Lately I've been plotting out a romance between two OCs, a sales assistant and a security guard who work for a department store. The sales assistant was based on the classic ultra camp smooth man in a suit type, and the security guard keeps a stoic face while working but laughs really easily off the clock.
>>12937I remember listening to an audiobook many years ago about letter carriers in the old west. People who'd ride a mule across crumbling trails to deliver messages and small trinkets. There was some real high stakes peril involved, and quite a number of the messages they carried were love letters to people working far away. If I recall correctly, most of them were women or teenage boys because you needed to be small and light to get through some of the obstacles nature threw in their path. People'd get familiar with the messenger and wait for them to pass by to gift them supplies.
>>12947Onmyouji were, in real life, people who charted the stars and determined auspicious calendars for the authorities. They were more trusted by emperors than shogunates, so the move to military rules diminished their political power. If you've ever wondered why there's evil onmyouji in some Bakumatsu/Shinsengumi fiction, it's because that's roughly when the onmyoudo departments were fully shut down and the last man clinging to his social position got kicked out of office. People love to imagine he was bitter about it and sought revenge through supernatural means.
Being an Abe no Seimeifag since my teens, I think I trained my brain to really like kannushi and Heisan court robes. He and Hiromasa (and Douman, sure) are the most common ship material you'll find with those outfits, but they're far from religious, and often play with superstitions and myth that get copypasted in chuuni series all over. It does suck if you don't want supernatural elements.
I know I've seen recommendations for a Buddhist training retreat manga, and re: military that fighter pilot BL that was paywalled. I don't remember titles, gomin.