#but she is so interesting to me

[edwinas]

A character study of Lemon

A companion piece to these posts I & II, inspired by @books-are-my-life-stuff gifs

“I was intentionally getting in [Mash’s] way so he wouldn’t reach the goal. Professor Lucci asked me to. He told me he would pass me if I got in his way. My family is poor, and I desperately wanted to be accepted for their sake.” — Lemon, episode 2 “I reached out thinking even scum can be useful, but you bit the hand that fed you. Is your stupidity inherited from your parents? No wonder you have a miserable life.” — Lucci, episode 2

Magic determines one's social status so poor families with average to low magical abilities were seen as sub-human and treated as such (see the views of Wirth Madl, Abel, Carpaccio, Levi etc). "The strong have the right to take from the weak" is a philosophy that many magic users believed in, especially the elite. So Lemon was used to being dismissed and given crumbs. Street-smart out of necessity, she was resigned to cheating and lying for her family because society would never give her a fair chance. The guilt ate at her but survival came first.

Something shifted when she met Mash. He came back for her at the risk of not passing the exam. He put his future in jeopardy for her. For the first time ever, Lemon mattered.

For me that's also why Lemon falls for him. Here is a boy who came back for her. No one had done that. As the eldest daughter, Lemon had to be the responsible and dependable one. She took care of others. Mash was the first one who came back.

Mash's motivation to enter Easton Academy and become a divine visionary struck a chord with Lemon because she also entered Easton Academy for her family. She was willing to cheat to get ahead while Mash, who's very existence challenged the status quo, played by the rules and won. He inspired Lemon to live life on her terms, to allow herself to dream and not settle anymore.

Lemon is also deeply grateful to Walhberg who accepted her into Easton Academy despite her cheating. The strongest wizard saw something in her and gave her the chance she desperately needed. Knowing the immense luck she had, Lemon threw herself into her studies, took extra credit, was part of many clubs. While in canon Lemon has "Mash tunnel vision", for me she is is very much aware of who she is, where she is and the opportunities offered by Easton Academy.

As said in my previous post, Lemon tries her best to give back to Easton Academy by tutoring juniors, volunteering, organising school events etc. Her disposition brings people together, like in the Innocent Zero fight.

A downside to having a jam packed schedule is that Lemon does not take time to rest. She is always pushing herself to make the most of every minute, at the expense of her health. She does not listen to her body and eventually suffers burn outs.

The paraphrased quote from Aera's gifset "Dear young maiden, Fall in love for life is short and time wait for no one" encapsulates who Lemon is to me.

We see how obsessed Lemon is with Mash and that is 100000% for comedic effect. But I also see it as a window into who Lemon is. She is someone who cares so deeply and is fully committed, be it Mash or the welfare of magical creatures. There is no in-between and that is how Lemon approaches life.

In this post I wrote "lemon knew binding magic (chapter 2 & 126) and training animals with kindness (chapter 126) so she settles on care for magical creatures." I still stand by Lemon choosing this field but she does so because she loves it. As explained above, I don't see Lemon settling anymore, especially for something as important as her career. She still does her research, goes to university and career fairs, shadows people who's jobs interest her, reviews career progression potential and income etc. She chooses studies of magical creatures.

Lemon has always been brave and Easton Academy, including her friends, have inspired her to be bolder. To keep going despite all the rejection. No attempt is futile. The world was saved thanks to ordinary people coming together. Lemon saved Mash (and the world) by physically shielding him, no magic involved. She follows her heart and wants to live a life without regret. So she applies to the most prestigious universities and most competitive programs. She puts in the work.

For me Lemon is not magically inclined. She stays up late, reviews her flash cards at lunch, tapes her notes to the bathroom mirror to revise while brushing her teeth. She works hard. She is not and will never be a girlbossTM to me. There will be no radical transformation into a snarky "not like other girls" overpowered character. Lemon is very aware of her limitations. She will never be as powerful as Dot or Lance or even Finn. She will never be as strong as Mash. Surrounded by such incredible people, she grapples with insecurities, doubt and even jealousy but life goes on. She tries to do the best with what she has got. She remains the sweet girl who doesn't let Mash finish his choux creams because their senior is at the hospital.

[gravitysoda]

maybe in another life.

[anna-scribbles]

emma dupain cheng on the brain😽🎀

more:

[ministarfruit]

day 15: haunting ♡

(femslashfeb prompt list)

[appropriatelystupid]

[hinamie]

*catboys ur shounen protag*

[medicalunprofessional]

sorry guys they finally showed me peak fiction . Its called “phantom of the paradise”

[arcanegifs]

they're really going for the "everyone going to be a little bit opposite of who they were in s1" theme in season 2 fr

[clanborn]

like water through my claws

[puppyeared]

Wyrm on a string

[arnaerr]

Rellana, Twin Moon Knight & Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon

prints ✦ full process on patreon

[lazylittledragon]

ok i’ve got shadowlach wedding on the brain again and i’ve been cooking a Thought

you know how people will jokingly send wedding invites to royalty/celebrities and sometimes they actually show up

karlach would 100% invite drizzt do’urden to her wedding

[tofixtheshadows]

So I've been thinking lately about how Mithrun is Kabru's dark mirror (more on that another time- it needs its own post), and I thought it interesting that one of their parallels is that they were both cared for by Milsiril, but in opposite directions. She took Kabru in as her foster after he was orphaned and tried to convince him not to become an adventurer. On the flip side, she helped rehabilitate Mithrun specifically so that he could rejoin the Canaries.

And I kept wondering: why?

For Kabru, obviously she loves him a whole lot- despite any other shortcomings in their relationship, I do believe that.

So I get why she tries to convince him not to go dungeoning, and, failing that, at least prepares him as thoroughly as she can.

But why help Mithrun? She used to hate Mithrun, but after realizing what a secretly twisted person he was, she actually thought of him more positively (oh, Milsiril). So it wasn't as if she held the kind of grudge that might motivate her to make his already-depleted life even more miserable by sending him back to the dungeons. And it wasn't that she felt bad for him either, since she didn't visit Mithrun for the first ~20 years of his recovery.

The Adventurer's Bible says that Utaya was the impetus for Mithrun returning to the Canaries, but Milsiril is the one who made the trip to see him and tell him about it.

Why would Milsiril work so hard to get her old coworker back into fighting fit? Why encourage him to return to such a dangerous lifestyle, when she was the one who chose not to mercy-kill him?

That last panel is such a crazy thing to hint at and then never elaborate on. Without it we could have just thought that Milsiril wanted the Canaries' work to continue without her, even if it seemed out of character. I think some people even assume she's just a natural caretaker as a foster mom and handwave it to include nursing Mithrun too. What could Milsiril's suspicious motives be? What does she gain from Mithrun joining the Canaries that isn't an altruistic desire to see dungeons safely sealed? Feeling a sense of responsibility for the work she left behind isn't an ulterior motive.

My theory is: Milsiril, knowing that Mithrun was empty save for the burning desire to face the demon again, wound him up like a clockwork doll and pointed him back at the dungeons.

Hoping that he'd eliminate the biggest threat to Kabru's life, before it was too late for him.

Milsiril the puppetmaster.

[ducksbeloved]

yeah okay fantasy rachel berry

[ineed-to-sleep]

Blacked out in front of my tablet and woke up with sketches of my Touchstarved mc + Kuras my beloved. woops

[kaiju-krew]

stargazing⭐