#but maybe i'm being an Old Fandom Head but i think that's kinda part of the charm of being in fandom; no?

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

I agree that creative ship names are more appealing (marriage chopsticks is such a cute idea!!) and takes away the rather negative top/bottom <- dick/hole <- masculine/feminine thing you mentioned and I agree with you.

Like sure, in a scenario where the fic is just smut, a often one and done deal, I save more bottom Zhongli fics, but that's only cause he's my favorite--I'm like this with all my favorites. I wish I knew why as it isn't a inserting myself reason (being a touch avoident aroace) and it has nothing to do with the "traits = position"/bleed-over from toxic straight beliefs. To be honest I dont really associate traits strictly to masculine or feminine anyways, since it changes in many ways between individuals, and realistically people have a blend of traits society as a whole would divide between masculine or feminine.

Regardless of what I save more of, I still read all sorts of fics, cause I like the ship and the characters alot (like dude its been 2 years help). I mostly read fics not part of the smut category anyways, even if I re-read them more often by virtue of them often being in the like 800-2k word range and thus easier to keep safe in a doc.

Back to the ship names though. Tbh, however, I do like the convince of name x name if only cause it makes searching up the ships easier (esp in foreign art forums), either cause someone might not know the ship name or cause something like "chili" or even "marriage chopsticks" sorta gives you a different flood of results mixed in. Ex: the chili tag will give some Zhongli and Childe art or fics or whatever, but it will also give you a bunch of results of the food chili.

Iirc this issue is similar to why the transformers fandom uses the #maccadam tag on top of their posts cause just the characters names or universe stuff might pull up unrelated transformers stuff

yes that's true, that's one of the (few) problems with proper ship names sadly. i do think this could be remedied somewhat if, like i mentioned, the fandom would agree to always list ship names in aphabetical order? kinda like how it's done in ao3 for tagging purposes. so childe/zhongli would have no connotations for top/bottom but rather would be like that just because c (and also t in this case) goes before z

and yeah of course if the fic/art/whatever contains sex, then you can start being specific with the tags. in ao3 this is easy bc the main tag is already standard, so even if your fic is top zhongli, the ship tag is still childe/zhongli. but outside of ao3 is where this would of course get complicated. still, with some organization...

whenever i think about this i always end up pondering the one other instance of proper ship names that always stand out to me in a fandom? idk if any of you guys have ever been deep in the pokemon fandom, but the ship names there are- Unique. to say the least. of course i assume it's possible not everyone uses them, but like- you'd be shocked. idk why that fandom in specific does things that way and i have yet to find another one where they pull the exact same bs with so much coordination, but i have to applaud them. they do circumvent a good chunk of problems that you mentioned like the ship name being some other term that skews the results (for those unaware, in the pokemon fandom, at least back when i was still active, all ship names ended in 'shipping'. so like- ruby/sapphire is 'franticshipping', raihan/leon is 'truerivalshipping', etc. this extends to the pokespe and show ships as well (frantic is pokespe-only territory i think), and very few escaped this trend afaik. like the only one i can think of that doesn't end in shipping is bwagency? intriguing stuff. here's the shipping wiki's list, though i think this doesn't include pokespe ships but still. it's hilarious to go through)

[silusvesuius]

deux

this tree from my new drawing looking goated afffffff 👑👑

[lucycore]

Harry Potter headcanons

₊˚ ✧ ‿︵‿୨୧‿︵‿ ✧ ₊ ˚ 🔮✨️🪄 ₊˚ ✧ ‿︵‿୨୧‿︵‿ ✧ ₊˚₊

Okay so it's my first time writing for Harry Potter since I've always been shying away of doing that cuz the fandom is so fucking big and there are people that know more or even know everything if they're obsessed and I'm just a newbie but I'll try my best and of course my first time writing for them will be smut.

⚠️ Smut warning ⚠️

(Obviously the characters are old enough for such things so everything from and after ootp)

Summary: What their favorite position might be and if they're bottom,top or switch.

Includes: Harry, Hermione , Ron, Fred, George, Sirius, Remus, Snape, Draco & Lucius

˚˖𓍢ִ໋🔮✧˚.🪄༘⋆˚˖𓍢ִ໋🔮✧˚.🪄༘⋆˚˖𓍢ִ໋🔮✧˚.🪄༘⋆˚˖𓍢ִ໋🔮✧˚.🪄⋆˚˖𓍢ִ໋🔮✧˚.🪄༘

Harry:

Ok so I think he could be switch depending on his partner and experience and strength and all that. So his favorite positions might be missionary if he's dom and riding if he's bottom. I know so fucking basic but hear me out for a sec. Missionary doesn't have to be that boring if played well. So he'd fuck you while looking deep into your eyes and touching your whole body or even hold your hands above your head. For sub and riding he'd enjoy looking at your boobs while they bounce and grab your ass or hold it and move you up and down while you ride.

Hermione:

Well now that's kinda hard..I mean she's a sub yeah but can also lead if you're a virgin. I'd say she likes riding you. I think she'd just enjoy moving on your cock to her liking (or strap on if you're female). She'd know what she needs and how it's best for her. Oh if you're wearing a strap on she would like any position doggy or missionary. Ok let's leave that there....

Ron:

I see Ron as a switch, I can't decide it's similar to Harry. I think he also likes riding a lot, just watching your beautiful body bouncing up and down on his cock while looking into your eyes and maybe even blushing a little. He'd occasionally squeeze your boobs if he finds the courage. Now if he feels dom, I'd say he would fuck the shit out of you in the doggy position. Hold onto your waist, spank you and grab your hair when he feels rough.

Fred:

Sooo I think dom. He is taller, older and even tho he's goofy and all that, he can be very dominant and lead you but in a soft and fun way. Not rough and strict. I bet he loves a good lap fuck. Like you sit on his lap and can cuddle into his chest or lay your head on his shoulder or just kiss while he fucks you nice and slow or even hard where you have your hands around his neck and bounce up and down on his cock. He would love to kiss your neck while fucking you and spank your ass from time to time.

George:

He's dom too but I think is a little rougher than Fred. Therefore I think spooning would be a good pick and now hear me out, before you say spooning is not a good position to fuck the shit out of someone. It is. He could move you a little and put your leg over his shoulder preferably in front of a mirror so he could see your private parts exposed not being able to hide anything from him cuz he won't let you put your leg down, it would be locked there especially when you're a lot smaller than him and yeah he is energetic so he could thrust rough and fast into you and rip you apart. You don't have to worry about him being slow. I think you'd even wish for him to be more gentle after he's done with you, girl.

Sirius:

Definitely dom without a second thought. He would love to fuck you up against the wall or in the air like he picks you up and you wrap your legs around his waist. His thrusts would be rough but if you're shy and unexperienced he would go very slow, sweet and romantic. He's older and so gentle, he would be the sweetest man ever to be fucked by for the first time. I can also imagine him doing you from behind against the wall. Pulling your hair, spanking you and all that yk.

Remus:

Dom obviously and well we're talking about a werewolf here so doggy would be the only fitting position, right? Yeah I know it would be perfect for Sirius too but no idk shh. I think of him as very gentle and loving while doing it, not rough until you ask him to be and still then he wouldn't be as rough as Sirius for example. Stroking your cheek after he finished, asked if it hurt or something and of course while fucking checking on you. Very sweet guy. Depth is also his type of shit, he could watch your face to see how he does.

Snape:

Hell I don't even know..I mean dom yeah but position?..Probably butterfly. So you lay down, he stands and your legs on his shoulders. He likes slow but hard thrusts. That's so hot tbh..Going slow not like a Draco maniac (more to that later) but hard thrusts, I hope you all know what I mean but since you're reading this I assume you're a pervy one. Then when he's close he would go a little faster but that's about it. Don't you worry, he is thick so the pace doesn't matter, babe.

Draco: Yeah I know sorry for putting him all the way down here, I gotta admit I almost forgot him lol

Okay dom of course..I mean obviously. He likes to brag and shit but dom yeah. Dude he'd like to try many positions but I think what he likes most is to just lay down, hands behind his head and just let you ride him and do all the work for him. So yeah riding and nelson is very fitting. If you don't know what nelson is pls look it up it's hard to explain. Nelson is the perfect one fr fr. Missionary would be up there too and just rough and quick sex like his pace is out of this world..I mean makes sense given his emotions, energy and slim body type. He doesn't fuck around lol.

Lucius:

Dom of course. But the sex would be slow, romantic and noble like rich people kinda sex (what? Idk) so I think missionary yes and reverse cowgirl is kinda his thing I'd say. He likes it slow and romantic with wine and roses but when he's anxious like that he will also use you to relieve his stress so he would just grab you tight and fuck you putting his whole weight on your body so it's almost hard to breathe but you don't wanna get him mad, do you?

—

I gotta admit I'm kinda "scared?" to post this cuz I'm a newbie so don't be too strict with me..

[dez78]

Who did this to you, sunshine?

----------------------------------

Fandom: Fallout 4

Pairings: Hancock x Fem!Reader

Prompt: Who did this to you?

Warnings: Lots of cursing, Harassment, Blood

Summary: The mayor himself, steps in and solves all your problems.

-----------------------

You had lived in Goodneighbor for the better part of eight years. Since Hancock has been office, you were a scavenger for Daisy. Meaning you also knew the cock sucker, Finn.

Every time he whistled your way, you sneered at him and slapped away his advances. It's been going on for more than a year. Whenever you left for a supply run, he'd slap your ass and blow you a kiss, every night at the Third Rail, he hit you up and tried buying you a drink.

It was getting tiring honestly, you didn't know how much longer you could take it. You wanted to beat the crap out of the son of bitch, but you couldn't. He was a guard and an assault on a guard was a crime.

You debated complaining to Hancock but decided against it. You had a nagging feeling Hancock would simply dismiss it as men being men.

It started out as a normal morning, you woke up and headed to Daisy's from your apartment, when Hancock of all people pulled you aside.

"What's up, mayor?" You questioned, caught off guard. The mayor hardly paid you any mind, unless you were delivering his chems personally. Or so you thought,

"Listen doll, this is kinda tricky for me to stay, so I'm just gonna say it." Hancock started, you blinked for a few seconds, thinking you were high on something.

"Wanna grab a beer with me later tonight?" Hancock asked, you were stunned. You'd be lying if you said you hadn't thought of the mayor impurely.

"Uh, sure. I just gotta do a supply run now, so maybe afterwards?" You countered his question with a suggestion.

"Sounds good." Was all Hancock said as he turned to walk away, a hint of a smile on his mouth. You melted on the spot; the mayor had asked to take you out. The butterflies settled in your stomach as you smiled stupidly.

You headed out of the town, but not before Finn greeted you with a firm swat to your left cheek, you winced with displeasure.

----------------

It was late afternoon when you stumbled through the door of Goodneighbor. That supply run was a bitch. You had run into more trouble than you cared for. Otherwise, you were unharmed. You walked into town and Finn approached you.

"You look like shit." He told you, you could only frown.

"Not so pretty yourself." You growled venomously. You tired moving past him, but he stopped you.

"I can make you better." He offered, you snorted and turned your nose up.

"Like hell." You replied, you tried moving again, but this time he pinned you.

"Listen here, bitch. I've tried being nice, but this game is getting old." Finn snarled in your face, you looked away. He grabbed your face and forced you to look at him. You winced at the grip of his hand.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." He spat angrily, you ripped from his grip and kneed him in the knads. He growled and held his groin.

"Bitch!" He cried as he slapped you across the face, you whimpered in pain. You looked up,

"Keep your hands off me, you piece of shit. Fuck you." You said as you spit in his face before storming off. You held your busted lip.

You grimaced as you held your jaw, Finn held you so tight, your skin bruised around your jaw and lips.

You couldn't care less and walked into the Third Rail, forgetting about your deal with Hancock.

When you arrived, the mayor was waiting for you,

"One beer, Charlie." You said, the mister handy went to the old fridge and fished out a beer. He slid it to you, and you opened,

"Geez, you had a bad day." Hancock voiced concern, you looked over at him and your eyes widened. He saw the bruises and busted lip in the light. His facial expression changed then.

"What happened?" He questioned, his voice dropped an octave and sent a chill down your spine.

"What?" You asked as you blinked at him dumbfounded, Hancock's finger grazed your injuries, his coal eyes fixated on the specific marks Finn left.

Hancock's eyes darkened, his breathing became ragged as he looked up at you.

"Who did this to you, sunshine?" He questioned. You were breathing heavily, and your mouth was terribly dry. You couldn't find the words, mostly because you didn't want to cause a scene.

"No one." You replied meekly.

"Don't be shy now." Hancock said to you, you looked up and replied shakily.

"Finn."

"That son of bitch!" Hancock snarled as he stood and marched out of the Third Rail, you followed quickly afterwards.

--------

Finn was keeping guard at the front gate, when a fist made contact with the back of his head. He flew forward and landed on his stomach, winded from the fall.

"Get up you piece of shit!" Hancock howled as he picked Finn up by the collar, he swung him around and slammed him against the wall.

"What kind of bastard bruises a woman!" Hancock cried, holding Finn off the ground by his collar.

"Bitch kept rejecting me." Finn replied angrily. Hancock was furious.

"You stupid bastard, you slapped my woman!"

Finn's eyes widened,

"What?" He said stunned.

"That's right, you slapped my woman, you sick fuck!" Hancock cried angrily.

He let the man go and punched him until he fell to the ground.

"Get up! Fight me like a man!" Hancock snarled kicking Finn.

"Unless you're not man enough, a man like you can't fight men. You can only beat on helpless women! Get up!" Hancock wailed picking Finn up off the ground himself.

You were speechless as you stood there, watching Hancock beating the crap out of the man who had harassed you for a year.

"What kind of man beats a woman!" Hancock yelled as he punched Finn again. His knuckles bloody and sore. The man struggled to get up.

"Had enough?" Hancock spat,

"Fuck you." Finn managed to gurgle as he spit blood out onto the ground. Hancock rolled his eyes and pulled out his pistol and shot the man dead.

"Fuck you too."

--------------

Once Hancock got his composure back, he hurried over to you.

"Are you okay?" He asked with worry as he looked you over again,

"You shot him." You said, still speechless.

"Of course I did, nobody beats a woman on my watch. I don't give a fuck who they are." Hancock replied bitterly.

"Are you alright, sunshine?" He asked again, you nodded your head slowly. Hancock pulled you into a tender hug and held you in a close embrace in attempt to comfort you.

[peachteal]

so uhm this is kinda my first post!

I decided I was just going to post random scraps I like to write on my notes app. I actually get these ideas by spinning different roulettes; with character tropes, sceneries, and traits! also randomly picking the fandom and character I'm writing these about.

all of my work is going to be character x reader. I don't really specify the readers gender in this one even if i did base it around a female one, so be comfortable with whatever.

this came out VERY random, but I hope maybe you can enjoy it.

(English isn't my first language)

__________________________

629 words:)

co-worker!nanami x outsider!reader

The countless documents getting all dusty and old on the shelves of the office are a constant reminder of what this job feels like; old and crusty.

I know it's not different from what I like to do; sitting in front of a screen all day, except this is more of a.. monotonely tiring and dull activity, which I'd like to separate from the fun late nights I wrap myself into when I'm streaming in my dear online platforms. You see, I find absolutely no pleasure in the minimum wage that document filling brings to my life. I have no idea why I keep myself in this enclosed -and weirdly odorless space- when my streaming hobby has a better financial reward anyway.

but oh, I just lied. I know why I do.

It's all thanks to the captivating and amusingly elegant co-worker I have. Nanami Kento, aren't you such a delight for these lazy eyes?

Poised and tactful, but even more courteous than any man I've met before. We've spoken a few times, not that I'm great at chatting - oh god, not at all! - but I think he's caught my seek of belonging in this office.

it's not insane that I, as a human being, want to socialize outside of my twitch chat and discord groups to make some desperately needed friends, or even partners for life; it's just a little hard, yet respectful men like him try and surprisingly give me some space.

Keyboards clicking, coffee mugs cluttered on desks, and small chatter fill the office—a far cry from the sleek, professional vibe they sold me on when I took the job. It’s just another stereotypical sad workplace.

__________________________

-"..Suguru asks if you're done already." a low but strangely gentle tone behind me caught my attention. I look up, and meet some hazel nutty eyes.. they don't look much different than my own; sloppy and baggy, but I manage to get lost in them for a second more than I should.

I snap out of it and shake my head slightly as I let out a sigh.. closing my eyes for a second. I remember the papers due.. today. Right. I shouldn't forget Suguru gets along very very well with formality. Another thing to keep in mind, as if the higher-ups don't have weird rules to follow already. I truly am done with this job.

-"right, Suguru and his.. goddamn papers." I'm trying not to look like a mess right now, and more job-focussed in front of such a man. But the childish cat background on my computer doesn't help. "please tell him that uhm-.. Satoru messed with the computers again or something.." I’m pretty sure Suguru will believe anything bad about Satoru—he loves thinking that idiot is an actual idiot. But a gut feeling tells me it's more than that-.. anyways.

I dont really say anything else, holding my cofee mug and taking a sip.

Nanami does help me around, I bring him some coffee myself eventually - while I try to ignore nasty looks other co-workers give. as immature and juvenile as that feels for a workspace.

a second of a slightly long silence holds between us. -"I expected this," Nanami's usual stern face doesn't budge. Yeah, he's kind, but professional - I'm constantly messing up my work, and this leaves me more than embarrassed. "I already told Suguru something happened. Don't.. stress yourself out." I think his tone hesitated a little there; that last part wasn't like usual.

I choked on the coffee. Watching him turn away- stealing just the smallest glance in an expression that leaves me with nothing to analyze -and step to his desk. Just four words that just felt weirdly intimate in a way I can't seem to explain.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

A Very Long, Personal [but positive] Ramble about Neurodivgerency and Character Hyperfixation

[u can ignore this if you want this is just an ADHD ramble - this is a kinda 'mask off' talk about ADHD, autism and my personal history with it all. I also talk about the upsides and downsides - and the importance of Hobie to me personally - I just wanna normalize this stuff lol]

a.k.a The story of how I sent from obsessing over him to HIM in 10 years (what a glowup on my part ik)

(I know a lot of peeps on here can feel self-conscious about being neurodivergent and character connection or whatever you wanna call it and so do I! So I wanted to write it out or just ramble for my own sake)

I don't know if it's obvious or not, but I LOVE HOBIE BROWN. I'm going to be completely candid - I think about him maybe 85 percent of the day if not more, and that's in no way an exaggeration.

No matter what I'm doing, there's a least one tab open in my brain thinking about him. It may not be the focus, but it's there.

That's just how I operate. And I've been this way for a LONG time. In fact, Hobie isn't my first 'total focus' character in Marvel.

I gain VERY deep hyperfixations on Marvel Characters, many lasting years. And there's nothing wrong with that - in fact it's rad!

!!!! ATTENTION: This is a whimsical care-free zone. For Happy Funny Folk !!!!!!!!!

Loki - My introduction to hyperfixation with characters

I don't know if this is surprising or you'd be like 'yeah u seem like the type' but I use to LOVE Loki. For YEARS.

I'm AuDHD and when I was 13/14, a freshman in HS, he was my hyperfixation. Eerything I do for Hobie, I did for Loki. I even had a Loki blog for like 3/4 years.

This was back in 2012-2013, when Avengers had just came out, and the MCU wasn't - well, the MCU yet.

But even back then, the Loki fandom was HUGE. I have no idea who was also on Tumblr back then but it was gigantic. Because movies weren't coming out every 3 months, it went on for yearrrrsssss. Art, edits, fics, everything.

I was soooo into, I loved Loki. Like Hobie, I probably thought about Loki maybe 85-90% of the day.

And sure I was doing a lot of other stuff but in the back of my head there was always the oc x canon storyline running in my head, or replaying scenes from memory and analyzing, or wondering and speculating about his character.

I mask very minimally or not at all - so everyone in my school knew me for it. And at the time I didn't know I was neurodivergent, but that didn't stop me - I was genuinely proud of it.

I wore Loki shirts to school and brought the Avengers DVD the day it dropped (this was back before streaming in ye' old 2013). I knew the Avengers movie back to front.

I saw Thor: The Dark World the day it released and SOBBED openly in the theater when he 'died'. (I remember my mom leaning over and whispering 'Do you wanna leave?' cause I seemed that upset lol)

And everyday I use to wear a necklace like this -

(credit IJSY on Etsy)

But in black, until one day I had it in my pocket and I sat on it in class and broke it in two. And people around me deadass were like 'daammnn I know that shit hurt in ur soul' cause I LOVED Loki and people knew it. And I didn't care if they did.

And I was like that for years. Overtime the Loki fandom fizzled out, especially around Phase 2 when things like GOTG first came out.

But I had a Loki fixation like maybe up until the show came out. And even then I've seen the whole thing (I ain't even like it that much 4.5/10) and I'm gonna watch the second one (I'm a fool)

But any way like to this day I still remember the first time I saw Loki and how it made me feel and I can like picture it in my head and I consider it a pretty influencial albeit mundane moment in my life.

And it was a very specific feeling but it was like as soon as I saw Loki's first scene in Avengers, I was plugged into the screen.

Other Hyperfixations - Charles Xavier, Peter Parker

All of my hyperfixations are on men in marvel and they have always been. There's been others I've cycled through, usually based on the newest movie. I even went through a LENGTHY and very in depth K-pop era (don't get me started).

Charles Xavier was a favorite of mine (from X-Men First Class), and I LOVE MCU Peter Parker. I still do. But none hit like Loki did.

There was never THAT feeling, like the fantastical electric feeling.

And I had never felt that feeling again UNTIL I SAW HOBIE (i wanna cry)

My fixation with HOBIE BROWN HOBIE BROWN HOBIE BROWN (sorry I can't say his name only one time im too excited)

In the theatre my jaw genuinely dropped like I'm pretty sure I said 'OH NAH' to myself when i first saw him

Cause he was the prettiest character I've ever seen and I mean that

I didn't recognize what that feeling was until just now like YES, it's the same feeling. And I can't even describe it.

It's like every other character is normal but as soon as you lay eyes on this character for the first time it's like suddenly they're under your skin and curled up in your heart and you can FEEL them and the weight of them PHYSICALLY like not body wise but like astral personhood wise (do I sound unhinged)

And Hobie was just so pretty.

First of all - I didn't know he was black fgsbtgtuiuigs id never heard of spiderpunk

The wicks were what caught me off guard first. I know what wicks are, I've seen them before. But never animated.

And although Miles and Gwen and Pavi all look realistic - Hobie looked real to me. The high cheekbones and broad lips, the raised brow ridge and wide set eyes - he looked different from them, not just in art style but like - I DONT KNOW.

But that's how it is, you know what I mean. There was just something in my brain that was like 'he has meaning to me'. Like 'Idk who this man is, but whatever story he's writing, I'm reading it'.

That's what hyperfixation feels like.

And Hobie in specific held and holds so much more weight for me IN ADDITION.

I started falling out of my Loki phase around Thor: Ragnorok in 2017 - which is to say I was varying degrees of 'obsessed' with Loki for about 5 years.

Around that time, maybe starting in 2015, police brutality in NYC picked up. Me and my friends started getting more radicalized, going to protests, and identifying as communists, anarchists, or both.

One of my favorite things at the time was The Black Panther Party handbook I'd found at a second hand-book store. And for a while the Black Panther Party was a special interest of mine.

It made me really interested in the 70's, the civil rights movement, and the rise of punk that happened at the same time. Around this time, I made my first 'battle jacket' with a patch that said "Black Lives Matter, Bitch." and begged my parents for a pair of doc martens.

I didn't have Hobie back then, but I have him now. And he still resonates.

There was very much a time where I was that homeless, punk teen, angry at police, who wanted to be taken in by my favorite heros.

My admiration for Hobie comes from like - everything he is. Everything he stands for and represents. I don't need Hobie like I would've as a teen. But I know deep down the healing he could bring other people as a comfort character.

Or even in terms of a good political example, or great rep for alt black people. All of it.

That can't really be said for Loki. Or Charles Xavier (even if X-men is a race allegory), or even Peter Parker.

I grew up in NYC all my life, and I LOVE Spider-man, but I never felt Connected to Peter Parker as if we lived in the same city. I never felt something in common with Peter even if he was broke too.

Hobie's just different, y'know.

The Downsides

It's easy to feel really embarrassed by all this - and even now I'm feeling shy even describing how it feels.

Cringe culture gets in your head before you know it. I'm CONSTANTLY telling myself 'no, Hobie would understand that you're neurodivergent and this is you expressing yourself he wouldn't think youre cringe youre not cringe okay' As if my comfort character Hobie Brown thinking I'm cringe is like jksjfkjf the worst thing ever - i can't, i can't with myself.

I genuinely want to hug Hobie more than I want to huge most celebrities or influential real-life people.

I genuinely think hugging him would be more healing to my being than hugging the Pope or the Dhali Lama or something. I admire him and care about him but he's NOT REAL. It's PARASOCIAL And like duh, I know that - i'm grown as fuck.

Sometimes it can genuinely get you down that you care about this character-person and you can't be with them

It's like you miss them. But they're not real and you don't know them. And I know that sounds tragic or bizarre. But it's kinda just weird. It feels weird not in a sad way, but in a 'why brain?? why is this possible in my brain?? huh???' way.

Like...I know it's parasocial, but like it's not like a fan and a youtuber. He's not real, I'm not giving him money or hurting anyone. I know there's nothing to be ashamed of, but it's just WEIRD.

Like... I know my cat isn't a person and mentally I don't see them as a person and can't like analyze them like a full formed person even if I wanted to. But with Hobie - someone who is not a person - my brain can???? Like I've never met him but like... I can imagine a full conversation with him beginning to end in his place of residence I've also never seen before??????? SO WEIRD.

Also theres that thing of him running in the back of my head 85% of the time.

Even if I'm talking or cooking or something, I'm still daydreaming about him - I have ADHD. And during those times if i'm interrupted and someone give me a THIRD thing to do (besides thing 1 and thinking about Hobie) I get irritated. Because now I have less brain room for Hobie stuff.

The Upsides

Now reading all of this you might be like 'sib this sounds like nothing but a problem r u okay' but I PROMISE ITS REAL FUN SOMETIMES

And it's nothing to feel ashamed of!

Now the last part was just a list of downsides, but the upsides are more things I can do because of my hyperfixation on Hobie that makes me happy

Like I said, I daydream a LOT. Like a LOT.

Mainly with OCs You can probably tell how much I like OCs, and how much OCs - even others', mean to me. And usually, my OCs are the ones who I see the in-media universe through. I don't have to think about making an OC much, for me personally they come fully formed. Because of this, while I'm watching movies I begin to have involuntary daydreams of where I can add in an OC, or what they'd be doing. I typically only do this for Marvel though. Hardly DC or any other media other than maybe Batman. For Loki, it was a character named Asdisira Heimdaldottir who I shipped with him. And for Hobie it's Diane Pastors (Disco-Spider).

And although I am in completely control of what these daydreams are, they are vividly realistic, and can come on at different times.

For me, it's while listening to music mostly. But anything can trigger it - from a good text post, to hearing a phrase. And these daydreams are extremely vivid. Most times, you can visibly see when I'm doing it. My eyes will glaze over or start moving as if I'm trying to remember something. Sometimes I may say 'random' phrases. I say lines from the scene I'm in outloud. (Like saying 'How could you!' in an offended tone to myself, if that's what the character in the daydream is saying). I also make facial expressions. I can do it on purpose, like hitting play on a movie and resuming where I left off. Usually, when I do this, I close my eyes. I much prefer to sit and do it without multitasking, but I often do it while doing something else.

These daydreams connect, and arcs/storylines can go on for months/years.

Usually these stories go on for months in IRL time, and span the whole history of the character. For Loki, I probably has Asdisira for 4 years at most. Which is still a LONG time. These arcs can take different pathways, and I may imagine a scene multiple times - in different ways, but usuall the timeline of the oc x canon stays overall the same. Sadly, I almost never write these down. I would pull my hair out and theres not enough time in the world for me to write Diane and Hobie's full narrative down in detail that does it justice. I wanna make a bullet list of their narrative but i dont wanna clog dashes

I can genuinely use them as a comfort character.

I don't need this much now, and nowhere as much as I needed it in high school, but having the ability to daydream vividly at will about a character you feel safe and happy with - it's dope. Sometimes it really helps. There were a lot of times I imagined Loki comforting me or showing me kindness or helping me calm down. And sometimes you can do it just for fun. Like, as a treat. Whenever. I'm imagining Diane and Hobie at a fish n' chip shop right now. It's drizzling outside and it smells like oil and Hobie douses his chips in wayyy to much vinegar. It's like I'm there. Like...I just do that. thats rad as hell. (and I don't know how to describe it if you can't do it but hopefully others know how it is but it's VIVID, like wayyyy more than any dream.)

Literally a walking fact book about them.

I'm smug AS FUCK. I use to love when dudes in high school challenged me about the MCU cause I wore a shirt. Like, oh buddy. Oh pal. Just you fucking wait. I know this character better than you know your own mother - try me hoe. I love reading characters like a book and rewatching scenes, breaking down motives, watching their movements, looking for patterns and drawing connections to real world history, cultures, or psychology. I LOVE watching behavior and personality in the movies, and making conclusions about where they'd come from, reasonably, for the character, and how it affects them outside the scope of the film.

And most of all - It's Free Joy we're almost at the end I promise

This is long as all hell and unlike my other posts there really isn't a neat little character study but uhhh I wanna end with this I guess -

The best part of it, is it's free joy. Literally.

My brain can do something a lot of others can't. I can feel a kind a comfort and understanding with a character, I can entertain myself and come up with amazing stories that have mean to me.

I can make wonderful worlds and all that without lifting a finger, and hangout with my favorite characters just by going

(literally how i be sitting there - professor x headass)

I hoping the fucking multiverse with my mind.

But there's nothing cringe about that. And there's nothing cringe about drawing Hobie for hours on end, by himself or with an oc. There's nothing cringe about thinking about them a lot, or wanting to buy or make a lot of merch.

We aren't hurting anyone. It's not like a celebrity or a youtuber. Nothing we're doing is taboo or anything we're literally just being happy. And squealing about a character we deeply love

Like..Golly if more mfers in this world were squealing like us once a week maybe they'd be happier, you know what I mean. People be walking around mad as hell at the world...like why don't you look at this picture of Hobie and calm down? That's what makes me calm down.

__________________________________________________

Anyway uh this is LONG and not connected much to ATSV but if you read down this low THANK YOU so deeply it means a lot. If you relate to this at all I'd love to hear.

And if you think I'm unhinged. Absolutely. But that has nothing to do with this and ain't nothing wrong about it, in the words of megan the stallion... 'ah'.

I leave you with this pic of Hobie goodbye :)

im using my magic autism powers to hold his hand :) now im giving him a hug im having fun

[mdhwrites]

I saw a post a while ago lambasting Amphibia for having its characters 'do the most horrendous shit imaginable' for the sake of comedic plots and get off far too easily for it. In their view, Amphibia took slapstick comedy way 'too far' sometimes. I thought this was quite hyperbolic; the protagonists made serious mistakes, but rarely anything I'd call unforgivable, especially since they'd almost always show a level of remorse. But it did make me think about the way immoral acts are portrayed in comedic shows, and how we, as viewers, can tolerate and forgive things we probably wouldn't in real life because of the way these acts are presented to us.

I mean, think about Hop-Pop using mind control on Anne, Sprig and Polly in Children of the Spore. If anything like that happened to you in real life, chances are you wouldn't react to someone violating your body and mind by shrugging your shoulders and going 'well, guess we pushed you pretty far.' You'd probably beat the shit out of HP and never talk to him again. But that episode is kinda self-aware about the awfulness of it all (which I love). Polly flat-out says the old frog crossed all kinds of ethical and moral lines XD

Going back to the whole 'too far' accusation, though, I'm pretty sure we're smart enough to understand the difference between a silly frog show and real-life crimes. I don't think there needs to be super realistic consequences to everything (as the post I mentioned was suggesting) when your focus is on writing a slice-of-life fantastical comedy. I guess the only real argument you could make is 'but it's teaching kids to forgive absolutely atrocious, unforgivable things!' And...maybe? But I'm pretty sure any kid with their head screwed on straight understands not to replicate or forgive immoral behaviour too easily.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is, do you think characters doing awful things for the sake of comedy or plot can go too far, in that they can unintentionally make characters far too heinous to sympathize with, or do you think complaints like those of the post I mentioned above are a result of taking something far too seriously? Is there even such a thing as 'too far' when it comes to slapstick comedy?

So let's talk about intent, tone and framing because these things REALLY matter to a story. It's actually part of the problem with fandoms wanting everything to be realistic, darker, etc. because they're really asking for one thing: For them to all be the same. To not be what they are because, you know, the fact that these are comedy cartoons for kids MATTERS.

But first let's actually shift gears AWAY from cartoons for a second to talk about things being genuinely irredeemable for comedy. MANY people are really against prank style reality tv because it preys so completely on human suffering. Because these people are doing terrible things to just normal people. I personally don't like the premise... But I like Impractical Jokers. That show frames it DEMONSTRABLY more about terrible things happening to these four friends, by these four friends, and usually the worst they do to others is leave them a little confused or a bit uncomfortable. One of the big elements to changing this is that all the challenges are effectively dares. Someone either commits to the bit or if it becomes too much, they dip out but they are ALLOWED to dip out, minus the final jokes which are always pretty much purely at the Joker's expense.

Are these four people bad people? No. But part of why we also know that is because it's television and they're doing it to entertain as part of being comedians. Bizarrely enough, a lot of modern cartoon fandoms seem to want to act like fiction IS reality. It's where you get people going "Oh, you're being so cruel to a 14 year old, nuerodivergent girl!" and me going "I'm being critical of a character in a narrative. Can you please stop telling me, an actual human being in the real world, to kill myself because of a fictional character?"

Because shock of all shocks, PEOPLE CAN TELL REALITY FROM FICTION! In fact, even kids can! The fucking video game industry had to go through this hell HARD to prove that killing people in a video game is not the same as having psychopathic tendencies in the real world. Do you know how many kids play CoD? And those kids are fine. At least most of them.

So with all of that preamble out of the way: When can a morality focused show fuck up?

It's actually incredibly rarely in the terrible things the characters do because the show USUALLY addresses these elements as part of the moral of the day.

For the example given of Hop Pop's mind control, it is shown as... Eerie to put it mildly. Even from go, Hop Pop only enjoys it so long as he doesn't have to interact with it. It is never framed as a positive besides a bit selfishness. However, Hop Pop is a good enough person to show genuine remorse and try to fix this. He puts in a lot of effort, is admonished as the lesson of the day is learned to not try to control people and to potentially compromise and then it MOVES. ON. Because they live in a fantasy world where anyone could die at any second. A day of none thoughts is not actually that big of a deal, especially since it wasn't done out of malice or even really on purpose. It's a part of the fun of the setting and of the fantasy genre as a whole that you can just do these weird concepts like this and move on because magic happens sometimes. You might grumble for a day or two but hey, at least it was your neighbor and not the king, am I right!? Hail King Andrias.

A big part of this though, and why so many morality driven shows can have characters do terrible things without imparting the wrong lessons, is because it's addressed. Pretty much explicitly. It is framed as wrong, addressed as wrong and then fixed because it was WRONG. Even if it gives momentary gain, that gain is almost always also included in being wrong.

It's actually a formula that Amphibia purposefully breaks for an episode, carrying it over from directly the one before, because there genuinely was one crime committed that hadn't been addressed and by the time it was, that sin had grown to a point where it was too reasonable to have a character still be mad to ignore it: The music box. Hop Pop hiding it is actually an AWFUL thing to do because it dooms Anne, it means her parents will never get closure, dooms the rest of Anne's friends, etc. etc. Hop Pop has to be okay with Anne never quite being fully happy because of always wanting to go home while also living with this false hope that he implanted into her. A trust he has not earned because of the lie.

So even after they theoretically have their morality episode about the box, Amphibia takes this time for such a PERSONAL attack on Anne to stick with her for another episode during The First Temple. It actually acknowledges that you don't get over everything immediately. That sometimes you need space. I don't even like that episode but the break in formula is actually meant to make the message more powerful, and does so successfully, especially because the crime was different. It wasn't of indifference or something quickly fixed. It was of long term AGONY and a complete breach in trust that would make one question what relationship they can have with another person. There's pretty much zero other crimes in the show like that besides Sasha/Marcy's betrayals, which aren't treated as easy fixes, and Andrias' betrayal is the heel turn that makes him the primary antagonist. These crimes, these personal, genuinely awful things to do to other people that could be replicated, unlike so much of the fantasy violence, are usually seen as something you do have to work on. It's a great, nuanced take on being a morality one off show while also being able to elevate some issues to being dealt with more seriously and consistently.

Also, quick note from someone on my Discord: They NEED to do bad things in order to teach! They are meant to be the bad example so when their actions lead to things going wrong, you understand not to copy that behavior. This is honestly storytelling 101 for most... Plots. Not just morals but plots. If the characters do NOTHING, nothing happens and nothing will be learned.

You want a show that will teach kids bad lessons and then reinforce there are no consequences for those? WELCOME TO THE OWL HOUSE! Specifically: The show that tells you to lie and keep secrets because your fear justifies keeping them!

I know that sounds shitty but like... Luz is the main character. For half of the show, she is portrayed as the second most moral character in the show behind Willow. She admonishes stealing, cheating, etc. as her contrast with Eda. Then after Yesterday's Lie... She literally can't stop lying and never faces consequences for it.

The closest actually comes in Falls and Follies where Amity at least forces a promise out of Luz to be more open with her. This actually though doesn't fix the problem, it just makes it WAY WORSE because one of the main targets of these lies, that kids can easily replicate, especially because Luz is almost always lying about things that might upset others which is the most common thing kids will lie about, is Amity. So now we have both lying and breaking promises. You know, two of the most basic morals any kids show should impart on the audience!

In Reaching Out though, Amity gets a little mad but then it's excused because of her dad! In Thanks to Them, no one gives a shit that Luz has been keeping secrets and lying for months. Camila makes sure Luz DOESN'T tell her friends the truth either about her plans. You know, Luz's MOM who should want her daughter to be an honest person. The show then constantly keeps cutting Luz off from telling anyone anything because it literally can't without revealing how bullshit what she's doing is until by the end of the show... Luz hasn't been punished in any way and the lies just... Drift away.

Completely unaddressed.

This causes a problem because while the lies theoretically hurt Luz... They hurt less than losing her friends. Hurt less than disappointing a parent. Hurt less than making her look bad. And this is the main character. The one kids are supposed to connect with the most. The one who usually most explicitly defines the morality of a show. And she is never punished or stopped from all. Of. Her. Lies.

(As a note: This is also how you get a lot of guys taking the wrong lessons from anime perverts. Sure, this guy gets smacked but he never loses his friends. Never faces real consequences. In return... He gets way more ass than the main character does, doesn't he? *gags violently*)

THAT is how you impart bad morals. It's not surprising to me that the fandom for TOH hides behind excuses so much for their show because their literal main character was justified, in fiction, to have all of the terrible things she did, all the choices she didn't have to make or the people she discarded, because she ALWAYS had an excuse. And so long as you have an excuse, by what TOH says, you can get away with fucking anything.

And mind you, that last part is NOT Luz specific. Have a bad uncle? Don't worry Hunter, the fact that you literally hunt, oppress and potentially kill wild witches can be entirely forgotten and ignored. Have a mean mommy? Don't worry Amity, we literally never have to properly address the literal years of bullying you did to another character or even how attempting to kill Luz was wrong. Collector? COME ON! You just had bad friends/family so now you just need good ones and we can forget all about you oppressing people for fucking months!

This isn't addressing these problems. These are excuses. And excuses can seem REALLY appealing to people. After all, how many hide awful acts or statements behind: "Come on, it was just a joke." Shields are useful for trying to avoid criticism after all. If you never acknowledge you were in the wrong, you don't have to feel bad for having done something mean, let alone terrible.

Just to bring it back to Amphibia: Sasha tries to do this. She believes she knows best so she feels justified in all she does because it will make everyone the happiest, at least in her own eyes. Then in Turning Point, she realizes the folly of her ways, addresses that she was a terrible person and plants her foot down FIRM. No more acting the part of protector while actually being a tyrant. She will risk her very life in order to right these wrongs. And we see it also in Commander Anne where she is taking the change seriously. These are two half episodes, a single episode in full, that lets us know that her actions were inexcusable and that they were wrong and now she is allowed to be a part of the good guys now that she has made sure the audience knows that they can look to her as an example.

One full episode to ADDRESS the fact that what Sasha did was wrong and to not excuse it but to learn from it.

That's why all these terrible things protagonists do in shows is fine. They learn from it. They genuinely regret their actions. They show the audience why they shouldn't have done it. It's never okay to the show that they did. Not that it can't be forgiven, because people should be allowed the chance to grow, but that it still wasn't okay.

For a kid's show, that is pitch perfect. It's why moral of the day storytelling exists and I can't really think of any huge errors in this department on Amphibia's side. It's pretty damn good at smacking someone over the head when they act like a jackass. At bare minimum, there are WAY worse examples out there.

======+++++======

This is absolutely one of those criticisms that has me look at the person making it and go "Just admit you don't like cartoons. Or children's media in general probably." Admittedly, there's actually plenty of adult stuff just as childish, no one stays mad in Family Guy, so it's probably just "You don't like cartoons." It's the sort of bad faith criticism that just reveals you as not having actually wanted the product but whatever you thought the product should be.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[the-s1lly-corner]

I want to request like. A cuddling session with Slenderman, who is having a bad day and we comfort him

(つ≧▽≦)つ

I'm addicted to the idea of him pretending to be okay with people calling him monster, but deep down he has this longing for it to stop, since he wanted to get along with the proxies and others he deemed second family.

So he like, rant about his day while reader comfort him.

Maybe get him a little fluster aswell （〜^∇^ )〜

(Take your time and have a good day/night)

All Entwined in One Web

obligatory im stuck in the 2015 era of the creepypasta fandom and ive been mulling over this sort of approach in my head for the past month because i revisited an old slenderman x oc fanfic that had a death grip on me and shaped the way i will interact with + and consume creepypasta stuff for the sake of saving grace and not revealing HOW cringe i was im not going to drop the fanfic name (unless yall dm me because!! i still wanna support the author even if it seems theyre inactive now!) i blame this author for making me a demon sympathizer/j/lh written kinda different than my basic bullet list of hcs! got silly with this one, sorry if its jarring compared to my usual stuff </3 this post is mostly just my hc on like. slender (and by extension all demon characters) being neutral and a simple part of nature that stems from zalgo (yay im finally dropping zalgo lore for my au since he functions differently in my au/hc!!) so take this with a HUGE grain of salt since i feel this deters from the main take people use (that ive seen, at least) this one ended up being more.. sad than i first intended and imma be honest i kinda got into my feelings when i was writing this anywaus i hope this isnt too cringe since i dont talk much about my HUGEhcs/au stuff/rewritten stuff so!! plus i dont usually write BIG detailed stuff like this sobsob tldr; slenderman isnt good or evil hes just a neutral piece of nature in the world and hes trying to cope with it. the demon gods really fucked up by making him sentient and able to process human like emotions

death is a force of nature and people curse it for simply being a part of life; people curse wild animals for being, and people will curse the weather

in this universe, or timeline, demons exist in a similar manner. slenderman exists simply because hes a part of that huge web of nature. of course, that includes every single ugly instinct that humans hate so so much. and he can understand why, even if its his nature.

the one responsible for that web, is zalgo. the beginning and end of everything. neither alive nor dead, all demons stem from zalgo in one way or another.

a solitary creature that prefers to stay alone in the comfort of its home, it doesnt tend to reach out to harm others unless theres harm. only really attacking people that threaten to expose it or get too close...

except, you... you were the one exception. regardless of how you managed to worm yourself into his heart, and become his lifelong companion, hes grateful for your presence when things begin to build up.

he knows that in the eyes of others, he ugly and vile, but he knows that ultimately thats what protects him. he insists that its better this way, sticking to the forest away from the prying eyes.

SURE, he could follow in his brothers footsteps and make a false human body and try to blend in with the people. but is that really efficient? is that really something he wants? hes a powerful being but that would eventually take its toll on him..

ultimately he resigns himself into your arms; once oozing powerful and command, now crumpled and curled.

he never had a childhood, when zalgo created him, he simply.

was

no adolescence, no developing, no growing. he was always what he was meant to be, but he likes to think that when youre holding him, that this is what it feels like to be so small and vulnerable.

humans had it so easy, hed think. theyre born and they die and the process repeats itself for everyone. they dont have to be feared or hated, or kill to survive.

yes, to him, being mortal was far more preferable to being condemned to being a lonely hermit who corrupts and breaks everything it touches.

even with your comfort, theres only so much that you can do; youll eventually pass on as well and hell be stuck in his cycle once more

but for now, as you hum softly and whisper nothings to him as you let him crumble; hell let himself weep just this once.

because as much as he envies your life, and what humans have, he cant deny that he cant bring himself to truly hate them, because like him, theyre simply a piece of natures web.

[ithinkdogshouldvote2]

Hey, just wanted to say that I thought you handled the whole Terry Jr being black post very well and very civilly. Even while faced with backlash about your design, you responded politely and respectfully.

I also didn't know it was confirmed on the aftershow that Terry and Samantha are black, not having access to the patreon, though I happened to headcanon them as black beforehand anyway. Personally, I think it's unfair to expect someone to know what has or hasn't been confirmed by the creators when the information is behind a paywall.

Also, there's nothing wrong with having different ideas than what "the fandom has decided". The whole point of fandom and diversity means people interpret things differently. While I understand how your designs along with the character's individual stories could be easily misconstrued, and that should definitely be taken into account, you haven't done anything wrong by interpreting a character a certain way, especially when they barely have any confirmed physical appearance on the show itself.

You said you're working on a redesign for Terry, but you shouldn't have been bullied into it. I understand that the original post was mostly a vent about personal experiences and feelings, and that's valid. There was probably a more respectful way to handle to situation though.

To end this tirade, let me just say that I think your artstyle is adorable

Thank you, that's honestly very gratifying to hear. The whole situation was unfortunately pretty stressful, maybe just because I'm a very anxious person, but it was really eating away at me.

I said this before in the post, but my first experience with a podcast was the adventure zone where designs were fully up to interpretation, so it was maybe my bad coming into dndads with that attitude. I've seen fanart of pretty much all the character in all different races, including Terry jr as white, so I kinda just took that as confirmation that this was the case.

The thing is with the patreon paywall is that I AM a patron, so I would totally be able to look up the talking dads episode if someone directed me to it, but no one has yet. and the op never responded to my request for it. Even though I will be changing Terry's design regardless, I would still like to see what Anthony said since I've never seen someone say it was confirmed before.

I also fully agree about not loving the whole "the Fandom has decided" thing. There will always be exceptions to the rule. I've seen plenty of people draw the characters in plenty of ways and that, to me, the fun part of podcasts. That there is no ONE design. And mine was just an ingredient in the pot of the Fandom. People who don't draw and just enjoy fanart have the ability to basically shop for what designs they like best. They can choose one person's Lark and Sparrow designs, and another person's nick design. It was maybe small minded of me to assume that people would just keep scrolling if they didn't like my designs. The op called me a popular artist in the post and I've never been a popular artist before, so it's also possible that my work might me kinda hard to avoid if it's near the top of searches. Especially with how much I DO draw Terry and with the unintended message of "good dad = white guy" which was obviously never something I was trying to convey.

In regards to changing my terry, I do have to admit that I am sad to see the old design go, and I don't feel awesome about how we got here, but I do really like the new design and hopefully you guys do too. I didn't change too much since I still like alot about the old design and changing how i see him in my head isnt gonna be a fully new design, just necessary tweaks on the template, but it'll hopefully be a good change.

I never imagined I'd be at the center of something like this, and it really didn't feel great, haha. Especially when looking at the comments on that post of people saying they've been avoiding my art because it makes them uncomfortable, something I NEVER wanted to happen. I just really hope I can turn it around and the people who avoided me before will understand that I really didn't mean any harm.

But genuinely thank you for this, sorry I'm kinda just using it to get out the rest of my feelings regarding the situation before moving past it. It feels a bit better to know that people like you had similar feelings to the situation as I did as the whole thing felt a bit isolating. Obviously it was probably also stressful for the op so I don't want to insinuate that I'm the only one who was affected by this whole thing. I'm really thankful for the support. Or at least the reassurance haha

And thank you for saying my artstyle is cute! Honestly with all the crazy talented people in the dndads community I'm really thankful to have gotten the following and attention that I have. Despite this experience, maybe not leaving the greatest impression, this fan base is one of the most kind and supportive communities I've been in. =]

[manofmanymons]

may you share some takuma x kaito hcs i am in drought and dying

Yeesus do I need to start writing about them again is the takuma x kaito fandom okay al;kfjdaklj I thought was getting too annoying about them but maybe not???

first things first in case you missed any of the other times I rambled aggressively about them

here's the most recent time someone asked about them <3

here's a post from that time someone (multiple someones? all the same anon? I'll never know) was asking about marriage hcs 💍

here's a time I was just randomly babbling about them :P

this isn't a hc but just a scene that haunts my brain a lot >w<

this post talks about multiple ships but they're in it 💃🏻

here is a short fic that's like 90% just me shoving hcs in your face 📝

and since we're already shamelessly self plugging here's the first thing I ever wrote about them teehee

OKAY SO

GETTING TO THE ACTUAL POST NOW LMAO

several pre-relationship hcs

Dracmon knows the idiots are crushing on each other before either of them figures it out. Agumon can tell that there's something different about the way Takuma talks about Kaito but he's not sure exactly what it is.

Y'know that scene where if you pick the wrong dialogue, Kaito will get all pouty if Takuma says people would like him more if he softened up his speech or looks a little? I imagine Kaito might briefly worry about if Takuma would actually like him better that way. In the end he doesn't change, obviously, but the realization that he likes someone enough that he considered changing for them for even a second gets him angry and a little embarrassed. How dare Takuma make him have Stupid feelings.

Literally every single one of their friends (and most of the kemonogami) knows Kaito has a crush on Takuma. They have the restraint not to make fun of him for it, but they very much ALL know. They'll even try to subtly (why does that not look like a real word) play wingman for him, making excuses for why those two should be alone together or asking Takuma about his thoughts on romance and if he likes anybody. Takuma only realizes that's what they were doing in hindsight years later. Kaito never notices even though he's the one they were trying to help lmao.

At least some of them have bet on how long it would take them to get together.

Fuck it I don't talk nearly enough about idiot pining Kaito. He likes Takuma so much it's embarrassing. Miu has sent pictures to their friends' secret groupchat that doesn't have Kaito or Takuma in it of the stupid way he smiles when Takuma texts him. Ryo caught him on video trying to strangle Takuma for calling him adorable once. He will secretly replay the part of the video where Takuma calls him adorable when he's alone because he likes hearing it. Lowkey sped past the cute, silly "butterflies in your stomach" kind of crush straight to the "my heart hurts when you're here yet aches worse when you're gone" kinda head over heels. He would die before admitting it, even to Dracmon. We love a boy who's just a tiny bit pathetic alkdja

I swear I'm not tryna be hardcore delulu playing the game with ship goggles on but like...Every time I think about that time where he gets mad at Takuma for being too close to Miu, but instead of complaining about him being too protective, Miu remarks that it looks like he really wanted to spend time with Takuma, it just kinda reads like he was perhaps a little bit jealous. Most mentally sane and emotionally stable way of expressing that you want your friend to pay attention to you.

I think it's hilarious that Kaito's voice is so goddamn deep for a 14 year old. I also think it a contributing factor to Takuma's crush on him. Like "wow that guy sounds cool."

Anywho, established relationship part

For the first few years post-canon, they keep going back and forth between who's taller. Takuma doesn't really mind either way, but Kaito hates being shorter. Solely because of how funny his reactions are, Takuma will jokingly call Kaito "little" whenever he's taller, even if it's only by 1cm. "My precious little boyfriend," "my little love," etc. Kaito hates this. He does not hate how happy Takuma sounds when he's saying it.

Usually when they're in public, people assume they're friends. Kaito is unbothered by this. Takuma does not like the way people look at his boyfriend. Again I really don't think he's the jealous type in the sense of ever legitimately worrying about anyone stealing his bf away or minding it when Kaito spends time with Not Him, but I could see him getting irritated if anyone openly stared at or god forbid flirted with his bf in front of him. Bc like real talk for a second, outside a shitty small town, you cannot tell me that no one aged 13-17 would crush on Kaito just from looking at him. Way too many angsty teens in the world.

Freaking cat boy constantly lies on top of whatever Takuma's working on and falls asleep.

They are secretly both the "would you still love me if I was a worm" boyfriend.

Bf who overthinks x bf who rarely thinks things through

Obsessed with Takuma constantly thinking of 2-4 different ways to respond during conversations being how he actually thinks and not just a game mechanic. The patience it takes for Kaito to cope with being stared blankly at for 10 seconds after asking for a kiss bc Takuma's too busy wondering if he should ⬅️ tell him he doesn't need to ask next time, ⬆️ just kiss him, or ➡️ ask if he's sure he wants one. As if Kaito didn't already feel dorky enough for asking. "Why would he ask?" HE'S ALLOWED TO PROPERLY ARTICULATE WHAT HE WANTS SOMETIMES INSTEAD OF WAITING AROUND FOR TAKUMA TO MAKE THE FIRST MOVE OKAY BUT HE WAS STILL SCARED OF DOING IT WITHOUT ASKING FIRST

Dracmon really does trust Takuma a lot and is more or less the captain of this ship. He still threatened to kill him if he ever hurt his partner when they first got together. Even when your bestie can turn into a mechanical dragon with cannons, something about a 10+ foot demon pointing a gun at you and telling you he would not hesitate if you screwed this up will really set ya straight.

Most of the time they hang out, they do whatever Takuma wants to. It sounds bad, but Kaito just really hates making decisions and really likes being around Takuma regardless of what they're doing. It took Kaito confirming this for Takuma's mom to stop getting on him about it though.

As close as they are, Takuma knows and doesn't mind that there are some things Kaito is always going to want to do with Miu instead of him, and Kaito knows and doesn't mind that there are some things Takuma is always going to want to do with Minoru.

Uhhh they are,,,very silly. Kaito high key one of those kids who decided he was too old for a lot of things when he was still really young, so sometimes Takuma has to force him to act his age and/or make up for lost childhood. Of course, Takuma himself has a tendency to think he's older than he actually is, but sometimes Kaito sounds so much like a tired adult that even he knows that's not normal.

Kaito has a lot of biases regarding how dumb he thinks romance is that he has to get over now that he's in a relationship. He's about to call someone else's big romantic gesture stupid until Takuma comments on how sweet it is and he has to go "yeah, real cute" instead. He's trying his best guys he really is.

...Several love songs have wormed their way into his playlists since dating Takuma. Some were even there since back when he just had a crush. Many are a result of Takuma sending him songs and saying "this made me think of you." Don't tell anyone. He only listens to rock and metal, he swears.

Sorry besties I cannot think of anything else rn I'm sure there's more but I'm eepy

[chattegeorgiana]

(Yo I'm SUPER late but pretend like I'm not because it's still November 💀)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SHINACHIKU UZUMAKI!!! ♏️🎍🎊🍉

I literally can not express in words how I feel about Shinachiku. It's also funny about how when I first discovered him, the year started to have a really good vibe for me. It was as if I had found a good luck charm because my grades had gone from bad to great, and I passed my final exams with flying colors! (Also, I was sick sometime before his birthday, and when November 7th came around, I was feeling all better! :D)

I honestly wish I had come to the fandom sooner because I really, really, really enjoy his character. I love his design, too, out of the kids (even though it varies). It's so vibrant, and the shades of green, red, white, black, and dark purple work really well together with his blonde hair. I think orange with white suits him as well. He kinda reminds me of a carrot when I see him wearing orange, which is funny because carrots are his one of his favorite snacks, lol. I also really love watermelon, so that's a plus!

You also hit the nail in the head with his zodiac sign, too. Another thing, although Shinachiku wears lighter colors in Kosen, the colors of the usual green and red are a bit darker with some black in your AU. In the Astrology Bible, Scorpio's colors are deep red, maroon, black, dark green, and brown. Pumiih's old art of Shinachiku had him wearing brown. His zodiac also pairs well with his family. In traditional astrology, Scorpio's ruling planet is Mars, which rules Aries. It fits well given that he's a total mama's boy & his relationship with Hanami (who's INCREDIBLY Aries coded, but I won't discuss it here now). Him and Hanami are like opposites in their story, where one wants to follow their fathers path. The other does not. Their personalities are opposite to each other as well. I often like to think that zodiacs whom share a planet (with the exception of Leo & Cancer) in traditional or modern astrology are opposite elements (Ex: Gemini and Virgo both rule over Mercury and, in traditional astrology, Aquarius and Capricorn both rule Saturn.). I'm still a beginner in trying to learn astrology, so I'm not sure if it's true or not, so feel free to correct me. Despite Arashi also being a water sign like Shinachiku, I talk about Hanami & Shinachiku specifically because, as far as I know, they're the oldest kids in the NaruSaku fandom. Arashi came much later, and we don't have as much information on him or different versions of him like Shinachiku & Hanami. He also isn't as popular (which hurts my soul).

Back to what I was talking about, his detriment is Venus, which rules the zodiacs Libra & Taurus, which Libra is Naruto’s zodiac sign. His fall is the Moon, which rules Cancer, which Arashi's zodiac. I literally forgot all else I was going to say here, which is a damn shame because I was looking forward to saying whatever I was going to say.💀

I want to say more, but say, I've spent all of my mental energy on the zodiac part. I can't even remember what I want to say, either. My brain is scrambled! But anyway, I love him, I love that he exists, and I hope you and your dogs stay safe out there & rest. 

Hiiii dear!!

No worries about being late! As you can see I am even later in responding to you cuz IRL is so busy lol.

Talking about good luck charm, I actually have a keychain of him which is kinda like my lucky charm hahaha.

So glad to hear he’s bringing you all this positivity in your life.

And yes yes yes about ALL THAT ASTRO INTERPRETATION, love it!!

As for what you wanted to say with the Venus detriment, was it maybe that you were going to translate that into that part of his story where he feels like he cannot follow into his parents’ greatness?

And yeah it fits very well with his family AND with his healer side cuz in astrology Scorpio is actually also seen as a sign that brings healing.

Btw just wanted to mention that it’s Mercury who rules over Gemini & Virgo or Saturn over Cap & Aqua, not the other way around. 😋

But yeah, they’re opposites and complementaries in a way at the same time.

Cuz like Gemini is the aether information aspect of Mercury while Virgo is like the earthly applied info. Like… ya know, all the things you learn in medical school. The information that comes from the aether (Gemini) and comes into earthly physical manifestation (Virgo), so I totally see your point.

Also with the detriment side, a nice way to look at it with Arashi, would be like Arashi being his “fall”, as in Shina’s overprotectiveness of his little brother and that if something were to happen to him it would affect Shina’s judgement due to the emotional (moon - Cancer - Arashi) aspect. Ya know, kinda like how when someone dear to you is in danger, it’s hard to keep a cool level head.

Maybe you wanted to go somewhere around there?

Idk but it just popped into my head.

Anyway, love love love these interpretations! There are so many ways to play with their characters given these astrological archetypes.

Glad to have someone as obsessed with these things as I am, hahaha.

Anyway, thank you for the message!

Hope you have a wonderful time these holidays and an amazing new year!

Much love,

Chatte

[tendo-64]

sometimes i forget how old mother 3 is. like, i know in my head "2006" but i don't really comprehend that until i stumble across fanart from like 2008 and am like "damn this was made when i was five years old". lucas being in smash doesn't have that effect on me because he almost feels like an entirely different being, it's just fanart that does.

it's kinda surreal to me that i am drawing the same character that someone did sixteen years ago. especially if i see similar concepts--thinking that someone thought "oh this would make a great drawing idea for the twins" except instead of it being yesterday it was in the year 2012 whilst i in the same instance was playing mario kart 7 past my bed time at nine years old, didn't even know how to draw yet beyond poorly scribbling yoshi in ms paint on occasion, and lucas to me was "the weird kid from smash bros" that i never gave a second thought and would not give a second thought for another seven years. more surreal when i think about how that artist has become the nine year old me in that they probably moved on years ago and now mother 3 to them is "a game they liked a long time ago"

and yea that can apply to just about anything, but i guess it's the mother series' niche nature that makes it different to me. it's such a small, cozy fandom that I forget that maybe years and years ago it was different at some point. another part being i didn't know anything about mother 3 before 2019 and actively avoided spoilers until i finished it in late 2022, so my brain thinks it's this recent thing because i'd never known anything about it for so long, when in reality i just lived under a rock

idk tho maybe i'm not making any sense

[batsplat]

a silly one: top 5 or 10 naruto ships or dynamics whatever you prefer

ooh excellent ask. it's actually quite tough to make a selection! I do enjoy a lot of canon dynamics that I wouldn't like... necessarily seek out in fandom, but then the stuff I interact with in fandom, what I read fic for and so on, is SO broad and so eclectic that it becomes a struggle to narrow it down. I think I've skewed more towards canon dynamics/relationships I enjoy... there's no fandom I read as broadly for as naruto, including a lot of gen fic - and a lot of it is very team-based stuff, which I'm mostly going to leave out. also, proper niche things that exist only in my head like 'the rin/konan manifesto'. anyway. here goes

10. gaara x naruto: gaara was a top three character of mine when I was a kid (along with temari and itachi). he's very appealing to the edgelord seven year old and I did have his sand gourd as a bag, plus his arc was one of my favourite bits of the manga. his powers are cool as shit, that bit in the forest where he brutally murders the other team and temari goes 'bye bye' is excellent - and then of course there's his main character beat: how naruto can relate to him due to the monster trapped inside. naruto is very big on establishing parallels between its main characters and the various villains, which is all very shounen-y and kinda cliche but, well, it's fun. gaara is still the best execution of that trope, partly because he comes early enough that the central theme of 'isn't it lucky that naruto had friends!!!!' hasn't been done to death. the visual of naruto gradually being surrounded by loved ones while gaara stays alone does work... gaara was just a good character, genuinely creepy and functioning as this primal, unthinking evil, that is gradually revealed to be tragic and alone. the execution of the arc isn't perfect and naruto's power of love bit is already pushing it here, but the whole thing is more or less dramatically satisfying. now, as is so often the case, the whole thing does fall apart after this... gaara just becomes a complete non-entity where we have to assume he does all his character development off-screen, but when he comes back he's basically completely reformed and non-bloodthirsty. now, the problem with having a character whose only character trait is being bloodthirsty, you kinda need to be careful when you're taking away their one thing. don't accidentally make them boring! (it also doesn't canonically really fly to me - gaara isn't insane when we meet him because he has an attitude problem, he's insane because he literally cannot fall asleep and has a deranged monster whispering into his thoughts 24/7. like the attitude shift is a good start, but surely it'll take a bit more work than that.) the inclusion of this relationship on this list really is just about that initial arc and the promise therein, how well they bounced off each other to start with... (you'll find this is a bit of a running theme on this list actually.) I don't really ship them, don't really ship gaara with anyone except maybe rock lee and as far as I'm concerned it's naruto/sasuke 4 lyfe, but y'know. they're good foils. wish gaara had been struggling a little more with the 'not murdering people' thing when they next met. they could've been friends but in an interesting way idk

9. shikamaru/temari: to some extent I do feel like I've aged out of enjoying this relationship in its canon form. I loved it as a kid, in large part because temari was the one token strong woman and it actually felt like this relationship was being conducted on like... even footing. growing up, I have gone off shikamaru in the sense that... well, idk, I think he can be written well and there's plenty of good elements to the character, it's just that he is also a specific flavour of wish fulfilment that threatens to appeal to some of the most annoying types of guy imaginable. it doesn't help that temari slips into irrelevance from shippuden onwards and eventually really is just shikamaru's wife, which. awful! still, they did have strong banter. there's a world in which shikamaru is actually forced to grow up and mature a little more, rather than being treated by the narrative as the super smart moral authority badass cool guy who is right all the time. what I really want from this dynamic is the politics of it all... when we're introduced to these characters, we have these two strategists who are already embroiled in sensitive political situations. while shikamaru mostly still gets to be a kid and is only loosely aware of his father's work, temari is playing a central role in attempting a coup of another village. shikamaru's father is jounin commander and clan leader of one of konoha's more influential clans, roles he is expected to inherit - but he balks at the responsibility and kind of wants everyone to leave him alone. temari's father is the kazekage, her brother is the jinchuriki who she's terrified will murder her every time he loses his temper... she's outwardly far more accepting of her duties, but you can't imagine that's an easy situation, right. there's a lot about their lives that feel very prescribed, from the supportive role they play to the jinchuriki to the lineage-based teams they were assigned to. idk, I feel like the basic potential of a romance between the pair of them is that it gives them the opportunity to... go against all that, to actually make their own choice for once because they've fallen in love with a smart arsehole. I'm also kinda interested in the logistics of inter-village romance, because you have to assume that's not been a common thing but it's barely commented on once it starts cropping up within naruto's generation. especially when it's two figures of shikamaru and temari's stature! I just want a bunch of fun political dramas between these two that aren't painfully heteronormative and lets temari level a forest or two, is that too much to ask for

8. sasori/deidara: look, I could have included any number of akatsuki combinations here. I think they're all fantastic, I enjoy them in canon, I have read a lot of fic for them. I think I read more itachi/deidara fic than sasori/deidara, but that's also just kinda dependent on where the fandom has gone with these characters. this is the gold standard akatsuki teammate pairing: memorable, charming, bonkers. like, they're artists, but they have this fundamental philosophical divide because one is in love with things being temporary and the other with things being eternal... which is expressed by having one blow everything up and the other making himself into a puppet to live forever... that's cinema right there. this dynamic immediately bangs in canon because they just have such easy antagonistic chemistry. they really are both the type of guy who would drive you absolutely insane with their stupid fucking art debates. they're just such vivid characters with such distinctive voices and worldviews... you kinda want to play around with them, right, like they're just fun!! I love them!! obviously also great for au's, like they are annoying grad students they just are... idk I luv them, both platonically and as a ship. how do they work out romantically.... well, probably they don't, unless in a heavily au scenario. they're also kinda on the opposite ends of the... idk what to call it, libido spectrum shall we say, where deidara has got this whole tongue situation and sasori is frozen in this arrested, sterile youth. you kinda need to get weird and freaky with these characters, right, and try to figure out how they would navigate their respective situations. but see, isn't that something that just gets the imagination going! one's a small waif puppet lurking inside a big hulking puppet, the other's got tongues in his hands, doesn't that just stimulate the creative mind. if sasori fell in love with deidara, he would want to make him into a puppet... limitless potential

7. sasuke x itachi: now, listen, this one's a bit of a mess. both of their characterisations become increasingly messy as the series goes on, which given how much of their characters are about each other becomes a kind of downward spiral into incoherency. I'm still not entirely sure what the series' moral stance on itachi's actions is supposed to be - which, look, I'm not saying you need to have a moral stance on everything, but you should try to have SOME kind of coherent framing of the whole ordeal that goes beyond 'wow, that sure sucked for everyone involved'. all this means you can kinda go one of two ways with this dynamic: either you ignore the shippuden twist, or you don't ignore it and let itachi have his 'reasonable motivations' for the uchiha massacre. I do tend to accept this twist... it does give a good explanation for why itachi left sasuke alive beyond 'he wanted to steal his eyes'. my stance on the whole thing is that itachi's heart might generally be in the right place, but he made a truly awful choice and the narrative will never be able to convince me otherwise. if you go from there, you do have a very compelling set-up for that sibling relationship. sasuke is the only person in the world who itachi loves unconditionally; he's protective of his baby brother in a way he simply will never be of anyone else. whereas sasuke has always been defined by itachi, first existing entirely in his shadow and then dedicating his entire life to killing him... itachi is devoted to sasuke and sasuke cannot escape itachi. that's good stuff! classic older sibling/younger sibling dynamic... it's just a dynamic that's so foundational to both of them that even in fics that aren't about that relationship specifically, it's basically unavoidably THERE. the canon is a mess, but the emotional truths that underlie it work

6. minato/kushina: from a storytelling standpoint, I hate naruto being minato's son. naruto's parentage reveal kills his underdog credentials dead in the water and it's very... well he was always gonna be an ultra special boy, wasn't he. like it does kinda destroy the character. unfortunately, I can't ignore his parentage because I do simply love them. yes, this is another relationship that suffers from that thing where all the writing of women is kinda awful. I don't mind their meet cute being kushina's damsel in distress moment when she's being kidnapped - but given how little screen time they have, kushina's badass status ends up being very much an informed trait. let's just take it as read that every woman in this series is done dirty. in any case, the appeal of minato is that he is fundamentally a wife guy. he is kushina's number one fan and wants to live his life being kushina's number one fan. he's also not from a super powerful clan, which I really like; he ends up embodying the democratic ideal that naruto was supposed to. he's also really big on the whole 'gentle smile, kills so so many people' thing, which is always fun imo. kushina gets introduced as this feral naruto-esque girl - and with that sort of thing there's always a massive danger of the girl being like... feminised beyond recognition and concurrently being reduced to housewife status. now there is a little bit of that with kushina, but in my head there really doesn't have to be. in a way, they're really too bland and boring for me to love them as much as I do... they're sweet, though, and I adore team minato. plus, I'm always a sucker for a tragic heterosexual arc

5. hashirama/madara: these two were in love with each other. obviously they were. there's three separate ships on this list that basically function as 'tragic backstories'; this series has a lot of strong tragic backstories. perhaps that's partly because those stories are already for the most part 'finished' by the time they are narrated to the audience, which means we're generally spared any of what this series considers character development. I'm pretty sure I've already posted on this blog before about my dislike for the entire uchiha curse situation and there's definitely quite a lot of annoying things about madara's character too, but luckily most of them don't impact the backstory too much. I love how sweet and innocent they are when they meet, how they're just immediately enamoured with each other, how fate and circumstance conspires to turn them against each other, how they eventually flip the script and irrevocably change the world with their idealism... I just love the kind of rivalry that produces a pair of giant gay ass statues guarding a waterfall. now, as stated above, I don't like the idea that madara ends up fucking it because there's something cursed about his blood. this kind of determinism manages to be both boring and kinda troubling if you think about the implications for more than two seconds. it also sets up naruto and sasuke breaking the cycle, without any indication of why those two specifically manage to break it - sasuke is fundamentally not in a place where he would be closer to breaking it than mr teenage political revolutionary madara. sasuke was accidentally radicalised, my man madara was already there from day one! this story works the best imo if you've got two fundamentally well-intentioned idealistic blokes who have also been traumatised by war and have never entirely been able to let go of the war in their minds... just gradually letting the peace they built slip away. fewer bloodline curses, more generational trauma. I understand bloodline curses can be metaphors for generational trauma, but it's really not here. it just doesn't work. I don't really read a lot for this ship because it's one of those where I have a very specific idea of how I think this dynamic works and the fic out there I've read doesn't quite meet me where I am. but I do love the backstory, do love the dynamic, do love the vibes. plus, cool power match-up

4. sand siblings: my kids!! they show up to konoha, they bully a bunch of the homegrown brats, then they start murdering children in the forest. love a good sibling dynamic and this one has such a fun and unique flavour... beleaguered eldest child temari, snarky and mean and confident but also way out of her league, annoying middle child kankuro who plays at being cocky while also having to reckon with his fundamental lack of power, and lonely youngest child gaara, who initially barely seems to see the other two as siblings at all. obviously, the real meat of this dynamic is that temari and kankuro are absolutely terrified of gaara, who despite his age functions as the de facto leader of their team. it feels quite rare in-universe to have teams that consist of siblings, with a bit of separation between the hierarchical military command structure and actual blood family that actually feels like quite a good idea. suna clearly don't believe in that shit and instead have decided to force these three into what just feels like a horrendous situation for everyone... it's essentially an extension of their childhood household - where temari and kankuro were taught to treat gaara with mistrust and contempt before eventually learning to fear him, while gaara is given little reason to expect any kind of familial affection from his older brother and sister. good and gritty abusive family dynamic... obviously none of these three kids are really to blame with how fucked up that relationship has become, but also all three have understandable reasons to be wary. their early canon dynamic is so interesting, where they're like... kinda comfortable around each other, are mostly quite distanced and professional when interacting amongst themselves and let more of their personalities show to outsiders than each other... kankuro and temari forming a little bit of a united front in containing gaara, but mostly they're just united in their fear of their baby brother... it's compelling! I am compelled! now, I've already given the sparknotes of my issues with gaara and temari's later development and the same broadly holds true of kankuro, plus their relationship in general. they just basically all seem quite fine with each other after naruto's done his talk no jutsu thing. the whole 'gaara becoming kazekage' thing was always a bit weird to me... even in the military dictatorship universe, gaara does not have the prerequisites for that to be a good idea in the slightest. if anything, it does kinda feel like temari should have gotten that job - and I'm not too fussed with her getting it, I actually like her mirroring shikamaru in taking more of a supportive role that allows her to have a little more freedom, but maybe kankuro...? idk, I know it's supposed to be meaningful and emotional because, oh, look at how they've accepted the jinchuriki, but this is the bit of the magic ninja manga that just completely breaks my suspension of disbelief. just ends up falling kinda flat to me. it also ended up unnecessarily preempting naruto's whole thing? weird weird choice, still don't like it, basically I like nothing about the sand siblings writing from shippuden onwards. do love them, though! long live dysfunctional siblings

3. naruto/sasuke: the thing about this pairing is that, look, they are basically canon. naruto is extremely down bad for sasuke and in turn he seems to be the only person sasuke still somewhat gives a shit about. that man certainly doesn't give a shit about sakura... I have read and enjoyed ot3 fic for team 7, I don't inherently think sakura/sasuke is an awful ship or anything, but the way canon does it is just. well. no. anyhow, it's kind of hard to give a concise summary on my take for this pairing in a way I've been doing for the other items of this list, because doing so would basically amount to 'summarise the plot of naruto'. it's the central dynamic of the entire series... their conflict, the different paths they end up taking, whether they can find their way back to each other or not. I've already complained about the actual execution of this arc before, but man are they conceptually compelling. it's sasuke throwing himself in front of haku's needles to save naruto, it's naruto throwing himself in front of a massive snake to save sasuke, it's them taunting and challenging each other throughout those early arcs... the rooftop fight as a furious, terrified sasuke tries to understand how he could have allowed naruto to catch him... the valley of the end, when naruto reaches out and points out all the similarities between them - and sasuke rebuffs him, telling naruto he understands nothing of loss... again, the whack morality of this series does limit the effectiveness of the storytelling because, not to get all edgelord 'sasuke was right' here, but low key... sasuke was right much of the time. he also never actually sunk low enough... the series' stance is that his dedication to his quest of vengeance was basically fine, but the issue was that he didn't go about it with the power of friendship. which, sure, but... idk man. the series kinda lost me when it tried to portray the uchiha massacre as some sort of noble deed. it really lost me with all the curse of hatred stuff. the series never sold me on why these two specifically manage to break the cycle, which is kinda impressive given how much naruto goes on about sasuke over the course of the series. but mooning over an uchiha boy is not enough! this list features multiple instances of a character mooning over an uchiha boy. where I'm at with this pairing is that I passively enjoy it when I'm actually engaging with the source material, don't necessarily seek out fic for them even though obviously it's just... there in a lot of stuff, but do very much conceptually enjoy them. I think it's cool that naruto's gay love changed the ninja world. that's very valid of him

2. kakashi/obito: the impact that finding out kakashi's backstory had on eight year old me needs to be studied. it was one of my absolute absolute favourite bits of the manga to read, just like half a volume that tells this little tragedy of team minato where you have so much of the story still missing but it's sad and horrible because it's kakashi!!! the immediate intrigue of having this naruto-esque uchiha who wasn't in the usual mould of prodigy, but instead only tapped into his potential at the moment of his tragic death. the way he changed kakashi's entire outlook on life!! he saved kakashi multiple times over in his moment of 'death'... idk it just tells you so much about kakashi so quickly and it does all feel like a logical explanation for why the character is Like That, so congrats there. and then, the reveal - well, I was always going to be up for that. tobi is just an inherently funny character, just continuously makes you go 'what is your deal' and 'why are you like this'. he's so whack that he really lends himself to just like... being kinda obsessed with kakashi, stalking him around and all that. really solidifies how basically the only bits of shippuden worth engaging with are the super akatsuki-focused ones. and then the reveal!! the tragedy of it all!! look, I'm always going to raise an eyebrow on a ship that relies on the death of a woman for the emotional whump, and I change my mind a lot about how to tackle the rin problem (I do love her, but mainly just the version of her that exists in my head - canon does not give us A Lot) (and in general I am very up for team minato content). all that being said.... I'm gonna be real, I love that backstory too. I don't think it's executed all that well, obito's emotional arc is a bit of a mess, but the twelve year old boy in my heart finds the scene where obito comes across rin being killed by kakashi and murders everyone there minus kakashi so extremely sick. and the fight between kakashi and obito is clearly the best thing that happens in that entire endless bloody ninja war. doubles down on the pathos with the sad music and all that shit, and it actually kinda works for me. I think kakashi should get to redeem his childhood rival turned deranged enemy and live happily ever after with him, as a treat

1. sakura/ino: in many ways not really the type of dynamic I usually go for, given the animosity between them is... y'know, not that serious and also a bit of a non-issue post time skip. like with many things in this world, I have this version of the story that exists in my head where their rivalry remains like... a major part of the story throughout. anyway they mean the world to me... this imbalance between them, ino with the clan heritage and the popular cool girl vibes protecting the shy little common brat with the big forehead... I like that they had a stupid argument over a boy and made it into this insane competition about who will be the best ninja. I like their chunin exam fight!! in-universe it's kinda mid-on-mid girl-on-girl, but in the version of this series that exists in my head and allows the women to actually be equally powerful to the blokes... idk isn't there something insanely romantic about them matching each other perfectly, about their mental tussle, how sakura overcomes the combat advantage ino holds due to her upper class status through sakura's sheer force of will/derangement... basically I think they should get to challenge each other and maybe also attempt to kill each other? my ideal sakura arc is one that really leans into her normie status and gives her some girl power wish fulfilment in spite of it. you can have her fully rebel against the status quo and have her sympathise with sasuke, you can have her go the tobirama-esque hardliner route, the prejudiced genius who will do anything to defend her village and reform it in line with her standards, or you can have her go the more academic route where she does a bunch of weird medical experiments idk. (the three genders: madara, tobirama, or orochimaru.) or, well, that's how EYE saw her development going - I just think there's space for something a lot more substantive than 'what if tsunade, but without all the genetic advantages and political power'. idk! with ino, my god... she's already linked to the interrogation department... they made her the obligatory girl medic when she should be working with the torture people... to me conceptually ino should always end up working in opposition to sakura whatever route you want to send her down. and you need to include as much mind fuckery as possible, because it's fundamentally fun and valid to have a ship where your two characters can do deranged things to each other in their brains. anyway, look, obviously all of this is straying pretty far away from the canon dynamic. sakura has that female main character thing of not being particularly well characterised and easy to project onto, which means you can kinda do whatever with her - and obviously I have now kinda been doing whatever with her for many years. I do think they're neat. I stand by them being neat

[broken-clover]

🍓🔪🍬🦴🥤 :D

Wheeeee

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

Tbh you think I'd remember but I really don't. I have vague memories of making Pokemon OC's but wasn't really introduced to the concept of fanfiction until my older sister got me into Hetalia and I found out about it while looking up fanart. I think I've discusses it before, though, that I didn't feel confident writing full-on fanfic for the longest time because I was too terrified about writing characters OOC. Idk what exactly made me get over it, maybe GG just instilled enough brainrot I couldn't help it

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

See I dunno about 'weird' but I've done a lot of random shit I never thought would be relevant until I had to go look for it. Hard to objectively say what was the oddest so I'm just gonna make a list of some off the top of my head

-(I've repurposed a surprising amount of my learnings from mortuary for anatomical and medical reference)

-Giraffe/horse autopsy

-Introductory guides to Jamaican Patois

-"Can bats get polio"

-"Common clothing of Nepal"/"Common clothing of Tibet" (notable in that it ended up being relevant for half a paragraph)

-"Cheeses of Bhutan"

-"What is the highest proof alcohol you are legally allowed to buy"

-Profanities of numerous languages, including sign

-"How old are children before they can pronounce 'x'"

-Brazilian cryptids

-"least flammable bed fabrics"

-Treatment and recovery time of a PCL tear

-Step by step guides for kimono-wearing

-Bone throwing as a form of divination

-Adult clubfoot treatments

-"what type of video is security camera footage"

-"autoimmune diseases caused by stress"

-psychogenic stuttering

-how to replace/modify a clutch disk for a stick shift

-French homicide law

-Pyretic drugs

-LOTS of fish biology

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Probably in part due to oversaturation, but Bridget is just...kinda boring. I find her concept and story endearing and sympathetic, of course, but she doesn't have the same kind of complicated themes and bizarre lore that engages me like a lot of the series' other characters to the point where I can delve into it and get on that level of brainrot.

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? 

Can't simply say 'a.' I feel like I take a lot of bits from a lot of different stuff! I find I like to try and find 'weird' media frequently, though, I like seeing the bizarre concepts people can cook up and wonder if I'm not thinking outside the box hard enough. Likewise for horror, to a lesser extent

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

hweeeehhhh why do you always give me the tough ones. There's some really obvious picks, you and Jim and Roy and Crow, but I've probably done you all like three times already! Easy picks

Lemme see, if I wanna try and do something a little different than the obvious, I do have a couple recs! For anyone that's into Psychonauts, I totally recommend BabyCharmander (ESPECIALLY 'Cavity,' do not read anything else before you go into it, reading it for the first time hits you like a truck to the face) and The_Angst_Alchemist (Particularly if you're a Thorney Towers fan, they write the inmates with such panache and easily some of the best interpretations of Fred) It's a little more niche, but if you're an ARMS fan I recommend anything by MeltyMetroid, for a series that has such little lore they've written several incredibly fleshed out and well-constructed longfics (I'd recommend 'DisARMed' and 'Broken Mirror' for the plot-heavy jaunts and 'The Brass that Saved Christmas' if you want a good laugh)

Admittedly in general I don't pay as much attention to specific writers as I should, or the series I look for stuff for is so niche it doesn't really have dedicated writers

[sakuplumeria]

Hello, I am using my main account since I can't ask questions with my sideblog. Thank you again for the questions choices, they were all awesome: 2), 4), 8), 17), 32), 38), 46), 52), 61), 67), 73)

Thank you for the ask!! Interesting choices~

2) A character in Saiyuki that grew on you

I always like Goku. I don't know why I liked him when I was little, but the more I know his story the more I like him. I'm quite sad when people see him like a child, he sees so much more than it seems. I'm thrilled to see how sensei developed his character, specially in Even a Worm arc, and how sensei drew him much more mature in Blast. Not only Sanzo, but he's like the sun to me too :3 There are many characters that grew on me as I spent more time with Saiyuki, Sanzo, Koumyo, Tenkai, Jikaku, Gat…

4) Favorite member of Kougaiji’s group

Is Zakuro part of his group? Yeah? No? Then Instructor Wang it is. I'm… oddly attracted to eccentric old men lmao.

8) Which character do you really dislike?

This is a hard question, I never really dislike a character as they all have their background stories… If I have to choose though, Li Touten, probably, for using Nataku like that :/

17) How long have you enjoyed Saiyuki?

I watched Reload and Reload Gunlock on TV when I was in elementary school, and you know they used sensei's art for the ending songs? I was so captivated that I searched for the manga. That's the first time I really worked myself to search for something. I just realized it's been around 20 years… omg

32) Do you enjoy writing/drawing/creating fan works for the Saiyuki fandom?

Absolutely! I write and draw and make covers, also translating the songs to English. I used many websites and you can see them here. I wish I have the energy to create more… at least to finish the ones I started..

38) Do you binge read the entire series or read selected chapters?

Sometimes I binge read, sometimes I read selected chapters. Mostly I read selected chapters when I'm in the mood!

46) If [character] died, what do you think they’d be reborn as?

Since you didn't give me the character, I'll go with Goku for the next two questions. By the way, I don't think Goku will die soon, I headcanon him aging very slowly… I wrote a fanfic about this, where Goku lives in the modern world lol. But anyway, I kinda imagine him reborn as a celestial being, much like Jeep, with powers and big responsibility for the world. A dragon maybe? I never thought about this before actually so I just type whatever pops up in my head lol

52) What are 3 tropes that describe [character]?

Amnesiac Hero :(

Innocent but Powerful

Bottomless Pit, as they always say

61) Do you seek out spoilers or avoid at all cost?

I don't mind spoilers, sometimes it helps me to get into the story better.

67) What’s something you think would improve the series?

Remake all the animated versions, with quality. Let's say, by Platinum Vision, the one who produces Reload Blast. Honestly, I like Saiyuki so much, but I don't rewatch it that much, besides Burial, because of the quality of the animes… It's also the reason why it's so hard to tell my friends about Saiyuki. People tend to watch rather than read, but I don't really want people to watch Saiyuki with the quality they have now. So yeah…

73) What character is still a mystery to you?

I wanna say Koumyo but well, I'm more interested in Tenkai and Taruchie. They're the ones with connection, connecting Ibun, which I see as the oldest story of Saiyuki on earth, and Blast, which will be the ending of it. Even though they're not the center of the plot, I believe they took an important part in it. That also brings me to Sai Tai Sai... but I guess we'll find out about Sai in the future. I hope to see Tenkai and Taruchie lore as well :3

[emperorcartagia]

thoughts about my oc/canon stuff under the cut.

so. aurellio and refa. aurellio was essentially born as a joke, saying "what if i made a centauri oc lmfao" and also, "what if, as a parallel to londo and adira, refa had his own dancer in a pre-canon timeline back home on centauri prime and they were both boys!" since yknow. refa is such an effective foil to londo i figured it would be a fun, kinda cute idea.

i also think it does narratively fit in well with b5. take londo, who isnt the best example but we see him commit all these horrible acts but we know about his love for adira, before we even see him start to reform or even start to really commit atrocities we know he has a heart. we find this out in the third episode. spectacularly done.

a better example of this would actually be bester, one of my other absolute favorite side villains. bester was never redeemed. bester, however, is given opportunities for the audience to see his heart. irt his family, his expectant lover, and his somewhat emotional reactions to the telepaths dying in season 5, though caused by him. we still hate him, he never gets redeemed, his love for the people in his life does still exist and doesnt excuse or justify his actions. it gives him a lot of depth that i also really enjoyed!

that is kind of what i'm trying to do with refa. aurellio is a late 20 something year old centauri who is majorly unaware of what refa is doing or does or will do in relation to his schemes to rise to power. i also think that in this pre-canon timeline (around 2253-2257) is when refa is doing little things to slowly climb to where we see him in the show. he always had a lot of power being the lord of his house so he didnt need to do much, but i think the ten or so years leading up to his appearance in the show was a slow, hands-off rise to power. so aurellio, who has no real relation to House Refa aside from being a patron, isnt involved or knowledgeable about house refa's politics.

i would get into the "refa is a good family man" headcanon i have but tldr: celes was his last wife because he chose her. he chose her because he genuinely loved her and he chose to have senna. his other wives and his other children operate moreso like londos wives and him did where there was no love and only obligation. so senna and celes get favored. senna cared enough about her father to throw rocks at londos head years later about it, so i think that they did have a good relationship. refa spoiled her, would do anything for her, which was strange for a noble centauri man to be so obsessed with his youngest daughter. maybe he knew she was always destined for greatness. weh. and well, when this baby is like "dad, i wanna be a ballerina" like most 3 year old girls want to be, he says "of course my love, let me find you the best teacher possible": enter aurellio. who he chooses. who senna also chooses.

so yknow. refa gets a boy toy as a treat. aurellio is almost a part of his family as a treat. they kinda sorta love each other, as a treat, and it also works with aurellio's unconventional relationships he has with his lesbian wife bestie and her twin, the actual love of his life. so like yay centauri polyamory.

i just feel like sometimes i have to justify doing what i'm doing with my oc/canon stuff bc 1. it's refa🤢 and 2. ive been in fandoms before that were hostile to me about liking villains And trying to expand on them and make them more than what the show gives us. im VERY satisfied with refa's character in the show. these headcanons arent filling a void that was missing because i dont think they needed to be expanded on in canon, i just like refa/the centauri/my centauri oc and expanding on centauri lore is fun. so 🤷‍♂️

if you wanna read my fic about aurellio and refa, here it is

i will also say i really do appreciate the kind words ive gotten about this because lol i was nervous about it due to previous experiences where stuff about not only my taste for the villains but also my ocs has gotten me harassed, vagued, made fun of to my face, etc. so thank you for being so kind 💫 i'm so happy aurellio is loved because i love him a lot as well.