#if anything i view this as more as a canon event than an actual ship

[weatheringandweary]

Caleo is a very interesting topic, and one I’ve avoided discussing for a while due to the discourse surrounding it; however, I feel like I finally found the right way to word my thoughts, so damn it all lol

I don’t think Caleo was ever meant to last. Despite the fact I highly doubt Rick ever intended for it to be the case, I’ve always interpreted it as comphet for both Leo and Calypso - whether that be due to either of them falling on the aroace spectrum or preferring the opposite gender, i think it’s open to interpretation.

Leo has always struggled with feeling unwanted, and his view on familial and romantic relationships was skewed by the instability and abuse he faced consistently throughout childhood. He’s always had the innate desire to feel loved, to be wanted by someone. Leo’s role as the “seventh wheel” cemented the belief that all of this could be solved by a romantic relationship. If he could be Calypso’s hero, would he finally feel fulfilled? Would all of his insecurities disappear if he earned her love and affection?

While most people argue that this was the solution Rick was proposing, it’s very clear in TOA that this is not the case. Leo didn’t get his happy ending with Calypso - rather, he found it with Emmie and Jo at the Waystation. Calypso is noticeably absent at the end for a reason.

Calypso as a character is a can of worms, but I feel like she believed she owed Leo this relationship (not that Leo would EVER demand a relationship, I feel like this is an inner-complex she’s facing unbeknownst to him.) Because he did what others could not, she would have to learn to love him out of obligation. Obviously this didn’t happen. While she doesn’t outright hate him (Calypso has very mixed feeling about Leo, putting it lightly), I think the inappropriate aspects of the relationship are obvious even to her.

Rick has the logic of “because this character is physically a minor, it negates the fact that they’ve been on this planet for 6 millennia.” He does this with with Apollo (albeit he’s been cognitively nerfed by Zeus, but I still don’t think that’s a valid excuse) so it’s not just Calypso who’s showing this behavior. It was a very weird writing decision that was made regarding immortal dating ethics, however the consequences of the age gap are still apparent. She loathes Leo’s immaturity because it’s a glaringly obvious symptom of him being a child, while she was an immortal who is at a completely different stage in life from him.

At the end of TOA, she’s distanced herself from Leo by going to band camp. Calypso is giving Leo the space to acclimate to a family that will offer him the love she can’t provide him, and allowing herself to find out who she is beyond Ogygia. While Leo frames this as a temporary break, I don’t foresee them actually maintaining a relationship in the future.

I’m an aromantic Leo truther, so I think Leo’s actual happy ending is finding a home at the Waystation and coming to terms with the fact he doesn’t need a girl to complete him. He’s always been enough. While we could have had this at the end of HOO, I think Leo finally getting what he thought he wanted only for it to not be the case as a very interesting way of going about it. Now he can support other demigods who have been mistreated by the system and give them the life he had always wanted.

[joejhang]

fanon neil vs canon neil

god i am so FUCKING done with the aftg fandom mischaracterising neil i'm literally writing fucking ESSAYS about it and pacing circles muttering about it under my breath it's driving me up the goddamn wall so i am going to word vomit brain dump yap about all of it in an incoherent tumblr text post. spoilers ahead continue at ur own risk

i've said it before and i'll say it again I HATE FANON NEIL. istg this fandom LOVES to mischaracterise neil and ykw i think i know why. they take the smallest most unnoticeable parts of his personality and then exaggerate them to disproportionate and unrealistic levels in order for him to fit their idea of a conventional, stereotypical and desirable main character. they smooth out his jagged edges and prick at his "insecurities" to make him more likeable, more acceptable and more conventional of a narrator/main character and in doing so erase so fucking much of his personality and draw as a character that he loses just about all of the flavour that made me love him in canon. and also especially within the andreil dynamic this fucking fandom just loves to tweak neil's character until he's basically unrecognisable just so they can cram andreil into some preconceived socially acceptable clichéd ship dynamic. because andrew is perceived as the typical mysterious, moody and grumpy love interest therefore neil just has to be the sunshiney smiley blushing cute softboy in exchange. yeah because all gay ships have to be grumpy-sunshine and black cat-golden retriever dynamic. i raise you: andreil's dynamic doesn't work because of their differences it works because of their similarities. if u think about it andrew and neil are honestly very similar people in the way they think and process emotions and events and that's what allows them to connect and understand each other. andreil would not work if neil was super sunshiney and a blushy soft mess and andrew was the stoic, never smiling, unemotional stone of a guy the fandom loves to make them. just accept they do not fit into the conventional boxes laid out by booktok for what gay ships look like. i fucking digress.

neil is also just insanely mischaracterised on his own. people love making him very jittery and insanely oblivious and easily flustered with a generous serving of self-esteem issues. i hate to break it to you guys: neil josten is not insecure. i don't think there's a single instant in the series where neil is actually insecure about anything. as a narrator, person and character, neil is very realistic, pragmatic and logical. ruthlessly so. i'd say on this, neil is even more cerebral and unemotional than andrew is. neil is very straightforward and realistic abt himself in his narration and i'd honestly say his opinion and views about himself are one of the only things in the story that isn't affected by his narrator bias. if neil is anything, it's self-aware. i'm now going to present all my fucking evidence.

neil doesn't have a sexuality crisis. literally in the entire series never once does he even question his fucking sexuality. it's implied he's already figured out he's aspec/demisexual from the moment nicky questions him about his sexuality. neil says "i don't swing" and follows up in his narration: it wasn't quite the truth, but it was close enough. and later when he starts his relationship with andrew he doesn't ever question the nature of his feelings towards andrew or even anyone else and is pretty clear about it when andrew breaches the topic: "kissing you doesn't make me look at them any differently" so yeah neil is pretty certain and aware of his sexuality.

neil isn't insecure about his appearance. i feel like this is gonna require a bit of work to explain but hear me out. it is mentioned several times that neil has a complicated relationship with his appearance because he looks so much like his father/abuser. this is obviously understandable; you wouldn't want to look into the mirror and see the man who gave u all ur scars. that being said, neil doesn't have a lot of strong emotions regarding his appearance. most of his feelings of panic tied to when r*ko dyed back his hair is because of how it would be a lot easier for his father to discover him now that he has his original colouring back. i'm also pretty sure neil knows that he's cute. like it's never explicitly stated but i've reread aftg maybe fifty times and trust me i can read between the lines. neil explicitly says that he has a "love-hate relationship with his reflection out of necessity" and while the "hate" part of that statement is obvious: he doesn't like that he resembles his father, i've sort of just accepted that the "love" part of it is that he knows he's kinda fine. it's not brought up by him at all bc neil as a person is not one to linger on people's appearances almost at all. i think the only people to get a decent amount of lines dedicated to their appearance in the narration are allison and andrew. but yeah i genuinely don't think neil thinks he's ugly or unattractive and he's probably definitely been told how cute he is by others enough that he doesn't harbour any delusions about how he looks. regarding his scars, he never expresses any insecurity towards them and how they look, he just doesn't like them on display understandably bc of how acutely they point to his past and childhood that he's trying to hide.

neil is actually very very confident in his own and other people's abilties. this is esp regarding exy. he knows he's good at the game. like he knows. the most distinct example i can think of for this point is when kevin tells neil that he was at castle evermore to try out for the perfect court when they were younger. neil doesn't even doubt for a fucking second that he would've made it onto the perfect court. never does. he skips over the second-guessing and doubt part and just straight up starts daydreaming about the future he could've had playing with kevin and r*ko. like that really got me bc it's easy to assume neil would be super unassuming and have low self-esteem but no like neil doesn't doubt for a fucking second that he deserves to be perfect court. it's just that he doesn't believe in r*ko's delusions enough to play along with it by the time he gets the tattoo. he's also insanely confident about the foxes and their abilities and also kevin by the end of the series. at the beginning he takes a pretty realistic vantage point and says that with the way things are, the foxes will never beat the ravens. but even with that pov he still has the gall to challenge r*ko on LIVE TV and i doubt he's lying when he declares so boldly to everyone that if the foxes were united they'd be an unstoppable force (and guess what he was fucking RIGHT). and by the end, when the foxes are united, he has no more room left for doubt at all. some guy tells neil to kick the ravens' asses and neil just replies with zero hesitation "that's the plan". like he's so fucking on board with it. and he never once doubts that kevin is the best striker in the game. like literally never. at first he considers r*ko and kevin on par with each other (possibly, it's never stated outright) but by the end he literally has no doubts when he says "kevin is the best striker" like goddamn the amount of confidence neil has is so underrated.

neil is a very unemotional narrator. it actually gets me all the time how logical and ruthlessly pragmatic neil's narration and inner monologue is. some of the only strong emotions portrayed in neil's narration are anger, irritation and occasionally grief, which is only ever triggered by major trauma-inducing events (e.g. dr*ke). almost all of his inner monologue is analytical and observing others and dissecting either other people or the situation he's in. and almost all of his decisions and actions are made based on impulse and instinct. neil is a very instinctive person. this is outright stated in the way he plays exy; in theory, he can't give u a lot, but in the heat of the moment he's at his best. this applies to practically all facets of neil's life. he never plans his moves or what he's gonna say (except like that one time when he planned out what half-truth he was gonna tell andrew post-columbia). he's super quick and on the ball and literally does whatever the fuck he wants at any given moment. he's also insanely good at compartmentalising. like it's difficult to explain but while his priorities are obv hilariously skewed, they're also very clear in his mind. things he considers unimportant he simply just doesn't think about. what others look like and what they think of him don't factor into his internal monologue or his thoughts at all he literally just files them away in the back of his mind until they do end up becoming useful or important to him. he barely comments on andrew's appearance at all until andrew becomes someone worth staring at and admiring for him. the only reason he describes allison and renee in the detail that he does is because it's important in understanding how and why he reacts to them the way he does. this man was literally about to lose his goddamn mind at the fall banquet but he specifically reserved his mental breakdown for after the banquet so he could spend his time roasting the fuck out of r*ko. bro fully locked in and was like "clock riko now break down later" and i respect it.

neil doesn't actually have a martyr complex. it's funny because almost all of aftg is him being the absolute fucking opposite of a martyr. he wilfully sticks around the foxes knowing he's putting himself and them in danger. he doesn't "sacrifice" himself until he's absolutely forced to by his father's people. by then, he's already told himself he can't and won't run and he's smart enough to know he'll never get away anyway. and going to evermore wasn't about self-sacrifice or martyrdom it was about protecting andrew and those two are pretty fucking different. he knew he was coming back from evermore and he knew that he wouldn't die there, despite all the shit he went through, so i don't think that can be counted as "self-sacrifice". he was doing what he had to do to protect andrew, the same as andrew would've done for neil or aaron or kevin or anyone else he'd sworn to protect. the kidnapping in baltimore was the culmination of neil's character arc, which isn't really about learning to be selfless and self-sacrificing, it's about learning to stand his ground and stop running. those things r crucially different: neil not running in baltimore wasn't about selflessness, it was about courage. yes, part of it was obviously inspired by the foxes and motivated by not wanting them to be hurt but i truly believe it ultimately was about neil learning to stand his own ground and make his own home and have it be something he's willing to die for. call it whatever u want honestly i just don't think neil is as much of a martyr/sacrificial lamb as the fandom makes him out to be.

[discofama]

I love how comfortable Adam and Lute are around each other.

I mean, look at this

So they're casually together during the extermination, much like how friends gravitate towards each other when in an event even if they're not talking or doing anything, just because it feels easier than being alone. Or perhaps Lute flew closer because she saw the huge war machine approaching Adam and got a little worried.

Charlie and Vaggie are going to attack them, and look at what they do:

Despite being Adam the one closer to Vaggie, he doesn't move an inch. They don't say anything (besides the shit talk) and Adam doesn't even look at her, he expects Lute will take care of Vaggie with no order from him, even if he's closer.

Obviously Adam is confident and doesn't think Vaggie can hurt him at all, but he clearly trusts Lute to get her out of the way. He probably knows how bloodthirsty Lute is for Vaggie and lets her have her without a word, and Lute complies, again, without a word, leaving him to handle the strongest of the enemies at that moment (Charlie).

So in this second, Adam and Lute communicated in silence. Adam didn't move and trusted her to cut in even if it was him the one under attack, and finally Lute trusted him to handle Charlie so she could fight Vaggie, as she didn't seem worried at all of the possibility of Charlie coming to protect her girlfriend.

They're in harmony. They're just natural together.

He lets her grab him like this and is willing to listen to her. It's clear he respects her and deep down appreciates that she'll keep him from doing something stupid, even if he whines.

She also climbs him? Lol. (Look at how she holds onto his arm 🥹 she's super comfortable with touching him!)

They're always hyping each other up, like in their songs:

(Look at Lute's smug face here 👇, she's sooo satisfied with what Adam's saying)

I honestly believe that they kinda make each other worse, that neither of them would be SO mean all the time if they didn't have the other: a companion who is always backing them up, who agrees on any crap that comes out of their mouth (Lute lets him talk shit about random women and nods, Adam goes along with Lute's homophobia despite seeming to not care that much about homosexuals).

Many portray Lute being a lot smarter than Adam, but I think they're both dumbasses. I mean, we laugh at Adam for saying he never made a mistake in his fucking life, but it was Lute who first stated angels don't make mistakes, somehow keeping a serious face. I think Lute seems smart because she's more quiet and cares about the rules, but she doesn't do logic very well either and can be impulsive too, as shown in the end of ep. 1.

They're probably each other's best/only friend, because they're just so unlikeable. And it makes sense they'd deeply care for one another. They care about that person that stands them and agrees with them and actually enjoys being with them. They're always seen together, hanging out even off duty. They clearly have a lot of fun.

I'll be honest. I ship GuitarSpear, I love it, but I don't know if I want it to be canon for 2 reasons:

1. Lute might be a lesbian.

She is so repulsed by homosexuals that it feels personal. Talking about how disgusting and blasphemous Charlie and Vaggie's love is, or how many cocks were in Angel's mouth and calling him a whore. She cares too much about it for it to not be personal, and I think it makes sense that she'd be a closet lesbian with a shit ton of internalized homophobia. She probably knew about Vaggie's sexuality and held a lot of resentment towards her before tearing off her wings. Maybe she was even attracted to her and was so repulsed about it that she redirected her self-hatred to Vaggie.

2. I think it could be better for Adam's character.

Let's just think about it. This character has a very distorted view of women, he has a fixation on them and hypersexualizes them. So the idea of this horny man, who always sees women with sex colored glasses, being good friends with a hot female below him in the hierarchy with no sexual or romantic interest whatsoever is nice to me. It'd work as sort of a redeeming quality in regards of his relationship with women, and I personally think this man is very redeemable. Let's hope he gets a second chance!

Still! All of this trust and comfort and team feelings can be read as romantic and I certainly wouldn't mind if it becomes canon! They could be the best villain couple!

Summarizing, these two are soulmates, end of the story. They're worse together, but also probably provide the other of a very needed company.

I have no clue if Adam will actually come back, but if he doesn't, I'll feel very bad for Lute. Yeah, yeah, she's an evil bitch, I don't care.

[ryuichirou]

Why is Ortho included in ship art? He died as a child, and although he was rebuilt, his emotional intelligence and maturity level stayed the same as that of a child. Although I fully disagree, I do want to understand your reasoning. Especially since Ortho and Idia are related and I saw your art of them kissing. I am genuinely confused.

I��ll be honest, Anon: the amount of people who message us pretending to be genuinely confused while having ill intentions are more than I care to admit, and this is very tiring; this is why I might sound a little dry in my reply. But I don’t mind explaining it if you genuinely want to understand it. That being said, let this be the last time I am ranting about this topic because there is nothing new I can say.

Here is the short answer: Ortho is included in ship art because we ship him with other characters. Ortho having a maturity level, mentality and/or intelligence of a child is a myth that contradicts canon and only exists to antagonise people who view Ortho as anything other than Idia’s baby mascot with zero agency. The fact that Idia and Ortho are related is not a reason not to ship them: shipping is fictional and doesn’t reflect one’s views on irl matters. Exploring taboo and problematic dynamics and tropes in fiction is a part of natural human experience. What I care most about in shipping is characters’ dynamic that I find fun for shipping. Their relation to each other comes second, but I won’t pretend it doesn’t exist if it does exist.

Now I’ll give you a long answer. Starting with “Ortho is a child/8-year-old/5-year-old/toddler” argument.

We actually saw real 8 yo Ortho before his death in Idia’s flashback and, wow, we can see that AI!Ortho and flashback!Ortho aren’t the same Ortho. "My largest amount of birthday data comes from eleven years ago, when I was five” is the line that Ortho says in one of his Birthday vignettes, which indicates that even though he does have memories of dead!Ortho, he is not stuck in the age of 8 – he thinks and feels that his fifth birthday happened eleven years ago.

But also just in general, if you listen to him talk and compare it to how he talked in Idia’s flashback (both the voice and the manner of speech), it becomes pretty clear that he is older. He is younger-looking and has a high-pitched voice but it’s due to the fact that Idia designed him to look that way, and there are a lot of potential reasons why he could’ve done it (all non-canon and theoretical, so we won’t dive into them today), but he is definitely not 8 years old. Ortho’s AI constantly learns new information, learns more about being a human – he is clearly maturing as the story goes, thus showing that he is in fact capable of aging mentally, and he’s been doing it from the moment Idia first created him. He is naive and inexperienced, but that doesn’t make him an infant.

Plus, post ch.6 he is always being grouped with other freshmen who are also sixteen years old. This is his age group. This is how old Ortho would’ve been if he was still alive, and this is how old AI!Ortho feels. He’s a proper first year student just like Ace, Deuce and the rest of the boys, and the story keeps highlighting it in all the events that happened post ch.6.

Speaking of post ch.6. At the end of the story AI!Ortho and real/blot!Ortho actually merged a little, as far as you can remember. Blot!Ortho, wow, is also 16. He’s been stuck in the Underworld since he was 8 and he existed all those years and grew up as well despite his terrible situation and more than unusual company, so we can safely assume his age. His merging with AI!Ortho also influenced him (AI!Ortho) in a way, making him more human as a result as well.

Not to sound mean, but I think the majority of people who still insist that Ortho is mentally 8 either don’t pay attention to his character, his story and how he interacts with others at all, or straight-up choose to believe that lie because it makes it easier to attack shippers or anyone who likes Ortho in general.

But also guess what, none of that matters actually because ultimately he is a fictional boy, and fictional characters’ ages are irrelevant. Just like fictional characters’ family relations are irrelevant. Even if you don’t think it’s right, that doesn’t change the fact that it is irrelevant, and the only thing that could be done about it is that you can block people and/or tags that make you upset. There is no shame about it: I avoid a lot of ships and tropes that make me upset.

I would prefer people to stop accusing me, a real person, of actual vile crimes (or having dark thoughts about them? What the fuck is wrong with you?) because of fictional, made-up things. If I want to, I can unrelate Ortho and Idia, and my fanart would stop being incestuous with a snap of my fingers. I can make them enemies, I can make them kill each other over and over again, I can kill Idia instead of Ortho. I say this to show how little it matters, and no, ~the implications~ don’t count. People make them up and choose to believe that instead of listening to the person in question. About a real person, let me repeat myself. You (plural/neutral you, not you, Anon) cannot make shit up about another person’s thoughts, ideas, and views just because you find it convenient.

As for why I personally ship Ortho with Idia despite them being siblings, you’re in luck because in addition to this already long post I have an even longer post for you to read if you’re interested! It’s been more than a year since I’ve written that post my reasoning is still pretty much the same, so I think it’s a pretty good one to read if you genuinely want to understand us better.

But if you don’t want to read another long post but are still interested, here is a TL;DR:

I love their deep love for each other and don’t want to just explore the platonic aspect of it – there are a lot of other scenarios that I want to play with;

there are a lot of tropes related to this ship that we love (us two against the world; AI in love; causing an apocalypse for the sake of your loved one; unhealthy and codependent relationship; obsession, etc);

their story has a lot of motifs that could be read as romantic (i.e. Orpheus and Eurydice analogy) that we really enjoy;

personal reasons; relatability (not elaborating on that; not related to incest though lol);

they’re sexy lol I love robot parts, size difference and a lot of other aspects that I won’t mention here.

I hope that explained some stuff. Just to be clear: I don’t want to force anyone ship Shroudcest, in fact I don’t care if we are the only people in the world shipping them (that will never be the case though lol). I just love Ortho very much, and I think he is a very fun character that has a lot to offer, and I really don’t like that people want to create this aura of “he’s just baby don’t touch him” that stops people for getting to know his character better. He is cunning, he is smart, he is caring, he is psychopathic, he is a lot of things, and all of those things make me want to see him bossing Idia around, acting cute around Vil, bonding with Malleus over their differences and similarities, all of those things.

[thenightwinggraveyard]

😂 Actually, do you have cool Naruto fic recs for someone who's never seen the show? I keep itching to start it so I can understand some of my friends' interests better but I would just rather... read things. And I know that the fics might not be accurate to personalities or plot, but if you have anything beginner-friendly or fun that might help my brain get more excited to make the effort and watch, I'll take it. I personally like relationship drama but I'm cool with whatever you've got.

i do!!! i watched naruto as a kid but i completely forgot most things so i got into it again by fanfiction. also as a side note; i apologize but i don't read from narutos point of view very often if at all as that is just a personal preference of mine, just a warning in case thats what you were looking for-- and my favourite character is sakura which you'll probably see lmao 😅

without further ado, here are some;

BEGINNER FRIENDLY NARUTO RECS

Pray My Name by Chancy_Lurking [G] [ONE-SHOT]

"Your name sounds like the kind of thing you say when you’re afraid,” Sakura finishes.  “A prayer,” Sasuke offers without looking away from the window.  (Team 7 takes a quiet moment to talk about what their names feel like.)

notes: there isn't much of a plot with this one but its a wonderful showcase of the bond that team 7 shares/could share. it floats beside canon not really connected but it could be, and i think its just a great introduction to the way team 7 should be imo!!

tdlr; team 7-centric, friendship/love, acceptance

Terror feeds the Soul by Pleasedial123 [ONE-SHOT]

Sakura is not an idiot. She was praised for her intelligence, reached Top Kunoichi at the Academy for her brains.  So it doesn't take her long after being placed on the powder keg that is Team Seven to realize she is going to die.  Kakashi, career shinobi since age-six, has no idea what the hell is going on with his little pink-haired student or why there is such fear in her eyes. So he gives her head-pats. That's what you do for scared puppies isn't it?

notes: some really good characterization with this one and a deeper look at the subtle hint of corruption/injustice in the shinobi world that canon already gives us.

tdlr; sakura-centric, sakura & kakashi, good characterization, worldbuilding

Just Killing Time by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling) [G] [ONE-SHOT]

After Wave Country and before the chuunin exam, Team 7 kills time while waiting for Kakashi to show up.

notes: an adorable small fic consisting of freindship and the idea of found family, they're just cute little kids in this and it makes me smile so hard.

tdlr; team 7-centric, friendship, found family, fluff

An Improper Apology Properly Backfires by rex101111 [G] [ONE-SHOT]

Sasuke Uchiha apologizes, or at least makes an attempt. Sakura thinks he could do better than THAT.

notes: its not every day i find a sasusaku fic that i genuinly enjoy, but this one both cracked me up and actually convinced me that they could work as a couple lmao, after some bad canon events, this fic shows a completely done sakura dealing with the fallout and it is gold. featuring naruto and kakashi as unwilling bystanders.

tdlr; sasuke/sakura(canon ship) and team 7-centric, anger issues, canon compliant(mostly), humour

Wildflowers and Incisors by Chancy_Lurking [T] [ONE-SHOT]

There’s a boy Sakura loves the way Naruto loves Sakura, in a shameless and open, but painfully unequal way. There’s a boy Sakura loves the way Hinata loves Naruto, in a way that feels no more like a choice than breathing. Neither of those boys need pretty girls. “We are all really pretty, though,” Ino assures her with a haughty sniff, crossing her leg the other way so her calf rests on Sakura’s shin. “They’re going to be strong, maybe even the strongest ever in the Hidden Leaf,” Sakura says and Hinata doesn’t need convincing, they both know it, so she doesn’t belabor the point. “So, we have to be stronger than them.” (The girls of Konoha band together as friends. Girlhood is easier in a group.)

notes: a wonderful look at the kunoichis in naruto, with friendship for once more important than love. gives them the character development and attention they deserve, but didn't quite fully get in canon.

tdlr; naruto girls-centric, girlhood and friendship, good character development

The Language of Faces by Empatheia [T] [ONE-SHOT]

Ino decides to help Sai learn to function in society. Sai does his best to keep up.

notes: now we're taking the focus off the main characters of naruto to focus on some great side characters-- ino and sai are both charecterized awesomely in this fic. they're awkward and don't really know how to function in society (being a ninja will do that to you) but they clearly grow to care and love for eachother dearly.

tdlr; sai/ino-centric(canon ship), great characterization, awkward first dates

Pushy and Loud and Brave and Proud by bluecatcups [M] [ONE-SHOT]

When Temari meets Shikamaru, she is twelve years old and she is everything she has ever been; pushy and loud and brave and proud. This is the story of who Temari becomes.

notes: thanks to this fic i fell in love with temari as a character. it is a character study at its heart and therefore it has SUPERB characterization, with believable romance and a theme of self-love. i adore this fic.

tdlr; temari/shikimaru-centric(canon ship), character study, romance, found family, self-love (TW for smut and suicidal thoughts)

NOT SO CANON COMPLIANT FUN

coming from afar & reaching for the stars by SafelyCapricious [G] [ONE-SHOT]

It had been two weeks since the trial. Two weeks since Sasuke had been given the choice of surrendering his eyes and being allowed to leave, or being stuck for five years without ever being allowed to leave the village. He had chosen the later. And Sakura isn't avoiding him on purpose, but it's still happening and she's kind of okay with it.

notes: a not so romantic retelling of sasuke coming back to konoha. i really enjoy the way sakura is characterized in this and the way all her friendships are potrayed (especially her and sai they are besties). instead of running into sasukes open arms, she decides she doesn't mind keeping to herself.

tdlr; sakura-centric, friendships, good charecterization, awkwardness, self-love

Rules Were Made to Be Broken by MotivationIsDead [T] [COMPLETED]

Kakashi wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t hallucinating. Or suffering from heart failure. “I thought you were dead,” he said blankly. He might’ve been going into shock. Obito winced and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. “Yeah,” he said, tone stilted. “There’s actually quite the story behind that.” “I should hope so,” was Kakashi’s bland response.

notes: kakashi and obito if obito decided to not go through with his villainous plan. it is a ship, but the way the bond is potrayed just hits so good. something more than friendship and simple love and instead a deep trust, with banger characterization and development. a couple steps away from crack, i laughed so goddamn hard.

this entire fic can be summarized by;

kakashi and obito: fuck it we ball.

tdlr; kakashi/obito-centric(fanon ship), fix-it fic, humour, BAMF kakashi and obito (has an ongoing sequel!!)

Smiles in Spring by Kalira [T] [ONE-SHOT]

One spring day when they are very small, Ino meets a little girl with shy eyes, a beautiful smile, and pink hair, and immediately knows what she wants in her future. Ino's never had any qualms bending the force of her will on the universe to be sure she gets whatever she wants.

notes: ino and sakura are made for eachother in this fic and the progression of their relationship is adorable. some bonus friendship with shikamarau and choji.

tdlr; ino/sakura-centric(fanon ship), romance & friendship, fluff

Genuinely Delighted by Chancy_Lurking [T] [COMPLETED]

"Lee, in spite of how brash he might’ve seemed, still appeared to be incredibly considerate and Shino would feel wrong to just brush him off. His enthusiasm about asking Shino out was completely genuine, and that was enough to make Shino feel flattered. And anyway, Lee would probably prove to be much more pleasant company than some of the other guys Shino knew."

notes: just a fluffy post-canon fic about some more wonderful side characters, with romance and friendship. lee and shino are so unexpected but work so well in this fic.

tdlr; shino/rock lee-centric(fanon ship), romance & friendship, fluff

In The Forest by Senka Hitomi (LadyTegan) [T] [COMPLETED]

When the genius of Konoha returns from a mission in a catatonic state, it is up to his old teammate to delve into the depths of his mind and pull him back out. But the dangers of the mind are many, and the road to finding him may be more difficult than she could have imagined.

notes: god i could gush about this fic for so long. everything about it delights me, the characterizations, character development, relationships and just the careful way the plot was constructed. it comes together to form a very inrtiguing and engaging fic.

tdlr; shikimaru/ino-centric(fanon ship), romance & friendship, amazing plot, great characterization

On Qipao, Flirting, and Buying Drinks by needdl [M] [COMPLETED]

Tenten turned beautiful when she was nineteen.

notes: an if neji lived au done so well. the romance is both believable and beautiful.

tdlr; neji/tenten-centric(semi-canon ship), romance & friendship, fluff, coming of age (TW for smut)

About Face by wroth_and_ruin [T] [ONGOING]

A little yellow-haired boy saves Sakura from the bullies. And everything changes.

notes: one of my all time favourite fics it is full of character and life, and the friendship between sakura and naruto is so pure yet all-consuming. they are eachothers persons, eachothers sun, and the world that is being crafted is so engaging. featuring kakashi with teenage angst.

tdlr; naruto and sakura-centric, friendship, found family, fix-it fic, character and plot development, worldbuilding

HONOURARY MENTION

Retrograde Motion by Crunchysunrises [T] [ABANDONED]

From sixteen to eleven didn't feel like a big jump until she realized that she was now the best ninja in their class. And that tiny Sasuke hates her for it.

notes: the reason this is an honourary mention is because this is the fic that got me into naruto! the first one i read, and the first one that captivated me to read all 100k words (yikes..). so despite the fact that its abandoned im still gonna share it with you in case it interests you ;)

tdlr; time-travel, sakura-centric, great characterization, shit gets done

(i didn't even realize so many of my fav fics were done by chancy_lurking!!! huge shoutout to them they are awesome)

i have some more but i think i'll leave it at this; i hope you find at least one fic that enraptures you!!

[acourtofthought]

Do you think both Elain and Lucien will be connected to the Koschei storyline?? So many E/riels seem to be Vassien shippers as well, which is fine, you are free to ship whoever imo. But it’s just a little funny how there’s supposedly no canon events to support Gwynriel, but plenty about Vassa and Lucien?? I don’t see it personally, and it just annoys me so much that Gwynriel is being viewed like it has nothing to back it up and they’re being so unnecessarily aggressive about it.

And back to the question; all clues definitely seem to go that direction at least— Elucien taking on Koschei in a joint plot. People who ship Vassien (and E/riel) say they’re good together because of Lucien being able to break curses and see spells and is going to free her and I agree. It does seem likely Lucien will play a key role in freeing Vassa, but part of that is going to be finding the black box, is it not?? And who is most likely to find that box… Elain. I see a lot of people say both these things, and yet, they think Elain and Az are going to have a joint mission. A mission for what I wonder. Why would Elucien not come together in Elain’s story? How would Az fit into all of it? He doesn’t. Not yet at least.

So if Lucien is going to be the one to free Vassa (one thing I think all ships can somewhat agree on) and Elain is most likely going to be part of that because of her powers, why would Lucien end up with Vassa then?? When his MATE, who he still looks at with longing, will be right there with him, it makes no sense for him to suddenly go for Vassa, unless Elain is not part of the Koschei plot??

I actually don't think Lucien is set up to be the one to free Vassa: "And Vassa....She had stayed. Her keeper had granted her a reprieve from her curse - the enchantment that turned her into a firebird by day a woman again by night. And bound her to his lake deep in the continent. I'd never seen such spell work. I'd sent my power over her, Helion too hunting for any possible threads to unbind it. I found none. It was as if the curse was woven into her very blood." Helion already looked over Vassa and was unable to break the curse therefore, Lucien with Helion's powers most likely will not be able to find anything either. "It was as if the curse was woven into her very blood" sounds very much like the Valg infections we learned about in more detail in Tower of Dawn and it was Yrene with her healing powers who was able to purge the infection from the blood. So my theory is that Elain (not Lucien) is going to be the key to freeing Vassa from her curse if she too is revealed to have life / healing powers along the same line as Yrene's. That's not to say Lucien won't be alongside Elain and help fight if it comes to that, he might help think of ways to outsmart him but I think Elain is the main key to all of it. She's the one who had visions of the box he has (which needs to be found otherwise he'll never be killed) and she's the one who had visions of the girls he's hiding. Az literally has nothing to do with any of it. He's never met Vassa, isn't friends with Vassa he never met Elain's father (who made the bargain with Koschei), and he definitely doesn't have spell cleaving or powers or life healing powers (in the way Yrene did, many fae have the ability to heal their own minor wounds). I actually think it's a bit crazy they think Lucien and Vassa will have their own book. If Vassa is returned to Koschei then how exactly would she and Lucien have a romantic arc? If she's the one in need of saving than how is the FMC going to be the one to shine? And E/riels despise Jurian, they are convinced he's not a good guy so who is going to be alongside Lucien for his travels to the continent? They will never admit to it but Gwynriel has more supporting their potential ship than Vassa and Lucien have ever had. Lucien has been living with Vassa for a year as friends yet they didn't exchange a single word in SF that didn't revolve around Koschei. Lucien has been living with Vassa for a year yet he still looks at Elain with longing. There is literally nothing to them outside of friendship whereas we were given very strong possible foreshadowing for an eventual Gwynriel romance. Sarah chose to add Gwyn to Azriel's POV where she gave Jurian and Vassa the "at each other's throats line" in SF, same as she once said of Cassian and Nesta.

[eddiediazismyhusband]

the weponizing of gayness is getting out of hand. you're called a homophobe if you don't ship two people. you're called a homophobe if you don't like a gay character because of their racist and misogynistic past. i genuinely don't believe that a lot of these people have ever been exposed to real bigotry in their entire lives, or they're just straight

Like i’ve said most of the people I’ve seen making these takes are either straight white cis women or white cis gay men who both have an insane amount of privilege in the community to the point that the plights of others aren’t on their radar….

like im not saying they haven’t experienced any kind of discrimination, i am sure they have, but being cisgender white people, there is a level of privilege there that refracts their view of what bigotry actually looks like to a certain degree that they view anything critical of their interests as being violently homophobic.

i myself am a white gay amab person (i’m nonbinary, but I am passing for male) so I definitely have a certain level of privilege that has protected me from being directly discriminated against in ways I’ve seen my non-white queer friends be treated. that being said (and i am by no means perfect) i do my best to check my privilege before blowing something out of proportion just because it inconveniences or annoys me.

i’ve mentioned on here briefly before that i have faced a lot of discrimination from others growing up in church. my mother sent me to a doctor asking him to try and “fix” me when she found out i was gay. i have been called slurs by people who claim to be “god-loving christians” for just existing within that space. i have been harassed and berated by family members over my queerness because they think the jokes don’t sting (and they don’t care if they do). I’m not saying this to ask for sympathy and pity; I have worked through this in therapy, and I have moved on and attempt to rebuild relationships and salvage what I can. But I say this to provide context of my own experiences as s queer person.

A lot of white queer people have experienced this, but a lot haven’t. A lot of them have grown up in far more accepting environments and only know of bigotry towards queer people from reading/seeing it in media. They see these events and in their inability to understand them within the context of their own experience, they equate their own everyday inconveniences to these things because as humans we often have a desire to be coddled and pitied, so when we aren’t the center of attention for pity, we try to force ourselves into it by blowing things out of proportion, or claiming bigotry and homophobia when that is not the case. The “give me sympathy” card is a staple in the white queer person’s wallet.

Unfortunately, for poc queer people, and non-cisgender people who aren’t ‘passing’ they experience a different level of discrimination and violent bigotry that a lot of white queer people have never experienced. Now that is not to say that white cis queer people have never been the victims of violence, they absolutely have and there are plenty of cases out there to prove it. The fact is that for poc queer people, violent bigotry is often the standard for discrimination they experience. And that is something that unless you have experienced it yourself, you will never really understand the affects that has on a person.

so this idea that disliking a queer character is somehow homophobic comes from a place of blatant privilege. it comes from people who want you to look at them and say “ohhh poor ____, they’re being discriminated against because this fictional character is being criticized for his own bigotry within canon” rather than acknowledging that queer people are not inexcusable of bad behavior. they don’t understand that calling other queer people homophobic for having valid criticisms of a character and the way their story has been handled only shows queer people as this melodramatic clump of people who cry wolf over things that are not im fact actually conducive of homophobia.

I’m sorry I kind of turned this into a discussion of the hierarchy of queer privilege and how it negatively affects the entire community when the privileged minority are loudly complaining about things they don’t like by throwing around the word “homophobic” but unfortunately that seems to be where we are at in this fandom. I didn’t touch much on the straight white cis women of it all, but unfortunately straight white cis women are always trying to steamroll queer people when it comes to discussing queer issues so this is just par for the course.

[romanoffblitzer]

An Abridged History of YachiFumi

This will not be an exhaustively researched post. This is just me telling stories off the top of my head.

The first interaction between Yachiyo and Fumi, in the main story of ReLIVE, goes something like this:

Some people think that YachiFumi grew out of this single interaction, but I don’t really think that’s the case. After all, there are numerous interactions between the Revue girls, and most of them can be turned into shippable moments, but only YachiFumi exploded the way it did. Rather, I think YachiFumi filled a niche that people were looking to fill: an angsty ship that dealt with the fallout of Fumi leaving Siegfeld.

These days, we can point to Akira as the person other than Shiori most upset by Fumi’s departure, but back then, when no one knew anything of the circumstances that caused Fumi to leave or how the Siegfeld girls felt about it, speculation ran wild. I think people gravitated to Yachiyo because, for some reason or another, the other Siegfeld girls didn’t fit what people were looking for: back then, Akira was fairly aloof and cold, Mei Fan had a big crush on Akira, and Michiru was focused on Akira (and no one really understood her). That left Yachiyo, whose mysterious, detached demeanor could be hiding all sorts of things. What if Yachiyo was close to Fumi before she left? What if she was the one most broken up by her departure?

And so, fanfic writers and readers being the sluts for angst that they are, ran with this idea. As far as I can tell, people started shipping YachiFumi pretty early in ReLIVE’s lifespan. I can see some archaeological evidence for it dating back to November 2018, and it was definitely a big established thing by mid-2019—that was when I got into the ship myself. The ship was big across people of all languages: English, Japanese, Korean, and more.

By late 2019, however, discontent with the ship was growing among some (in the English fandom, at least; I don't remember seeing any such complaints in the Japanese or Korean fandoms). This was helped along by Chapter 8, Siegfeld's chapter in the main story, which revealed what Yachiyo's Deal was, and it had nothing to do with Fumi in particular. These people contended that Yachiyo's portrayals in YachiFumi fics were out-of-character; they took Yachiyo, who's a pretty easygoing and cheerful person in canon, and turned her into a tearful, depressed, clingy mess. (I've also heard from some that the YachiFumi fandom back then was loud and annoying, which didn't help their perception of the ship. I don't remember personally experiencing the "annoying" part, but they were certainly loud.)

As a person who shipped YachiFumi back then, but was also a thoughtful person who thinks of shipping two characters like putting puzzle pieces together, I also came to believe that the portrayal of Yachiyo in such fics was off the mark. Yachiyo is extraordinarily perceptive, but the old YachiFumi fics tend to make her ignorant as to why Fumi left Siegfeld; Yachiyo had trouble relying on others, but the old YachiFumi fics make her dependent on Fumi, sometimes making her barely functional without her; and a decent amount of the time, Yachiyo is antagonistic to Fumi for leaving Siegfeld and abandoning her, but it's not really in Yachiyo's chill personality to get mad at others. Rather than stop shipping YachiFumi, though, I instead started modifying my view of the ship and the two characters to fit the presented evidence.

Still, though, YachiFumi was enormously popular, even with the lack of canon content, something that was commonly joked about. People were clamoring for Yachiyo and Fumi to get some actual interactions, but they had no idea when they would happen. Then, around February 4, 2020, the unthinkable finally happened. Part 5 of the "Venus & Cupid - Angelic Thread of Love" event dropped, featuring Yachiyo visiting Fumi's apartment to get her to come see the play Shiori was going to put on, and the fandom exploded.

I am told that some people were disquieted by how Yachiyo and Fumi's interactions were starkly different from their angsty, emotional headcanons. I'll take their word for it, but I have not seen this for myself; mostly I saw people being very happy and excited, with the angsty YachiFumi writers simply incorporating the scene into their headcanons without discarding the previous angst.

(Around that time, fueled by passion for YachiFumi and discontent with the ship's portrayal in fic, I decided to take a crack at writing a fic for them myself, with the concept that Yachiyo would be the most perceptive and most understanding of Fumi's reasons to leave Siegfeld. It was a good fic for its time, but I consider it outdated now as my perception of both characters and their relationship evolved even further.)

After that, the YachiFumi fandom went on for a while, but as far as I can tell, the old conception of YachiFumi and its associated fandom eventually petered out around 2021 (at least in English; the Japanese YachiFumi fandom, while it lessened, still remains decently active and still upholds angsty Yachiyo to some extent). I attribute this less to lessening interest in the ship and more to probably inevitable lessening interest in ReLIVE itself (I've seen a lot of sleeper YachiFumi fans). Which is a shame, because all the good canon YachiFumi content dates to 2022 or later.

Orpheus Fumi came out in February 2022 and Ruler of the Court Yachiyo came out in June 2022, and the YachiFumi shippers that remained were excited (mostly in the Japanese fandom, although of course I was still around). These bond stories took their dynamic that was established in their initial interaction and built on it, creating a consistent narrative thread about Yachiyo and Fumi noticing and appreciating each others' changes. As far as relationships between ReLIVE girls from separate schools go, Yachiyo and Fumi's friendship ended up being one of the most consistently written. Then came Tsu the Crane Yachiyo in November 2023, the Holy Grail of canon YachiFumi content, and the YachiFumi shippers that survived to that day (who were largely Japanese) exploded, with many victoriously saying "YachiFumi is real now, I don't have to imagine everything into existence for them anymore!"

(There are a few people in the English fandom, grown out of the initial backlash against YachiFumi, who are insistent that Yachiyo and Fumi aren't friends at all, are supposed to have absolutely no interest in each other, and take any interaction between them to be forced and out of character. The canon evidence does not seem to support this.)

Quite honestly, if that was the last piece of YachiFumi content by the game ended service, I would have been content. But we also got Bard Orpheus Fumi, where Yachiyo tries to get Fumi and Akira to reconcile a bit, and Mochizuki Chiyojo Fumi, where Yachiyo seems to be quite pleased that the character Fumi is playing is her character's husband, so we got a little more on top of the absolute meal that was Tsu the Crane Yachiyo.

All else being told, Starira's end of service has done little to lessen my interest in YachiFumi, and I plan to keep thinking and talking about them for a long time.

[project-sekai-facts]

Regarding your post about censorship: I'm like 90% sure most of this is not censorship (they left the entirety of buddy funny as it was. I refuse to believe "partner" is where they draw the line). I've played tons of Japanese video games in official English; the usual standard for translation is, in practice, that it shouldn't be obvious it wasn't originally written in English. Imo, this is the actual difference between "the miles i fell in love with is so cool!" (Not grammatically incorrect but not how actual people speak) and the official. As for it having romantic connotation to begin with, lol you said you got that from looking it up but Google the same thing in English and you will still get only romantic advice because it just assumes you're asking when the appropriate time to say I love you in a relationship is.... It could've been a joke, or a gay allegation, an anime way of speaking, or even nothing. How would you know which? I absolutely do not mean this in a rude way and I'm really sorry if it comes off like that but. I don't think you can comment on the connotations of words or level of casualness without speaking the language yourself.

Same with minoharu; it's (unfortunately) not canon. If she actually said "I love you!!" Regardless of dictionary definitions, it will be read as a romantic confession by most players, and you often say the game likes ambiguity so I take it that's a no. "I like you!" Is rather an awkward thing to yell in english, though. So "you're the best" is what they substitute.

(Please don't blame the translators for stuff this insignificant tbh. Some things in early game may sound clunky, but they've really smoothed out over time in terms of word choice sounding natural (...event names notwithstanding). I've done translations between my first language and English for fun; if you linger on every last word and it's connotations, you will go /insane/ reallyyy quickly. Imo no two words in different languages have the exact same meaning, connotation, use case etc. Ever. Differences of this level are utterly inevitable when games have so much text.)

Anyway. Thanks for all the effort you put into this blog, it's a fantastic one and it's not my intention to be harsh, if it comes off like that please just delete this ask. Don't feel bad about something some stranger on the internet said.

to be honest I don't think it's all censorship either, i just kinda went off on a tangent about things getting removed in translation and i did put in the post reasons why these translations actually are valid (aside from Toya woao because they did leave that one in the card name so it was a deliberate choice to remove it from the story, thereby also removing the reference in the card name). That Asahi post is old and I have done more research into it since, because my JP isn't good so I've gotta make up for it somehow, and literally every dictionary definition and anything I can find for that word frames it as romantic. For the extra mile I checked Japanese dictionaries for languages other than English. I found one thing saying it can be used for an idolisation, but even in that instance the way it's framed in the story is still done in a way that could be viewed as ship tease. In other words, it's probably romantic. Even if he's just talking about the character and not Tsukasa, it has a romantic reading and removing it was a deliberate choice. "The miles i fell in love with is so cool" might sound a bit rough, but it could have still been translated to keep the original context no problem. You could've just done something like "well of course it was cool. i fell in love with miles for a reason" or "it was so cool! as expected of the miles i love". the thing is with writing for a game like this is sometimes people need to say things that in real life you would probably just say in your head. the POV character for this event is Rui so we can't just take a look at the thoughts of the characters, which is why what they're feeling needs to be conveyed through text even if it sacrifices a bit of the realism. especially in a visual novel styled game like this because the characters are limited to a 2D model with limited movement and expression. if this was an anime you could probably get more leeway with what they say because you can convey the character's feelings through various other means (eg: the animated MVs that don't have any dialogue but could convey a story and emotion much better than looking at the in-game version of the scene with no dialogue). Don't worry I don't think you came off as rude and I know I shouldn't really talk about a language I don't speak but I hope the research can at least kind of make up for it.

Minoharu isn't canon I know but it's very obvious that what Minori feels for Haruka goes into romantic territory, whether you like the ship or not. And sure, if you put "I love you" most people would probably read it as romantic by default, but that hasn't stopped the translators before. "You're the best" honestly is a valid localisation that still conveys pretty much the same meaning I just find it odd that "I love you" is removed here, a flashback scene from a point in time where minori and haruka didn't know each other, but is translated with accuracy in multiple interactions between An and Kohane in present day. If Minori and Haruka don't know each other it's slightly less likely that people will interpret it as romantic and slightly more likely that people will interpret it as a simple idolisation but with An an Kohane actually knowing each other and having a close and affectionate relationship the go-to is probably gonna be romantic (which isn't wrong considering the events of BFST and Wishing for Your Happiness, but still sticks out that they left this in here but change it for another couple with heavy romantic subtext).

I'm not blaming this on the translators, they're just doing their job and obviously with localisation you've gotta lose stuff, it's just that some of these are very specific things to cut (eg: any indication of Asahi feeling romantically towards Tsukasa's character and ambiguously Tsukasa himself is completely absent in the official translation). I'm blaming this on the higher ups at sega who get the final say on what is and isn't included in the translation. You can't translate everything directly because languages don't all work exactly the same, especially english and japanese. obviously due to these differences, you're not going to be able to translate everything directly and localisation is necessary (regardless of language) to make it accessible and easy to read for an audience outside the country of origin. but there are gonna be questions raised when a scene is localised to keep the same meaning as the original text aside from one line that removes notable queer subtext. because if they can keep the rest of toya's speech in line with the original but they specifically remove the part about him wanting to stay side-by-side with akito forever and change it to wanting to perform side-by-side, despite the fact they left in the "now on and always" part in his card name, that was removed from the story intentionally. they kept what asahi says to tsukasa with the same meaning as well, but any indication of asahi feeling romantically towards the other is completely gone. the issue is that sega seems to be intentionally removing queer subtext from the game.

don't worry anon this wasn't harsh, and localisation is something that actually interests me and i've read into quite a bit, so i enjoy the opportunity to talk about it. and thank you as well!

[vitospaghetta]

re: about Leon's emotions and feelings towards Ada and vice versa. This is my little attempt to break it down and offer a perspective that evidently not many in this fandom have and here's how: it's been romanticised to hell and back, I wouldn't be surprised if one day the division at Capcom reveals a big "well actually it was never about love between them, but rather a plethora of events that attached them to each other"

Because it can't be about love, it's just too ludicrous. It's not love. It's trauma bond, and like you said it's a sense of comfort and familiarity. But people in our society are too simple minded and once again viewing things through such short sighted romanticised lens to ever be objective about the reality of it. Nothing that Leon and Ada have is written in stone to set some "relationship" to flourish because it's not that, it's a situationship and nothing more.

This is why they resort to trying to use what the devs say and conveniently put words in their mouths to try and justify their biased perspectives. Just because they won't change their dynamic of the usual Ada being one step ahead of Leon and always leaving him in the dark and being a weakness of his, does not mean that it's love. Because it isn't, that's not what they're doing and it's emotionally inept to think so. Because everything they've done has shown the exact opposite. Leon's character was never about Ada and Capcom removing the "romance" from their dynamic isn't what's gonna alter the entire plot, it's the nature of their typical two steps ahead alienation that would wreck it and that's why they'll keep the core of it. But it was never romance.

Hope all this makes sense lol, if you got anything to add, please do :)

"Leon's character was never about Ada"

Everything you said here is 100% correct but I think that specifically stands out a lot, because I think a big issue with hardcore Aeon shippers is that they see Ada as an extension of Leon and vice versa. Like you can't have Leon without Ada, and Leon can never have feelings for anyone else because Ada is such an integral part of his story or whatever. Ada is no more significant to Leon's narrative than Claire or Sherry; the only difference is that he developed feelings for Ada, but having feelings for someone does not equate to love.

I've said this before, but I understand shipping from the perspective of 'these two characters look good together/have a dynamic I like to explore through fanon.' When it extends to taking developer comments out of context to prove canonization of a relationship dynamic that obviously doesn't exist, foregoing common sense and any understanding of nuance? That's touchgrass behavior.

Yes, the only canon longstanding love interest Leon has ever had in the franchise is Ada. This is a fact. However, love is something that is developed over time, and Leon and Ada barely know each other. A loving romantic relationship is not what has been established between them. It's very clear that they both have feelings for one another in the original continuity, but any chance of a normal romantic relationship is ruined by the complexity of their personal situations and moral standing. That's the interesting part about their dynamic, which is literally why they're written that way. That dynamic doesn't even entirely change in the remakes; it's tweaked and built upon, like everything else. Whether or not Leon has feelings for Ada, his story doesn't change, and neither does the foundation of their relationship.

[barbiegirldream]

how do you rank the other robins? im also a nightwing fan so i kind of go off of how interesting i find their relationships with him lol

In terms of how I view them as Robins it's actually

Tim Drake founded the very concept of what Robin is without a Batman and without a team. Made it possible for Robin to stand alone

Dick Grayson for founding Robin but really what he gave us as a dynamic duo doesn't need to be secluded to the Robin and Batman dynamic. We've seen it work time and time again with Batman and other characters. Dick Grayson outside the cape matters a Lot

Damian Wayne is bringing us Back to the idea of what a Robin can be on their lonesome but his branching out arc was cut short boo

Tied for last is Jason and Steph their times as Robin were to narratively kill Robin without killing their more popular counterparts.

In terms of how I personally like them/enjoy reading them it's

Dick Grayson the golden age sidekick the origin of the child sidekick to begin with. Everything he built will Nevahhh be replicated. They'll never be him though they want to with all their hearts make him less perfect he isn't <3

Tim Drake is the basic bread and butter for a reason and I loveee Young Justice more than I even like the Teen Titans. Shoutout to when I called that it was a date he was on with Bernard and that their ship name should be Timber good times. A shame they only cart him out for pride events now.

Damian is only interesting to read as a stand alone character. Like when he is not being babied and instead is that larger than life child in a suit he's at his finest. Staring Talia dead in the eye and telling her she's the reason he'll never want children yeah yeah he rose in the ranks for me. Also he helped reintroduce my all time boy Connor Hawke soooooo

Jason was not an interesting Robin to me because he did nothing interesting nor did he bring up anything interesting Dick Grayson's Robin hadn't covered in the 40 years before his intro. He was an imposter lamb to slaughter as I've said. He was interesting as a villain. Far less so as an anti hero. I think it's outrageous to ask the Batfamily to get along with him and makes canon actively worse that he is still around

Steph is flat and boring since the 90s. They don't know what to do with her other than being Tim's girlfriend/ex. She doesn't fit in the Birds of Prey. She's not as interesting as Cass. The writers barely see them both as adult women. Maybe it'd change if they actually did

[noxiatoxia]

Nox... please tell me you think that hitachiincest is canon after the events of the manga. That Hikaru and Kaoru do end up together/signs of it. Please ;;

UNFORTUNATELY i have not read the manga and have no intention of doing so. i think i discussed this in an ask eons ago but i am not very interested in the ouran manga as opposed to the anime since the manga is aiming for a slightly different audience (lets face it; the anime is a comedy while the manga is actually a shoujo/romance story) and i do not like romance stories one bit, so the ouran manga bored the hell out of me. plus i just enjoy the art and writing in the anime far more; it's by Bones who also did Death Note so they're pros at this whole anime adaptation game. (and there's no carriage in the manga. i have complicated feelings on the matter.)

that mini preamble aside while i don't know a whole lot about the manga i know the important bits + ending and all that. the only ship canon in the manga is haruhi/tamaki iirc but canon is my bitch. i always view most ships as "schrodinger's canon"; it being never addressed means it is as much canon as it is not canon. If there is no evidence for or against it then it can go either way. And 99% of the time in media when it comes to gay shipping (even straight shipping on occasion) they either A) didn't ever intend for the relationship to be read as gay so there is nothing that would confirm nor deny a relationship or B) they absolutely thought of it and decided to use plausible deniability so they could have their cake and eat it too (just enough hints that the shippers will go apeshit but not enough to make it be seen as "canon" by most viewers)

anyways. all of this is to say hikakao is pretty much as canon as it is not canon, it is literally just up to each individual reader because there is nothing pointing to or against them being together in the end. they very much fall into category two.

personally, you know me. i like to think they're together. in the manga hikaru's crush on haruhi is much more explicit than the anime (where i read it as not a crush but just friendship jealousy) but either way haruhi is taken by the end so hikaru has to get over it (rip hikaharu shippers. haruhi has two hands though i guess)

i can see hikaru/kaoru even if they didn't end up together traditionally or anything, they're clearly going to be each other's first priority for like, ever. i never read their bond as strictly romantic or platonic or familial bc tbh the way they were raised and the way they go about life together breaks many traditional boundaries that there's really no label attachable to it. like hikaru could get married but he's still sharing a bed with kaoru. it's just like that.

i've read several very good fics about post-manga hikakao, rediscovery and all that. (i also had one i was writing that i should finish...)

I think there's something very special about the idea of their bond post-manga. Hikakao in the beginning is very strained; they're always together because they have no other choice. they have no friends and nobody to rely on but each other. but by the end they have friends, they have found themselves as their own people, they are becoming independent and learning to separate little by little...and yet they find each other still the most important person to them. That now, they're together not because of necessity, but because they have and can be apart, and have been apart before, but have decided of their own free will that they still love each other. it's not longer a forced compulsion. they have grown and changed and decided, after experiencing so much new stuff in life, they still want to stick together because they love each other. I like that idea.

If you want manga evidence iirc they still live together by the end of it all and are doing their twincest shtick still unprompted out of highschool so !?? they are beyond saving.

[thrilling-oneway]

I'd give you 5$ if you post that draft

you didn't even need to bribe. it's not actually in the drafts of this blog so i'll write a better version

i've said it a billion times before: tsukasa is the comedic relief weirdguy, the devs basically will do anything with him so long as it's funny.

so starting with that valentine's day vlive in 2021. during the MC part of that he gets jealous that rui has been getting chocolates and tries to brag that he got lots of chocolates too but then immediately reveals that he got friendzoned by multiple girls. his voiceline that year is something about how he catches everyone's attention on vday and year round bc he's a star or something like that but anyway that whole interaction there seems to suggest he's straight lol.

however.

he's REALLY oblivious. played for comedy ofc but i see a lot of people interpret this as him being somewhere on the aro spectrum (probably not what the writers intended but fair instance of accidentally coding a character as smth). examples include: not understanding why Akito doesn't want to be seen at PXL alone with Toya in an Akito's initial 3* (second story), literally says "thank you" when Asahi basically confesses to him and completely misses the point (he actually did seem to nearly get this one for a second), and he doesn't understand why Rui's friends are impressed that he's friends the incredibly attractive Shizuku (Tsukasa is the only not-gay-coded male character who isn't attracted to Shizuku, probably because they're childhood friends. or if you want to view him as being aspec, then that works too). also when he mentions that he's friends with guys in his class who are cool and popular and good with women, Hibiki says that he was in a class with one of those guys in 1st year and is amazed that tsukasa is in that crowd now, emphasis on the "tsukasa's friends are good with women part". tsukasa's just confused about that because of course they talk to girls a lot they're in the same class.

also he usually rewrites a lot of romance plays to remove the romance. he rewrote R&J to just make it focused on the action (which is probably because he likes playing action heroes more than anything else), and he got rid of the romance plot in little mermaid because he didn't felt it was needed (this one is justified in-universe as they do fun shows for small children and don't really need the tragic romance, and also from production standpoint like you don't do that because fandom). so yeah that could again be read as him being aspec if you want but i don't think the writers intended it to be read that way, especially the R&J one that was purely for comedy.

all that said, this is an idol game, which generally run on the rule of thumb that every character is some flavour of queer, even if it's just for fanservice (i don't play enstars but from what i do know of it it falls a bit on that last point). anyway you can probably tell where this is going but he gets ship tease with rui sometimes. vast majority of this is from Rui's side but there are things like Oki ni Mesu mama

Tsukasa: Waiting for the "1, 2…" signal, holding hands with you is an act of courage for me

or that one part in pandemonium where he drops his persona for a brief second when he's impressed by rui's plan that was very much put there on purpose, or that Tsukasa and Airi's cheerful carnival team name from that event is "swayed by their partners (相方, aikata)" and when you consider that Shizuku and Airi are heavily implied to like each other, and have canonically been on a "date", that was also a Choice.

idk whether to count KING because justified by them being actors and the fang motif in the song... vampires kinda homoerotic it makes sense that the dance routine was that. also i'm not sure if the connect lives are even canon, especially the wxs one since tokishun broke character and the 4th wall.

yeah i dunno. the writers kinda just do whatever they want with him. interpret any of this how you will i'm just recounting shit from the game.

oh hey it's longer than 300 words now

[rumbleonthemill]

bit of a retrospective.

the HN community was great, I absolutely loved searching for artworks and fics in 2018-2019 I have over 4K artworks saved. I digged up the deepest archives for some good art. I have a ship archive. the HN tag here is over 150 pages...if someone, then I love fanart. I love headcanons, au's.. back then the fandom was crazy accepting, it was such a positive feeling, it felt so good to be here.

--

2020 December was the downfall. this whole fucking ass lie someone made up, all because some immature fucking ass cunts disliked a ship. it lasts to this day and I'm so fucking tired. exhausted. I'm exhausted from the "I ship something else, so I'm dehumanizing you and making up lies to make you look like a serial killer because i can't find the block button" this is now in every fandom and it's disgusting.

the ship? the art? didn't hurt a fly.

haters? they hurt everyone.

there's a post, there's a video about the origins of the hilariously average ship, I'm repeating myself like a parrot and I hate it because normal people UNDERSTAND what's the deal - you cannot change the past and you cannot change a ship's impact on the fandom, even if you make up the biggest lies. ever since then I saw that the haters have much more skeletons in the closet, than I ever did.

I cannot do anything with people who blindly fall for lies about a stranger on the internet, and trust other strangers on the internet. immature and pathetic.

--

2021 - the canon began falling from grace as well. same shit again, a million storylines, to this day the HN community itself doesn't know, which canon event belongs to which storyline.

the cartoon was the final nail. It lured so many…it lured.

it is officially unsafe to search for HN, I left multiple sites because the moderation doesn't give a fuck about literal actual creeps. multiple people aren't enough anymore to report things. and ofc the sjw bitches are nowhere when the community should keep together and remove REAL problems.

and the stalkers. and those who are envious. the two-faced lying bitches. those who literally want to own people. the fake friends, who just want you as trophy on their fucking shelf and want free art. those who accuse you for being narcissistic, while they're the ones with huge issues, and ofc everyone's the victim except the harassed person. oh man, if this was a bingo, everything would be checked. I'm tired.

--

the worst thing is, people begin to turn away from you, because other people ruined you and you're ruined. you can't function like before. things trigger you. you know that xy people leaked-backstabbed-wished your death yet play nice in front of public...list goes on.

if I hate someone - there's a real reason.

I'm past several breakdowns, multiple hospital visits and things I'm not even putting into this post. all because people can't find the block button and they purposely worsen people's mental state. (my health is dogshit tho) because people cannot understand that others escape online from irl problems, to fandoms, to have a little rest. rest.

fandoms are supposed to be your mental safe place. sharing art, ideas, being silly.

--

fandoms are about ✨ being crazy. about having fun✨ if you want to tell people what they're allowed and not allowed to do, go to politics . become a dictator idk.

--

I don't give the slightest fuck anymore if people on the other end of the internet think that I'm a [insert current problem]. it means that they're chronically online and they're into harassment.

all I ever wanted is to share my art and stories. not more.

I don't give a fuck about others and their views. block button. and if I blocked xy - they better stay away.

--

now to close the post on positive tone.

I know circa FIVE people from the old HN community, who I've been seeing ever since 2018 and before. a few newcomers who want to enjoy fandoms because they're fans and they want to have FUN. those who know, what the ships are about. those who just stick around and are chill.

You get my biggest respect. seriously. these people are still consuming fanart. they're consuming fics, they're tired of the endlessly changing canon, they love the og HN. they know how to have fun and know they can easily filter disliked things. haters didn't scare them away somehow. these cca five people...they're the real fans.

and I also appreciate everyone, who leaves 100+ notes in my inbox, liking ship art in secret. thank you.

[sapphire-weapon]

Why do you think ppl are more willing to accept Ada as a 'love' interest for Leon in the r4make than Ashley??

Also, do we know anything abt Ashley after the events? Other than that mention in ID.

oh, a couple of reasons:

OG RE2 ends with a romantic kiss between them and ada stating explicitly that she fell in love with him, and OG RE4 ends with leon turning down ashley's offer for sex and calling ada "a part of me i can't let go" and people let their perception of OG color their perception of remake; people legitimately think they're still the same story and that RE4make leads directly into damnation, where it's implied leon and ada may have banged, even though that makes no fucking sense at all

young women identify too heavily with ashley and the thought of an older, traditionally masculine man like leon being sexually/romantically interested in them scares the hell out of them because they still think of themselves as kids, so they project that onto ashley

american puritan culture sees violence as more acceptable than sexuality, and, despite ashley literally asking leon to fuck her in OG RE4, people view ashley as being immature for being a non-violent person in a violent series and therefore categorize her as being "too young" for romance despite her being older than claire was in RE2

they're new fans and the fandom shoves "AEON IS CANON" down their throats

aeon fandom is so blindingly zealous in their shipping that they're willing to dox minors and harass people off of social media, so it's easier to just tow the line and shut the fuck up

and no, ID is all we have of ashley post-RE4. you need to understand just how hated OG ashley was. capcom did everything in their power to distance themselves from her, to the point of making her dad a one-term president, because the fanbase hated her so fucking much because they were bad at the game and blamed her for it. i cannot actually think of another fictional character in any other series that was more acceptable to openly hate than ashley graham.

and that sort of ties into reason #1; people's old hatred of ashley still unconsciously biases them against remake ashley and they still don't want her around leon, even if they like remake ashley.

[thisonesatellite]

@wistfulcynic tag-summons me and of course i answer. Not least because she has written some of my favorite stories of all time. 😘

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason. <3

OK -- rubs hands. Here we go.

First fic: The road, taken (OUAT /CS)

Look. i was never going to write. i was never even going to get an AO3 account. But then i did (honestly, i'm not even sure why i decided to apply), and then i had this random thought which would not leave, and after three days of constantly imagining Emma and Killian meeting in a bar fight, well--- i wrote it.

Mostly to get it out of my head.

This fic shows very clearly that i was not yet a writer, but i think it also shows the things i would eventually gravitate towards (plot and realistic dialogue underpinned with Feelings), as well as my absolute and unwavering commitment to HEAs, you feel me.

And four short years later here we are, with four fandoms and 37 fics. What have i done.

.

Last fic: despite all my rage (stucky)

My latest OTP Bucky/Steve hath taken me over and this fic is the perfect illustration of the dangers of telling anyone about anything at all, because i mentioned working on an MMA documentary to @angelicalslayer and she said, "ooooh, stucky cage fight fic!", and then THIS HAPPENED.

i am not sorry.

.

Only once: Actually, i have two fandoms i dipped into only once.

we build our lives out of chaos and hope (dramione) a sort of homecoming (Leverage)

The dramione fic is an EWE exploration of Draco's and Hermione's lives, both of which get stuck after the war ends and remain in limbo for a decade until they are thrown together by chance. After which they are forced to work out their issues and also face a new threat.

Dramione had the great misfortune that i slid into stucky immediately after i discovered it and got stuck there (hehe). i have been trying to claw my way back to dramione ever since -- i have a really epic fic idea already in mind which i would LOVE to write. Unfortunately i am horribly linear and cannot do more than one fic at a time, and people keep bullying me lovingly into stucky events, so i won't get around to it until next year. But i will write it. i loved writing chaos and hope.

The Leverage outing? i don't know what happened. Stress, too much work, real life drama, and stucky cage fight plot boas came together and needed an outlet, and suddenly i had a Leverage fic.

i am once again not sorry.

.

Fave fic in most works: we kill the flame (OUAT /CS)

CS is my most prolific OTP so far - although i no longer write it - and this fic i think was by far my best outing. i built an entire world for it, during which i realized i love world building even though it's a ridiculous amount of work that takes a ridiculous amount of time. And this particular sandbox i built is my best one.

Cyberpunk dystopia, plot, action, Feelings, more plot, more action, and then a HEA -- i put all my favorite things into this one, and even viewed from a distance of nearly three years, i still love it.

.

Fic i wish more people had read: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (stucky)

i realize that Western AUs are not everyone's cup of tea, so i get why this one is bringing up the rear, it's just that i put so much work into the historical accuracy and transposing the canon into post-Civil War America that i kind of wish more people had given it a try. But i do get that this is a matter of taste.

i'm not angry or disappointed or anything, i loved writing it, and i worked with incredible people ( @angelicalslayer again, she is just that fabulous), as well as participated in my first bang ever, so it was totally worth it. Besides giving me a whole new appreciation for people who write historical fiction, bc omg the work.

.

Fic i agonized over the most: if you live by the word, you die by the pen (OUAT /CS)

The plot. OMFG the plot. The plot got so loose.

Look. i love wrangling my plot boas, OK? i complain about them a lot, because they always try to strangle me, but all in all i love it.

But. This fic. First of all, i tried a whole new style (noir -- basically stumbling around in the footsteps of Dashiell Hammett and James Ellroy) AND murder mystery AND magic AND linguistics AND battles AND upwards of eight main protagonists (how very LA Confidential of me) and anyway, i nearly didn't survive it.

The only reason i did survive is @wistfulcynic (because she always is) and she is also the only reason that the result is in any way worth reading (BECAUSE SHE ALWAYS IS). In this case she worked harder than ever, but also i tempted her with a linguistics component, because that is how you get the linguists to help you.

.

Fic that sprang fully formed: a handful of dust (stucky)

i had already left CS and found dramione and was nearly done with writing chaos and hope when i re-binged CATFA and CATWS for the n-th time and finally decided to check out the stucky ficdom. And promptly got sucked into the best vortex ever.

And then this fic just sprang up in my head. No warning. i looked up and there both bois were, looking at me in challenge, going, 'are you going to write us a different post-Potomac ending or what', and really--- what was i supposed to do but nod and write it?

So i did.

And i've been HEA-ing them ever since. (Usually after sending them through various types of AU hell, but as long as they end up happy together, who's counting?)

.

Fic i'm proud of: all

Look. i'll be honest. i'm proud of all of them, ngl. My writing is not as easily accessible as many others' -- both in style and in subject matter -- but i absolutely love the process of writing and i am proud of every fic i managed to finish and put out there.

.

Absolutely no pressure tags: @ohmightydevviepuu, @bittersweet-in-boston, @cable-knit-sweater, @mxaether, @greekgeek24 , @angelicalslayer 💖