#and you can assume this is special since it’s the final one lol but we need to start a new year lol

[erumai-maadu]

okay i’m finally getting around to your incredible reblog sorry it took so long LOL. I wanna respond to this in a full reblog too since you brought up a lot of incredible points!! I honestly agree with literally everything you’ve said here!

I think your analysis of Tenten’s abilities vs Ajisai’s is spot-on. We never quite see anyone seal stuff the way Tenten does, and even Sasuke’s weapon sealing seems closer to Ajisai’s method than Tenten’s. Tenten can seal truly HUGE objects, like just massive amounts of stuff with almost no limit.

Her ocean scroll did have only the water in it, because we see her full open it and there’s nothing else inside, but also like. an ocean’s worth of water?? of course there’s nothing else in it. Anyway I think the volume of stuff the cards can seal is much lower than a scroll.

Tenten does seem to pre-write all of her seals, which I really do like because it’s almost like how spellcasters in D&D operate, having a certain number of prepared spells before an encounter and having to swap them out as they see fit. It’s a fun strategizing aspect of them that I’d love to see Tenten do as well.

I almost wonder if Tenten (when she learns more advanced seals) likes to do recon and draw up the seals she thinks she’ll need before the battle. I’m going into semantics and the crunchy stuff here thinking of this like a D&D encounter lol, but I think it’s cool. For my own fic purposes, having her be able to seal like Minato does, on the go, is something I’d like her to eventually learn, but as a genin, what she can do with seals is still plenty impressive.

And about Tenten having a fragile ego, also absolutely on the dot. I think that’s her major flaw tbh. Her envy of others + her very fragile ego is a bit of a recipe for disaster when she encounters any enemy that is either 1) stronger than her, or 2) a bit of a wisecracker who makes fun of her during a fight. Temari was both and we see how that ended, we see it somewhat during the Kisame fight in shippuden too.

We also see this come out when anyone else makes fun of her. It’s fine when she does it to people, and she does it a lot, but when other people do it to her she gets upset almost instantly. She’s also quick to assume that people are better than her, but then gets irritated or sad about it, which is kinda funny bc girl…. you’ve seen her fight for all of 5 seconds come on now…..

Tenten is a more “traditional” ninja in a series about wizards who like to call themselves ninja even though they couldn’t be sneaky if their lives depended on it. She gets caught in the Star Guard Arc because who the fuck is going to believe that an upside-down bucket with a peephole in it is NOT someone badly disguised? but to your point, yes she does follow the basics of a ninja better than her peers.

And I think also, her peers and her teachers and the people we focus on are Not Normal for the typical Konoha shinobi. That would be more like the other tokubetsu jounin we see like Ibiki, Anko, Genma, Izumo and Kotetsu etc. who all seem to sneak around and follow the Shinobi Code and fight with weapons augmented by the occasional ninja wizard spell. and when you look at that, Tenten comes much more up to par with them, the normal and typical Konoha shinobi. In Shippuden with her Six Paths Tools and her ability to seal wholeass boats, she maybe even beats them out in terms of power.

So yeah, tokubetsu jounin Tenten whose speciality is sealing? makes a whole lot of sense. the rest of the k12 are the face of Konoha that everyone sees. The powerful and crazy shinobi that everyone looks out for, and Tenten is one of those other shinobi who are a knife in the dark. The ones who take advantage of the distraction of someone blasting a mountain to bits to stab the enemies in the back with a million knives.

But to her, who is peers with so many of the mountain-blasting variety of shinobi, of course she feels inadequate compared to them. I think it would do Tenten a world of good to hang out with the tokujo squad. Genma is Gai’s old teammate anyway, and it would help her self-esteem a lot, I think. To know that others are the outliers and not her.

On a related note, I’m so excited to talk about the Infinite Tsukyomi Dream in the next post, it’s such a cool insight into how Tenten’s ego betrays her at critical times and what her deepest desires are. They do a lot of interesting animation with her eyes in that arc and I’ll break it down more there but the bottom line with that arc is that Tenten, much like Naruto, just wants to be acknowledged by people. And even if she knows it’s a fake world, she just kind of lets herself get swept into it because she finally gets everything she wants, at the cost of what she believes in.

part 2 to this post of analyzing everything we see of Tenten from the show and data books to help me get a consistent character for her!

this one is gonna go over moments from all the post-series filler arcs she’s in from naruto original, or her genin years. this will also include the three genin-era fillers from Shippuden that she's in, up to the second chunin exams arc. These are all anime-only fillers, so these can be as canon or non-canon as you’d like them to be. We get quite a few moments where Tenten feels OOC to me (because yknow. filler), and I’ll point these out.

Some of these episodes aren't particularly important for Tenten's character, but I'll go through them anyway bc all that she ever gets is crumbs anyway. If you ever wanna do a Tenten rewatch of the show, these are some good filler arcs to watch.

I’ll be going in chronological order of the show’s (terrible and unclear) timeline. Unless specified to be from shippuden, the episode numbers I’m referencing are from the original series.

Jounin Leader! (Shippuden 360)

This is one episode of a long set of flashback episodes to Kakashi’s past, so this is more focused on him angsting than on Team Gai, but we get a few moments here. This one is about Kakashi and Gai’s time as a jounin sensei, and gives us more insight into Team Gai's first year as genin.

We get to see Team Gai’s “bell test” which is them just fighting Gai and showing him their determination. We get a few moments of Tenten using pure taijutsu, which is cool!

This isn’t about Tenten but I have to say it anyway. Gai is such a good sensei.

Just one scene earlier, we watch Kakashi brutally beat up three 12 year olds, and then we see Gai with his kids and he barely even touches them during their fight. He’s pretty much entirely on the defense, just redirecting blows and making space for himself. His most injurious attack is a kick that creates enough wind to blow them back several feet.

He really just wears them down and pushes them to their limit stamina-wise to see if they continue to fight. And they do! And he’s so excited by it!! it’s so cute, I love Gai so fucking much.

They take a little break after they all pass, and end up talking about Kakashi, who failed his team back to the Academy. It’s Tenten who brings this up, going “Good thing we didn’t get that other sensei that everyone talks about.” and looks around like she’s about to share some shady gossip. I love her sm, little busybody. She’s the one that tells her teammates all the tea in that scene, and they’re just sitting there like omg whattttttt :0

I think this dynamic absolutely continues on forever, with Tenten keeping her boys up to date on all the gossip and goings-on throughout the years.

Then we skip forward a bit to the chunin exams for that year, where Gai asks his team if they want to participate. Lee says no, because he believes he isn’t ready. Gai asks Neji, who also says no, and Tenten. She says that they’ll all train hard, and then take the exams again next year, together.

Their bond is so cute to me, and Gai clearly agrees because this drives him to youthful tears and he’s seen bragging to Asuma and Kurenai that he’s so lucky to have students like them.

Anyway, clearly some development happened with their bond during their first year as genin, and now Tenten doesn’t want to leave either of them behind or take the exam without them. She’s grown to care for them a lot in that first year. Neither want to leave Lee behind, even if Neji won’t admit it, and I love that sm. Team Gai forever 😭😭😭

The Neji Chronicles (Shippuden 192)

I already went over most of the Tenten moments in this episode in my last post, but a few more small details.

When Neji mentions that "perhaps I've made too many blind assumptions about the way things are", Tenten looks more relieved than surprised by this. It feels like something her, Lee, and Gai have been telling Neji for a while. I think Naruto was the push Neji needed to actually listen to/internalize everything that his teammates have already been saying to him.

Tenten actually looks annoyed to have Kiba along, probably because he was talking shit about Neji literally five seconds earlier and she yelled at him for that, but she accepts it because she knows they need the numbers.

She tells Neji to go ahead without her, and gives him a little wink, which is important to me bc Tenten is so cute! I love her sm

This episode also ends with the iconic ending 15 of Team Gai sparring with Naruto.

Deploy! Team Tenten! (Shippuden 184)

This episode takes place after the Konoha Crush arc. Tenten, Neji, and Naruto are sent out on a mission to get ninja tool supplies for the village from a research laboratory. This also my all-time favorite episode of Naruto.

Gai picks Tenten to lead the mission, and she's immediately surprised. Gai admits that he would usually pick Neji, but she's better suited for it on this mission.

We get a lot of Naruto and Tenten being cute asf in this episode, I love their sibling-like bond so much. She makes fun of him like I do with my brother, saying that he's lame, and when he tries to say maybe Neji should lead the team instead they start fighting.

Neji tells them to lay it off because it's just a D-rank mission, and then once she says let's get going Naruto's immediately back on board. Peak siblings.

I headcanon that Tenten and Naruto knew each other from the orphanage, and that's why they act this close with each other.

Through this whole episode, Tenten is more excited about new ninja tools than the actual mission, which is why I think her interest in weapons has been there for much longer than Shippuden 237 implies. She can immediately tell that all of the inventions he shows them are kind of useless, which isn't hard but again, shows that she knows weaponry very well.

She's also rather... I wouldn’t say rude, but not particularly well-mannered wth Io. At least in the english dub, she speaks fairly casually, and ends up yelling at him quite a lot. This goes with the first headcanon from this post from @tentenismybitch that Tenten isn't quite as well-mannered as Lee or Neji because nobody ever taught her that at the Konoha orphanage. It's not quite as bad as Naruto, but it's actually pretty close to that level of informality so. I'm sure she picked some stuff up from Gai during her first year as genin and that's why she's a little bit better than Naruto, but still a bit abrasive and not perfectly well-mannered.

She explains Team Gai's usual formation to Naruto, which is Neji, Lee, and Gai doing close combat with Tenten backing them up from a distance. This makes good use of Tenten's pinpoint aim, and to me, also shows that she has very good eyesight, like 20/10 vision (I'm a glasses wearer this is stuff I think abt sometimes LOL). She expresses a desire to fight on the front lines herself instead of always being backup.

Tenten can tell that Io and his apprentice have a passion for invention, which I think she also recognizes so well because she feels the same.

When they go through the trap that Io's set up, Tenten hands it off to Neji first, and he fails, and only then she says she's got it and gets through easily. This is really just supposed to show that even Neji can't do it but she can. I interpret this as a moment of Tenten's insecurity, reflexively leaving it to Neji because she underestimates herself ever since her fight with Temari.

She instantly recognizes the quality of the tools Io kept hidden, again showing how much of an expert she is with weapons. She also admits that getting through that trap was easy for her.

She relegates herself to support when the rogue ninja attack. When Neji gets knocked back, she quickly covers him by throwing some Fuma shuriken to put them on the defense and giving Neji some time to get up and recover. A good insight into Team Gai's usual formation and battle strategy.

Tenten figures out how to use Jidanda very quickly, and even Io comments on how well she uses it even though she's only seen it for maybe 30 seconds before starting to use it. He lets her take all the other tools she wants, and she seems a little disappointed, but takes Neji and Naruto's compliments.

Ah, My Hero Lady Tsunade! (Shippuden 237)

This episode is a full recap of Tenten’s genin years all the way up to Lee's surgery, so in a chronological sense it can fit anywhere before the second chunin exams arc. I’m just putting it here with the other shippuden genin era episodes.

This episode is pretty much entirely focused on Tenten and her self-worth, and while I talked about it a lot in the previous post, there’s a few more details I wanna go into.

In the opening scene, Tenten is shown on a playground listening to other girls talk but she doesn't really join in on the conversation. Interesting to me, since she grows up to be someone very personable and friendly, even with people she doesn't know well, so why is she different in this scene? We also don't see her with any sort of parental figure, implying that she likely doesn't have one.

So we move on from early childhood to her first year as a genin, and Tenten is shown to be the least physically strong of her teammates, lagging behind and struggling with most of the exercises they do. I will actually accept this because her main skill is accuracy and precision, not doing 1,000 pushups or running 500 laps. Every time they're doing the pushups or pull ups or whatever she's lagging behind after they get to like 1,100 so honestly she's not even doing bad at all.

When Gai tells her that Tsunade inherited the talents of the first Hokage, Tenten immediately asks him "are you saying talent is more important than determination?" This seems to be a real sore point for her throughout the episode, as she brings it up again and again. Again, she puts herself in with Lee in terms of talent, implying that she doesn't have any.

Clearly she underestimates herself, because even when she was trying to learn medical ninjutsu, she makes it up to the lecture of high-level medical ninjutsu, implying that she did make it past the lower levels! She fails to do the Mystical Palm Technique, but even Tsunade herself says it's hard to master in a different episode with Sakura. Tenten just doesn't have the fine-tuned level of chakra control to do higher levels.

I do disregard this sometimes, outright saying that she can't do any kind of medical ninjutsu because it really sets her apart from every other girl in the series and feels more right for her.

Tenten learns she's good at the summoning technique when Gai has her try to summon a weapon from a scroll to test if she's suited for summoning an animal. This inspires Tenten later after she fails to be like Tsunade to pursue becoming a weapons' specialist. Again, I tend to disregard this because I prefer the idea of her having always had an interest in weaponry, for various reasons.

Either way, Lee's determination to get stronger at what he's good at, taijutsu, inspires her to start working on seals and weapon summoning. She makes her own summoning scrolls, and clearly learns it all from books, which is really cool!

Given that she's described as a research enthusiast, this fits really well. She probably spends a lot of time at the library, and does a lot of her learning on her own by trial and error.

Again, because Gai doesn't have expertise in this, I think he sees her interest and gets her higher-level books from the library, talks to people for her, and helps her in any way he can since he can't directly train her on this.

Lee calling what she can do amazing, and calling her a ninja tool specialist makes her so happy, it's really cute how much she relies on him and how much it means to her that he admires her.

After his injury, when Tsunade tells him to give up on being a ninja, you can see Tenten's admiration for her kind of go down, which I think is fair. The image of Tsunade she made up for herself is very different than the reality, and when that illusion is shattered, Tsunade isn’t really much of an idol to her anymore.

She stands on the same roof that they first met on with Gai and Neji and starts crying, saying "so it means determination means nothing. so if you don't have talent, then..." and Gai stops her, tells her to trust Lee's resolve, and her own. Gai clearly recognizes that when Tenten talks about Lee, she's talking about herself as well, and that she clearly doesn't believe in her own strength. He does everything he can to uplift her.

"Trust Lee's resolve, and your own. It got you this far, and it will take you even further." This means so much to Tenten, and it makes her start to cry.

We flash back to the present, where Lee is stuck underwater, and Tenten jumps in to save him, saying "you never give up Lee, that's why I promised myself that I would never lose you, and I was able to give it my all too!"

Tenten and Lee's bond means SO MUCH to me. The two non-geniuses of Team Gai, they clearly rely on one another so much, and take inspiration from one another to push themselves further. Tenten equates herself with Lee a lot, especially in terms of how much they have to work to keep up with Neji, and I think it's really important how deep her and Lee's bond is as a result.

The Third Super Beast (Episode 195 - 196)

This arc is cool! It focuses on Lee and Gai's bond, as Gai takes on a new student who knows taijiutsu a little too well for a rookie genin. I think (??) this arc takes place before the other fillers, simply because Lee seems to still be fresh post-surgery, still not quite able to be on active duty and not able to train fully, so i'm putting this arc here in the timeline.

Naruto gets out of a medical exam (iconic Tsunade line of "you're not sick, just stupid"), and Tenten is waiting outside with Neji. She asks how it went, and he tells her he's all good, to which Neji responds snippily and walks off.

Naruto asks her what's wrong, and Tenten just rolls her eyes and tells him Neji's just "in one of his moods". She sounds annoyed herself, and I'm 100% sure Neji was being bitchy to her too. She isn't afraid to call him out for being moody, but she does give him a bit of leeway in not saying it to his face.

Given that Tenten is observant and good with people, I think during their first year as genin, she recognizes that Neji’s whole thing with fate and all comes from something deeper. Maybe not immediately clocking it as trauma, but at least understanding that there is a serious reason why he’s being Like That, so she’s a bit more lenient with him when he’s in a MoodTM or talking down on people.

She doesn’t let him walk all over her—she’s got more self respect than that—but she is a bit more forgiving than most. And this doesn’t go unnoticed by Neji. We see him being far kinder to her than anyone else, and letting her in on things he doesn’t normally share, and I think this is where it comes from.

All this to say: this is another of those moments. Neji is in a mood, and Tenten lets it go because she understands there’s something else going on there.

They bring in Lee for his exam, and he comes out looking sad because Tsunade told him to chill out on the training or else he risks permanently injuring himself. Tenten and Naruto see him looking all sad, and Naruto fully misunderstands Tenten saying that his diagnosis must have been very grim to mean he's going to die soon. In his defense, Tenten also doesn't correct him on this. I think it's because she thinks it'll be funny. Very sibling-coded.

Naruto and Tenten run to the training hall where Gai has introduced his temporary new student Yagura to Lee and is about to make them spar. They spar, and Yagura is as good as Lee is, and nearly breaks his ankle with a move that ends the spar.

Naruto asks Lee why he's trying to train, and "didn't the hospital say your condition was grim, very grim?" and when he looks to Tenten to verify this, she goes "well, they didn't exactly say that..." LMFAOOO what a little shit.

Then they all go to ichiraku with Neji to fill him in on the gossip, with Lee outside listening to them, and they all start talking him up, saying that they owe him a lot and that he's amazing, which is so stinkin' cute. They love him so much. Neji even admits that hard work and perseverance can mean more than natural talent.

Tenten does concede that if he pushes too hard, he might risk permanent injury and that would be impossible to recover from, and Naruto immediately yells at her for being negative all the time and calls her "the voice of doom" which made me laugh for no good reason.

But we can tell that Tenten generally seems to be a bit... I hesitate to say pessimistic outright, but she's very realistic and down-to-earth. She's not a constant damper on the mood, but she does cut in and remind us that yes, Lee's situation is pretty precarious because his injuries are severe, his surgery was life-threatening, and that's something to keep in mind.

It seems like a perfect in-between to Neji and Lee, where Neji is a major pessimist, and Tenten is optimistic enough to balance that out, but also real enough to balance out Lee's wild dreaming and overboard optimism. She warms Neji up and cools Lee down to bring them to equilibrium.

Tenten says she has a lot to thank Lee for, and the thing she immediately think about is... Gai trying to give them all those green training suits. She really respects Gai but she definitely still thinks he's lame, especially when she's a genin, and thanks Lee for taking the brunt of his attention and enthusiasm so her and Neji don't have to also become Green Beasts.

Yagura goes on a mission with Gai after shit-talking Lee, but he turns out to be an imposter so Tsunade has to get a team to go after him and Gai, and everyone please look at Tenten's ninja registration photo. She's so cute I love her so much. What a diva

After this we see Tenten fighting alongside Naruto, Neji, and Lee to save Gai.

As soon as Neji tells them that the enemies have Gai trapped in a structure infused with their chakra, Tenten is quick to start attacking the jutsu users, which seems to actually stop them from attacking Gai within the structure.

Neji also tells them the training dummies they're using to attack are controlled by seals on the back of their heads, and removing them will disable them. Tenten fires out kunai with perfect accuracy and just shreds a ton of the seal papers on the dummies, disabling many of them in a single attack. And then goes "Man, that was too easy!" Cocky ass mf, I love herrrrrrr.

Given that this is so soon after her fight with Temari, she's probably working slowly to regain her confidence, so it's nice to see her feeling good about herself!

We spend the rest of this episode with Lee and Gai and focus on their bond. Naruto even comments on how Gai and Lee have a really good bond, and that he wishes he had something like that with his teacher too. It's a super cute arc, and I really like it.

Curry Of Life Arc (Episode 152 - 157)

This arc is my favorite of the post-series fillers.

Gai gets deeply upset that his students have to go with Naruto on the mission and begs Tsunade to let them go alone, which I think is so funny. this is the iconic "why can't it just be my students who are beloved by all the world" line.

After Naruto embarrasses all of them and Neji pisses Tsunade off, Tenten leaves her office after telling Tsunade "Sorry about them! They have no manners, ahah", which is funny coming from her, given her behavior for the rest of this episode.

Tenten disses Gai, and Lee gets mad that Tenten thinks Gai's information might be wrong, and I just paused here and thought this screenshot was funny.

Tenten says that Raiga burying people alive is the worst thing she's ever heard, which fits with my headcanon that she's a little claustrophobic. It's not debilitating, but she gets a little uncomfortable in tight spaces and has trouble staying in them for extended periods.

Through this whole mission, and honestly a lot of the filler arc missions, Tenten follows Neji's orders in a way Lee and Naruto don't. Like him, she's a little more calculating and takes her decisions based on logic more than her morality, like a shinobi is supposed to. She’s always the one to get Lee and Naruto to try and see Neji’s viewpoint when they question his decisions, explaining the logic to them.

She's also the first one to notice that Neji is on edge when he spots Raiga for the first time, and immediately asks him what's wrong.

After Raiga is killed, they leave Ranmaru tied up in a cabin and go back to the town. When they get ambushed by the rest of his gang, Tenten gives them this look as they're about to fight, which I think is so cool.

She seems to like a challenging battle where she can really test her skills, and she's the first of the group to attack once they go on the offensive, clearly excited to fight.

Once they come back for Ranmaru, he tells them he has no reason to be alive, and Tenten immediately starts shitting on him. She says that everyone ought to be able to live on their own, at least the basics, and that she can't stand weak, indecisive people. Even as he tells everyone his tragic backstory, Tenten is the only one who reacts with barely any sympathy.

I like to think this mentality comes from her being an orphan. She's had to do these things on her own since forever, and she doesn't like people like Ranmaru or Haku who rely entirely on another person as their reason to live. She hasn't really had anyone to rely on like that until Team Gai, so to her, being able to live on your own without needing anyone is a basic skill.

Her disliking weak and indecisive people also explains why her self esteem is so low after losing to Temari. She felt so weak and useless in that fight, and she hates herself for it.

When they're back at the Curry Of Life shop, Neji sends Tenten back by herself to check on Karashi and Ranmaru. When Karashi comes back and tells Neji that Tenten slipped and fell off the cliff, Neji is the only one that knows immediately that it's a lie. He trusts her skills, and knows damn well that Tenten isn't clumsy like that, no matter what anyone says.

There's an awesome fight scene between Tenten and Raiga, where she very nearly overwhelms him, quickly binding him with her chained sickle and flinging a scroll's worth of weapons at him with one hand. She fights very smart, switching to a wooden staff after getting struck by lightning through her chains, and also noting she still can't hold her staff up too high because of the storm.

She flings dirt into Raiga's eyes, and even manages to disarm him of one of his swords by catching it with her staff and throwing it away, all in one movement. She gets knocked out after getting her staff broken and blasted with lightning, but overall, she handles herself with great skill in this fight.

Tenten is also weirdly uninjured for having been struck by lightning thrice during this fight, which fits with my headcanons of her having lightning-natured chakra.

Once she wakes up again, Tenten grabs Ranmaru, who passed out after bringing back Raiga, and brings him to a safe place. She takes care of Ranmaru and tries to nurse him to health. When Ranmaru says that he'd rather die, Tenten tells him that she won't let him get off that easily, and that he has to live and take responsibility for all the people he killed.

She's not completely lacking of sympathy for him though, because when Ranmaru starts coughing and looking worse for wear, Tenten stops yelling at him, and wraps him in a blanket to head to the Curry Of Life Shop, and takes him there through the rain. Even in the shop, she expresses her determination to save Ranmaru, and sits there taking care of him while Grandma makes the curry of life.

She coerces him to eat by saying that if he feels nothing after seeing Karashi and Grandma work so hard to make him the curry, then he's a "horrible human being" LOLL. She really does not like this kid. But it's her expressing all of these things to him that finally gets him to eat, and know what it is to feel alive. Even though she yelled at him more than anything else, it's her strong morals and worldviews that move him.

Just like we saw in the Forest Of Death, Tenten's medical care when it comes to Lee seems to be "shake him really hard and yell at him until he wakes up".

Her medical care for Naruto is to put a plateful of curry in his mouth, force him to chew it, and call him an idiot for passing out. And then she calls him a dumbass when he says he thought she fell down a cliff.

And then with Neji, she gets annoyed and tells him to get up and get going, feeds him like four spoons of spicy curry, and kills him immediately. I love her so much.

She really has great bedside manner LOL. Another reason why I think people see her as unfit for medical ninjutsu + more proof for those headcanons on her being a little bit rude because of her upbringing.

This arc is really fun overall and I think it's a good rewatch for some cool Tenten scenes.

Academy Student Leading Mission (Episode 158)

Tenten is in this one (1) frame of this episode, but it’s important to me because look at her using the Dynamic Entry!!!! We don’t get a lot of Tenten Taijutsu moments and this is one, so I just needed everyone to see her using her dad's sensei's move.

The Appearance of Strange Visitors (Episode 161)

This episode is really funny actually, and it features Tenten, Sakura, and Tsunade being absolute little shits, which is always a treat. This is just a very brief Tenten moment. Two people come into the village disguised and Lee and Gai, but nobody is fooled... except for Naruto.

So to drive them away, Tsunade, Tenten, and Sakura assign them missions to get them to go away. Tenten is the first one to take a crack at them, and we see her coming out of an apartment building to talk to them. She's also wearing her green outfit instead of her usual pink one!

Character-wise this episode isn't anything to write home about, but it's confirming that this green outfit is her "casual" clothes, while the pink is her ninja clothes, and that might be her apartment??

In the shot of her apartment from Shippuden 237 (and later in the RTN filler), we don't see any relatives, and she seems to be by herself in the apartment, much like Naruto. I think this is evidence for her being an orphan, living by herself after making genin.

This also raises the possibility that she met Naruto and/or Lee there when she was young.

Cursed Warrior Extermination Arc (Episode 162 - 167)

This arc feels like it should not be this long for some reason, there's just always some dumb bullshit going on. Either way there's not any noteworthy moments here, there’s just one thing I want to mention.

This arc features Neji, Tenten, and Naruto out on a mission to the Land Of Birds to stop The Cursed Warrior, who’s been haunting the land. After encountering the Warrior once and fighting it, they regroup and discuss who could be dressing up as it, and decide to come meet Lord Sagi, the feudal lord of the land to see if he knows anything and will tell them.

Tenten sees him and immediately calls him "a cutie" and "totally her type" so... her type is quiet and refined pretty boys?

Real quick, Tenten's type being "cool people" also speaks to how she wants to be perceived as well. Her embarrassment toward Lee and Gai's antics, her general refusal to participate in them unless one of them forces her to, it all shows that she really wants people to see her as cool and competent. This is also shown with the people that she admires or finds cute. Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sagi here, who is shown to be somewhat similar to Sasuke in personality and motivations, all have a similar disposition.

Tenten doesn't try to emulate the cold personality type they have, she still acts like her usual personable and open self. She just wants to be perceived the way she and others see them. People look up to and admire Sasuke and Kakashi and Tsunade, and that's what Tenten wants too. To be admired and respected. She wants to be "cool".

In the end, the feudal lord turns out to be Sagi's sister pretending to be him, so actually a woman, and Tenten doesn't take back the fact that she called Sagi cute soooo... personally for me? Bi Tenten confirmed. thank u naruto filler.

Star Guard Arc (Episode 178 - 183)

I won't lie, this arc is barely interesting the first time you're watching it, and any rewatch gets super boring quick. They sing this one song so many times and for like 2 mins at a time too. I skipped so much of this on 2x because it's so slow, and with very minor Tenten moments.

Anyway so it's Team Gai + Naruto going to the Hidden Star Village because they called for help from the Leaf Village and Tsunade sends them out. They meet a boy called Sumaru who wants to be the village's Hoshikage and make their village great again or smth idk and they're supposed to be guarding a star that some mysterious ninja keeps trying to steal.

There’s not a lot of big Tenten character moments here, this arc really just has her on screen and doing stuff so it’s here.

Lee and Tenten get assigned by Neji to keep an eye on the village leader's men, and it's Tenten who keeps Lee from confronting them directly, as Lee feels there's no honor it in. Tenten has to keep yelling at him to just be quiet and follow along, and Lee is reluctant to do it but listens to her anyway, which is also a testament to their bond and his trust in her, if Lee is willing to put aside his principles if Tenten really insists that this is what they have to do for the mission.

Tenten also just seems to be very good at convincing Lee to go along with her ideas in general.

We have a really silly scene of Tenten and Lee literally just hiding under a barrel with a peephole as a disguise, and Lee questions if this is really the way of the ninja.

There’s not really many big Tenten character moments here that I could gather.

Konoha Plans Recapture Arc (Episode 197 - 201)

I really love this arc! It's a fun one all around and it's one of the few where we get to see all of the k11 working together. It keeps the tension up all throughout, and has a good mystery element to it.

We don't see Tenten until midway through the episode, when Shikmaru is ordered to form a group to find the stolen blueprints. Team Gai + Hinata all go to each of the construction sites to check if the spy Genno had left any traps there, but find nothing. They reconvene in a dango shop and Tenten quickly notices that the only places Genno went to are restaurants around town.

Team Gai + Shino and Kiba then get assigned to go check the site of Genno's "death", and Tenten notices and points out that some trees are burned on both sides, which isn't normal unless the explosions came from multiple places, not one like originally suspected.

She analyzes the positions of the burns on the trees and determines that a ring of bombs on the outer trees was set off first, and then the one in the center, and that if he'd timed the explosions right, he could have made it seem like one blast.

When they find the escape tunnel Genno used after the explosion, Tenten also recognizes that the construction of the tunnel allows for it to collapse on itself.

Clearly she has a knowledge of traps and other such things, and is crafty. The vibes are giving engineer tbh. I really like this detail! I think from what we've been shown of Tenten as this smart and observant character that likes weapons and tinkering, traps and escape tunnels seem right up her alley. When Team Gai sets up camp she's probably the one putting up traps and stuff around the perimeter.

This also plays into her strategic mindset, and I think in any kind of ambush missions she gets, she does the same, setting up traps and escape routes. She's exacting and detailed in her work, and likely self-learned all of this from books or other sources, since Gai's expertise is not in this.

When they find the first paper bomb, Tenten is the one to disarm it, once again showing her expertise in not just weapons, but also paper bombs and the like.

This is also the arc that we see Tenten using this sick fucking bow. It has a scope on it and can shoot 4 arrows. I feel like it's kind of hard to reload?? but I'm sure there's some cool ninja way they do it so.

Menma Memory Arc (Episode 213 - 215)

Tenten doesn't appear until the second episode of this arc, where her and Neji are assigned on a mission with Naruto to take this guy Menma to the Land of Rice Paddies to help him regain his memories.

There's not too much notable here, since this arc focuses more on Naruto and Menma than Neji and Tenten, but there's a few things.

Tenten's observant nature is really put on display in these two episodes, as a lot of the time, she's the first one to point out surrounding details to the others. At one point, when the enemy is in a tree observing them with a spyglass in a tree, Tenten notices the glare of the sun off the glass and warns everyone that the enemy is there. To me, this also supports my idea that Tenten has really good eyesight.

This episode, like many, also shows Tenten having to physically get Naruto to be quiet. She does this with Lee as well. I think it's kind of funny that it's always her having to quiet down the two impulsive and loudmouthed ones, and she always does a pretty good job at it, appealing to their sense and somehow managing to talk them down.

This once again shows that not only is Tenten physically strong enough to restrain Lee and Naruto physically, but also shows her people skills and how well she can convince the two of them to chill out.

Suna Support Mission (Episode 216 - 220)

Tenten only gets one scene in this last arc of the original series, and it's in the very last episode, complaining that she was literally the only member of the Konoha 11 to not go on the mission.

I adore this scene too because we get to see Tenten sparring with Lee using pure taijutsu! And she wins! Another instance of her using the Dynamic entry!

Chunin Exams 2: Electric Boogaloo (Shippuden 396 - 413)

This arc is some of the best Team Gai content we get from this show, since it focuses on on them primarily for a lot of it. I'm not going to summarize every single thing that happens but I'll go over the major Tenten character moments.

During the written exam, Sakura mentions this test would be with Naruto here because he'd just score a 0. Tenten says things would be easier for their team if Lee were as dumb as that. So Lee is not completely stupid, as we well know, and Tenten knows that well.

Lee tells them they should try to arrive first, and Tenten tells him there's no advantage to that. Tenten tends to be laid back, so unlike Lee, she doesn't like exerting more effort than she has to, as we see during some training flashbacks later in the arc. She doesn't want to do anything that won't directly benefit her, and she's... a bit lazy LOL.

Still, they end up going at full speed anyway, which is absolutely because Lee and Neji are both competitive little shits and made Tenten go along with them at top speed. I bet she spent the whole trip complaining.

Lee says that they've never been to the Sand Village before, so I think they actually haven't taken any missions there as genin. This actually is accurate because in the Gaara rescue arc, they also don't go to the Sand, they head for the Waterfall Village in between. Neji says he went there once on an errand for the Hyuuga.

During the dinner scene, Tenten makes fun of Kiba when he calls the shinobi from the Sand "mean-looking", telling him that he's also pretty mean-looking. I think it's cute that she teases all of the other konoha 11 like this, especially Naruto and Kiba.

When one of Shira's teammates mentions a cactus, Tenten also realizes that it was the cactus flowers that caused the genjutsu they were put under. I have a headcanon that Tenten studies genjutsu, or at least has a passing interest in it and that's also why she gets stuck in the Road To Ninja world instead of the full genjutsu during the war. I'll elaborate on this when we get to that arc.

Tenten pulls out this giant ladder from a scroll to get her team out of the sand waterfall pit. We're shown at various points that Tenten is a bit of a hoarder. She has everything in her scrolls, from cooking items to tents to giant metal shelters. Any item that's vaguely useful to her, she'll just toss into a scroll. But she clearly has some kind of organizational system because she knows exactly which scroll and which seal every item is in. Likely, she organizes everything by scroll—so a weapons’ scroll, a food scroll, a camp setup scroll, and so on.

During Lee and Shira's battle, Neji is seen explaining all of the intricacies of their taijiutsu to Tenten. We also see in a flashback that he does this for Tenten all throughout their training, whenever Lee and Gai are sparring or when Gai is explaining a technique to Lee. It’s very cute that he does this, keeping Tenten up to speed with the rest of them. This is also an indication that while Tenten is still fairly knowledgable in taijutsu (since she knows enough to ask Neji follow-up questions), it's not her main focus and is more like something she relies on in a pinch.

After this we spend two episodes with Team 8 before going back to Team Gai and their encounter with Ajisai. Tenten pulls out dinner from a scroll, which like I mentioned before, she's a hoarder and a packer. What's interesting to me is that she has food stroed in there, which means you can store food in storage scrolls. I wonder how good it stays in there. If an item needs to be refrigerated, would that change the seal? Much to consider.

Tenten gets irritated at Lee calling her convenient, because she feels that it makes her seem like a tool that's convenient for her team, rather than him saying her technique is convenient.

She storms off, and during her training flashback, we see her and Gai training with nunchucks. I absolutely think Gai was the one that taught her nunchucks, since it was one of the few weapons that he has a lot of expertise with, so he helped her out there. It made him very happy to be able to teach her something new rather than having to just give her resources and letting her figure it out.

Gai calls her convenient in the flashback and she has the same reaction, telling him not to talk to her as if she's some kind of tool. To his credit, he really didn't mean it that way, but it still irritates her. This is another sore point for her, clearly. It directly goes against her want to be seen as cool and admired, since it makes her seem like just a utility, a bag to pull out whatever they need in the moment, and she wants to be admired for her skills, not dismissed as a convenient thing to have around.

There's a funny moment after Tenten's flashback when Lee calls to her and tells her dinner is ready. She asks if the okunomiyaki turned out okay, and Lee looks nervous and says "I have my doubts about them..." which made me laugh.

When they start to fight Ajisai and her team, Tenten immediately picks Ajisai as her opponent after seeing she uses the same jutsu as her. She clearly still has a competitive spirit, even if it's not as strong as Lee or Gai's.

There's a flashback to her training with Gai, and Tenten doesn't seem to progress very far in the span of two years, especially compared to Neji and Lee.

Even after two years, she says she still struggles with chakra control and that her chakra level isn't very high. Plus she seems to not know that she has skill with the Summoning Technique, which is directly contradicted by Shippuden 237 where she's introduced to it in her early genin days and told directly by Gai that she has the skill for it.

I find this inaccurate and reject it.

Tenten is shown to be a quick learner, an enthusiast for research, and deeply upset over her loss to Temari. There's no way she hasn't spent nearly every day in the past two years honing her skills in more complex fuinjutsu, weapons, and other space-time ninjutsu in an effort to beat Temari, and also prove to herself that she isn't weak.

And about her chakra level not being high enough for summoning an ocean, I think Tenten has much larger chakra reserves than average. That's why her chakra control isn't very good (like naruto) and she can use the Treasured Tools. So it doesn't make sense to me that her chakra level is too low for what she does in the show or that she has to work to increase it.

I think her training with Gai is more about chakra control than about increasing her chakra. She hones her control so she can do more complex seals and can control how much water or fire she releases from her scrolls. To this end, Gai has Neji help her, since he has good chakra control. I think Gai also makes Tenten train with Sakura, though Tenten is slightly reluctant at first, and that’s how they grow to be eventual friends.

I think her aptitude for summoning implies that she could also summon animals if she could get along with one long enough to sign a contract. Personally, I think she should get bears.

The flashback ends with Tenten falling off of a cliff that her and Gai were climbing as training, and then she wakes up in the tunnel. We actually never see what happens after she falls which is really weird.

While Tenten walks with Ajisai, she finds her unresponsive to her small talk and giving her attitude, and points it out directly to her. She doesn't take attitude from Ajisai but is still kind, and doesn't raise her voice or start arguing for the sake of it. She very calmly lays out a logical counterpoint, still sounding pretty friendly, and still jokes around with Ajisai when she's done.

I feel like this is also a fairly good insight into how she used to deal with Neji before the chunin exams.

Once again showcasing her observant nature and situational awareness, she hears the ants coming well before Ajisai does. Tenten also gets grossed out by the dead ant, which is fairly consistent with the rest of the show. Tenten is shown getting uncomfortable when she sees bugs or just anything traditionally "icky". Not human blood and guts tho. She's funny for that.

She also asks Ajisai for advice with the summoning jutsu, which I still reject that she needs to, and gets disappointed when she doesn't have any. She sighs and says "I guess it's just sheer talent," looking visibly upset. Even after two years, this insecurity hasn't fully gone away.

Tenten is also visibly insecure when Ajisai starts sealing the rocks into her papers, and when Ajisai asks her to help, Tenten says she can't, because... she doesn't have the chakra for it, I think?? That or she's not confident enough in herself to be able to do it. But then one flashback later she summons an ocean??? How does this work oh my god.

Anyway, we get a flashback to Team Gai at a restaurant when he asked his students if they want to participate in the second chunin exams. Neji and Lee say a very confident yes, and Tenten goes along with them but looks upset. Gai asks if something is wrong, and Tenten asks if she's gotten stronger since the last exams. Gai says she should have, and Tenten says that it seems like she has nothing to show for it. Neji and Lee immediately turn to look at her and both seem shocked at this.

I actually really like this moment because in accordance with my headcanons from earlier, Tenten has very much improved in the past two years, but due to her insecurities, and specifically her insecurities surrounding the chunin exams, she doesn’t see it.

Lee and Neji are shocked because they can’t believe that Tenten thinks she hasn’t improved over the past two years. And they know best, because they’re the ones who have been training and going on missions with her. This is cute to me, a “I wish you could see yourself the way I see you” moment.

I headcanon that whenever Tenten has these moments of insecurity after the first chunin exams, Lee and Neji both encourage her in their own ways and help bring up her confidence.

Gai tells her that “hard work and determination will never betray you” which really seems to be Team Gai’s second motto, right after “stronger than we were yesterday”.

When they're waiting out the sandstorm in Tenten's little shelter, Tenten looks a bit uncomfortable the whole time, again supporting my headcanon that she's a little bit claustrophobic.

Once the jinchuriki are attacked, the focus goes to Neji and his strategic knowledge to show why he gets double promoted to jounin.

At Neji’s request, Tenten pulls a scroll out of what looks like either a waist holster inside her shirt, or her bra since she reaches into her shirt to grab it, and gives Neji a chakra blade, which he uses to cut into Fu's cocoon.

The chunin exams end after the third round is canceled, and everyone in the k11 gets promoted to chunin, with Neji getting a double promotion to jounin. Lee thanks his teammates, and Tenten says "Our three man squad is forever, right?" and SP clearly hates me specifically because they zoom in on Neji and have him say "yes I certainly hope so" and that's just plain rude when we all know he died literally one arc ago in shippuden.

Now one thing I want to mention here that always stood out to me about Tenten. We never get any backstory for her the way we do with any other character. The most we get of her childhood is a single scene of her declaring when she's young that she wants to be like Tsunade. Almost every other character shares pieces of their backstory with others. Not Tenten though.

I think this shows Tenten to be a very private person. Neji's told her everything about his clan and she talks about his backstory at times, or talks about Lee's, but neither of them ever mention hers. She doesn't talk to others about her past or her motivations. She keeps her goals and hopes to herself. I don't think she's cold about it, but she probably redirects conversations about herself when they come up.

I think eventually, she begins to share stuff with her teammates, but at first, I think she keeps quiet about her backstory, no matter how mundane or interesting it could be in comparison.

Anyway, this wraps up Tenten's genin years! Next we move on to her chunin years in Shippuden!

[akkivee]

saw a few charts that assumed how old everyone would be if they aged with how long the series went (and therefore everyone has the same birthday september 2 lol) and transcribed it lol

[funficwriter]

Fontaine Characters with Violinist Reader!

A/N: This disappearing thing of mine is annoying, I'm trying to stop it. However, I finally got a bit of spare time to play Genshin and I am so, so in love with Fontaine. I think it's gonna be a wonderful arc. I haven't felt this much jubilation since Liyue or Inazuma!

Warnings; None, really.

Lyney, Lynette, Neuvillette, Navia, Furina, Wriothesley (no particular order)

Lyney

First off, this boy is no stranger to performing, an activity he loves. Naturally, he's going to be most interested in fellow performers, including you!

If you're the type to get anxious before, or even during a performance, say goodbye to that with him. He'll guide you through plenty of destressing rituals to help you relax beforehand.

(This included, but wasn't limited to; Taking deep breaths, doing tongue twisters, asking you to play meme songs on your violin, or tickling your sides because 'laughing is a great way to be loose'.)

Even during, should you freeze up and he's in the audience, he'll do a quick but loud magic trick to get everyone's eyes off you. Even one that makes him look like a fool, so long as you have time to put yourself together.

He'd LOVE to have you on stage with him! He adores your music and would ask you to sync it up with dramatic moments in his magic.

If you compose you own stuff, he's pretty much your biggest fan. The guy who never misses a concert. The loudest clapper. The biggest braggart.

"That gorgeous, graceful violinist we had the pleasure of watching? What if I told you that they're coupled up with an equally electric performer? That is, me~."

Lynette

It's easy to think that her brother outdoes her in terms of being your fan, but quietness hides a lot. If you think she doesn't care as much, you're so, so wrong.

She learned several music skills just to be closer to you, including sight-reading. BTW, she's got a killer voice and loves to sing out your compositions. Sometimes it helps you come up with alternative movements within them.

She can also play piano, to a good level of accompaniment. With time, one would think she is also a music assistant; It's not uncommon for her to be on your stage.

Lynette is VERY attentive to your instrument. Does it need rosin? A new bow, perhaps a re-hair? You just say the word, and she'll happily take it to the repair workshop if you have no time.

"By the way, Y/N prefers real horse hair, the thinnest you have. Don't worry. They're talented enough to thrive on it.".

She makes it a point to let you know how much she loves what you do: "All other music in Fontaine pales in its beauty next to yours. Please, keep playing.".

Neuvillette

You play the violin? (he crosses his legs and assumes his royal position). So when are you going to get married? Will you be okay playing a few pieces, even while being the spouse? /Half-joking, tbh.

For him to say that he is the lover of a music pioneer as important as you... Will never not be a moment of joy for him.

First off, what a sugar daddy. I hope you made a list of the expensive violins you wanted but couldn't afford. Because now, it's yours, never mind the Mora. Your very case may as well be coated with gold.

He won't die on this hill, but he would love it if you could play a bit during the parties he hosts. He loves live music to begin with, but after hearing you, it feels like no other pro could hope to sound as good as you.

(And side note, he likes how mesmerized everyone is with you lol)

If you're the type to remember your patron's personal preferences, and compose/play in accordance to that, just for him? Put hearts in his eyes. He's no longer joking about the wedding thing.

While he loves showing you off, he'll never force you if you're shy/nervous. If anything, he would also feel very special if he got to heard songs not out yet, compositions just for him...

"Perhaps this is Lady Furina's way of rewarding me for my years of service. Bless our Archon for giving me such a talented, show and heart-stopping partner.".

Navia

She likes that the Spina del Rosula is represented by passionate, talented people!

If you like sweets, I say just join her team. It's guaranteed pastries after each request lol.

Her detective work is cool, but can get a bit drab after a while. She likes asking you to play some violin ambiance, partly because it makes her feel cool, and partly because your music changes the atmosphere for much better.

Navia is a woman of decorum, but she'll often have trouble staying still during your concerts. It doesn't matter if there are rules to how loud a woman can cheer, she's happy for you and will make sure you know that.

She becomes even more proactive than usual. If a concert of yours falls on the same time as her work, she'll scour the ends of Teyvat for its solution, so she can see you.

With time, she might request you to play pieces that her father loved. Once they're brought back to life, through your own strings, she can't help but be a little emotional. She must have done something wonderful to have you.

"How beautiful, how poignant as you, my dear Y/N! This calls for macaroons! Which flavor would you like today?".

Furina

"Yes, Neuvillette, I know they perform and all, but why can't I keep them to myself! They're so darn great, I want that everyday!"

Of course, she's not gonna stop you, but beware; I feel like Furina would almost turn you into her own personal violinist lol.

She'd keep requesting your presence over her other personal entertainment and somewhat bombard you with song requests. Buuut if you're looking for a varied repertoire, she's your gal!

One reason she requests so much is because she so impressed with how you not only fulfill them all, you do it so creatively and beautifully. You don't just follow the note as it is... Once you're acquainted with what she likes, you modify the tune a bit to be more her taste.

She's so cute when she claps; The way her hands go so fast and she's about to get up from the seat, the huge eye and smile... Why, you might start reconsidering her offer.

"Bravooooo, Y/N!! Bravo! That was everything, I can't go on without an encore!"

If the tune is more happy-go-lucky, she will get up and dance along. Will also do it in circles around you because she's your little orb :3

Wriothesley

"Forgive me for intruding... But I was overhearing, and your playing is terrific. Electrifying. Do you happen to perform on Saturday nights? That's when I can leave the Fortress for a bit.".

Of all your fans, Wrio is one of the quieter ones, but not so much that no one knows it. For one, he's a Duke, he's bound to enjoy good music. And heavens knows he needs some fun in his life.

Here's a fun thing (ngl this is what I was excited to write): At first, it doesn't sound like he can make it to your recital. You see him on his desk, surrounded by paper mountains that only ever seem to grow. He doesn't want to make you sad, but his remark lets you know that he's not coming: "Would it kill some of these people to tone it down for a bit so I can go see my partner perform?".

So imagine your shock when you step on stage, and see him on the first row, sitting tall and handsome, shit-eating grin on his face and waving. You really bought it for a moment.

"Hehe... Did you really think I can't even make a bit of time to see Fontaine's best violinist in action? You actually bought that?".

I HC that he has insomnia, and has tried any things to cure it, but to no avail. It's rumored in Fontaine that his is incurable, but little do they know about how he lays down next to your sitting form. Little do they know of the soft lullabies you composed just for him, or how peacefully he dreams afterwards 💜

[dixons-sunshine]

hi!! i absolutely adore your writing, could i request daryl and gn!reader celebrating the reader’s birthday (fluff please)? it’s my birthday and i’m a very guilty lover of self-indulgent fics 💗

Happy Birthday, Bug | Daryl Dixon x Reader

A/N: Happy birthday, my love! I’m sorry this is so rushed and not my best work, and probably not what you had in mind, but I hope you like this! (Also, I feel like Daryl is a bit ooc in this, but I’m rolling with it lol.)

“Daryl, where are you taking me? We’ve been walking forever,” Your voice rung out through the air. To say you were confused about the archer’s behaviour would be an understatement. Having been together since the fall of the farm, you had slowly but surely started chipping away at his walls, worming your way into his heart and soul. Due to that, you could read the huntsman quite well.

However, at that particular moment, as you followed Daryl deeper into a part of the prison that you had yet to explore since it had been cleared out, you realized that there were still moments where you just couldn’t decipher what was going on in his complex mind.

“Jus’ follow me, Bug,” Daryl chuckled, his crossbow lifted in front of him in case the two of you encountered any threats that could potentially be lurking in the shadows. “Promise we’re almost there.”

“Yeah, that’s what you said ten minutes ago,” you mumbled, grimacing at the pain that shot through your elbow when you accidentally hit it against the side of the wall when you and Daryl took yet another turn.

Daryl heard the slight hiss that left your mouth, and he shot you a concerned look over your shoulder. “Y’alright?”

“I’m fine,” you reassured him with a small nod. “I’d feel even better if I knew where we were going and why I was dragged out of our cell at...” You checked your watch, one of the few items that somehow still worked after all that time. “Eight in the morning, when I was asleep after getting back from my watch shift.”

Daryl simply turned his head, not trusting his face to remain neutral, and he was correct in his mistrust; a small smile spread across his face. You didn’t even realize what made this particular day so special. That just added to the element of surprise. “S’a surprise,” he mused, taking another turn down a corridor. The surprise was set up quite a bit away from the main part of the prison, due to the fact that Daryl didn’t want anyone, especially not the newest additions to the group—the Woodbury residents—interrupting what he hoped would be a good moment.

“Wha—” Your response to his words were cut off when the archer came to an abrupt stop. You collided against his back, nearly falling flat on your behind. You would have, had it not been for the fact that Daryl turned around caught you just in time. You sent him a grateful smile, although a tinge of playfulness was laced in it. “Is my surprise being in the arms of the man I love? Because if it is, I can tell you that you didn’t have to go through all of this. I gladly would’ve let you hold me if you just asked.”

Daryl rolled his eyes affectionately and stepped away, before walking to stand behind your back. “Nah, s’not yer surprise.” He covered your eyes with his hands, ignoring your sounds of protests as he slowly and carefully led you a few steps further, guiding you down a final turn, right to your surprise. “This is.”

His hands fell away from your eyes, and you gasped at the sight in front of you; rose petals littered the ground, leading up to a table that held two bowls of what you assumed to be some sort of stew, a bottle of whiskey resting in the middle, and the scene was illuminated by a few candles surrounding the table.

“Happy Birthday, Bug,” Daryl whispered in your ear from behind, his hands rubbing up and down your arms in a soothing manner.

A surprised laugh escaped your chest, and you shook your head at yourself for forgetting what day it was. However, in your defense, with everything going on, it was a bit hard to keep track of the days, so you were pleasantly surprised to know that Daryl had done so. You turned to him in surprise. “How’d you know it was my birthday?” you questioned, still amazed by the effort your partner had put into his surprise for you, one you greatly appreciated.

Daryl shrugged nonchalantly. “Beth’s been keepin’ track’a the days in that diary of hers. Asked her to tell me when yer birthday was comin’ up, so that I could do somethin’ special for you.” Unbidden, a look of insecurity flashed through his eyes. Did you hate the surprise? “M’sorry this ain’t exactly like those movies. I asked Carol to help me set this up, and we did the best we could with the things we could find. I wanted this to be at night, like the movies, but I have to keep watch tonight, so I figured—”

You cut Daryl’s rambling off by pressing a soft, tender kiss on his lips. When you pulled back, you gave him a big smile. “It’s perfect,” you reassured him softly, your hands gently cupping his cheeks. “It’s absolutely perfect. Thank you.”

Daryl smiled bashfully. “Ain’t nothin’.” Suddenly remembering something, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out, and you gasped at the object in his hands—it was a bracelet with little bees and fireflies as the charms, and the sentiment, the callback to the nickname he so affectionately called you, made you tear up. “I, uh... I got this for ya.”

You pulled Daryl in for a hug, one that took the archer off guard, but he reciprocated nonetheless. “Thank you,” you whispered, nuzzling your face into his chest.

Daryl rested his chin on top of your head, his heart swelling with love for you. “‘Course,” he mumbled, placing a kiss on top of your head. “I love ya, Bug.”

“And I love you, Daryl. I love you so much.”

[ghostlyvoidshark]

Could you do some rival Headcanons between epic and cross sans fighting over us? Like every second you cannot breath, each of them trying to one up each other to show who would treat you better. This idea has been floating in my head for a bit, so just wanted to finally request it. (Also, can we be gender neutral? And romantic, obviously) Thank you and have a good day/night! :)

Hello hun! Sorry this took me a little while - I've had to work more than normal recently. But THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!! I thi k this is my first from a non-moot so im so excited to be able to write this for you! I hope you have a lovely day / night as well :D sorry if this isnt that long, im trying to get some confidence in my writing lolol

Epic & Cross x Reader

Cross doesn't like fighting Epic since they are pretty close but this doesn't stop him from getting competitive.

Epic, on the other hand, loves play fighting and competing with Cross! He's not aggressive about it, he just does it for fun.

Cross is usually trying to prove himself worthy of your affection in some way while Epic just likes flirting and making you laugh.

Epic is surprisingly good at flirting but often settles for making you laugh because he loves it so much.

Sometimes Epic flirts with cross too just to fuck with him lmaoo - Cross is always baffled and a mess when it happens. Its pretty funny to watch tbh.

Most people assume youre a polycule. Epic doesnt help dispel that with his flirting. I mean a poly relationship could probably work.

You will never know alone time again if you don't set those boundaries. They're both Clingy!!

Given the chance, Cross will escort you everywhere - hes like your own personal bodygaurd. (You dont know how he knows your schedule so well or how he finds you so easily when going out.)

Epic also shows up a lot. Hes usually the one initiating lunch & dinner dates between y'all. Well, its not obvious theyre dates but they basically are, lmao.

They do try to one up each other but you'll next to never see them fight. You may catch them bickering about who did better, though. Epic likes instigating and Cross can be sassy.

They may have a fight about you once. Other than that they are chill because they're so close and Epic often gets Cross to communicate.

The fight would probably be mostly on Cross. He would get mad that he fell for someone his best friend likes. He would be upset that he "couldn't have someone himself" both because he feels guilty about Epic and for personal issues (he's lost a lot). Then he'd be mad that he thought that way and felt jealous. He wouldn't like how selfish he feels. Epic talks him through it, though. And talks some sense into him :]

Cross may be quiet most of the time but he is hanging around more often than not. He's just sort of ... supervising lol. Its comforting in an odd way. He likes the quality time too.

Sometimes Epic gets you alone, though. He gets you two to do relaxing things together like a picnic or video games.

He can be surprisingly tender and romantic but he will ruin it with a joke after surprising you or flustering you with the romance so cherish the moment while you can. Good luck, too. ;P

Cross is a mixed bag. One moment he's purposely suave and dashing then the next he cant get a sentence out . Its like he has moments of clarity then goes back to being a dork.

On a few occasions they will team up on you. I don't think they would really plan it unless it was your birthday or something special like that. When they do it it's usually just an accident and their moods synced to cause chaos.

When they team up they are menaces! Epic would be all gentle and romantic with flirty, witty remarks while Cross would be the type to guide you by the small of your back, leaning in to tell you things. And you know he'd be saying stuff like he's your personal knight! "I'll always be there for you." || "if you ever need anything just come to me, I'll take care of you." And shit like that.

Augh they would have you cornered but like in a good way. Cross always behind you, making sure you're safe while Epic leads you around by the hand. I hate them. I actually love them damn it.

Sometimes they get needy and steal you away for a while. The dorks.

Epic "kidnaps" you to cuddle up somewhere and read or watch a movie. He's very touchy (respectfully) so if you're okay with it he will be all over you. He especially loves it if you act as his weighted blanket and lay on him.

Cross gets grouchy and takes you somewhere on an "adventure". Most of the time it'll be somewhere without people. If the place has rough terrain he'll likely try to convince you to let him carry you lol. "You got it?" / "you tired?" / "want help?" Any reason to be close or touching you if you'll allow it.

If you're more of a low and mellow energy person he'll set up a special spot where he sets up stuff for one of your hobbies (if he can) somewhere hidden and will hang out with you.

Stars forbid you give only one of them a gift. They won't guilt you or be mean, but they will rub it in the others face subtly. If they're the one who didnt get something then Epic would jokingly act all clingy and pouty while Cross glares at him. Speaking of, Cross would stand closer than normal and Low-key pout if he didn't get something. Like a cat who wants something from you.

If you're the more affectionate, touchy type then you're going to likely always have one of them touching you if they're around. Epic practically hangs off of you while Cross just has a hand on you somehow. They have probably scent marked you, accidentally or not. They just clingy bois.

Also - not in a kinky way - but Cross has a high chance of biting you during prolonged physical contact lol. It's just a quirk of his. Its like cuteness aggression but in a loving way. You can think of it as kisses it a way.

He wouldn't mention it if you dont but it is a good way to fluster him >:3c

As for trying to be better than each other i think they would choose some things you like and try to be "the best" at it?? Like... lets say you collect shells. Suddenly they are finding great shells - in tact and pretty - and giving them to you. Same with trinkets. Or finding weird coffee mugs if you like those.

Epic also is that bitch who has a lot of money and just sugar daddies his friends LMAOO. You want that expensive thing? Dont worry bby hes got it kcjsbsbsb. If hes crushing on you it just gets worse and more ridiculous.

Cross is the one who has dedication to getting you things. So if something is about timing or searching hard for it he's the one to go to. He also just brings you random things like a bird..?? You dont even know where he gets half the stuff he shows up with. You may even just find stuff on a table in your house randomly.

Also, for no apparent reason, kareoke becomes a thing between y'all. You have no choice /j

[typicalopposite]

wip wednesday <3

so I have been tagged by quite a few people (thank you all 🫶 @desert--moonchild @bidisasterevankinard @onthewaytosomewhere @lavenderleahy -- got bamboozled by @sunnywithachanceofbi -- @judymarch15 @marvelousbuckley @tailsbeth-writes @cafe-con-letty & @theotherbuckley ... and that's going back a month) over the span of... a time for different things... lol I have not been keeping up with the games I have been tagged in like I use to... its been a messy life! BUT I'm finally catching up by sharing (quite a bit of) not an already established wip... but a new one! you know, now that we are all collectively in our grieving/fix-it era <3 so consider yourselves -- eyes Chrissy -- tagged back!

take me back - tommy amnesia fic

Tommy cracks his eyes open, fully expecting to be met with that damned water stain on his ceiling he keeps meaning to get looked at — when the spot caves in on him he’s going to regret it — but for the past six months his mind has been on… other things. Regardless, this is not the sight he is met with, and he looks up in confusion at the garage ceiling instead. He blinks a few times before realizing that he’s laying on the cold concrete floor. It takes just a moment longer before he is overcome by a splitting headache and his vision blurs. 

“What the fuck…” he groans, forcing himself to sit up. He reaches for his head, unable to pinpoint where exactly the pain is radiating from; he feels it throughout his entire skull... it’s in his eyes, his temples, all the way down into his neck. He’s not even sure what happened. If he passed out; if he tripped… Why was he even in the garage when he was supposed to be getting ready. The room feels like it’s spinning, and he feels waves of nausea wash over him. He doubts he’ll be able to stand up unassisted, so he crawls over to his workout bench and uses it for support. 

He almost crumples back to the floor from the vertigo he gets from rising to his feet, but he holds tight to the pull bar and takes a few deep breaths until it finally subsides. He opens his eyes again, relieved his vision has cleared, and tries to take a step. His legs are wobbly but he manages to remain stable and upright as he crosses the garage and walks back into his house. 

That’s when he realizes it’s already getting dark. Shit. He was supposed to be getting ready! He goes for his phone but it’s not in his pocket, so he slowly makes his way to his room, except it’s not on the charger either— 

And his bed spread is different… 

His bed spread is—

Tommy squeezes his eyes shut as the headache continues to get worse. “Fuuuck…” he drawls out, once again reaching for his head. He needs to get medicine, to find his phone, and to get out the door or he is going to be late. He can’t be late tonight. Tonight is special.

Another deep breath and he takes another step, towards the bathroom this time. He pulls the medicine cabinet door open, eyes going to the middle shelf where he keeps his ibuprofen… and finds a prescription— two prescriptions actually. He stares at the little orange bottles, both made out to him… one is acetaminophen-- and since he doesn’t have time to figure out why they are there-- he ignores the second and just takes the prescribed dose of the pain medicine and recloses the door. 

All he has to do now is to find his damn phone. 

It’s not in the kitchen, or on the coffee table, or out in his truck, or buried in the couch cushions… The last place he goes is back into the garage; lo and behold it’s there. The problem? It’s shattered. How it got shattered he doesn’t know. Possibly from his fall. 

He tries the side button and the screen lights up. It’s five thirty; he needs to go. He tries to carefully input his passcode: 5724. It doesn’t work. He tries it again. Still nothing. One more time and then another… he assumes the problem is the broken screen, but the phone disables for one minute and he doesn't have time to keep trying. Oh well, he can just leave now, and be there a little early. It’s not like it actually matters if he’s early, anyway. 

He goes back into the bathroom, looks at himself in the mirror— reels at the images looking back because, damn. His eyes are bloodshot with dark circles and his face is puffy and drained of all color as if he’s been crying. Has he been crying? He pushes the thought aside and takes out his eye drops, dropping a couple into each eye and wincing from the pain tilting his head back causes. The medicine will kick in soon, the headache will subside. He will be early… but when is extra time with his boyfriend a bad thing?

*

He parks and climbs out of his truck, the remnants of his headache finally starting to fade away. He takes the stairs two at a time once he’s inside the building, getting that giddy little pep in his step he always gets the moment he reaches Evan’s floor. He strides down the hallway, feeling light on his feet— like he’s floating on air. He reaches the door, lifts his hand and raps against the wood… once, twice, and three times. 

There’s a quiet commotion from inside, accompanied by the sounds of voices— plural, so someone else is here. Tommy tries to think about whether Evan said he had any plans prior to their date… he can’t remember. It doesn’t matter. He bounces on the balls of his feet, feeling his heart pick up in speed as footsteps get closer to the door. The lock turns, the knob twists and the door opens. 

Tommy can feel the tug of his smile spreading high up onto his cheeks. “Hey—”

“Uhm… Hi?” A voice that’s not Evan’s replies— Tommy stares at a face that is not Evan’s… A man he doesn’t recognize; dressed in comfortable clothes-- practically sleep clothes-- with tousled hair and a sated look that instantly has Tommy feeling some type of way. He tilts his head to see the number on the door, thinking maybe he came to the wrong apartment. He didn’t, and so he’s left thoroughly confused at who this stranger is and why he looks so… comfortable in his boyfriend’s home. “Tommy, right?” The guy continues. He lets his eyes travel over Tommy, like he’s studying him, keeping a careful and friendly enough smile on his face. 

“Wha- uh, I’m… sorry. Do I know you?” 

“Doubt it. But I have heard plenty about you…” The voice is suave; his tone is flat but not necessarily cold. Who the fuck even is—

“Dylan?” That is Evan’s voice… Tommy peers around this guy— around Dylan to see his boyfriend come bopping off the stairs. “Who is it— oh… T- Tommy?!” Evan’s face blanks, and his arms stall just as he was starting to slip them around this— this— Dylan’s waist. Tommy thinks he might actually be sick. Evan looks just as debauched, in his gray sweatpants and no shirt— sweat glistening over his bare chest leaves very little to be imagined of what the two were up to before he knocked. He finally truly looks at Dylan and the shirt is Evan’s… his oversized faded Nirvana band tee. Tommy has had to quickly slip it on when they have been disturbed time and time before. “What are you doing here?” Evan asks.

A sarcastic laugh bubbles its way out of Tommy and he has to take a step back from the door— from them. “W- What am I doing here?” He asks.  “What am I doing here…” he repeats. His face is starting to flush and there are tears filling his eyes no amount of blinking speed would be able to push away. He dares a look back at Evan. Wants to see if he even looks guilty; does he even look sorry? He just looks shocked, and that pisses Tommy off more. “I can't believe this...” he mutters under his breath and turns on his heels, willing his feet to get him out of this nightmare as fast as possible. 

“Tommy?” 

Ignore him. 

“T- Tommy!”

Ignore him. Forget him.

The steps are easier to get down than up; he is practically jumping the whole way down each flight. He should have known… he should have prepared better… he should have never given him that second chance… Tommy knew this thing with Evan was only going to be temporary— Evan was figuring himself out, and Tommy was more than willing to be the kind, caring, and supportive hand through the journey. But Tommy knew one day he would reach the end, he wouldn’t need the security of Tommy anymore, and Tommy was prepared to bow out gracefully. He just thought they had more time. 

But this…

This hurts so much more than he had anticipated that that would. 

“Tommy…” 

A hand grabs his shoulder and he realizes he has stopped just outside the apartment building. The cool night air is drying out the tears that have already streaked down his face. His chest feels like it’s caving in… and great, his headache is back. He shrugs Evan’s hand off of him, and starts moving towards his truck again. 

“What— Dammit Tommy! Are you seriously going to be this stubborn right now…”

That stops him. He turns and glares at Evan, taking a step towards him with seemingly enough fury Evan stops in his tracks, keeping distance between them. “Stubborn…?” Tommy chokes out. “Are you really calling me stubborn right now?”

“I- I mean… yeah! That’s how you’re acting right now!” Evan crosses his arms, having the audacity to appear angry. “You come to my apartment, had a stare down with my boyfriend, then just stormed off with no explanation!” 

Tommy feels his heart sink— hell it does more than that… it falls all the way to the floor and shatters. “B- Boyfriend…” he repeats. This has to be some kind of a prank. It has to be. “How can you stand there and look so calm about this… You—” You asshole… You lying, manipulative— “Cheater…” 

The look on Evan’s face at that word almost— not fully, but almost— surprises Tommy. So stunned; his eyes bouncing around from Tommy’s, to the ground, to the cars around them, up to the sky… before finally coming back to Tommy’s. “Ch- Cheater? Tommy.. wh- what are you talking about.” Tommy huffs out another sarcastic laugh and turns to angrily storm the rest of the way to his truck, all the while knowing Evan isn’t going to just let him. Maybe there’s even a part of him hoping Evan stops him with a viable explanation, because this… this can't be how it ends— this is going to do more than just crush him… it’s going to annihilate him. “Oh my god…” Evan groans and as Tommy suspected he would, starts after him again. “Tommy! Can you please— just this once— stop running and talk to me?” 

“Talk about what, Evan…” Tommy all but screams and, oddly enough, that seems to stop Evan in his tracks. “What do you want me to say? That I should have seen this coming… That I should have known it was too good to be true. Or maybe admit that I always knew I wouldn't be your forever, no matter how bad I wanted to be… but I sure as hell didn’t see this—” he gestures frantically at Evan then up at the apartment building. “—being how it ended.” The more he let the words spill out, the more confused Evan looked. “Or should I just come out and address the elephant in the room— the man up in your apartment you’re cheating on your boyfriend with.” 

Evan’s brows pull together, hardening his stare into something Tommy has never been on the receiving end of; it hurts to see, instead of angering him like it probably should. “I don’t know if you’re drunk… or if this is some kind of joke… but it’s not funny— it’s not fair! You— You don’t get to barge back into my life unannounced— today of all days. Then— then you accuse me of— That man up in my apartment is my boyfriend, Tommy… he has been for eight months now.” 

Tommy feels like a bomb was shoved down his throat and detonated. His entire body trembles and goes through after shocks of what Evan said. Partially from the unexpected sting of jealousy at the thought of someone being with Evan longer than he has… but mostly because of the absurdity of it all; does Evan really expect him to buy into the nonsense he’s spewing; claiming he has been in this other relationship for this long— and on their anniversary. Except Evan looks serious. 

Tommy tries to find his voice; he tries to string some words together in his head to say something back. “W- What?” is all he manages to come up with; his voice betrays him, coming out small and broken. 

Evan steps closer to him, cracks clearly forming in the cold and serious look he was just giving Tommy, making way for looks of concern, or confusion… or maybe even of sadness. “Tommy,” he says the name for the upteenth time, and Tommy feels himself flinching at his own name like it assaulted him. “Are you— Are you okay? What’s going on? Why— why are you here?” He steps closer, Tommy steps back. 

Just like that the medicine’s effect dissipates and his headache comes rushing back with a vengeance. Tommy’s vision blurs and he gasps at the return of the pain, now with a spot to single the bulk of it to. He brings his hand up to the back of his head, fingers instantly touching something wet. 

“Will you stop— dammit Tommy, stop running away from me,” Evan continues, almost in front of him now, although his voice sounds muffled and far away. Tommy stops backing up and lets his hand fall down from his head, revealing bright red blood coating his fingers. “Oh my god…” Evan gasps just as a wave of dizziness sways Tommy backwards. Two strong arms grab him, steady him… but don’t exactly hold him, and that hurts as bad as this headache. Evan is so close Tommy wouldn’t have to lean in far to capture his lips… but he can’t. Not like this. Not while everything feels so off and confusing. 

He allows Evan to help him over to his truck, but shies away from his touch the moment he is able to lean on its bed for stability. Evan pulls out his phone and dials 9-1-1. “What are you doing?” Tommy asks when his jaw is grabbed, gently but firmly, and Evan is guiding him to turn his head. He is ignored as Evan talks to the dispatcher, giving the location and a short gist of what happened, before he stops talking abruptly.

“T- Tommy… were— were you in an accident?” 

Tommy can’t help the sarcasm heavy laugh at the ridiculous question. “Don’t you think you would know if I had been,” he says coolly. 

Evan sighs. “He has a pretty big wound on the back of his head,” he tells the dispatcher, and Tommy stares at him in shock. “There are staples but it’s been reopened.” Tommy feels his skin prickling. He feels this strong sense of unease, like the floors about to fall out from under him. “Hey… look at me,” Evan says, resting his hand on Tommy’s shoulder and looking in his eyes, he turns his phone’s flashlight on and scans it over each eye. “His pupils are receptive. Do— Do you know what day it is?” 

Of course that’s a logical question but given everything it is like a stab into his already ripped open chest. “It’s… November 7.” 

“Okay, good. And the year?”

“2024…”

“Okay— wait. Wh- What did you say?” Once again Evan is staring at him confused. “You said it’s 2024?” Tommy breaks his eyes away; Evan is getting that kicked puppy look and he doesn’t get to do that. He doesn’t get to make Tommy feel bad right now. “Tommy…” Evan pries. “You— You said 2024?” 

“Yes Evan, yes! It’s November 7, 2024! It’s our six month anniversary! But I guess that means nothing to—” His voice cracks. He covers his trembling lip with the back of his hand and tries to calm himself down. 

Sirens break through the deafening silence, and an Ambulance turns into the parking lot. Evan flags it over and it comes to a stop behind Tommy’s truck. Thankfully it’s not the 118, and Tommy doesn’t recognize the paramedics that get out to help him. They check over the apparent wound on the back of his head, and start asking him questions. Questions he mostly ignores because he is focused on Evan talking to the one of them off to the side. “He— he thinks it’s 2024…” he whispers but Tommy catches it anyway. 

“What do you mean ‘I think’,” he asks past the mountain of questions the paramedic accessing him is still piling on. Evan’s mouth clamps shut and he looks over at Tommy. “You said I think it’s 2024… what the hell does that mean Evan.” 

“I- I don’t— uhm…” Evan looks helplessly at the paramedics, avoiding looking at Tommy. 

“Sir, please, just calm down. Take a deep breath. We can get everything figured out at the hospital.”

“To hell with that,” Tommy snaps— which surprises even himself, because he is usually compliant with first responders, being that he is one. “I want everything figured out now. What do you mean?” 

“Tommy…” Evan begins, takes a deep breath and sighs it out. “It’s 2025.” 

“What?”

“It— It’s 2025,” Evan reiterates.

~~~~~~~~

Sooooo 😀 trying to actually get this fix rolling because I am not going to post the whole first chapter until it’s done! Fingers crossed I don’t lose inspiration before then 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

Throwing out a couple more tags just incase you wanna share something fixing this mess thrown on our poor sad boys or just to heal yourself, or something entirely new! 🫶

@nine-one-wanton @herrmannhalsteadproduction @30somethingautisticteacher @bangpop91 @racerchix21 @rdng1230

@somethingaboutfirefly @kinardsevan @bucksxkinard @unhingedangstaddict and anyone else who wants to share their stuff or just follow along 🫶

[justchillandshipit]

Allow me to take a moment here. Tim just acknowledged couch theory?

Moving on to Buck and Tommy’s breakup, talk about your approach to it. Why was Tommy sure that Buck would break his heart?

Tommy’s older and Buck is very new to this, and whether Tommy was correct or not, I think what he felt like was exactly what he said: I’m not your last, I’m your first, which is a special thing to be, but as Tommy says, it doesn’t usually end up being the same thing. And I think based on what we know of Buck, he’s maybe not wrong. Buck’s a little impulsive when he’s feeling a certain kind of way. He’s like, move on in, bring your couch. So I just think because Tommy’s a little older and wiser or maybe at some level he feels like he doesn’t deserve Buck, I don’t know. But I think he accurately diagnosed Buck. Buck’s still figuring himself out, and boy, that would be quite risky to move in with that guy as much as you would love to.

---

We have a couch reference.

---

Somewhat unrelated but relevant:

I also think that I have finally caught up on all the articles. In every article, someone says Eddie is straight. I want to say about four articles have a reference or a mention of straight Eddie, and there is one in-canon statement from Eddie. So what do we think about that? I instinctively want to say that to have that many denials is sus, but I also have to acknowledge that the question was asked before the response was offered. I honestly don't know what to believe when it comes to the show's direction. I'm still here though and sticking with my original plan to give them until the end of Seasn 8 to move Eddie out of the closet. I will not accept the demise of this ship a moment sooner. It doesn't help that actors are excellent liars. Oliver always makes me second guess myself. lol For now, I'm still here and still clowning.

Other things to consider in favor of Buddie:

There was one article from TVInsider where the interviewer reminded the reader that Eddie said he wanted a beard. Most of us know the gay coding of that word, and that was promptly followed by the Priest pointing out that Eddie was wearing a mask/disguise. This is all within the same conversation where Eddie assumed the Priest was hitting on him, and he called himself straight.

I'm also low-key wondering about the possible conflict between Eddie and Buck coming up. I need more info on that. What?? These two haven't had beef since Buck sued Bobby in Season 3 and Buck and Eddie argued in the grocery store. We all know how Eddie served c#nt like a professional in that fight. Eddie ended up forgiving Buck soon afterward, but Buck was still apologizing four episodes later. lol

I saw in another post where someone compared the image of Eddie in the confessional with the image of Eddie seeing Buck through the peephole of his door. (Hint, both looked like confessional images.) That has to be deliberate.

Tim's comment above referenced Tommy and a couch in a similar context to Eddie and Buck's conversation when Buck said his last few couches came with girlfriends, and Eddie corrected him to say his girlfriends came with couches.

@stagefoureddiediaz 's color theory is still proving accurate as well.

Updates

Buck looking less than thrilled at seeing Laker tickets. Tommy tells him he can use the gift with Eddie and Buck perking up at the idea, only for Tommy to say nope. Joking. (On a second watch, I think I read too much in to this one, but I'm keeping it on the list as very loose interpretation.)

Oliver admits that Buck looked Eddie up and down when he opened the door and knew something was going on with him, but then the whole sit in silence thing. (I know the breakup was on Buck's mind, but I swear he looked like he was trying not to think about Eddie being half naked beside him.)

Also, Eddie was half naked just sitting beside him. I can't help but think of them sitting there like that. Buck and Eddie are going to the same place, but they are taking totally different paths to get there. At some point, they are going to meet each other face to face and be like, you're here.

(I saw a theory. You always have to take these with a grain of salt, but I can't deny the theory sounds good. there have been a lot of parallels that are relevant for Buck and Eddie with the exception of Eddie's shooting.) I did read one interview, it may have been TVInsider, where the interviewer said they hoped Buck wouldn't be in danger. Oliver hinted that Buck was always putting himself in those situations. I think it might be a hint for what is to come. Also, if Buck is putting himself in dangerous situations again, this might be something that has Eddie angry with Buck. I think there is a lot of room for this theory. We'll have to wait and see on that one.

In a previous interview, Oliver told us there was an upcoming scene where Buck and Eddie sat in silence and that it was a testament to their friendship. In the latest interview in Variety, he talks about the scene again but this time he says "that it speaks volumes about their relationship that they could be going through things and handling it so differently but still be there for each other with little need for words. (This is the same interview where Oliver admits that Buck looked Eddie up and down.) At the end of this question, he reiterates that it speaks volumes that they were in different places and could still be there for each other. He says, "I think it really speaks volumes to the strength of their bond."

[thegracefulknight]

O!Ciel, Lizzy, and Sterling Silver Roses

One of my favorite extra chapters in Kuro is the Book of Murder side story, where each of the characters turn into characters from fairy tales. My most favorite part there is obviously Ciel and Lizzy's, which represented The Snow Queen (also my favorite fairy tale). It just fits them so much!

So I was rereading this chapter and noticed the panels below:

In the first one, we see Ciel seemingly giving someone a rose. At the present, we haven't seen any scene similar to this between O!Ciel and Lizzy, but since this is Lizzy's POV and she is talking about the protagonist, I'm assuming this is indeed a memory shared between them (or at least parallel of actual events that happened in their past).

O!Ciel's favorite flower, is coincidentally, sterling silver roses, as mentioned by Sebastian in Ch. 1.

Sterling silver roses are these lovely lavender or lilac-silver roses that represent nobility, elegance, and regality. Since I wanted to see if there would be any relation I could make between this flower and my favorite ship (the way I overthink about these two, really 😭 lol), I tried to look more into what these types of roses represent in a romantic sense.

And well— lavender-colored roses like the sterling silver rose represent love at first sight. They also "signify enchantment, adoration, wonder, and fascination. If you have a secret love, lavender roses can maintain a sense of mystery. The tone is also ideal for the first time you give your love interest flowers."

Giving lilac roses to your special someone, on the other hand, symbolizes your "subtle intentions for them in the future."

Going along with these concepts, and since we were never told of the reason yet why this type of rose was our earl's favorite, my assumption is that the silver sterling rose probably holds a special memory for him in the past. And as the only time we see him with a rose in the manga so far would be that panel from the special chapter (correct me if I'm wrong though), it could be assumed that this memory is something he shares with Lizzy from when they were little—O!Ciel giving her a sterling silver rose. It could be a hint that O!Ciel has liked our sweet Lizzy from the start, and possibly, has wished before that it was he would be betrothed to her instead of R!Ciel (who doesn't really seem that interested in her anyway, he's just happy and relieved she at least is cute and 'not scary'). He doesn't act on it however, as he knows she is never meant to be his.

One thing to note is that, while we have seen from his actions many times that he cares a lot about Lizzy, we are still yet to see O!Ciel actually talk about his true feelings for her. And I believe it's about time l we see just how he thinks of her, from his own POV. I expect that this is something we will finally get to see soon in this arc as one of the layers it touches are the conflicts between O!Ciel and Lizzy, and their relationship.

It's been shown at an earlier part of this arc that O!Ciel distances himself from people he cares about to protect them, and that he is afraid to accept the idea that he deserves love and happiness. I think bringing up this memory with her, and his sterling silver roses would be an emotional way for him to finally face these feelings, and give it a name. To acknowledge that Lizzy is someone that he loves, ever since, and someone he doesn't want to lose.

All of this for now are just my assumptions on what we may see once we finally get the focus back to O!Ciel and Lizzy, but it would be truly interesting to see it unfold, and also a beautiful way to see them acknowledge their feelings for each other when the time comes.

[amandapearls]

Not the antis saying that Elriels are the ones that don’t care about Elain…💀🤡 Because apparently Az would do the things he does for Elain for everyone else and that he just sees her as another lover, that he wants to keep a secret.

I’ve also seen them point out that Az was still dreaming and lusting ovwr Mor when Elain was just THERE. I mean, first of all… we don’t know the extent of his feelings for Mor. We just know what everyone assumes LOL. And yeah, Az is there to save people, he defends very strongly those he cares about, but did he EVER had a reaction to anyone else like he had for Elain when she was taken for example? Nope. Alsoooo, Elriel just has a normal build up, from friends to (almost) lovers. It took some time for Az to get over whatever he was feeling for Mor. Ofc. But he developed a friendship with Elain in the meantime, that turned into something more eventually. Even in ACOSF is said pretty clear that he basically gave up to Mor. After all this time. But I’m repeating myself, we don’t know the exact extent of what he felt for Mor. Maybe he just let ppl assume lol, bc I refuse to believe he’d just act like he doesn’t get the hint from Mor for like 500 years, when he knows basically everything. Things are more complex than that.

And the ones that don’t like Elain are the ones that pair and force her with a male she doesn’t want. At all. Guess which one is that. SJM said that it’s obvious who the next book is about and she also build this ship for several books now. Just stop pretending your ship has ANY chance. The lies y’all tell yourselves just so your ship can “earn” half a point in the romance department are laughable.

I genuinely can’t wait for the day to prove y’all WRONG. 💅🏻

Goodness you guys love sending long as hell anons.

1. I’d say that if you ship Elain and Azriel then you don’t really love Elain. If you loved Elain, then you’d ship her with the person who would treat her the best and actually care about her wellbeing (aka her MATE). Also, we don’t have Elain’s POV yet, so nobody truly knows how Elain feels about her mate.

2. When Rhys confronted Azriel about Elain in the bonus chapter, Azriel did NOT say “I think I’m in love with Elain” or “she’s special to me” or “I really care about Elain”. Nothing. Instead he called her the third sister. Then let us know that he “hadn’t gotten that far in his planning, certainly NOT beyond the fantasies that he pleasured himself to”. Sounds like lust to me. And since Rhys can read minds— I’m sure he heard Azriels thoughts and knew that it wasn’t love. Rhys did the right thing here.

3. Rhys confronted Azriel about Mor in the bonus chapter and Azriel completely ignored that question. Hence, I do think Azriel still has some unresolved feelings for Mor that he needs to get over before he’s with anyone.

4. It’s stated multiple times throughout the book series that Azriel looks at Mor with “heat and longing”. And at the end of ACOMAF, when Azriel was poisoned he still tried to protect Mor. His sole focus was on Mor. So I’m pretty sure his feelings for Mor are spot on with what other characters have said in the books.

5. Sarah stated it was obvious and it is. The next book will be Azriel’s with Gwyn as his love interest. I think Azriel will finally get over his unresolved feelings for Mor in his book and he will fall in love with Gwyn. Based off ACOSF and the bonus chapter, I think it’s clear that they’re definitely mates. Especially since Gwyn is the only female to ever make Azriel feel a “spark in his chest”. Sounds like mates to me.

Can’t wait for the next book announcement too ❤️❤️

[qinluna]

I really like this theory! Because I was thinking the same during the last few chapters when we finally get a glimpse of Sylus and MCs memories. This is the link - https://x.com/millecreupe/status/1813809147508613476?t=2YsqG032kliHKY18Z4QKZg&s=19

The way I'm so dedicated to this cause that I ended up making a Twitter account just to view this.

Let me preface that I am a bit freaked out right now because everything OP wrote about in this thread is pretty much accurately aligned with every specific detail I've predicted/theorized about Sylus and his purpose of changing fate/breaking cycles/etc. I've delayed making any posts about lore because I genuinely don't want to go back into the story chapters to take screenshots and shit, it's very tedious to me LOL 😭😭😭😭😭 I promise I remember what I can, even if it's not miniscule details, I just take away the important things!

(Side note: I've previously predicted/prophesized things before that have come true & I'm a little spooked by it. I don't like to put things out there unless I'm super passionate about a subject LMFAO)

[Warning: VERY LONG info dump/theory post ahead!]

Often when it comes to unveiling or creating monsters, there is always a price to pay. That's the common formula for any story involving someone who has an alternate form or is on the verge of becoming something non-human. It takes a special kind of trigger - often, it's intense emotional states - to unleash a creature or be granted a uniquely regal power. (ex. Eren from AoT, Nero in DMC5, Ignis in Final Fantasy 15)

I'm going to follow the evidence listed in OP's thread for my references + additional responses to the thread that are relevant, which I will link here for easy clickback! (Thank you so much again anon!)

I want to dive into one of the examples I listed first before I proceed. (Light spoilers ahead, and iffy details since it's been so long since I played the game.) While Ignis doesn't have an alternate form whatsoever, there's a DLC in FF15 where you have the opportunity to play as him during the climatic event of main story. Essentially, this would involve Ignis changing the planned fate of the protagonist where he would end up sacrificing himself in the very end to save his world and his people. Ignis pretty much defies that fate, going against godly forces and sacrificing a part of himself that ends up changing the canon ending. In short: Ignis saves the protagonist, everybody else, and everything's great. Yay!

I'm a broken record at this point by saying Sylus' involvement is going to defy fate and interrupt the timelines. TLDR; He's going to ultimately save MC from her curse and break the cycles, no matter the cost.

First, let's discuss Sylus' Evol (power). Energy manipulation can mean a lot of things, though as far as the story has shown us, this means he can bend anything/anyone at will through energetic binds. Also, he can know someone's deepest desires, which is activated when his right eye glows.

At a certain point in Chapter 9 (or 2.1), Sylus mentions something about the MC's Evol being weaker/not as strong as before. While we know Energy Resonance is the MC's power, there seems to be something more at play when it comes to it. It's a likely possibility that the MC herself is more powerful beyond resonating with others, perhaps to the point of causing re/destruction.

I like what OP says in part 3 of the thread: "I assumed MC didn't kill him but instead resonated with Sylus, making his self healing ability double in power, AND at the same time directly **pouring the energy of her aether core into the core the he would be implanted, forcibly reshaping a "heart" in his body."

[Previous quote was in alignment to: "Sylus turned into a wanderer. And if mc died and didn't kill him there, he might completely turn into a wanderer..."]

It's hard to deter me from the belief that in the flashback we saw towards the end of 9.2 that Sylus was literally in a Wanderer form. The arm that moves and reaches out to MC is a lot bigger than her own and when looked at closer, you can make out a textured hand with claws. You can see his palm held out faced upwards, and a weapon floating(?) just atop the center of it.

[10/25 UPDATE: The last time I touched this post was back in July, LMAO. This has been sitting in my drafts for months, but now with the Sylus Translation Project, I'm happy to add it to this mini dissertation.]

Here are some points from the Reddit post that struck my interest the most:

[Changed Facts] Changes how Sylus's powers work: specifically, there are invisible shackles inside of his body that prevent him from absorbing even more power. There is not a tether that prevents him from "tapping into" more power. This is a fundamental power difference and has created a complete misunderstanding about how his powers truly work amongst English-only speakers in the global community.

[Missing Fact] Sylus's Aether Core works by him invading and taking over consciousness; he does not merely perform basic mind control, it's actually far more insidious and terrifying.

[Power Nerf] Sylus's powers are actually described as "all-powerful and all-encompassing" but this was somehow reduced into merely blocking exits.

I encourage you to read the entire post in full, for it shifts so much about Sylus' character. Though for me personally, it only justifies all my speculations and conclusions about his character even beyond mistranslation. I will repeat myself over and over and OVER again: Sylus is beyond powerful, way more than we even know and I'm honestly just waiting for Infold to do something to show this grand transformation or show of power.

With these fixed translation points, it makes sense why he's so desperate to resonate with MC. A few comments on the Reddit post have the same speculation I did that it's possible him and MC have the same Aether Cores in their bodies. [OP responded to a comment with: "MC hears things like "Devour," "He's yours," "It belongs to you," I almost wonder if it's actually because they share two halves of a single Aether Core…"] [[THIS I AGREE WITH HEAVILY.]] If this is the case, I don't doubt that Sylus knows this, but he would rather MC find this out on her own due to some morale of integrity, building her inner strength, etc.

TLDR; Her resonating with him would unleash those shackles. I also don't think it's amiss that MC also has some kind of shackles, but that's just me thinking of other possible scenarios. Everything is so vague with this story because we've only been fed so much tidbits.

But one thing's for sure... I really, really think these two are the true fated pair, to a certain degree. And why it's difficult for them to resonate is due to the fact that they both wield a power that can shift the world, the universe... everything altogether.

[danieyells]

I have major Rui brainrot. But anyways-

A couple of things I caught onto.

At the beginning of the game, they list off all the houses in Darkwick except for Obscuary before finally mentioning there’s a new house being added. That it doesn’t have any general entries (this is after speaking about Jabberwok btw) and that it’s also pretty exclusive to even ghouls. They’re heavily alluding to Obscuary, here. Kaito also starts to say something about their captain before being cut off (this is in one of the entrance ceremony chapters in the prologue).

But heres a couple of brain rot things I have.

If Obscuary is a newer house- what house was Ed and Rui in prior?

I’m sure they were moved to Obscuary because they’re considered high risk to the general populace (and also why there are no general admissions as well).

Ones a vampire. One is a reaper cursed guy who’s touch can kill you. And then they’re moving Lyca there- who is also considered pretty high risk (at least, Darkwick seems to think so).

Additionally, Haku goes out of his way in the beginning to warn Rui about Article 77 & 78. Well- now we know what those Articles entail per the new chapter. Rui seems pretty high risk for getting slapped with that considering his curse makes him a danger to be around. I’m assuming the same for Ed since he’s a vampire but also he did something that I’m sure we’ll find more information out on the next chapter. I hope. I cope.

I’m curious if Lyca being placed in Obscuary is also meant to be taken as a message (he’s definitely going to blab about being held in PRISON since he seems to say whatever is on his mind- according to Rui affinity lines). The message being “If you fuck up, you’re next”.

Anyways- I could blab more but I have just been turning this over in my mind and I saw you mention somewhere in one of your blogs about Obscuary possibly having general students. But early in the game, they say that the new house (alluding to Obscuary) has no general populace and isn’t even an option for the ceremony and that they’re specially selected to be put there. (If I’m recalling correctly).

Brainrot is always welcome here anon -u- i may just be slow at responding to it sometimes lol.

But yeah I did forget that Obscuary was stated to not have general students--I tend to forget things that're earlier in the game because the hyperfocus wasn't as strong when the game first launched hhhaaaa but thank you for the correction!!! 💞

To clarify Obscuary wasn't newly being added but rather it's the newest house of all of the current ones(implying Dionysia, Ultio, or Clamentia may have been newer.)

We don't know how long it's existed so it could be brand new, but we only know that it's existed the least amount of time of the currently active ones. That doesn't necessarily mean that they had to be in another house before this. Some of Darkwick's rules have existed for like 100 years apparently, according to one of Ritsu's lines, so for all we know the house is 10 years old and they just haven't added more that are currently active since Obscuary. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

However we do know Rui was likely in another house(or school?) before this because he got his reaper curse on a mission.

I assume he was in one of the defunct houses before this, personally--maybe Dionysia since he's a bartender? Or Clementia since he's a pretty peaceful and kind person? Clementia would also make sense since they did exorcisms and presumably worked with spirits. . .so if he was on a mission that ended up involving a spirit and a reaper didn't take kindly to his involvement. . .curse? We don't know exactly how one gets a reaper curse--it could not involve a reaper at all.

As for Ed. . . . . .well all of this hinges on the simple question of how long has Ed been a vampire. Because Haku mentions in one of his chats that he's not trying to end up a super senior(i.e. he wants to graduate and be a 4th year) so he goes on missions instead of going to classes instead of being held back. And we know Ed is a lazy fuck lol so it's entirely possible that Ed's been here for ages and just never went on enough missions or to class enough to graduate!

Of course if he's been a vampire less years than he's been in Darkwick then he likely was in another house. . .we know he likes his tablet and he's lazy and irresponsible, so he's likely captain out of seniority rather than skillset, but we don't really have any clues as to what house he would have been in beforehand. . .which house would be most likely to encounter a vampire? Frostheim? Mortkranken?

It's also possible that he was a vampire when he got here and was placed in Obscuary immediately after being brought in, no weighing of souls or anything.

BUT AAA I HOPE YOU'RE RIGHT ANON I HOPE THEY TOUCH ON THESE IN THE OBSCUARY CHAPTER i mean they have to right???? Or maybe it'll be in their character stories(so after the Obscuary chapter lol)--either way I hope it's addressed a little bit. . .even just a quick "this is how i ended up this way" thing--maybe the mission reminds Rui of the one he got cursed on and he doesn't want you to go. We know Lyca was born part werewolf, so I'd absolutely believe Ed was a vampire all along and just rolled up that way.

I figure they're gonna place Lyca in Obscuary both as a message(assuming he isn't somehow prevented from talking about being imprisoned, or maybe once he's out he just doesn't care much about that he was locked up a moment ago because he's more concerned about exploring his new surroundings) and because they just Do Not Trust Him even though he's clearly just a large dog at worst.

(thank you for sharing your brainrot with me! There's so much to think about haha)

[tree-obsession]

Gold and Red Text in Penacony

So, for some reason, I have decided to torture myself by creating a theory that will likely have some plot relevance??? but not totally sure. it has popped up a bunch of times and seems to confuse a lot of people, so I'm just putting together what I know! feel free to tell me if I missed something, as I haven't done many of the side quests yet...

Anyway, spoiler warning for 2.0 trailblaze mission and possibly some of the side quests?? idk proceed with caution! I don't read many leaks so I doubt there's spoilers for that but tell me right away if there are any!

Alright, so the first time we see different-colored text in this mission is during Acheron's first meeting with the Trailblazer. According to this twitter thread (credits to user mobnermal, NOT me) Acheron's dialogue will change, depending on the gender of the tb and how we respond to her queries. She also says towards the end of the convo something along the lines of "It feels like multiple different versions of you were talking to me, saying a different thing each time".

So, I'm not entirely sure why she's lying, or even if she's doing it intetionally. It does seem like there's some aspect of "different possibilities within the Dreamscape" happening- almost like the Dreamscape itself is changing the tb's answers/Acheron's questions. But again, we'll get a bit into the dreamscape later.

2. Aventurine's final convo with the tb, and then Black Swan later.

My screenshots were failing me so hard in this quest lol.

Anyway, as far as I know, these two are the only ones in this mission who use gold text. It's mostly used to highlight the word "truth", and according to the wiki and playthroughs I have watched this dialogue doesn't change- only Acheron's red seems inconsistent. I find it interesting Black Swan put quotations around it, and I have no idea what this could imply. I assume she knows something we and Aventurine don't about Robin's death, which seems to be what they were referring to during this part.

As to how that "upends everything"... I don't know what the implications of her death are. It's implied by the npc who raised Robin (can't find any screenshots- I didn't take any, but it's dialogue from an npc in the Golden Hour) and Sunday and Robin's dialogue in the very beginning- the one where they were "shades"- that Robin's voice may have some special quality that could mind-control/ brainwash people to some extent. This is a bit of a tangent, but may point out why the gold test is so important- the new Harmony trace mats match Robin's design very well, and are part of the Order. The Order's- Ena's- symbol is an eyeball, which can be found in a lot of places on Penacony, but most importantly Sunday's clothes. Judging from what we know of Sunday's control-freak-esque personality (sorry dude ):) it's possible he or someone else in The Family is using Robin's potential powers to brainwash the people of different factions. If you choose the alternate ending, everything wraps up a bit too nicely, and nobody seems to want to leave Penacony after that. Tb never finds out about Robin's death in that ending, either. There's a lot of implications there that I don't want to get into for this post, but basically- The Family is orchestrating something, probs pinned the blame on the IPC in the bad ending (since otherwise why would hoyo tell us that?) and then brainwashed everyone to never leave. Why? No idea! But it does explain why Robin's "truth" (in quotations, because Black Swan's dialogue does imply Robin's not dead) is so important to the plot.

That was a bit of a tangent, lol. Going back to the first sc, I find it interesting Aventurine is the one to tell us this, and if we're going with the idea that gold=truth, that just tells us Acheron's most certainly an Emanator, no matter what the Dreamscape does. Why they choose to have Aventurine reveal this, especially with the first instance of golden text- that's still up in the air. However, something I want to throw in is that there was a theory floating around Twitter comparing his eyes to the eye behind Ena in their official art. They are identical- even the gold outline on Ena's eye matches his eyeliner. Since it's implied in his conversation with Sparkle his eyes are a defining feature of his race, Sigonian, and that their civilization has been taken over (I'm not clear on details) or fallen apart somehow- akin to how civilizations under Ena's rule fell apart after their death- there may be some relation. Also, Aventurine was sent to Penacony specifically, which Topaz questioned- this may be why Diamond sent him. It implies a lot of plot relevance for him later, certainly!

3. The really, really ominous text you can get from a side quest.

If you go to the Reverie(Dreamscape) VIP lounge teleport beacon and head to the wall, you find a broken Clockie surrounded by purple bubbles. If you haven't done this quest yet- do it now, I really can't explain all this! search up a guide- there's a couple good ones on youtube. you do get a sticker!

anyway, some screenshots of the tape's text (cw for slight gore, explosions, screams, overall very ominous and vague tour-guidey stuff):

sorry for the text overlap lol, this was very inconveniently sized for screenshots.

anyway, yeah! possibly the most unnerving thing in the game so far (aside from those lost text stickers...). but, as you can tell, I'm gonna focus on the gold and red text. fair warning, I don't really know what to make of this, but I think there's some connection...

first, gold. this is, if we go off what I previously thought, the "truth". My current theory is that this gold is true of within or outside dreamscape- in other words, the dreamscape cannot alter that thing in the gold text. It's there, regardless of how the dreamscape screws other things up. The "truth" in the dreamscape isn't necessarily reliable, since dreamscape seems to fuck with everything, but gold is apparently truth, so we're sticking to that. That means that bloodshed, mind-opening (?), and pressure-releasing (???) is... true? It's kind of interesting- the other things in gold we've seen are statements with meaning, and this... kinda isn't. However, it could imply this is actually what's happening in the Dreamscape. Some kind of deranged, creepy thing that the dreamscape/ the Family is doing while everyone else is on this cool-looking vacation. I have no idea why that line, of all the lines, is gold, but it's certainly not something someone trying to make Penacony look good would say! That's all I know.

Not much I know about why the red one, specifically, is red either. Are the instruments/music fake? That's certainly a recurring motif in Penacony, between bands in the Golden Hour and Robin being a songstress, plus Ena's "Beyond the Sky Choir", their exclusive faction, which fell apart upon their death. Something about Ena being swallowed by XIpe will certainly be brought up later, I'm almost totally sure. It's also interesting it gets cut off by static, without even finishing the statement(I think). I have no idea what to make of these- I just needed to point out the similarities between this tape and the dialogue.

Also, the tape itself is suspicious. According to Woolesley, there are multiple, appearing all over the Reverie (Dreamscape) and sometimes even messing with the Dreamscape.

First of all, why the hell is he telling us this very classified-sounding info? Also, he literally might pop up next to you- it's inevitable that you give him the tape at some point, really showing how The Family is cracking down on these.

Also, who's making these tapes? Why are they leaving them around the Dreamscape if they know it'll be taken? What's with these side effects/corrupting? And what's the relation between the tapes, Acheron, and Aventurine/Black Swan- are those things revealed in the tapes things only those three are aware of, or care to tell tb? It's really weird, especially since they're apparently in Clockie statues? Also, why tapes even- the tapes themselves seem corrupted(or censored?) weirdly, judging from the lines, and also just... why would anyone make these? Someone against the Family presumably wouldn't do rebellion in such a way, and someone within would have no reason to create this at all- is the Dreamscape itself making it? it's the only thing using both red and gold text...

there's probably some connection to Clockie, since that's who is most likely talking in the tape... and that's the statue we found it in too. Clockie is sus in a whole host of ways- don't even get me started, but I'm not sure how they relate to this theory just yet.

I have no idea. The tape is super creepy, but things probably will clear up a bit in 2.1!

tldr/clarification(sry for rambling so much): red text = lie/subjective/ easily changeable, to the dreamscape at least

gold text= "truth", dreamscape is unable to change it(?)

ena probs will have some lore relevance along with Robin, who seems to be the center of this "truth" for the moment

the bizarre tape is very mysterious and questionable, with nothing solid that we know about it- however, it uses both red and gold text, which automatically makes it suspicious even beyond what it's saying directly

what the hell is the family cooking up? i don't know, but it's probably not good! (for us, at least)

thank you for reading this lightly-proofread, very rambling theory/speculation- you are an angel for making it this long!

edit: so number one- I've added a reblog to this post- plz check it out, it has some other details from the Chadwick quest. and also, there's this Youtube video that mentions the red text in the beginning! It has a very similar idea to mine, but the thing it mentions is not an option I made (I accepted Acheron right away lol, so I didn't grab this detail). And the entire vid is pretty cool, so you should see it!

[melodycalypso]

Ni No Kuni Music Analysis: “Kingdom by the Sea”, Joe Hisaishi

It’s been a long time coming… haha get the reference? Lol I’m not here to talk about Taylor Swift, but I’ve thought of doing a post talking about which Ni No Kuni characters embody which TS album era… thoughts?

ANYWAYS, I’m finally back doing another soundtrack analysis! This time we’re jumping ship to Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom! This game is just as special to me as the first one and the piece we will be looking at today is one of my favorites the soundtrack. As always, the piece is linked at the bottom of the post for your listening. So grab a snack and get comfy!!

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This piece is really calming and brings together the charm of Hideopolis! Also be aware that since now that I’ve taken more music history and form and analysis classes, this analysis will go ALL IN😂😂

0:00-0:07: The combination of harp, strings, steel pan?, and possibly other percussion instruments at the start gives me the feeling of bubbles floating by… idk it just does lol.

0:07-0:15: Also I’m loving all this syncopated rhythm! To briefly explain, rhythm is measured in counts: 1 2 3 4 (since the time signature is probably 4/4?? Or at least that’s what it sounds and feels like when I tap my foot lol). Syncopation occurs when you play on the second half of the beat or the “and”/& count. This creates a fun, groovy rhythm!!

0:15-0:26: The strings in the background from their entrance up til here, create a haunting texture with some spooky minor chords. The lower voiced strings also seem to be playing a familiar tune! This is the Habanera form the Carmen opera. I remember studying about this piece and having to memorize what it sounded like for my music literature class my last spring semester lol. I recommend listening to a recording of the Habanera from Carmen, it’s a great song!

0:27-0:1:02: A moment of silence… BECAUSE THIS MELODY IS SO GOOD!!😭

Alright alright, I’ll calm down. But the flowing melodic line crafted in the strings stirs this romantic, elegant, and eerie feeling inside you. It almost makes you want to sing along with it…just me?😅

It also plays a lot with dissonance that I’m assuming are leading tones. Brief theory lesson number 2: a major or minor scale is made up of 8 notes with 1 and 8 being the same note. The seventh note of the scale, when used harmonically, reallyyyyyyy wants to go back to 1 (or 8) on the next note. Or at least that’s what your ears tell you.

1:05-1:23: We get some woodwind voices popping in using what I believe is pitch bending on the long notes at the end of their phrases.

After some research, this instrumental extended technique—aka cool skill that is defined as pushing the limits to see what other sounds an instrument can make—is basically what it sounds like: taking a note or an instrument and bending the pitch so it comes out either flat(lower) or sharp(higher). And after putting my tuner up to the speaker of my iPad, it’s concluded that the pitch is bending flat.

1:23-1:43: Strings come back in continuing with the previous melody. Seems to be a variation or maybe even fragmentation of the previous theme.

1:43-1:52: I’m not sure since if a clarinet, oboe, or flute voice comes in during this part. The strings seem to be playing in the same register. I want to say it’s an oboe lol.

1:52-end: The same whimsical syncopation comes back in from the start and is decrescendo-ed to finish out the piece.

Another occurring theme of this piece is the use of dynamics, crescendos and decrescendos, to possibly imitate the sound of the ocean!

And that’s it!! I enjoyed looking at this piece and I hope you also enjoyed me yappin about it! Let me know your thoughts and what piece from the soundtrack you’d like me to tackle next! See y’all later!🤗🤗

[mystycalypso]

Can i just say how much i freaking love the work you two are doing, Holly hell this is some wild stuff as veteran of hello neighbor you two are making me proud of this small community that is running on tumblr!

Also i hope you two don't mind me asking two questions.

Firstly, If one of you two had the control over welcome to ravenBrooks show what will be some things you two will change.

Secondly, What are you're thoughts on the artstyle of the show considering that Man of Action is working on the show?

Okay to start, I know I say it every time we get asks like this but y'all are genuinely so sweet and nice and it's just really really cool to see people enjoy our stuff. Like- especially fellow old fans of the franchise. I know Kaydin also really appreciates how sweet you guys are but just idk it feels like my fandom dreams come true when people like things like our au and art for this series

As for your questions...

Personally, to start, and this is Jack being slightly particularly- idk nitpicky? But there are three things I'd want to just- fix immediately and all three of them are Nicky related.

Number one, his shirt. I'm sorry guys but I've been here since the alphas and I didn't even realize this was his Sharkotron T-shirt. It's- It's just an egg

Number two, I realized after intense studying of Nicky's- face that it looks really weird when he's front facing, but his nose is facing right. So scenes like this suddenly seem- off model for no reason? I've poorly edited the image below to fix both of these

Yes I am too lazy to edit them properly, sadly. Did make his shirt logo still one colour for ease of animation. Idk why but left facing nose Nicky just looks less weird. Just me and kaydin? Maybe.

Number three- uh... that hairline is atrocious /lh

I know he wears his goggles in the show like constantly but also- this is a 13 year old boy guys. I was 13 once and I have a very flat (minus a widows peak) hairline, but it did not stop my hair from falling all over my face, and I think it's fair to assume the same for the kid who's hair refuses to behave anyway

Just fluff him up a lil (again I'm sorry these aren't better edits lol)

You don't even have to have it show when his goggles are up because like a headband or headphones it pushes hair back, or otherwise

Although ironically while I'm explaining what I would change in the designs, I don't mind the art style at all, actually I kind of love it. Sure some things you kinda of have to get used to, like their ears being pretty low to the head, but in general I think it really fits the franchise. I know it didn't look too drastically different from the pilot, but there's so many little nuances in the designs that just make it better (especially when you look at characters like Trinity)

I've told Kaydin a dozen and a half times how I think show Nicky is the franchise's second best design for him. The first being this singular piece of art from Nicky's Diaries, like I have gone on for hours about why this rendering of him is just perfect.

Third being fan renders, followed by the book artstyle, the pilot and finally games

And while other designs I wasn't sure about when watching through the show the first time, really just lore hunting instead of caring about anyone who wasn't Trinity or Nicky ngl, when I started doing my expression analysis I realized just how nice the designs and individuality of the characters are. If you put Nicky's expressions oh Enzo or Ivan's on Trinity it wouldn't fit and that's something I don't think people would expect from a Hello Neighbor cartoon.

They also have things I can just appreciate as someone who's special interest is animation (but doesn't have the patience to animate TvT gotta love audhd) for example, just having shading even in shots where they could completely go without it. It makes it less drastic and a smoother transition when lighting gets intense. They're also now afraid to switch up camera angles and push the rigs for a more intense shot.

Also something I really appreciate

Smear frames!

God I love smear frames!!! It's another one of those things that It's like- knowing how much this cost Tinybuild, they could've easily cut it down to save money. But it just wouldn't have been as nice without it.

Sure there are probably people who look at the fact that Man of Action is working on the show and are disappointed by the art style. But I say this entirely genuinely when I say I couldn't picture this show looking any other way and working as it does.

Yeah, they could've used more realistic proportions for these kids, but it works so much better when it's pushed like this when Mr. Peterson is nearly double their height. He's visibly a hulking intimidating man who could lift a middle schooler and lock them away. You fear his build which contrasts his outfit best (really feels like they took the book description of him and just pushed it, as we know he doesn't have this same stature in the games)

Plus it feels like in general, they stopped focusing on that dumb "Oh we need to hide things in every frame" which- thank God. Sure they are still hiding little details, hell I have changed a whole chunk of theory about Theodore's relationship with his son because of something I found on accident

This photo of (seemingly) 12 year old Aaron Peterson.

I'm not gonna go into it here lol because this is already long and it's supposed to be about the animation.

Are they still building mysteries and people are still crafting theories? Absolutely! Not a day goes by that I haven't been thinking about whether or not Aaron will ever be seen in the series in the present day and if he is, what he will be like mentally.

But the point is, they're focusing on crafting something GOOD over just theory fodder. Both animation and story-wise, and I can appreciate that so much.

Like- this is gonna be a really hot Jack take here so be aware.

I enjoy this franchise and it's spinoffs much more than the FNAF franchise.

Sure, Hello Neighbor one is and will always be awful. But I am 100x more likely to play Hello Neighbor 2 or Secret Neighbor than I am to play any fnaf game myself.

When I make fnaf content it is almost entirely AU based. Because the idea of getting lore super wrong since I just can't be bothered to try and figure that convoluted mess out is annoying. Why even try to solve lore if I need to read more than 10 books for a minor detail that becomes a major antagonist? We can't even get a full confirmed backstory for the main antagonist!

But with Hello Neighbor they realized that people don't want to be jumping through 50 hoops for lore. Yes we want mystery, but one we can solve without dumb contrivances and plot holes.

Do I still love FNAF? Of course. My senior quote is from William Afton ffs ("You may not recognize me at first, but I can assure you, it's still me") but one of these franchises is growing to better itself and gain more love, while the other is slowly becoming more of something I enjoy without trying to understand, and I think the Hello Neighbor animated series is- the pinnacle of this difference.

I love Welcome to Ravenbrooks. I love Hello Neighbor. I can’t wait to see what comes next from TinyBuild, and how season two will be even better than season one. (As proven by the fact that Nicky gets to yell louder in that one teaser clip alone than anyone got to in season one lol)

[victimized-martyr]

Do you think Kenny actually likes cartman? I’m not so sure since the reading of his will in s9e4 (https://youtu.be/QGx92r8NLIM)

I feel like nobody likes him but Kyle is the only one who thinks he can possibly get better at all.

I agree on some level with that last statement. Due to Kyle's morals and complicated attachment to Cartman, he would be the only one willing to nurture the potential Cartman has, though I'd say Cartman isn't universally hated as one would assume. I think Kenny and Cartman's friendship deepened off screen since s9. It shows itself strongly in the covid specials and post-covid (not post covid the special, I mean like.. after the actual irl covid and.. ARGH mattrey u make my life so difficult)     

      Kenny was the one to approach Cartman about the fragility of the broship and inspires Cartman to be the one to make sure the gang stays together. That's a level of openness and vulnerability that frankly, I haven't seen him share with Stan or Kyle. Quite the opposite in fact-- When Kenny finally admits he's immortal, Stan and Kyle dismiss him in their own way. Neither have made the move to sympathize with him since, especially at the level Cartman does in the covid episodes. Now, Cartman's "sympathetic" method of coddling Kenny wasn't the best thing to do I'd say, the show was clear  Stan, Kyle and Cartman weren’t handling the broship fallout well, but Cartman definitely proved himself as the “best friend” the show has claimed he’s been in prioritizing Kenny during Covid. We even get a verbal reminder from Cartman and Kyle in Post-Covid that despite it being the literal worst future for everyone, Cartman and Kenny’s friendship thrived. With the opposite lives they lead, it's astounding they remained best friends for forty years.

That level of loyalty is kicking Stan and Kyle in the dirt and laughing rn. Look at Dikinbaus! Cartman and Kenny had a blast “planning the business” (ie living it up as owners and mutually taking advantage of Butters to just pal around) and Cartman once again concedes to Kenny when he lets him work from home. It’s a gag first and foremost, but still, I think it works as part of character analysis lolol. I’m analyzing this a lot from Cartman’s perspective, or at least his actions, but I don’t rlly have much to go by on Kenny’s end and I hope y’all can see why lol. excluding the Mysterion arc and the s22 Halloween episode, he’s a passive character. things rly just are happening to this dude. 

Cartman's attachment to Kenny has grown exponentially since the early seasons ("I hate yew guys/ specially kinny/ ah hate em the most/") whereas we've heard directly from Kenny what he thought of Cartman at the time s9 was written but we don't really know what he thinks of Cartman presently. Now, mattrey have written Kenny's quietness and frequent disappearances as part of the charm of his character--the mysteriousness with a pinch of hidden sadness, maybe a dash of loneliness--and not like, a serious writing pitfall of not knowing what to do with one of your main characters, not giving them the chance to let the audience see their motivations. So the uncertainty surrounding Kenny's true opinions, in this case of his friendship with Cartman, isn't by accident. I'd say it's fair to assume Kenny now views Cartman as a best friend, given how much Cartman has done for him.

I’d also say it’s fair to assume the pity for Cartman hasn’t changed.

[dutifullyshamelessearthquake]

Ok so this is the canon au sick Cyno concept i was chewing on yesterday - and even if it doesn’t become a fic I love the thought

so! Tighnari is leaving the main city for the day, I’m assuming to go back to the forest ? (Idk how this part will work with them being in school but regardless It doesn’t matter point is nari is in the city lol) and he happens to catch a glimpse of Cyno…leaving the bimarstan..

tighnari is a little taken aback cuz he knows cyno would never willingly go and so he goes after him, only to find him pale faced and looking seconds from passing out. When Cyno sees him he’s overcome with relief and almost just collapses then and there.

now this is where my mind goes two different directions fully. 1. Cyno got injured on a Matra or Marta training related mission, and because he was with the others he was all but forced to go to the bimarstan. Maybe it was over crowded that day, full of crying and the smell of blood and antiseptic sprays and it just was far too triggering. Maybe he sees something specific that reminds him of his past and he’s pale faced cuz he’s seconds away from throwing up everywhere from panic and trauma alone. Not to mention depending on what injury he sustained it would make sense he’d be feeling nauseous in general. Tighnari finds him and is concerned and confused, does Cyno pass out? Does he puke? Both? Neither? Either way I imagine Cyno clings to nari and just wants to go with him, to wherever it’s safe. And nari ofc wants to double triple check that Cyno is truly okay (maybe Cyno continues to feel unwell and tighnari is too concerned to just send him back to his apt)

2. Cyno was on a mission to rescue some students. Students who are in the same school that Tighnari is a part of (I forget the name) maybe the mission fails and they are too late, and instead they are tasked with taking the unrecognizable remains back to the bimarstan. Maybe Cyno hasn’t seen tighnari in a few days but remembers him mentioning that he was working on something special. Maybe because the bodies aren’t recognizable when he over hears a random student asking “has anyone seen Tighnari recently” cyno im his exhaustion begins to panic and think of the worst. Maybe because of his newer status as a Matra and the fear and guilt of this mission gone wrong, and being in this hospital he just slowly and quietly begins to panic. Leaving the place feeling sick to his stomach (maybe he also ate something bad idk) and just…on his way to confirm nari is alive. He knows jes being irrational but maybe this is the first time he’s seen that many disfigured bodies of students like him. And the thought that I could be nari- of all people…so you can imagine when tighnari pops up right in front him while he’s half ready to dry heave in an alley he practically feels like he’s seen a ghost. And from there it’s the same song and dance of Cyno needed some extra medical and emotional help from the one person who makes him feel human

Okay these are absolutely BRILLIANT, and if it's okay with you I need to incorporate at least one of them into the Akademiya Days series 👀

Argh, I'm late finally responding to this, but I've been thinking about these ideas nonstop since I first read this ask and!! I'm absolutely obsessed!! I don't even know where to start!!

Tighnari's immediate concern for seeing Cyno at the Bimarstan, that immediate dread of "if he willingly went there, it's got to be really bad" or "he must have so much anxiety right now" and he immediately abandons wherever he was heading to run over and check that Cyno is okay. And just Cyno's utter relief at seeing Tighnari, like a weight lifts off his shoulders!

I can't decide which concept I like more, because these are both absolutely brilliant.

We either have a really injured Cyno who just had so many horrible memories resurfacing, and he just needs to sit down because he's so pale faced and lightheaded. He's shaking and he doesn't even know if it's because he's in pain or because he's on the verge of having an anxiety attack. I can see Tighnari either deciding "right, you're coming home with me" because he definitely wants to look after Cyno and he thinks getting him out of the city and to somewhere he feels safe will help him a lot mentally. Or Tighnari decides to just cancel his other plans immediately to go back to Cyno's apartment with him to look after him and take care of him.

Or we have properly traumatized Cyno who's suddenly questioning his decision to become a matra because he's just been so shaken up by what he just saw. He's already in the clutches of so many horrific memories from just being at the Bimarstan, and now he's been faced with the severed body parts of students like him and, even worse, like Tighnari. And his stomach is just suddenly in his throat and he has to excuse himself to hurry outside before he starts dry heaving. He's half panicking, really nauseous, and just so ashamed, but more than anything he just needs to know Tighnari is okay and- suddenly Tighnari is right there in front of him and asking if he's okay, and relief is so immense that Cyno has to puke in the nearest flowerbed.

These are absolutely fantastic argh!! I really want to write them!!