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thenanamisimp · 5 months

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Danmei and MXTX novels

Would you look at that, another post that's not about anime? WILD. It is about MXTX novels though so the hyperfixations continue. I'm actually in the process of planning a very lengthy analysis of all three of her series but this is a warning, don't expect too much. I was never good at those in school plus it's been almost 7 years since I've last written something like that but I feel so passionate about her works that I really wanna try to share what I thought about the novels. Nevertheless, this isn't actually those analysis posts since those are gonna be separate and will probably be written after I re-read each series. However, since I'm actually finally fully done reading all her series - including the extra side chapters - I wanted to quickly share some of my opinions and how I feel after finishing all 18 of the books.

This goes without saying but just in case - SPOILER WARNING for Heaven Official's Blessing, The grandmaster of demonic cultivation and The scum villain's self saving system novels.

First off, if you haven't read any of MXTX's work before, prepare for trauma and tragedy. Most of her characters are either deeply traumatised already or in the process of. I will always encourage people to read content warnings before reading her books.

Starting off with my favourite - TGCF or Tian Guan Ci Fu (aka Heaven Official's Blessing). This story means a lot to me. I got introduced to TGCF through the donghua before I even knew it was queer fiction and even with censorship, the closet is made of fucking GLASS so I had to look for the source material. Honestly it took me a while to commit to reading the whole series as I've been struggling to pick up books for years now but TGCF actually got me back into reading (I think in total it took me about 8 days to read all 8 volumes). More than just the story telling being good, I got so incredibly attached to every single character (except Jun Wu, he can eat shit - tho the fact I'm even saying this speaks volumes about how well MXTX can write characters. It takes a lot for me to hate a character this much).

Taking place in a beautiful fantasy world, we follow Xie Lian and Hua Cheng through tragic traumatic past and present and we learn of the horrible truths about the lives of immortal beings. We also see two idiots in love take their sweet ass time to confess. I love me a good slow burn full of longing and pining. I eat that shit UP every time and MXTX gave it to me with every single one of her series.

TGCF for me was a journey full of kicking my feet at fluff, second hand embarrassment (because xl I stg, what do you MEAN you were taught how to resist the advances of women but not how to resist hot men you gay lil shit the closet is made of glass) and honestly, lots of crying. The hundred stabs incident, ruoye's creation and hcg's last death made me sob and scream (no exaggeration, I was stomping around my room, crying and yelling GIVE HIM BACK RIGHT NOW).

Also, in a not so unpopular opinion (I think?), Pei Ming is my fave because 1) he's the no.1 Hualian shipper - check the whole Mt Tunglu adventure for proof and also 2) he's just a lil slut with a big heart. I could seriously talk about him forever because I went from hating him after he tried to throw the blame for the Banyue Pass incident on Xie Lian, to loving him after I realised that everything he does, he does because he is truly just a kind man who loves a good fight. He's so silly! Just a lil guy! Go Pei Ming go!

Fuck you Jun Wu. Again. (I hate him just as much as I hate Mahito. Maybe a little less. I really hate Mahito).

Moving on to my second favourite (but honestly it's such a close one), MDZS or Mo Dao Zu Shi (The grandmaster of demonic cultivation). Take a wild guess about how I got introduced to it... Fandom of course, because very few people talk about TGCF online without mentioning MDZS so I just had to give it a chance.

The great grandmaster of demonic cultivation has been dead for a while but when he gets gifted a new body through a not so well known demonic ritual, he runs into an old acquaintance. We learn about Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's past and current world of cultivation and hear stories about messy betrayals and conspiracies. Aaaand we find out about some more trauma and tragedy because is it really an MXTX novel without it?

And talk about a rollercoaster because (and please don't hate me for this) I found Wei Wuxian annoying initially.... But it's okay now because I kin him so go figure. Tho I actually kin only his adult self, I was a very introverted and rule abiding teenager, a lil more like Lan Wangji. In any case, wwx is the same stupid chaotic bisexual that I am and he is babygurl. Yeah and what if he murdered 3000 people? It was self defense. THEY ATTACKED FIRST. Your honour, he did nothing wrong and he does not deserve to be punished!

On a serious note, MDZS explores so many themes that are personally important to me, my favourite being the power dynamics of the world. It’s truly moving that even with all the pain Wei Wuxian went through, how far in his cultivation and how powerful he got, he still couldn't protect those he loved (until Lan Wangji of course because Wangxian is perfect together and they always protect and defend each other. Wangxian my beloved). While it might be a stretch for some, it really reminded me of how powerless we are in the world. People aim to educate themselves and go on to do whatever they can to better the world in their own way and yet, it really feels like nothing’s improving sometimes. I could talk about this for hours but maybe I’ll leave that for another time and another analysis post since this is supposed to be a shorter one (lmao)

Last but not least, RZFZX or Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (honestly this one I use the english name for because I can’t pronounce the chinese as much as I try - The scum villain's self saving system or Svsss). This one I actually kinda struggled with - first of all because WHY BUGS MXTX. Not much bothers me in fiction but BUGS? Too far. Heads with spider legs? Raw flesh with maggots? Blood mites? I was out (for about half an hour and then I kept reading). Please note that it's not the raw flesh that bothered me, it was the fucking maggots. I can read about graphic murder, creepy hauntings, torture and many more but as soon as there are bugs? Nope! I’m done. People have phobias and that’s mine I guess. Enough ranting about bugs!

The story follows Shen Qingqiu, the scum villain of the hit web novel Proud Immortal Demon's Way (or PIDW for short, as it's referred to in Svsss) who is actually one of the original readers - and haters - of PIDW, who transmigrates into the book in order to fix the plot holes left by the original author. With his guide “the system” he does his best to lead the male lead of PIDW, Luo Binghe, down a better path than in the original story.

Svsss employs a comedic way of storytelling, with our protagonist being omniscient, it allows for the narration to be sarcastic and poke fun at a lot of moments that are cliche or badly written, as interpreted by sqq. Honestly, this is just a personal preference but I favour the more serious storytelling way of MDZS and TGCF (give me hurt until the very end when the main characters get together and then give me comfort).

To me, Svsss is a lot harder to analyse as a lot of its themes are unfamiliar to me, especially considering I’m the furthest from having any sort of humanitarian education (I have 2 engineering degrees). Using a story within a story, MXTX is able to deliver two main overarching themes; one about abuse and its results through Luo Binghe as well as one about the relationship of author and their readers, the feeling of being trapped by the readers' opinions and wanting your story to be liked through Shang Qinghua (to be honest, I hadn’t really picked up on this one until I saw discussion about this in the fandom).

If I'm being completely honest, I don't think I grasped this series as well as the other ones and I'm finding it hard to digest lbg and sqq's relationship. I'm unsure as to what it is that's holding me back from loving them as much as Hualian and Wangxian. I do tend to prefer tropes like theirs more than the whole "had to convince him to date me" thing which is what Bingqiu's relationship seemed like to me up until the end of volume 3. It’s also why I'm glad I actually followed through and finished the extras in volume 4 (I was really tempted to stop reading once I finished volume 3 not gonna lie). I believe those to be integral to understanding sqq's feelings towards lbh and while I understand that sqq did actually love lbh from the beginning (denial is a river in egypt and the gloset is made of glass - what the fuck is with MXTX's bottoms and the damn glass closet), I struggled to see the tipping point of where he actually understood his own feelings and what was going on in his head and that he was actually in love with lbh. Which is why I think to really understand Svsss, I would seriously need to reread it.

I also would love to eventually talk about queerness in MXTX's work because in each book, sexuality and queerness is explored and examined in so many different ways. As a queer person myself, it fascinates me as I can relate to so much of it. To be honest, I think I could write a short thesis on just this.

Honestly, while I'm very passionate about my favourite pieces of media (if you've heard me talk about any of my top 5 anime you'll understand what I mean), there hasn't been a lot of things outside JJK and MXTX's novels that have made me wanna dive deep into analysing every single detail. It genuinely makes me feel like I'm gonna implode sometimes. These 3 series have seriously reignited my love for reading. I was shown that a good book - in my opinion of course - doesn't need to avoid difficult topics. It simply needs to use them well as a means of delivering a message and a story, rather than them being included just to be included. They also reminded me that I love queer fiction and I need to read more.

I actually would really like to read Erha (or 2ha or The husky and his white cat shizun) but I've read the content warnings and I'm ~~apprehensive~~. While not a lot of things bother me, I'm not sure I want to read about that stuff (please look at the content warnings of this book, or any piece of media in that matter, especially if you have topics that easily bother or trigger you). Remember, it's our responsibility as readers/consumers to look out for ourselves first!

Please recommend any good danmei (other than MXTX) and possibly include links where they can be read! I would also highly appreciate recommendations for some good wlw fantasy fiction as I really would love to read some wlw novels - or even anime/movies/webtoons/manga. Just in desperate need of quality wlw content.

Also while I said I'd keep it short, it seems I ended up writing over 2000 words…

PS. I proofread this about 5 times and during one of them my file crashed, so if there's any mistakes or if I’m not making sense somewhere, blame my deep-fried brain, thanks

Thanks for reading my novel ramble! Enjoy reading :)

theNanamiSimp

#i'm adding a lot of tags because i put a lot of effort into this post actually and i want people to see it #danmei #mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #scum villain's self saving system #scum villain #mxtx #mo xiang tong xiu #hualian #hua cheng #xie lian #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #bingqiu #luo binghe #shen qingqiu

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redr0sewrites · 12 days

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i wanted to kinda talk about my opinion on some things related to Ana Huang and the romance genre in general- sorry for the rant!!!

finished king of sloth by ana huang and urgrhrgrhrhrh i actually really really enjoyed it!!!! (i say that ab everything i read tho tbh, i've just never been the type who criticizes the media i consume so PLEASE don't ever base ur opinions off of mine :)

my post isn't about the book specifically or even the author. i lowkey have a bone to pick and its NOT with ana huang or the book but moreso the reaction i've been noticing about the book (specifically from people who have been making fun of it and/or people who read it)! this isn't meant to start discourse or anything but i am open to polite discussion about some of the points im bringing up. this is generally focused around ana huang but also a lot of majority-feminine centric media has this same problem.

anyways, i'm gonna try to express how i feel as best i can without being rude or offensive ajshsjs-

it just lowkey irks me that sm people have been hating on ana huang now that she's getting attention, and since she's a romance writer, her fans and fanbase is mostly women and/or girls, (which is totally ok)!! however, i genuinely feel like this is just another barbie movie or sarah j mass or taylor swift scenario where the second something/someone that a lot of woman like starts to get publicity, people (mostly men) start excessively hating on it.

i have genuinely seen sm people dissing not only ana huang but her writing as well. now i don't know much about her as a person and i know that a lot of people are flawed so if she's genuinely done something wrong PLEASE lmk, i don't keep up w that stuff. and hey, maybe you just didn't like the book and thats ok too!!! its totally valid to not like something, but to make fun of an author and the people who enjoy her content just seems.. ehh.

a lot and i mean a LOT of people claim that she's only popular because of her smut but i actually enjoy her books more than just for the smutty/romance aspect. maybe that's just me, but i genuinely find it interesting and a lot of other people i know also enjoy it for the plot. and if u are reading for the smut that's ok as well, this is a totally safe space, and nobody should judge u on your reasons to read a book. the books are INTENDED to be fluffy and spicy and overall are just fictional romantic stories. they're smutty, funny books, not the bible. it shocks me how much people make fun of them.

i just keep seeing this trend of people negatively nitpicking anything and everything about authors and their writing ESPECIALLY when its romance and it just rubs me the wrong way. ive seen a LOT of people upset about huang including cameo's of her other characters in her latest book, and if you don't like those other characters so much then why... are u reading it??? THAT SOUNDS SO MEAN IM SORRY but its just so strange that people are upset about her including her own characters from her own series'?

its just disappointing that whenever someone or something becomes popular, there are always people who are just trying to be negative and diss it along with the people who enjoy it. i'm NOT making this post to be rude or offensive to people who genuinely don't like the author or the series, ur absolutely entitled to ur own opinion!!! however i have just seen this link SO MANY TIMES of people suddenly disliking something/someone bc a lot of woman seem to enjoy it and it just makes me a bit sad and disappointed.

(also side note can men stop hating on the romance genre and books they haven't even read? please??? can feminine people like anything anymore??? romance exists as such a successful genre bc the majority of readers are WOMEN who have to create fictional scenarios about being loved by seemingly "unachievable" men that are literally just doing the bare minimum. women fantasize about being treated with BASIC HUMAN RESPECT as though that isn't the standard, bc honestly, it isnt.)

THIS POST IS NOT MEANT TO EXCLUDE ANY OF MY FELLOW NON-FEMALE/NON-WOMAN OR GENDER NON CONFORMING FOLK WHO ALSO ENJOY ROMANCE!!!! THIS IS JUST A GENERALIZATION BASED ON THINGS I HAVE NOTICED, AND I AM NOT EDUCATED/HAVE A DEGREE ON THE MATTER!!!! THIS IS SIMPLY AN OBSERVATION!!!!! IF UVE READ THIS LONG, MWAH MWAH MWAH!!!

#rose rambling #i promise im normal #i just have been feeling some strong feelings ab this lately #i really really really really really hope this post wasn't mean or rude #🙏🙏🙏#i promise i wasn't trying to be mean #i just dont get why people are hating on a piece of media that isn't intended to be taken that seriously #its all in good fun #let us read our smutty romance books in peace without 15 rude people up our ass complaining that all woman are the same #im a nb person tho #but afab #feminism #awareness #ana huang #book tumblr #books and reading #booklr

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miya-twins · 25 days

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the twins, aran, yachi, and ushijima? 👀

thanks for the ask!! I shall copy you and give the bingo and my opinions because the bingo doesn't always encapsulate my feelings,,,

Atsumu

literally he is the Blorbo. the main obsession. my little guy. I'm thinking about him practically 24/7. I care so much about his chracter arc and his impact on the narrative and I wanna see him smooch all the guys and I want him to suffer but really I want him to be safe and happy and loved and appreciated and to never learn what it means to be lonely. ahem. anyway. no surprises. you've seen the blog's name and its content.

Osamu

obviously he is Blorbo Number 2. you can't have one twin without the other. I love thinking about his character arc and his impact on the narrative and I wanna see him smooch all the guys and I wanna see him suffer but really I want him to be safe and happy and loved and appreciated and to never learn what it means to be lonely. yes I said this before but it's just as true for osamu. also yeah the only difference in the bingo is people are less mean to osamu and I can't fool myself into thinking atsumu wouldn't be too annoying for me to kiss. I can fool myself for osamu tho even tho realistically he's probably just as annoying but that's not my problem.

Aran

what can I say y'all are sleeping on him. he's such an interesting guy and every time someone gives the twins another childhood/best friend I'm internally like hello? they already have one of those? his name is aran???? why are you putting other characters where he belongs? anyway I love how silly he is and how easily he gets swept up by the twins' antics and I'm so proud of him for how far he's come. 10/10 would go on boba date with.

Yachi

god I love her like that's my girl!!! she's so cute and relatable and funny and her story in s2 was one of the best in the whole series. literally every time she smiles it's like the sun rises. would vote best girl in any poll. genuinely think about her a lot even though she doesn't have much relation to my main guys which tells you how serious I am about her

Ushijima

I'm sorry the board looks so empty but frankly none of these options accurately describe my thoughts on him. because I do have a lot of thoughts. genuinely he's such a well-written character, and I love all the relationships he has in the series, with tendou, with his dad, with sakusa, with oikawa!!! but even with all these thoughts and genuine appreciation I don't have that many actual feelings in regards to him... at least not unprompted. I like seeing him around and maybe I'll put him somewhere as a cool side character in my thoughts but I'm just not obsessed with him. but his story is good and he's so important to hq overall... maybe if we'd gotten that shiratorizawa/inarizaki match I'd be frothing at the mouth thinking about him... but alas I just quietly appreciate him

#miya atsumu #miya osamu #ojiro aran #yachi hitoka #ushijima wakatoshi #haikyuu

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snickerdoodlles · 1 year

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I disagree with your chan headcannon

But I like your other headcannons so can I for macau headcannons if you don't mind

😂 well the good news is that i’m in the fandom minority with my “Chan is loyal to Korn only” camp and rarely ever post about him, so keep asking me about brothers and we'll be delighted together

and yes!!! MACAU MY DARLING BOY!!! i love him SO much, but i will limit myself to only three (3) headcanons for him on this post in a futile attempt to keep it from getting too long

Macau & Kim

his favorite way to piss Kim off is by making club mixes of chinese drama OSTs. he does this with Kim's actual songs too after those start rolling out, but this feud began long before they started posting to social media. Macau also starts off with a larger following for his mixes than Kim does for his covers, and while that eventually plateaus and Kim passes him in their follower counts by the time canon rolls around, Kim is still so fucking bitter. the day Kim starts to let it go is the day Macau posts a video of himself playing hot cross buns on the drama dizi* he stole from Kim years ago.

Macau & Chay

Chay and Macau do Not like each other. i know people like to make them friends, i just don't see it happening without a lot of work first and it's so much funnier to me if they're frenemies. i do love them as online gaming besties tho (before they find out who the other is), because then they both have to live with the mortifying knowledge that Chay once called Macau 'daddy' after he gave him a bunch of turnips in animal crossing, because they are teenagers and teenagers make stupid daddy jokes. any inclinations of trying to be friends because Porsche and Vegas are friends dry up faster than water on a hot pan after that.

Macau & Pete & Vegas

you know what's a great way to bond with brothers and in-laws? movies. you know what's the worst leisure activity to do with Pete and Vegas? WATCH MOVIES. every action scene is scrutinized and criticized and Pete keeps rewinding the same three seconds to mock the character's kick stance. any murder scenes are WORSE. Vegas hates romances and hates ballads. the only things not totally infuriating to watch with him are cooking shows and home improvement shows and the occasional gardening show and yawn. Pete's tastes are much broader thanks to Khun, but he also comes with so many opinions on how to properly watch shows and Macau doesn't actually want to dress up every time they watch a horror film.

so movie nights are almost a bust. they do find some movies they're all into, but it's usually an exercise in frustration. but then, one day while they're queuing up a film they're only 37% sure on, Pete's grandma calls with the hot town gossip--"do you remember Kobb Pete? yes, the nice old man who runs the fruit stand, remember how he gave you a mango on your first day of school and you dripped all down your new uniform? well, you'll never believe what's happened, you know how Kobb passed his stand down to his son Mew and Mew was training up his son Mod to take over one day, except they got into a fight on how to best display the pineapples and papayas and they had a fight, yes, right there in the middle of the road, and Mew fired his son, but Kobb backed Mod, so they opened a rival fruit stand with Mew's wife, but Kobb's wife sided with Mew and got the neighbors involved, and--"

it takes grandma forty minutes to regale the tale of the on-going fruit vendor feud. then she continues to update Pete on the rest of the hometown for another three hours. Macau and Vegas are enthralled. how often does your grandma tell you things Pete, can we be there for the next one, what's the full story behind the thing with Folk's fishing boat, why did you ask grandma if Sine's husband was in the garden--

listen, small town drama is the best drama. and Vegas is having a journey to discover which mafia things are things he likes vs which ones he forced himself to like to survive, and being a nosy cunt sniffing out all the juicy scandals is absolutely something he takes to with glee (he will become grandma's favorite when they visit, they are terrifying together). Macau just loves hearing all the petty drama and neighbors feuds that result in increasingly passive aggressive displays of garden gnomes instead of gunfire. movie night becomes grandma call nights and it's the best family bonding.

*inspired by Jeff buying one of the Wei Wuxian's flutes and the fact that he reportedly learned how to play it because he's a big ol' cql nerd ❤❤❤ this is also a reference to @majestictortoise's fic Middlegame, which everyone should read if they haven't yet and reread if they have

Send an ask, get a headcanon (prev: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

#kinnporsche #the cookie and tortoise joint kinnporsche headcanon universe #the 'kim is a chinese drama nerd' agenda strikes again!#re chay and macau as gaming besties: i swear i will post that 'you got mail' AU for them sOON 😂#anyways i love macau he's so ripe for fun <33333

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italoniponic · 2 years

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𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲'𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭

| Notes: Hi, @diavolosbaby and dear readers~ This is the part finale of my Idia’s scenario, “Winter Melts Into Spring”, and our 50th and last request for the Cherry’s Harvesting event. As I said, this fic got so looong, that I had to split it into two parts.

Curiosity: the title of this fic is inspired by a track from Fruits Basket’s (2019) soundtrack, the original name being “Snow Melts Into Spring” and its alt and longer version, “Spring Will Come When the Snow Melts Away” (here so you can listen to if you’re curious). For those who don't know, the myth of Persephone and Hades is what explains the change of seasons and that’s why this theme is so heavily implied here, just as other videogame references (tho I’m not much of a gamer myself… ik Idia, shame on me).

Hope you like the part finale and I really hope I did justice to Idia’s character, I tried the best I could. I needed to condense most of the story or this would be a longfic and not a one-shot. And it’s already a hell of a long one-shot (for my normal amount of writing, at least). Now, grab a hot beverage, a blanket if its cold where you are (its here for me) and hope its a good read.

Thanks for the request <3 |

Idia Shroud x gender neutral reader / scenario / part 1 (here)- part 2 (3550k words) / mentions of breakup with Vil Schoenheit / angst, hurt and comfort, fluff / seasons and greek mythology references / minor chapter 6 mentions and references / use of “you” pronouns

Cherry’s Harvesting 🍒 Masterlist

Winter Melts Into Spring

{𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐈, “𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐬”}

You quickly turned to him, waking up from your incessant thoughts. It was another game night and you were sitting side by side in his bed, cellphones in hand. As your game was over, you became a bit dispersed.

“Have you listened to Euterpe-ram’s new playlist?,” Idia shyly showed you his phone, your surprised and intense gaze had taken him by surprise at that moment.

Without paying much mind, you read the title, the number of songs and the cover image, things that made you sigh. Then, almost in auto mode, you said:

“It took me a hell of a lot of work to find that image…”

Panic hit your senses as you turned your gaze to Idia and he looked as painfully surprised as you. You tried to think of something to say but he quickly realized what was going on.

“Are you Euterpe-ram?!,” Idia exclaimed. You see his brain cells going short-circuit. “W-when? Come again? Ah! What you said... about what I thought… the playlist…? You wanted my opinion? Is that why?! I had no idea!”

Idia held back a little as he noticed that you had cringed in your place, a little shaky from the quick way he was speaking. You knew that Idia spoke like that when he was agitated and although you had been amused by this little quirk on other occasions, at that moment you felt as if you had dropped a bomb.

Well, was it a secret worth hiding? Actually, everything that happened was just an omission of information.

As you regained your composure, Idia looked back at his phone and remembered the playlist he was listening to when you walked into his room that night. Songs to listen to when you're heartbroken but don’t want to admit it.

When he found that title, he thought it was a strange coincidence to find something that could express so well what he was feeling at the moment — and Idia already had a bad opinion about coincidences.

There are no such things. Everything happens for a reason. And he was right in part. Idia didn't have to ask why you had created that melancholic playlist about love. Given your situation, there was no other reason.

Mindlessly, Idia went to Euterpe-ram’s profile — your profile — on magify and found the playlist he wanted to review with you. This one, with a completely different theme, was pretty much the opposite of its playlist-sister. A playlist of positive love songs and some hesitant, longing ones. Again, you two were in sync yet by pure coincidence. How was that possible?

“This playlist... is cool,” Idia said suddenly. You nodded silently, not knowing what to say.

He had noticed that you were slowly returning to your usual “you” along the weeks, going back to being the endearing spring that captivated him so much. The choice of those songs seemed a manifestation of that.

“Are you in love?,” this question slipped away unintentionally, and Idia’s heart failed for a second. “S-sorry! I shouldn't meddle in these things!”

“Nice move, Idia! Go there, spoil these good times you have been having!” He wanted to hide somewhere, but he was already in his own room. There weren't many places to run at the moment.

“It’s alright... I think that would be inevitable to talk about,” you replied. You were completely turned to him but your gaze was caught in the zipper of his coat, an easy point to stare at as you talked about these complicated feelings. “A fantastic thing happened to me…”

Idia felt as if he had stepped into a bath with cold water, disappointment already taking over his heart. He already had an idea of what was going to happen. You’d say who you were in love with at this time, he would inevitably be the Protagonist’s Friend once again — an improved version, he tried to convince himself to be — and you two would have a long, awkward conversation about love.

“What happened?,” he asked in a low tone, since you had paused the sentence in the middle.

“You.”

At that, you looked up and bravely, faced Idia’s eyes. You were like a mythological hero facing the depths of Hades, ready to throw yourself into an epic adventure of life and death with no regrets. On the other hand, Idia felt like you had slapped him.

“W-wha-what?,” he didn't even know what to say. How to talk. How to put words together. How to form a coherent sentence. His hair seemed to fry his neurons again, pink crackling at the ends.

“It's a long story... but at first, I was always curious about you. It's hard not to notice you, to be honest,” you tried to laugh a little to relieve tension. “The more I talked to you, this curiosity increased and I really wanted to be your friend. I have met many nice people all these months and you are all special to me... well, I admit that you and Vil have had a certain prominence.”

You sighed, like a flower after a strong breeze shakes it in the field but doesn’t get taken from from its roots.

“Perhaps I’m a very aesthetic person and never noticed it, but Vil’ beauty captivated me. Just like you. But in different ways. And at first, I thought my admiration for Vil had become strong enough to be a passion. Epic love like in the movies, you know? Two hours of film for a splendid and satisfying ending. But it was… not so. It wasn't love. It was something good, positive, full of empathy... but not love.”

It was the first time Idia noticed a bit of winter in your eyes, as if a snowflake had landed on one of your petals. Your gaze had dropped a little, you were still playing with his coat’s zipper — you liked to stare at that little skull for some reason.

Idia bit his tongue, trying to stop himself from saying something, but he couldn't help but ask:

“When you talked about your breakup with the Vil... well, it always bothered me a little,” having said that, your gaze returned directly to him. “There's something very vague, you know? Something you didn't say. What was it?”

He felt a bit stupid asking that. Truth be told, he was afraid of this conversation and what could happen. Still, he wanted to understand the situation better. Vil and you seemed like the perfect couple — so, what went wrong?

You talked about incompatibility but it only seemed like half of the truth. Something that had happened, however, wasn't the main reason. Something you wanted to say but didn't. Part of Idia wanted to know what it was, meanwhile the other wanted to be consumed in flames and simply disappear from there.

For a moment, you hesitated about giving him an answer. Quick flashbacks of some of your conversations with Vil flashed through your mind. During the time you spent together, you talked about a lot of things — especially after his overblot. But most subjects ended up stopping at a specific topic.

“When we broke up, we talked about some problems between us. Things that happened but we didn't know how to solve them. Vil said that I was talking a lot about you. More than anyone else,” you revealed, feeling your heart tremble for a second. It was as if something burned inside, taking away the cold from before.

“Because of what happened to me...?,” Idia risked saying.

“No,” your answer was immediate. “Before that. I asked what you were like, if you were always so reclusive, if there was a way I could talk to you, if you two were in the same class. A lot of stuff. I said, you make me very curious.”

“And I don't know why.”

It had been a grumble that Idia let slip and fastly, he covered his mouth, looking away from you. You already anticipated such a reaction from him and, contrary to what Idia thought was going to happen, you smiled at him.

“You're more interesting than you think, Idia,” you giggled as you watched him try to hide inside his coat, but the pink ends of his hair didn’t lie. “You can deny it all you want but you are someone very intriguing. Your way of acting, of dealing with the world... I want to understand and know all this.”

From the depths of Idia’s hood, his eyes began to stare at you as if you were the weird one there. You leaned more into your pillow, your head tilted and looking at him the way someone stares at their favorite packet of snacks they haven’t found on the shelf in months — and finally Sam had stocked up on them again.

Were you trying to kill Idia?! Was this your evil plan? Not you, the sweet deity of spring, being a character with a secret sadistic side underneath your gentle smile and gaze sweet as honey and ambrosia.

“Maybe I should have been honest with Vil from the beginning. Maybe if I had better understood what I was doing... my own feelings,” you sighed.

“Did you really talk about me that much?,” Idia asked, still incredulous.

To his great surprise, it was your turn to take an embarrassment hit with medium damage. It was a little dark inside his coat and the lights weren’t extremely bright — even if it managed to illuminate the room well — but even so, Idia had the strange impression that your face was tense and flustered.

“Maybe... enough to make Vil a little jealous…”

“WHAT?!,” Idia exploded out of his hood. “In what universe is this possible?! What kind of scenario is this? Vil Schoenheit envy me? Under what circumstances? Does he have to act like a socially awkward guy who doesn't go out in the Sun and has dark circles under his eyes and he, at the must of perfectionism, hates the fact that his makeup doesn't give as realistic an impression as my appearance? Never!”

Idia had heard of stories of a goddess of love being jealous of some very beautiful mortal women — but in those stories, there was the implication that she had a pretty good reason to envy them. Would anyone, under any circumstances, envy Idia Shroud?

“Idia, your hair!,” you warned him.

The flames of his hair were in an interesting gradient of blue, orange and pink, mixing all his emotions at once. Idia took a deep breath and tapped his long locks back to its usual blue. Was he still angry? Yes. Embarrassed? Extremely. Confused? Even more every second.

However, his agitation has yet to be overcome. In the heat of the moment, Idia held you by the shoulders for you to face him directly. His grip was firm but weak enough for you to let go of him if that were your desire. He felt like someone who hurriedly picked up a large handful of wheat in the field to run and protect it from the heavy rain.

Your cellphones lie forgotten somewhere between the bedsheets, unaware of the emotion-filled moment between their owners that would make tragedy plays and shojo anime envious.

“Please, just explain to me why you are so obsessed with me,” Idia asked, desperate. He could no longer endure such uncertainty and confusion. “You’ve finally met me! There you go! Game over. It takes no more than a day to understand how I act, how I eat and my habitat. I’m the lamest kind of lab mouse there is! How can you have fun with me?! Either you’re too bored...!”

“Idia, you don’t understand! What I feel for you isn’t an obsession.”

“Hyperfixation?,” he tried to correct it.

“It's love, Idia.”

On the Isle of Lamentation, the only grasp of vegetation is a series of large shrubs around the entire island to keep oxygen levels regulated and healthy. Nevertheless, there weren’t many flowers — or anything Idia had ever been interested in planting and observing. But he wondered if the opening of a flower bud was equal to your eyes blinking in his direction.

“Love?!,” Idia’s blood boiled and exploded again. His hair rose in a big, hot pink blaze.

You weren't shaken by his reaction this time. On the contrary, his heart beat fast in continual captivation — and a certain amusement too.

Idia was this big papyrus that was easy to open, even if it was hard to read at times. But you could understand him perfectly. Maybe it was a gift, maybe you just were very similar to him or there was some other reason. What mattered, deep down, was that his mannerisms endeared you in a way that not even the fairest of them all could.

You didn’t bother to ask how this was possible.

You already entertained yourself with the possibilities of the Underworld by facing the place from afar. When Ortho — your petite Charon — took you there, a poor sorrowful soul, you let yourself be led like someone who had no choice. Dying is never a fully realized wish, there is always some sort of regret and fear. For you, for others.

Yet, the lord of the dead received you in his realm even in your deplorable state and let you wander there, no longer as a soul but as an equal. Someone who could belong there and make your own pomegranate garden.

“These last times have been the best. I’m grateful for your kindness and your patience with me. This whole time you have been acting like yourself around me,” you said. “While most people here are walking on eggshells about it and another part doesn’t really care, you managed to balance the two things perfectly.”

Your friends sought to avoid talking about Vil. Your more distant colleagues couldn’t be less shaken about any of this. Ortho wanted to cheer you up because he had the purest of youthful hearts. And Idia just stretched out a game control for you and listened to a playlist beside you — your own pain, whether spoken, whether chosen musically.

He didn’t have a heart of stone. He cared about you and, in his own way, he made things easier. If it was someone else, you wouldn’t have recovered so quickly. This conditioning made you feel self-doubt about what you felt.

But doubts aren’t such a powerful titan that cannot be overcome sooner or later.

“To tell you the truth, getting to know you better has only made me realize that it is you who gives me the biggest comfort to be who I am. Here there are no worries, pressure, challenges. I'm just me... and you're just you. Every day, I discover something new about you, Idia, and it's valuable. Genuine. Feel right.”

The more layers you peeled off of Vil, you found that he covered himself with others. He didn't want to worry you beyond what was necessary. His heart was a castle with a trapdoor, dungeons and endless catacombs, things he didn’t want you to explore in any circumstance. He wasn’t ready yet.

One day in the future, he would find someone who could understand him better and would have more persistence in uncovering the shadows and wrinkles he strove every day to disguise and get rid of. Someone who could convince him that this ugliness is natural and not a terrible punishment. A person who Vil would listen to.

That someone wasn’t you. Even as a friend, your words grew on him in a sufficiently deep and, at the same time, superficial way. Beautiful roses in the first days, dried and yellowed petals at the weekend — flowers that needed to be changed in the vase every week.

It wasn’t what Vil or you needed. You weren’t meant to be the Hercules of his story. Your fate was connected with someone else’s.

“I won’t delude myself and think that I know everything about you. Or that you won’t have parts of yourself that you obviously won't want to show me. But...,” Idia’s figure, with his huge golden eyes, staring at you seemed to blur suddenly. “...I’m so glad to be with you. Every day, every night. Grim sometimes needs to come here to take me off, because otherwise I won't go back to Ramshackle. But it’s not because I want to avoid memories anymore!”

There were tears that flowed down from your eyes, just like light rain in a field of daffodils. You stood up on top of the bed, arms outstretched gesticulating energetically to everything around you two.

“I love this place! This dorm, this room, these sweaty sheets, bright screens at midnight, opening a Goblin can with you and toast for one more victory, smell of snacks each week. I want to convince Grim to be here too because everything about this place is wonderful. Can’t you see? We are like the gods of this cosmos...!”

Idia held your hand suddenly and you interrupted your stately monologue to look at him --- and also take a moment to wipe some tears from your face. Idia had his eyes fixed on you, the ends of his hair crackling the same hot pink as before.

Your words touched him deeply, making it seem for a moment that you were talking about Elysium and not Inferno. It didn't have to have such impressive glory. He was entirely satisfied with his humble piece of Underworld. Still, you filled that morbid, dark place with flowers and fruits, finding fertility in even the dustiest graves.

Why were you like that? Why did it make his insides crawl with shame and embarrassment at the same intensity that his heart was pounding fast? Completely unfair!

“Damn it, you look like an anime protagonist talking. It gets on my nerves,” Idia lowered his head so you wouldn’t see his pale face heat with color. “Ah... I love you too much to bully you about these things…”

If you were drinking something, you would have choked. Or spilled it. It would be more mess than what was already.

“Idia?,” you knelt there, trying to make him face you again. “Do you love me?”

“I-I’m not saying it again.”

“Idia, with a thousand hydra heads, put something in your stove of a head!”

In what he wanted to run away from his bed, you held his face and stood close enough that your noses crushed together.

“I love you. Not out of pity, not out of simple curiosity. I want to know more about you just so I can love you more. The good, the bad, the neutral parts. Everything.”

What was that sound in your head? Your heart? Epic music?

“You’ll be that precious game that I will play infinitely because it’s my favorite and never fails to bring me a smile on my face!”

“Please stop talking like that. You drive me crazy,” Idia also held your face, a little harder this time, and pulled you a little away from him.

Idia’s hands were cold as mausoleum stones. His long, pale fingers gripping the entire outline of your face. Despite the cold hands, his face was warm.

Your words were like gasoline to him. He was only stopping you from going on because one more intense speech about how much you loved him — unbelievable, you really hit rock bottom, huh? — would have him have a heart attack right there.

Idia would die of embarrassment in your arms. And, for Hades’s curved chin, you would have the audacity to mourn his death with more shameful oaths of love.

Idia was determined to be strong. For about five minutes, at least. With you there, it was as if he could hold the whole universe in his hands. It was such a scary realization, but also amazing.

“Briger of death. Ramshackle muse. Spring deity...,” he tried to list titles for you, beautiful words that could express what he felt. But he needed a serious backup for this. “Ugh, I wasn’t made for these types of dialogue! To be honest, you make me look so normal!”

“Thanks.”

“Consider that I am the basis of comparison. This is not a compliment.”

“It is. For me, it is.”

You gave a big smile that almost broke Idia. You really had no compassion. At the end of the day, maybe you weren’t a perfect deity. You were just a weirdo like Idia, probably more. But he liked it — without realizing it, he smiled too.

In your romantic playlist, Idia had found a song to call his favorite. It had no lyrics, just a melody. “Snow that melts into spring”. It was how he felt with you right there in front of him. You two could really be who you were together. Both gods and mere mortals.

Idia wasn’t the Protagonist’s Friend. He was just Idia Shroud. In its pathos, in its awesomeness, in its card SSR level and in its simplicity of R card. And you loved him all despite this.

“You’re so weird...,” Idia brought your faces closer to each other again and like a key stuck on the keyboard, he continued. “...and I love this in you.”

Winter might be over but you felt vividly what a kiss of snow was. Frosty, gently melting into warm lips of spring petals. Love can be so lively.

| Special notes: Euterpe is the name of the Muse of Music. "Ram" is the acronym for "random-access memory" (is a form of computer memory) + Ramshackle. I forgot to explain this when I posted in case someone didn't understood the whole thing behind Reader's magify username... yes, magify, I made it |

#twisted wonderland #idia shroud #idia shroud x reader #twst imagines #twst scenarios #twst x reader #twst fanfic #twst angst #angst #twst fluff #fluff #hurt and comfort #part two of two #part finale #cherry's writing #cherry's harvesting #this story made me awfully aware of how much i use ... in things #and this made the fic look like a shojo episode directly from fruits basket lol #but i'm happy

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dakotafinely · 2 years

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Mmm, We Should Talk About LFLS's Effect On Fandom

I know a lot of people may not want to hear this, but I think it needs to be addressed. To make myself clear: This is not about LFLS's quality or @eternalglitch writing ability. Their story became a fandom staple for a reason and I respect and understand that. This critism is mostly towards fandom then it is on anything else. This is not to tear down another person's story, this is purely to discuss what that story did to change Rise Fandom's view and how it treats content creators, writers and artists alike, drastically differently.

So, this post all starts with this tweet by glitch herself:

Which really just sparked my need to talk about this. And to put it bluntly, this tweet feels condescending, in the idea that anyone can just "write what they want" and become fandom famous from it. Which, is technically true, I mean, it worked for Glitch. If you ignore factors like Leo being the fan favorite (with Donnie as a close second) and Like Father Like Son being a popular idea amongst fandom even BEFORE glitch created the story. Meaning a lot of people gravitate to their fics (and fics like them) more. Not to mention Glitch, if you're seeing this, YOU are the one who made Leo AU's popular. Also, from what I understand people who are "complaining" about having content focused a lot on Leo aren't trying to ruin the fun or say people can't make content. They're pointing out an issue that is affecting content and fandom for the rest of the people in tmnt spaces who are left out and pushed to the side or over looked because of fandom and it's treatment of those outside of their shared ideas/characters. Like with Leo and Donnie being twins and how that is a "universally shared opinion" with everyone in fandom or that Raph and Mikey are both black coded characters.

Honestly it's the idea that just writing what you want to see worked for them so it should therefore work for everyone else as tho there aren't people who do write whatever they want and just get different results. I'm not saying Glitch didn't earn their popularity in fandom. As a fellow writer I know how much work they put in for each chapter and they ABSOLUTELY deserve recognition for that. Just there are more factors to being a popular writer then just "writing what you want" and getting popular from that. And there's nothing wrong with encouraging others to write but you can't just ignore the factors that made your particular work popular in the first place. It's setting people's exceptions of fandom incorrectly, and not to mention brushing other creators under the rug entirely.

And I don't just mean writers either. This effects artists as well, while I don't have a lot of recalls from many people. I have talked to someone who shared their own art, and has made LFLS art. Their fanart for glitches work STILL gets notes and reblogs to this day. While most of their art not related to that fanfic may only get rare hearts but no reblogs.

Glitch, your work, unintentionally, has poisoned the water for the rest of us content creators. And tho I understand that you had no intention of doing that, you cannot be unaware of those consequences when people go around "complaining" that there aren't as many fics for the other turtles, or other rottmnt characters period. And I want you to be aware I am not saying you are obligated to consume or create content you don't want to see. But you are a large content creator in this fandom, you must understand your experience with sharing content and it's reception is drastically different from the rest of us.

And people who consume LFLS, you guys need to do what you do for glitches work on other content creators works that you love. Reblogging, sharing, talking about them, engage with the writers, and (if you are compelled to) create fanart for them. Leo AU's are so frequent because a lot of people think that's what the fandom wants and while many of us may make content that aren't Leo centric. Many can become discouraged and abandon/not even share their fic ideas because they believe they'll just be pushed to the way side. You're not bad people for consuming a popular work, but if you want more diverse work you have to put the effort in letting content creators know that you're enjoying it. Nobody should be writing with the sole purpose of getting attention and popularity. But that doesn't mean people should feel like they're wasting their efforts sharing their works.

Point is, unintentionally, LFLS made a very large imbalance within the Rise Fandom for content creators. Which can only truly be remedied by people sharing and caring about works that aren't LFLS that they want to see by other authors/artists they enjoy.

If you want a place to start, or want an example of how to hype up content creators you like, I already made a Writers Appreciation Post that has a nice list of fics I personally recommend!

#rottmnt #rot tmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt like father like son #rottmnt lfls #rottmnt au #I just feel every passionate about this #and I feel like it needs to be addressed #this was in no way to tear glitch down or make them feel guilty #pls don't take it that way

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orchidyoonkook · 2 months

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I could read stories that have love triangles, poly relationships and even side relationships with other members. But it's so rare for me to enjoy ships with between members though. Like let's say there's the story where OC x Member are in a relationship with Member x Member as side ships. Maybe. I'm not so into side couples, but there are times when I'll make an exception if that couple is well written in stories.

And if the ship isn't harmful (in my opinion), then I'd have nothing against people who enjoy those ships.

I'm just personally not into those ships.

Yes! For example.. There's this boy. So our mothers were childhood friends, and we were actually raised more like cousins than friends. And we were close.

We aren't close anymore. That's besides the point.

People kept telling us to date, get married and even have children.. Everything that you could think of in this situation that would be worst than the last too.

That was awkward. We aren't attracted to the other in any romantic or sexual way, only a familial way. It was always so annoying to hear that from people all the time. That wasn't the only time either. There is a lot of people who just try coupling me with guys I'm close to because of how close we are or we were.

That's what I imagine with the members. The group is like a family, they act like brothers more than a lot of other ships. So I can't imagine them romantically or sexually together in that way. That's my opinion.

And I don't date for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with this. So I'm not getting into that.

Oop sorry this is so late!!! I had to work (🤮) and then I forget to check notifs cuz I suck at being online. REGARDLESS!! Onto:

I totally get you. But I am more lenient on side couples as it’s not the main pairing and therefore I don’t have to go through the motions with them. I’m way more comfortable with love triangles and poly stories tho. Especially if it isn’t harmful 😊. (I don’t mind dark fiction/ romance)

And I had the exact same thing happen with my next door neighbour. I moved in when we were two cuz were the same age. And our parents always had us in the same classes growing up and they always used to tease us that we would get married one day. A true childhood friends to lovers situation. But as we got older we grew apart and honestly now could not be more different. But again the difference between our situations is I still consider him one of my best friends. I just don’t see him all that often. But out relationship has grown into that kind of comfortable adult type where we hug goodbye and it’s not awkward. I’m really grateful for him still.

A situation closer to what your describing is more like me and a friend I met in 6th grade. I was always more of a “one of the boys” girlie so I had almost exactly what happened to you happen to me with him which made highschool awkward sometimes. But we remain close as well. He’s in a relationship now and so am I. And we never dated.

In regards to the boys, you get it. That’s exactly how I see them. They’re brothers. Best friends. Family. They’re so comfortable around one another that I don’t even think about it. But their business is theirs and mine is mine. Diction will be fiction and as long as no one goes too far, all is well that goes on. I’m happy for them regardless.

I respect your boundaries about dating! Thanks for being clear 😊

#I’m so late to this sorry #asks are not my strong suit #asks #anon #ms.mailbox📬#House of Bangtan

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spicyicymeloncat · 2 years

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(Sorry it took so long @birdbound I just moved house and then procrastinating writing this. I drew kid Kai tho so you can’t be too mad

Kai!!! It’s him! The big man! Love to see it! I feel like I’ve talked about him a lot recently so I’m not sure what to say without repeating points. I think people tend to feel really strongly about this character and honestly I have a few mixed opinions on his portrayal in the show (although I think I tend to disagree with a bunch of people’s opinions about him too, so maybe I’m just weird).

Also look!!! I got his core set! This is actually my first Ninjago set ever (because I stopped collecting Lego before I decided Ninjago will take all my brain space). I love the evo sets because they just put dorky stories in the instructions which was really fun, look how happy he is. I actually drew Kai in his evo gi because yes.

Anyways…

So one of Kai’s main defining character traits is that he’s a little rugged, a little mean and I don’t mean this in a bad way I just mean that like in the pilots when they’re first establishing the characters everyone has like they’re defining thing. Cole is the buff commanding one (and his main gimmick in the pilots is about subverting that trait with his fear of dragons), Jay is the one who talks too much (which is again subverted when he loses his voice) and Zane is just doesn’t understand social cues. And Kai is defined as someone who struggles working in a team because he literally doesn’t care about anyone there, which I think is understandable, he’s under a lot of stress. But he is the one to take offence and do things on his own terms.

Yknow how Kai has main character vibes? Although after the pilots he doesn’t even do that much? I think Kai actually has lancer vibes but because the actual main character arrived late and was having a villain arc, Kai kinda fills that role without Lloyd. What happens when the lancer character hasn’t yet found the hero character? Well since they’re supposed to contrasting parallel to the hero, they have the potential to have just as much main character energy.

Also all the other ninja have major side character energy that Kai just doesn’t yknow? I think this is a more prominent reason as to why Kai is seen as the main character. Because he doesn’t have side character energy like everyone else. All of the other ninja’s true potential episodes aren’t related to the main plot but just other personal things to those Ninja (Cole and Zane’s backstories and Jay’s love life), but Kai’s was also the resolution to the “who’s the green ninja” arc, which was prominent to the whole season and the green ninja stuff in general is significant throughout the whole show.

But yeah Kai had major bad boy lancer energy and as of the team dynamic he’s usually takes the more headstrong role. He’s not afraid to criticise the actions of the team (s8, s11), tends to have a habit of going off on his own and not working/communicating with the team (pilots, s1 kinda, s7), also his absolute outwards confidence (s3 when he went on that date and was just showing off, s6, s9 when he said he was the looks of the team, s12 kinda). Although he’s not a total paragon like Lloyd or Zane, he provides a much needed second opinion to the team and makes things more interesting. And it means that his softer side is just that much more endearing.

I’d argue that Kai has two central themes in his arcs and character growth: destiny/being a hero/power and family/general care:

- In the pilots he’s motivated to save his family, whilst learning to work with others

- s1 he has to learn to not obsess over destiny and instead learn to be a good mentor figure to Lloyd

- S4 he literally had to compete in a power contest and also his complex about the green ninja is back

- S5 he has to save Lloyd who had officially reached baby bro status

- S6 his father is foreshadowed

- S7 his parents. They exist.

- S9 isn’t much but he empathises with dragons

- S11 he loses his powers (another power complex

These are really interesting and I kinda wish they got developed better but we’ll get to my gripes later.

Something that’s funny is that, every time Kai isn’t having a power complex, he’s given a gimmick for the season and everytime the gimmick is that he sucks at something fr. s3 he doesn’t get technology, s4 he can’t skate, s5 can’t swim, s12 sucks at video games. Hes not even a good blacksmith like s10 was about him being like “oh no the world is relying on my awful blacksmith skills” (Although he perseveres). He’s like, the anti-Jay. Can get bitches and has zero talents. I mean this affectionately and I love him for it but man whenever the writers don’t know what to do with him they make him suck at the core theme of the season. I mean I guess it’s cuz he’s goofy like that. Kinda a himbo who only knows swords and we should all appreciate him for that. I’ll come back to this too.

So here’s where the takes get slightly more critical but I think it’s safe to say that Kai is kinda undeveloped. He has main characters energy but not actually that much focus in the first two seasons, and whilst we get everyone’s backstories in s1, we don’t for Kai, we don’t even get to discuss his parentlessness at all. Whilst he has the green ninja prophecy and goes into that more prominently than everyone else, he still shares it with the rest of the cast.

In s4, I still believe that it’s a Kai season as much as s3 is a Zane season, but it’s more like he’s the camera into the world, rather than having arcs. I think it’s because everyone else feels like they’re side characters doing side arcs that aren’t inherent to the main plot. So Kai feels like a main character because he doesn’t do side plots. Maybe it might be the fact that the main arc Kai had was Skylor and imo the romance was not amazingly written. Like all he did was heart eyes at her until she stopped being evil. Idk they just weren’t that compelling to me. Also I don’t think they really address Kai in regards to the consequences of the last season, not in the same way as Jay and Cole. And also the green ninja thing felt very spontaneous, I thought that arc ended 2 seasons ago?

In s5 he has the whole Lloyd brother thing and the snowboarding scene and him jumping into water for Lloyd was good I just think they really could have and should have done more with his character in s5. Especially since Morro, his evil parallel, was right there.

And then s7. Ughhhhh. Most people say this is the worst season and they are right. Yes we finally get the parents. For some reason Kai wants to kill them at first but that doesn’t really have a deeper meaning beyond Kai being fooled easily and jumps to conclusions. They could’ve dived into maybe Kai resents his parents a little bc he has trauma of them leaving or something and that’s why, but they don’t. The time twins are also annoying, like every other villain is either incredibly plot relevant (the overlord gives us fsm lore, Morro gives us wu lore, Chen gave us elemental masters worldbuilding) or are fun (pythor manipulates children, Chen takes over the world via elaborate roller derby competitions, Nadakhan relies on wordplay and managed to uproot the city), and the time twins are neither. They’re just random elementals who think they’re better than everyone else because of a saying to do with their powers and their goal is to destroy technology?? I don’t think Kai really goes through an arc or character develops and neither does anyone else (apart from maybe Lloyd?).

I don’t even remember if Kai got anything in s9 other than his one how to train a dragon tm moment, although he gets a little focus in s10 with the weapons. And then in s11 he definitely does get an arc, it just feels kinda unnecessary especially when all it took to get his powers back was just to try really hard? Like had he not already tried before? And then in the rest of the wildbrain era, he mostly takes a back seat.

Idk he has a really good set up and all the themes that link to him are there, but his writing never fully sees it through. S7 is the biggest let down because it has the perfect villains to parallel Kai, as in power hungry, self appointed tyrants when Kai himself has struggled with a power complex and thinking he deserves a high ranking title. I’d really like for Kai’s parentlessness to be brought up a lot more as an established reason why he does the things he does in s1-4 especially since he does briefly talk about it in s5 and it sets up his s7 arc. It would also be nice if Kai got more of an arc about how he coped with Zane’s death in s4, since whilst we can see Cole and Jay leaving because they could probably tear the place down if they were together any longer but Kai still had Nya and Lloyd so it would be really interesting to explore how much pain he felt that he decided to leave them, and again we could go on to the parallels Kai shares with his parents and how he too briefly becomes an absent figure in his family’s life. Also would be cool if Kai had more of a connection with Morro on their similar stories in s5. And for god’s sake make s7 make sense it was supposed to be the finale of Ninjago and it was lame. Brief thoughts about the rewrite I’m planning but it would be cool if Krux, in his way of controlling the situation, actually partially raised Kai and Nya (as in visits on holidays). Then he has a personal connection and is a much creepier villain, holding more control and power over the situation. And maybe his goal is to change the timeline due to trying avert some sort of destiny prophecy thing, just to tie in that theme Kai has. Idk idk.

Also with the fact that Kai tends to be not good at a lot of things like technology or swimming, whilst it’s just a comedic gag and not plot significant, I think it would hit better and feel less mean if it was in contrast to Kai usually being skilled. Like take the fact that he nearly beat Cole in the first episode but reference that Kai is independently one of the strongest fighters on the team. Let’s say he’s the best swordsman, the best at offensively utilising his powers (albeit not great at damage control) and has the constitution to take damage and continue fighting. He probably trained the hardest because he was fuelled by firstly, saving Nya in the pilots and then wanting to be the green ninja, and even when the team splits up, he continues training and fighting (red shogun). Then him facing adversity in incredibly mundane areas is funny because “Kai? One of the most proficient ninja, master over fire and expert with the blade, doesn’t know how to swim?”. It also makes s11’s arc better set up, as Kai losing his powers is even more about his loss of identity, he literally attaches his skill and power to his sense of worth.

Okay I’m not gonna make a big deal about this next paragraph but since this is all my opinion, I do want to elaborate on why I said that I tend to disagree with other fans when I’m talking about Kai, because (Crystalised p1 spoilers) I actually like how he was portrayed in the first episode. He had a really mature reaction and functional (not entirely healthy but functional and work in progress) coping mechanism in relation to loss. Sure it would’ve been nice if we got more of a focus on what went down with him, but I think there wasn’t a lot of time to do so since the plot moved really fast. I think people kinda expected Kai to just be angry and angry only but I really enjoy seeing him in a different light, because it still feels in character to me. Also I think sometimes Kai gets simplified down in to angry overprotective brother when he’s actually a really chill bro who even in s1 isn’t even that amazing at the concept of “looking after child”. People act like he raised Nya when they’re almost the same age and he talks about Nya as if they mutually had each other instead of Kai being in charge. Like Nya probably beat up his bullies tbh. Kai hasn’t ever been overprotective of Nya as seen when he’s supportive of her being samurai x and also of Jay and Nya for the most part(pilots don’t count because he just had a normal reaction when your family gets kidnapped, and idk what Wu’s teas are on tbh but I reject that one ep). And also Kai was the one to lose Lloyd in s1 when he got captured by snakes. Only really after Garmadon died did Kai step up and make a big deal out of the brother figure business for Lloyd. Overall sometimes imo ppl play up his backstory the angst but then ignore interesting arcs for him, or the integrity for other characters or even take it out on the writers and stuff, and like if that’s how you like your eggs then sure. It does kinda annoy me if I think a character is being misinterpreted but that’s kinda just my personal beef ig.

All around, Kai is a pretty solid character with just enough interesting points for people to dig their teeth into. He definitely deserved better than s7 but oh well. I love the mini figure I got for him tho he looks so dorky and I keep fidgeting with him cuz he’s on my desk

#ninjago #lego ninjago #art #digital art #fanart #ninjago kai #Ninjago doodlarambla #doodlarambla #not me scribbling my name out of the mugs in the photos

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m0llygunn · 6 months

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oh but it does ruin the friendship. ~the angst commences~ imagine him toying around with someone, only because his own life is so difficult to control and he’s sick of it. he’s sick of his life being so unpredictable and troubled, so he resorts to using someone else’s to play around and have fun with. he’s the puppet master and the poor person just takes it because they actually love eddie💔💔💔he wants to kiss them one night (because he feels particularly unlovable that day so what better way to release the pain by inviting his ‘friend’ over) and tells them exactly that, “a little kiss wouldn’t hurt our friendship”

so they kiss. and it all goes to shit. they go off on eddie, “i can’t do this anymore! you’re playing with my feelings and it hurts me so much…do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?! i can’t stick around you anymore, i’m out of here,”

and then eddie is left to think about what he’s done.

anyway sorry for the random story, i was just thinking about it cuz i sure love me some angst <///3 and i think it’s interesting to look into a side of eddie that wouldn’t be particularly likable. lmk what u think tho. do u think eddie would come to develop actual real feelings for this person? would he even apologize at all and would it even work out?

ok i’m done now hope u have a good day :) ✨

nono don't apologize i love the story, thank you!! also i love the puppet master analogy, obviously because of master of puppets, but also because I used to be a puppeteer at a local theatre company!! you're speaking my language lol

i'm just gonna put a read more here so that this isn't a long post, and clickable link here to the referenced post!

I also really like the whole 'unlikable' kind of characters thing, and especially with Eddie's background, I always think that him serving those sorts of motifs produces very fascinating storylines. Canonically he has such strong redeeming qualities, that I think giving him some bad qualities never seems all that terrible, plus its just fun and interesting to read! In terms of how it would end, in my opinion, I think it definitely depends! Sorry thats kind of a bad answer but it could go so many ways? Like in some scenarios it could be the catalyst to them getting together, but it also could be the catalyst of things going really wrong if Eddie isn't willing to change. I also think that if Eddie were to pick on someone it would be because he already likes them to start with, so he would have to go through a lot of internal processes to come into his own, and eventually be able to move forward for sure!

Side note— I've actually been working on a sort of 'morally grey' characterization so I'm interested which ending is your preference? Like angst angst or happy ending? (my thing's already written, I just haven't had it in me to edit it, but spoiler its kind of like those movies where nothing happens but everything changes, but also nothing changes? very unproductive storyline but I think that in itself is valuable because life follows that storyline quite frequently).

I read a fic before kind of like your story so i just went for a deep dive looking for it lol I think you might like it! You can click here for it :) This one is from Eddie's pov so theres a lot of his internal processes, and I think it's just a good read.

Another fic that comes to mind is a series. It's a bully!eddie three part-er (i think) with a pick your own ending (which i think is soso cool and you don't see very often), so maybe you'd want to check that out too! Link is here for that one! I also like how this one gives a preface to why Eddie becomes a 'bully' and I just really like the story in general!

If either links don't work, let me know! I'll probably reblog them after this too :)

sorry this was so long omg, but thank you again for sending me your story, I truly appreciate it and love it sm!! (also i saw your other ask and I want to write something for it but it might take me a while with exams and everything come up, sorry!)

#asks #fic recs

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donotpercieveme123 · 1 year

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If nobody asked for him yet, Izuna for the ask prompt because I can’t get enough of him. And I’m going to throw a new one at you (only if you want to!) : Naori

Thx for the ask <3 and sorry for taking so long to answer😅 life kept happening or I kept forgetting.

I'll answer both. It's gonna be long so I'll put it under a cut and apologies in advance lol

Izuna

First impression

Didn't really have much of an impression of him watching the series I won't lie. I guess I thought he looked like Sasuke but NO WHY ARE YOU STANDING IN THE WAY OF PEACE?! Did think he would have had a lot of potential if they actually bothered to give him a shred of personality tho. And aside from wanting so so so much more about him and Madara, I also low key really wanted to see more of him and Tobirama because come on! The chemistry was there and they were obviously presented as parallels and foils of each other. I wanted more violence and I wanted it to be personal. Also them interacting as kids was kind of really cute (the way they knew each other's name) but also really heartbreaking seeing how fckn big those swords looked

Impression now

He was right about everything. But if ppl think Tobirama was bad Izuna would have been worse. On purpose.

He is just SKSJJSJSZB!! Best, most interesting, fun and heartbreaking and compelling and perfect character!! The layers, the grief, his importance!!

I won't lie his character is almost entirely made by the fandom and I don't even agree with or like the vast majority of the interpretations, but God I would kill everyone in this room then myself if I don't see him happy or in pain or perfectly collected and impartial but murderous and covered in blood and so fucked up beyond belief but still holding everything and everyone together despite the way every loss and failure kills him over and over again until he's lost all sense of himself outside of his duty and the people he failed. JDJDHXHXXXHXH HIMMMM!! Just imagine the moment any shred of child like hope he used to have was completely shattered and he became entirely nihilistic, angry and bitter, but also leaving him craving the peace he knows is impossible.

Also he so has eldest daughter, middle child energy

Favourite moment

It was pretty funny when he punched Tobirama in the face ngl

Also the way he reacted to another kid possibly being stronger than his big brother!😱 Djjdhd I can't breathe!! His little face!! He deserves everything good in the world

Idea for a story

Oh boi oh boi do you just want a never ending list of all my wips?

Literally endless endless possibilities so idk which to pick, where to start or how I'd ever stop talking lol

Literally anything and everything from back story and character analysis fics, to crack, to dark smut and graphic violence, to wholesome bittersweet found family. And that's not even touching the endless possibilities AUs would open up!!!

Unpopular opinion

As needed and honestly refreshing as the 'canon accurate' take on his personality is, I don't really think I like it all that better. It's honestly kind of boring and it reduces him to a narrative plot or some vague object in someone else's story that can be placed to the side and completely forgotten about or ignored. I find it takes everything that's significant and interesting about him then sucks everything else that would give him a fully fledged and compelling personality right out of it. I'm as tired as the next person by a lot of fandom interpretations but he doesn't need to be reduced to the human equivalent of a perfectly square, perfectly blank piece of paper. His role, importance, actions and convictions within the narrative aren't remotely changed if he's allowed to have layers of messy, gritty complexity. They'd become more fleshed out if anything. Let my man have a messy personality, please! I need something to sink my teeth into and tear apart like a chew toy!

Favourite relationship

It's literally impossible to pick just one so here are the ones I cycle through as the mood takes me.

MADARAAAA, I would actually kill for more gen uchiha siblings content! They're just- yh I don't even need to explain!

But also in that same vein HIKAKU!!!! Only child Hikaku adopting Izuna as his little brother after all his cousins are killed. Them working better together and having more in common with each other than with Madara a lot of the time (despite Madara initially being the glue that brought them together). Then the grief and blame after Izuna dies and jdndndndb!!!!

Similarly but on a different note NAORI!!!!!!! Platonic soulmates all the fckn way! Just them being best friends since childhood (probably the only stable and healthy relationship, that is only a touch codependent, that Izuna has ever had). Also I love the idea of the wlw mlm solidarity of having kids together because madara refused to procreate. And don't let me get into how Izuna's death affects her!

But also TOBIRAMA ALL DAY EVERY FCKN DAY!! They’re so perfect, the way they respect and hate one another for everything they represent and how much of themselves they see in the other, and the violent possessiveness born of it. But also the way they would fit and work together so well, how they see the possible friendship in the other and it only makes them more adamant about wanting the other dead. But also soft healthy friendship that's fun and bittersweet, especially as kids, and hdhdbxbx- No more needs to be said really

Favourite headcanon

God there r so many! But I love the thought of him having a younger sister who's somewhere between tobirama, itama and izuna in personality. And he got his sharingan after seeing her die at the hands of bloodline thieves, which he never stops blaming himself for. It massively shapes his unhealthy and somewhat obsessive need to keep everyone and everything together and safe. Not to mention the way he takes failure so personally.

(Thank you sm for asking for her btw!)

Naori

First impression

Her plotline was weird as hell tho, and it would have been cooler if she was around during the founders era

Really liked her right off the bat! Thought she had a cool design, amd loved her personality and the mediator role she played. Also loved the way she seems genuinely powerful and well respected, and how put together and kind but stern she was. True infj lol

Impression now

Same impression really, + my own ideas and backstory sprinkled in. For example, she's a lot more cynical than she present herself. I love the idea of her growing bitter after Izuna's death but coming out the other side better than say Hikaku because she still had people she needed to remain tender for.

Favourite moment

Idk the way she was introduced was pretty cool. Girl boss play ur mind games!

Idea for a story

I'd love to write anything after Izuna's death and the founding of Konoha.

Also I have zero fckn clue what her backstory was even about so I wanna rework that. I'm thinking a small group of Uchiha growing paranoid as Madara did and trying to assasinate Tobirama. Having accepted the reality they were now stuck in she makes it her mission to keep everything running smoothly and do damage control where necessary. (All for the benefit of the clan tho. She never actually accepts the will of fire and she would be the first to be able to say 'I told you so' when war breaks out again). So anyway, Tobirama agrees to let her peacefully deal with them as a 'show of trust' to any other Uchiha who might follow, but it still makes him weary of them as a whole regardless.

Unpopular opinion

Not a fan of her being written in to be shipped with whatever male character just so they can have a straight love interest. I want her to have motivations, a story, and complex thoughts and feelings outside that. That's how she was introduced in the first place! But idk if that's actually unpopular lol

Favourite relationship

Of course Izuna! Aside from what I mentioned in his bit I also like to think that they shared the same views about how the clan should be run, and especially about peace (as a whole vs peace with the Senju). And alongside being a genjutsu master and being well respected on the battlefield, I like to think that she had an affinity for healing, and she woke her Mangekyou after Izuna died because she felt responsible for not being able to save him.

But also Hikaku!!! After Madara leaves she's the only person Hikaku still has around, and despite both being two of Izuna's closest people, they only really get close after that. After he officially takes over as clan head she essentially also steps into the role Izuna had as Madara's 'right hand'. Which basically means that for all intents and purposes they lead the clan together.

Favourite headcanon

Tobirama came to her about the police force and despite hating his guts for killing Izuna they worked together. She founded the police force with her wife and had a hand in the way the anbu was initially structured. Tobirama first went to her out of guilt (and because Hikaku was more outwardly hostile lol), but over the years she became someone he deeply respected and who's advice he sought out. And despite never fully forgiving him the respect was mutual.

#asks #ask game #izuna #uchiha izuna #naori #uchiha naori #naruto #naruto founders

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