. Then they fudged the kisses and we were like... okay, back in familiar territory. 

In contrast, Thailand stayed course-correcting for the damage they’ve done in the past with tropes (2022) and self referential meta criticism (2021), but also almost aggressively returned to their BL roots after last year’s series of shockers. Certainly, they are reexamining those roots, transplanting some, aerating others. But they really went back to classic Thai university and high school BL and pulps in a big way in 2023. 

Taiwan is always difficult to gage because they produce so few but they seem to have stuck with what they do best with no deviation while producing more this year than they have in ages. I’m happy for that, why change a good thing? But there is a tiny part of me that really wants them to hit it out of the part with a quality piece soon. For me, We Best Love still reigns supreme, but I would really like the HIStory franchise to give us that level but longer - like a happy version of Your Name Engraved Herein. I think Taiwan has the chops to give us something as good as The 8th Sense or Old Fashion Cupcake but in their style, and I would like to see them exercise their talent for good rather than just profit. 

I know, what a very odd thing for me to say. But if any BL is going to break into the mainstream American market, I genuinely think it’s most likely come from Taiwan. 

Vietnam and the Philippines are falling behind, in general. They just didn’t bring out very many shows in 2023, and what the brought out tended to fub the endings. This is forgivable in Japan (because of their style and quality) but not what watchers want in the lower production value propositions. In other words, if you do a pulp, you can’t mess up the ending (by romance standards). that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon. 

2. The Office Romance Dominated

After years of Thailand serving us an endless (and slightly bland) buffet of university (and a few high school) BLs, this year Korea was basically like...

Ofiice. We like the Office. It’s cheap to film we can use grown up actors, acting (mostly) their actual age. 

And yeah... it totally worked. 

To be fair, Japan has always given us office live action yaoi from the beginning (they had the source material) but this year everyone else, including Thailand, seriously started playing in this setting. 

3. Boys Danced with Boys

The darling @heretherebedork​ was a big fan of this one, and I rather like it myself. Prior to this boys dancing together was very very rare in BL, but this year we got way more than our fair share. It was lovely. 

Never Let me Go

My School President 

Bed Friend 

The Day I Loved You 

Step by Step

Be Mine Superstar

Tie the Not 

Dangerous Romance

I think there were a few more. These are the ones I remembered to write down. 

4. Getting (even more) Meta With Tropes 

BL has been getting more and more meta over the past few years but this year they really focused in on tropes specifically. Calling out their own biggest and most favorite tropes in a massive way, especially Thailand and especially GMMTV. 

Like they tunneled in on damaging tropes with Bad Buddy and the like over the past 2 years, and now they are just having fun with us. 

I mean they just started the dancing trope and already they are calling it out? That’s like rapid-fire regurgitated meta there, GMMTV. 

5. Cameos are the norm now 

Taiwan has always loved cameos but in the past the other countries have been show and steady with only one or two a year. (Unless Japan does a parody.) 

This year Korea got in on the game.

Korea rarely starts trends but they do adopt smaller and lesser known existing ones and make them super popular. 

This year they did that with cameo couple appearances, even borrowing a few of Thailand’s pairs (TutorYim and MaxNat traveled north). They did it so much I stopped tracking. Love Class 2, Why R U?, and Jun & Jun were the heaviest hitters. 

Taiwan, of course, came back swinging. Kiseki was the gum-ball machine of pair cameos. (In Taiwan mafia = gay.) 

6. We are entering the cross pollination age

The number of remakes picked up or started this year was startling, not just countries revisiting their own content (Thailand, Japan) but countries revisiting OTHER countries stuff.

Lemme explain...

Korea has started remaking Thai content (Why R U?) alongside cameo'ing Thai pairs.

Thailand is doing Korean IP (My Dear Gagster Oppa) and has 2 Chinese ones slated for next year. 

GMMTV acquired a lot of Japanese IP (Cherry Magic, Ossen, and My Love Mix Up) - and then had problems distributing it. 

This is probably the most surprising trend for me. Especially the Japanese stuff. I would have thought these properties well outside of Thailand's price range (even GMMTV's) not to mention Japan’s legendary IP issues (I swear I typed this pout before the pulled TayNew’s excellent Cherry Magic). 

Also why not option some of the older popular manga instead? Bet that's much cheeper. (I did see a NEW Thai translation of Finder into Thai, which is 90s yaoi, so I have my fingers crossed on that front.)

I shouldn't be too surprised. 

Thailand is running out of y-novel content. Their publication industry is just not robust enough (I was just talking to a friend about this at length recently). But I didn't think they had the funds to option, especially from Japan. 

Perhaps the option deals are for peanuts?

7. Korea got cheeky

I’m not sure quite how else to put this. 

After finally figuring out boys can kiss, Korea started to do not just higher heat but playful higher heat, with more aggressive word play and linguistic innuendo, like they are entering their racy rom-com teenage years (Why R U? Love Class 2 and Jun & Jun in particular.) 

I guess: Welcome to your BL teens, Korea? 

It’s cute of them. I am very much enjoying it. 

And now that comedy is warming them up, we get to see them play with actual queer burgeoning physicality in shows like The 8th Sense. 

It’s nice. I like seeing Korea stretch its wings. They still stick to their bubble, but that bubble seems to be expanding. 

8. The Amnesia Trope is back

And I, for one, would prefer to forget about it. 

9. BL got trendy 

I’m not quite sure how to articulate this category but basically we started seeing a lot of “modern” romance trends out of the west (like a/b/o) show up in our BL. Not a ton and sometimes quite small, but there has a been a steady rise of things like: no seme/uke, femme gay, out gay, condom use, messy gay. 

We also got an increasing range of sub genre frameworks (like mafia, office setting) that’s moved BL pretty firmly (even in Thailand) out of school and into the workplace, whether actual working is involved or not. 

It’s not to the point where it feels like we get more non-school BL than school BL (if I include all countries in this assessment).

Japan, in classic Japanese fashion, quietly started moving in the opposite direction. It’s what they do. 

10. The Vampires are coming 

This is an announcement trend, which I don’t usually report on but it’s so CLEAR. 

So last year we had a spate of announcements of possible Omegaverse (2 from China, 1 from Japan, 1 from Thailand - the only one that’s happened). 

This year we got 5 Vampire (or vampire-esk) Thai BLs announced including one from GMMTV. 

Whether all 5 will actually get made is unlikely, but having had (basically) none prior to this (Kissable Lips), I’m pretty confident that we will get at least 2 of them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one other country made one as well. (Side eyes Taiwan with interest.) 

Final thoughts

It feels like we are also seeing a decline in BL (both by quantity and quality) from Vietnam and the Philippines. As you all know, I don’t track or really watch either of these two very closely. But it feels like, now, no one else is either. 

I think we have likely seen the BL heyday already in both places and their industries are now on the decline. 

We might be witnessing a thinning in the players in the BL field. 

FYI we had approximately 

136 BLs in 2023

Previous Years

2022: 117

2021: 95

2020: 62

2019: 40

2018: 30 

2017: 44 (China’s last gasp)

2016: 27

2015: 17 (50% micro)

2014: 17 (50% micro)

And that’s it! Let me know in the comments if you’ve spotted any additional trends you want to call out.

Last year, 2022′s trend report

2021′s Trend report

Last Year’s Stats & Predictions

(source) 

[youremyheaven]

The Astrology of Muses: A Vedic Exploration 🎨🖌👫💏

This is going to be a loooong post so hang in there besties<3

Claire Nakti observed that Ketu being the root or tail of the dragon is the source of our creativity. So whatever we channel during the process of art making is reflective of our Ketu, its placement etc. While I agree with this observation, I'd also like to add that Venus is also very important in determining the creativity, creative nature and career of an individual, as well as who or what they seek inspiration from.

Obviously Sun-Moon relationships and other aspects with luminaries can also determine how we connect to and draw inspiration from others.

First of all, let's understand what a muse is.

A muse is defined as a person (often, a woman but not always) who serves as a source of artistic inspiration creativity, and passion for the artist.

In mythology, the Muses were nine goddesses who symbolized the arts and sciences. 

There is a spiritual reason why women serve as the source of creativity for others. This is because of them being Yin, inwardly expansive and vessels that can be receptive to a variety of influences. Water is the most feminine element and the ability of water to take the shape of whatever's its poured into is very important in this context. Water is life giving but it can also be destructive and turbulent. All of these are very telling about feminine nature.

Anyways, let's look through some artist-muse relationships in history and pop culture.

F Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald

Probably one of the most famous literary romances. Zelda was Scott's lover, wife and muse. They had a very tumultuous marriage; Zelda was diagnosed with schizophrenia and Scott was an alcoholic but they also enjoyed immense popularity and success early on in their marriage and career.

It is now known that Scott plagiarized much of his work from the diaries and letters of his wife, Zelda and was controlling & abusive towards her when she expressed interest in furthering her own literary career.

Both of them had Mars in Mrigashira as their atmakaraka

Scott had Ketu in Ashlesha & his muse, Zelda was Ashlesha Rising (and mercury which was her amatyakaraka)

2. Vita Sackville West and Virginia Woolf

They were both married to different men when they began their affair with each other. They significantly influenced each other's work; Vita wrote Seducers In Ecuador dedicated to Virginia, while Virginia's Orlando was about Vita. The relationship lasted until Virginia's death in 1941.

Vita was Uttara Ashada Rising, whereas Virginia had Venus in Uttara Ashada

Vita had Venus in Aswini and Virginia was Aswini Moon

3. Ingrid Bergman & Roberto Rossellini

They began an affair when she was still married to her husband whilst filming the movie Stromboli. She got pregnant and they later got married.

While the movies Bergman made with Rossellini were commercial failures, the films have garnered great appreciation and attention for their contribution to Italian Neo-realism.

Bergman was Magha Sun, Venus & Rising, whereas Rossellini was Magha Rising

He had Rahu in Ashlesha and she had Ketu in Ashlesha

4. Lillian Gish & D.W Griffith

Lillian Gish is called "The First Lady of American Cinema"; she was a muse to the first influential filmmaker in Hollywood, D.W. Griffith. She appeared in his ground breaking movies The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), Broken Blossoms (1919) and Way Down East (1920).

D.W Griffith was Ashlesha Moon with Mars in Vishaka atmakaraka and Ketu in Chitra

Lillian Gish had Chitra Sun, Venus & Saturn (amatyakaraka) in Vishaka and Ketu in Ashlesha

5. Norma Shearer & Irving Thalberg

Norma Shearer would be dubbed the First Lady of MGM for not only being the contracted actress with the most box-office appeal but also the wife of studio head Irving Thalberg.

Thalberg, was a film executive who was called the  “boy wonder of Hollywood” who, as the production manager of MGM, was largely responsible for the studio’s prestigious reputation.

Shearer and Thalberg were married in 1927, after which Shearer had her pick of films, parts, costars, and directors, and she used this advantage to avoid being typecast. Thalberg largely directed her career until his death in 1936.

She played sexually liberated ingenues in the 1920s & 30s and is now considered a feminist icon.

She was Ashlesha Sun (atmakaraka), Venus & Mars in Ardra and Ketu in Rohini

He was Rohini Sun, Mars in Ashlesha (amatyakaraka) and Ketu in Ardra

5. Godard and Anna Karina

Karina served as a cinematic muse to Godard, appearing in eight of his films; during their five-year marriage and after. Karina liked being the muse, stating in 2016: "How could I not be honoured? Maybe it's too much, it sounds so pompous. But of course, I’m always very touched to hear people say that. Because Jean-Luc gave me a gift to play all of those parts. It was like Pygmalion, you know? I was Eliza Doolittle and he was the teacher."

Their contribution to the French New Wave and to cinema in general is widely acknowledged and well-regarded.

Karina was Ashlesha Venus (amatyakaraka), Punarvasu Rising with Ketu in Revati

Godard was Ashlesha Mars (amatyakaraka), Jupiter in Punarvasu (amatyakaraka) with Rahu in Revati

6. Monica Vitti & Michelangelo Antonioni

For 10 years, Monica Vitti was the muse and lover of Michelangelo Antonioni for almost a decade, starring in many of his most famous films, such as L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), L’Eclisse (1962) & Red Desert (1964).

Vitti is Swati Sun with Ketu in Hasta

Antonioni has Hasta Sun, Mercury & Ketu along with his Venus in Swati

7. YSL & Paloma Picasso

Yves Saint Laurent had many muses but perhaps his most overlooked muse is Paloma Picasso

Paloma Picasso was the muse, who originally inspired Saint Laurent’s ‘Scandal’ collection of ‘71, and his career-defining turn away from the perfectionism of couture to a different kind of empowerment of something more wild, free and personal. 

YSL was Uttarashada moon (atmakaraka), Paloma had Uttarashada moon & jupiter (conjunct)

8. Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn

Givenchy designed the iconic 'little black dress' worn by Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, which cemented the actress as one of the most stylish women of the 20th century.

"His are the only clothes in which I am myself. He is far more than a couturier, he is a creator of personality," said Hepburn. The Breakfast at Tiffany's dress also helped Givenchy gain worldwide recognition, and his intricate, feminine designs became the subject of adoration.

Givenchy is Shatabhisha Sun & Jupiter

Audrey is Shatabhisha Moon

9. Bob Mackie and Cher

Mackie is a costume designer. His work with Cher has a place in fashion history, from the sheer dress she wore to the 1974 Met Gala to the beaded see-through gown she wore to accept her Oscar in 1988 (let alone, designing hundreds of her costumes for The Sonny & Cher Show).

Mackie has Ketu in Bharani and Cher has Mercury in Bharani (amatyakaraka)

10.Jean Paul Gaultier and Madonna

The cone bra—one of Madonna's most famous and recognised stage outfits from her Blonde Ambition tour—was created by Jean Paul Gaultier in 1990. The piece soon launched Gaultier's career, and solidified his relationship with the iconic performer.

Gaultier went on to design stage outfits for many of Madonna's concert tours, and she even made an appearance as a model in his spring summer '95 collection. After almost 30 years of friendship, they attended the 2018 Met Gala together (Madonna wearing one of Gaultier's designs, of course).

Gauthier is Bharani Moon & Madonna is Purva phalguni Moon & Rising

This is an example of Venus attracting & partnering with Venus.

11. Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz

They've done numerous movies together in the last 25 years. They are both Punarvasu Moon

Almodovar is a Purvaphalguni Mercury (amatyakaraka) and Ketu and Penelope is a Bharani Sun, so this is yet another Venusian creative partnership.

When it comes to artist-muse partnerships, sharing Ketu/Venus to Sun/Moon/Rising aspects seems to be very common. Its also common to see artists and their muses share the same luminaries. We are inspired by people who project our qualities in different ways. there is a reason we are drawn to certain people and its always because of how subconsciously they remind us of ourselves.

social muses, trendsetters & it girls

I'm not going to mention Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe or Princess Diana because I feel like enough has been said about them.

There are some people who seem to inspire not just one person specifically but the tastes and culture of a whole era. They are tastemakers who set trends and are widely imitated and their influence has far reaching impact. They are "muse" to everybody.

Jackie O

she is one of the most culturally influential people of the 20th century and defined her era (60s America) and is probably an early example of an "influencer", which is to say, people imitated her style, her manners etc

Jackie is Pushya Sun & Mercury, Aswini Moon, Ketu & Rising in Vishaka, Venus in Mrigashira atmakaraka.

2. Grace Kelly aka Princess Grace of Monaco

She is synonymous with elegance, flair and grace to this day and is widely regarded for her artistic success as well as her charitable endeavours. She is one of the most influential women in history.

She has Vishaka Sun (amatyakaraka) & Mars, Purvabhadrapada Moon, Swati Mercury, Ketu and Rising

3. Liz Taylor

Liz Taylor was known for her love of diamonds. She always dressed like a movie star, in very extravagant style with her plunging necklines, fur wraps, feather boas, and eye-catching headpieces. She was very glamorous

She was the first celebrity to have her own fragrance and thirty five years later, her perfume empire remains one of the most successful celebrity fragrance ventures of all time. White Diamonds is one the best selling celebrity fragrances in history. She paved the way for numerous others to follow in her foot steps, although not everyone has had her success.

She is Shatabhisha Sun & Mercury, Vishaka Moon, Jyeshta Rising along with Venus in Revati atmakaraka and Jupiter in Ashlesha amatyakaraka

4. Twiggy

She is the world's first supermodel. She is an important cultural icon and was the face of the Swinging Sixties in her babydoll dresses and mary janes.

She's Pushya Moon & Mars, and Punarvasu Rising

5. Diana Ross

Miss Ross rose to fame as the lead singer of the girl group the Supremes, which became Motown's most successful act in the 1960s, and one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. After leaving the group in 1970, she launched a successful solo career, with many huge hits across the next couple of decades. She is known for her extravagant style and is a true 80s diva who blurred the lines between costumes and everyday clothing.

She is UBP Sun, Bharani Moon, Vishaka Rising

Mercury in Revati amatyakaraka and Jupiter in Ashlesha atmakaraka

6. Beyonce

Beyonce is one of the most influential women of the 21st century. Her impact on culture is immense and undeniable.

She is Purvaphalguni Sun, Vishaka Moon (atmakaraka) & Chitra Rising

Bey & Jay have been each other's muses for a good while and have multiple albums inspired by each other. They are pop culture royalty.

Jay is Jyeshta Sun & Mercury (atmakaraka), Hasta Moon, Ketu & Rising in Purvaphalguni

7. Rihanna

RiRi is one of the most iconic women ever.

Her music, looks, products, personality- everything about her is influential af. She's multi talented and has excelled in several fields.

She is a Revati Stellium (moon, venus (amatyakaraka) & rising)

8. Paris Hilton

Probably the OG influencer. Paris defined her era (the 2000s) and has had a lasting impact on pop culture that needs to be studied. She was written out of her family will and built her own empire. She paved the way for all influencers.

Dhanishta Sun & Mercury, Pushya Moon & Jyeshta Rising

9.Kim & Kylie

I don't like them but to say they haven't had an impact on beauty/fashion/pop culture would be lying. I personally see it as a negative impact 😬 but its an impact nonetheless.

They normalized plastic surgery to such an extent that every other girl in the West and almost every famous woman at this point has fillers, botox, BBL or something done. They also paved the way for influencers entering the fashion world.

Kim is Chitra Sun, UBP Moon & Jyeshta Rising with Mercury in Vishaka amatyakaraka and Venus in Purva phalguni atmakaraka

Kylie is Ashlesha Sun, Swati Moon & Purva ashada Rising

She has Venus in Uttaraphalguni atmakaraka & Saturn in Revati amatyakaraka

10. Bella Hadid

cannot talk about it girls and not mention Bella.

she's had such a massive impact on pop culture in the late 2010s & now in the 2020s. she made y2k style as popular as it is today and is probably the only true supermodel of our era.

She's Hasta Sun (amatyakaraka), Purva phalguni Moon & Rising with Ketu in UBP, Mars in Ashlesha atmakaraka

she's inspired practically The Weeknd's entire discography. He has Ketu in Ashlesha

it's interesting to me how all the Hadid siblings have inspired a lot of pop music. (Gigi with Zayn, Anwar with Dua Lipa etc)

11. Selena Gomez

Selena's inspired way too many heartbreak songs to not be on this list.

She's Pushya Sun & Rising with Aswini Moon with Ashlesha Mercury (atmakaraka) & Venus

There has been a lot of Vishaka women and Jupiter natives in general, Pushya ladies, Ketuvian (esp Aswini), Venusian influence and a lot of people with Ashlesha atmakaraka/amatyakaraka. Pisces influence and Jyeshta influence is also seen. Why are these planets/naks/rashis recurring?

Talking about people who have a very wide impact, it makes sense as to why Jupiter natives would be here; its expansiveness reaches everyone. In fact if you look at the era defining cultural figures of any decade, you will see a common Jupiter influence. This is also why Pisces rashi (Pisces is ruled by Jupiter) is so common in the world of art & entertainment.

Venusian placements are what creates trendsetters imo. Its what makes others imitate you and want to be like you.

Ashlesha natives dominate the entertainment sphere because entertainment and all art tbh, is in the simplest terms, manipulating others.

Pushya women inspire others with their feminine charms. Ketu being the root or the tail means that its very easy for others to project on to them. They lack identity on their own; its a very shadowy realm. This is what celebrities are to most people; you don't know them or understand them, which makes it easier to project onto them and love them for that illusion.

Jyeshta represents lack and in the world of influence, more than abundance, its that space of lack that makes it easier for people to add/built on to the persona they see of someone.

I'll make a part 2 sometime but for now this is it. I hope it was insightful.

[anamorozov]

[quasi-normalcy]

If I could reboot Voyager, here are some of the changes I'd make.

Much more serialization. Still mostly episodic, of course, but things that happen in one episode would have lasting repercussions. If the ship gets damaged, well it's going to stay damaged, or they're going to have to figure out how to effect repairs. Maybe have seasonal "big bads", like Buffy.

Play up the initial conflict with the Maquis for the first few seasons, and give the Maquis actual ideological objections to the Federation (a la Eddington on Deep Space Nine), rather than just making them generically rough and tumble. There would be a whole arc where some of the Maquis talk some of the lower-ranking Starfleet officers around to their side on the grounds that Janeway effectively has a dictatorship over them for their entire lives and she's too hidebound and is squandering opportunities to get onside with possible local allies. There'll be an actual mutiny (or at least an attempted mutiny) in the first few seasons, but it will fail because Chakotay (we'll come to him in a minute) opposes it; but the ship will settle into a much more egalitarian social structure nonetheless

Seska will remain on the ship after being unmasked as a Cardassian spy, claiming asylum under the terms of the Federation-Cardassian treaty that created the De-Militarized Zone. Her presence will be a major source of the friction between the Maquis and Starfleet crews, because it turns out that her espionage actually got some of their comrades killed back in the Alpha Quadrant

Give nuance to the Kazon; play up the generational trauma inherent to their backstory, and maybe make Culluh an ambitious but sympathetic empire-builder, rather than just a violent thug

Present the Kazon as more of an actual culture with their own arts and accomplishments, rather than just as Space Gangbangers.

Two waves of despair will rock the ship for several episodes. The first when they've been stranded for a few months and the reality of their situation hits them; the second when they get in touch with the AQ and find out that the Maquis have been exterminated.

Pick an actual indigenous nation for "Chakotay" to belong to and hire actual consultants from that nation for the writing staff. It will presumably be necessary to rename the character accordingly.

Really flesh out the minor characters on the crew: Carey, Ayala, Tal Celes, Suder, Vorik, Jonas, that cosmology grad student on the lower decks who didn't want to be on the ship in the first place. All of them will make the ship feel more like an actual place with the same nine characters doing everything; and when one of them dies, it will hurt.

Relatedly, all of the people who die in the first episode will have names and friendships with the crew, and their deaths will actually mean something.

Explore the comedic and dramatic potential of Starfleet crewmen having to be roomies with Maquis terrorists. I'm thinking some initial "Odd Couple" shenanigans, growing into friendship, with a sort of hurt-comfort romance emerging after they find out that all of the Maquis back in the AQ are dead.

Give Neelix more of a dangerous streak. The first episode made him out to be a shifty conman and the first season established that he had serious PTSD. I want to see more of that Neelix.

Have it take a full season just to de-Borg Seven of Nine. Her character progress is reflected in how many of her implants she has.

Have Seven of Nine push back more on the narrow canons of "humanity" that she's expected to perform; and have it go both ways; maybe instead of it just treating it like a joke when she proposes, for example, that someone try Borg regeneration, they actually take her up on this, and Janeway is accordingly horrified. You could get a neat plot about bodily autonomy out of this.

Establish that the Borg hivemind has developed a sort of "neurosis" around humanity and Voyager, stemming from the fact that they required Voyager's help to defeat Species 8472. This is the Queen motivation for wanting Seven of Nine back in "Dark Frontier"

Kes still ascends, but she hangs around somewhat longer. And she's doing and trying lots of things, rather than just hanging around sickbay most of the time.

Have Seven spend more time with Tuvok; maybe adopt Vulcan philosophy

There are no holodecks for the first few seasons because they need to conserve power. When they finally get them up and running, it's a big frigging deal. Before that, there's a whole plot where someone (Tom Paris) uses the emergency medical holoprojectors to make Sickbay into a holodeck, much to the Doctor's consternation. Janeway, however, allows it for a few hours a day as a means of building crew morale.

They build alliances and trade networks in the Delta Quadrant, and eventually realise that this is home for them now

[yurimother]

'I'm in Love with the Villainess' English Audiobook Announced

On Friday, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that it is publishing an audiobook version of Inori's isekai Yuri romance I'm in Love with the Villainess (Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou). The first volume (6 hours and 54 minutes )will be released on November 16, 2023, and the second (10 hours and 45 minutes) on December 7.

Seven Seas is releasing the audiobook under its recently announced audiobook imprint, Siren. It is narrated by voice actress Courtney Shaw (Maesetsu! Opening Act). It will be sold digitally on major platforms, including Audible, audiobook.com, BookWalker, Chrip, Kobo, Overdrive, and Nook.

Seven Seas Entertainment licenses all five volumes of the light novels in English. They follow office worker Oohashi Rei, who wakes up as Rae Taylor, the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. However, Rae is not interested in any of the game world's eligible bachelors, only having eyes for Claire Francois - the antagonist! And Rae is determined to save Claire from her destined fate.

Inori began publishing the series as a webnovel on Shousetsuka ni Naro in early 2018. GL Bunko licensed the light novels digitally in Japan and published the first volume in 2019. Hanagata draws the illustrations for the light novel. In 2021, Ichijinsha began publishing the light novels in paperback.

I'm in Love with the Villainess gained popularity in several overseas markets, including Korea and America. Critics and audiences praise it for its focus on LGBTQ+ themes, characters, world-building, and story.

A manga adaptation of I'm in Love with the Villainess began serialization in Comic Yuri Hime in June 2020. Ichijinsha publishes six collected volumes of the manga in Japanese. Inori also launched a spin-off, She's so Cheeky for a Commoner (Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!), which retells the the series from Claire's point of view. Gl Bunko licensed the spin-off in Japan.

Seven Seas Entertainment licensees both the I'm in Love with the Villainess manga adaptations and the She's so Cheeky for a Commoner spin-off in English. It will release volume five of the manga on October 24 (October 12 digitally) and volume 2 of the spin-off light novel on April 9, 2024.

I'm in Love with the Villainess is also inspiring a television anime adaptation. Hideaki Oba directs the anime at Platinum Vision. It premieres on October 2 and will stream internationally on Crunchyroll.

Source: Press Release, Seven Seas Official Website (release dates)

[random-brushstrokes]

Nasta Rojc - Self Portrait with a Rifle (1912)

Nasta Rojc, one of the first academically educated female painters in Croatia, was born in 1883 into a wealthy family. Her father was Croatian politician Milan Rojc, a former Minister of Education. From a young age she didn’t fit the stereotype of a young girl so, after many quarrels with her family, she persuaded them to let her peruse her true calling – painting. She was mentored by the prominent Croatian painter Oton Iveković thanks to whom she became skillful enough to continue educating herself in Vienna and Munich, alongside some of the most exquisite artists like Miroslav Kraljević and Josip Račić. She excelled at portraits and landscapes, but although she was often present in various galleries, her work was frequently overlooked. In order to obtain a better status in society her family talked her into an arranged marriage with her friend, a colleague painter, Branko Šenoa. Their marriage was based on friendship – there was neither romance nor intimacy. Nevertheless, Nasta stayed legally married to Branko until his death in 1939, even after she met her one true love.

Because of her poor health, Nasta took a trip to England, just after the end of World War I. Through one encounter she managed to heal her physical and emotional health. She met Alexandrina Maria Onslow, an officer of the British army, famous for her bravery on the war field that brought her medals of honor. Alexandrine was an exceptional woman, famous for testing the boundaries of femininity, thus opening Nasta up to her true nature. Nasta and Alexandrine traveled throughout England and Scotland getting to know one another and becoming deeply infatuated with one another; luckily, this love and infatuation lasted a lifetime and beyond. On that trip, Nasta painted the first painting of an automobile in Croatian art history, making a precedent once again, merely by her extravagantly bold life choices for that time. The two lovers returned to Zagreb together and started living together in a house that Nasta designed herself, along with a well-known architect Hugo Ehrlich, in a famous area of Zagreb, Rocco’s park.

Unfortunately, not everything went smoothly for the couple. Nasta and Alexandrine supported the partisans and after the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941 their home was confiscated and though both of them were ill (at that time age 60 and 75), they were arrested, but soon released on account of insufficient proof. The stress was unbearable for Alexandrine, who started to fall ill more frequently, until she eventually died in 1949, leaving devastated Nasta alone. Nasta spent most of her time in the rose garden, reminiscing of her departed partner, allegedly barely painting. She died forgotten and poor on November 6, 1964, on the date of her birth. She was buried next to her beloved Alexandrine Onslow on the Mirogoj cemetery. (source)

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

You always have the best thought out and researched Hobie takes, so I have a punkflower question for you. How does Hobie respond to his boyfriend's father being a cop? I feel too many fics and creators tend to brush it under the rug. How do you think that situation would pan out?

OOOOHHH YAY HOBIE AND COP STUFFFFF SO lets talk about

Miles, Hobie, and Having a Dad In Blue

[I'm gonna be transparent like Miles - there's no open romance in this. This is mainly a short thing about Hobie helping Miles heal from the pressures of his family - just wanted to give a heads up so no one gets to the end and gets disappointed lol]

Honestly, when I think about it -

I think Hobie's first reaction would be more about Miles, than it would be his own feelings.

Like I don't think his first thought would be 'ew' or 'that's horrible' . I think automatically his first thought would be -

'That makes a lot of sense'.

First thing that pops into his head.

Hobie and Miles come from two very different universes, and the ways they handle their shared identity of Spider-man is really different too.

We hear it directly in Hobie's introduction - He's NOT a Role Model.

But earlier in the movie, Officer Davis' biggest gripes with Spider-man - with Miles - is that he is not enough of a role model.

Miles is trying his best. He wants to be a good hero for his dad's sake - knowing one day the cat will be out of the bag.

That's different than Gwen and her father. Her father already knows GhostSpider as a murderer, and there's no reversing that. Gwen knew her father would never accept her - so she hasto keep it a secret - in definitely.

She'll never be a role model to her father - and she's not trying to be anymore. That's Gwen's arc.

An arc Miles hasn't gone on yet. He still wants to be a role model. He wants his dad to idolize and like Spider-man because he doesn't plan to keep it a secret indefinitely.

Unlike Gwen, he wants his father to know who he is.

But he can't - he still feels like he has something to live up to - a code of honor he feels he isn't reaching.

Miles wants to be good enough.

So Hobie sees him going through this struggle all the time, of wanting to be like Peter, wanting to impress his dad, worrying about telling his parents. And not knowing the source -

And then Miles is like "OH By the way, my dad's a cop."

I feel like it would just click for Hobie. He'd be like "That makes a lot of sense, if I'm being honest."

If anything I think he'd feel for Miles first and foremost. That's what Hobie does.

He'd immediately see Miles, and the effect his dad has on him, in both good and bad ways. His dad helps Miles strive to be better - but that also leaves him feeling guilty and alone.

I think he'd go on to be like "That's gotta be tough. Is that the reason why you X, Y, Z?"

And Miles - Poor Miles probably wouldn't even pick up on this until that very moment. Having Hobie say to this him would probably leave him a little shook.

But it'd be SO relieving.

Gwen and Miles don't talk about their family. Gwen isn't a talky person. Miles doesn't really have anyone to talk to about his family dynamic or his situation at home.

Like even Miles!42 - His uncle Aaron KNOWS he's Prowler. Miles doesn't have that support.

And then Hobie would give it to him, and be like 'I understand', 'That must suck', 'You don't have to be a role model, you just have to be yourself.'

Hobie offers that support all without Miles asking - (Miles is finna cry)

All because Miles having a cop as a dad immediately explains a lot of the struggles he's going through. And Hobie can see that. It makes him frustrated and he'd want to at least be someone Miles can talk to.

Like police corruption and oppression aside, living in the shadow of someone with a black and white view of right and wrong, or good and bad, sucks.

Growing up under someone who abides by order and swears by it SUCKS, because the world in unorderly. The universe is.

Hobie knows this. Him meeting Officer Davis however is a whole thing -

Honestly speaking, I'd think he'd look at Miles dad with pity. Like 'Damn you're a good father and a good husband - but you're a cop'.

He'd probably turn up to the cookout, make himself and his views known (not changing the laces) and if Miles' dad really finds a problem with them he can ask.

Hobie will happily tell him "I'm not from here. The place I'm from is a lot less nice and a lot more corrupt than this one. What I did ain't fun - but it was in the name of liberty. I guess you know all about 'defending liberty', don't you? You wear a blue uniform to remind you. I wear blue laces."

Because it's the truth. Hobie will say that shit without blinking. Standing there like

'Now is there a problem, officer?' Just because he wears blue laces DOESN'T mean he lacks a moral code.

Hobie has a moral code. A VERY strong one - and simply in the way he carries himself, you can tell that he's committed to that code.

Maybe even more than Officer Davis. They have two different moral codes, but I'm sure Miles dad can identify on sight - and respect - 'We both are the type to stand by what we think is right'

Because by Hobie not changing himself, he's showing that he won't bend his morals for Miles' family. But there's differences in the way they operate and that's okay.

But ALL IN ALL -

I think Hobie learning about Miles' Dad would

Bring them closer together. For the first time Miles has words and reason behind the pressure he feels. Why he looks up to his dad and is annoyed with him at the same time. Hobie would catch the connection right away, and open the discussion. And Miles is open to talking, we see it in their scene before Miguel's office. I think having that outlet would help Miles SO much. I feel like he'd become more confident over night. Hobie telling him there's no rules or laws or academy when it comes to being Spider-man. There are certain circumstances where the police just can't help. That's what Spider-man is for. To go above and beyond the black and white authority society has created. It'd be so liberating for Miles.

Garner some respect between Officer Davis and Hobie. It kinda sounds backwards. But lets be honest, if they're at the dinner table and Officer Davis asks about one of Hobie's political patches - he's gonna tell him what he thinks straight out. Hobie's wearing a 'Dearm the Police' patch and Miles' dad asks about it - Hobie's gonna be like 'Yeah, they don't need those weapons. The lot of them are already weapons themselves.' And of course Officer Davis is gonna want a conversation about it, and Hobie loves hearing himself talk. But it never gets heated. It's them going back and forth dropping these huge points and citing examples and bringing up theoretical scenarios. It's just - THEY KEEP TALKING. Rio is like 'Hun, please your food is getting cold.' And Jeff is like 'One second - *Turns to Hobie* In 1983 there was a court case about a cop- *continues his long as counterpoint*' What even more interesting - HOBIE HAS A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HISTORY THAN JEFF. Yeah, all those cases in the 70's that Jeff was a baby for. Yeah, Hobie was there and a teenager - the equivalent of cases still match up. So Jeff is debating at the dinner table with a dude who is technically older than him - but he doesn't know that so Hobie keeps catching him off guard with that SMUG ASS GRIN Miles is sighing under his breath like 'Hobie COME ON let him win PLEASE' So for Miles, and ONLY MILES, Hobie lets it slide. Until Jeff turns on the TV. And the first thing they see on the screen is s report about politics and NOW THEY'RE BACK AT IT AGAIN FUCK Hobie pointing at the screen like 'Case & Point, m8. Thats exactly what I mean!' Fuck outta here, Hobie will debate till the cows come home.

It'd help Miles and his dad a lot Officer Davis would probably be left with a HUGE amount of respect for Hobie. Because yeah he looks like a delinquent - to someone obvious trained by the system. But Hobie knows his shit. He knows how to maneuvour in conversation, how to pick peoples brains, and understand their reasoning. He GENUINELY wants to have a conversation. Because he genuinely believes he can back himself up in a calm and logic way. So why not talk about it? After Hobie leaves there would always be a silence - and that's because yeah they went back and fourth for 40 minutes, but Hobie ALWAYS leaves you with something to think about. Or consider. Or re-evaluate. Honestly Miles has NO idea what his dad thinks. Usually his dad would be ranting still - but he looks more thoughtful. Just replaying the discussion he had with Hobie. Miles might ask his dad what he thinks - but his dad might say something vague like Officer Stacy did - call him a 'piece of work' It isn't until later when Miles' dad knocks on his door that he realizes how much Hobie has an impact. Even if his dad didn't know about his secret identity - I think he would see how much his police training effects his home and Miles in specific. How much pressure that can put on someone. Officer Davis would replay the story Hobie told him of the unnamed girl whose father shot at her. And he'd consider how anyone could choose their badge over their kid. Maybe he has a discussion with Miles, apologizes for the pressure he puts on him, telling Miles he's proud of him.

And Miles would know it's all because of Hobie. Because Hobie cares about him and Hobie knows how to approach people, all type of people.

Officer Davis would KNOW how Hobie feels about cops. And he's know why. He'd at the very least understand Hobie, or respect him. Hobie would make him realize - 'Oh hey, you don't have to be a role model to be a good person'.

Because Hobie Brown is NOT a role model. He's something better.

That's just how I see it. I think Hobie is a great mediator tbh. It's his strongest talent. It's the reason why Miles trusts him to much to begin with.

ANNNDDD As per usual if you made it this far - THANK YOU!!!! The gift shop is to the left. As courtesy here is a photo of Hobie with a bonus photo of Miles that I think is really really funny.

I don't know why that photo of Miles is SOOO funny to me- I think its the fact his hands are in fists his expression is so unreadable IT LOOKS LIKE HES ABOUT TO SOCK ME IN THE MOUTH Im in legit tears laughing at that

Bye.

[erikatsu]

A SUMMER AFTERNOON. — YINGXING

SERIES MASTERLIST.

ᥫ᭡ SUMMARY: Everyone talked about whirlwind romances, but you had never experienced it for yourself. Not until you met an outworlder who caught you by surprise. Unfortunately, nobody had told you that whirlwind romances tended to blow by quicker when one of you was destined to out live the other.

ᥫ᭡ PAIRING: Blade/Yingxing x Fem!Reader

ᥫ᭡ WARNINGS: Blade story spoilers + HSR leaks/spoilers. Star crossed lovers. Fast paced (Blade is a short-life species). Non-canon compliance. Blade will be referred to as "Yingxing" until current timeline. Hinduism based Vidyadhara world building (its fairly heavy this chapter). Reader is neurodivergent coded. "Manasa" is reader's title.

ᥫ᭡ NOTE: I accidentally deleted the original post so we're trying again 🥲

Patience is a virtue. It was something the Elders had tried to drill into you from a young age, but to no avail. You lacked both. When it came to training the young man, especially since he was preparing to undergo the Rites of Vishnu, you grew apathetic and impatient. You had undergone the same trials, training every day after being chosen by the Elders to uphold the Aeon of Permanence’s creations. All in hopes of reaching the esteemed title of Imbititor Lunae. 

The title was one all Elders had a chance of reaching. The next in line for it was Dan Feng, the young man you were currently trying to coach on how to use his dual power. It was important that he learn control and balance, as loss of his power could be fatal to many. But, this situation was new to you seeing that you’d never actually taught anyone how to balance their elemental power alongside water manipulation. At least, not in this life.  

There were, of course, records and training materials in the Office of Deep Sources for you to read, but that would take way too much time for you to completely go through. You were starting to curse yourself for only skimming the important bits, watching the young man struggle with the water. 

“Stop,” you sighed, folding your arms over your chest. “We can try again tomorrow.”

He shook his head, “I’ve almost got it.”

You pursed your lips, knowing you were about to sound like the biggest hypocrite of the Vidyadhara race, “Patience is a virtue, Dan Feng. At least take a break. Let's go over the Old Laws again.”

He gave you a bored look, “I can recite them in my sleep.”

“Integrity,” you raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to do exactly what he said he could do. 

You had no doubt he could recite them in his sleep. You could as well. After all, being an Elder meant learning everything about the Rites so it could be continuously passed down with each rebirth of the destined Imbibitor Lunae. One of the first things your kind learned were the Seven Old Laws. They were no longer used as actual laws that were punishable, but now were used as stepping stones for achieving Permanence. 

“The Electus must preserve integrity as a hallowed tool,” Dan Feng sounded bored, yet listened to your unspoken instruction. “Impeccable honesty with oneself and others lies at the core of leadership, and the integrity of one’s mind is at last sacred.”

You nodded, as if to tell him to continue. Integrity was the first law. The refusal to lie, steal, or deceive in any way set the path of the moral high ground. People would not follow a leader they couldn't put their complete faith into. The second was pacifism. One must not torment, insult, or wish ill intent onto another being. To harm others is to harm oneself. A law that had definitely been outgrown thanks to the decline in the loss over Long’s power and life in the Rolling Deep had become too dangerous. But, it was still imperative to not actively and intentionally harm others if you were not defending yourself or anyone else. 

The third law you struggled with, patience. One must control their impulsive desires by regulating life with daily meditation. Impatience is a sign of desirousness to fulfill unfulfilled desires. Many trials and tribulations would be brought to the Imbibitor Lunae, even if they were all minuscule. The ability to maintain one’s composure was something you hadn't been blessed with. 

Forebearance and Dama, the fourth and fifth laws went hand in hand with the second and third. One must practice the acceptance of their sufferings and refrain from unjust retaliation. One must return kindness for injuries received and forget both, and those who harm shall be punished by their own shame– the Law of Forbearance preached tolerance. One must withdraw their external senses and turn their mind away from evil deeds and propensities. Become master of the senses and a servant– the Law of Dama preached restraint. Applied together they could achieve pacifism.

The law you thought you could never follow was the sixth law, virtue. One must cultivate and refine their belief of what the good of the Vidyadhara are. One must have the disposition to follow the path of taking actions that lead to high moral standards. You struggled to cultivate your own beliefs. Your Pearlkeeper had been convinced that the reason for this was due to lack of energy during your hatching and rebirth period. However, you never fell victim to the Everdream Syndrome– a comatose state some Vidyadharas suffer from when there is an insufficient energy conversion while inside their pearl.

What afflicted you was much different, which also made it hard to achieve the last law. Compassion. One must place one’s mind in another's favor. One must find understanding of another's sufferings to help alleviate and prevent it with the three facets: noticing, feeling, and responding. You lacked empathy, therefore you could not find it within yourself to shoulder other people's burdens. Of course, this didn't apply to everyone, just those you did not know personally. You knew your lifeline would never end up inheriting the High Elder title for that reason, and you were fine with that. But, it also isolated you in a way. People often found you difficult to deal with and hard to understand. 

Sometimes you wondered if that's why the Elders had decided to make you the Pearlkeeper of the current Electus– the chosen one who was not yet ready for the title of his birthright. Perhaps they thought taking on the responsibility of raising a hatchling would give you a better sense of forming connections with others. While it did help with watching your tone and not being so abrasive, not everyone had the pleasure of seeing you able to hold a decent conversation. 

Dan Feng, who had indeed recited the Laws verbatim, was really the only one who got to see you for your true self. Everyone else got to deal with an ill-tempered, bad mouthed, eye-contact avoiding scion. Then again, he was more of a ward to you than anything, and his lifelong connection to you was different than building relationships with people you've only had small conversations with. 

You looked at him, seeing he was patiently waiting for further instruction. You sighed, “Let this be our last lesson for today. Be honest with yourself, relax and clear your mind of outside hindrances. Focus and remind yourself of who you are and what your purpose is. Then try the move again.”

He nodded, determined to get it right this time. He took his stance and squared his shoulders, raising his arms. You stepped forward, mirroring his pose. “Think of your element as Yin and the water as Yang. Two separate energies coexisting within you. If you keep the Old Laws in mind, you will be able to separate them and guide the imbalance. You cannot command the power, and trying will only backfire and make you lose control. You can only shepherd it in the right direction as the energies come back together.”

You moved your arm, watching closely as he mimicked your actions and talked him through the correct process. You swept your raised hand down, glancing at him before jutting it upwards. His form was perfect, ready to apply both powers behind it. You stepped back, giving him the room he needed to execute what he’d been practicing. 

He took his stance once again, drawing in a deep breath. Just as he was about to start, a man came running down the steps to the platform you two stood on. It was the most spacious area of the Scalegorge Waterscape, perfect for practicing the technique you had been trying to teach.

You gritted your teeth as the man approached, irritated that you’d been interrupted when you were almost finished with your lesson. Dan Feng turned to see what had soured your mood, slightly frowning when he saw a familiar face. 

“Apologies, Master Manasa. I know you value your time but there is an urgent matter that requires your assistance,” Haoyu, a Master Craftsman from the Artisanship Commission, told you while desperately trying to catch his breath. 

You narrowed your eyes, preparing for him to tell you someone had gotten burned by the Creation Furnace again, “It better be life or death. There are other healers within the Alchemy Commission who are more than capable of handling–”

“It's Master Yingxing. He’s collapsed and is unresponsive,” He cut you off, which was enough for you to understand. “Doctor Mei Ling is the one who told us to find you.”

Healers could only heal, but none besides you had yet mastered the art of retrieving a soul from the place between life and death. If this was truly why you were needed, time was of the essence. You looked to Dan Feng, giving a simple nod that told him he was free to do as he saw fit. Practice could wait until later, you had another job to do now.

Life forms on the Xianzhou were complicated. Several species were aboard all fleets, ranging from outworlder humans to the near immortal Vidyadhara. Being a healer meant you had to have an understanding of the species you were treating, what medicines they could and could not have, and which treatment plans were the best options. Being the Manasa, the Master Healer of the Vidyadhara, meant you were best equipped to handle the toughest of cases, especially ones that centered around death. 

Healing was something you could do in your sleep. Ever since hatching, medicine and better understanding the people of your world have always called to you. You had a natural gift, excelling in school and unparalleled in practice. When you had nothing new to learn, the Elders allowed you into the Deep Sources to learn more. There you’d discovered a lost art used in the Rolling Deep before the Vidyadharas had joined the Alliance. They called it Kundalini, the art of guiding souls. 

The Elders were not keen on allowing you to practice it, as the consequences of error were too great of a risk to take. That was until a rare case presented itself. A Pearlkeeper had come from Scalegorge Waterscape to seek help with an embryo that seemed to be lifeless– an egg much too small for the part of the cycle it was in. You had seen your chance and begged to take it. If you could guide the soul back to the host, it could live on. If you couldn't... Well, the egg was already on its way to dying. 

It was a one time spectacle. All of the Elders had gathered to watch, including High Elder Yuchen– the Imbibitor Lunae before Dan Feng. You had sat in front of it, recalling everything you had learned to prove that you could do it. Even though you’d read countless books and journals of cases on what to do and how to do it, nothing could prepare you for what spiritual enlightenment felt like. You weren't sure you could describe it either. But at the end of the day, you had successfully guided the stuck soul back to its incubator, and High Elder Yuchen taught you how to refine the art. Upon his satisfaction with your progress, he gave you a title only few had reached since leaving the Rolling Deep. 

Although in the eyes of the Vidyadhara, you required no more instruction, the same could not be said for the Alchemy Commission. You still had to work your way from the bottom up, earning you a much lighter workload, but having to handle the worst cases. It was also the only thing that allowed you to teach the current candidate for the Imbibitor Lunae. 

For a time, with your capabilities becoming clear early on in your current life, the Elders thought you would be the next Electus upon your next rebirth. However, time proved them wrong. Your refusal to learn anything other than medicine on top of behavioral issues your Pearlkeeper reported as you grew up told them that your rebirth had not gone as smoothly as it had previously. It was rare, but not unheard of. Just as the Foxians and the humans had their own unique afflictions, the Vidyadhara did too. 

While Everdream Syndrome and Vritra Disorder became a thing for your kind, Mara struck the other long-lives, and a common cold could bring down a short-life species. 

The Vidyadhara had always believed that all creatures were connected to each other, and that no life cycle was inferior to another– that regardless of how short or long, each one was everlasting. But you did not think so. Maybe you had taken the teaching too literal– as you tended to do with many things from time to time– but you didn't see the other long-life species being reborn, and you didn't see most humans who came to the Xianzhou live past two hundred. 

While you did understand no species was superior to another, you had always thought mortals who came here seeking immortality were foolish. It showed they knew nothing of the Xianzhou, as immortality was forbidden. Afterall, their biggest enemy were the Denizens of the Abundance– the seekers of eternal life who followed The Plague’s Author. Those who sought it ended up being your problem, and you feared that was the case this time as Haoyu flew his starskiff back to the Alchemy Commission.

“I need all of the patient’s information so I can get started immediately,” you told him as the vehicle grew closer to the destination. 

He glanced at you before focusing in front of him once more, “He’s one of our Master Craftsmen, Yingxing. Short-life species, moved here as a child. He collapsed in the square, and so far has been unresponsive.”

Your eyes narrowed, “Is it Mara?”

Haoyu shrugged, “Doubtful. He was one of the youngest Master Craftsmen the Artisanship Commission has ever seen, taken on the most apprentices too. He’s dedicated to his life’s work.”

That kind of dedication could very well lead one down the path of seeking immortality, you thought bitterly. But, having more than a couple of apprentices didn't seem in character for an elixir seeker. 

Craftsmen were proud, wanting to show off to many but share with few. The more apprentices one had, the less unique they would be. For a craftsman who had very little time, many apprentices made sense. He had a lot of work on his plate, and he needed all hands on deck. However, he may have been working himself to death.

You sighed, countless possibilities running through your mind. A psychological break caused by the stress he was putting himself through? Or had organs begun to shut down, causing toxic-metabolic encephalopathy– a coma? A heart attack?

You didn't know, and you could only hope you had the time to find out.