#i think abt this all the time it applies to so many characters and relationships

[oysters-aint-for-me]

“you’d be surprised what you can live with” vs. “you’d be surprised what you can live without” character dynamic of all time

[rkaln]

was wondering if you only draw lee as the top or if you would ever make them switch 👀

I KNEW THIS QUESTION WOULD COME UP SOMEDAY SO

*inhales deeply*

im ready LET'S TALK ABOUT IT (look who likes to talk about fucking)

im too old to think that people in relationships don't change roles, so absolutely always one way or another I still perceive characters as switches, but I usually think about why/how

1. Gaara is just a person who is very bad at perceiving his body and in his "physical sensation", so for quite a long time I have been presenting him exclusively as bottom. At the same time, Lee, on the contrary, as a person who has put most of his life into training, should feel-be aware of-understand his body very well.

2. ...and because of the sandy armor, I think that Gaara is actually very sensitive physically, (a meme of the lvl - I'm not sensitive at all - gets rid of the sandy armor and gets a kiss behind the ear - … WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT) but at the same time he has practically no tactile experience, but there is too much tactile hunger. at the same time (obviously) that gaara in my perception carries a very submissive character - for the same reasons, including the fact that pain and suppression in general are new to him

he purposefully tried to injure himself as a child, but could not + the act of imprinting kanji on his forehead looks exclusively like selfharm

needless to say, at the same time, Lee is the first to let him feel SUCH a physical impact

with his character and strength, no one could really make him feel physically "crushed" by someone, and if in the end someone attacked, it was with a sense of fear

although it looks like he was constantly running into it lol

so when someone takes an active position, it gives the feeling that the person has no fear of you, he does not perceive you "stronger" and he has enough confidence in character/ strength

SO, in my eyes, Gaara is a pretty provocative bitch, and as they once perfectly told me in a dialogue that Gaara is purposefully trying to anger / annoy Lee - "each of them has not met a guy who is not afraid of their strength and who thinks it's pretty hot to see how he uses all This power"

at the same time, he has a huge sense of guilt inside and a huge accumulation of suppressed emotions (which include the desire for someone else's intimacy)

and a huge sense of responsibility to everyone in a new role as kazekage (we also apply age), that is… there are literally no things in which you could feel free, irresponsible and not think about how it might affect you (I think this is exactly what was touched upon in my parts about akatsuki!Lee) so in the end, this whole combination is reflected in the fact that for a long time not feeling his body well enough, he is comfortable being in such a position, taking maximum to satisfy tactile hunger and the need for someone else's intimacy, and at the same time giving control into other hands.

(fck, look at this piece from the exam. IT REFLECTS what im talking abt. It's just how many people Gaara has met who would react to such a thing like Lee with such enthusiasm lol)

at the same time, Lee actually likes to show off quite a lot and he has more aggressive vibes than Guy (this is one of the basic things in which I feel their difference)

of course, the first acquaintance with Lee. who, well, just decided to stuff Sasuke's face, hitting Naruto along the way.

there are still endless discussions about the fact that Lee lost most of the fights because of his desire to show off (including the fight with gaara, which in general he could have won if he had acted smarter, rather than using EVERYTHING HE COULD AT ONCE)

like the fight where he came to Sakura's aid. Lotus, dude, really? he could have just turned them into a stampede by removing the weights.

fcking shit, a series about a drunken fist. What did he do? he just started destroying everything around with SUCH ENTHUSIASM.

VERY UNDERESTIMATED MOMENTS IN THE FILLER ABOUT THE SECOND EXAM. about "losing his temper"- in a scuffle in the kitchen, for a while he tried to stop the fight with WORDS, but in the end he just uses force. With Shira, he wants first of all… to fight. and the last, super important (for me, apparently) - when they encounter those who betrayed Shira, Shira does not want to follow them. while Lee does not accept this point of view, and runs away after them… (to BEAT THEIR FACES IS IT WORTH SAYING)…because he felt that they had no right to do so and should get punched in the face for their behavior. by the way, it was about the same in the filler about curry (a piece out of context looks doubtful lol / but I can't add a second video, but I'll add a link this)

let's move on

3. I'm adding my headcanon about the first sex. I am sure, due to Gaara's weak sense of ethics, he would be the first to come to a firm decision that we NEED SEX lol, bcse this is a simple logic

"are we together? - when people together, do they have sex? - we must to have sex"

and I'm sure he came to it quite easily (not like Lee), and until the last moment he was quite confident and calm… until they reached the bed, conditionally. the lack of sand armor makes him feel insecure and too vulnerable, which he is not used to, and his body turns out to be much more sensitive than he could have thought, which with the "WELL, LET'S GO FUCK" approach turns out to be TOO MUCH, so he just can't. so Lee, being… Well, you know. being Lee. he just calms him down and, lying on top, offered to just lie there for now, just letting him feel his body. also, in general, I imagine in the same place that Lee is just trying to provide him with tactile sensations without sexual overtones, which Gaara did not have. where it concerns body parts that are not usually thought of. elbows. between his fingers. the back of the knee. an angular bone on the foot. so these are just touches that helped to connect more with the sensations of your body.

-> and yes, it's clear that it was all a matter of time. this still applies to the story about the submissive, because it develops logically: after you study the body and its reactions sexually, and then you just want to get more and more. The approach is to "just do something (anything) else with my body" and feel it again and in a new way, when overall tactile hunger becomes more obvious and behavior becomes more provocative.

Well, now you know the reasons, you can move on to changing roles.

I imagine a change of roles in adulthood, although I do not think that this happens quite often. …in addition to submissive traits, after speeches about "getting out of myself", I think that gaara has a disciplinary kink in the role of the top (in general, in the role of the bottom too, it is just demonstrated differently, the approach is of course, just from the position of the top from bottom) and having brought their needs to stability, the need to shift "control" is no longer the same, but at the same time it is quite typical for Gaara's character to keep everything under control. we put all this together - therefore, the top with a disciplinary kink, playing doubly on the fact that Lee holds discipline enough by himself. delaying orgasm, fixation, permission to cum and praise for obedience - all. here.

changing roles is always normal when people are in stable, comfortable relationships, where most of the problems have been worked out - it's just new opportunities and that's it. of course, there are still some preferred patterns of behavior, but this is still just a variant of expressing love/desire for a partner.

therefore, if we summarize all the timings and my general idea of "preferred patterns", then Gaara seems to me more like a top from bottom and Lee as service top.

and yes, considering that this may change depending on the time and level of the relationship,

for example, going back to the recent sktch about blood, this is the part where Gaara looks to me like a greedy and demanding top from bottom, just fuck me RIGHT. NOW.

just like for Lee, there are situations where, instead of a top service, he goes into top mode (this is more related to exasperation after another Gaara "oh, and what are you going to do for it/you don't sound threatening").

and where Lee could just as well be the bottom one, because "I will keep you on the verge of orgasm until morning in all ways, until you start begging for permission to cum 😌✨"

[strawberryseeded]

thinking abt bllk (no surprise there) and how (at least until now) all (well, most of?) the characters backstories aka basically the reason for their most prominent issues are, instead of extremely tragic and complex events, simply children's logic applied to recurrent situations in their daily lives (and especially the sport they love):

bachira feels lonely: bachira was a weird and lonely kid who was also extremely passionate abt (and talented in) football, more than any other kid, making bachira feel isolated even when he was playing with others. this got even worse when the kids he played with started to resent him, calling him a "monster" and bullying him. while talking with his mom, she told him to keep believing in his inner voice and ignore those who dont understand him, resulting in bachira giving that voice the form of a "monster" that can play football with him to feel less lonely. which, obviously, made him even more lonely, even if it was an imaginary friend created to aliviate that feeling. because bachira still felt lonely, even after many years and even after playing with other people in school who werent any fun for him, he kept the monster by his side. believing no one could ever beat this monster (thank GODNESS he did 🎉!!! HE is the monster no one can beat!!!! his arc is one of my favs hes literally unstoppable now, i love him dude i love h)

isagi holds himself back too much: isagi (i read the light novel abt him hehe) was a timid and mild mannered kid until he discovered football, which he fell in love with. while playing the sport he could let go of his shyness and actually be selfish and go all out. uuuntil... he entered his high school's reputable football club, where the motto was to play as a team above everything else (a very anti-blue lock logic lol). isagi then, in an effort to accomodate to the social norms of the club (bc hes isagi, and off the field hes calmer and timider), had to simmer down in the field as well. supress himself. at times it seems like his on and off switch is kind of stuck.

barou has main character syndrome: barou was a very, on top of talented, meticulous kid and therefore the best in football out of every other kid he knew, who didnt take it as seriously and were more than happy to let him score all the goals. he didnt understand why they were satisfied with letting other people take all the glory, so he secluded himself, convinced that he was the only player that actually mattered on the field. the best. the Main Character. everyone else was completely worthless, their only use being to serve HIM. (until he got his ass kicked by isagi and became the villan instead of the main character, bc oh, shit, barou's not actually the main character???? then he'll hunt down & DESTROY the main character).

rin (god, rin) has a brother complex (i used to hate when ppl oversimplify whats wrong w him w this term but tbh it does boil down to this lol ToT): rin idolized his older brother like crazy and wanted to be just like him. bc he was also blessed with talent and also had a great relationship w sae, he had everything he needed to fulfill his dream of being the 2nd best striker, the 1st obviously being his older brother, who rin viewed as the best, most talented player in the world. when sae comes back from spain and tells him 'the world is big and im not actually the best, you go and be the best striker by yourself' (basically: our (your) dream is over), rin has a fucking breakdown. its not really a tragic, despair-inducing event, objectively speaking. but in the manga its framed as such bc for rin, in his childish logic, it is. bc his brother IS the BEST player, what the fuck do you mean hes not number 1 outside of japan?? ....then what about rin? if his brother cant be the best, rin cant be the 2nd best either, let alone the best. he feels like sae ruined everything, gave up, broke their (rin's) dream!!!! after sae humilliates him, rin directs all of his frustrations at him and bows to defeat him. as long as rin sees himself as sae's little brother, he's never gonna be able to surpass him, bc in rin's mind, sae is still the best, his talented big brother.

ness believes kaiser, not him, is the magician: ness's case is more serious bc his family was (is?) emotionally abusive towards him. basically, like every other kid, ness believed in magic. the concept of magic is exciting for children and gives them, in the form of play, the opportunity to express their creativity and exercise their imagination; work out a way to make the impossible come true. bc this is so important for their development, usually its the parents role to, at least to a certain degree, keep alive the belief that magic is real. ness's parents, on the contrary, shut down this belief bc it didnt match with their own views. they saw his interests as a waste of time, even letting his sibilings bully him and treat him badly to make him give up on them. ness, however, didnt, and instead found a more socially acceptable way to 'do magic' and express his creativity: football. he feared greatly, however, that football would be taken away from him, so in that faithful match in which he met kaiser he decided to put all of his trust and hard work on him, bc ness believed kaiser was the person who would be able to make the impossible, the magic that ness wanted to create, happen. i think the key to unlock his full potential is stop relying on kaiser so much and start believing in his own magic (kind of like what happened in hiori's arc). we have yet to know kaiser's backstory but i have a feeling those two enable each other's worst traits...

ETC !!!! sorry i got tired of writing lol

anyways these r just my interpretations of the characters feel free 2 b like "was is she ON about"

[floralcrematorium]

If you could picture FrUk (either as individuals or as a duo) at only one point in time (present, past, or future) where in time and space would they fit ideally? What AU do they permanently live in for you?

!!! Thanks for the ask!

I tend to stick to human AUs because the whole immortality thing freaks me out a little bit (my personal and chronic existential dread...) and I genuinely cannot get a grip on how interpersonal relationships between characters would work when you consider personal strife as well as actual politics and history. Plus in human AUs, I can just stick 'em in silly situations. For a while I entertained myself with a silly grocery store AU that led to some very fun New Character Groups (EX: I put Natalya, Piri, and Feliks in customer service bc I think the three of them together would actually be really fun, but this post isn't about them.). Does it make sense to stick Heta characters in an American style grocery store? No. But the shenanigans entertain me.

Cough. FrUK. Buckle up.

I'm an absolute sucker for FACE fam AUs and just soft FrUK content, so I really enjoy slice of life modern things with them. I realistically could enjoy putting them in any time period, but FrUK is just comfort to me atp. Literally talking with friends, I'll send cat videos and be like "wow this is so FrUK"

Speaking of cats. I yap with @jaynuu (hi sorry for the ping) a bunch abt FrUK + them owning their nekotalia counterparts. Them owning the cats can literally be applied to nationverse, human AU, human AU with FACE fam, etc etc it goes on and on - there are so many variables

Together we've surmised that Arthur owned Neko-France first; a fluffy little monster who has known nothing but the lavish comfort of the indoors. Whether or not Arthur's got Neko-Fran before he and Francis are together/living together depends on the situation, but Neko-Eng comes along after. Francis manages to tame this absolutely feral cat, and nobody understands how, because he seems to hate everyone but Francis. Neko FRUK get along very well. FrUK just have gay cats now.

Neko-Fran is a strictly indoor cat while Neko-Eng is allowed to go outside (the guy would NOT stop howling to be let out, after all, he did spend most of his life outdoors). One afternoon FrUK come back home to find Neko-Eng out on the front doorstep with two kittens he's randomly acquired????? They're on the younger side and both a vet visit and asking around yield no results as to where the kittens came from, so Francis and Arthur just have two??? New cats?? Which are Neko-NA bros. Neko-FrUK take to caring for the kittens as their own and shenanigans ensue in a household with FOUR cats

I have been trying to dip my feet into some historical works, but through a piece with Miss Ukraine, I'm learning I'm just not very good at it due to writing the dialogue and worrying about if I'm getting things correct. I would eventually like to play around with FrUK from 1300s-1600s with the Hundred Years' War, the Wars of the Roses, and the Tudor Period as a whole. I've been DYING to play with the Field of Cloth of Gold for a hot minute. While it's something I'd love to do, I don't know if I'll ever get around to it because in the last year or so I just have lost a lot of braincells. If I could think coherently, I'd love to sit down, research, and craft some story, but alas. I can't decide if I'd use regular 1P FrUK or if I'd use nyo!FrUK either. I would LOVE to play around with designing some 16th century outfits for the girlies

[blue-unifox]

For the character ask thing, I'm gonna drop two on you, if that's okay! #1, Hedwyn from Pyre!

Thanks to tumblr for yeeting my post into oblivion so i have to redo this again 👍

First impression

I mean his first impression is among the best, he is kind and caring from get-go, he is a ray of sunshine, best boy in the downside etc etc. Though i think I've had too many expectations?? And my friend hyping him up just contributed to that lmao.

Impression now

I like him a lot! Just not enough for him to live rent-free in my head... The boy's a little basic idk lmao. I mean, objectively, he is the best, he's so kind, driven, gives good advice, has a little bit of that dark past too... Maybe he is too perfect to me to be studied under a microscope lmao. Though I've been re-evaluating characters, so maybe my opinion will change...

Favorite moment

Oh man there are many good ones (I don't think i can choose unimplemented scenes can I? that one moment where Hedwyn talks abt reading with the Reader is so cute)... I think my fave is when he asks the Reader how their journey's been so far. And every answer is great! If you say it's been rough, he gets so sad 🥺🥺🥺🥺Like, he's so sad his efforts to make your travels as comfortable as possible weren't enough... Then he gives a valuable life lesson! It's ok to not be able to fix everyone's problems, you gotta care about yourself too. I feel like this can be applied in a lot of situations in real life as well.

Idea for a story

Wellll... I don't have anything concrete... just some stray ideas is all. Like, maybe his life in the downside after he remained, maybe raising children, becoming a demon... dilf cough cough

Unpopular opinion

Idk, i feel like his relationship with Fikani in canon is so... empty?? Like, it can be developed, but as is it's just kinda sad tbh (maybe im just a skeptic but meeting your soulmate like that??? also it's implied it was a sex thing too so like double yikes for me lmao though maybe i judge too harshly idk...). So i prefer fan versions 🙃

Favorite relationship

Uhhh would it be bad if I double the Jodi mom here as well? 👉👈

I just think it can be very interesting, from his childhood up to now and in the future. I think having a mother like Jodi wasn't easy, and yet it's still a familial bond, they still care about each other despite the turbulent parts. I also like that fanfic where he met her for the first time hehe...

Favorite headcanon

That's a hard one... I don't really have a lot of headcanons about him, nor have I seen many as is... Does him being kinda messed up as a child counts (aka very sad)??? Feels like you can extrapolate that from canon tbh...

[blackwoolncrown]

that's a really interesting take on dating (not sarcasm), would you mind expanding on it? no worries if not ✌

Okay sorry I actually just expanded on it in the original post but for the sake of archiving….

Dating is not historically the norm. MASSIVELY generalizing, there are two main ways people to about seeking a *partnership* (not the same thing as seeking a sex partner which is and has always been easier)

One tends to happen before marriage age in cultures where it’s allowed and it’s more like “hooking up”. Aside from pregnancy and STIs the long term stakes are otherwise low and long term commitment isn’t the goal. Rather it’s something that tends to happen w young people as they use sexual interactions as a way to gain social status (think abt social hierarchies and currency tied to who gets to make out the most)

The other is marriage, whether poly or mono; this is a practice that tends to apply to older individuals with higher long term stakes. In this realm, premarital sex is frowned upon (I’m actually pro premarital sex for really important reasons but I’m against non-committal sec) and overall it is expected that a period of courtship ensue during which the quality of the potential partners is assessed.

Now I am not saying there can’t be issues w more traditional cultures irt this.

But what I am saying is that after assimilation and various cultural genocides, these practices have largely been eroded.

Additionally the “free love” push of the 60s and 70s which freed people from purist conservative sexuality then bred an attitude of “sexual liberation” that saw the maintenance of any barriers to sex as conservative, old fashioned and restrictive.

And I think that’s kind of a mindfuck bc for any hood it did, it fundamentally lowered the bar for mens access to sex, and now it’s like 6 feet under.

For better or worse, the average man organizes a lot of his life around whether he can get laid and how much. When it costs nothing- whether in money or more importantly effort and quality of character- for him to get it, he’s absolutely not going to put in more than he needs to.

I think it’s also noteworthy that the foundation for tbis ways laid in WWI bc during the draft, the amount of available bachelors dropped, but it was still a time during which women really needed to get wed to get anywhere in life, so women began to compete for men, which is WILDLY out of pattern for how things used to be. Around this time they were willing to “prove” themselves as available bedmates and homemakers to a degree they wouldn’t before, in the hopes of a ring. So you started to see girls “going steady” w men which is basically providing all the benefits of a wife without him having actually committed to anything at all. And our modern dating pattern was born.

Meanwhile, “dating” has evolved from “multi partner mini courting” to “seeing someone for sex and hoping they care about you after” and it’s honestly fucked up.

Like all things considered letting a man smash in your house or his when you hardly know him is fucking insane. And ppl will do this repeatedly w someone who they don’t have previous intimacy w then get hurt when that person fails to prioritize them emotionally.

Plus a lot of dudes think that since sex is easy to get- it’s like fucking door dash for many, just go on an app and make an arrangement- that they are getting the “meat” of a relationship without having to deal w tje extras.

But ironically the benefits of a committed relationship have way more to do with emotional and psychological growth and safety than sex, which is really more of the culmination of the two.

So ppl are just having these really shallow relationships w each other, putting the cart before the horse and then being upset when they’re not getting anywhere.

Meanwhile the dominance of dating apps is the biggest opp I’ve ever seen. Yeah siren describe exactly what you’re looking for so someone can fake it or unintentionally internalize it and then you can be upset and feel manipulated when once the per formative stage is over they are “different”.

Additionally relationships aren’t like….this cute thing you “just do” bc everyone else is doing it. A partner isn’t like a life accessory. It’s actually a decision to face and mutually work through your most intimate issues. And it’s like almost no one these days knows that. So they don’t stick anything out or gain the tools to manage a relationship before actually seeking one. Then they become serial daters just triggering each other en masse then hopping on social media to complain abt how hard dating is. Like..then stop?

For those who are solely seeking sex, I don’t care. I’m not in tje business of judging. But a lot of ppl are seeking a relationship. And doing so through dating is, in my autistic opinion, clearly illogical.

Also recent study shows actually 68% of marriages started as friendships. Not from dating.

Dating is a lie and the idea that it’s THE way to find a partner is false.

[dramaturgydrakes]

:( I hope whatever pain your in goes away soon

Grabs your shoulders gently I’m so glad your listening bc this reincarnation AU is my BABY

So the AU is set in modern times! Gods are still known but less worshipped so a lotta of them take on human disguises/change names for the human disguise to cure boredom/have fun/whatever

Athena adopts the name Natalie and works as a Liberian! She’s one of the god who’s become less worshipped so she’s got a lotta free time so she’s like “hm, you know as the goddess of wisdom, i don’t have much knowledge on raising a child (and maybe raising child will fill the void of missing Odysseus even YEARS later) n so she goes and adopts A Baby!

Hermes adopts the name Troy (literally bc i couldn’t think of a name so i just used his singers name from the musical but ig it could be a joke on the trojan war maybe??) and he works as a delivery boy for a smoothie shop! His sandals have now become rollerskates that he zooms on to make deliveries faster, he’s also worshipped less but he’s still quite busy as a god bc he’s god’s messenger! He helps raise the baby Athena adopted bc she doesn’t know SHIT about childcare but Hermes does (I’ve always imagined that Hermes is just really good with kids tbh) (he also hopes raising a child would fill the void of missing Odysseus)

Athena and Hermes live together in an apartment in some big city bc they cannot be separated for long or grief eats them alive….i imagine they sleep in the same bed if they do sleep (if anyone takes this as shippy I’m coming for your throat) bc ✨nightmares✨ Athena still has nightmares about god games and of course the loss of Odysseus and Hermes has nightmares about the loss of Odysseus

For the most part both Athena and Hermes think it’s the grief talking about how reincarnated!ody is similar to past!ody until reincarnated!Ody gets REALLY sick at 13 and gets the worst fever dreams EVER (regaining his memories)

Reincarnated souls regain memories at certain ages when something important happened in their past life, Ody regained his at 13 because that’s when he was crowned king in the past!

I am a mom!Athena truther first and foremost no matter how ooc that may be for her, reincarnated!ody calls her mom but starts calling her momma once he regained his memories :) (he had first considered her a friend in his past life and then slowly started considering her a second mom but was too embarrassed to admit it so he covered it up by calling her his friend, once they reunite and patch up their relationship past!ody had started calling her momma until he neared his death bed and couldn’t remember Athena :( )

Reincarnated!Ody calls Hermes, uncle Troy and then uncle Hermes once he regains his memories and occasionally jokingly calls him great grandpa Hermes

There were SO MANY TEARS once ody regained his memories and Hermes laughed for the first time in Y E A R S

Hope you didn’t mind me info dumping about my AU, i have more to talk about as well but it’s less about these 3 and more about other reincarnated characters/poseidon

LISTENING LISTENING LISTENING EATING ALL OF THIS AAAAFGDSJL

i!! am also a mom!athena truther!!!!! and on top of that i am a truther of hermes helping raise past ody and then stepping in a little more after laertes started to deteriorate—i have a Small headcanon that when ody was rly young he didnt really distinctify the whole “great grandpa” and “father” as separate things bcs! they both took care of him! so he called hermes papa one day and it stuck, though he used it less after being crowned king bcs he worried it would reflect badly on his responsibilities and formality or wtvr. idk if that can apply at all here but yeah haha

im veeeery curious abt poseidon :3

[cartoonrival]

Nrto/Brto for 3 10 & 17?

bro literally the wider naruto fandom sucks so bad idek where to begin

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

i dont have a specific example so instead im gonna give a general gripe about a trend that ive seen in many takes over time

the black and white thinking and refusal to think for half a second about characters other than ur faves Reminds Me Of Something!real ones know. the way people talk about any character with any sort of greyness to their morality kinda makes me crazy and i lowkey think ppl bring up kishimoto TOO MUCH in their discussion of the storys themes bc while obviously like its important to talk abt WHY he wrote it the way he did esp wrt nationalism and all, i think also it sort of dulls ur ability to think anything complex about it if u blame everything u dont like or think was "sloppily done" on kishimoto. judging every character based on kishimoto's morals instead of their own if that makes sense? its not like "the wrong way to do things" i just personally find it really boring when thats the only way youll look at a text. like no wonder you guys are constantly making jokes about how naruto sucks and you'd never recommend it, you wont even allow yourselves to think about the story as its own piece of art beyond just "kishimoto wrote it this way because he sucks" like do you ever think maybe youre killing some of the fun of media analysis... i think its why so many people hate sakura or kakashi or itachi or anyone else. and this always comes out in the way ppl characterize bc theyre like Um I've Fixed Them :) and then its the blandest shit ever because you absolutely refuse to work even slightly WITH the story you claim to love, only fighting tooth and nail against it.

some examples of what i mean w this: basically any conversation about itachi that tries to categorize him as either good or bad. basically any conversation about sakura that tries to do literally anything or nothing with her. people making sns blandly romantic as if the insane and inventive ways they talk about their feelings for each other in canon isnt genuinely part of what makes it so maddeningly fascinating and awesome. anyone who thinks kakashi is a bad teacher. its just this refusal to meet the characters where they are and think of anything in terms of the text itself rather than exclusively in a meta way, ie "this is how it would be if it was good." no its not. you just made it how it would be if it was bland and obvious. dont you literally think the fact that the guy writing it was accidentally writing his characters to be struggling against the same shit that he was struggling against irl and struggling to keep Out of his writing is like. wildly fascinating and part of waht makes the story intersting to pick apart. but ok. this also applies to aspects of boruto primarily sasusaku and naruhina marriages. no one gets it like i doooooo

10. worst part of fanon

everybodys always shipping kakashi with someone and its never even guy. if youre gonna ship kakashi it had better fucking be with guy bc theres gen srs no one else he would be caught dead romancing with and i cant even see how you could read any of his other relationships as romantic. he doesnt even HAVE a relationship with iruka. i get that not every ship has to have canon support but its all either 1) literally not even interesting to think about or 2) what they have actually going on is way more interesting but see my response to question 3. its the same with gaara honestly the more i think about it the more annoyed i get about the ignorance surrounding just-short-of-canon aroace gaara ToT like if u didnt know then ok... but you should learn because its awesome. i just thinking the shipping culture in the fandom is annoying like everyone has to be shipped with someone and that seems to come before their genuinely interesting relationships. and those genuinely interesting relationships are sanded down into something normal. idk this is a gripe that goes w Many Many fandoms but i feel like w naruto its particularly bad largely on account of See Previous Answer. ppl are like "its written this way bc kishimoto is homophobic i will fix this" then they make it suck because shockingly ik kishi actually wrote a good as fuck story if deeply flawed

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

ill be fr i dont gen seek out fics or art independently to be 100% sure that stuff i'd be looking for isn't out there somewhere. but i think ppl really really should just. think about sakura more. i literally love her sm but ppl won't think abt her beyond either 1) she sucks and i hate her (but this is because of kishimoto's writing and has nothing to do with me! if i rewrote naruto then she wouldn't be there 😌 this is a kindness to her and not because i cant be assed to think about a woman for 5 seconds) or 2) girlboss!!!! like.... is that scene in the land of iron not BIBLICAL to anyone else....??? is her devotion to someone she's lost faith in out of loyalty to someone she loves and is losing her ability to understand not FASCINATING???? TO ANYONE ELSE???? IS THE WAY SHE PICKS UP THE TRAITS OF HER TEACHER THAT HE SPECIFICALLY IS NOT MEANING TO PASS ON TO HER NOT HEARTWRENCHING???????? you people suck. instead you write ooc sns over and over and draw kakashi without his mask kissing fucking obito

[simpingforthisonedeer]

Don’t be surprised when you start losing a lot of followers for being an anti

Why do you care so much abt other people’s ships anyways

BAHAHAHAHAHA UR FUNNY LETS TEAR YOU APART SHALL WE?

What a vain and shallow assumption you are under for believing that I care about how many followers I have. I do not care for the quantity of my followers, only the quality💀 but I have well over 1K followers and they keep growing if you are worried or something💀💀

And why do I care about other people's ships? Well, I'd love to support my mutuals's ships because I think they're cute but since the context is me being an "anti" I assume you are talking about people who enjoy incestuous, pedophilic, and/or large age gap ships?

Because they are absolutely insane and dangerous to those who are easy to manipulate who most of the time are minors? What a ridiculous world we live in that someone is confused on why you shouldn't be glorifying incest or pedophilia.

Pro-shipping is absolutely the most chronically online take I've ever seen in my damn life.

Like few years ago, there was this post where the op wrote "William x Mimosa" and "Fuego x Noelle" I remember the Fuego x Noelle thing being a misunderstanding but my god was that blog torn apart. Where is that energy now folks?

"It's only fiction! I want to explore these dynamics in fiction!"

Absolutely! I encourage exploring taboo concepts in fiction! But you are portraying it as something bad, right? Right?

Of course you are not!

Racism, homophobia, pedophilia, incest are all what? Say it with me: Bad.

I am not saying that people who write about them are bad, but the concepts themselves are not stuff you endorse. You don't need me to explain why they're all bad right? But if you live under a rock or in fairyland where nothing ever bad happens, let me explain.

Racism hurts people. Physically and mentally.

Homophobia hurts people. Physically and mentally.

Pedophilia hurts children. Physically and mentally.

Incest hurts children and adults. Physically and mentally.

I write about all of these topics in my fics but never have I once portrayed them in a good light. I don't pretend to ship or endorse any incest or pedophilic relationships I write. I don't portray racist and homophobic characters as good people. I write how much it hurts to be in those positions. I write about the confusion, the betrayal, the pain.

And what do I see proshippers doing on my dash? Fucking glorifying it.

I used to think, that's their thing, let them enjoy it but then I realized: There is a good reason why we shut down racists and homophobes and don't allow them safe spaces, why do we allow the same for people who FANTASIZE about disgusting things and put them on the internet.

Wake up to reality. Your behavior will make parents hide their children from you.

"What is fictious does not apply to reality!"

Are you serious my guy? Joining a fandom changed my life. Stanning Julius made me a better artist, writer, and made me more motivated to study quantum mechanics. My professors and my thesis advisors literally know of Julius because of me💀 I care so much about thinking about the underlying themes of BC and any other fiction I consume and see how it challenges my beliefs and my way of thinking. You may not consume fiction the way I do! But it most definitely affects reality💀

If you want a historical example, Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" converted many people to abolitionism because it brought attention to the horrible conditions of slavery.

And I can give you many, many, many examples about how fiction affects reality. But not in a one to one ratio. Just because I play COD or MW2 does not mean I want to pick up a gun and start shooting my friends.

"It is my coping mechanism for my trauma!"

Then book an appointment to a psychiatrist and tell them about this pro-shipping. See how that conversation would go down. Find a healthy coping mechanism. Nobody in their right mind endorses self-harm through unhealthy coping mechanisms.

To end it off, I'll say what I've said earlier,

What a luxury it must be to fantasize about incest, pedophilia and other BS like that in a positive manner when it is a nightmarish reality to many people.

I come from an ethnic culture where this is all so normal and the cycle of abuse continues. I don't want to talk about how it personally affected me because it is personal but, seek help. If you cannot, find healthy coping mechanisms. Pour all your pain out into art and writing if you must, but don't pretend for a second that it is good.

[br1ghtestlight]

20 questions for fic writers

1. How many works do you have on Ao3

23

2. What’s your total word count?

109,996

3. What fandoms do you write for?

bob's burgers, inanimate insanity and there's like one steven universe fic in there. i have written for other fandoms in the past but not on that account lol (and mostly unpublished)

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

zeke running away fic, genderfluid gene fic, louise hat fic, bob mom fic, tinimmy week fic (the problem with naming all my fanfics after really long complicated song lyrics is that i simply will not actually call the fanfictions by their Actual Name. also not linking them bcuz im lazy)

5. Do you respond to comments?

i always try to respond to comments but tbh people dont comment on my work very often?? i also dont reply to comments on my old account bcuz i dont have access to it anymore

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i dont know if ive ever written anything angsty tbh?? thats not really my favorite thing because it makes me too sad. out of my published fanfics probably the fic about bob's mom wins by default and out of my unpublished wips uhh maybe my louise and tina focused fanfic. it has a happy ending (maybe) but its a real downer at times. or maybe my tinimmy fic is bittersweet depending on how you read it

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

maybe my fanfic where bob gets a garden LMAO or my genderfluid gene fic

8. Do you get hate on fics?

no!!! actually a secret about me in that my almost 10 years posting art fanfics etc online i have never gotten a single negative comment on anything ive made. i feel very lucky :)

9. Do you write smut?

never have and never will (nothing wrong with it in most contexts but im asexual and smut is extremely Not My Thing. i actually tried writing a smut fic once to challenge myself a few years ago and spent like 1000 words describing the way the candles were lit in their bedroom before i realized its simply not for me and thats fine)

10. Do you write crossovers?

no but if my hyperfixations ever gave me an opportunity to crossover maybe?? any bob's burgers character on the infinity train would be hilarious. any hfjone character would be heartbreaking

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i dont remember but im gonna go with probably not

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

NO I THINK IT WOULD BE REALLY FUN but im too much of a perfectionist w/ my writing and i would be worried about dragging the other person down with me. maybe if my ocd ever gets medicated idk

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

it depends on my mood but right now i have been thinking abt tina and jimmy jr a lot. not even romantically their relationship is just so interesting. jimmy jr/zeke/tina is also great. marshall lee and gary.... bryce and liam??

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

i have like over 30+ wips so thats probably a lot of them FJDMDMSJSKS something i would love to finish at some point but probably never will is a fanfic about how bob and linda overcame the cycle of abuse with their own childhood memories vs how they are with their kids. maybe i could write that with somebody else and we each do like a chapter at a time (they write linda's memories and i write bob's etc)

16. What are your writing strengths?

people always tell me that im really good at capturing character's voices and personalities and making them feel in character?? i always want my stories to feel like something that could actually happen in-universe and make it make sense with the characters etc. i think part of this comes from working w/ my own ocs and thinking so hard about how different people express and communicate things and then applying that to other characters is easy. and bcuz of how my autism works i can memorize how a person or character constructs sentences and create new sentences inside my head in their voice :D i really pay attention to peoples speaking patterns & how they phrase things

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

probably how perfectionist i am about grammar and using certain words phrases punctuation etc that it takes FOREVER to get anything done. i also think im too wordy. i can turn a fifteen word sentence into a fifty word sentence easily which is great for essays but kinda annoying when you're reading a silly bobs burgers fanfic

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

i dont mind doing it for my ocs but to my knowledge none of the bob's burgers characters speak another language as their native language?? so i cant see it coming up in anything i write

19. First fandom you wrote for?

i dont really wanna say bcuz its embarrassing and i was pretty young LMAO but it was like youtuber fanfic on wattpad (wayy before whatever youtubers you're thinking of they were never famous)

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

hmm either my tinimmy week fic or my genderfluid gene fic it changes depending on the day. right now its my tinimmy week fanfic <3

[maskspurpose]

anon asked: i want to know what your opinion is on wataru wishing people would copy him or want to be like them, but like… also not wanting that for them, and stating that others really shouldn’t be like him? the biggest example of that i’ve read so far was in performance, when hokuto copied wataru’s braid and he got excited, even though he knew it was his mom making him do that lol, plus his “no one has ever said they wanted to be like hibiki wataru,” and then saying later that because he has such a strange attitude towards acting or something like that he won’t force his kouhai into having it… this is a really random thought but i was just rereading through marionette and noticed him, albeit jokingly, say he’d dress tomoya up just like him if tomoya really wanted to imitate him, and that he was happy for the first time someone wanted to be like him… i haven’t read many other theatre club stories so is this a big theme? and what are your thoughts on how this applies to wataru’s character overall, if you have any

HI sorry for taking this long to reply i was away for the weekend and decided i wanted to talk about this with my boyfriend first because its a fun topic and great question :D

 i think one thing of note with hokuto and tomoya is that they don't actually want to be exactly like wataru? i think his behavior around them is intentionally annoying and pushy. like the way he annoys hokuto by pulling on his braid or the thing he says abt dressing up tomoya as him. i think with tomoya its the most obvious because he's overacting that whole bit SO much. i think he's also saying the truth when he says that it makes him happy? it's complicated and internally contradictory in a way but ig the thing it comes down to is those two facts. he's not willing to show them affection until they've already at least partially rejected the desire to Be Like Wataru which makes it safe for him to indulge in the fact that he's actually happy about having people around.

i think another good point in that regard is like... tomoya and hokuto are the two people who have stayed in the theater club despite wataru doing his best to keep anyone else from joining. and hes OBVIOUSLY overjoyed to like actually be able to put on plays with them and like do stuff like a regular theater club, but he doesnt necessarily want more people to join bc. hes afraid of the rejection that comes eventually. in his experience.

natsume is another good example? 1st year natsume is really attached to wataru which is smth wataru pushes back against and like in the context of the eccentrics you can kinda see why. all four of the older ones have experienced loneliness and isolation as a result of their perceived position and wataru's attempt to keep natsume away is his way of dealing with that/trying to protect him from the worst of it. but like he obviously still likes and cares for natsume and that thats why hes doing all of that. and like idk how happy he is about natsume no longer calling him "shisho" 

jamie brought up tori as a similar example of one of wataru's kouhais but with the distinction that tori doesnt idolize wataru, he idolizes eichi instead and that kind of. allows wataru to be more of a serious instructor towards him from the beginning (at least partially-- theoretically wataru was told to do it by eichi but i also stand by asserting that eichi couldn't make wataru do anything he doesnt already want to do) 

easter is another good example (i was also reminded of that by jamie who brought up hinata and watarus relationship as this whole dynamic in like microcosm) of watarus like approach to instructing and its thesis is that part of it is that wataru just... gets carried away in the excitement if he lets himself. but "rationally" "knows" that hes a "bad influence" and would make a bad leader because of that. 

um really long answer. tl;dr wataru does enjoy being looked up to to some extent because hes a bit lonely and hasnt really had that experience ever/because he was explicitly told that this is something to strive for as an entertainer but at the same time he dislikes it because he's internalized that he isn't someone you SHOULD look up to. thank you for the question it was rlly fun to think & talk about :D 

[Smile or comment on the answer here]

[undervaluedagent]

❌ dhmis

I don't have any problems with the show so I'm gonna rant about various things in the fandom. Putting it under a cut just in case.

Child Yellow Guy

This does not apply to everyone who headcanons Yellow to be a child or writes him as one, but I have seen some garbage. Some people just cannot write child characters, and end up instead of writing Yellow Guy, writing some random kid who doesn't have the traits I came to love Yellow for and is just some 4 year old who's not too bright. Also why would you even want him to be a child in this world anyways you're just making it worse for him lmao. Oh and the nuclear family-fication of the trio is just, eugh. Let them be unusual for God's sake!

There's an "odd one out" in the trio

(Ik there's usually an odd guy out within episodes, like Red in Transport or Yellow in Electricity, that's not what this is talking about.) This covers many things, whether it's "one of the guys is more or less real than the others," or any variation of "two of the guys have a stronger connection and the other is just there," all of it is just no. All three of the guys need to be on equal footing. They are all equally real or unreal (and Duck is NOT A FUCKING DOG). Red favors Yellow, Yellow favors Duck, Duck favors Red, they all still like their least favorite friend. There are three of them. Not one plus two, not two plus one. Three.

Yellow Guy x Claire the Spanner

I do not understand the appeal of this ship. At all. First off, Yellow Guy is aro. (<-Technically not canon but w/e). Secondly, their whole relationship is based off being a shallow work relationship. Claire wrote "Don't talk to me before I've had my lasagna" in Yellow's retirement card and also didn't care when he had an accident. Their relationship was entirely loveless. Plus, Yellow Guy was masking the whole time he was at the workplace, so even if Claire did actually love him, she would be loving some false version of Yellow. Their relationship isn't cute, it's hollow, and if someone's gonna write fanworks about it, I'd like to see how much it sucked during those 40 years.

I can't think of anything else to add rn, but I'll say more if I think of something.

EDIT:

Charged and Uncharged Yellow Guy

They're the same damn person! Will edit this when I grab my other post abt it. Edit: here

[askaniritual]

i have like 3/4 of a chapter left but ive done nothing but read and sleep for like 17 hours now and i need a little bit of a break. theres just SO much i want to say abt this its like boiling my dumb little brain i am overflowing with Thoughts but like its so many thoughts i can only vaguely sketch them all out

i think i need to organize my thoughts into two categories because theres like. things i think shes saying abt homestuck that are very interesting and things i notice that apply to the locked tomb that i think are interesting and then a little bit of venn diagram overlap

like from a tlt angle its very like

none of this is like a criticism btw i im not like. making accusations here im speaking purely on a thematic level. the serendipity gospel is one of those fics thats like 95% original lore by volume so like most of the stuff that feels locked tomb coded is stuff that i think she made up for this that clearly she wanted to translate into her own work

i mean kind of telling that this fic is unfinished even though she very clearly had this plotted from the beginning, no?

whatever im glad its not so similar that she took it down

every part of this feels like a first run at the locked tomb, but its definitely more harrow the ninth than gideon the ninth and not just because of the second person

i mean honestly i would sound like a broken record if i enumerated everything about the way she talks about the fleet that feels very locked-tomb coded

the legislacerator/subjuggalator pair thing feels like a Very obvious first swing at the cavalier/necromancer thing and the inquisitor thing is just the lictor plotline in htn straight up more or less

harrow is definitely terezi but gamzee is Not gideon like theres pieces of it but its not quite the same but i guess thats just because gideon is just dave

gamzee/terezi feels a lot like the vibe that harrow and ianthe have for most of htn. like "i hate you but we are two scared teens now in way over our heads and we only have each other and i really wish we could be softer to each other but we cant so we'll take the comfort how we can get it in sharp words and pain and reluctant bandaging of each other's wounds"

this makes me SO curious as to if we're ever going to get a relationship that feels the way karkat and gamzee are written in this fic a very like "i hate everything in the world but you because everything in the world made me hard and cold and you are the person i can be soft to and the person i want to be good for"

i dont know quite how to say this but its like. this whole thing feels a little bit more intimate and feelings-driven than the locked tomb stuff? we spend a lot of time in the characters heads here just talking abt their feelings in a much more specific and direct way than tlt which is interesting but makes sense because i think fic overall leans that direction. but its an interesting contrast all the same

[karoochui]

Hello there Mika!! Your art is huge inspiration to me and I love it so much words can't explain it, I absolutely love your sketches, doodles, full art pieces, whatever you make I absolutely adore. Sorry for blabbing but just wanted to ask about things you really hate about sskk, like what the fandom does with the ship that you dislike?😭 Take care of yourself drink some water!💜💫

TW for sa mention!! Sorry but i ramble a bit here so im gonna add a cut!! (Plus the tw) Take care of yourself too and ill get some water right now actually😋

Okay firstly!! Hello!! Thank you so much!! And no worries no need to apologize its very sweet of you im so glad you like my art i really do appreciate it!! Thank you!

And its hard for me to say exactly? Im still very much into bsd but ive been distant with the fandom for a little while now BUT!! From what i remember what i usually didnt like was when people would make them so..two dimensional kinda?? BSD has pretty morally complicated characters and it was really weird when people would flatten sskk's personalities down to just some ship dynamic bc they are SOOO much more complicated than that. And thats just as INDIVIDUALS!! Even when considering them together theres a lot to think about when it comes down to their functionality, whether or not its viewed as romantic or platonic. And of course youre always gonna have those people who just water down any mlm ship into some weird dynamic that doesn't even fit the character's relationship which is just obviously Not Great.

And then as far as the characters individually i feel like a lot of people baby atsushi its really odd. Like that man has gone through some shit he is GROWNNN. I think its because hes the "softer" one out if the two or whatever. Which yeah he's nicer, its made clear akutagawa isn't a great person but atsushi isnt the exact opposite of akutagawa or the "softer" one. They're narrative foils of eachother, they mirror many of the other's character traits and atsushi has also done some Not Super Stellar shit. Do i think most of it was within reason? A little, considering what hes been through and exactly what he did. I do think he is the better person between the both of them - and i feel like thats also proven - but he is by NO means "innocent" or anything weird like that.

Then for akutagawa its really only that weird sa headcannon that originated from something he said in Beast (i can't remember exactly what, but i remember thinking it was NOT enough to warrant a hc like that. I remember that much). And as someone who's been through that a couple times i think its one thing if its some way to help someone cope or feel more seen (more specifically it isnt my business to cast judgement -unless it hurts them or someone else- and im no therapist), but i have seen people apply the headcannon simply because they say its "implied" or it "makes sense". Which, once again, as someone who's gone through that i think thats just. Weird. I dont like it. I personally try to stay away from any talk about it at all from anyone.

I also don't like when people make it seems like Atsushi has to save Akutagawa or something like hes some knight in shining moral armor. Its much more complicated than that and I could go further into this but it would be a whole rant about their characters and dynamic and itd go on FOREVER. So im just gonna say that akutagawa is also a grown man and knows well enough what hes doing with himself, even if its unhealthy (not that Atsushi is any better but lets be real no one is this show really is) and he wouldn't listen to atsushi if he didnt want to anyway. This part is really just personal opinion though, and i don't cast hard judgement on people who see them that way. Im not the type to care enough.

So yeah i guess it wasn't really hard to say at all LMFAO but otherwise i dont think ive had any other issues abt it?? I dont pay much attention to things i don't like anyway so im not easily bothered lol

But i hope this answered your question!! Plz lmk if i missed or misinterpreted something!! It was nice to talk about BSD again anyway though, ive missed it.

[zeraorarb]

I have so many mixed throughs abt Mały Książe. And its not abt whether its good or not. I just have so many interpretations that are probably not true but my brain read the book and went brrrr

I think as a love story it easly wins. The journey to learn abt love is extremely mature in my eyes. Its not simplified like in other books (they are fine but show love in a very unrealistic sugar-coated and extreme way ). Idk it reminds me of many of my own (tho platonic) relationships. The way everything feels a little complicated, a lot of unsaid things, but u both love each other. The journey to understand is also so important.

also I know that this is a weird interpretation but I sometimes see the story abt neurodiverget experience (however accidental it may be). I mean it's subtle and its not. The main character says that he always had trouble with connections plp his age. They were into adult stuff and he was like: owo red brick. Moreover the hat situation feels like a metaphor for over interpreting/seeing things differently then most. Idk if meeting the Prince in this interpretation would be a stand in for the disorder personified or meeting another person on the spectrum that is on a different side of it, but its still the same disorder. The journey of the Little Prince also reminds me of the neurodiverget way of learning abt people, the unusual journey of growing up.

I always wondered what the sheep and the ending (more specifically the dying) means. Is the dying about killing off your child self to go on with your life. But then does it also say that we need that child in us to love, that child needs to come back to the rose. What does the sheep symbolise in all of this, its suppose to eat the trees but also might eat the rose if it doesn't have a kaganiec. The ending with Prince killing himself, its so odd isn't it. There wouldn't be anything stopping him from being written coming back in any other way. But it was by suicide, its quite curious its it.

Part of me wishes it really got more serious treatment, that maybe it could be analyzed well in high school. Tho I know full well that high school destroys any good books. I think this book should come to you at a very specific time in ur life. maybe it will mean something different for u but u will still see urself and find something for yourself. For me it was autism obvi but also like I mentioned it reminds me of some relations I have with people. maybe I need to reread it and find answers to my life in it again. there is so much to unpack with this book its a shame that everyone is so quick to dismiss it

also I like how crucial to the book the drawings are. Can't describe must draw -> also me

also like 3 words abt the movie. I think it needed some indie touch fr. It's not bad, but its painfully forgettable. The book plot is handled alright. but I find the a plot being so bloody generic. I like the idea of using little prince to apply to it to 'real life', but I'd be damned to remember anything from the a plot. pls someone make it similar in vibes to like The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse. or in any other indie/shirt animation way of doing it.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – Mały Książę

William Szekspir – Romeo i Julia

[saviourkingslut]

i am curious about how dimivain is in your head 👀 i know it tends to me kinda meme-y in the fandom i am curious how you see it!

i don't have a super strict set of hcs for them or anything, but what i do think about them is just very far removed from the way fandom usually talks abt them. i mean, i get it, there's some grounds to portray them both as classic dudebros/loser guys you'd meet in a frathouse and i don't begrudge people having their fun with that but i think it's a very shallow portrayal of both them and what their relationship could potentially be.

i mean, sylvain acting like a good-for-nothing whore is largely a front, because he's actually whip-smart, capable, calculating and caring. there's a lot of things wrong with thropes, but i do like that they decided to ditch most of the skirt-chasing to devote time to some of his character traits that get snowed under in throuses. besides that, i think it's really important to realise that sylvain just. hates himself. to the point that he has quotes in throuses war phase that sound downright suicidal. i think his carefree attitude is a part of him, absolutely - he is a jokester and he is the kind of guy to be whiney and make jokes at the expense of himself. but he also exaggerates it for the sake of hiding the morbid parts of himself from the outside world/protect himself.

as for dimitri i think the meme-ish version of him sells him so short as well. yes, he wants to eat weeds, but in my opinion that was meant to show that he tries to find ways to fix the eternal food shortage problems in faerghus as much as it was supposed to be a fun little bit. yes, he's one of the students who like training and weapons maintenance most of all, but he's not just a simple jock - he tries to investigate arundel in am because he knows something is up. he's dutiful and cares for justice and wants to do right by his people to the point of being self-destructive. he's intelligent and introspective and wants to see the best in people, though thinks that he himself is unworthy of love and admiration because he feels that the acts he committed in the past are sins that can never be washed away, though he'll spend his life atoning through ruling his people justly rather than hide away.

anyway, the thing is that i think the meme-y version of dimivain tends to skip over the complexities of their characters and the ways that they could connect to each other and try to support each other. in their own ways, they both hate themselves, though for different reasons. i think they'd do anything for others and nothing for themselves, and that they could help each other in that regard: mutually learning how to care for themselves by taking care for the other and being taken care of in return.

i think sylvain would never allow for dimitri to retreat back into himself, would go his entire life trying to make him see that he's worthy and important, not at all expendable, that dimitri shouldn't think of himself as irredeemable, that he'd take on any tasks that would lighten dimitri's burdens. i've always figured sylvain would be excellent at administrative tasks and that, in wartime, he'd excel in the role of tactician (strategy is something he actually likes). and that he'd take dimitri to do something for himself for once. he'd be gentle but firm about it, apply humour when it fits but be very, very serious when it's needed. sylvain's very wordy, and he'd show his care with them because dimitri needs to hear certain things, again and again until it sticks, but he'd also show his care and love through acts, because he's used his words for lies so many times in the past.

and i think that dimitri's sheer earnestness would be a very good counter to sylvain's lifetime of facades, that it would be difficult for him to keep his mask on when dimitri is always so honest and open. when dimitri speaks he means what he says - and they're always good things when it comes to his friends (and beloved). and with time i think sylvain could start to believe him. dimitri would see through his self-depricating humour and his facades because he's known sylvain all his life. he'd try to draw out the better parts of sylvain, his cunning and capabilities, because he knows that they're hidden there under all his posturing. and that actually making use of his skills will have sylvain feeling better about his worth in this world and to the people around him. i think being with dimitri would make sylvain want to make use of his skills because it means he can help dimitri with them, and it would make him feel worthy of dimitri's love, since dimitri himself is always giving all of himself. it wouldn't be an easy process, because trauma is a bitch and habits are ingrained, but with time? yeah, i think they'd be very good for each other.

tl;dr i think dimivain is a pairing made up of two complex and intelligent characters with their own respective difficulties who could help each other get better and i think the meme-y version of the ship sells them and their relationship kinda short.