#on my fruits basket bullshit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ofoceansandtombsanew · 26 days

Note

As Fruba fan, are you team Yuki/Kakeru or Yuki/Machi? Why?

I'm a multishipper at heart so I never feel the need to choose uwu (multishippers, we stay winning). But to be honest, Kakeru and Yuki's relationship feels more brotherly to me. Sorry YuKakeYu shippers, I personally don't see it but I can see why y'all do. Considering the canonical bi/pan characters we have like Ayame and Hatsuharu, I don't find it out of the realm of possibility to see Yuki as pan or demi (which I personally do).

Bro connects with who he connects with, gender and sexual orientation have little to do with it.

But if we're talking about who I ship Yuki with above all else? There is a character I firmly believe Yuki would have ended up romantically with if things in the story were different and Kakeru and Machi don't come close at all to being that other person.

It's Kyo.

I am deadass serious when I say it is Kyo.

This is not some toxic yaoi shipping bullshit, I have evidence to back up my claims!

No one will ever be able to convince me that Yuki's first crush wasn't Kyo. Yuki was literally smitten with Kyo and his hair upon their first meeting, the pink on his cheeks wasn't just coming from the snow. This is a hill I will 100% die on. It was Kyo but then Kyo's hostility and the complications with Akito and the entire zodiac curse got in the way of that.

Hell, I don't even really have to imagine what that relationship would have likely been like either because by extension of Hajime and Mutsuki, we get to see that.

Their sons who are literally so close that it is a joke-that-isn't-really-a-joke at the family functions that if they're even left alone together for one second, they'll start hanging all over one another. Their sons who, narratively, are supposed to represent what their fathers' relationship could have been if there had been no curse or any other sort of negative influence tainting it.

And with the very clear romantic overtones of Hajime and Mutsuki's relationship, I think it is subsequently clear where Yuki and Kyo's relationship would have headed if that night they met as kids went differently. Or had someone decided to intervene and get the two of them on more amicable terms as children.

Hajime and Mutsuki have adored each other since they were children, spent most of their time together which they continue doing in the present and they balance each other out by supplementing for each other what the other lacks. And, of course, their chemistry is extremely good.

Whatever happened in the past, we're just us, but… maybe it's really special for our dads to see you and me standing side by side like this. ー Mutsuki, Yuki's son to Hajime

(Like, they literally spend Valentine's Day together when they could easily just spend that day apart. I know they live together but they don't need to be that damn close to partake in the romance holiday goodies.)

And to me, Kyo and Yuki have some great chemistry not only when they're arguing with one another (which I say it's great chemistry because of the envy they feel towards one another, how they only see what is good in the other rather than the flaws. Ex, Yuki's great at everything in Kyo's mind while Yuki desires Kyo's ability to easily connect with people despite his social awkwardness) but during the moments they aren't at each other's throats as well.

Admittedly it could just be my multishipper goggles, but there are 2 main character relationships/dynamics in Fruits Basket where I think 'if you didn't end up with A, you definitely would have ended up with B'. One is more subtle, the other is extremely obvious (I just think some people will be mad at me if I say it lmao, y'all can boo me all you want though I'm right!!!!).

YuKyo is one of those ships for me and it's the more subtle of the two.

Like it is there but it doesn't become obvious until you get to Furuba Another and get introduced to their sons. So I really don't think it is much of a stretch to say that had things been different, we would have seen Kyo and Yuki have an entirely different relationship.

"Adoration turned into envy"??? Yuki, my lad, you couldn't be more obvious that your crush on Kyo became something bitter.

Yuki wanted Kyo to like him, a fact he admits to Kakeru when we dive more into his past. There's a part of him that still wants Kyo to like him and have some sort of positive relationship with each other. And by the end of the main series, there's peace with one another. An acceptance that their relationship may never get to the 'what it could have been' but they have each other's back regardless.

Which I think is lovely. So even with my love of the canon ships we got, YuKyo is one of my favorite Fruits Basket ships that live rent-free in my head.

#look she's answering #anon #fruits basket #furuba #fruba #yumachi #yukimachi #yukikakeru #kakeyuki #tbh wtf is their ship name? no idea #love how this was about kakeru and machi and this became about kyo instead lmaoooo fjsdnfkjndfkjn #sohma yuki #sohma kyo #sohma hajime #sohma mutsuki #hajimutsuki #hajime x mutsuki #animanga thoughts

21 notes · View notes

omnitheist27 · 3 months

Text

@the-ravenclaw-werewolf and @purplemochi20055

The 40 - A traumatic revelation

Hey ya'll I'm back with the next fan comic I promise you all!

Oh ho, drawing this fan comic of The 40's reaction to the ending of Death Note was a challenging one due to the lack of motivation and anticipation of the final chapter of Main Character Syndrome. And I got to say, it came out pretty good...for the most part.

Now, oh my gosh, the ending to Death Note regarding Light getting shot by Matsuda and nearly killed was quite a dramatic climax when I first watched it back in middle or high school. Then, I stumbled upon The_Ravenclaw_Werewolf's fanfic and became hooked on the possible reactions to the forty chosen anime of the main characters. I have to tell ya, emotions would be flying high for many of our anime audience as they watched Light Yagami's descent into madness and saw him stoop to many lows unimaginable for them.

But the one low I really would like to see The 40's reaction to Light is how he calls his own deceased father a "fool" whose idealism would only be inefficient in his new world, where it might as well registered to any sane person's mind that Light is saying that Soichiro deserves to die even though that probably wasn't his intention. That particular moment would be the trigger for those in The 40 with really bad Daddy Issues and probably go as far as hallucinating themselves in Matsuda's shoes opening fire on Light afterward.

----

For L, I know that he's the world's greatest detective in Death Note and saw plenty of nasty crimes committed by the most heinous serial killers while growing up, along with him being very stoic and cool-headed as a result of his own "quirks" and the desensitization of seeing death bodies to deal with the obvious high stress that comes with the job. However, emotions are not rational and I wouldn't put it past him to have an anxiety attack from witnessing something really bad (e.g. his scared reaction upon the mention of Shinigami for the first time in the manga), and obviously, L would be triggered in his own way after witnessing his own death and Watari's, the growing hatred he'll gain for Light, and to his own surprise when seeing himself in Matsuda's place as a result of his emotional imbalance and frankly, having enough of Light's bullshit. When drawing the hallucination L, I looked up the character art from the bad ending of The Boogyman regarding Keith Baring aiming a gun at the villain with his blood as tears coming down his eyes, which represents Keith's unresolved grief and guilt from being unable to cry from the death of his son.

For Edward, it's very obvious that he's got a deep-seated grudge against Hohenheim for his abandonment of him, his brother, and their mother (even if it was for good reason). But Edward witnessed Light's madness and willingness to endanger his own family for his delusions of godhood will, not if, earned him a spot on his hatred and would override any hate he has for his estranged father. Also, Edward has shown a very humanist approach as a State Alchemist by refusing to kill others, and he'll likely advocate for Light's imprisonment despite his hatred for him. Of course, it would come as a shock for Edward to see himself in Matsuda's place shooting Light multiple times before being readied to execute him with a headshot, showing that he's not ok, and ironically, jump-starting his resolve to reconcile with Hohenheim. When drawing the hallucination of Edward, I just included his tendency for dramatic facial expressions.

For Tohru, oh bless her kind heart, but I had to draw her reaction for the finale to Death Note. I don't know much about Fruits Basket but I have read the broad strokes from the TV Tropes page of it. Apparently, in the past Tohru once had a hatred for her late father due to his death causing her mother to neglect her for a time and almost commit suicide, though even then she recognizes it's wrong to feel that way. Seeing Light's father dying due to Light's actions, even on the possibility that Light actually feels guilty about it, would slowly bring that part of Tohru's personality back to the surface and the obvious guilt that'll come with it, and god forbid her breaking point upon witnessing Light calling his late father an "idealistic fool". Never mind that Light Yagami is going to be one of the many people that even an all-loving girl like Tohru would hate with all her heart in my opinion. Also, there's the cultural significance of Tohru seeing herself wielding a gun against Light in Matsuda's place. In Japan, there are very, very strict laws regarding citizens owning firearms, with only the police and military being allowed to own them. For a minor to be seen as willing to hold a gun is unthinkable given the whole "children are innocent" angle in Japanese culture and how every child in Japan is expected to have obedient and quiet deferential behavior toward authority figures. Plus, in Japanese culture, killing someone, even in self-defense no matter how justified, will always be seen as "murder". So unlike L (a detective) and Edward (a soldier hailing from a culture similar to Germany), the hallucination!Tohru holding a gun and being readied to fire upon a now defenseless Light, even if he did deserve to die, would really highlight to a native Japanese audience just how bad Tohru's sanity has taken a dive and the obvious shock she would have to the core. When drawing the hallucination Tohru, I took inspiration from Winery's design as she pulls a gun at Scar upon overhearing that he murdered her parents, because it was just perfect in my opinion and there were obviously weren't many images of Tohru having a "mad face" that would be appropriate for the climatic moment in the Death Note viewing.

For Rin, it'll be obvious for him to also hate Light Yagami, especially with how his actions killed his father, who had always wished that his son isn't Kira. Upon seeing his hallucination, Rin would be shocked and horrified to see himself as a demonic shadowy being damning Light for taking to his father for granted and it'll be a foreshadowing of what's to come when The 40 will view Blue Exorcist. When drawing the hallucination of Rin, I just decided to go with a silhouette to represent a "shadow archetype" of Rin due to his troubled childhood of being perceived as a demon child, along with Rin not seeing what would happen to his adoptive father, Shiro, in the viewing yet.

----

In conclusion, what are your thoughts on this fan comic and how accurate do you believe I drew the character's reactions to the finale of Death Note?

P.S. The next fan comic I'll be planning for The 40 will be in celebration of the recent release of chapter 3 for Poppy Playtime and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

#the_40 #death note #fullmetal alchemist #fruits basket #blue exorcist #l lawliet #edward elric #tohru honda #rin okumura #trauma #angst #hallucinations

27 notes · View notes

milksteaki · 4 months

Note

Your HC on Brick and Bubbles? <3 what is their relationship like? And most especially why do you ship them ?

RAAAAAAAAH!!!! omg, I've been waiting for an ask like a lil puppy!!!! OMG I LOVE THIS QUESTIONNNNNNN! Okay, headcanons on the Puppy Love ship, let's go!!!

this one's a long one

So first, a rundown on my headcanons for Brick and Bubbles:

Bubbles first. I think Bubbles has a much more mature outlook on good and bad than her sisters do. Don't let her ditzy attitude fool you. Bubbles sometimes she is less smart than she actually is just for jokes. "Okay, but why did I think that bush was actually the Professor but in drag". But really, she understands the moral grey that the world actually is. Life isn't just Good vs. Bad, and Bubbles knows that and lets that insight inform all of her superhero fights.

She never stops being sensitive, and instead of going with the "this hardens her later in life route", I went with the "she is actually more frustrated with her inability to harden" route. She wants to be tough and unfeeling often, especially because the emotions she feels continue to be strong and intense and absolutely devastating. Unfortunately, she just can't stop the intensity. Maybe it's because when she feels happy, she feels that joy so intensely, that it's like, why would she want to harden? Like such intense happiness that she looks back at the sadness cringing. As if she can't imagine being that sad. But of course, the sadness always comes back. I never really liked it when people took away her joy as she got older and acted like that was just a normal part of life. Like as an adult myself, sure I'm not as carefree and as hyper as I was when I was a kid, but I would still be considered a bubbly person now even though my life isn't that great. And don't think shitty things just never happened to me either.

Brick, on the other hand, is a hard cynic who hates everything except maybe himself. He is mostly stupid, but he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. And he hates when people point out when he's wrong (which is why he hates most people, except for his yes-man Butch). I say mostly because the bitch can't spell and he just be spewing bullshit sometimes. But smart in other ways; he is resourceful, keeps up with the news, is somehow in the know for a lot of things, is quick-witted, and is great at improvising whether it's with fighting or in day-to-day life. These skills often save him from ever going to jail.

Also, I HC that Brick essentially emancipates himself AND his brothers from their dads without really asking his bros. His thought was that his dads are just- way too much. And because of his personality, he just hates having to report to an authority above him, like get off my back old man! He essentially raises his brothers, including influencing their humor, music, and values. Part of his relationship with his brothers is an ego thing. He loves being the leader and using his brothers to make himself look better. But another part of it is that he genuinely loves his brothers. And he realizes this way too late (realized when his bros were moving on from needing him). And it fucks him up. And that pushes him to be a better person actually.

OK SO THE RELATIONSHIP:

I FUCKING LOVE THEIR ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP MAN. Like listen, as much as I love to shit on Brick, he is still a suave dude. Like the dude knows how to flirt and he's super quick with it, just great timing with shit. Sometimes it genuinely creates butterflies in Bubbles' stomach, other times she lets it completely go over her head. One, because it's funny, and two, because she kinda wants to be unassuming sometimes:

"So do you just jump around often, or are you just happy to see me"

"Oh I'm just giddy because Fruits Basket is FINALLY rebooting after like a million years, but it's nice seeing you to Brick :)."

"Oh... Fruits Basket."

Bubbles isn't a master of flirting, but people fall in love with her constantly. Like Bubbles so so SO effortlessly gets people to love her and she doesn't need to be perfect like Blossom or a badass like Buttercup. She is just so endearing and fun to be around that she attracts people with ease. Brick is just another guy who likes her basically. So he needs to work to prove to her that he is the one, and not those other nobodies.

And because of his cynical nature, he expects that the longer he knows her, he's going to uncover just the underlying sinister nature behind her bubbly persona, but he never does. Bubbles is through and through a good person who is mostly consistent in her philosophies and is just a genuinely sincere person. And she works hard to be good and she sticks by it. Brick respects the consistency and standing up for her shit. Bubbles is one of the few people who convinces Brick's stubborn mind. And it's not because of her feminine wiles, but rather because Bubbles' consistency to be good and the merit to her nuanced arguments are what gets through to him. Bubbles is also a great person to concede to because she will NEVER make you feel bad for losing an argument to her. She makes him feel heard and understood before she disagrees. So when they fight, they often deescalate it before it escalates much. Really the issue for them is how fucking long it takes for Brick to finally be ready for being in a relationship with Bubbles. But when they do, it is really nice.

I see them as huuuuge tumblr-fandom nerds. They both have had homestuck phases that they try to forget. Brick will interpret characters in veeery particular ways and gets pretty peeved about different interpretations. Bubbles is that super open-minded person who is so kind and carefree that honestly you don't mind that some of their interpretations are absolutely heinous. Bubbles (pre-relationship) would also constantly compare him and her with other characters with culpable romantic tension and that imports thoughts into Brick's head.

Once Bubbles likes someone, she is like suuuuper romantic. Doodling hearts next to Brick's name. Doodling his face everywhere. Capturing a unique beauty in odd profiles of Brick's. And like just imagine Brick sees them. These aren't idealizing him or making him look like a model, but rather capture the flaws and make them beautiful in an artistic and vulnerable way. Maybe at first Brick is like caught back, like smug, like haha ur drawing me so u liiiike me, but then he's like hold on, these are like, really good. See I am also a sucker for Brick enjoying art. The portraits would evoke something in him, he'd feel the intimacy of being drawn in such a loving way. (or maybe I'm just being self indulgent haha).

Brick and Bubbles go out a lot. Brick always takes her to secret spots, and somehow he always knows where the best Italian or the best Chinese food is, and they're always these underground spots. They are also both social butterflies and will often make conversation with strangers. They meet people who are complete characters and it makes for great stories. Entertainment for Brick and new friends for Bubbles! Another thing, Bubbles and Brick are just pretty funny together. Like Bubbles is so fucking silly and Brick is silly but in a very different way. Sometimes Brick is Bubbles' straightman and other times Bubbles is his.

Running on fumes,,, why I ship it:

Because I ship Blossutch and Boomercup,,,jk kinda. Honestly, I blame the Bubble Boy episode. From how Bubbles was able to decieve them so long, only to blow her cover by doing something so hardcore that even Boomer wouldn't do it? That earned Brick's respect for sure. AND THE FACT BUTCH THREW UP??? SCAB BOY???? Yeah, that surely got her brownie points. So from this, I created the headcanon that Brick holds some respect for her and genuinely refuses to underestimate her because shit was fucking metal. And Bubbles is CONSTANTLY underestimated by everybody else (see the fucking Hardcore episode) and she faces this obstacle all the time especially because of my body headcanons (short and a lil chubby). So when a guy like Brick actually sees her as a fucking threat, it feels nice. And they're funny together. Big plus.

#steaki speaks #I HIT THE FUCKING WORD LIMIT WTF #fuck u tumblr #ppg #bubbles x brick #brick x bubbles #brickxbubbles #bubblesxbrick #brickubbles

23 notes · View notes

unholycringebirther · 1 year

Text

HARPY!CLAUDE MERLE X VIOLINA [FANFICTION]

SUMMARY: While gathering berries, Vio gets lured deeper into the forest, meeting a distant, gruff stranger who is in desperate need for assistance, even if he won’t admit.

WARNING: mentions of blood/injuries, swearing, animal hunting, no beta we die like Ophelia. MINORS DNI

WORDS: 3.9k

A/N: I AM CRINGE BUT I AM FREE I AM CRINGE BUT—

Okay okay but all jokes aside it’s currently one am where I live and i’ve decided to reveal myself as a simp, I’ll probably regret it tomorrow but whatever, im a huge nerd for Greek mythology so the harpy idea really spoke to me (Sirens are still my favourite so maybe I’ll write for siren!Jules later) and after a few hours I made this monstrosity, enjoy ❤️

As the spring goddess rose from the underworld, the sun followed suit, melting away the harsh coldness of the winter until fresh flowers perked up in their bloom, animals awakening and trees sprouting fresh green leaves.

Demeters tears dried— her beloved daughter returning to her arms once again, ending the starvation of the crops and the fertility of the soil.

The forest surrounding me was relaxed, the nymphs and dryads settling into their trees as the sunset painted a soft golden light over their oaks, it was calm, a comfortable hum of silence.

It was a nice change of pace— the village has been getting rowdy, one of the many hunters had come barreling into the streets, claiming he’d almost caught an unheard of beast.

The man was always one for stories, but the passion in his voice hooked many of the other hunters into believing him, he told us of a beast as dark as the night sky, claws sharper than any werewolf he’d ever seen, piercing eyes as black as coal.

He didn’t catch it, but triumphantly held up a bloodied dagger, claiming he’d landed enough damage to cripple the thing, prompting everybody to start wild searches, wanting a sweet taste of the glory that catching a large, dangerous creature brought.

It was a load of bullshit, I’ll say, he’s always been one to boast despite various failed attempts at catching creatures even as feeble as a jackalope.

The forest was fruitful, in both the berries I was currently gathering and in mythical creatures of all kinds, but despite that I still doubted somebody like him discovered a supposed legend, a man covered in feathers and ash, with wings wider than the stretch of the trees.

For that exact reason, I was warned against coming here, the elders chastising me as I stepped out my front door, basket in hand, my parents following suit with jabs of their own.

But I desperately needed a break, as the sun melted down into the horizon, lanterns flickered on, and no doubt the town was plagued with cheers of celebration as corpses were wheeled in, taverns opening with hunters celebrating their latest bloodshed.

I didn’t want to return just yet, the tranquil nature of the forest drawing me in further, it was alive in a way not many others were, the trees and air shifting in ways human emotion would.

Part of me was a little ashamed, but I wasn’t perceived as a threat, hunters would often get shunned by the forest, roots and branches shifting until they were caught in a dark labyrinth, the nature surrounding me taking a more active role in protecting itself and the wildlife that inhabits it.

But to me, the bark opens itself up, beckoning me deeper instead of pushing me away, I wasn’t here to hunt— the forest had no need to defend itself, and a kindle of pride blossomed in my chest at the idea of having left a good impression on the energy curling around the space.

I glanced to the left, a shadow passing over the deeper part, trees becoming more narrow as the human affect ends where the wilted dirt path does.

The berry bush in-front of me is plucked empty, my basket only half full by the juicy dark beads inside, I didn’t want to leave just yet, the shouts of the villagers already making a headache build in my skull, and I could trust that the forest wouldn’t harm me.

I’ve been told countless times to not wander farther than the shabby dirt trail, but I already ignored the warnings of travelling even this far, and the forest wouldn’t let the feathery beast touch me, if it was even real.

The small rush of rebellion carried me forwards, into the thickened silence of the wild.

I could sense the shift around me as the human touch becomes sparser, the unbothered nature growling wildly, the trees curling above like claws tightening its grip.

Gods, I should’ve came here ages ago, I thought to myself in stunned awe, their was various kinds of bushes, different berries littering each one in plenty, fresh and ripe for picking, Thank you, lady Demeter.

I gathered various kinds until my basket was brimming, and I was surprised the sweet smell wafting around didn’t attract the nose of any critter, but glad nonetheless, this’ll do me and my parents well.

We were far from the richest in the village— we had enough to keep ourselves going, but we didn’t have anything left to tuck away in case of an emergency, and as the years pass and my folks grew older, the likely-hood grew like a thriving vine in the midst of spring.

If we can cut food costs with my foraging, well, a little extra savings never hurt anyone, meat of all kinds were plentiful and quite cheap, in abundance from the animals crawling around, but fruits and berries were spiking high in costs as the energy shifted towards hunting this elusive beast and supplies ran short.

My basket was full, colours mixing and merging together as I try to make room for more, but unfortunately, I’ve reached capacity.

The sun had set, shrouding the trees around me in darkness, there was a slight chill in the air that made me huddle more into myself to avoid the bite of the wind, it picked up surprisingly fast, unnaturally fast.

I wander forwards, I didn’t bother to keep track of where I was heading, the forest would shift me in the right direction, I just had to move and let the gentle caress of the branches lead me to safety.

The trees were a dark oak, the fresh leaves, sprouting to their full hue only days ago with the early spring, they were pushed together closely, concealing anything far from view.

Roots stuck wildly out of the ground, leaves and muddied grass from the morning sprinkle hiding them, and the only reason I didn’t trip over a root when the sound of a low grumble reached my ears was the tree flattening the root in-front of my foot.

I paused, straining my ears to listen out, it was silent, the loud ring in my ears supplying evidence that it was nothing more than a trick of the rushing wind.

A twig cracked, like a heavy weight strained it to snapping, and I knew it wasn’t the breeze playing a trick on me, I didn’t immediately panic, chances were it was a lost hunter, the forest playing a game of cat and mouse until they learned their lesson.

I swore I heard the grumble of a man— soothing most worries about a stray, potentially dangerous creature sniffing around, but I still kept my footsteps light as I followed the sound, peeking past the many trees in a hopeful attempt to remain somewhat hidden incase my suspicions proved wrong.

There was an opening, a small clearing where the tight tree lines swerved, a circular view of the clear night sky, it was beautiful, colourful flowers and moss spreading across the rocks and logs resting on the grass.

The moon reached its highest point, bathing the clearing in a almost mesmerising silver glow, carefully highlighting each petal, every mushroom and each crevices carved onto the fallen log.

And the man covered in coal feathers, laying limply in the centre.

He was laying on his back, propped up by a particularly large rock, his hair was long, dark purple not unlike the berries I carry in my basket, dark charcoal feathers cover his body like clothing with sharp wings cradled closely to his chest.

My eyes trailed up from his chest to his face, grey skin glistening with sweat, black stains on his cheeks alluding towards the feather sticking out of his hair, darker greys and blacks smudged over his eyes like makeup.

His chest was heaving, those surprisingly appealing features twisting in pain, he grunted again, clearly in pain but keeping quiet no the less, his left wing cradled close to him, almost protectively.

I could see the issue almost im immediately, those sharp, dark feathers couldn’t hide the unnatural twist of the shape, I didn’t know a lot about bird physiologically— but I could clearly see the carpal part of the wing bent.

My heart ached sympathetically, no doubt it’d been the work of a hunter, probably out searching for that god damn beast that man supposedly crippled.

I wanted to help, I really did, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I could do, and I’ve been warned time and time again to keep away from unknown beasts, especially injured ones, not only could they hold a bias from the human that’d harmed them in the first place, pain could cause instincts to make the creature go wild.

But no matter what, I couldn’t see that with him, despite his features scrunched up in pain, those coal eyes held intelligence, far past a simple creature, and even some of the meat-heads running around the village.

It drew me in, those dark eyes holding depths I don’t think I’ve ever seen, I was naturally quite curious, but this was different, I wondered, wondered what this man had seen, what caused the exhausted wiseness that plagued his handsome features.

He drew me in like a whirlpool, but I couldn’t give in, despite the stab of need to assist him, I couldn’t risk it.

Stepping back, I intent on slipping back into the forest until I was further hidden by the tall dark trees, the cast of moonlight drawn away from me until I blended in with the cool, black night.

The crack of a stick underneath my shoes booms throughout the silence, and I can see the tenseness that lines the muscles underneath his feathers at the noise, it feels like my heart stops before jumping into my throat.

I can almost hear the nymphs snickering from inside their tree-trunks, the assholes.

“Who’s there?!” He calls out, his voice is rough with pain, like worn black leather, but carries a deep smoothness like espresso, dark as a splatter of ink against parchment paper.

I don’t move a muscle, frozen as a marble statue, whilst I am covered in a blanket of darkness, I can still see him bathed and highlighted in lady Selene’s moonlight, his body is tense and those entrancing eyes darken in something akin to predatory anger.

“I already heard you.” He calls out again, sounding tired and much older than he appears to be, he’s clearly had a long night, not looking too different to my father coming home from an unsuccessful hunt, “Come out, now.”

With a deep inhale, I try to steel myself until I can smother the fear on my face, I’m not sure how well I’m doing but hopefully, it’s enough, running might only make things worse.

Stepping into the clearing, hesitantly, I let the moon brighten my features until he can fully take me in, I’m careful to keep my body open and unthreatening, this doesn’t have to end in a fight, but it might if I trigger any feral survivor instincts.

His eyes scammed up my body, similar in the way I did to him only moments ago, and I have to shove down an inappropriate feeling of warmth that lingers where his eyes trail, definitely isn’t the time for that.

The tense line of his body seems to slacken slightly, the darkness of somebody ready to shed blood fading until he just looks tired, and perhaps even slightly relieved albeit still defensive.

I’m glad he doesn’t want to kill me anymore, but part of me is kind of offended.

“Er, hey there.” I wince slightly as it slips from my mouth, his eyes are unblinking as they stare at me, it feels like he could predict my every move before I’ve even figured them out for myself, “D-Do you, uh, want some help there?”

“No.” His answer is short and curt, and I consider making a break for it, realising he doesn’t seem likely to chase me down and rip my throat out with those sharp claws, but when I linger for a moment, I can vaguely make out the signs of dried blood.

This guy clearly needed help, even if he didn’t want nor think he needed it, and I can’t just leave him here because he chose to wake up stubborn.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” I slowly reach out a hand, approaching slowly, making sure he can see every movement, but it wasn’t enough to stop the way he tensed, those sharp fangs barring slightly.

“I don’t want you fucking help.” he snapped at me, hostility evident in the way his wings tried to spread out, before fluttering and wrapping back around himself, a hiss of pain escaping his lips at the movement, “leave me alone!”

Both concern and irritation rose in me, I scratched the flight instinct, I could leave this man alone despite his insistence, he needed assistance and I didn’t want to even think about what could happen if I chose to leave.

“Listen, guy— what’s your name?” I started, and the blank stare of annoyance he gave me told me he wasn’t planning on telling me anytime soon, and my own ire flares in response.

Fine, we’ll play it like that. I thought to myself as I took a deep, calming breath of the wind, I can be just as stubborn as you are, believe me.

“You can’t fly, your wing is broken and I can see a large cut on the inner base, yes, right there.” I start, slowly inching closer when he doesn’t lunge for me, which is always a good sign, my hand outstretches again, “You’re grounded right now, and you need some help to get back in the air, trust me, the hunters are rowdier than normal currently.”

He raises a thick eyebrow at that, and strangely I find myself liking the curiosity that leaks into those irises.

“So, you can either let me help you, and save yourself a hell of pain,” I pause right in-front of him and gaze deep into his eyes, I’ll allow him a choice, I can’t force my help onto anybody, “or you can sit here and get your bloodied corpse dragged back to my village because you wanted to be tough.”

He grits his teeth, and I can see him chewing the option over in his mind, I can read the exact moment he steels himself and makes his decision, turning his head away from mine in a huff, “..fine.”

With an internal cheer of success, I finally crouch down to survey the damage, with the moon shifting towards the horizon it means I have to be fast before my light source completely dissipates.

I was correct, there is a large cut on the bony base of his wing, blood has dried and crusted around it, stemming the worst of the bleeding, but if I don’t clean it now there is a large chance that it’ll get infected later.

Biting my lip, I try to think of something I could use to clean it, I have nothing on my me but the basket discarded on the ground.

“There’s a stream nearby, I can hear it.” He pipes up, and I’m not quite sure if his tone is actually bored, or if that’s how he sounds, a constant note of monotone, “if we go there— I can clean off in the water.”

I couldn’t hear anything, but I didn’t doubt he could, it wasn’t uncommon for the creatures of this forest possessing qualities humans didn’t such as enhanced senses, and I briefly wonder how he didn’t hear me before the loud snap.

“Then that’s where we’ll go.” I rise to my feet, and wince apologetically at him, “sorry, you’ll have to come with me, I don’t have a bucket or anything to carry the water back.”

“It’s fine.” His tone is still curt, all business, and without a second thought I reach out my hand to help him up, but he waves it away with a low grumble, swiftly turning into a huff of exertion as he shakily rises to his own feet.

He clearly had something against accepting help, im surprised I convinced him to even let me clean his wounds.

Despite his less-than expressive face, I could see the discomfort in the stiff way he moves, he was clearly in pain, but refused my attempts to assist him walk better by outstretching an arm.

Its a short walk to the small stream, its almost as tightly clenched as the trees surrounding us, but the man doesn’t hesitate to crumble in-front of it, finally resting his sore body, and reaching for the moving water.

“Hey!” I call out before quickly sliding up next to him, dropping to my knees despite the stain of grass on my white dress, he looks at me, his gaze tempered with annoyance and confusion, “Let me do it for you, I’ll be able to reach better.”

I can tell he wants to protest, to decline me like he did before, but the sting of his wound chips away at his resolve, and when he turns his head away from me and bares the large cut, I know I’ve worn him down.

With a hum of approval, I reach down, ripping a line off the red fabric layered onto my dress, draping it into the water until it collects enough moisture.

It wasn’t a massive deal, my mother was a seamstress, we had an abundance of linen and cotton materials, and she took it upon herself to teach me how to hand-sew almost anything when I was still very small.

I try to be as gentle as possible, but he gasps and jerks when I make contact with the raw parts of the cut, trying desperately to clean up the build of dirt and blood, justifying it to myself that an infection would hurt much much more.

“So,” conversation might he a good means of distraction, there was still a lot to go and I didn’t necessarily want to sit in this tense silence, “will you tell me your name now?”

I could practically hear him gritting his teeth, he stayed silent, surprisingly not making much noise for how much pain I know for a fact he’s in, even before, he’s been awfully silent about his discomfort.

With a sigh, I realise I’m going to be the one doing most of the talking in this one-sided conversation, “well, my name’s Violina, yes, like the instrument.”

I despised my name— I didn’t even know how to play the damn instrument, and I refused to learn out of pure irony, I used to be jealous of the other girls in my village, their parents gifting them gorgeous titles.

He still doesn’t speak a word, so I continue on as I finally push through the worst of the grime, “I don’t know why I was named after a stringed instrument, I don’t even know if either of my parents play the damn thing,”

The dark red and browns clinging to his feathers wash off to leave behind a raw pink line, reaching down, I rip off a larger piece of fabric and wrap if tightly around the line until it was covered,

“…That’s a nice name.” It rumbles out of him, and im taken aback, not just by his sudden vocalisation, but by the compliment itself, and I can feel a flush rise in my cheeks.

“A-Ah, thanks.” I cough, trying to force it back down, standing up, I try to offer him another hand, and this time, he takes it, those sharp claws wrapping around my skin, but somehow, I don’t feel a prick of fear, “Stay off that wing, alright?”

He seemed a tad more relaxed, tension still radiated from his large figure, but most of it seemed to come from the displeasure of jostling his injures and not him perceiving me as a threat.

“I’ll have to clean and wrap it again tomorrow,” I explain, I was no medic but I knew enough to at least be somewhat confident in what I was talking about, “Come back here, same place and time.”

He snarled slightly at the idea, and I raised a confused eyebrow of my own, failing to see how what I said could’ve caused him to raise his hackles, “No.”

“What, why?” I question him immediately, and he stares down at me mistrustfully, his nose scrunched up in obvious displeasure, it seemed to be one of his base emotions next to irritation, “If you want to get better, I need to keep up with the treatment, guy.”

“No.” “You sure have a wide vocabulary, don’t you?”

I was tired, the moon was waning from the sky and I’d been running around almost all night, I couldn’t handle anymore of this, so I didn’t try to stop him when he turned away from me.

His wings curled more comfortably against his back, almost sheathing themselves, they were wide enough to almost completely conceal him from the back, but I could see a hint of his face when he turned back slightly.

“..Thank you, Violina.” he almost choked it out, it was clearly a foreign sentence on his tongue, and judging by the note of loathing I could hear in his voice, he didn’t like it one bit.

That brings a small, lopsided smirk to my face, and I call back in a much brighter, louder voice than his small little mumble of a grumble, “No problem.”

He took off, and I couldn’t help but stand there and watch as the darkness of the wild swallowed him up, the forest bending in his path.

I rub my temples, a headache building from not only the lack of sleep, but the loud shouts of almost everybody in the village, question and demanding to know where I’ve been all night.

It was a relief to finally be let off the hook, after hours of chastising from my parents alone, basking in sweet silence is a luxury I’ll never take for granted.

My eyes close, and I take in a deep breath, my thoughts wandering back to the man I saw in the forest, those dark feathers, those wings, the dark way his eyes drank me in.

Even during my painful lecture, my thoughts seemed to drift to him often, and in the back of my mind, I wondered if he was thinking about me as well.

I heard a rush of wind from outside, loud enough to make me jump out of my skin, knocking me from my thoughts about the purple haired man, and I quickly smooth out my dress before making way to the front door.

I open it, to be greeted by nothing except a empty doorway, I glance around for a stunned moment before a sweet smell wafts up to my nose, and I look down.

Its my basket, still holding all those delicious berries I’d gathered, and accompanying the fresh beads were an abundance of fruit, fresh in a way that implies it had only reached peak ripeness merely hours before, and the white parchment note placed on-top stands out against the bright colours.

You left your basket behind, mon oiseau oublieux.

-Claude Merle

I know my art isn’t amazing— it’s far from it but I just wanted to see my favourite little hoe in some Ancient Greek drip ok sue me, plus a little bonus of Claude about to murder my self-inserts ass for looking (respectfully of course) at his lovebird.

This post is a mess istg

#my dear hatchet man #mdhm #mdhm au #my dear hatchet man au #mdhm claude #claude merle #mdhm game #mdhm fanart #mdhm fanfiction #alan orion #mdhm alan #claude x vio #viviook #mdhm claude x reader #mdhm claude fanart #harpy claude

91 notes · View notes

hussyknee · 6 months

Note

Did you get you definition of communism from an American text book. Like I'm genuinely asking. "We're not allowed to drink and drive anymore for the safety of everyone! And it's because of damn communism!" Like do you believe shit like that

I have never seen an American textbook in my life. I'm not USAmerican. My parents literally lived under a communist government.

The neoliberal government that followed it went the opposite way and kicked open the economy, disenfranchised all the rural and working class folk, hunted communists and blamed them for the Tamil genocide the govt orchestrated. The Marxists reacted by forming a Sinhalese ethnosupremacist militia and killed people, to which the government responded by killing more people. Meanwhile the Tamil resistance up North was also Marxist but neither group would ally with the other because they were both on their respective ethnonationalist kicks. In fact the SL government stopped fighting the Tamil Tigers and got them to help fight the Sinhalese Marxists. There were like 100,000 people dead by the time the neoliberal government crushed the Sinhalese Marxists, at which point the Tigers immediately assassinated the neoliberal President. I've always kind of wanted to send them a fruit basket for that. But yeah, the Tigers themselves devolved into a corrupt, backstabbing shitshow by final push of the war.

The problem with us has always been ethnonationalism as a result of the arbitrary borders drawn by the British colonists and subsequent Christian Protestant Aryan Supremacist brainwashing. The nation state is an inherently violent entity. Communists always think the problem is the fact that the wrong people have power, rather than the fact that power exists. I don't have any truck with culty, ideological comrade bullshit, and armed revolution is simply a natural reaction to colonial violence, and people have the right to resist annihilation, but it rarely solves it.

And the fact that y'all have such a vicious defensive response to people who reject communism out of lived trauma is more than enough reason for us Global South people to not want anything to do with your violent, imperialist asses.

#don't want to put this in the anti commie tag because that's full of neoliberals #I hate western leftists so much man #leave us the hell alone #asks #anon #anarchism #social anarchism #knee of huss

15 notes · View notes

risu5waffles · 4 months

Text

i'm going to be doing a video going into the positive and negative response to the flag level. Eventually. i've got about 12hundred other things on my plate. But i did grab a couple of screenshots when i was doing the edits for LBsP 290.

i'm not sure who, precisely the evil overlords are here. Me, specifically? Do they know about ed.? Is it the Grand High Trans Counsel? 'cause, like, i was supposed to get my laminated membership card and fruits basket when i sent in my 5 estrogel boxtops, and they still ain't come in the mail.

Also, ok, "indoctrinating children wiv LGBTQ" (like, how does that even work. Yes, i'm playing up being the naif, i know it means publicly existing. But also also, like indoctrinating wiv queer propaganda; that would make sense, like, from a colocation standpoint. Indoctrinating wiv LGBTQ, it sounds like i'm catapulting bears at kids.) is "downright evil," but encouraging suicide is... okilly-dokelly? Yes, i'm playing up being the naif again; i understand how this all works, but it's still bullshite and should be called bullshite.

Weirdly, as these things usually go, seeing this jobber trying to skirt around an automod (that probably isn't even there) wiv "Janny", made me sit down and finally get more comfortable wiv using tranny as a self-descriptor. i mean, honestly, it's always felt a little... twee? It lacks the phonetic punch of dyke. Love me dyke. That's a word what gots boots on. But, yeah, i'm feeling like i could fuck wiv tranny too.

Now, if you're not someone who's into LBP, i want you to know they had to sticker all those black panels on to cover up the original words (Give us trans rights or get our trans lefts, if i remember right) and then put those letters down individually. Which is commitment to the bit. A little. i bet they had more to say and got bored half-way through. 'cause i have to do the level and creator names for my shows' title cards like that, and let me tell you, it gets mindnumbing after a hot second. It also amuses me that they got the level in scenic mode. i guess the fire was a touch too hot for them.

Fun Fact: i originally went wiv fire as a hazard, 'cause, like... flaming gays? Look, the level is dense wiv puns, but that doesn't mean they're good ones.

Taking a stroll around friend RazorSupreme's earth, and, well

just totally well adjusted stuff, you know?

i wanna know what this shite is, actually. Like, if it's White Supremacist stuff, i ought to file that away in the red flags folder. On the other hand, it could be edgy LBP clan stuff too. i mean, it could be White Supremacist LBP clan stuff, but that's a more self-contained problem (still goes in the red flag folder, naturally; i'm just not likely to run into it in meatspace, you know?).

So, yeah. The whole thing has been a trip. The majority of response has been honestly really heartwarming. Having other queer players saying they got something fun out of it is worth dozens of this fucklechuck.

But dang, some folx do be pretty weird about things.

#littlebigplanet #little big planet #lbp #lbp3 #transgender #trans joy #queer

15 notes · View notes

avonne-writes · 1 year

Note

Hey! By any chance have you watched/know anything about the last of us? HBO has a new series about it, and to get to the point, chapter 3 has this awesome story about Bill and Frank, and OMG, right now a lot of things just become Lucemond for me in my head and I just could not not imagine them in that kind of "zombie apocalyse" situation and wanted to know if you have any headcanons for that kind of thing or something. If not dont worry, just wanted to share how cute bill and frank were and that I definitely see Aemond as Bill and Luke as Frank with someone 😭

Thank you so much for this ask! ❤️ I actually don't watch The Last of Us because apocalypse/zombie movies always make extremely sad and depressed, but I heard a lot of good things about it. So I watched the third episode today and I bawled my eyes out. I knew it would crush me and it did 😭😭😭 But you're so right. I definitely see lucemond in them 💔

I don't really have any headcanons because putting Aemond and Luke into Bill and Frank's story is already so perfect!

Maybe a few ideas about a zombie apocalypse AU:

Aemond has been bitter, aggressive and homicidal since the infection killed Helaena and her kids

His sole purpose in life is to kill as many infected as possible and to keep his old dog, Vhagar happy. Once Vhagar dies, he plans to go out with a huge explosion while killing a nest of zombies.

Luke also lost his family, but a relentless hope still drives him forward.

He falls into Aemond's trap. He looks so pitifully innocent and cute that Aemond lets him live. He doesn't let him stay though, saying he doesn’t need a burden and that he'll shoot Luke if he trespassed again.

In the middle of the night, Aemond wakes up to Vhagar's barking. He grabs the gun he sleeps with, ready to shoot, only to find Luke on the other side of the fence, dirty and holding a bloody machete in one hand, a basket of strawberries in the other.

Aemond hasn't had any in years, because there wasn't any within his secure home and he wasn't going to venture out just for some stupid fruit.

"I won't be a burden." Luke tells him, and Aemond would call bullshit on that if it wasn't for the gleam in Luke's eyes. "I'll pay for a night's stay."

Aemond takes the fruit and lets him stay.

Over the next few days, Luke always manages to convince him with something to let him stay around. Eventually, he and Aemond bond over books and the loss they both feel.

The first time they kiss is one of the only times Luke sees Aemond scared.

They live the rest of their lives together, always finding happiness somehow despite the crushing loneliness of it all.

One day, Luke finds an abandoned, wild puppy in one of their traps and nurses it back to health. He calls him Arrax.

Years later, when Luke gets too sick to carry on any longer, he asks to die in Aemond's arms after one last happy day (like Frank). He asks Aemond to carry on without him, and Aemond nods through his tears so that Luke could die in peace.

But when Luke's breathing stops forever, Aemond also drinks the poison and dies with Luke's body in his arms, pretending until the last seconds that the lingering warmth means that Luke is still alive and they're just going to sleep.

#lucemond #aemond targaryen #lucerys velaryon #tw: death #tlou series #someone should write an au like this

43 notes · View notes

thedepressedjuggalette · 1 month

Note

hey so I saw your "THIS SHIT AIN'T NEW WHEN IT COMES TO ROWLING!" Reblog and i have always had this thought in mind.

you know how the Harry Potter fandom and you know how it is more well known that the bigger the fandom the chances of maybe mass harassment of some on who says something even wrong for like a piece of media like as an example how Anime Fan's tend to go after anyone who is even uncomfortable about what is shown or how fans of celebrities do not take it well when you point out that some one they like is awful?

I have been thinking, was there a chance that some one who tried to point out the nasty implications in the series could have been chased out due to trying to criticize the work and may have done so well that people like forgot?

its like I can't help but feel paranoid that that could have happened and been forgotten. because fandoms can be awful or cruel to critics.

That wouldn't be surprising, hell I might as well say YES because I can damn near guarantee that it's happened multiple times and is still happening to this day, but to take your consideration further as to commentate on the problems of fandom culture… I am gonna go on a bit of a tangent/rant so if you don't want to read that understand that you're spot on.

Anime/Weeb culture has existed and doubled down on and incentivized by the Anime and even Manga creators/studios to such an extent that women are outright ostracized to a point that it's disgusting. I have a question?

How many men have been asked to name every single anime title that had been created in the 90’s?

How many men have been asked to name every single song on the 12 album of the Beetles in order of length and then in order that is played?

How many men have been asked to name every album made by Sleep Token?

I can, with my full chest, say that no man has been asked these sorts of questions. But a woman? They've been asked these sort of things a million times for a million different fandoms.

I myself haven't, despite being a woman, only because I rarely interact with fandoms and do my best to avoid these sorts of situations, specifically online where I can easily be assumed to be the opposite gender. But there is also another aspect to it when it comes to anime as you've indirectly pointed out:

The treatment of female characters in just about 98% of anime and 99% of Isekai anime. That being female characters are either damsels in distress or just tits on a stick.

Softcore porn because the creators honestly think that their viewers are so unabashedly stupid and lack an attention span to such a point that they think they need to shove enough tits and ass shots – doubly so for under age characters – in order to keep the viewers’ attention.

Many weebs defend this sort of behavior because and I quote “Anime isn't for girls”.

My response is always, “Then you need to stop watching every anime made by women and you also have to step away from every magical girl show ever created.”

Fullmetal Alchemist: made by a woman.

Black Butler: made by a woman.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: made by a woman.

Fruits Basket: made by a woman.

Violet Evergarden: made by a woman.

Beastars, motherfucking INUYASHA, DEMON SLAYER, and SAILOR MOON WERE ALL MADE BY WOMEN!

The entire Manga and Anime industries face so much sex-based discrimination that female creators have to hide their genders through a pen-name. Your favorite anime was probably made by a woman who had to hide her gender/identity in order to get it published.

But this will never be acknowledged by the “Boy's Club” that is the Anime/Weeb community and the Industry. They don't want to acknowledge their bullshit.

They don't want to look at the opposite gender as anything other than objects. Objects to save, objects to look at, a pretty face to wank one out to.

It's so easy to piss off the Weebs that it's damn near ridiculous.

Write somewhere “Sakura is actually not useless, read the Light Novels which are actually cannon and she's actually written as a decent character.” and watch how many weebs will be pissed off by that alone.

Make a video talking about how you’re tired of being taken out of Isekai anime because the needless sexualization of the female characters just shoots your immersion down so hard that it hurts, while casually mentioning that you do like Dr. Stone and Demon Slayer, and watch as those casual mentions are ignored and get screamed at by so many weebs that you're forced to ignore it because it's clear they don't care about the other half of the audience.

Try to talk about how female characters are needlessly sexualized in their designs and it's getting to the point that you're unable to take the characters seriously when their own lore shows them to be something else entirely? Yeah good luck with how many assholes call you a “soyboy feminist who hates sexy characters”.

No matter what you do you're gonna get attacked and downed out. And that to me is horrifying.

#vent #rant #anime weeb #sakura haruno #sexism #sexism in anime #sexism in fandom #isekai sucks

5 notes · View notes

capricious-syrpents · 3 months

Text

She Trick On My Room Until Turn Order Reversed

Hiiii I'm Malus! I'm a student at Blueberry Academy, but I'm not from Unova, I'm from Kitakami, and I USED to go to Naranja-Uva until I transferred to work on my battling. I was in League Club until one of the other fuckers at this school from Kitakami BETRAYED MY TRUST and kicked me out for some stupid bullshit reasons cause I wasn't the specific guy he wanted to beat the shit out of and was projected to sweep the league within the month. Apparently I won a hydrapple based measuring contest I wasn't aware I was even in. OH WELL. They will now not let me back in the damn club. It's fine I'm in music club now and I taught my Iron Crown how to play the Nokia Arabic ringtone.

What's an Iron Crown? A little guy I found when I trespassed into the crater. Her name is slicer and I love her. Don't worry about it.

I also don't normally talk like this but I need this intro to look good.

My Pokemon

I got seven of them! My main team is:

Slicer \ Iron Crown \ N/A

Calamari \ Malamar \ Male

Fruit Basket \ Hydrapple \ Female

Mycelium \ Amoongus \ Male

Magma \ Incineroar \ Male

Nightlight \ Dusclops \ Male

I also have a Porygon-Z named Glitch that I swap in occasionally!

As for the core (lol) of my strategy, Fruit Basket is filled with 7 syrpents just like is common for her species, and they're names and roles are:

Gala - commander

Honeycrisp - fore-wyrm

Jazz - fore-wyrm

SnapDragon - fore-wyrm

Lucy Glo - fore-wyrm

Rave - core-wyrm

SugarBee - core-wyrm

and I love them all very much.

I think that's it other than

TROUBLE TRIO FOR LIFE!!!

THE OOC SECTION:

Hi! follows come from @vibossvi and i also run @yveltalreal. general boundaries are the same.

pelipper mail and musharna mail are on, magic anons are off on this blog, and pelipper malice and musharna malice are off as well, although this might change. ic anon hate is fine within reason. in general please be normal.

dont be a bigot, dont be a zionist, dont be generally a bitch, and we're good. love wins. mod is an adult, character is not, and im not comfortable with outright nsfw, and please be careful with suggestive shit. non-explicit silly jokes like the one i made at the start of this post is fine but ehhhh nothing more. if you need any more clarification on shit check the yveltal blogs ooc section

#pokeblr #pokeblogging #irl pkmn #rotomblr

5 notes · View notes

ofoceansandtombsanew · 26 days

Note

Can I ask, if you have top favorite romantic couples (can be canon or non canon) of all time from any media? Why love them? Thx :D

... now this, took a minute to answer in some ways. There a lot of ships I like, so this was really easy and hard to answer at the same time. Some ships it was an immediate yep yep and others I had to go '... but is it a fav of all time, though?" But I think I got it narrowed down.

So here we go, fav ships of all time from any media, no particular order. I didn't get any specific no. to do so I'll just list a handful until I can't think of any others. (Anyone who comes across this that sees a ship on here you don't like and feels the need to say something about it, stay in your lane this ain't about your opinions it's about mine.)

The main FMA ships

Arakawa Hiromu, nigga, you cooked. Imma just put the FMA ships as one and leave it there because if I do it separately, we'll be here all day. But if you wanna see me diving into why I like these ships in a manic ramble, here's a post I made on that here. The romance in FMA is literally a category and a discussion all on its own that I can go about on for hours. FMA has the best romances in shounen so anyone who has consumed FMA will know what I'm talking about. Like, whenever anyone tries to use a manga being 'shounen' to justify shitty romantic writing, I point at FMA's brilliant riding. An animanga's demographic is not an excuse for terrible executions in romance. EdWin, RoyAi, LingFan, AlMei and all the side ships drank and left no molecules.

NaruSaku

Toxic shippers, again, stay in your lane, I don't feel like dealing with y'all any day. I have been shipping this shit for years, always have, always will. Ignore the fact I ship Sakura with literally everyone from the Akatsuki to Hinata to Sai to Shikamaru. (Y'all I used to look up Kisame/Sakura fics, unironically TAT). (Same for Naruto honestly, I've shipped him with Sasuke, Ino, Temari, Tenten, the list goes on and on.) The way Sakura goes from finding Naruto annoying to almost dying multiple times to keep him safe, I will never EVER be over that. Naruto's love going from puppy to something as passionately red as the thread of fate itself. The MinaKushi parallels. I have a lot (and I mean a lot) of ships in Naruto pertaining to these two, but NaruSaku is my absolute favorite. Like it was literally confirmed that Sakura got over Sasuke and then it got retconned for some bullshit. Saying it with my whole chest, argue with a wall, it should have been them. I won't dog any other ships, but yeah, it should have been them. 699 chapters of Naruto being in love with one woman, I sing the praises everyday.

SakuHina

Hinata's prince charming is literally Sakura. I have a whole ass fic I am slowly, painstakingly writing about what Naruto would have been like if Hinata had a crush on Sakura the whole time. I just think they're really cute together, have amazing chemistry and balance each other out. I didn't expect to like SakuHina as much as I did but here we are.

Kyoru

I mentioned it before in another answered ask but Fruits Basket was my first manga (if you're curious what my first anime was, it was Yu Yu Hakusho) and Kyoru was probably my first OTP. There are two characters I think upon so many rewatches and rereads that were prime game for who Kyo and Tohru could have ended up with had things been different (which, I do really ship as well. Multishipper here guys) but I'm not mad about the endgames that we got. From start to finish, Kyo and Tohru's relationship is beautiful and you can feel how strongly they feel for one another. It's like, wow, Takaya really gave us one of the best ships in shoujo and didn't even apologize for it.

Klance

Red + Blue = True. They had chemistry, supplemented for what the other lacked and we really don't need to have me diving into the bs that was VLD. That show wasn't even out long, my god, it was a mess.

NeuviFuri

Should I explain to you the romanticism of Hydro x Hydro? Oof how I love them. A Genshin ship after my own heart, truly. But if anyone is trying to against MiHoyoverse (I was here from the Mihoyo days, leave me alone) in terms of seeing who ships NeuviFuri more, we all lose. They literally paid people to do an ice dancing program in NeuviFuri cosplay, paid a guy to make a companion piece to Furina's song from Neuvillette's perspective and several other animations concerning their relationship in some way. But the Mihoyoverse shenanigans aside, it's the build up of 400+ years of working together, the care they still have for one another and yes the complementary abilities and color palettes. Not enough time in the day to talk about them, I don't think.

AriDante

Almost thought I wouldn't have a gif for them, then I remembered THEY GOT A MOVIE. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one of my favorite books in the world. I have reread it once a year religiously since 2017 when I first discovered it. This is such a beautiful novel and relationship and if you haven't had the pleasure of reading it or the sequel, please do yourself a favor and buy it or rent it from your local library. It's just, the way Ari has been in love with Dante for so long and didn't even realize it but it's so, so clear to the reader because of just how he talks and describes him? I don't even want to go to deep into this one just in case there's someone here that hasn't read this book because it deserves to be read and experienced blind. Just, just please y'all read it.

#look she's answering #anon #animanga thoughts #royai #edwin #lingfan #almei #narusaku #sakuhina #kyoru #klance #neuvifuri #aridante

20 notes · View notes

fzzr · 9 months

Text

I'm not sure what to make of The Dreaming Boy is a Realist

When it comes to anime romcoms, Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha (The Dreaming Boy is a Realist, henceforth "Dreaming Boy") is certainly one of them. It's also... kinda a weird one. Not weird like Midori no Hibi or actually about something else like Fruits Basket just... off beat. Let me try to explain.

Dreaming Boy begins with our title character, Wataru, harassing the female protagonist, Aika, by asking her to go out with him. This is apparently his whole thing, to the point where it's what he's principally known for at school. Today, however, is different. Today he gives up and decides that the best thing for her is for him to stop constantly badgering her with unwanted romantic advances. And now the other half of the show setup: She's actually conflicted about the fact that he's decided to stop harassing her.

So, we already have to take a moment. We have this whole informed character background for the guy that consists of him being unable to take no for an answer for ages, but we see it on screen for only minutes. He's essentially being rewarded for bad behavior that we didn't see, giving us a double whammy of too-fast character establishment and unearned forgiveness before the first commercial break. Not a great start.

Back to the episode, the plot shifts to being about a girl who recently broke up with her long-time boyfriend making the moves on Wataru. This involves some dialogue dunking on her ex and... she objects that she doesn't really want to hear people insult him. Later when Wataru recognizes that he's being used as a rebound surface before she gets back with her beau, he says straight up that he's actually hurt. Huh. That's surprisingly emotionally intelligent for a show with the first few minutes I described.

To my surprise, this turned out not to be an aberration. Several episodes are about how the two main characters act in emotionally contrived ways but also include an serious exploration of social interactions or more nuanced emotional responses. And then in the mixed column, there's the story structure. From what I can tell, it begins at the top of act two of a tsundere romance anime. He did he shitty protagonist stuff in the previous season we didn't get to see. As a result we get to skip some tedious setup, but we also need to introduce a bunch of characters which means cramming them into episodes at the same time that plot escalation is supposed to be happening. It's a show at war with itself.

Back in the positive column I want to call out episode 4 for being a surprisingly good implementation of the "taking care of sick romantic interest" stock episode. First of all, it shows clearly that Wataru has cold symptoms the day before. The usual soaking by extremely hazardous anime water does happen (with him nobly protecting Aika from a splash from a car). He goes to school anyway and then falls asleep in class. Given that his reputation is generally neutral to negative, neither his peers nor teachers see this as something to be especially worried about. They just assume he's being grumpy and acting out. They only take it seriously when he collapses with drama more typical of how the trope usually plays. It then switches back to realism when it's pointed out that he probably was already sick and the splash of water was just the last straw. They keep him home from school and when Aika comes over to check on him, he actually wears a mask to try not to spread his cold. That might be just a COVID thing, but this is still one of the few times I've ever seen it.

This combination of anime bullshit with insightful writing is a microcosm of the contradiction of Dreaming Boy. It indulges in the tired tropes of its genre, but simultaneously examines how people actually interact and effect each other in a way that feels very true to life. When he is actually punished for his past transgressions it's not by the story imposing bad things on bad people. It's showing a practical example of how the past behavior leads to the present outcomes as direct cause and effect rather than symbolic narrative fiat. If it wasn't wrapped in an otherwise awkwardly implemented show, I would call it the next thing to genius. As it is, I just don't know what to think.

A meta comment

Anime is about animation, but a show like Dreaming Boy doesn't have much animation to speak of. This is a show that is mainly held together by its dialogue and thus, its voice acting. The voice actors for our principal protagonists are very new to the industry (this is the first main character role for either of them in a full length series) and they're doing a decent but not great job here. This isn't some budget-saving exercise, the rest of the voice cast is very experienced and you can sometimes tell. I wonder if this is contributing to the negative reception I'm seeing in some subtle way (on top of all the issues already discussed above).

(Interim) Final thoughts

This is my first post about an anime that hasn't finished airing. I'll revisit it once its done, or if it loses me. It's not uncommon for a show to be good in interesting ways while being held back by other factors, but it is unusual for those factors to be so close together. For now, it embodies one more contradiction — despite not being very good in absolute terms, it's also one of the shows I look forward to most every week.

#anime #summer 2023 anime #the dreaming boy is a realist #yumemiru danshi wa genjitsushugisha #original post

4 notes · View notes