#<- in case the read more doesn't work

[erumai-maadu]

Just noting down some things about Tenten that influence my view of her characterization/personality. primarily for my own reference as i’m writing, as well as to kind of get a more mature and consistent characterization of her than i had before. this gonna be an extremely long and rambling post, (where I think I repeat myself a whole lot oops) and there’s not really anything profound, just some traits i’m pulling from canon and interpreting.

most of Tenten’s ’canon’ characterization comes from filler and databooks, which I then further interpret, so a lot of her characterization in this post is three degrees of fanon/headcanon, with some liberties taken where I dislike the interpretation.

We’re introduced to Tenten during the chunin exams, where she’s seen throwing kunai at a target dummy that Neji is sitting under. She casually throws her kunai and hits the target dead center, instantly showing her marksmanship skill, but also Neji’s implicit trust in her since he doesn’t even flinch and the target is pretty much right over his head. This ties in later but basically, he fully trusts that she will not miss.

We see Tenten again before the first round of the chunin exams, while Izumo and Kotetsu are blocking the door. The thing I find notable in that scene is Tenten not being immune to Sasuke LOL.

(Manga panel grabbed from @tentenarchive)

it's interesting to me that her thing is specifically that there's not a single scratch on him, and that he's "cool". Makes sense given that she's on a team with Gai and Lee and she desperately wants them to be cool too. And she dislikes weak people so yeah, of course it's cool to her that he's untouchable.

Actually on this topic, Tenten's taste seems to be "cool people"? In a filler episode (naruto 162) she thinks that the lord of a local land is really cute when she sees him get down for his palanquin. The lord's whole thing is that he's like cold and cool and pensive etc. so this seems to be Tenten's taste to some degree. He turns out to actually be a girl in the end so yknow. bi Tenten confirmed.

Here's her page from the first databook (screenshotted from The Narutoversity). She gets annoyed at Lee injuring himself for Sakura's sake, which I'm pretty sure isn't really out of care so much as it is that they're in the middle of the forest of death in like. the worst situation possible. Love how Ino's just standing there like "what the fuck kind of medical care is this".

I generally dislike the stats since I find that they’re inaccurate to what we see on-panel (a whole rant I could go on another time tbh), and Kishimoto tends to skew them egregiously in favor of characters he particularly likes. Ex: genin era Neji’s total is 21, and shippuden Tenten’s is 20.5. You cannot seriously be telling me that Neji as a genin is stronger than chunin Tenten three years in the future. Come on Kishimoto. There are a few things of note here though, so let’s go through them anyway.

Tenten’s highest stat is her speed, at 3, which is the same as Sasuke from the same databook. So clearly, she’s fast, especially since Sasuke is known for his speed. She's not as fast as Lee, but still quick on her feet and dexterous, with fast reflexes. Makes sense, since the second databook describes her fighting style as “dancing flexibly and firing speedily”.

Her strength is a 1 and her stamina is a 1.5, which is insane to me. Like she’s on Team Gai???? They do 500 laps around Konoha and 1000+ pushups every day???? I reject canon here, fuck u kishi, I know she’s actually buff as hell and has hella stamina.

Her intelligence is a 2, which might seem super low but it matches Sasuke's intelligence, and is only 0.5 lower than Neji and Temari's. I think it just goes to show that the scale for these stats is skewed as hell. But basically what this means is that she operates at a similar level to Sasuke, Temari, and Neji, where she picks up on the things around her, and while she isn't operating on the level of Shikamaru, she's still a good strategist.

Back to the actual show, we get to the elimination round and her fight against Temari (episode 43). I’m basing this part off the anime because their fight in the manga is like three panels long.

So technically, this is “filler” (as if any tenten fan really cares lol).

From the Hokage's commentary, her battle sense is pretty good. She positions herself a perfect distance away from the enemy. She's trying to bait Temari into attacking, to see what her power is and figure out how to counter it, and Temari calls her out on it.

Tenten isn't a 200 IQ genius strategist the way Shikamaru is, but she is still a smart fighter. We can see she thinks in a similar way to him (and Temari) feeling out the enemy's power and what they can do before counterattacking strategically. I need them to be best friends tbh.

Her first reaction when she throws her shuriken at Temari and misses is surprise. She is deeply confident in her own abilities, so it's genuinely shocking to her. She yells "I missed? There's no way!" and in the stands, Gai also insists up and down that Tenten never misses.

She has the utmost confidence in herself, and from the rest of her team. None of them have any doubt in her, and this also ties back to that introductory scene. No wonder Neji let her chuck kunai at targets near him. It's probably something she does regularly too.

Tenten loses to Temari, and is immediately down on herself. We see a lot of this in Shippuden 237, where she's lying in the hospital and loses all her confidence in herself and her abilities.

Shippuden 237 shows us that Tenten does actually have self-esteem issues, even before this fight with Temari. During their first year as genin, when Lee keeps getting defeated by Neji, Tenten tells Lee that he really should just give up on beating Neji, because he's a genius, and Lee is not. It's clear in the voice acting and the expressions that to some extent, Tenten isn't just speaking about Lee when she says this, she's also speaking about herself.

She seems to compare herself a lot to others, often in a negative light, talking down about herself when others are better than her, but still trying her best to surpass them.

But the way she talks after losing to Temari is much worse. Her match with Temari affects her deeply, and likely for many years to come. I think it becomes one of her primary motivations to become stronger, as she keeps holding that moment as her lowest point and vowing to never be that helpless against an opponent again.

Headcanons here. After her fight with Temari, Tenten also throws herself into learning 1) fire jutsu to combat Temari’s wind (this is why she develops that dragon bomb jutsu she uses during the Konoha Crush filler episode), and 2) seals that can absorb/store away opponents’ attacks.

I think Tenten’s primary chakra nature is actually lightning, which is also why she is so weak to wind chakra. I love this post by @/fineillsignup that goes into detail about chakra natures, and a lot of the traits listed under lightning nature fit with my interpretations of Tenten. I also am heavily biased toward the idea of Kakashi, who is basically student-less during the interlude period, teaching Tenten lightning jutsu since she's his husband's friend's student.

Going back to that scene in shippuden 237, I do think her talking down to Lee in their first year as genin is also interesting. Even though I love the idea of Lee and Tenten being besties before Team Gai and her standing up for him, I think the reality is that she probably didn’t really talk to him in the Academy, and once they were on the same team, she was kind to him, and learned to work with him.

Lee very specifically mentions in a flashback in episode 100 that nobody told him anything encouraging, sensei or student. This obviously includes Tenten. So while she wasn’t outright mean to him, she also didn’t have the greatest opinion of him.

She very quickly found herself relating with him, and that probably made her take out some of her own self-loathing on him at first. Eventually they become close, and form a very deep friendship, but things start out pretty rocky.

Kishimoto confirms that every day for a month between the second and final rounds of the chunin exams, Neji and Tenten train together in secret to help him reverse-engineer the 8 trigrams 64 palms and the rotation. It’s interesting that everyone else goes to train with a jounin and only Neji chooses to train with his teammate.

I think this implies Tenten to be a good secret keeper and evidence that Neji already told her about the cursed seal and all the clan drama. During Neji’s speech to Naruto, Tenten’s reaction is shown alongside Hiruzen and Hiashi’s, both of whom already know all about the curse mark and his father’s death. So Neji has told Tenten as well.

Plus Tenten is uniquely suited to help with Rotation, since she can throw a billion knives no jutsu.

During Naruto vs Neji, Tenten gets used as the mouthpiece to explain Neji's attacks, which also shows how well she knows him after training with him for the Chunin exams, but she's also genuinely impressed when Naruto wins, and even compliments him.

There's a brief scene during Shikamaru v Temari where Tenten comments about how she couldn't beat Temari. Also look at her arms. A 1 for her strength stat??? with those arms??? sure kishi.

Okay, we move on to when Orochimaru attacks Konoha, and there’s this filler episode (shippuden 192) where Hinata gets kidnapped by Kumo shinobi. This episode has some small Tenten moments, where you can also see how Neji thinks of her, and I like them a lot.

We start off with Tenten going to check in on Neji after his conversation with Hiashi, and he actually opens up and tells her all about what they had just spoken about, another sign that he's told her about everything with his clan.

When Hinata is kidnapped and the Hyuuga Elder makes Neji go get her, Tenten comes with him, not out of any particular concern for Hinata, but purely to back up Neji. I doubt she likes Hinata much at first (my eyes were opened after this post by @tentenismybitch), so she’s doing this more for Neji’s sake.

As they're chasing after the man who kidnapped Hinata, they get caught in a trap, and Tenten tells Neji to leave her behind (strategic thinking) and Neji only hesitates for a second before agreeing and going on ahead. Neji expresses that this is because he knows Tenten can handle herself.

We see her using a new jutsu (the Dragon Bomb), which as I mentioned before, I think she developed with Temari in mind.

During the Hokage’s funeral we do see her in funeral attire looking sad but is she really? debatable. I think no, but it’s not entirely relevant. This is all personal headcanon here, not based on canon evidence beyond extrapolating from what I’ve seen.

Tenten doesn't strike me as someone burning with loyalty to the village and harping on about the “will of fire” and whatnot. She does her duty, and that’s about it. It doesn’t go further than that. She cares about the people dear to her, but not really about the village specifically.

After the Hokage’s funeral, Tenten doesn’t appear again until the end of the Search For Tsunade arc, which I think is her last non-filler appearance in the original series other than a few flashbacks.

She’s excited about Tsunade coming to the village, and tells Neji after he trains, and asks him to come with her to go see Tsunade. Neji tells her he’s not interested, and Tenten looks a little disappointed.

We see Tenten in some flashbacks to Lee's genin years (episode 100). As Neji is talking down to Lee, Tenten doesn't really say anything, which matches with what i said earlier. But, when Gai tells them that with hard work, anyone can be a shinobi, Tenten has a similar reaction to Lee, while Neji just looks annoyed.

What Gai says seems to give her hope. That with enough hard work, anyone can become great. She doesn't think of herself as a genius, and if anything, seems to group herself with Lee in terms of ability. This is also shown in Shippuden 237, which I'll discuss later.

After this we only see Tenten in the end-of-series filler, which will be part 2 of this post since it's already really long. We'll finish off by looking at data book 2, which came out after the manga for the first series had finished.

From the second data book (screenshot also taken from the Narutoversity), we see part of her personality is being a "busybody" LMFAOOOO. So yeah she's inquisitive and curious, being a research enthusiast, but also uses that same nature to get in on everyone's business too. We can assume she's also observant and detail-oriented, can probably read people pretty well.

I like this a lot! I think Tenten is a good people person, and many find her easy to get along with. She’s probably one of those people that you accidentally find yourself telling really important or deep stuff to without really knowing why. She’s just got this air around her that’s very chill and comfortable.

But I do think she’s nosy, and does wanna know about everything, just to be in the know. She’s a little detective LOL.

The research enthusiast part is a fun thing too. She strikes me as a tinkerer, messing with new weapon designs or seal ideas, constantly turning something over in her head.

The first and second databooks list her hobby as fortune-telling, which is also really cute. I think she knows palmistry and does readings for her friends, and has some knowledge of astrology. She isn't overly superstitious, but she does believe in ghosts, and gets fairly nervous when she sees or hears something that can be considered a bad omen.

She has pride in her weapons, clearly, and her arsenal is implied to be the largest and strongest of any ninja. I’d like to assume that some of her pride comes from the weapons in her arsenal that are of her own design.

Her 'carefree, smiling face' is also an interesting point. At first I was unsure how to interpret this, but to me it reads as her being rather laid-back and carefree, despite her power and lethality. Again, not very sure how to interpret this line and I'd love to hear how anyone else sees it!

It’s cute that Tsunade coming to the village and becoming hokage made Tenten train harder. I think aside from her defeat to Temari, this becomes another major motivation for Tenten. She wants to impress Tsunade, the kunoichi that she admires most.

She says she'd like to fight Sakura, so I think there's some kind of jealousy or something to prove there since Sakura got to be Tsunade’s apprentice and Tenten didn't. This goes back to her low self-esteem and those issues she’s been having since her fight with Temari.

Shippuden 237 touches on this but Tenten did actually try to become a medical ninja for a bit, she just didn’t have the chakra control necessary. Obviously this adds to her insecurities when Sakura turns out to be a natural at medical ninjutsu with unnaturally good chakra control.

I’m not a huge fan of the ‘trying to be a mednin’ part of this ngl, I think she’s a little too fixated on weapons to truly care about medical ninjutsu, and wants to emulate Tsunade just for the ‘strongest kunoichi’ part rather than trying to be her exact carbon copy. Plus, I think (headcanon) Tenten’s chakra control has to be at least decently good in order to do seals, but that’s a different rabbit hole. I tend to disregard this in my fics and will likely continue to do so.

I do like the thing of being jealous of Sakura in some way for being Tsunade’s apprentice, though. It’s some nice flavor and I appreciate the one-sided rivalry. I think it would be funny for Sakura to think of Tenten as the cool senpai and look up to her, meanwhile Tenten is struggling to not immediately challenge her to a duel, Gai-style.

Since this is already super long, I’ll do a part 2 for all the filler arcs she’s in, and then a part 3 for shippuden.

[ai-the-broccoli]

enemies to lovers / but you'll never own my heart

@luzon-dove happy birthday, Quinn!! As a present, I decided to draw a piece fanart of your "blood in the walls of the yagami house" AU fic series, since I found it very well-written and full of super interesting ideas and concepts. I hope you like it!

[vaguely-concerned]

I don't know what I love more, the fact that as rook you can make a statement in NO uncertain terms that you are NOT responsible one way or the other for the theological implications of the shit you're discovering in the 'regrets of the dread wolf' memories. not my jurisdiction. quite simply none of my business. not my chantry circus not my chantry monkeys. irrelevant to the matter at hand here we'll kill that god if we get to him he can get in line. or if the best thing about it is seeing the lone little 'lucanis approves' that pops up right after choosing it. corvid with a knife about to commit deicide keeping it real and sensibly, pragmatically, wilfully agnostic with me here in this magical lighthouse today

[moe-broey]

6/11 • Day 3 • Celebration

I Think We Might Be Friends -- Level 40 Convo, featuring my Summoner, Moe! (Uses it/it's pronouns!)

Aka what happens when a mirror reflects a mirror. But like with one of those funhouse mirrors that distort your image. Wouldn't that be fucked up or what

Also also just. Sharena bestie you have me BEWILDERED. I remember so distinctly when I got her 40 convo, waayy back before I had a good read on her character... it struck me, stuck with me for years. I think I finally understand, now, though.

Some close ups of my fave shots!

Also! Coloring this was a last-minute impulse decision, which thankfully paid off! I was sooooo scared though ESP of not making time after. ALL OF THIS TIME. So I took pics beforehand too!

With... kind of inconsistent lighting LMFAO 🧍 I feel like this version has a nice effect too, but! It was important to me to show Moe in full-color, here. Similar, but in opposite directions...

@sharenaweek

[razrogue]

Always a Price (Ascended!Astarion & evil!Tav)

also on AO3

SUMMARY :

They didn't always agree but there was one thing that could always unite them - power. They both sought power for the betterment of their lives and the empire they were considering building together. But what happens when one's quest for power could lead to the other's doom?

Standing a short distance from the platform, Gan watched as the smaller runes around the room began glowing in preparation as Astarion centered himself in the runic circle on the ground before Cazador’s coffin. A bit ironic how Cazador had planned to start a new phase of life in this dungeon but instead it will be his grave. Gale and Shadowheart had departed the dungeon long ago while Gan served as Astarion’s eyes as he meticulously carved the infernal writing into his former master and tormentor’s back. They voiced their objections to what was about to transpire, pleaded with them to consider all the souls they were condemning to tragic fates but were ignored by the duo. 

Preparations finished and Cazador suspended in the same spot he’d flung Astarion into earlier, everything was finally ready to come together. Weapons firmly in their hands, they watched as the giant rune on the floor and staff in his hand began to glow the same crimson red as the bodies situated around the arena. They remained alert, ready to strike in case things began to sour. He'd made them promise that they would stake him if there was any hint the rite was killing him. Gan swallowed the small lump forming in their throat and nodded affirmatively. They didn't want to think about what would happen if everything the two of them had been working towards would unravel so they held fast to believing it would work.

Their thoughts came back to the present as Astarion began chanting the phrases from the ancient scroll. Blood curdling shrieks began ringing out followed just as quickly by juicy pops of viscera dropping from all the vessels formerly known as bodies. As he continued to chant and more screams rang out from the others that were kept in the dungeon, Gan’s head began to ache. What started as a mild pulse became throbbing pain as the ritual continued, bringing Gan down on a knee. One last rap of the staff and the chanting stopped, the pain that radiated from the top of their head to the base of their skull began to subside, granting them much needed respite. Still clutching tightly to the dagger in one of their hands, struggling to stand, they finally raised their head only to find Astarion standing before them. They were unsure if it was the pain or something else entirely but they hadn’t noticed that he’d made the distance from the coffin to the pillar so silently. From where they were, he seemed as tall as a tree looming over the forest underbrush. Gan breathed a sigh of relief, expecting him to reach his hand out to help them upright, when they suddenly found themself disarmed and gasping for air. Astarion had grabbed them by the throat, fangs bared, eyeing them as if they were his next treat. Gan swatted at his shoulders as their feet kicked desperate to be on the ground again. With a smirk and a slight tilt of his head, he looked at them. Gan had looked in his eyes many times before this moment and they couldn't recall a time his gaze had been more unnerving. He stared at them, hand still firm around their throat as his free arm curled under them, bringing their body to rest on the ground. Gan tried to focus and muster what energy they could to feel around for their weapon. Though Bloodlust was no ordinary weapon, they weren’t sure if they would even be able to kill him now. Even faced with dire odds, they'd still try before it was all over.

Kneeling beside them, Astarion leaned over and started slowly grazing their cheek with the tip of his black nail.

"I couldn't have done this without you, darling one." 

Gan thought they’d heard a hint of tenderness in his voice at the end there, yet despite his tone, his hand remained in a tight grip around their throat. He tilted their head slightly, barely relieving the pressure he'd been exerting and exposed some of their neck to him. This was nothing like the few times they'd willingly bared themself to allow him to feed upon them. This seemed sinister. Against their will and at his whim.

Their free hand gently grabbed at his wrist, desperate to get his attention. They couldn't tell what he was thinking for certain but they went into survival mode.

"..pl…please…" Gan managed to mutter, trying to remain calm.

"P…Plum…please…"

For a fraction of a second, his eyes softened at his pet name stumbling from their lips.

Astarion leaned closer and looked into their eyes.

" Aeternitas ," he remarked to them, his eyes poring over their face.

They'd spoken about what happens after Cazador, the tadpoles, the elder brain, everything. What would it mean for them…if there was going to be a them after. They had mostly aligned throughout their journey together but what would happen when he became a vampire ascendant and they were controlling a cult. Both desired power but neither wanted to consider what would happen should their goals and paths diverge. They'd left things at choosing each other and would come to terms with the day someone no longer did when faced with it. 

Astarion loosened his grasp just slightly so Gan could speak with less strain. 

It was just enough to let Gan cough a little in relief. Once it subsided, hopefully a bit of truth would bring him back to reality…or at least buy Gan some time.

"I already chose."

Astarion's eyes widened just slightly. Gan couldn't tell if it was surprise or disgust but they readied Bloodlust just out of sight. He released the grip on their throat but left his hand resting there. A slight breath of relief but they remained on their guard, Gan closed their eyes for a second to calm their heartbeat as much as they could. He could probably sense all of this now but they needed to steady themself. If this moment was going to be their last, they'd try to leave him with a parting gift to remember them by. 

Instead Astarion shocked them, taking their cheeks in both hands and kissing them. A kiss that was insistent, greedy, and far stronger than it's ever been. It was nothing like the other times, not even post confession was like this. In this instance, it was almost like being absorbed…devoured. Astarion may not have been sinking his fangs into their neck but he was claiming them nonetheless. Gan surrendered just a little in hopes he would ease up. They needed him to come down from the intensity of the ritual or else Gan would be paying a price like the souls just moments before.

Their free hand came to rest at his chest and cautiously tried to get him to stop. Astarion eventually released them in his own time, pleased that they were sufficiently marked…for now. Gan remained there on the ground, watching as he stood up and looked around. A grin on his lips, twinkle in his eyes, and a renewed purpose in his stance. Just looking at him they could tell he was changed. Time would tell if Gan would regret this journey they agreed to join him on. Forever's a long time and power always has a price. Would either of them be willing to pay it? For each other? For themselves?

[muninnhuginn]

The way qiu qingzhi/qiu shenji sees through lb instantly regardless of medium and yet still misses the most important part.

[psychopomp-namine]

I actually have a fic idea but lc is a show that's like. you will never ever have all the information and context until the end. and I am a writer who writes best and more confidently when I have all the info and context at my fingertips. so now I'm just like 🧍‍♂️

anyway. ramble in the tags

[clawdee]

Tagged by @yopossum

damn, ok, I gotta think, these are not in any order except for when I remember them lmao

Rules: without naming them, post 10 gifs of your favorite TV shows, then tag people

(sorry I'm a Josh Gates/Ghost Hunting shows girly)

and RIP these last 2 shows, each having their last seasons (and the whole show tbh bc I can't rewatch them) ruined by Zionists:

(I haven't seen anything about David being a Zionist like Aiden that's why I chose him for the gif)

[lisbonsteresa]

i'm going to SCREAM

[llycaons]

i think you might just need to go outside

you're the one who sent three anonymous messages to a stranger on the internet about a reddit sub full of ao3 fans about something she posted two years ago anon so idk maybe I'm not the one who needs to log off

[cursedthing]

.havign lots of thoughts about how npcs are portrayed learning about the nature of their universe in works

[chevaliermalfets]

OF COURSE the jury president for my candidacy exam is a magnetic materials guy

[medicinemane]

Once had someone I know laugh at me because "read" is pronounced "reed" not "red" (trying to convey what I mean in text with similar sounding words here, you know?)

Now... you may notice that he was, in fact, a complete buffoon

Also worth mentioning that he pronounced "totem" like "tow-um"... also told me that wireless chargers didn't exist in like 2018 (despite being a self styled tech genius), which is less relevant here but I think helps paint the picture

Anyway, I was typing "red" and my fingers wrote "read" and I was like you're not wrong but also no, and I was reminded of this while I was tossing around ideas about "Red is read red" as some dumb post to make

Take away is max was an utterly self centered arrogant ass with rich parents who acted like he was some kind of ultra genius while being a damn fool... and now that I think of it also had a real hard on for elon musk cause he recognized what a brilliant person he is; which is all to say there's many many many many many reasons I don't talk to max anymore

[heymacy]

hi macy :) I read about your personal experience with finding yourself too invested in the gallavich fandom to the point of feeling upset about it and I have to say... that happened to me too. the compulsory need to engage even when there's no good feeling at the end of it, the constantly thinking about it to the detriment of other activities... I don't know if it's maybe because shameless and gallavich deal with heavy topics, or just one of the ways online engagement and hyperfixations can evolve, but I felt so much better once I removed myself from it, able to find joy in numerous other activities, and fandoms too! just wanted to share this - the fact that I had the same experience - and wanted to say I'm glad you're doing better now :)

hello my love! thank you for reaching out! i'm very glad that you were able to find solidarity in what i shared. re: heavy topics - i know that for myself, not being faced with content regarding my own disease on a daily basis has been a nice change of pace for me. i haven't felt as consumed by it since i took a step back. i think sometimes the content we engage with colors our real-world experiences and that was definitely the case for me. i've never been a casual viewer of media or a casual enjoyer of things so it doesn't surprise me that what happened to me, happened. i love having the capacity now to enjoy other things - and hey, i still engage with fandom here and there! i'm loving RWRB content right now (i have just a tiny bit of brain rot regarding those two) along with some jane austen adaptations and other such things! media is beautiful and transformative and i love putting stickers on the scrapbook that is my blog! thank you for your kind words - i'm glad i'm doing better now, too. it feels good. it feels healthy and normal. and i really hope everyone can find a balance if they're feeling off-kilter. also, i love you. did you know that? thank you for popping in 💛 feel free to do it any time you please, i'm always hanging around somewhere!