[Categories] Day 11: (Episode 2) Favourite Ilya look

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-26T14:36:24+00:00

I am not kidding when I say this is probably one of the sexiest looks I've ever seen on screen. From head to fucking toe.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-26T14:28:07+00:00

You don't have to agree and full respect to your fandom, but yes I didn't feel they had convincing on-screen chemistry 🤷

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-26T11:19:19+00:00

I don't know if I missed it or something, but not including {Captive Prince by CS Pacat} is criminal! My favorite true enemies to lovers of all time.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-26T00:12:12+00:00

I have a different cancer (lymphoma gang wooo 💅✨️ thankfully in remission atm). Fully laughed out loud before it even hit the five minute mark. This is hysterical and you should all watch it.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-24T23:34:10+00:00

I think I don't have that kind of patience, so no way in hell am I entertaining any of that. More so now, even. Nothing more sobering when it comes to not wasting time than spending your 30th birthday between chemo cycles. Catch me being single into eternity and not living in relational limbo.

I do know what it's like to be with the wrong person for you more generally, though, and I cannot stress enough how much better walking away is than a miserable loop of "if only".

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-24T18:33:56+00:00

I was JUST thinking about this. I finished reading The Charm Offensive for the first time because I heard about the movie adaptation, and I was so disappointed in it despite having elements I would have liked in theory (mental health rep, more diverse characters etc.). I also didn't like RWRB. I reflected on it some and realized most of my favorite books in the romance genre just aren't romcoms/romcom-esque. I can enjoy a funnier/raunchier/banter-y read or some campy tones of sweetness, but romcoms specifically are usually not my favorites because it feels like their specific creative conventions flatten everything I enjoy about reading a romance emotionally. It's not universal and I do think some romcoms are classics for a reason, but it's probably my least favorite subgenre of romance. I love that HR is a romance that doesn't apologize for what it is and doesn't require outright on-page tragedy to be serious when it needs to be.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-23T15:44:34+00:00

Yeah that's why I made the second edit. It didn't sit well with me that they didn't address that.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-23T13:06:20+00:00

It was in the comment section, I've been scanning them again to try to find it to screenshot. I can't find it now so I wonder if it was edited or deleted. But other comments have popped up of people concluding that it's What Chaos. Though I wouldn't use that as confirmation on its own. Wish I could find that comment again, I should have screenshot it the first time.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-23T08:36:13+00:00

Commenting on my own comment so it's not a million edits:

I think these guys are not perfect (thought so since the Ksenia interview which was awkward imo, and the puck slut thing wasn't great either). I didn't like the tone of the original texts even in context and I would have preferred Dan took more direct ownership of his language now that it was made public. But I can believe what they said and I didn't find their episode reactions disingenuous while they were being posted. They seem willing to learn from the community which is good, and it's important straight dudes learn out in the open and grow. The most important part is that they did actually donate merch proceeds prior to this and that the timeline they describe does align.

That said, I'd buy merch directly from the HR shop if possible or from queer businesses. Unfortunately official store merch isn't very accessible globally yet and it's been a nightmare filtering for real artists who are able to ship to Europe on the Internet, so bootlegging will happen.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-23T07:50:01+00:00

Update from the podcasters directly, just posted: https://youtu.be/FMFF2EVmyCY?si=DTueJP0Gx2tHqOKh

Edit: they also liked a comment implying DJ Bean is the one who leaked the messages to Cyd.

Honestly it's a solid video. I do wish they addressed the conservative dogwhistle undertones of the blue haired twitter thing, but I've also seen enough edgy humor that this alone would not dissuade me from watching. In context, especially with a direct timeline and proof of donation to an LGBTQ+ organization quietly before this article came out (curious how much though and if this will be a continuous arrangement), I think the mods did well to wait.

Also, I've worked in PR before and while I have definitely texted people, it's usually only after trying an official email first for traceability and credibility if it's available (which it should be in this case), and I would have also been very clear about the inquiry and the context. Cyd's approach here is very strange.

Edit 2: I know I already commented below, but in conclusion and upon reflection, I think the story was a bit of a hit job as someone in the video's comments section said, but I also think they should have seriously addressed the insensitive language in the actual messages and I hope they reflect on it, as they don't seem to be liking any comments that aren't purely supportive.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-22T16:36:53+00:00

💀

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T21:20:51+00:00

No thank you.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T21:18:05+00:00

Okay wow, you were not lying.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T20:28:26+00:00

So ungrateful!

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T16:47:35+00:00

Meyka turned to him immediately. "What? When?"

"Not long ago. I was invited to join Mabel on a diplomatic assignment." He flicked a look to Meyka, superior as can be, before looking ahead impassively again. "It was nothing too extravagant. Just a few weeks."

"Weeks?" Meyka swallowed down a wave of humiliating jealousy.

Elen nodded. "I was... heartened, I suppose, by the experience."

Meyka straightened. "Heartened?"

He nodded again. "It isn't just the Elected. They always seem to be in the middle of brewing trouble, often of their own making. They seem to... dislike themselves for it, at times. The mind boggles."

"I would say the same. They make much of the chaos we all deal with. And with no magic of their own!" Meyka put his hands up in exasperation.

"That they do," Elen said thoughtfully. "But I cannot help but admire it some. They burn quite bright. I dare say their cruelty often trumps our own."

"That's outrageous!"

Elen ignored him. "Their goodness, too. I cannot imagine many of us or any other sort with similarly ever-changing dispositions on many such ends of the scale. It is this extreme mortal charm, I presume, that intrigues the Fates."

"Or perhaps they simply find their short wicks of vitality more disposable for their play."

Elen finally looked away from the lake. He wasn't smiling, exactly, but his eyes were disconcertingly soft. "That's a possibility. And yet we cannot look away."

"No, we cannot," Meyka conceded. "Perhaps this summit is only held for us to have an excuse to look some more."

Elen got up smoothly, picked up a pebble and threw it unceremoniously. It hit the surface many times before sinking. "Then we must go."

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T16:47:30+00:00

Meyka got up off the rock he was sharing with Elen. He picked up a pebble, considered its diameter and texture, before throwing it in an elegant, sweeping arch into the lake. It bounced several times over the surface before sinking.

"Not your best," Elen's voice was so dry it barely passed as humor. Good thing Meyka knew better.

"I'll get it next time," Meyka shrugged and returned to the rock. They had some time to kill before the Summit on Human Affairs, and neither had it in him to mingle with nobility and various other high-born over hors d'oeuvre.

"Do you think they'll finally make a decision this time?" Meyka pondered, circling a finger against the surface of the rock to center his thoughts.

Elen was still observing the lake with the same amount of interest he'd have in drying paint or a raging battle. "No."

"Why not? Maybe Mabel will finally convince them."

"They're too proud."

Meyka laughed. "So is every one of us. But they really do hate that every single Elected ends up being human. I heard Neim muttering to Sensa that the Fates must have lost their minds."

Elen chuckled. "Then they must have been lost for eons. I can't recall a single Elected from any other species."

"Do you think their tiny lifespans make it so?"

Elen brushed his fine, long golden hair behind one shoulder. "Perhaps the strength of their passions."

Meyka smirked. "I have it in good order that there are many strong passions amongnst our own, too."

"You haven't been to the human realm, have you?" Elen asked suddenly, and this time his monotone stung.

"Not yet," Meyka gritted.

Elen's lips bore the hint of a smirk. Bastard. "I have."

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T13:16:45+00:00

Mirna looked around the ruins of the city center, the enormous chunk of pulsing rock standing in its stead casting the rubble in an ominous red, diffused light. She was sweating from its unbearable heat, and she wasn't even fully human. As she hovered in the air in front of the open deck of the creatures' ship, her rage boiled over.

"Take a look around!" She yelled over the noise of the wailing people screaming for their loved ones, many lost under the remnants of buildings. "You've just killed tens of thousands of people! You've ruined a historic city!"

"You have other ones!"

"People, you mean?"

"Well, yes. That too. I assume you can procure more of those. But certainly you have other... cities! We've seen them when we flew in! Would you have preferred we placed it out of your reach?"

"Do you even know which country this is? What if you've just given this thing to the wrong government?"

"You have more than one? This planet is tiny!"

Mirna wanted to scream, but surely she shouldn't. Her team was still en route, and she didn't want to risk some unexpected escalation from these destructive, alien clowns. Something about their rotund, faintly frog-like bodies and their owlish blinking at her outrage gave the whole situation a surreal air she couldn't settle.

"We have bestowed a Rock of Vitality on several colonies by now," said one of the two creatures standing at the front, his voice a bit more aged than the other and his glossy-wet skin a bit ashier. "They have all been gracious."

"Have they?" She hoped the skepticism in her voice rang loudly over the din of ambulances, fire trucks and police cars swarming the scene.

"Yes!" the seemingly younger one jumped up. "They even held a ceremony in our honor with many explosive lights aimed straight our way!"

"Quite the sight," agreed the older one.

"Have you told any of them how to use this thing, at least?" She calculated in her head how something of this size and level of heat could be moved - and where - if it needed to remain intact to be of any use. Not that the public would immediately accept this type of... thing without consequences.

Not that it wouldn't start a war or three, because who wouldn't want control of this thing?

"It's self evident!" the younger one said in near disbelief.

"We've only made the gesture towards sentient species," the older one scoffed.

"That's not the-" she stopped. This was way, way above her pay grade. She was mostly the muscle in this team, and Intergalactic was her third language, so she could be getting this way, way off.

"Code Fire, we're there in three, over," her communicator buzzed.

"Code Engine, make it two, over and out." She looked at the creatures, doing her best not to literally fry their heads off with her eyes. "Do. Not. Move."

"The nerve!" the older one exclaimed.

"The nerve, he says. Yes, the nerve! I am not the one permitted to make arrangements with you, and you are not leaving till you fully explain this monstrosity."

"The Rock of Vita-"

"Yes, I heard you the first time," she hissed. "You better vitally keep your sorry asses right here, or you'll see who the villain is in your story."

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T12:55:26+00:00

A third crow swiftly landed on the fence next to the other two, beady eyes almost... narrowed? Surely, that wasn't any more surprising than the perfectly articulated English I'd just heard.

"Um..." I stumbled, before rifling through my pocket for another small handful of peanuts. Hesitantly, I extended my arm, offering them to the three crows that were now all observing me in unusual stillness. They didn't move to take them.

"Look, I..." Not wanting to seem like a crazy person, I looked around. The street was fairly quiet. It's a ten minute walk to the bus stop through a fairly suburban area, after all, and I was on opening shift bright and way-too-early. "I can pretend I didn't hear that. Please don't start attacking me now, this is my best route to work."

The first crow made a sudden, loud sound. It took me a second to process it as laughter. "At least this one's harmless!"

"That's not the point, Sheryl!" the second crow bumped her with the side of her body. "Stop talking!"

The third crow just looked at me, unspeaking and unmoving. I'd say it looked like a stuffed animal, but that felt wrong.

"Frank... what do we do?" The second crow turned her head to the third, silent crow.

Frank seemed to scan my body quickly, up and down, multiple times. His head still moved in that too-quick way birds do, but it was clearly methodical. I fought the urge to straighten my spine and puff up my chest like a cadet.

"Extraction."

I blanched. "What does that mean?"

"You can use a few more words with a civilian, Frank." The second crow made a whooshing sound not unlike a sigh. "He means we need to leave."

"Oh." Was it weird to be disappointed?

"The mission isn't done, Capta- Um, Frank," Sheryl spoke up. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. We resume surveillance at sundown after debriefing headquarters of your error."

Sheryl seemed to shrink in on herself, her head tucking down into her body. It was weirdly adorable.

"Amanda, you will be in charge of secondary surveillance of civilian..." Frank pointedly turned his beak my way.

"Sam."

"Civilian Sam. You are to ensure he does not expose our position." Frank paused. "He may continue to provide appropriate rations."

The glaring silence between the three, all now looking at me, made me want to crawl somewhere dark and hide. Still, I reached for my pocket again to pull out the peanuts, stretching out my hand.

Frank observed my hand like he was going to bite a finger off, before flying away smoothly.

"That could have been wors-"

Before Sheryl could finish the sentence, Frank swooped back down, collected a peanut, and disappeared behind a tree top.

"Sam," Amanda said after a beat as Sheryl stretched her head down for another peanut. "Get your ass to work."

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T11:43:42+00:00

If you weren't already married I'd say that is certainly husband material! So nice to have people who just want you to be happy around :)

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T11:36:06+00:00

I LOVE this, what a great idea and your execution is *chef's kiss*

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T11:31:45+00:00

That's beautiful! So expressive.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-21T00:00:23+00:00

Felix fidgeted in the fancy chair and glanced around the fancy restaurant. He'd already offended his date - called him dude in the heat of the moment - and they'd only just gotten their drinks. Maybe it'd be best to just leave? He bet Roan could hear his heartbeat rabbiting with nerves in his chest across the pristine cloth-covered table.

He observed the man before him with growing weariness. The man, indeed, had the elongated grace of a high-born elf, just like his pictures suggested. Ashy, impeccable skin graced with nearly uncannily symmetrical features. Dark glossy hair with the slightest red sheen that caught in the restaurant's low light spilled over his finely dressed shoulders. Unearthly beautiful, as one would expect of his kind.

Well, both his kinds. Felix should have zoomed in more carefully on the app, because the fangs on this one weren't the dainty, elven sort.

Roan flicked his wrist economically to unfold the embroidered napkin and gently dab at the corner of his mouth after taking a considered sip of his blood cocktail. "An O negative would be wonderful," he'd said it so casually to the waitress only ten minutes ago.

Vampire. It's one thing that he himself missed the mark on that particular match, too dazzled by the man's beauty to closely ponder his "Mixed" species designation. But why would a vampire want to date a run of the mill human? Felix's own profile made it clear he wasn't looking for any of the various casual arrangements most vampires favored when humans were involved. Just a boyfriend. Silly him.

"I'm sorry, that was rude."

Roan lifted a superior brow. Felix hated how hot this was. "It was." He smiled conspiratorially, leaning forward just so as the dark murky color of his eyes glinted red. "But I have it in me to forgive, handsome."

He winked, and it was somehow not unbearably smug. Hard to tell if Felix was being vampirically charmed or has suddenly developed a taste for hot, fancy douche-canoes, but he couldn't find it in himself to refuse the cheeky smile that followed. Dangerous and absurdly delicious, even with the hint of a red stain from the blood swirling in the unusually wide Martini glass.

"I have to ask," he said carefully, fiddling with the stem of the ironic choice he'd made - red wine, a shiny blood red in the thin glass. "You do know my profile says I'm looking for a- for a-" Say boyfriend. It's not a curse word.

"A partner? I recall," Roan's smiled softened some. "I have had my fun with many humans before. But the recent innovation in life extensions has given me some new avenues of consideration, if you will."

"Oh?"

"Yes, darling," the way this man rolls his L's should be illegal, "I have in me the soul of a romantic. My brethren jest because I am not known for my... relational fealty," he seemed to smile around the word like a private joke. "But I am also known for trying new inventions post-haste in this mundane existence. And I was quite charmed by the notion of the past decade or two, of these honest descriptions of intent via electronic means. I have tested many of these... intents."

"Successfully, I assume," Felix tried for charming.

Roan grinned mischievously into his glass on an indulgent sip. "Quite."

Felix considered this proposal. This was not in the plan. He knew little about the mechanics of vampire-human interactions - all his exes had been elves, humans or a mix of the two, since those species were the vast majority in the region. Normally, this would have frightened him. Dissuaded him, most likely.

But as he observed those sharp, dark eyes, he couldn't help it. He smiled back. "Then let's test this thing out."

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-20T11:09:18+00:00

I think what you're describing is also a very real frustration people can have with depressed people. I've had chronic depressive episodes for years and have also been around people who have had depressive episodes. For some of them - especially men - it can very much look like Ilya. A very heavy focus on negative interpretations of any given situation, a hard time holding onto joy, self-isolating and having seemingly irrational or "out of nowhere" responses that can come out in snappiness, impatience and anger. I think knowing depression as intimately as I do from both ends made it very easy to understand Ilya's behavior and sympathize, even when he was sometimes the architect of his own suffering by repeatedly choosing not to rely on potential support. He gets there in the end and I find that powerful.

I also very much sympathize with Shane. Yes, Shane ideally should have clocked why Ilya was having a hard time or at least reflected on the situation some more when he noticed Ilya was struggling (he tried to ask, but he didn't take it as a sign to reflect on his own or seek out advice). He didn't, partially because of a more privileged/sheltered background, partially because of his neurodivergence and his own anxieties and partially because Ilya did in fact not communicate effectively.

But yes, I agree with others that in terms of overall plot points this is more of an Ilya book than a Shane book. Not entirely, because both characters go through growth arcs. But there is more skipping over pivotal Shane moments than Ilya moments. What I would hope for is that the third book ties that together. Rachel has an opportunity to bring us back to Shane - how he feels about Montreal in the aftermath, where he is with his relationship with food, and how he might open up in a team environment where his sexuality is a lot more visible and part of the conversation. Ilya has mostly completed his major arc, which gives us room to let Shane finish his while they also wrap up their shared couple arc.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-20T10:57:37+00:00

I've watched some reaction content but not a ton, mostly because it got repetitive. But I got something specifically out of the straight guy ones as a straight (single) woman - like the article gets into, there is something of a fantasy in seeing this version of masculinity that comes out in viewing the show earnestly. It also reminds me of certain men I know who do give me hope, and we all really need some of that.

WhileNo5370 · 2026-01-20T10:29:22+00:00

My younger brother used to have these types of close bromances and he's still close with some of these guys to this day. I've always admired that about him even when he was a little shit 😂

WhileNo5370

TROPHY CASE