#What do you mean “i didn't think he was gay”

[kosei-on]

A post for those who don't understand why people ship Sonadow

I see people be confused about the why's of Sonadow. Why do people like it? Do you seriously ship it? You've seen the same things and you've watched the cutscenes and damn it all it just doesn't make any sense. Maybe you've read comments from people insisting that xyz interaction between Sonic and Shadow means they must like each other and you saw the comic panel where Shadow is carrying Sonic and it doesn't mean anything to you, and you handwave any explanations off because you don't see how anything in the canon means they want to date. Perhaps you've perused the relationships tag on Ao3 and saw that Sonadow is by far the most written-about ship in the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom. So why? Why???? Do people ship this??? Someone tell me why!!!!

If you want to know let's get cooking fellas.

1). LGBT ships are king.

Historically shipping and fanfic served as a way for LGBT people to get representation from media that uh, didn't want to do that. This has been true for decades, it's tradition and so deeply engrained into fandom culture that there's no two ways about it. The people writing fanfic tend to be female, queer, autistic, and any other sort of 'othering' you can think of. Gay ships are always more popular, and usually, M/M ships are more popular than F/F ships unless you're Madoka Magica or otherwise your cast is full of women, which Sonic is not. The boys usually get the spotlight, and you can argue that characters like Amy and Blaze kind of don't even really know each other.

2) Enemies to lovers

People LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE enemies to lovers. Currently, on Ao3 there are 165,000+ written works that are enemies to lovers. It's an extremely popular trope that's a tale as old as time. Does anyone hear pride and prejudice?

3) Teenage girls really love Shadow.

This one is self-explanatory. I feel like I don't need to explain what would happen if Shadow were a human and not a hedgehog. I suspect in some ways the obsession with Sonadow from some people is a desire to 'fix' and support Shadow in ways he isn't in canon (i.e. romance, opening up, talking about feelings, etc.) I'm not a teenage girl and I write fanfic, but I would be remiss to not speak on the fact that uh, yeah they're the ones usually doing that lol.

4) Shadow is perfect fanfiction bait.

-broody

-dark past

-doesn't talk about feelings

-traumatized in some way

-cool

Fanfic tends to center around the more 'complicated' characters in media, especially characters as popular as Shadow. If you read fanfic this is just something you can intuit. Shadow feels ripe for fanfic picking.

5) Sonic and Shadow are perfect opposites

this one is also self-explanatory, but fandoms tend to love pairings where there's the "dark and gloomy" one and the "sunshine" one. There's kind of no one gloomier than Shadow and no one sunnier than Sonic. They're the perfect odd couple.

Tl;dr: Sonic and Shadow are the perfect gay enemies to lovers odd couple for people online to get obsessed over. It's a lot of popular tropes shoved together in a delicious stew that can be reheated and served over and over again. Eat up! Do it! Embrace Sonadow!

[havendance]

I have still not gotten around to reading the valentine's story that everyone's been talking about, but Scilly's post did get some of the juices going in my brain so take a little unedited ficlet about them running into each other again.

--

Flour... flour... where did they keep the flour in this store? Tim stared intently at the shelves in front of him. "Pick up some fresh flour after patrol," Bernard had said because apparently he couldn't just leave the flour in the paper bag it came in in the cabinets of the houseboat. Surely this little 24 hr place had to have some. If they didn't... maybe it was just on the other side.

He rounded the corner only to walk straight into someone else.

"Sorry! I should've— wait, Ari?"

Across from him, his one time girlfriend blinked in recognition. "Tim?" She laughed. "Wow, it's really been a minute, hasn't it? How have things been going with you?"

He shrugged. "Oh, you know, the usual." He (finally!) spotted the flour behind her and ducked around to grab it. "Just grabbing a couple things."

"Same," she said, holding up the half gallon of milk in her hand. "It really is wild seeing you again. And not just on the news."

Tim scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I really did have a wild few years there, didn't I?"

"I'll say! Getting stuck in No Man's Land, taking over Wayne Enterprises—I'd see the news a be like 'I used to date that guy.'"

"I didn't really take over Wayne Enterprises, it was more like a figurehead thing."

"Still, it was wild to see."

They both started to make their way to the checkout.

"I'm sorry, by the way," Ari said, "about your dad."

The words hit him in a way they hadn't in a long while. "I—" he let out a breath. "Thanks. It's been a while."

"It's been years since my dad died and I still miss him. When I saw on that you'd been adopted by Bruce Wayne, I thought about, like, reaching out and offering my condolences," she shrugged. "I just kept overthinking it and worrying that it'd weird."

"I was... going through a lot then," Tim said. "I don't know if I would've responded, if you did. I appreciate the thought though."

"You always were bad at making time for me," she teased.

"I was a real idiot then," he said with a sheepish grin.

Ari reached out and tapped him on the chest. "That you were. We both were, first love and all that."

There was a lull in their conversation as they both paid for their items.

"Look," Tim said once they were outside. "Can I walk you home?"

"Flirting? I do have a boyfriend."

"What? No! I just uh, you know, Gotham, at night. It's important to stay safe," he finished lamely.

She smiled. "I was teasing you. I'm still living across town with my aunt and uncle, but you can walk me to my subway stop."

"Okay."

They'd been walking for a minute when Tim said "I have one too. A boyfriend I mean."

"Oh," she sounded surprised. "I mean, good for you and all."

"Yeah, I just—what we had. I still cared about you, it didn't fall apart because of that. It was just—" He was fumbling over his words again.

"We were fourteen," Ari said.

"We were fourteen," Tim agreed.

They walked a little farther in silence. Ari said "You're actually the second ex I've had to come out to me."

"Really?"

"My first college boyfriend—I dated him for about a month before he told me he was actually gay and broke up with me."

"Sounds awkward."

"It was. So don't worry, you're doing better than that."

"Thanks, I guess.

Ari laughed.

"So college," Tim said, hurrying to change the subject. "Are you still doing fashion design?"

"History, actually. I want to go to law school. Make a difference."

"I'm sure you'll do great."

"What about you?" she asked. "Are you at college?"

"Uh, not really. Don't think it's for me. I've got a place on the Marina. I've just been hanging out there recently."

"With the boyfriend?"

"With the boyfriend," he admitted.

They'd reached the subway stop. Ari paused at the top of the stairs. "It was nice seeing you again. If you're ever in Little Odessa, be sure to swing by my Uncle's restaurant and say hi."

"Will do, and if you're ever around the Marina, I know some good seafood places."

She smiled. "I'll keep that in mind. See you around."

"See you around." He waved goodbye as she left and then went his own way into the night.

[clemelntine]

Heartkillers ep 10 uncohesive stray thoughts

With screenshots cuz I take to many and I'll feel like that's wasteful if I don't at least use them for a post

God, this scene reeks of codependency. But like in a good way, yknow. In an evidence of love way. They just don't want to be apart because they care. And I guess cuz they're scared they won't see each other again.

I love Fadel and his consistent morals. He'd been silent, letting Bison get his anger and revenge, cus that is not his main thing, but as soon as he hears any word of deciet or lies, he's right on his feet getting involved.

Yeah that checks.

I have to wonder, tho, if Lilly is a poisoner, why were Fadel and Bisons' parents shot? And why would she train them with a gun instead of the weapon she know best?

That's not the unbelievable part dear. She seems very capable of all that. Look at what she made you do

Acting like some housewives worrying about their husbands away at war or some shit.

Imma be real with you. I wasn't paying attention for a bit, and I read this as "Why don't you try and top Fadel?" and I got a little hopeful for a bit.

We've got a comeback from the -two rings on one finger, no other jewelry- look from style. Love this energy.

For anyone wondering, the first time we saw this was in episode 6 when he was out drinking with Kant, so it might just be what he wears when he goes to get drunk with his buddy. Guess there aren't too many occasions for a mechanic to wear a mid finger index ring. It tends to get in the way a lot when moving (like manual labor). And if you dont wear a ring often, choosing to wear no other jewelry to make your specialty ring pop makes a lot of sense.

Sorry, I looked too deeply into that.

Lillys actress is so stunning. The discomfort and distaste on her face is so subtle but to perfect.

Oh, drama, Keen already knows about (one of) their lovers and tried to kill him. I wonder why he used a gun, tho. The only flashback/scene we saw of them pre assassin, while training, was to show that Keen was a worse shot than Bison and Fadel. Did he improve or was the reason he missed (only hitting styles arm, not killing him) because he still has bad aim.

Also, could the tattoo be Kants' work? It kinda reminds me of his spiderweb arm tatoo, but that doesn't mean its his style (he might not have done his arm one himself), so who knows, maybe they know each other, maybe they don't.

Fucking romantic loser, holy shit. He couldn't see gay people without thinking of his boyfriend

That's not something to be fucking proud of cassie

Nr. 1 god his hair looks fucking good like this

Nr. 2 Mister poetry over here, annoying piece of shit with his lovey dovey words

Ofc Style would instigate a cheer, like this is a cheersquad and not a murder operation

I really need him to stop mentioning it all the time, like he is proud of it or something

Oh, uniform kink. Interesting

Okay, I kinda feel bad for Keen now. Nobody seems to care about him (except Thanon ig, I hope nothing bad happens to him). Lilly didn't even care enough to use him.

Also, jesus Fadel, you're brothers. You've never put in even an hour of effort to ask about his day or some shit, rude. (I get that they are all just a product of Lillys creation but but this seems a lil excessive)

With the tattoos. That is quite a bold plan. There is like a 50/50 change they (rich ladies) are put off by the tattoos. Guess some might see it as an adventure and be into it. It's still a gamble.

Also like how does he know golfing, tho? Had he golfed before, or is Kant just good at improvising, because he looked quite knowledgable.

The way he has lowered himself to look up at her through his lashes, the fucking bitch. Once again using First height for storytelling. This time, Kant has lowered himself to make Lilly feel like she is above him and in control.

Idk if she is open-minded or if she could just smell the gay on him.

Ahw, he cares. Does he expect Keen to do that, tho? Like Fadel knows that he already tried to kill Style and has shot him. He doesn't seem likely to suddenly care about the wishes of his brother, who doesn't even care about him.

Not too sure what it means but i just noticed that Fadel has his whole head and neck angled up while Styles face is pointed to the front and he is just looking up with his eyes, through his eyelashes.

Maybe it's to show that Fadel is more confrontational while Style is more scared of Keen.

Oh, calling his bluff, cute. I dont remember if Fadel backed down when Bison pointed his gun at Style but if he did (i think so) that contrast shows very well how succesfull Lilly has been in driving them apart by making them all think Keen is less capable (mostly because she just didnt let him train)

Ofcourse he has to brag, has to lay out his success (he could have kept it to himself to use it for longer, but whatever, guess he expects to take him out right here, right now). Because Keen doesn't actually have any negative feelings towards Fadel (except maybe jealousy), he mostly just wants to prove himself to be capable. Even though he is holding the gun, it is Lilly who has her finger on the trigger. Without her constant critique, he would have felt the need to do all this. It's really her words that are driving Keen to do this, not Fadel (and Bisons) actions.

Yeah, and i feel like Keen should know that. Doesnt he know about her killing Fadels boyfriend, and he knows she wants Style dead as well, he has all the evidence he needs to see that Fadel and Bison dont have any more freedom or happiness than he does, just more tasks.

The continual cutting to Style while they talk about Fadels ex probably has to tell us something, but i honeslty can't read that much off his face. Is he jealous?

You're telling me Fadel couldn't figure that out himself. Even if he didn't think about it too much then (too sad or something), now with this new info he has about her, it shouldn't come as that much of a shock. She killed your parents and is trying to kill your boyfriend. It is not odd to think this patern is connected.

The desparation in both his eyes, his words, and his voice; it's fucking heartbreaking

Squished Fadel, perfection

Styles speech was a lil akward, but he got his point across and he has never really been a poet before. The honesty, although clunky, makes it seem more vulnerable and true, more like Style

Fav scenes

Fadel and Bisons emotional breakdown in the abandoned building. Omg the feelings..

Kant golfing was very cute.

Kant and Bison in the empty pool. Shit was stunning.

Fadel and Styles last scene. Maybe I just like Fadel crying and strong emotions.

For anyone wondering about my statistics, I took a total of 180 screenshots. 81 of Fadel and or Style, 58 of Kant and or Bison, 10 of Keen, 8 of Bison and Fadel together, 7 of Reurat, 5 of Lilly, 5 of more than two characters in a shot, 3 of Kant and Style together, 2 of Lilly and Keen together, and 1 of Babe

[imthepunchlord]

If you could erase any character from Miraculous Ladybug, which character would it be? The catch is you cannot say it's Adrien.

Oh that's easy. I'll actually tell you a few I'd cut.

For characters I just do not like, it's either Tikki, Marc, Nathaniel.

Out of all the animal research I've done on mythology and symbolism, the Ladybug is just the most boring. Kinda a bummer it's the centerpiece. As for Tikki herself, she's not really a character, she's a mouthpiece, trying to play cute mascot but also be a mentor, but she doesn't really mentor or advise Marinette hardly. On one hand, you could count the actual good advise she's given. Otherwise, she's just not a great main kwami to have. They don't even do anything fun with her tied to luck and love. If there was a kwami that was to get a lot of attention, I'd rather it be someone else.

Marc is just the vague LGBT insert that isn't even defined on what he or they are, and he/they are the... 4th anxious character to be apart of the cast. And he/they only got a Miraculous cause they're good at soccer/football? And because they're in Mendeleiev's class, they're even less of a defined character outside they like to write and have anxiety. I think people only like him/them because they ship him with Nathaniel and it's the only, potentially, gay ship ML will lightly humor, as all other popular guy ships and friendships got axed by girlfriends (seriously, I think they saw Adrinino and Kimax was popular, so they gave Nino and Kim girlfriends, and then they hardly hung out with their best guy friends anymore). So Marc to me feels like a waste of a character to include. Personally I don't care about him myself.

Of the classmates, Nathaniel I dislike the most. Due to my own personal history, characters that will destroy another's property and feel entitled to do so, and offer no apology or regret over it, yeah that's going in my bad book. It's actually bonkers to me that MarcNath is so popular as their intro ep together just raises so many red flags to me.

For characters I'm neutral on, I'd say Zoe or Luka.

Zoe feels like she was included to be an answer to the want of either a redeemed Chloe or Lila. Only instead of redeeming either of them, because apparently the show needed two mean girls to be against Marinette, they gave us Zoe who's a mix of them. And with her "sad backstory", she has that Mary Sue vibe. Also nothing about her set up really screams a match for Bee for me. I don't get her inclusion at all aside from lazily skipping out on redeeming one of the mean girls. The cast was already big enough, she was not needed. If Bee HAD to go to a blonde, Aurore is right there. And she's an actually liked character.

As for Luka, while he was an amazing alternative to Adrien for Marinette and did offer her support, that was it. He didn't progress the story of things, wasn't an actual love rival for Adrien that made him realize "oh, I may like Marinette and may not like her being with another boy". He didn't progress the story at all, which, if Marinette was stressing about all her responsibility of being Ladybug or how good she was at being LB, I would've used Luka as the alternative, the "rival" of the role as everything about him is set up to be the perfect hero, especially being so mature. He also joins the "Rich Daddy issues", which, we got enough from Adrien. Did we really need more? Which also sucks as, from what I've seen, it's more about Luka and Jagged and Juleka herself is hardly included, which, why is he and Juleka even siblings if she's not going to matter as much in this as Luka does?

The other factor is that Luka feels like a repeat, that someone else could've filled that role he has. For he's a blue boy who likes music and has a crush on Marinette.

Where have I heard that before...

Instead of immediately going the DJWifi route, why not just expand on Nino liking Marinette? He even could've been a proper love rival given that he was going to get a Miraculous anyway, and that's going to be the ONLY way Adrien would have a proper love rival.

But I guess Marinette can only be paired with white boys, can't give anything more to Nino that would have him more involved. Also would've had him work off Rena Rouge more and better build up them getting together.

No, just can't have that. We gotta add another character into the already big cast.

Lastly, for characters I like, I would actually say Marinette. This show and a good chunk of the fandom doesn't like her anyway, just let her go.

[novaliane-san]

I've been thinking about this, too. Sasuke doesn't care about being attracted to men/women or being desired by them. Physical attraction, sexuality or intimacy are things that Sasuke doesn't give too much thought about, so he will be the type to just wake up one day and realize he wants his blue-eyed and blonde teammate and be like "I guess we are doing this now" and wouldn't care what others thought about it. He wouldn't even bother about the idea of coming out to anyone or make a big deal about it because he would be like, "Is not my problem if you didn't realize it on your own. I don't own you or society anything. What do you mean you have a say in what I want? Fuck off"

But Naruto...*sigh* he would be so conflicted and embarrassed because liking men or being attracted to them doesn't seem like something "a real konoha man/hero" would do. When asked about it, he will always deflect and over compensate.

After finally being recognized, accepted, celebrated, and "loved" by konoha society after he saved its ass, Naruto would try so desperately to keep that. Being a dazzling hero on a journey to save your rouge "friend" is cool, but being a gay boy in love on a journey to save your soulmate is not. So, of course, Naruto would try to change the narrative constantly with things like "because he is my friend", "because he is like a brother to me", "because I made a promise", "Is just that I can't put this feelings into words", "A true man/hero wouldn't abandon a friend", etc.

Then, it makes sense for Naruto's character to be in denial. After finally bringing Sasuke home and redeeming him, the next step would be: "Where do we go from here? What would our relationship be like from now on? How are we going to navigate this new middle ground we finally found?" You know, acknowledging feelings and stuff. But Naruto couldn't do it. And Sasuke knew it.

Sasuke might not care about being gay in the public eye, but he cares deeply about Naruto's feelings. If Sasuke saw that Naruto wasn't ready to be honest with himself, Sasuke would never be the one to push him because he respects and loves Naruto too much for that.

Ergo, he leaves hoping to give Naruto some time to think things through, without pressure, and with total liberty and freedom...to chose him one more time but this time not as a "friend" or "brother" but as his significant other and soulmate.

And we know how that ended.

naruto and sasuke are two gay men, they just deal with it in a different way. sasuke has no problem with it, he always didn't give a shit about what others thought of him, so he doesn't even care if a naked man approaches him(suigetsu scene)

naruto, on the other hand, always cares about what others think of him, he wants to fit into society and be one more, he wants to stop being discriminated against and judged. So he wouldn't have any problem falling in love with sasuke if it didn't mean admitting that he likes men, he never had any example of this. causing panic in him and causes him to ignore his emotions and accept any request from society, including being a repressed gay man and marrying someone he never loved.

[madsgotmadagain]

Getting too comfortable in a class sucks bc I'll say somthing like "The Great Gatsby was good and all but its mostly just rich people problems and Nick being gay for Gatsby" and everyone will look at me like I just massacred their entire blood line and im like

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

what would megumi’s life have been if he was actually raised by the zenin from day one? like either gojo lost the custody battle or they were able to scoop him up before gojo ever reached them. i doubt they would want to keep tsumiki with them so she’s not there for little baby megs.

i think it would be really cool to see a zenin raised megumi interacting with his fellow classmates when he attends the school, not to mention the contrast between him and gojo. like on paper they both should have gotten the same treatment-being pampered and spoiled rotten but we also know that the zenin think that hurting little kids makes them stronger so it would be super interesting to see megumi realise that the stuff that happened to him wasn’t normal and for gojo to have a guilt trip bc he wasn’t able to help megumi when he needed someone to help him the most.

So I have a fanfic that I’ve half written (no idea if I’ll ever finish it—I’d love to, it’s just hard to find the time) about EXACTLY THAT that I talked about in this post for an ask game.

That being said, that entire thing happens from Tsumiki’s perspective, and I agree with you—I don’t think the Zenin would have ever actually taken her too. They don’t want her. She’s not Zenin. She’s not a sorcerer. They only bought Megumi. For the most part, Megumi is absent from that post, and you asked about Megumi. So this is what I think would happen on Megumi's side of that post I linked.

It comes down to two things:

1. He is never, ever happy with the Zenin.

2. He never lets go of his sister.

Megumi’s old enough to remember Tsumiki when the Zenin take him away. He's old enough to love her. And I think that Megumi loves very quietly, but he also loves very violently. He wouldn't let his sister hold his hand on the walk to school, but he would sacrifice himself for her future.

I think the Zenin took him from his sister, and I think he kicked and screamed and wasn't strong enough. I think they thought he would forget her eventually.

And then I think he bit most of the Zenin Clan.

At the end of the day, what Megumi wanted was the one thing the Zenin were not willing to give him. They were never like the Gojo clan, they were never going to pamper him, but there are a great many things in this world that they would give the Ten Shadows finally returned to them. But they would not give him a non-sorcerer, non-Zenin sister who would only be a weakness to him. They refused to let him have any contact with his sister, and that was the source of a lot of what soured.

Any Megumi that was taken in by the Zenin would have been taken in to Naobito's household directly. He would be announced as the one who finally inherited their most cherished technique, and he would be declared heir, and the Zenin would call him beloved for it.

They would keep him in a room that was large and empty and almost always dark, and he wouldn't be allowed to decide when he slept or woke, and the door would always be locked from the outside. They would give him a wardrobe of expensive clothes that he hated, and he would never get to pick which of them he wore.

Megumi would hate them. He would hate all of them.

He's just not the type to be comfortable with or enjoy the adoration of others--especially when it's not backed up by genuine love. Megumi is someone who very much values sincerity and depth to emotion--it's one of the reasons why he seems to respect Yuuji so much. Yuuji is a good person who follows through with what he says. He's not just going to talk about wanting to save people--he's there making the sacrifices as he does it.

The Zenin do not actually love him. And he knows it. He's experienced love before, and this isn't it.

They love the idea of him. The fantasy of him that lives in their heads. He has no interest in being their little god prince to contend with the Gojo's own. He knows who he is, and it's not this. He wants to go home. He wants to find his sister again. He doesn't want to do this anymore.

And I think that's a feeling Megumi never escape: he just didn't want to do this anymore.

Megumi would feel like a bug pinned beneath glass in the Zenin compound. He would constantly have people managing him--when he ate, what he ate, what he wore, when he slept, when he woke, when he trained, what he did. Having to become a jujutsu sorcerer signified an inherent loss of control, but it's nothing compared to the sheer objectification that he goes through when the Zenin have exclusive control over him.

He has no power of what clothes he wears. How his hair is styled. His schedule, his diet, the people he speaks too--he's suffocating and the Zenin are just increasing pressure on him.

I don't think Gojo ever thought that would be Megumi's life.

We’re gonna just have this imagining exist in the same world as the Tsumiki centric fic described in the linked post, and in that, the reason why Gojo never took him in was because he didn’t know Megumi had a sister. He showed up, saw the divine dogs, realized Megumi had the Ten Shadows, and decided he couldn’t do this. He was a mess. He was grieving Suguru and Haibara. Megumi looked just like the man who killed Riko, and apparently inherited the fucking Ten Shadows of all the goddamn things. The Zenin would lose their shit, and Gojo didn’t have the energy to fight and told himself he didn’t need to, because if Megumi was the Ten Shadows he’d be cared for like a prince with the Zenin. He turned around and left and spent the rest of his life with Megumi in the back of his mind, always nagging him with whether he made the right decision. It wasn’t until Maki got there and made a few worrisome references to Megumi's standard of living that he started to really worry that he had made the wrong one, and it wasn't until he found out about Tsumiki that he knew it was the wrong decision.

It's like this: The Zenin hurt Megumi in every world.

It would be bad no matter what, but it really gets bad because Megumi refuses to stop trying to get back to Tsumiki. She's his sister. They didn't have anyone or anything in this world, but they had each other, and he couldn't let these people just take her away. He’s feral about it. He refuses to fit the mold they keep trying to cram him in. He’s trying to scale the walls to escape. He’s increasingly desperate and angry and the Zenin are getting more and more frustrated the longer he fights them. He’s the heir to the clan, and he can’t stop trying to leave it to get back to some random girl who isn’t his real sister and isn’t someone they’ll ever allow him to have.

It gets bad.

They put him under increasingly strict levels of control. He’s constantly being trained, which means he's constantly being hurt. He’s not allowed to speak to anyone without the clan head’s approval. He is under absolutely constant guard after he manages to get over the wall and halfway to his old neighborhood before they catch him again. Tsumiki’s name is not allowed to be said aloud, or his old name. He forgets his name used to be Fushiguro, but he doesn’t forget Tsumiki. He doesn’t let himself.

I think it escalates until it hits a breaking point. Megumi becomes increasingly self-destructive and non-responsive to everything they try. They push him to extremes that start risking permanent damage.

I think Megumi would try to hurt himself, eventually.

He wouldn't be in his right mind. He's in the most shit situation possible. He's undergoing pretty severe abuse. He'd be at the end of his rope from the lack of control over his own life, and he'd be spiteful as hell towards the Zenin. And the only thing he has to hurt them with is himself.

As a character, Megumi has always considered his own sacrifice as an acceptable means to the end of getting back at someone. Mahoraga, intrinsically, requires him killing himself as a way of killing someone else. He'd hurt himself if it was the only way he had of hurting them.

Naobito would cover it up. He'd never, ever want the rest of the clan to find out that it happened. It was already bad enough that Megumi openly hated them--he couldn't have the Zenin seeing any vulnerability in what was meant to be their most powerful member. He'd put Megumi in total lockdown until he could make it all go away.

Then they'd make a deal.

A binding vow. Megumi could never purposefully hurt himself again. He could never again try to leverage his own safety against the clan.

And in exchange, Tsumiki would be taken care of.

The last time Megumi saw his sister, she was on a sinking ship. They were running out of food, money, options--he doesn't know if she even has food anymore. He doesn't know if she lost the apartment or if there's still running water.

They're not letting him see her. But they are letting him take care of her. He can sacrifice another piece of control over himself, and she'll never have to worry about money again. They'll pay for her housing, her food, her education, for her every desire for as long as she lives. The trust the Zenin set up for her will be a generous one, and it will be managed meticulously by a trustee who can make sure she'll be provided for until she's old and grey. And Naobito will vow to never hurt her or send someone else to hurt her. She'll be safe. She'll be taken care of.

Megumi makes the deal.

In the end, the deal's what sort of breaks him.

Because he doesn't promise to stop looking for her, but the Zenin manage to make it a part of the terms anyway. When they approach Tsumiki's mother with the offer to be her family's beneficiary, they include a requirement that Tsumiki be moved to another city entirely with no forwarding address given. She needs to be somewhere that Megumi can never find her again.

The Zenin keep the old apartment. They pay the rent every month. And the next time Megumi manages to make it off compound, they let him make it all the way there before dragging him home. They let him see the empty apartment with all its empty rooms.

Naobito wants him to know that Tsumiki's gone. He wants him to know that he'll never find her again.

He tries to run a few more times after that, but he never makes it very far. He doesn't have anywhere to go.

In the linked post, Megumi finds Tsumiki, just once. She's on a class trip. He's on one of his very few and far between allowed excursions off the compound grounds, and he sees her in the crowd and recognizes her, and he ducks away from his escort before anyone can stop him.

She remembers him. He didn't think she would do that.

She tries to save him. He didn't think she would do that either.

She still loves him. And he was always too afraid to hope she would do that.

It goes the same way it did the first time. There's a car, and the Zenin shove him in it. She's on the outside, and he's trapped within, and he wishes she didn't scream so loudly when it happens. The sound never seems to leave his dreams.

His sister still loves him. Naoya hits him in the back of the head. He wakes up, and it was like she was never there at all.

But they hit him harder, after. Like they're trying to beat the memory of her out of him. He has even less freedom, when he already had next to none at all.

But he still has a sister. He has a place to go that isn't here. He just has to figure out where that is.

He wouldn't really have anyone in the Zenin clan. Most people are just... weird about him. Naoya's violently abusive. Naobito's weird and violently abusive. Everyone wants him to be someone he's not.

Maki would be his favorite.

He doesn't care about whether she's got cursed energy--his sister didn't have any. And she's obviously strong. She doesn't treat him like a divine blessing or try to force him to act a certain way. I think they would have genuinely liked each other, but kept each other at a distance. They're both trapped in an abusive situation and keep themselves safe by keeping everyone else at arm's length.

He would have been happy to see her get out, though. He would have told her that she could have his spot as heir or head or whatever when she came back if she wanted it. She would have told him that if he ever got out... well, fuck it. They could be something then. Family. Whatever the fuck they weren't allowed to be here.

She would have told him she's sorry, and she would have meant it. The only one she she regretted more than Megumi was Maki. He would have told her not to be, that if she dared to be sorry for getting out that he would never forgive her, and he would have meant that too.

I think his relationship with his own techinque would be very different in a world where the Zenin raised him. In canon, his issue is that he doesn't view himself as someone who could be powerful or win in the long run, but in this world, all he ever hears is how powerful he is. Pride of the fucking Zenin. The most powerful of them in centuries. Meant to rival Gojo fucking Satoru himself.

I think his real issue would be controlling it.

His technique would be a source of negative associations for him. It's the reason why the Zenin took him away. Most of his interactions with it have involved getting beaten and hurt by either his family or a high-level curse they shoved him in front of. I think he'd have a lot more firepower under his belt than at the start of canon, but he'd have less of a fine tuned control over it.

He lost control over his own life because of his shadows. It think that would manifest in struggling to control his own shikigami at times. he's not as in-sync with them as he is in canon.

Eventually, he'd go to Jujutsu High. He would be the only one in the first year class at the beginning, just like in canon. And he'd finally meet Gojo Satoru, the man he's supposed to topple.

He looks at Megumi really goddamn weird.

He's... enthusiastic. About. Teaching. He guesses. And constantly asking prying questions about the Zenin, but not in the sort of way he'd expect from a rival. In the sort of way he'd expect from someone concerned about him. Which is stupid. And annoying. And weird. He keeps a distance from everyone. They've all heard about the Zenin clan heir, and he has no interest in having to fit or break whatever mold they've already cast him in. He's better off on his own.

Maki's there. She's cordial where other people can see it, and in private, she takes care of him in a way that's terrifyingly close to familial. He's not sure if he likes it. He's not Mai, and she's not Tsumiki, and they both want someone they can't have.

She isn't sorry she left. She is sorry she left him. He can hate her for it all he goddamn pleases.

Of course, if this is in the same world as the linked post, Megumi finds Tsumiki again. He finds her in Sendai.

He gets to keep her, this time.

Gojo Satoru, of all the goddamn people, intervenes and becomes his sister's benefactor. It's super fucking weird. He won't stop looking at Megumi strangely. He won't stop insisting that he didn't know he had a sister, like that matters.

That would sort of be the first time in a long time that life actually gets better for Megumi.

I think he would ask to go by Fushiguro again, once he asks Tsumiki what his name used to be. He'd ask her if she minded it, him taking the name again, and he'd ask the rest of the school to call him Fushiguro instead of Zenin.

Predictably enough, Naobito loses his shit when he finds out, but it's not nearly as big of a pain in the ass as he thinks it is? Because Gojo intervenes.

Gojo keeps intervening.

It drives Megumi nuts, because if anyone was supposed to hate him, it was this guy. If anyone was supposed to be against him, it was this guy. This is the guy he was supposed to rival. This is the guy who killed his shitheel bio dad.

Gojo's just... good to him. He keeps him safe. He keeps him safe from his own goddamn family, and that's--no one's ever done that. No one's ever protected him from the Zenin.

The Zenin try to remove him from the Tokyo campus and move him to Kyoto the second they find out Tsumiki's there, and Gojo just... says no. It causes an uproar, and he doesn't fucking budge. It's treading dangerously close to him kidnapping the Zenin clan heir, his refusal to let them remove him from the Tokyo campus, and he doesn't care about whatever problems it causes him.

Megumi's his student. He doesn't want to leave. So Gojo won't let them take him.

He personally goes to Kyoto and collects him, the one time the Zenin force him into a car and move him when Gojo's off on a mission. He tells the higher ups to get fucked. He changes Megumi's student I.D. to read Fushiguro, and he causes problems for Yaga and the assistants until they start calling him Fushiguro as well.

Megumi's different with the other students once his sister is there.

He's more connected with them. He becomes best friends with Kugisaki and Itadori. He gets closer with the second years. He's visibly happier, and it sort of casts in sharp contrast how unhappy he was before this.

And Gojo? Gojo's so goddamn sorry. He didn't know megumi had a sister.

The thing is that now that both Tsumiki and Megumi are on campus, it sort of haunts Gojo with what could have been. They're both fantastic kids--funny, smart, resourceful. And it's painful watching them try to rebuild what was taken from them. And it could have just. never happened. Because he could have saved them both. He could have been their family.

It's sort of painfully obvious the Zenin abused Megumi, and it fucking haunts him. He doesn't even have to read into Megumi's behavior--he sees it happen, right in front of him, with how they try to control him and push him around. He wants to kill them for it. He wants to hate himself for it. He could have saved Megumi and he just. He didn't.

He wishes he did.

[hyperlexichypatia]

I am begging people giving U.S. politics commentary to have, just, a basic, basic, 6th grade citizenship class level of understanding of the relationship between the branches of government. Please. You will not get icky electoralism cooties if you learn that "Whoever is the president right now is responsible for decisions the supreme court hands down right now" is nonsense.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

At The Feet Of The Sun

book 2 in a slow paced high fantasy duology*

the right hand of the emperor (who is off searching for an heir) struggles with what to do after passing on his responsibilities and also discovering various pieces of information that are mindblowing to him, personally,

after adventure is thrust upon him, he travels to find His Radiancy and they go on some otherworldly adventures while growing closer and figuring out the nature of their friendship

(*there’s extra novellas & i think another book coming? duology adjacent, currently,)

[the-lark-ascending69]

> be a robin buckley fan

> be lesbian

> project on robin

> look up "internalized homophobia robin buckley" on tumblr because it's cathartic

> 3/4 of the posts are about st3ddie or just about steve

[jopzer]

in the same thread of the "i cant believe jamie didnt get to check grindr even ONCE" post i can't believe jamie tartt didn't get to play with his gender even a LITTLE. no nail polish no skirt not even EYELINER. shameful

[puppys-rhythm-heaven]

why is tumblr so fucked up on my chromebook-

[nedlittle]

[alt]

2x21 "crisis" really is a perfect episode

[ichthyorelationships]

ideas: i didn't really think of him being underwater but they deserve to have drama by crying there too so i just think you could say something about the composition being denser than water or w/e. proteins

i'm always like good thing he didn't try to exit asap via swimming in ciao alberto But What If He Did lol. just swim Somewhere else along the coast, maybe panic about [money??] & whether somehow this ruins school for luca, whether he can get in touch w/o it being On Sight b/w him & all marcovaldos, consider just kind of trying out other places, traveling after all...fascinating considering the other povs on the issue like: now there's the paguros to sympathize w/a kid vanishing, luca however in a somewhat more novel position there, giulia's throwback to alberto being a bit perplexing lmao, kind of thinking the best massimo could do is have a prewritten letter for luca to give to alberto If Possible, conveying something like i know you didn't set my livelihood on fire on purpose but even if you did i'd want you to stay. and luca in a position to do all of "maybe give the island fun facts so someone can check if he's there" & "wait & hope alberto can/does get in touch" & "have a lot of feelings"....not even the context of what this drawing is about necessarily, just tacking it on here anyways. ahead of time i went "heh now i Know they're gonna have it get little Real here b/c it's really about alberto wanting the security of feeling he can 'earn' a sustained relationship" then the short cleared & i was lying completely dead on the pavement

[moe-broey]

Idk if I'm gonna be able to articulate this on the fly like first thing in the morning, but. I think my ENTIRE body of work is This: Examining how family ties, bonds or lack thereof, the good and bad AND ugly, seep into every facet of who we are and how we come to interact with others. How sometimes, a family tie (or again, a Lack of one), will sometimes bleed into how you act and treat specific people. Will bleed into how you CONNECT with those people (or, will be the very reason you fail to do so).

HOWEVER. HOWEVER. THERE IS A DELICATE LINE. A BALANCING ACT. You CANNOT just simply attribute fanon flavored ideas of found family to such characters. That's too simple, and sometimes, is a complete disservice to the specific character you're working with. I am once again bringing up Chilchuck. YES, him being a dad Absolutely seeps into how he treats his party. But if you call him the party's dad, you're Insane. Do you know ANYTHING ABOUT THAT MAN???? He would prefer you didn't. But I digress. He strikes a fascinating balance, between having The Qualities and ESPECIALLY expressing his care for his party in a Really Specific divorced (separated.) father of three fashion, but that does Not make him a "dad friend". He's a professional. He's on business. He's going home at the end of the day, and at the end of this adventure he's thinking of setting up a shop. I wanted to keep this more vague and broad but like. The Chilchuck example REALLY DOES perfectly articulate What I'm trying to get at, here. He's the perfect encapsulation of How his family shapes him, how that bleeds into his relationships with others, vs Who he is as a person.

How we were raised, our family ties, whether you adhere to it or you've fallen FAR from the tree -- you still fell from that stupid fucking tree. It's in your blood. Literally. It gave you shape, whether you liked it or not. And sometimes some things just set off weird domino effects, that also affect us irrevocably forever.

WHICH IS. TO SAY. I have no fucking idea what I'm talking about. I'm always trying to figure that out. Found family is/can be real, you're not strictly bound by blood if you don't wanna be. BUT. The bullshit I'm constantly on, is trying to figure out how to balance all that without slotting everyone into reductive roles. I'm gay and I seek to destroy the nuclear family. Not attempt to recreate nuclear family 2.0. You CAN reconstruct What Family Is/Means from the ground up, but you have to accept that things are going to get Weird. Because you're Queer. You are fundamentally incompatible with the status quo and normalcy, the solution is NOT assimilation and palatability, the solution is to just. Get weirder. And be fluent in canon. Okay. I love you

[fazcinatingblog]

Wait since when does James wear a glove