#KYOKO GETS A DAD WHO LOVES HER

[aparticularbandit]

ALSO HI JIN DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE YOU SHOW UP

[sprinklenoodles]

Okay!

This one is going to be shorter since I am trying not to stay up late! (Future me. I lied but I made it! It's not 12 this time! WOOOOO!!!) 'Tis 11pm rn instead of 12 or 1am. Decided to read And Then I Go And Spoil It All By Saying Something Stupid Like "I Love You" Did more art today so I didn't have a lot of time to read that much! Also, it's Jin and Kijo! The doomed gays!! I had too! Also, sliding this in. Hope you had good celebratory time!!! I'd say more but I forgot how to use more words. Yay for celebratory noises! As for my vaguely silly comments for the fic, it be good. Short, sweet, got the TUMI lore in there. So, pretty neat! Not crazy or anything since it's a little oneshot into the lives of Kijo and Jin in their youth, but still!! Makes me think more about these two. Mostly Jin because I never even cared about him much other than "HEADMASTER" and "KYOKO DAD". That kinda stuff. Never even took account like... his personality and what he likes, dislikes, or even how he was in his youth. Guess he kinda just existed in my mind before so it feels nice finally thinking critically about his character a bit more. With Kijo, I always had that intrest because he's so much of a mystery. In the game, there's only the allusion of his preseence cus "Duh! Byakuya came from somewhere. Not some money hole like some money mole" (heehee that rhymed) And like, the only stuff of Kijo IS his name. So I already was in that mindset to wonder about him. What kinda of guy would be responsible for the creating of Byakuya. Which, honestly, maybe I just need to one day go and just... look into the depths of Jin lore. A Jin Journey. Cus I know nothing and it is a crime. Realized this didn't have much fic talk in it and more just me blabbering about Jin and Kijo so I hope you don't mind! Also, since why not add some out-of-pocket thought, I must say this cus it's true and happened yesterday on my end and it's a wild realization. AHEM. I think Byakuya Togami made me realize I might be aroace or like, on the aroace spectrum. This sounds so dumb but it's true. Also think your headcanon for him helped me realize that. I thank you for good fics, interesting ideas, and self-actualization somehow. Like, no one could have guessed that to be on the bingo card. So, by the time of your reading this, it'll be like, 2 days since I had that realization which I'm still shocked about! I digress though. Thus, to end this off, take this MS paint doodle I made in like... less than a few minutes.

The way I drew Kijo is so freaking funny to me. He's so head empty. You bonk that head and he just doesn't react cus there's nothing in there. Also, would their ship name be Jijo or Kin? Kijogiri? Jingami? Also, I will give Kijo better hair some day. I promise!

That little one-shot is one of my favs. It's both recent and is just a nice little addition to the TUMI universe, which I always love to do.

It was also just time for Jin and Kijo to get something that focuses just on them, even if it was just a prequel... but who knows, that might become more...

But I really liked writing it and I'm glad u liked reading it :D

Loved the little doodle too! Poor Kijo's hair tho 😔 And I dunno what the ship name should be... Maybe something ✨creative✨

As for what you've realized, congrats! I'm glad my fics could help with that, though I'm not that surprised that they did. One thing I've noticed is that quite a lot of my readers are aromantic.

Also, I recommend watching this video by JaidenAnimations! It's her coming out as aroace and was quite eye opening for me back when I watched it the first time!

But congrats on figuring that out! If you ever have any questions or whatever, you know where to find me!

[1-800-fuccthisshit]

college classes start tomorrow so we’re starting off strong with my favorite teacher.

✦✦

【𝘔𝘐𝘓𝘋 𝘚𝘗𝘖𝘐𝘓𝘌𝘙𝘚 | 𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘋 𝘈𝘛 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘖𝘞𝘕 𝘋𝘐𝘚𝘊𝘙𝘌𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕】

𝘚𝘐𝘕𝘎𝘓𝘌 𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘌𝘕𝘛!𝘚𝘏𝘖𝘜𝘛𝘈 𝘈𝘐𝘡𝘈𝘞𝘈 𝘟 𝘋𝘖𝘊𝘛𝘖𝘙!𝘔𝘊

𝘞𝘊 : 1,746

✦✦

gonna dive into shouta’s backstory before i introduce the mc.

for starters, he adopted his daughter (her name is kyoko in my drafts) when she was a few months old (her mom was murdered and her dad was on his way to serving a life sentence).

kyoko inherited a cat mutation quirk from her mom (the cuteness aggression somewhat influenced the hastily adoption) and a teleportation quirk from her father. at the ripe age of four, she’s shown up to shouta’s classroom more times than he’d like.

the first time she asked abt her mama, shouta told her she went to go be with the stars.

she a little on the smaller side (preemie baby) and she’s a curious little sweetheart.

she loves coloring and going outside.

she loves her uncle zashi and aunt nemi.

she loves her big brother hito and her best friend kacchan.

and don’t even get me started on her papa, she looks at him like he hung the stars just for her.

insert mc (my oc’s name is suki). she’s the youngest of four. she came along much later so the rest of her family feels somewhat burdened by her.

thankfully her adolescence wasn’t too terrible with her cousin, emi fukukado (✨for the plot ✨), by her side.

suki’s quirk, heal, heals flesh wounds and broken bones. as long as she’s holding a conversation with the injured person, their wounds should heal quite nicely.

after realizing she couldn’t legally use her quirk to help people, suki enrolled in the hero course of a small high school to get her hero license before going to med school.

shouta and suki meet during a night shift at the hospital just a few weeks before the Entrance Exam. he’s injured and frantic and he doesn’t wanna talk, he wants to get out this damn bed and go home.

who is suki to stop him?

(just kidding she threatened to sedate him if he didn’t calm down)

they see each other again at a cat café. suki is reading a new book when shouta walks in with kyoko im his arms. besides a half assed apology from shouta, they don’t interact much.

the next time they see each other is after the USJ incident. shouta’s cooperative and suki does what she can, but the damage is so extensive that shouta still ends up in a full body cast.

at some point after the UA Sports Festival, the two begin spending time together that doesn’t have to do with shouta being hurt.

they don’t really cross the line separating friendship from romance until after he returns from the Forest Training Camp. shouta is set to speak at a press conference and - even though he’s really expressing it - he’s on edge. they’re not together but they are.

shortly after his class takes their Provisional Hero License Exams, shouta meets suki’s cousin at her apartment. imagine his surprise (and anguish) when he sees emi sitting at the dinner table.

shouta ghosts suki for a bit after the Shie Hassaikai raid, but she’s sure his reasoning is good enough. about a week later, he shows up at her apartment unannounced and tells her everything that transpired. her heart breaks for sir nighteye, but it shatters for eri.

shortly after the UA School Festival, suki meets shouta’s closest friends, nemuri kayama and hizashi yamada. that’s a story for another time, though.

shouta broaches the idea of introducing suki to his girls. his friends suggest inviting her over for christmas. when shouta asks her about it, suki immediately bombards him with questions about the dress code and what to get the girls for christmas.

back at home with kyoko and eri, shouta asks about what they want for the upcoming holiday. eri isn’t sure what she wants (she feels bad about asking for stuff). kyoko, though? the one thing she wants is a mommy.

shouta tells his girlfriend suki to get them crafting supplies.

christmas day rolls around. shouta drinks a cup of coffee in the short lived silence before kyoko’s small voice rang out.

“wake up, eri née-chan! it’s christmas! gotta open your presents!”

suki arrives later than anticipated.

eri looks up from the couch and kyoko comes around the corner when she gets there. both are expecting to meet papa’s new friend. however, “new friend” goes completely out the window when kyoko sees the pretty woman taking her shoes off at the door looking just like-

“A MOMMY!”

eri is confused and the color drains straight from shouta’s face.

it only takes a few days for the girls to form a bond with suki (kyoko develops really bad separation anxiety) and by the time the new year comes around, shouta officially has a girlfriend.

suki knows next to nothing about the Paranormal Liberation War, so when one of her coworkers finds her in the break room and tells her about what they heard over the radio, her heart drops. not even an hour later are people (heroes, students, and civilians alike) being rushed in the hospital.

most of the people needing suki’s help are civilians that either got caught in the wreckage or hurt themselves while trying to get away from said wreckage. though she knows it was wishful thinking, suki feels herself getting worked up every time she pulls back a curtain or opens a door and sees someone who isn’t her lover waiting for her.

it’s a few days later that she’s finally able to track down shouta. she’s relieved knowing he’s not in someone’s morgue, but she feels like crying seeing him sat in the hospital bed, bandages wrapped around his face and the bedsheet flat below his right knee.

suki takes it upon herself to tell the girls about aunt nemi. though her heart aches from the loss of her (albeit new) friend, she doesn’t want hizashi and shouta to have to deal with the grief of two little girls on top of their own.

upon shouta’s request, suki moves into the small apartment while he’s still in the hospital. he claims it’s because he doesn’t want his cats to starve, but suki’s almost positive it’s for something else.

kyoko and eri take her around campus and she ends up meeting shouta’s class and and shinsou.

“and mommy, this is my hito onii-chan! papa says he’s not really my onii-chan, but onii-chan says it’s okay! does that mean you’re gonna be onii-chan’s mommy too?”

and that’s how the class (or those who weren’t already aware) found out about their sensei’s relationship.

a bond is quickly formed between suki and the students, especially since some of them are still vulnerable after midnight-sensei’s death.

everyone is on edge leading up to the Final War. with work at the hospital and acting as a makeshift counselor, suki tries to spends as much time with shouta and their his girls as she can.

during the fight, suki is tucked away with the heroes, kyoko sat on her hip and eri stuck to her leg. there’s so much going on, what with (in no particular order) the todoroki family showdown, shouta and hizashi disappearing from the playing field, all might and stain teaming up, and all the students putting their lives on the line.

after what feels like an eternity, there’s an eerie calm before suki gives both little girls kisses on their foreheads and rushes out to help in whatever way she can.

when suki and shouta reunite, she’s too busy fussing over him to notice him looking at her with the softest look he could pull off.

“shouta! oh my god, are you okay? let me look at you. you guys just - turn your head, please - just disappeared! i’m so glad - follow my finger please - so glad you guys are- hey! you aren’t paying attention to anything i’m saying to you right now! you realize- wait you didn’t hit your head, did you? can you hear what i’m saying right now?”

a beat and then-

“i love you so damn much.”

hizashi turns away just in time for shouta to grab suki by the waist and pull her in for a kiss.

✦ Epilogue Arc ✦

eight years later, shouta is still teaching at ua high. suki’s making her way up the charts at the hospital.

shouta’s old students have a tendency to seak her out specifically whenever they show up injured. they fully expect the lecture they get every time.

“eijirou, i keep telling you, you can’t give everyone the benefit of the doubt!”

“katsuki, you can not talk to people that way! that’s how you end up in situations like this!”

“denki! how did you even-!”

she’ll claim she doesn’t have a favorite but everyone knows it’s-

“shoto what happened to you? oh, you poor thing, come here so i can get that taken care of.”

shortly after their wedding, shouta and suki moved their family out of the small apartment on campus and into a comfortable sized house not too far from their respective places of work.

hitoshi tries to come by at least once a week for dinner per kyoko’s request. the young man confides in his mentor how he’d come over had the young girl never asked in the first place.

“it’s like a second home.”

shouta keeps it to himself.

eri thrives as a ua hero course student. she comes home everyday and tells her mom about how her day went.

“OH! and mama! i had practice against one of my classmates! she’s really big, and she beat me, but i think i’ll get her next time!”

kyoko is planning to follow in her big sister’s footsteps and go to ua after junior high.

“mommy, i can’t wait to go to ua! i’m so excited, i’m gonna explode!”

suki has a tendency to bring shouta lunch on her off days.

“shouta, there you are! you’re never where you’re supposed to be!”

“i’m sorry, my love. i had to get something taken care of. hey, where are-”

two small toddlers are always a few steps behind her.

“PAPA!”

eiji, loud and rambunctious, comes around the corner at full speed and slams into shouta’s left leg. his older brother, kei, much more quiet and restrained, walks into the room and grabs shouta’s right pants leg.

twenty years prior, shouta never would have thought he’d have happiness in the form of a loving wife and four (five) beautiful children. now though, he thanks anyone out there that he does.

✦✦

𝘰𝘰𝘧, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 •_•. 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵! 𝘪 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘪 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸! 𝘪'𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵! 𝘪 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘥, 𝘴𝘰 𝘪'𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 🙏🏽 𝘪 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘣𝘪𝘪𝘪𝘪 (*＾ წ＾*)

— 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘺𝘢

[pleasantlyinsincere]

John and Julian (and Cyn) through the '70s

Last edited on 8 October 2023. All edits listed at the end. Text in between [ ] are my thoughts.

Since John and Yoko had moved into Tittenhurst in August '69 Julian often spend weekends with them there.

"And then I'd live for the weekends I spent with my dad and his new love Yoko at Ascot. My feeling toward their relationship was helped by the way I was treated. I was given incredibly expansive toys to play with and there was always something happening." Julian, 1982

Cynthia describes that she was relieved that Julian got on reasonably well with Yoko, but she was concerned by some of the more bizarre stories of what was going on at Tittenhurst park.

"One of the hardest aspects of letting Julian visit John was accepting that Yoko would presumably look after him when he was there. I didn't know what he would make of her cool manner. But in fact he seemed fine with it, and perhaps it was better for him to have a rather distant step-mother than one who was all over him. He never told me that she was unkind in any way, which was a relief. After that first weekend Peter rang regularly to arrange visits for Julian. Much to my amusement Julian had started to call Yoko Hokey-Cokey." Cynthia Lennon: John, p.314

Photos of Julian at Tittenhurst in 31 January 1970. [John and Yoko only returned from Denmark January 27th, so Julian came to see them the first weekend back.]

Rest of the timeline including pics, quotes and audio behind the cut because it got ridiculously long.

23 February 1970

An article is published in the Evening Post talking about Julian and Kyoko. It mentions that in 1969 there were four months that father and son didn't get to see each other and also spent Christmas apart.

Some quotes from John:

"Julian, last time I saw him, was a bit too protected, like all kids are. It took him two weeks to unwind, when he was last with us." "I'm not a daddy with a set of bricks to play with. When I'm with the kids, they just come along with me and be with me, whatever I'm doing." Link to article

March 1970

Over the New Year John and Yoko had spent some weeks in Denmark with Tony Cox, his new partner and Kyoko. That arrangement had worked quite well and it seems it motivated John and Yoko to try to get closer with Cynthia and Roberto also. It seems in the end not much came of these good intentions.

Up until now, when Julian came to spend the weekend at Tittenhurst Park, it was Les Anthony who shuttled him back and forth between his parents. However, shortly after their return from Denmark, John and Yoko made a conscious effort to spend time with Julian, Cynthia and her fiancé Roberto Bassanini. John later remarked: "All five of us ate together and we saw to it that the children see us all together. Maybe six of us will go on vacation with Kyoko. Julian, Cyn and Roberto, so that everyone feels secure. That's very important. In order to have peace, it's necessary to start inside the family." Lennonology, source L'Express [3/23/70]

Instead John and Yoko left for LA 23 April 1970 to undergo Primal Scream therapy with Janov. They stayed for almost five months in the US and returned to England 15 September 1970.

June 7th, 1970

While John and Yoko are in LA doing their therapy with Janov. One of the topics discussed was John's troubled relationship with his son.

The meeting, which Vivian Janov describes as 'a very strong emotional day for him,' had taken place in April, and John was making an effort to maintain communication with his son. From Los Angeles, John posted a card to Julian today: 'I'm sorry I haven't called or written much. I've been a little sick. We miss you a lot, and send you our love... won't be long till I see you'. Lennonology

After the return from the US in September Julian continued to regularly visit Tittenhurst. During those visits he usually played a lot with Les Anthonys four stepchildren, who at the time were also living on the estate.

"Once Dad had a little white shed built on an island in the middle of a lake on the grounds of the house. He had bought these little white amphi-cars that sped across the lake. The three of us all dressed in white to spend the day there. Crazy, but wonderful."Julian, 1982

In this interview Julian describes going over to Tittenhurst just to be an idiot with his dad but also how scary the big house and his bedroom situation could be to him at night.

[The floorplan of Tittenhurst (LINK) actually shows Julian's room just across the hallway from John and Yoko's room but half a stairway down. There's not really a closer bedroom and he may have been put there, so that he has his own bathroom. It being so far away, small (somewhere he or Cynthia call the room a closet) and scary are after all the memories from a child's point of view.]

For the most part the visitation arrangements seemed to have continued in 1971. In the summer, when John and Yoko were filming for the imagine documentary, Julian can be seen roaming the property with his friends.

Saturday, July 17th, 1971 With the cameras rolling, John and Yoko roamed the Tittenhurst Park grounds in a golf cart with Jill Johnston. As promised, Blue Pools delivered the new lake house, and the Lennons spotted location. More footage was taken of the house under construction, the Lennons and Johnston rowing on the lake, and Julian and the neighbor children reading excerpts from Grapefruit on camera and running amok in the fields. Lennonology

Lennonology

Julian Lennon: Tittenhurst was this enormous palace-like place with 99 acres, golf-cart buggies, a lake, a little island in the middle of the lake. It was like a house of fun. It was wonderful. I loved the place.

LINK to a longer version of the quote but in German. Not adding much just both John and Julian sharing a mutual love for Dr. Pepper at the time, playing the mellotron and the children daring each other to enter a 'haunted' building on the property.

It's also at Tittenhurst that Julian meets May Pang, who had started working for John and Yoko as an assistant through ABKCO in NY and had come to England as a messenger to bring film rolls.

"There were a lot of great moments at Tittenhurst that I do fondly remember, you know, giggling and laughing with Dad. And, as they say, shooting the shit. But it was difficult to know, you think, 'OK, well, is this going to stay? Is this what it's going to be, now? Can I count on this? Can I be here next weekend or the weekend after? Is that going to happen?' That was one of the, obviously, the hardest pill to swallow, was the constant change. You know, you thought things were going to settle down, but they just never quite did." Julian, 2018

"I lived an ideal life between then [Cyn and Roberto] and John and Yoko, but it all ended when Cynthia's marriage broke up and Dad and Yoko moved to the States." Julian, 1982

The big cut happens when on August 12th 1971 John and Yoko leave for NY and take up residence in the St. Regis Hotel.

At first their plan was to search for Kyoko, so that she too could come for visits at Tittenhurst like Julian. In September John and Yoko appeared on the Dick Cavett show and briefly talked about their wish that both their children could be with them.

Maybe a Christmas present:

Christie's auction

[In her Lost Weekend doc, May talks about Julian calling and Yoko not allowing her to put the call through to John. She says at that point they hadn't spoken for a couple of years. Then a few weeks later she is in the audience for George Harrison's appearance on Dick Cavett. The show is aired in November '71, so if there is anything to her anecdote she may mean they hadn't seen each other for two months instead of two years.]

26 May '72

"Lennon admits that he is scared to say too much publicly about the case, because it was the initial publicity that had spurred Cox to vanish. He talks about how hard it is for Ono to see pictures of her daughter: I have to hide them. Asked about his own son, Julian, he says: I don't have that 'where the hell is he?' bit. But he reveals that when they were in England, and Julian visited them every weekend, it was difficult for Ono to be with him when her own daughter wasn't there: It was killing her." source

28 May '72

Cynthia quoted in a Sunday paper: "John hasn't seen Julian since he went to America. It is rather a long time. He seems to be occupied with Yoko's daughter now. He does write to Julian, just normal letters, asking how he is getting on at school and things like that. And he sends him presents. He sent him a toy truck at Christmas. I don't keep in touch with John anymore. It's purely through Julian that we keep in contact. Julian loves his father. He follows his career in the newspapers. He goes to a private boys' school where people don't bother who he is. He went to a state school but he had problems there."

14 June '72

Cyn's complaints are repeated in the LA times, where it said that John hadn't seen Julian in eight months. "He seems to be occupied with Yoko's daughter now."

On 22 September '73 John and May leave for LA and only a few days later on 2 October '73 it is reported in the newspaper that Cyn separated from Roberto Bassanini.

Cynthia gave some interviews on her recent separation and the fact that she and Julian moved back to Hoylake, where Julian goes to private school.

"Unhappily Julian misses his father, which is only natural. We only hear from John at Christmas and when the birthdays come around." 7 October '73, Sunday Mirror

"Julian is always asking after him but of course John is in America now. It's been hard for him not seeing John for several years. This sort of thing is naturally upsetting for a child." 7 October '73, Sunday People

According to May's book, while John had broken up with her, she went to the Dakota to be with Yoko. Yoko there told her that she had decided it was time for Julian to come for a visit and May should at least reunite with John for that period to help him with it. May agreed to go back to John for two weeks, but it ends up being more like a year.

Christmas gift '73

To Julian from Daddy Christmas 1973

[Julian has sold an NFT of the black guitar. LINK ]

Shortly after Christmas '73 Julian and Cyn travel to LA to spend his school holidays with his father. They stay at least until the Happy Days taping they visit together on 5 February '74.

During the over a month long visit May writes, that they went to Disneyland three times and had brunch together the first morning. Meanwhile John is still having some wild times. Since Julian is staying with Cynthia, he goes out with May. The Kotex incident and nearly killing Jesse Ed Davis happen at the same time of this visit. May also places Cynthia asking John to have another child together during this trip.

As the visit ends May makes John promise to call Julian regularly.

"It is the right thing to do. I promise you, Fung Yee." He was silent for a while, then John said suddenly, "I really would like to keep in touch with me son." May Pang, Loving John p.168

Julian too, took a lot of positive out of the meetings around this time.

"Mum and I flew out to the States and stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel. At least Mum did, I spend every minute of every day with my Dad and Yoko. " Julian, 1982

In later recollections Julian correctly puts the first visit in the time-frame that John was with May.

“Dad and I got on a great deal better than,” recalls Julian. “We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and had a great time in general when he was with May Pang.” Julian in The Times, June 13 2009

May Pang: Loving John. About this visit and how it was set up.

In April 74 Julian sends a Thank you tape to John and Yoko for his birthday gift. Even though John is with May at this time, the present it seems was sent from the married couple.

The present in question according to Julian was a guitar, decorated with a mirror, writing and other stuff:

John writes to Cyn 22 June '74 a typed letter asking about Julian's holiday plans. Interestingly as the return address he gives the Dakota. He wants to send May to bring Julian.

19/20-25 July 1974 Instead of being collected by May, Julian sails with Elton John, Tony King, and Cyn per boat from Southampton to New York.

[In her book Cynthia wrongly remembers this as her first visit with John in the US. She also claims this visit was completely her initiative, which as proven by the letter wasn't the case. The whole anecdote is interesting however because she says that it was never the plan to stay with Julian, John and May but stay in NY with Jenny Boyd. Jenny apparently wasn't told about that plan, because in the end she wasn't there to home Cynthia. (May on the other hand remembers that Cynthia was staying with friends but they left without her and she was lonely, so she ended up coming with them.) In the end (and to John probably rightly or wrongly suspiciously) what was planned as just a trip for Julian with his dad turned into Cynthia coming along most of the time.]

Cynthia'a account about how this meeting was set-up and why she was with them during the trip.

Tony King in The Tastemaker simply writes: “John Lennon wanted to see his son, so I took Julian and John’s ex-wife Cynthia along with me.”

August 6th '74

John, May, Cyn and Julian return to LA for John to record Goodnight Vienna with Ringo.

In the summer while working on Walls and Bridges Julian visits the studio. He records Ya Ya with his dad.

Little interview bit with Julian about being in the studio.

August 19th, 1974

John and May take a trip to Denver. Instead of coming with them Julian stays with Cyn in LA.

When the whole vacation is coming to a close, it is decided that Julian should come for another visit for Christmas. John is clear that he wants him to come alone.

Both May Pang and Cynthia wrote about this visit in their memoirs. [Cynthia is clearly mixing up and merging the first and second trip together in her recollection of it.]

Cynthia's account.

May's account.

December 19th, 1974

Julian, accompanied by Apple staffer Steve Brendell, arrived in NY on this day for Christmas with John and May. Mimi was also invited but declined to come.

While they were in NY Yoko also came by because she wanted to greet Julian.

John, May and Julian flew to Florida on December 22. Lennon said he accepted Levy's Florida invitation "because I was so worn out anyway" from back-to-back studio projects "that I didn't know what to do with my son Julian." John figured that at Disney World, "I could sort of sit in a room or something and Julian could play with Morris's kid." John's quotes are from his trial testimony Big Seven Music Corp, 75Civ, 1116; In Stan Soocher Baby You're a Rich Man, Suing the Beatles for Fun and Money

Until 29 December they spent time in Palm Beach and later returned to Orlando (Disney World).

During this visit, Julian was helpful in influencing John and George making up and the thus the dissolution agreement of the Beatles coming along.

Julian remembers his Christmas visit with John and May fondly: “My memories of that time with Dad and May are very clear - they were the happiest time I can remember with them.” Julian in The Times, June 13 2009

May Pang in Loving John on this visit.

Cynthia writes about this visit in her book.

Video from May Pang's Lost Weekend documentary. [She says Long Island but I guess it's Palm Beach.]

In early February 1975 John moves back into the Dakota and resumes his marriage with Yoko.

John gives an interview to SPIN magazine in early spring 1975. In it he is asked about his private life, his recent return to Yoko, what his relationship with May is like now, and also about Julian:

How about you as a father? How old is your son [Julian] now? He is 11 now. All I know is that you took him to Disneyworld … right? Yeah, that was hell. Disneyland was better, the first time, in L.A., I took him there. Because I went with a gang, and there were a few of us who were flying a little. But Disneyworld — I was there on the most crowded day of the year, around Christmas or something. Seeing him is good. What we do is irrelevant. I went through a period of, “What are we gonna do?” and all that crap. It doesn’t really matter. As long as he’s around. Cause I don’t see him that often. How is it for an 11-year-old boy to have John Lennon as a father? It must be hell. Does he talk about that to you? No, because he is a Beatle fan. I mean, what do you expect?? I think he likes Paul better than me … I have the funny feeling he wishes Paul was his dad. But unfortunately he got me … It must be hard to be son of anybody. He is a bright kid and he’s into music. I didn’t encourage him, but he’s already got a band in school. But they sing rock’n’roll songs, ’cause their teacher is my age. So he teaches them “Long Tall Sally” and a couple of Beatles numbers. He likes Barry White and he likes Gilbert O’ Sullivan. He likes Queen, though I haven’t heard them yet. He turns me on to music. I call him and he says, “Have you heard Queen?” and I say “No, what is it?” I’ve heard of them. I’ve seen the guy … the one who looks like Hitler playing a piano … Sparks? I’ve seen Sparks on American TV. So I call him and say, “Have you seen Sparks? Hitler on the piano?” and he says, “No. They are alright. But have you seen Queen?” and I say “What’s Queen?” and then he tells me. His age group is hipper to music … at 11 I was aware of music, but not too much.

Link to the SPIN interview

March 11th 1975

John is interviewed by Bob Harris on The Old Grey Whistle Test. He sends greetings to Julian, Mimi and the rest of his family in England.

30 July 1975

About Julian ... I'm lucky if I see/hear from him myself. She allowed him over here twice last year ... but insisted on coming herself! You can imagine how thrilling that was ... she thought she could walk back in coz I wasn't with yoko!! Now we're back together again she stops him phoning me ... which he did a lot last year ... once a week. He's a bright little boy ... a bit 'sneaky' like his dad ... but he's gonna need that to survive his mother! Our relationship is pretty good --- he knows where I am and what my life is like ... he thinks of me a litlle too much in terms of 'money' etc ... which is what cyn and her mother (so called) have taught him (by example). He will run right to me when he's older ... we all run somewhere ... so I can wait. I got him well hooked on America ... which isan extraordinary place to say the least ... more on that in other letters perhaps. Oh yes the baby is due in November! Conceived feb 6. I tried to send Julia to see julian ... she was given the cold shoulder. When I get to England I'll show you them both. I would love to see yours. Letter to Leila, John Lennon Letters edited by Hunter Davies

After only five months being back with Yoko, communication with Julian has become more sporadic again. To his cousin Leila John complains that it's Cynthia keeping Julian from calling and about her tagging along the previous year. He also claims that he sent Julia to check in on Julian.

Julia Baird in a '83 interview confirms John's claim to Leila, that he hadn't heard from Julian and sent his little sister to check up on him.

"He kept asking in letters and on the phone, 'Please will you go and see Julian? Will you go and see Julian? Will you go see and see Julian? I haven't heard from Julian. His mother's got a cob on. Can you please go and see what's going on?' [...] Anyway eventually Aaron persuaded me that I should go. He was the one that when we got another letter asking, 'Have you been to see Julian yet?', he said, 'Look, he's never asked you to do anything. I think you should go.' [...] We went and John had given us the address, I didn't know where it was. And she seemed very embarrassed to see me. In fact so much so, that I backed off. I just said, 'Is Julian there, please? I'd like to see him.' And she said, 'No, he's gone out.' And I just said, 'Well goodbye, then.' It was very odd, very bizarre."

In her memoir Cyn doesn't mention John sending family to check on them but has an opposing recollection of who was unreachable:

"Initially he did: he phoned Julian as before, every few weeks. But the calls became less frequent, and all too often when Julian tried to phone John he couldn't get through. Yoko, or one of their employees, would tell him that John was sleeping or busy. Discouraged, Julian would wait weeks before trying again. " Cynthia Lennon, John p. 346

1 May '76

Cyn marries John Twist. John and Yoko send a telegram: "Congratulations, good luck, God bless the three of you, John and Yoko.”

According to Cynthia a few weeks later John calls her to invite Julian over for a visit during the school holidays to meet his brother. Yoko and John take the children for a holiday to Long Island. Cynthia also writes that Julian was mugged during his stay in NY, when John told him to go out by himself to buy a harmonica he wanted.

Photos of Julian with John and Yoko in summer 1976.

The only other person I have read mention the '76 visit is John Green in Dakota Days.

As the apartment at the Dakota grew more crowded, John retreated to the quieter and more spacious southern shore of Long Island. He took Sean with him and brought Julian over from Britain. Yoko kept him posted with a barrage of phone calls. "How goes the war, Charles?" he chimed into the receiver. "No casualties so far. How goes the peace?" "Great. It's absolutely beautiful. I've got a bit of sea and a bit of green and my sons, and even once in a while I even have my wife. You should come out here and get some of this. It's delightful." Dakota Days, p.97

[Aside from Cynthia's and Green's brief mentions of the trip, there is very little information on this NY visit. Even Robert Rosen, who supposedly read John's diaries multiple times, has nothing to say about this or the '77 visits. He even claims repeatedly that Julian and John first reunited in 1979 and hadn't seen each other for four years at that point.]

One of Julian's memories that most likely fits this visit:

Julian first played piano when he was thirteen, visiting his father and Yoko in Montauk, Long Island, after Sean, his half brother, was born. Their next-door neighbor had a piano, and Julian and his father went there one day. Lennon played a couple of tunes, then Julian asked, "Can I have a go?" Julian to Rolling Stone, 1985

Another one that Julian doesn't connect to a date but he remembers the new situation after his little brother was born:

[Yoko] was very loving towards me, even after their son Sean was born. Right at the beginning I felt a few pangs. They were there with their own son. Where did I fit in? But every time I went over Dad would lay on amazing treats, and Yoko was always loving towards me." Julian, 1982

In the same interview Julian also tells the story of his dad offering him a joint when he was about 12, so that might have also been the '76 visit, or the '74/'75 Christmas visit.

Cynthia claims she had trouble getting the money she was supposed to use for Julian's school. She asked John to split the trust fund, so that she can withdraw money from it easier. John agreed.

Cynthia publishes the letter in her book John and calls it "cautious, polite and to the point":

"I explained that, as he and Yoko were out of the country, it was impossibly difficult for me to get at Julian's money: 'Nothing can proceed without your signature - it means I'm forever overdrawn at the bank and have to wait on the convenience of your lawyers ... I want the best for Julian, and his standard of life shouldn't suffer because of lack of good management on your part, which has been happening since the fund was set up ... The money, instead of having doubled through good investment, is dwindling through lack of interest on your part ... It's just so important that this whole arrangement is sorted out without animosity or aggravation ... The way things are going Julian's financial prospects when he is 25 will be virtually nil and he is going to want to know why... It is one thing fighting for your rights but totally ridiculous fighting against your own son's interests, which is what seems to be happening.' "

[She says she ends the letter with thanking them for arranging the Concorde flight for Julian last summer. However according to wiki Concorde didn't fly to NYC until November 1977. (That years Christmas John and Yoko do indeed book a Concorde flight for Julian.) So I suspect that her supposed letter is specifically written for her book and not an actual document as the presentation suggests.]

In mid-October Cynthia gives an interview to Woman magazine that also got picked up in multiple newspapers. In it she talks about their relationship splitting after their first LSD trip, John getting upset with Julian when he couldn't eat with a knife, alleges that she was being followed by a private detective in Italy,...

A report on the article in the Burton Daily Mail from 19 October '76 also quotes Cynthia as saying:

"Since then their relationship has been beautiful," she says. "They talk a lot on the phone, there've been other visits and he's going again this year. I believe now that John is completely off all drugs, has been off them for years, otherwise I'd never let Julian go."

[He's going again this year indicates that there was another visit planned in 1976. If that happened or fell through, I haven't found anything about that.]

October 25th, 76

John sends Julian a postcard from Singapore. “What happened to ya?”

Even though the previous few months there was a visit and positive communication about the finances, Cynthia's decision to publicly complain in the papers angered John. He responded on November 26th 1976 with an open letter in the Daily Mail.

"Lennon tells first wife: Stop blaming Yoko," it read: "As you and I well know, our marriage was over long before the advent of LSD or Yoko Ono. Your memory is impaired to say the least. Your version of our first LSD trips is rather vague. You seem to have forgotten subsequent trips altogether. You also seem to have forgotten that only two years ago, while I was separated from Yoko Ono, you suddenly brought Julian to see me in Los Angeles after three years of silence. During that visit you didn't allow me to be alone with him for one moment. You even asked me to remarry you and give you another child 'for Julian's sake.' I politely told you no and that anyway I was still in love with Yoko. Finally, I don't blame you for wanting to get away from your Beatle past, but if you are serious about it you should try to avoid talking to and posing for magazines and newspapers. We did have some good years so dwell on them for a change."

Cynthia answers to the press after this, saying she doesn't want them to throw mud at each other and repeated "All I want to do is forget the Beatles and enjoy my present life". Still, only a few months later in 1977 she starts to write A Twist of Lennon (allegedly gleefully on a typewriter Yoko had gifted Julian). In her later memoir John she writes she was persuaded to do it by her husband John Twist who believed it would make their fortune.

Julian is sent to boarding school for that time. [In her book John Cynthia explicitly remembers that she moved to Ireland to write. However newspaper reports from the time suggest that the move happened later. So, probably Julian wasn't boarding at this time but those months in '78.]

At the same time communication between John and Julian was happening regularly and according to his diaries he got excited by the idea of buying Julian a keyboard.

July 14th, 1977

December 25th 1977

Julian comes by Concorde to stay at the Dakota during his school holidays.

[At the time of Julian's visit John and Yoko were still helped by the FBI to deal with the kidnapping threat and extortion attempt that had been going on for weeks and scared them badly. Also, Tony Cox had made contact by phone and agreed that Kyoko could visit for these holidays but then disappeared again and John would never hear again from Kyoko. I don't know if Julian was told any of this but I assume it probably was one of the more tense christmases.]

Going by Giuliano because neither Cynthia nor Robert Rosen mention this trip by Julian at all, John was very excited about Julian coming getting up early and baking bread for him. Julian gets close to Nishi and thereby brings forth John's competitive streak. John tries out the parental philosophy of wanting to spend time with Julian instead of giving him material goods, Julian goes 'oh, really' and John caves in. When he leaves John draws a portrait of Julian. Source

[Since Robert Rosen, who also read the diaries, doesn't even know about the '76 or '77 visits (and Giuliano too thinks they saw each other last at Disney World), they may not be the source for the above. I thought it might have been from Dakota Days but it's not. John Green mentions the '77 Christmas visit but says the family were going to Florida to meet Julian there because of the security threats. I think Green is confusing this and a later visit, so I will insert his account of what John told him on returning there.]

Julian stays most of January. Goes to see the musical The Magic Show with Yoko and the band Riff-Raff with John. 

In February of 1978 Cynthia and her husband sell their house and move away from Ruthin to Eire to avoid a 'wealth tax'. They leave Julian to be a boarder at his school. Cynthia and John Twist return in December, probably because they missed Julian.

April 1978

[It's not actually dated aside from being from 1978, I just assume the guitar was Julian's birthday gift.]

GIBSON Les Paul 25/50 guitar

"Dad gave me this special order rare model - it was always exciting to receive something like this from my dad. When I visited Dad we would sit down together and he would teach me a few chords and help me improve my technique." Julian in Beatles Memorabilia. The Julian Lennon Collection.

May 19th 1978

A conversation with Cyn and excerpts from her memoir A Twist of Lennon are published in News of the World.

John, Yoko and Sean are in Japan for their summer vacation. Through his London lawyers John tries to stop the publication of Cynthia's book as a serial in the News Of The World.

Tuesday, June 13th, 1978 Having been telephoned in Japan with the details of Cynthia's memoir excerpt in News Of The World, John instructed his solicitors to issue a High Court injunction in an effort to prevent the publication of a planned second installment. Frere Cholmeley & Co., Lennon's attorney in London, described the piece as 'a salacious and gribby little article,' although it was qualified with the statement: 'He does not deny that he held parties or took drugs, but he deplores the publication of intimate details of his married life.' Friday, June 16th, 1978 In the case of Lennon v. News Group Newspapers Ltd and Twist, Lord Denning rejected John's application for an injunction in London's High Court today, permitting the publication of more excerpts from A Twist Of Lennon. For his par, Denning was not impresses with John's argument that the article's publication was a breach of confidence of the marriage: 'I cannot see that either of these two parties have had much regard for the sanctity of marriage ... It seems to me as plain as can be that the relationship of these parties has ceases to be their own private affair. They themselves have put it into the public domain.' Sunday, June 18th, 1978 Having successfully defended the right to publish excerpts from A Twist Of Lennon, today's edition of News Of The World featured part two of their series: 'How Yoko stole my husband.' " Lennonology

When the book actually was released feelings turned out to be much softer than expected. Cyn ends her first memoir with the words :

I still feel very proud of the Beatles and their accomplishments. My life during that period was an education, an education I wouldn't have missed. It has left me feeling enriched, not embittered, enlightened not blinded. All I can think to conclude my story is to say, 'Thanks for the memories, and in the words of the I CHING, no blame.'"

After finishing reading his ex-wife's book, according to Robert Rosen, John was relieved and enjoyed the nostalgia. He said a prayer for Cyn: "Dear God, please show her The Way. Thank You. Thank You."

Postcard to Julian:

[I can't make out the date on the card. Julian's Beatles memorabilia book says it's from '71 but that's obviously wrong with Sean being included and Julian's Ruthin address on it. John makes the reference to being a farmer. They bought their farm in February 1978, so I put it that year. May be wrong though.]

March 21st 1979

Julian is supposed to join John, Sean and Yoko's visiting nieces in Palm Beach.

[John taking a photo of Julian in '79]

There are multiple, very different accounts for this visit, that includes Julian's 16th birthday celebration.

John bought Julian a motorcycle for his birthday.

At one point they went to Disney World, (which none of the accounts of the trip even mention), where this photo of Julian and Yoko's nieces was taken:

Accounts from:

Robert Rosen [Rosen writes that Dan Richter's children came for a visit. Correction: I said before that that because Dan wrote in his book that he never saw John again after 1974, it seemes unlikely to me that his kids would be sent out to John and Yoko five years later. However Dan Richter does confirm that in his interview on the Podcast Glass Onion: On John Lennon episode 16:

"My kids would go down, they had a place down in Palm Beach or whatever it was down in Florida. And they were there at Christmas and bring Julian and they would fly my kids down to play with Julian. And everybody, the sense we got was they were happy!"

This visit doesn't happen over Christmas but it sounds like he is talking about more than one occasion that happened and probably Christmas is one example. Could also mean that Rosen is mixing up the occasion for that anecdote.]

Cynthia Lennon

Fred Seaman

Geoffrey Giuliano

John Green [Green puts this actually to the '77 holiday visit, where he wrongly writes they went to Florida. I think (if his stories are to be believed at all) he confuses John's anger and disappointment upon return with this visit of Julian's. It also fits with being in Florida.]

[I recommend to read all of them. Lots of drama. I may one day make a comparison post between all the account because they are fascinatingly different.]

April 9th 1979

John writes to Mimi saying Julian would be welcome to live with them if he so chose but there had been no arrangements made.

Q: Did you ever plan to go and live with him [John] in New York? Julian: "When I was in my early teens we'd spoken on the phone about the possibility of me going to college over there. I think it was wishful thinking on both our parts because I felt uncomfortable about the situation and I believe he did, too." Hello! Magazine, 1995

April 25th 1979, Postcard to Julian from NY:

Julian declines to join his dad, Yoko and Sean for their family's yearly vacation in Japan.

[July 1979 In the context of getting one of his guitars Julian said that John bought him a Sony Walkman as a gift when they were brand-new. He puts around '73-'74. However according to wikipedia the Sony Walkman was first sold in July '79, so that present would have been sent to Julian around this time, maybe directly from Japan.]

December 1979

On 3rd-4th December there is a two part feature in the Daily Mail called "The Sons of the Beatles" on Julian and Zak.

"When I'm in New York, we go out quite a lot together round some of the art galleries, or to his house at Long Island. When we stay in we have musical jam sessions together singing out latest songs to each other. I still listen to Beatles music. Although I quite like some of my father's solo albums, I much prefer what he did with the Beatles." (quoted from Lennonology p. 508)

Also that month:

"More disturbing to John were the ongoing trials with Julian. The sullen teen continued to vex his father with his on-again, off-again plans to visit over Christmas. At first Julian said maybe, as long as they didn't go to Florida. Then it was a flat no, using school exams and a new girlfriend as an excuse. At the last minute he called saying he would come to New York only if he could bring a friend, but Yoko turned him down. As usual John didn't challenge her. Julian retaliated by sending his father a tabloid article about rock stars' sons, which focused on both him and Ringo's son Zak Starkey, and went into detail about the trials of being the offspring of a Beatle." Lennon in America by Giuliano p. 218

On the other hand John Green does write that Julian spent Christmas '79 with John, Yoko and Sean. He even says that Julian stayed until February. ("John stayed in the Palm Beach house until February, luxuriating in the sun and sea, forging new ties with Julian and delighting in rediscoveries of himself." p.229) [This can't be true however because John was definitely in NY for Christmas and New Years. John and Yoko did buy a house in Palm Beach late January however and were spotted there a few times in February. I can't find a mention of Julian being spotted with them, so it may or may not have happened. I do think between the two of them Giuliano's account is probably more accurate. The Daily Mail article he mentions of Zak and Julian had come out on 3 or 4 December, so that is also believable that it had come up in pre-christmas discussions. But of course it's possible that a visit happened anyway.]

1980

Julian called in February 1980 to set up another meeting with his dad. This time John denied him, surprisingly because he was worried about Julian's schooling. Through Cynthia he had learned that Julian was failing his O-levels, had started smoking, staying out at night drinking, had gotten in trouble with the police for setting up fires and racing through town on a dirt bike. "John just prayed that Julian didn't hurt himself." There is also continued conflict over money. John felt that Julian every time they spoke asked him for more money. "And though John continued to feel guilty about having abandoned Julian and Cynthia, he'd be damned if he was going to be like every other rich asshole father who'd abandoned his family and then used money as a poor substitute for love and companionship." source

In March 'A Twist of Lennon' gets its paperback release and new reviews are printed in the press.

Summer 1980

When John sat for a portrait painting with Sean for the artist Nancy Gosnell, he wondered if she could also do one of him and Julian from a photograph. He wanted to give him a father and son portrait for his birthday, according to Fred Seaman.

September 1980

PLAYBOY: "Your son, Julian, from your first marriage must be in his teens. Have you seen him over the years?" LENNON: "Well, Cyn got possession, or whatever you call it. I got rights to see him on his holidays and all that business, and at least there's an open line still going. It's not the best relationship between father and son, but it is there. He's 17 now. Julian and I will have a relationship in the future. Over the years, he's been able to see through the Beatle image and to see through the image that his mother will have given him, subconsciously or consciously. He's interested in girls and autobikes now. I'm just sort of a figure in the sky, but he's obliged to communicate with me, even when he probably doesn't want to." PLAYBOY: "You're being very honest about your feelings toward him to the point of saying that Sean is your first child. Are you concerned about hurting him?" LENNON: "I'm not going to lie to Julian. Ninety percent of the people on this planet, especially in the West, were born out of a bottle of whiskey on a Saturday night, and there was no intent to have children. So 90 percent of us... that includes everybody... were accidents. I don't know anybody who was a planned child. All of us were Saturday-night specials. Julian is in the majority, along with me and everybody else. Sean is a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me and he always will."

Playboy: I was under the impression that you still weren't seeing Julian much. Lennon: Well, no, he's comin' here over shortly now. I see him whenever he get's off school. Playboy: Has it been hard for him to be John Lennon's kid? Lennon: Yeah, he has his own... Everybody has a cross to bear, and Julian has that cross, and he'll deal with it. He's a clever boy, and as he gets older we can communicate and he'll understand.

[I wasn't sure what upcoming visit John is referring to since I couldn't find one mentioned anywhere. However there is an article in the Daily Mirror from 8 October 1980 including interview passages with Cynthia that mentions Julian currently being in New York. So without any photographic evidence, he isn't in any of the birthday photos, or anecdotes about it, there still might be the possibility that there was a (pre-)birthday visit from Julian to John and Sean in 1980. Julian himself hasn't been completely consistent on when he last saw his Dad. He has said that his '79 birthday visit was their last meeting (which I think is most likely correct), but he also claimed that he was flying out regularly.]

"According to Cynthia, Julian, now 18, plays guitar better than his father. He has left school and is off to New York to stay with his famous dad." Link to the article

In an interview with Jonathan Cott on 5 December John reflects more on the troubles of being a Beatle's son and on how mistakes in his decision for Julian's schooling changed his outlook on his plans for Sean. [Julian had been going to private school since at least 1973.]

"[...] because he can't possibly be an average child, being the son of famous parents. I tried that game with my son Julian, sending him to a comprehensive working-class school, mixing with the people, but the people spat and shit on him, because he was famous, as people are wont to do. So his mother had to finally turn around and tell me to piss off: 'I'm sending him to a private school, the kid is suffering here.' "

Cynthia writes that by the end of 1980 Julian felt a breakthrough in his and his father's relationship. John played Julian songs from his new album over the phone, asking his opinions. source

Julian himself reflects on his and his dad's relationship by the time of his death like this:

"I know that dad's presence will be around for a long time. He was always joking, always sounded happy, which made me think more of him as a friend than a dad. My earliest memory of my father was when I was about three and he sang happy birthday to me. We were living at Weybridge, Surrey, and dad threw a birthday party for me and brought in a long cake shaped like a train and festooned with candles." Sunday Mirror, 5 April 1981

As early as 1982 negative feelings would influence Julian's memory, saying he didn't get to see his father for five years, that he only heard on Birthdays and Christmas from him or that after the first US visit it was again years before he got to go another time, when it was merely months.

"The Beatles sang 'All You Need Is Love' - and that is all I wanted from Dad. It is difficult to explain why I should feel so strongly, when we shared so little. Never once in all the years he lived in America did he even think about coming to see me. Apart from rare visits, I lived from birthdays to Christmas just to hear from him." Julian, 1982

[Those false memories/presentations may have been the result of his beginning break from Yoko around that time and the conflicts about money, or maybe his memories just adapted to the way it was talked about in his family.]

"It was more of one man to another than the usual father and son relationship, because he had been away from me a lot, and he said he realized that. I was just getting through to him and growing up myself and growing out of the silly giggling I did as a young teenager that really annoyed him, when Dad was killed." Julian quoted in Ray Coleman's John bio, pp.620

"Dad was such an influence in my life, it must have been hard on Mum. She'd do her best with presents at birthdays and Christmas, but I always waited for that special present that was bigger than anything else - from him. Yet he never sent anything spontaneously. He'd phone up and ask what I wanted, and it would arrive. I don't think he was trying to buy me in any way. It was just a chance for him to do something for me. He knew I wanted to be a musician and kept telling me to take a long time to get it right. He removed a lot of the stress I suppose other kids might feel. I didn't do very well at school. I don't think I'm dense, but I suppose I'm a bit lazy. There's only one thing I want - to know for sure that Dad loved me as much as I loved him. Or maybe to have him back." Julian, 1982

Edits: 29 April - December 1974 John trial quote added; September 1980 Playboy interview quote added 6 May - added Julian quote about relationship to his father by the time of his death 7 May - added Old Grey Whistle Test clip March 11th 1975 18 May - added info about 3-4 December '79 Daily Mail feature on Julian and Zak, added all the info I could find on any visits in John Green's Dakota Days and multiple notes on to those mentions. 20 May - added Cyn's quote for 28 May 1972. 23 June - added the Tittenhurst floorplan and the link to an extended quote from Julian about being there in German 8 July - added quote from 5 Dec 1980 to Jonathan Cott 20 July - added Julia Baird audio on trying to see Julian for John 1975 22 July - added info on a possible 1980 visit, 1973 interviews, 1976 info, 1980's quote 30 July - Spin interview '75 added, Cynthia quote from Burton Daily Mail '76 added 1 August - added bits from Julian's 1982 article throughout, transcribed some of the jpg quotes, so that I may add more photos, some photos added 4 August - correction in my comments about the likelihood of Dan Richter's children being with them in 1979 19 August - Box of Smile 8 October - Added some postcards, the guitars, reset some photographs because of the picture limit 12 November - Added the video clip from May Pang's doc

[mmani-e]

Another post! This time featuring what the antagonists for my AU might look like. While Akane and Nekomaru are locked in the rest is up to changes in the future. Kyoko and Celestia were put on a poll but the results I believe I didn't set up properly, so now I'm amending that somewhat. I drew both sets in these sketches, and when enough time has passed I'll set up another poll, properly this time on strawpoll.

As for some design explanations and lore you can check under the cut :)

Kyoko and Makoto I believe are pretty straightforward here, I gave Kyoko a neckerchief that goes pretty far down to give her that sort of upper class educated look, while Makoto I gave a smart little jacket. There's only so far you can go with the normal boy, but I also made his hair fluffier and nicer. His ahoge is there but it's normally combed back, and only springs to full life when he's in murder mode.

Kyoko joined her dad in leaving the tradition of detective work behind and entered the business world where she used her analytical mind to be the best damn stock investor in the world, while definitely something she excels at it's not something she finds particularly fulfilling.

Makoto is a wholesome, normal dude who loves writing books about wholesome stories with good endings, while his family was and still is normal, he was captured once by unscrupulous scientists wanting to explore Despair and its mysterious qualities. Makoto never gave in, but in his suffering developed an alter ego who was grimly invested in justice above all else.

Sparkling Justice is a night haunter, who exclusively goes around killing murderers and evildoers against Makoto's wishes. Choosing to right any injustice he sees in the world, allowing for happy endings for the victims, surely?

I went hard with celes and hifumi a long time ago in previous designs, so here they are with similar designs as I gave them before. Hifumi wears a suit vest, and a button-up underneath while still keeping his bag... which may or may not be more than just a simple bag...

Celestia was born a normal kid and absolutely hated that life, so when a relative of hers from Europe visited she begged them and her family to go with them and she did. She grew up exploring Europe, and would propose money-making schemes to her family abroad and would eventually be able to fund the glamorous lifestyle she always thought she deserved.

Hifumi is just a writer-focused version of himself, though with a particular love for action-romance novels and fiction rather than strictly heart-melting novels like Touko. He's a sweet boy but very weird and horny for Celestia, so he's completely useless around her. He's basically a tool... just like...

ROBO-JUSTICE is a serial killer known for their modus operandi of targeting particularly attractive and very mean women with hammers or blunt force trauma. This alter was formed after one particularly awful night of bullying resulting in Hifumi getting thrown into an abandoned industrial park and nearly dying from exposure to wires and sharp metal. Despite this though, it is almost entirely subservient to Celestia whenever it surfaces from Hifumi's mind.

Akane and Nekomaru I've already drawn before, but I think it'd be nice to give some of the backstory I've planned for them.

Akane is a well-meaning, brash, and reckless person whose freakish natural strength pairs with a luck that does everything except help her directly. Random and unpredictable, Akane desperately tries everything she can to get into extremely unpredictable and dangerous situation for her luck to grace those around her with the best outcome from her misfortune, even if it means hurting a lot of people in the process.

Nekomaru was inspired by the nonstop hard work he saw the nurses had to do when they were treating his heart condition. So inspired that he made it his solemn vow to join them whatever it took, leading him to become the ultimate nurse. He would, however, be the first of his classmates to fall to the despair of the mastermind, as his well-meaning nature drew him into a trap he could not predict.

For Rantaro and Tenko I took inspiration from M. Bison(Dictator) and Criss Angel specifically. These are the most experimental designs I have as you can tell, but I plan on working on them a lot.

Tenko's story involves her becoming the head of her little "dojo" and straight up turning it into a cult, with her as the ultimate supreme leader and the greatest fighter in the world.

Rantaro started off doing magic for her sisters, and got so good at making them happy that one of them introduced his magic act to the world through sites like youtube, causing him to become a sensation drooled over by millions of girls around the world.

[funishment-time]

Kokichi/ general with

87 75. 73 25 and 22?

ooh, kokichi-centric! i assume this is for this ask game since it's the only one i've reblogged that goes so High!

87.)Headcanon on Pregame V3 Characters?

i have lots, but generally, my Main Headcanon with all V3 characters is that part of Tsumugi's "fictional" story is right: there is an Ultimate Hunt going on. their pregame selves are actually a memory-wiped disguise, not their true selves. the Monokubs really did give them back their talents and base memories, just also threw a bunch of fake ones in there too. and there is indeed a reality show going on but...well, i won't get into it here. long story short V3 is a reversal of Danganronpa 1 in many ways.

it's basically just what a lot of people headcanon already but in reverse. i think there's a lot to play with there psychologically still.

for Kokichi specifically, i imagine he was a timid weeb guy who really wanted to be an edgelord so bad but just didn't have the Audacity. i'm reminded a little of Charlie MoistCritikal's story about how in college he wore a CD around his neck and acted like a douche to pretend to be a Mysterious Anime Character. like that. that's what pregame!Kokichi wanted to be.

75.) Unpopular Headcanon?

general: that a lot of relationships in the main timeline wouldn't happen if they weren't backed against a wall, esp with the protagonists. i don't think Kyoko would care much for Makoto in a Normie World, but i don't think she'd care much for most folks. i don't think Kaede would be any closer to Shuichi than her other classmates either (and i'm someone who's gung-ho for a platonic soulmates thing with them). which is fine really! lots of interpretations and timelines to explore

for Keech: that Kokichi is 99% gay but would have a crush on a rare girl, like Kaede

73.) Popular Headcanon?

general: a lot of characters are actually plus-sized.

for Keech: that Kokichi is 99% gay. i guess technically he'd be bi or pan in my mind (see above) but i don't personally view him as one that cares for labels, and it's mostly guys he likes to play with

25.) Favorite Anthology Chapter?

i haven't read all the Translated/Fanslated anthologies, only the DR1 ones. (i'm not sure where to find the others. if anyone could link them to me, let me know.) but i loved the comics about Junko and Mukuro before Muki really had a defined personality of her own, and she was kind of just the annoyed older sister being dragged along on her crazy younger sister's stupid schemes. i'm reminded of the one where they temporarily adopt Mondo because he can't get a girl and become the Despair Triplets. crack central.

i also like the one where a blank-faced Kyoko just hides in things like a cat to find out where people might hide a body. and the one where she throws a horseshoe crab into a pot of stew everyone's making. they are genuinely close to how i imagine Kyoko really is on a personal level: just kind of a Beautiful Freak who doesn't interact with reality very much

22.) Favorite Random/Unnecessary Moment?

Hiro's dumb fucking stories about his life. the UFO burger abduction and the 100% unnecessary aside about how his dad burned down their house because he was smoking in bed (i assume that's why Mrs. Hagakure mentions she's divorced in UDG) and even Makoto's like ???? god bless Yasuhiro

[shizukateal]

Grimm Variations - Episode One Review: Cinderella

Ok, starting with the heavy hitter aren't we Grimm Variations? Really have that much confidence in yourself in spite of your kinda ugly art direction? Ok. Alright. I see how it is.

GATHER 👏 ROUND 👏 CHILDREN 👏 LET'S 👏 TALK 👏 ABOUT 👏 GOOD 👏 VS 👏 BAD 👏 SUBVERSION 👏 SLASH 👏 DARK 👏 TAKES.

This is actually a pretty fascinating example, since it has both cases simultaneously.

(sorry for the shitty gif, I don't know how to reduce size without sacrificing quality)

Let's start from the beginning: This version of Cinderella takes place somewhen at the intersection of the Meiji and Showa Periods in Japan, which is to say in the Roaring 20's. Instead of our usual protagonist, the story centers on Makiko and Sawako, our prospective Evil Stepsisters, as their mother Tsuruko, a former geisha, marries Viscount Otawara, who has a single daughter: Kyoko. Kyoko enthusiastically welcomes her new family with open arms, even gifting precious things to her new sisters, who clearly love the luxuries of the social ladder that they've climbed. However things take a turn for the dark as Kyoko starts manipulating everyone around the house with wounded gazelle gambits to convince them that her sisters are mistreating her and usurping her place. The story thus becomes about Makiko and Sawako going to the ball (hosted by a count's son) to try and escape their Evil Little Stepsister.

There's also some background stuff at the start of the episode about the brothers grimm and that little girl Charlotte up there, who appears as a living doll of Kyoko's, but since none of that is explained here we're just gonna focus on what this dark take says thematically about the tale of Cinderella.

Right from the beginning the overturn starts when the first scene makes it clear that Cinderella's dad holds all the power in the relationship with the Evil Stepmother, whereas the Grimm and Perrault versions make her the one wearing the pants. It's never explicitly stated in either of them, but it's natural to infer that the Stepmother is of a higher peerage than Cinderella's Dad to explain how she would hold power over him and his daughter when trying to rationalize the story, and it's a common plot point in adaptations. However, this alone a subversion does not make. After all, if you read trashy romance in aristocratic settings (like I do), you know that it is extremely common for social climbers to be presented as sniveling usurpers, who get arrogant and greedy and turn into bullies the moment they have a modicum of luxury and rank in spite of their Inferior Manners (unless they are the protagonist of course). Lots of Cinderella stories follow that formula.

And that's exactly what Kyoko uses against her stepsisters.

Makiko and Sawako are stupid. If their unrefined manners are forgivable and a simple matter of environment and time, the way they openly slobber over and covet the riches of their new house makes them no favors. When they think one of the servants stole jewelry from them (and it was a piece that Kyoko had given them at that) they immediately get angry and physically aggressive towards a person whom they were equal in rank perhaps mere days ago. It takes them too long to stop and realize that hey, no servant would openly flaunt a piece they'd stolen from their master, so maybe something else is afoot, but by then it's too late. The other servants of the house can no longer trust them, so of course they continually take the side of the poor, defenseless little mistress Kyoko.

The tale so turns into an interesting mix of one-part hitchcokean aristocratic horror-thriller, impulsed in part by the flaws of the protagonists, and I'd say around a quarter-part view into the hypocrisies of class. Makiko and Sawako's refusal to engage with the servants with respect and compassion, trying to act the rank they've ascended to, cuts them from a support network, even as they are handed wealth and luxury. However it is undeniable that because of their lowly origins and etiquette people view them with scorn, distrust, and antipathy, a fact that is driven home when they are the ones who get mean whispers and comments upon entering the ball. They don't stop from being victims in the narrative just because they aren't likeable. By contrast, Kyoko may wear old plain clothes and do house work, but because she's nice to the staff and is seen as the legitimate blood heir, everyone looks at her with compassion and chucks her unnaturally cheery disposition towards her circumstances to good breeding, to the point that she gets away with poisoning her stepmother for years until she dies.

Likewise, at the scene of the ball the sisters fail spectacularly at captivating their prospective Prince with their uncouth behavior, so all our Cinderella has to do is be pretty and make a scene in front of everyone for things to take its predestined course. Tsuruko dies that night thanks to her stepdaughter forcibly feeding her one last cup of bleach before she leaves. And even though everybody witnesses the sisters grieving over their mother's corpse, nobody has sympathy for them the next day, when Makiko becomes the head of the family at Kyoko's (clearly secret) behest. The moment the Prince appears and declares his intention to marry Kyoko, Makiko and Sawako are expediently given the boot to the ass and thrown out of the house. Thus both of them are forever expelled from aristocratic society... and forever free from Kyoko.

Cinderella has followed her usual course of ascending to a higher to a social strata while reclaiming her lost position thanks to the intervention of a powerful man... But it's the Evil Stepsisters who have escaped an abusive situation by leaving the comforts of status behind, which goes very specifically against the message the original story gives. What's more this is due to their own character development: they knew that Kyoko would sabotage them if they tried to escape her via marriage, so they baited her into pulling a stunt and deliberately sabotaged their own chances with the Prince so that he would take her away from them.

THAT, my guys, is actual subversion. THAT is commentary. It's impeccably brilliant...! Or at least it would be were it not for the biggest flaw in the story: Cinderella herself.

Near the end of the first act the sisters try to warn their mother about Kyoko's nefarious acts. Of course, she doesn't believe them. After all, she asks outloud, what does Kyoko get out of acting like that? It seems that the scriptwriter didn't realize that asking that question explicitly in dialogue would put it at the forefront of the audience's thoughts before the whole thing went into print.

I mean the script makes Kyoko talk about her family being her precious "dolls" or whatever but that explains absolutely jackshit when her attitude is so inconsistent. Keep in mind, this Cinderella kills her own dad when he unwittingly threatens to disturb her status quo and starts the second act by saying out loud that she fears the situation she's created might end, but after the sisters do succeed in suckering her she just goes "oh well :) thems the breaks" and it's implied she'll move on to torturing the Prince for shits and giggles and that's it.

Alas, however, I must be fair and truthful in my final assessments. I came into this series expecting vapid edginess and mediocrity and while it hasn't exactly disappointed on that front, it has just enough thematic juice to move into the tier I was most afraid of: trash but still good enough to be frustrating. Join me next week for more suffering if it keeps up this way.

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

saw your yuki/kyo dissection and i was curious to know what's the other ship you think was an obvious possible option?

... after consulting @cafedanslanuit , Imma say it. For the plot. And Imma write my essay explaining my case. But y'all... don't get mad at me for being right. Strap in, this is gonna be a long one lmao.

But before I actually say it, we need to talk about Akito and Tohru and how they parallel one another.

Because these two are the same character at the opposite ends of the spectrum and 2/3 of the key aspects of Fruits Basket that make the show work. Without them, there's no Fruits Basket.

Both of them are quite literally the same character.

Masculine naming convention? Check.

Abandonment issues? Check.

A favored parent and a parent they have negative feelings towards? Check.

Especially since their respective relationships with their parents led to those abandonment issues and how they interact with the world. Akira was to Akito what Kyoko was Tohru. Ren's unnatural hatred of Akito, viewing her as a threat for Akira's attention, Akira's death and Kureno's curse suddenly breaking for no rhyme or reason led to Akito becoming the person she became.

Katsuya's death caused Kyoko to fall into a depression so deep she neglected Tohru for an indeterminable amount of time. Very nearly left Tohru to herself before coming her senses and becoming the best mom in the world that we the audience know her as. But that period of Tohru's life was very forming for who she became.

Kyoko came back after coming to her senses, we know this. But to Tohru, her mother suddenly embracing her for the first time in likely weeks, was the result of Tohru mimicking her dad's speech. A formal way of speaking that became so engrained into her daily habits, it's completely inseparable from her now.

Akito and Tohru's respective experiences ultimately lead them to the same core aspect of their character: Loneliness.

Both of them are terribly afraid of being alone, they just keep people in their lives in very different way.

Akito relied on fear, Tohru used kindness.

Akito used violence, Tohru used compassion.

Akito's go-to was embracing her father's words that she was a special child born to be loved. As such, she could do anything she wanted to the other members of the zodiac without facing any repercussions.

Tohru's go-to was her belief that her not prioritizing her mother over rest is inherently connected to her mother's death. That she should have prioritized her mother over everything. That her mother had to be her number one even in death. Thus, she became afraid of loving anything or anyone more than her mother. And yet, she still didn't want to lose anyone else in her life.

Tohru's kindness is genuine but there is a benefit she gains from it similarly yet juxtaposed to Akito's abuse.

That's why the two of them are able to come to an understanding with one another by the end of the story. Why Tohru was able to set everything else aside to start from zero because she understands that fear of being alone all too well.

They are both a mirror into what the other person could have been like if their circumstances were different. Tohru could have been that bitter, hate-filled woman, while Akito could have just as easily been the sweetest woman in the world.

Akito is Tohru

and Tohru is Akito.

All this buildup is to say that...

I think the only other obvious choice for Tohru was Shigure.

Yes, Shigure.

Y'all heard me right.

The final piece to what makes Furuba work, the one who instigated the plot in the first place.

And I'm sorry if y'all get mad at me for saying that, but I really don't think this is an incorrect assessment. I'll die on the hill that it was an obvious what if.

There's superficial things one can have fun mentioning in regards to these two ー

Across all adaptations of Furuba, Shigure is the first Sohma we are introduced to

Shigure's cursed year is the Dog, Tohru's birth year is the Dog

But the biggest thing for me is in how Tohru is an intrinsic part of something Shigure lacks as a person, that being empathy.

To make myself clear, I'm not saying Shigure is completely void of empathy. Because we can see him expressing it to the people he cares for in the story. (Ex. Wanting to go on a vacation during Golden Week so Hatori can avoid his ex's wedding.)

But for Shigure, empathy isn't something that comes easy for him. As he words it, his kindness isn't as good as the real thing someone like Hatori has. Shigure considers his kindness a hastily manufactured afterthought.

He's someone perfectly content using someone if he gets something out of it. And if he sees someone hesitating to reach for something they want, he'd rather just provoke them into action than attempt to warmly encourage them or understand where they're coming from. Because he doesn't see a point in hesitating at all and frankly, he knows comforting people like that doesn't come easy to him. So he normally opts not to.

As such, he's fascinated by the levels of empathy and kindness Tohru has. Tohru's kindness sometimes even makes him feel guilty and Shigure isn't someone who often feels guilt in the first place.

Contrast to him, Tohru is so pure that Shigure can't help acknowledging how twisted he is. In season 1/the manga's first arc, he even tells Hatori that because of that forced realization he gets every time he looks at her he thinks Tohru is too pure for him.

Compare to that to our final arc of the manga/season ー where it all eventually escalates to Shigure's quiet contemplationthat maybe he should have dreamed of Tohru.

That it's most likely that Akito wasn't the right one to dream of.

That someone as twisted as him needs someone like Tohru to balance it. To be that beacon that can lead him into being a 'normal' person.

He genuinely thinks about it in that moment as he playfully tells Tohru 「もしもの、お話し」 which is more accurately translated as "It's a what-if story".

Had Shigure dreamed of Tohru all those years ago, what would have been different?

...

But Tohru isn't who he dreamed of and this is the bed Shigure has decided to make for himself. One he has kept on the path of for years. So he lets himself think about the what ifs for a moment before ultimately deciding to keep lying in the bed he's made in hopes of the day Akito finally comes around.

But it's in Shigure's mind, and now the audience's mind, that more than likely it should have been Tohru. Tohru and what she represents is who he should have dreamed of.

You can see signs that a relationship with Tohru is something Shigure's considered even vaguely in the series even before that point though.

Sure it's passed as a joke, but when you look back at the scene with the "what if story" goggles, you can't help wondering "was it really though?"

Hell, Shigure desiring Tohru is something that even Akito feared.

She was enraged at the thought very thought of it during the Summer Vacation arc. It's what set Akito off enough to tell Tohru that she is the God of the zodiacs and they all belong to her, Shigure in particular.

Akito was already even in an agitated state before she asked Shigure if he felt anything even partially romantic towards Tohru. Why? Because she's displeased that Shigure isn't kind to her the way he used to be. That he used to only look at Akito but now he doesn't. She wants him to be kind to her again, like he was before.

And Shigure is exceptionally kind to Tohru.

Like he is very careful and considerate when he comes to Tohru which he even confesses to Mayu at one point when she tells him that he should treat her carefully. He tells her 「これでも僕にしてはめずらしいくらい大切にしてると思うんだけどね」 which can, more accurately be given a rough translation of "I think it's unusual for me, but I'm taking good care of her" or even "I think it's unusual for me to value someone this much".

And if you look back on the series, that isn't cap.

Excluding characters like Kisa, Hiro and Momiji (who isn't the same age as the other two but acts youthful enough it is easy to forget), Tohru is the only character Shigure doesn't really treat the way he does everyone else.

Shigure has no problem poking and prodding at people, even in moments where they're very clearly in emotional turmoil when he says them.

Asking Yuki what Akito told him during the Summer Vacation arc.

Telling Kyo that he is using hating Yuki as a shield for what he doesn't want to think about.

(... Telling Akito "bitch I wouldn't have cheated on you if you didn't cheat on me first" lmaooo.)

Even if at the end of the day, it is coming from his own way of caring (trying to get people to act and move forward), that doesn't change the fact Shigure can be a complete asshole. One that will say some very hurtful things to people.

And he's done it multiple times to the same people over and over again. Measuring what's the right amount of what to say to avoid or invoke a specific reaction that he does or doesn't want. Sometimes it's played for laughs, other times it is to rile someone up so badly they cannot contain their aggravation.

So it really isn't cap when he tells Mayu he does, in reality, treat Tohru very gently. For all that Shigure is capable of doing, he treats Tohru with more care than he normally gives to people. Especially considering he has no real reason to since she was a stranger to him until recently.

It takes Shigure until the final arc to do anything of his usual nature to Tohru. And when he does, he asks her if she's mad at him afterwards. It doesn't sound like much until you realize he's never done anything of that sort for any other character in the series.

Yuki. Kyo. Akito.

He'll back off. He might sigh and state it's pointless to continue a debate when he and the other person are going back and forth in circles. But he never asks to see how that other person feels because he doesn't care. Hell, he can tell if that other person is upset with him or done with his shenanigans.

And yet with Tohru, he feels compelled to ask for the first time ever.

And, of course, I can't talk about all this stuff and not mention Shigure's calm fury when Tohru fell from the cliffside. He stayed quiet for damn near 20 seconds as he processed that Akito told him that Tohru fell and we don't see his face the entire time he's processing. Then once he finally pulls himself together, he couldn't even let Akito finish her sentence when he asked if Tohru's 'fall' was a push.

We never truly get to see in Furuba, something that could set Shigure off.

But I think in that moment we get a glimpse of it. A glimpse that shows just how strongly he feels for Tohru. Because it begs the question, if Akito had pushed Tohru off that cliff, what would Shigure have done? How would he have reacted? I don't think even Shigure knew how he would have reacted.

I'm honestly morbidly curious.

That's all to say, that, "what if" story was with Shigure. Not Momiji, not Yuki. It was Shigure.

'If you didn't end up with A, you definitely would have ended up with B'. If we narrowed this down to Yuki and Tohru specifically, there's only two other characters that come close to that. If it wasn't Machi for Yuki and Kyo for Tohru ー YuKyo and ShiTohru would have been at the finish line.

If Shigure had dreamed of Tohru... or hell, what if he had dreamt of Akito but decided that that dream alone wasn't enough to keep the canine sense of loyalty he was cursed with?

There definitely would have been more than just proposals played for laughs and musings of that 'what could have been's.

Well anyway if you're curious to see my take on what it could have been like if Shigure dreamed of Tohru (complete w/ YuKyo and onesided AkiGure) do I have the story for you because I'm writing it on AO3. Read and give me comments to validate my delusions wwwwwwwwwww

[penn-dragon]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

This is such a sweet question I would love to!

These are in no particular order because my level of passion for them changes depending on my current hyperfixation, and I’m limiting myself to one character per media but giving honorable mentions because I tend to love two or three characters almost equally

1. Monkey D. Luffy!!! (Honorable mention: Zoro and Sanji)

One Piece holds a special place in my heart. I watched it on 4kids when I was growing up and it was the first anime I watched as a teenager. Luffy is so so so important to me as a character. I got myself through the worst parts of teendom by imagining that if he was real Luffy would love me. He’s such a warm, loving, and joyous character. He’s Joyboy!!! He came into the world without a family and so he made his own and that’s so special, the message that no one in this world is born to be alone and somewhere out there someone or ones will love you and fight for you. And on top of all this he’s an aroace king!!!

2. Mogami Kyoko -Skip Beat!

Kyoko was my Girl Crush™️ in high school. I remember telling my best friend “yeah if I was gay I’d date Kyoko” LMAO. Beyond that there’s just something so special to me about reading this manga over and over, watching this girl—who only knew how to live to make her existence as palatable to other people as possible—grow into herself and find her own passions and loves as she heals from the abuses she’s dealt with her whole life. (Just looking up images of her made me want to reread the whole manga)

3. Peter Parker (Honorable mention: Harry Osborn)

Spider-Man is an OG, a forever love. No matter how many years go by I’ll always circle back around to Spider-Man. I love him and his pain and his Anger Issues™️ and his iron-clad morality. The people’s hero, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He’s also responsible for coding my brain to always gravitate towards the comic relief characters. I love a jokester who quips through dangerous situations.

4. Yosuke Hanamura - Persona 4

So I always joke that a majority of my favorite characters fall into one of two categories. 1. Hides their insecurities behind jokes/false bravado, and 2. Internalized homophobia/in love with best friend. And the characters I go FERAL for have both. Yosuke Hanamura is one of the both. I love a comic relief character!!! I love a man that’s hopelessly in love with his best friend but won’t admit it because he’s terrified of the implications!!! When I played this game for the first time, like most people, I was SO MAD THAT I COULDN’T DATE YOSUKE. 90% of the time when I play I don’t end up dating anyone because I refuse to deny the protag his one true love lmao. Yosuke and Yu also have the bonus of being my first ever gay ship. Their love is so powerful it pierced through my own internalized homophobia lol!!

5. Din Djarin -The Mandalorian (Honorable mention: Luke Skywalker)

I’m out here projecting so much onto this man!!!! He’s autistic, he’s asexual, he’s Traumatized. My other category of favorite characters is “Stoic Dad who learns to love again through a pseudo child figure” so he’s right up that alley. The man responsible for finally getting me into Star Wars after 27 years of having absolutely no interest.

6. Virgil Hawkins!! - Static Shock (Honorable mention: Richie Foley)

The way I waited with baited breath for every Static Shock episode as a child. It’s still one of my favorite shows, I own all 4 seasons on DvD and cherish them. I love Virgil so much!! He taught me about diversity! He’s such a lovable character and it makes the show an absolute delight to watch no matter how dated some parts of it get. The show does such a wonderful job balancing Virgil’s super heroics as Static with the heroics of every day life and it’s so endearing.

7. Oliver -Space Boy (Honorable mention: Amy)

Oliver is definitely the most niche character on this list (which is a crying shame please PLEASE read Space Boy on Webtoon it will chemically change your brain.) I’m just so attached to him. I feel so much for him and his story. If I could give him the biggest hug I would in an instant. “Take away his humanity and you can ignore his pain. Define him as a tool and you can justify using him.”

9. Rex Salazar - Generator Rex

Oh maaaaaan I love this asshole teenager!! I’m soooo obsessed with characters who get dehumanized for the sake of using their abilities like a tool and not a person. Re: the above Space Boy quote. The aesthetic of this show is so cool! (Also hello character who hides their insecurity behind false bravado.)

8. Aang - Avatar the Last Airbender (Honorable mention: Zuko)

Oh Aang… My sweet boy… my beloved… He imparted so much wisdom to me growing up… and also taught me it’s okay to have fun. I’ll always love him so much. There’s so much to rant about Avatar but it would take three hours.

10. Yugi Mutou - Yu-Gi-Oh! (Honorable mention: Atem)

I related to Yugi SO MUCH as a kid. He’s just a little weirdo who loves games and craves friendship more than anything. Honestly Yugi might have been the character I most strongly related to when I was young. I remember feeling swells of happiness when people would say nice things about Yugi as a character because it felt like they were saying nice things about me too.

[takerfoxx]

Okay, with Return to Walpurgis or Walpurgis Rising or whatever they're calling it coming out later this year, we have to expect that it's going to totally destroy all of our headcannons about how Homura's post-Rebellion world looks like and works. So, until then, let's get a few more additions to my "And they were roommates" KyoSaya AU, in which Kyoko moves in with Sayaka's family and doesn't realize that they're a couple for several years, because she is, in fact, an idiot lesbian god.

Now, the assumption I've seen a lot of times is that Sayaka's parents would be put off by Kyoko, as she has that edgy delinquent energy. However, people often forget that the whole rebel thing is fairly new, and Kyoko actually grew up as a happy church girl who loved her parents and was probably close with all the church elders and stuff. So, while she has interesting views regarding the natural order of things, she still has a lot of respect for things like the family unit and the parent/child bond and stuff like that. As such, while Sayaka was nervous AF to introduce Kyoko to her family, Kyoko shocked her by turning up the charm and makes an amazing first impression for them, so much so that when Sayaka questions Kyoko about where the heck this socially competent and respectful Kyoko came from, Kyoko is all confused like, "Isn't that how you're supposed to treat other people's families?"

Anyway, Kyoko becomes a regular at the Miki residence, though Sayaka's family does notice how dodgy she is whenever asked about her personal life. And she sort of latches onto Sayaka's parents as a sort of surrogate family. Meanwhile, they start to suspect that there's something going on between the girls, but decide to respect their privacy.

However, when Sayaka's dad is out running errands one day, he notices a commotion at a local convenience store, which turns out to be some ragged street kid getting caught shoplifting, and he's shocked to find out that it's Kyoko. Like, isn't this our daughter's polite and upstanding best friend?

Mr. Miki steps in and offers to pay for anything damages in exchange for the girl, and takes Kyoko aside to talk in private. Kyoko is humiliated and freaking out, but Mr. Miki manages to calm her down and, over ice cream, coaxes the full story out of her. Naturally, he's horrified, and calls his wife.

Kyoko moves in with them that same night.

At first, Sayaka has no idea what to make of this new turn. She's relieved that everything is out in the open and her parents were so accepting, as she had been terrified of how they might react were they to learn of how Kyoko was feeding herself, but by then her crush is in full force, and now Kyoko is literally living with them. As for Kyoko, she seems a little broken and depressed at first, feeling like a total mooch, and it takes her some time to accept that they genuinely do care about her and aren't just taking her in out of pity. However, over time she comes to love her new life, especially since she no longer needs to shoplift just to have breakfast. Plus, she gets to spend all her time with her best friend!

However, the Mikis pretty much figured out that Sayaka is down bad, and they're pretty sure the feelings are mutual, but Kyoko's behavior is so perplexing to them that while they consider putting them in separate rooms, they eventually decide to back off and let things play out. They do try to ask Kyoko about it, only to be hit with, "Yeah, Sayaka's great, isn't she? I don't know why Kyousuke didn't go for her. If I were a boy, I would never let her go!" And they're like, "Has no one told this girl that lesbianism exists?" And when they hesitantly question Sayaka about it, she, being a terrible liar, avoids and deflects like crazy, so they leave it as is.

Anyway, years later after the girls have gone to college and they finally get the call that Kyoko has figured out that girls liking girls is an option, they're enormously relieved but so very confused as to why it took so danged long.

[moonlit-mystery-writer]

happy OCtober! it’s time for me to meet more khr oc creators. i think i like celeste the most but i still need to know other characters a little bit better. still i have a question. can you tell me more about celeste relationships with vongola tenth generation?

Happy OCtober!!! And yes I can, but it's gonna be a more brief overview lol, I do plan on making a more in depth post later! Tsuna - Celeste and Tsuna's relationship with each other has a rocky start. She technically does something that hurt his friends, but only because she was lied to. And once she knew the truth, not only was she extremely apologetic, but she helped him fix it. Over time and with her caring and warm presence, Tsuna warms up to her and forgives her for what happened. Celeste adores Tsuna deeply as her son. She will do anything for him. Lambo - Technically not Vongola 10th gen in my verse, but I know most expect him here lol. Celeste's his mom. Like literally lol. She adopted him from her friend as a baby and has been raising him. When his disappeared to Japan without her knowledge she freaked the fuck out until Reborn told her Lambo was with him. Lambo is very much a Mama's boy lol. He turns his behavior right around whenever Celeste's near because he wants to be good in front of his mom. When he's older, he's honestly still as clingy, but a little less obvious about it lol.

Hibari - She's his aunt! Fon in my verse not only basically raised Hibari, but is directly his Uncle. So as Fon's wife, Celeste's Hibari's aunt. Honestly the two are close lol. While by no means can she just run around Namimori and break his rules or, god forbidden, do anything to his school; he's more lenient with her on personal matters. Many are terrified over the fact she can give him occassional head pats. Celeste loves her nephew dearly and always tried to visit him as often as she could, especially after his parents died and Fon took him in.

Mukuro and Chrome - These two will be getting a post of their own lol. But in summary: Mukuro wants to like her, but holds her at a distance. Chrome does like her and sees her as an inspiration and mother figure. Celeste adores both of them deeply.

Ryohei - He holds no strong opinions on her, but she knows a good bit about boxing so he likes talking about that with her when they see each other. Celeste finds him to be such a sweetheart and is so happy a good chunk of her kids are friends with him. The two also bond over knowing Colonnello.

Yamamoto - He's a little awkward with her lol. She's nice and she's Tsuna's other mom, but they didn't exactly have a good first meeting. Plus they share very few things in common, so there's not much to bond over. Celeste also finds Yamamoto sweet. She finds it a little funny he's so distant because she's really good friends with his dad and in fact met Takeshi once when he was a baby.

Gokudera - The only one who actively antagonizes her to an extent lol. He's obviously both being protective of Tsuna, but is also reasonably cautious because of their first meeting. She doesn't blame him for this at all. It is a completely reasonable reaction after all. But she often finds herself snickering because some of his traits remind her so much of Shamal. The two have a small bonding moment one day over the piano. Celeste has one to help her keep track of notes she's singing sometimes, but she's no pianist lol, and he awkwardly helps her figure out where some music of hers has a note wrong out of love for the piano.

I'll be doing Kyoko and Haru in the eventual big post lol. There's not much to go over quickly here yet.

[floralcavern]

Analyzing Madoka Magica and what can we take from it?

T/W for talks of suicide and self harm

What is the meaning of Puella Magi Madoka Magica about?

I think this is pretty obvious and most people have already figured it out. 

The show is meant to be an allegory for young girls being used and abused. But I feel like we can go even further into that. 

Let’s start with Kyubey. 

He is meant to symbolize predators. People who prey on young girls for their own dark and twisted wants and needs. 

He approaches young, very young girls who are in bad positions in their lives. He offers them a way to make things better, to help them, but is lying and purposely makes their lives worse. 

Kyubey is from a species called Incubators. They don’t feel emotion. Happiness, sadness, gratitude, jealousy.. it’s all foreign to them. In fact, it’s treated as a mental illness. (I like to think this is meant to represent young boys who are taught to block out all their emotions). 

But, the universe is dying out. The only way to save it is to give it a continuous power source. But how to do that?

Well, emotions give off a lot of power! But Incubators can’t feel emotion. So they can’t do that. But humans.. humans feel all kinds of things. The most common and strongest one being sadness and despair. And you know who feels those things more than anyone? Young girls. 

So Incubators purposefully prey on young girls, telling them they can be special and powerful. But they’re not special. Incubators do this to every young girl who are in bad situations in their lives. 

Kyoko’s family was starving and in poverty, Mami was on the verge of death, Sayaka was watching the boy she loved have to suffer. 

Of course they’re going to make a wish at these points in their lives. Either they were suffering, or they were watching the people they loved suffer. 

(I like to think that Kyubey is meant to symbolize Satan, as well. He appears alluring and approachable and offers things too good to be true, only to want to hurt you in the end. It would be extra interesting given that Kyoko’s dad was a priest)

They take girls with promising futures, who are just in bad situations within their own lives, and tells them that they can make it all better. But once they do, things, just get worse. 

Magical girls are destined to die. Destined to die in combat or fighting witches.

Witches are formed on a magical girl is at their lowest point, in the depths of despair. And whenever they’re killed, it releases a huge power source that keeps the universe going. I personally see this as symbolism for suicide. Feeling like things will only get better if you were gone and out of this world. That the universe will heal and be perfect if you just weren’t in it.

Now, Sayaka. 

She is probably the most interesting character to talk about, since she is the prime example of all of this.

She was a young girl, so full of life and joy. But she was sad. Sad because the boy she liked was suffering in the hospital with an incurable illness. 

But Kyubey showed up and told her he can help her. All she had to do was fight witches. 

And, eventually, she agreed. 

Things started off ok, but things went down fast. 

Mami’s death from beforehand, for sure, but the thing that really fucked her up was learning the truth about the soul gem. 

The soul gem is what given to magical girls once they agree to the contract. It’s what helps them transform and nothing else… right..?

No. 

Kyubey never told the girls that soul gems are literally their souls. He removed their souls from their body and put it into a different source, essentially meaning magical girls aren’t even people anymore. They’re not alive, they’re not living. That they can’t physically feel anything. 

This breaks Sayaka. How can she have the boy she loves when she’s not even human anymore? Does she even deserve him at that point? She can’t physically feel anything, not just spears and attacks, but also whether he were to kiss her or hold her. She would feel none of it. 

Sayaka is meant to be an allegory for self harm. 

“It’s true! I can block out the pain!”

“Just because you can feel anything doesn’t mean you can keep hurting yourself!”

Sayaka goes out of her way to put herself into dangerous situations and where she will get hurt, but since she can’t feel it because her soul isn’t in her body, she lets herself get hurt. In fact, she welcomes it. 

But then things go from bad to horrible to even worse when she learned the boy she loved was going to be with Hitomi. The boy she had literally sold her soul for wasn’t even in love with her. Then again, that wasn’t exactly what Sayaka wanted. She can’t feel physical things anymore. She’s not even human anymore. She doesn’t think she’s worthy to be with him. 

But what really pushes her over the edge is when she hears a group of guys trash talking their girlfriends. Sayaka had literally given up her entire life for a boy she loved. Now a group of guys were just out here saying girls aren’t worth shit. 

Sayaka no longer sees any point in trying to protect people. Is the world even worth protecting? Is the world even worth.. living in? And so she becomes a witch. 

Also, I love how Sayaka is often depicted with mermaids. If you know the original story of The Little Mermaid, then you know why. 

So, who’s the next person to talk about?

Madoka. 

Madoka sees how awful everything is. That young girls are used and abused by the Incubators? But what can she do?

She makes her wish. A wish that magical girls can’t and never have had to turn into witches. 

Madoka literally changes the fabric of the universe with this wish, changing it to where past magical girls have never turned into witches. She saves them from a cruel ending. A cruel fate where they’ll only end up being used. 

Madoka represents hope. 

Even in this new timeline, magical girls still exist and have to fight monsters. But.. why? Madoka changed the timeline. She changed the universe. Why, why, WHY? Why are the girls still forced to do this? To fight and be used by the Incubators. Sure, they no longer are destined to die in the end, but they are still being used by the Incubators. Why does it have to be so?

This is how I view it. 

It symbolizes that things will never be perfect. 

That no matter how sad, how tragic, how horrible it is that young girls will be used, it happens. 

We can’t put a stop to it all. We can’t halt the truth. 

But what we can do is help them. Help them avoid giving in to the despair and hopelessness. 

There will always be disgusting bastards out there who want to hurt young girls and use them to their advantage, but we can stand by them and help them to be hope within this world that isn’t beyond saving. 

Usually these types of shows will try to say that we can fix the world and make it entirely good and perfect. But Madoka Magica takes a realistic approach on it. We can’t make the world perfect, but we can heal it and the people in it. 

It’s bittersweet, but it’s beautiful. 

And that’s what I think Puella Magi Madoka Magica is about. 

[thevividai]

HARUKO HYERI TIME BESTIES

This is Haruko a 13 year old demon slayer who’s Mitsuri’s tsugoku, He loves her more than life itself and would kill someone for her he dyed his hair pink to match with her

His parents hated each other and he was raised with constant screaming and throwing things at each other until his parents divorced

He stayed with his dad until a few years later his mom came back as a demon and killed Haruko’s father and tried to kill Haruko himself until the sun started rising just as a demon slayer came to slay the demon

Seeing this now orphaned 9 year old boy they brought him back to Kagaya who is basically the parent version of matchmaker and introduced Haruko to Mitsuri

They are like two fluffy hyperfriendly playful golden retrievers

Obanai absolutely despises this boy, despite basically being the reincarnation of the sun and sugar and everything nice, mostly because of Obanai’s jealousy of how much time Haruko gets to spend with Mitsuri

He also has a puppy crush on Kyoko

Who absolutely despises him and once broke his jaw because he annoyed her too much

Haruko is a golden retriever

he’s also dead.

[aquaburst3]

Deuce's mom looking so young also sparked a theory/headcanon for me. I think that she had Deuce when she was a teen.

Daila has a similar vibe as Kyoko Honda from Fruits Basket. Her backstory is that she was in a gang, but then fell in love with her middle school teacher. (This series was made during a different time.) Sometime right after high school they got married and had Tohru. Considering Fruits Basket came out in the early 2000s when Yana was young, I wouldn't be surprised if she was an inspiration for Daila, and Deuce's mom had a similar rough background as her son.

Plus, she has a helix piercing. While that is practically nothing here in the west, in Japan that is a much bigger deal, because people who get those are usually delinquents or rebels to some extent. Same goes for her blonde streaks.

It would also explain what the fuck the deal is with Deuce's dad. If that was the case, he probably got Daila knocked up young, and left due to not really wanting to be a father like happens a lot in teen pregnancies situations.

Granted, I doubt any of this will be outright confirmed. But with the game heavily implying that Vil is the byproduct of a one night stand, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Yana's intentions were with her character.

[whiskeysmulti]

Bonfire (A KHR Fanfic)

Fandom: KHR Word Count: 1,032 Prompt: Bonfire Ship: 5995 and 8086 Characters: Gokudera Hayato/Sasagawa Kyouko, Yamamoto Takeshi/ Miura Haru Event Host: @flufftober

"Kyoko-chan!" Haru called as she waved to her best friend. "We have a lot to do today!"

Kyoko wasn't positive what Haru was referring to, but if her best friend needed her help she'd be more than happy to oblige. "What is it, Haru-chan?" She politely smiled, curious what the other girl needed help with and why they'd have a lot of work to do.

"Tsuna-san just informed Haru that tonight the boys are having a bonfire." Haru nodded and fished out a list of groceries she needed to get for the party.

Kyoko smiled, she loved the parties the Vongola put on, even if she and Haru were put to work all the time. Haru's creativity would always be welcomed with open arms when situations such as this arose. From Namahage to Princess ball gowns, Haru was an expert seamstress and her love for sewing could be heavily utilized here tonight. "It's a Halloween costume theme."

"Hahi? Costume bonfire?" Haru looked puzzled. "Is this another one of those traditional Vongola parties that Reborn-chan throws all the time? The ones that never make any sense?"

Kyoko smiled and nodded. "Mhmm, Reborn-chan's the one who said it was to be costume themed to begin with."

"Ah, we need to get started then." Haru excitedly gathered her purse. "We should shop for materials and supplies first."

The first thing the girls went for was food. If this was Halloween themed, they wanted to go all out. They grabbed hot dogs, marshmallows, chocolate bars, graham crackers, hot cocoa mix, various ingredients for treats and desserts and enough candy to fill a bowl and treat bags too for the younger ones.

"Is Reborn-chan joining us?" Kyoko asked, curious if they needed to purchase some espresso or not. Reborn liked his coffee strong and if he was coming too then Kyoko wanted to be prepared.

"Yes, we're going to need coffee, sushi and milk as well." Haru smiled, she knew who those items were written specifically for. It was no surprise Yamamoto and Reborn would make requests for something like that.

"I see that smile, Haru-chan. You like him don't you?" It was no surprise who the milk and sushi would be for, they were Yamamoto's favorites after all.

"Hahi!" Haru hadn't thought she'd be caught so easily. But it was true. She'd gotten over Tsuna and realized he was and always would be only her friend. However she hadn't expected the Namimori baseball star to catch her attention next. However when she analyzed things, it was often Gokudera or Yamamoto who had been there for her more often. "Don't tell anyone, Kyoko-chan." That was Haru's own way of admitting it before getting even redder in the face.

She hadn't really noticed it but the more time they spent together, in the future and the present, she realized Yamamoto wasn't just attractive and athletic but kind and protective, and had a little dangerous charm of his own. He wasn't a full blown Yankee like Gokudera, but he had his own allure and charm and that's what had drawn her in. Maybe she should make him some chocolates for Valentine's next year? That is if no one else already scooped him up. Yamamoto was quite the popular guy, having a fan club of his own as well, it honestly made Haru a little bit jealous. "We'll have to keep it cold, we can't let something like that spoil."

"Should we ask his dad to make the sushi? It would give you an excuse to go see him when you pick it u-" Kyoko was cut off swiftly by a very flustered Haru.

"Kyoko-chan! You should ask him. If I ask it'll look suspicious."

Kyoko just smiled. The bet was on. If Haru wouldn't ask Yamamoto out, Kyoko would do it for her at the bonfire. "Okay."

"Hahi!" Haru was shocked at how calm and collected Kyoko was about the situation. She should have never said that, Haru regretted it. If Kyoko asked him for her she'd look like a total wuss now! But who could blame her for being intimidated, he had a fanclub of his own. There was no way Haru could hold a candle to those girls.

They picked up decorations as well it wouldn't be Halloween themed without Halloween decorations. "Do you think we have enough to put up?" Haru asked, and just as she had, Kyoko nodded and the doorbell rang. The boys had arrived just in time to help set up.

Tsuna and Yuni walked in holding hands and even though Haru had been over him for quite some time now, it still stung a little, but the sting was soon replaced by something warmer. Well at least slightly warmer.

"Woman…" Gokudera almost growled until Kyoko reminded him to be nice.

"Hayato…" She scolded. "Haru-chan's our friend. Be nice or no cookies later." Kyoko could be terrifying when she wanted and what boyfriend liked being denied his own girlfriend's baking? That was a threat in itself right there.

Haru had crossed her arms and huffed, puffing out both cheeks and turning her nose up at him, until she heard that soothing voice, as calm and gentle as rain on a autumn evening, "Maa Maa, it's alright. He didn't mean any harm, Haru-chan." And there was that smile that melted her and made her mind draw a blank and made her swoon.

Just like the warmth of a bonfire, Yamamoto's smile warmed Haru's heart and it didn't take a genius like Gokudera to see it.

"Kyoko, why don't we go join the Tenth and the others for a seat around the fire. It's going to get crowded soon, everyone's coming tonight." That was Gokudera giving the hint to leave Yamamoto and Haru in at least a little bit of privacy. He knew the two were close and after tonight, he hoped he and Kyoko could be a little closer too, and maybe the bonfire would be the first step to starting a spark between them.

Taking his hand, Kyoko smiled and followed the Storm guardian out. As for Yamamoto and Haru…well they could catch up when they were ready, he was still kissing her.

[straightfacedstrangeness]

A rare scene of the Ichinoses at home. It took me a while to discover (to my surprise!) that this is only a slight expansion of an equivalent manga scene, rather than an anime-only scene as I’d thought, since after following the manga pretty closely for 2 omnibuses they suddenly skipped 30!! chapters ahead for this. So the main differences between the manga and anime here are that in the manga Kentaro overhears his parents talking through the door of another room (if all the apartments are identical studios, his futon might even be in the closet for privacy / early bedtimes while his parents stay up), and the anime added the bit of Ichinose tucking him in.

I feel bad for Kentaro, but this really gives a lot of insight into Mrs. Ichinose’s character. She’s generally self-centered, uninterested in field day because it seems obnoxious or boring, and blows off the idea that Kentaro might care about it by insisting that he’s tough and that stuff doesn’t get to him. Meanwhile, it’s Mr. Ichinose who sees through Kentaro’s cheerful facade of insisting it’s fine and that his dad should focus on his job search instead (same argument Mrs. Ichinose gives him here! Kentaro’s heard and internalized this stuff!)

Mrs. Ichinose loves sticking her nose in other people’s business, but really has no idea what’s going on in her own home. I think Kyoko even had to point out to her that Kentaro had a crush on Ikuko and that’s why he acts weird whenever she comes over. And now I’m thinking again about the story arc where Kyoko’s parents show up, her strained relationship with them prompts Mrs. Ichinose to try to soend more time with Kentaro, and he’s SO excited when she takes him to the movies and SO upset when she agrees to have a chat with Kyoko’s mother instead. Again she cheerily waves off his grievances saying she’ll make it up to him by buying him something to eat while she gossips, assuming that’s enough, when really what he wants is for his mom to pay attention to him.

She does care about him, but ultimately she’s so abrasive and used to doing whatever she wants that Kentaro suffers for it, though he manages to grow up pretty well in spite of it all.