#or this dynamic anyways but for that reason that trope for confession is why i like it

[elegyofthemoon]

💫 favorite love confession trope

maybe its just cuz i do like my knight/lord dynamics so bad but damn that vow of loyalty that masks a love confession slaps a little too hard

whats your favorite💫ask!

[stannienight]

Hi, I hope you are well 💗

I was wondering if you could do Saiki K x reader, where reader and Saiki are best friends (and he secretly has a crush on them) and reader just got out of a bad relationship and thinks nobody will ever love them again, so Saiki tries to help them feel better and hint that he likes them ?

☮️&❤️

let me tell you, i love this ask sm. it has so much potential. for now i just spewed out whatever i could but this is such a lovely trope, especially for someone like saiki

❤

saiki k x best friend reader (after your breakup)

- okay listen. saiki is bad at being subtle. especially when you're so oblivious. it just leads to So Much Chaos

- the fact that you just got out of a relationship makes it hard to pick up hints okay - anyways, saiki isn't focused on getting you to like him or anything. his "hints" just happen to slip out - but it's not just that, right? you're also best friends. SARCASTIC best friends. combine that with your self-deprecation and saiki's inability to handle romance and there's a disaster waiting to happen - you: ugh what if no one ever loves me for who i am? saiki: am i a joke to you? you: yeah saiki: fair enough - you: i hate my ex. i'm going to devote myself to making him regret this saiki: didn't you waste enough time in the relationship? you, now woke: holy shit you're right - you: saiki help me glow up saiki: there is literally nothing i can improve you: IS THAT A DISS? saiki: - he helps you through the breakup, too. in true best-friend fashion, when you call him in the middle of the night with the news, he's in your room within a second. he brings ice cream, a blanket, and for some reason, a cat. you don't even know where he got it from. but you needed it - for the next few days he buys you gifts (which you keep telling him you don't need) but he wants to remind you that even he can do the job of being a boyfriend better than your ex - all your mutual friends are like, how oblivious can she get? and since when is saiki so bold? - saiki has no idea this is a romantic thing to do. "i'm just proving anyone can be better than he was wdym it's just a statistical thing?" - your friends find this whole dynamic hilarious- chiyo especially, the romance fanatic, who has never seen saiki exhibit any emotion - every time you spend time with saiki, kaidou and aren pointedly leave you two alone (dragging a nendo as oblivious as you along with them) whispering and giggling. you're so confused but not complaining - honestly, half the school already thinks you're dating? everyone except the two of you has just accepted it as a fact that you're a thing - dude: so saiki, how's your girlfriend saiki: what girlfriend dude: y/n? saiki: she's not my girlfriend dude: oh really? then maybe i can try confessing to her- saiki: dude: why am i in florida? - yeah okay he's just the tiniest bit possessive since the breakup okay? he doesn't want you getting hurt again - and don't worry he brought the guy back from florida ❤ i had so much fun writing this ong i canNOT imagine saiki being subtle at all or even understanding the line between close friendship and romance. it's all so objective to him and my guy's probably so confused send me asks for hcs, oneshots, or anything in general, even if it’s unrelated to anime or writing! saiki k and haikyu for requests but maybe go through my profile before requesting for haikyu <3

[sasaranurude]

For no reason other than I like the sound of my own voice (...sight of my own typed words...?) here's the character dynamics in 18trip that have managed to intrigue me from just the promotional content. Some shippy, some not. In no particular order

Akuta and Kiroku. Oh my gooodddd the sunny one and the gloomy one are friends... No way... And the way Kiroku smiles so softly when he talks about depending on Akuta for support!?!?!? Adorable!?!?!?

These two were simply made for the softest silliest slice of life shipfics. You know in your heart that they should be written walking around town getting ice cream together and having almost-confessions that get interrupted by a seagull stealing Kiroku's ice cream so Akuta tries to chase it down and get the ice cream back.

Renga and Liguang. They seem to have a bit of a rivalry going. Renga in general seems real fun as a character since he's trying so hard to be such a haughty celeb but even in his two minute interview he failed so bad at it, fumbling over his words and struggling to do basic celebrity things (bro you should be able to give some fanservice lol? The high schoolers are beating your ass). Love the bit about how he wants to live up to part ward mayors, he seems like a guy who desperately wants to be more than he is but doesn't know how to. Liguang is said to be the type who sees through facades to discern someone's competence, so there's so doubt that's why he's zeroed in on Renga. Excited to see where that goes--I hope we get Liguang tearing Renga to pieces so that Renga can build himself back up more confidently. That kind of dynamic can be super fun.

Kafka, Yukikaze, and the MC. I love that the MCs have a preexisting relationship with Kafka and Yukikaze. And it's both of them! Because they're siblings! I love that! Kafka can absolutely be a childhood friend for both of them! And obviously Yukikaze would be a cousin to both of them LMAO. (I don't know if we have concrete ages for the MCs, other than the male MC Kaede being older than the female MC Momiji, but I thiiink--just to make the writing smoother between gender choices--they'll probably put both of them in the 21-24 range between Kafka (20) and Yukikaze (25). I'd guess Kaede is 23 and Momiji is 22 bc again, the closer in age they are the more similarly they can be written so it's just for the sake of expedience, but I'm pulling these numbers out of my ass.)

ANYWAYS, ages provisionally established because those few years gain a bit more importance when you deal with characters who knew each other as kids... about the dynamic--Kafka's quotes in his quiz results MAKE this one. He likes the MC lots ("you're my number one, too", "guess I'll have to plan a strategy to become your number one") to the point that he's competitive about it with Yukikaze, their older cousin. Just, ohmygod, sickly little Kafka who cares about his childhood best friends so much, watching them look at their successful pro figure skater older cousin in awe, hoping to god they'll look at him with that much admiration and affection, and when a risky surgery finally saves him and he can get out there and be successful--he'll do anything to get his friends to look up to him the same way he used to look up to them, the way he saw them look up to Yukikaze--IT'S GETTING TO ME. We don't know how Yukikaze feels about any of this, but I kinda suspect it's a one-sided rivalry on Kafka's part lol. We'll see, it could be fun if it's a mutual rivalry for Kaede & Momiji's affection too. Also, mentioning it at the end since I know it squicks a lot of people, but the "cousin as first love" trope prevails in Japanese media, so there's also a reading of this situation wherein Kafka sees Yukikaze as a romantic rival. If this game takes off you will certainly see doujinshi where it's a love triangle lol. Since both siblings are around I like the idea of Kafka having a bisexual crisis because he realizes he's in love with BOTH the Hamasaki siblings, WHAT DOES HE DOOOO!! The more I write about Kafka the more I like him.

Muneuji and Ushio. I mean, I just spent way too much time talking about some childhood friends so I'm certainly not going to ignore the OTHER childhood friends. I like how both of them play around a bit with gendered expectations, with Muneuji looking feminine and speaking softly but wanting to hide his appearance entirely via his interests (space), while Ushio looks and acts like a rough lil delinquent but his main interest is being a patissier and fudanshi. Oh my god they're narrative foils, ykwim. Other than them depending on each other lots, we haven't seen how their dynamic will play out, so I'm interested to see how that goes. Like, does Ushio take Muneuji's helmet quirk in stride? Does he try to make him remove it, or maybe the opposite and will protect him from the fangirl helmet-removal gang to get his helmet back on? Either could be cute! We'll see! Oh, and I'm not sure how to word it, but there's also something I like about how their interests clash--space is, while, space, it's out there, can't get much farther from earth than space, and Muneuji engages with it by hiding himself and separating himself from the world. Sweets on the other hand are very much an in-your-body thing, forcing you to sit down and experience your own senses and be a part of the world. There's something nice that could be done with that contrast. Basically, what I'm saying is that if you wrote a BL about just these two, it could be SO thematically rich.

Toi and Ryui.

Yeah. Also on top of the codependency their theming goes crazy. An angel fortune teller with psychic acuity and a devilish charm-maker who's possessed by a ghost... Bro...

Nanaki and Kuguri. WHAT IS GOING ON BETWEEN THEM THAT NANAKI CALLS HIM KUGU-NII

KUGU-NII?? KUGU-NII?!?!?!?!?!? LIKE ok Nanaki is a musician from a musical family and Kuguri is an accomplished pianist. So it's not hard to imagine how they met. But becoming close enough that Nanaki relies on him and calls him Kugu-nii... Oh my god... I need to know...

Lightning round "character pairs I'm excited see interact but I have either very little or no basis at all for wanting that"

Nagi and anyone. I like Nagi. I like how he makes jokes with a flat affect. I want him to say strange things to people.

Netaro and anyone in day2. He's weird. I want him to interact with the children just for funnies. Especially Muneuji, I wanna see how the space kid and the alien get along.

Kafka and Toi. It's interesting that Kafka likes fortune telling. I won't psychoanalyze him about it again, but I could.

Netaro and Kinari. It's the engineer and the android and I need it. TEAR THAT ROBOT APART! PULL HIS GUTS OPEN AND SEE WHATS INSIDE!!!!!!

Chihiro and Toi. Toi's admiration for Chii is adorable. I wanna see how Chii interacts with a fan.

Chihiro and Ryui. Ryui, you're allowed to kill Chii if you get jealous of how much your brother likes him. I give you permission.

Liguang and Yukikaze. I want Liguang to treat this professional athlete who's older than him like a pet bunny. Who said that

Yodaka and Liguang. I like that they play mahjong together.

Yodaka and Netaro. I think if they talked the conversation would very very quickly leave the realm of the waking world and would simply not be comprehensible to outsiders. But they understand.

And ok eh yeah that's enough for now. Who knows if any of these will end up going how I'm thinking about them, or if more sides to the characters will be revealed that change my assumptions :)

[aha-chuu]

Alhaitham ships I like and respect

I realise I typically only post about Kavetham but I actually love a lot of Alhaitham ships (my mans deserves all the love). Here's a list and my reasons for shipping them, because I just got home from uni and I'm bored. These are all ships that I like, the rating is just "how would this realistically go?".

1) Kaveh/Alhaitham

Getting this one out of the way cos <3 we know. I really enjoy their bickering dynamic and they both have very strong personalities, which I adore. That's why I feel the need to be more picky with the fics I read, actually, cos sometimes people write one of them very uncharacteristically just so they don't have to deal with writing two characters with uh *checks notes* personalities lol.

They are both babygirl and they are both Problems. I think their relationship would be undefined but exclusive - neither of them say they're dating, but they've also never sleep around with other people. I kinda like the hc that Kaveh got around a bit more before they met/started their situationship, but I also vibe with the idea that he lied and told Alhaitham he was "oh so experienced" just to one up him.

Rating: 9/10

2) Cyno/Alhaitham

Hehe this one's an oldie but a goodie. So here's the thing: back in 3.1, this was The Sumeru ship. Cynari was also there , definitely, but there was a loud fandom quite obsessed with the enemies to lovers trope. Which! Some people call Kavetham enemies to lovers, wrong, they never had a fistfight; they're just rivals and lovers.

Anyway, Cyno and Alhaitham are a great ship cos we have battle boyfriends with an eventual soft dynamic. I especially love in Act 5 of the archon quest, when they continue to disagree but they're on the same side - Cyno is very against Alhaitham's reckless plan. They have a lot of contrast in their approaches to life, but at this point they have mutual respect for one another that I think could develop beautifully.

The only issue i have with their dynamic is that I struggle to imagine how they would end up together. Maybe after a fight, one of them almost dies and so there's a dramatic kiss?? I don't think Alhaitham would be so romantic tbh, and Cyno is more likely to be very straightforward with a confession, but I think he might not be honest about his feelings in order to focus on Justice™.

Rating: 7/10

3) Dehya/Alhaitham

Yes. I also occasionally like f/m ships. My issue with this one is simply that I ship Dehya with Dunyazarad more, so I think this would be a more one sided crush on Alhaitham's part. I have a hc that he's just, into claymore users. Dehya serves cunt and beats people up and Alhaitham is like "pls come back to the Akademiya, you're so so cool <3".

Maybe I have a crush on Dehya. Maybe that's the issue hm.

I can't see Dehya dating him or Alhaitham really wanting to date her - just a little crush and then a good friendship.

Rating: 10/10 for vibes, 3/10 for practicality

4) Nilou/Alhaitham

Consider: Nilou is cute. Alhaitham is cute. She thinks he's a cool treason-man and he thinks she's the only person as crazy as he is for immediately agreeing to the dangerous plan everyone else took 80% of the run time complaining about.

Would they actually ever date? I think they'd hold hands once, but then figure out very quickly that they have almost nothing in common. Alhaitham would want a more headstrong person to counter his bluntness, and Nilou would find his introversion frustrating in a dating context.

Rating: 4/10

5) Tighnari/Alhaitham

I sort of see this dynamic as the healthiest version of opposites attract on this list. Now, they're both stubborn bastards, however - where I think Alhaitham and Kaveh lose all braincells upon being in the same room, I think Tighnari and Alhaitham maintain their intelligence.

I like the idea that post archon quest they shared an infirmary room in the Birmastan (Alhaitham via head trauma, Tighnari for his untreated lightning strike lol). They both quickly get fed up with their friends' overprotectiveness and kick the likes of Cyno and Kaveh out. They are both Akademiya graduates who've kind of denounced the Akademiya, Tighnari by quitting to become a forest ranger and Alhaitham by phoning in his entire career :')).

So they get to talking since they only really knew each other through Kaveh previously, and then they vibe doing their own thing when they get bored of conversation. I think they'd understand each other pretty well, and Alhaitham would brush off Tighnari's nagging and Tighnari find Alhaitham's abrasiveness endearing, since he's not an idiot.

Rating: 7/10

However, the context I most like them in is -

6) Kaveh/Alhaitham/Cyno/Tighari

I am an 4ggravate girlie. I love a good poly ship and these guys work very well.

Basically just a combination of everything I've already said:

Alhaitham & Kaveh and Cyno & Tighnari are both in situationships. These are open relationships.

Alhaitham and Cyno (who didn't previously know each other well) start seeing one another in a new light when they're stuck in the desert together for a month fighting against the sages. Feelings ensue.

After the drama, Kaveh realises he wants to make the situation with Alhaitham more concrete because he was worried. He also hangs out with Cyno a lot after Alhaitham and Tighnari kick them out of the infirmary.

So many high stakes and the close companionship makes it so they're all sort of on board with trying a poly sitch. Tighnari seems the type to bring it up first, to Cyno and then to Alhaitham and Kaveh.

Cyno likes the idea but worries a bit that Kaveh and Alhaitham's dynamic would get in the way of an actually healthy relationship.

Alhaitham is a bit iffy cos like - free time, introversion etc, but he does think it would be a good idea to test it out.

Kaveh is pretty totally on board cos all his friends are super hot, though he says "I should have tried using a foursome to force Alhaitham out of his shell ages ago" which actually delays the process quite a lot :'))

Rating: 10/10, Alhaitham gets three boyfriends I cannot see any issues

[bluedalahorse]

Hi ! 😊

What do you thing a romcom between Sara and August would look like ? What trope do you think fit them the most ?

Hi Margot!

So. Startling confessions ahead…

I’m not sure if I’m an expert in romcoms and romcom tropes? Like, genuinely not sure. I’m more of a romantic drama (RomDram?) person than a romantic comedy person, in terms of what I purposely seek out, but I do read/watch a lot of things that are romcom adjacent and I have some romcoms I like quite a bit. Plus I read a lot more romance novels now than I ever did ten years ago.

That said, I’m going to try to answer your question. And I will mention some love stories I like along the way!

I actually have two scenarios for you. The first is more a sargust scenario that I could see happening after the future of canon. The second is a canon divergent sargust scenario that could happen in an alternate universe. And then I might mention a bonus scenario or two, just for funsies.

Scenario A: Canon Compliant-ish Future Sargust

My vote for sargust-in-the-future is a second chance romance road trip romcom. Now that Sara can drive, why not use that as part of the story?

My thought here is that Sara and August have to drive across Europe together for whatever reason. Maybe one of the Icelandic volcanoes has a big eruption, and the ash in the air is disrupting flights all over European airspace, and August and Sara both happen to be… somewhere. Let’s say the south of France. They’re not there together, but they both happen to be there when the volcano erupts. And maybe trains are a difficult option because of rail strikes or they’re overbooked. Sara and August have to drive from France to Germany to Denmark to Sweden so they can get to Simon and Wilhelm’s wedding on time.

The nice thing about a road trip romance is that the characters on the trip have a lot of time together to talk through things and get to know one another. (Or in Sara and August’s case, get to know the adults that they’ve both become, and how they’ve matured and how they’ve stayed the same.) Trips also bring unexpected challenges, so that could give them a chance to work together on tasks and bond over their successes. Especially if August has just left the monarchy and there’s public buzz about that, they might have to ditch paparazzi. And maybe at some point their car breaks down and they have to ride horses for the last part of the journey? There will absolutely be horses.

Given that road trips involve stops for the night, you could theoretically also bring in Only One Bed as a trope. I’m not as much of a fan of that trope myself (I love it when characters choose Only One Bed instead of having it thrust upon them) but someone who’s interested in it could write it.

In terms of mood and structure, I’d actually love to see this story be similar to Jab We Met, one of my favorite Bollywood films. One of the things I like about Jab We Met is that it starts its characters as archetypes but deepens them gradually over the course of the film, and it also balances out how much they’re able to help one another grow. Geet and Aditya are very different from Sara and August, so some of the dynamic would be different, but I still like the idea of them traveling together. (Although, part of Aditiya’s plot is about him reconciling with his mother, which is also something I want for August, so there’s that.)

Scenario B: Canon Divergent Alternate Universe (and it’s softer, and a little silly!)

What’s the trope where you’re helping someone win over a potential partner? That’s like a variation on the Cyrano story, right? I’ve never really read the original Cyrano, but I did read She Gets The Girl by Rachel Lippincott and Alyson Derrick, and that was cute, so.

Anyway. For some reason Scenario B takes place in an alternate universe where Sara goes to Hillerska but Simon chose not to join her and is at Marieberg. Sara wants to make friends and fit in and live in the dorms, so she’s looking for opportunities to do that. (This ends up being a much softer universe than actual YR, but romcoms are supposed to be softer, right?)

Yeah, anyway. Status quo at the beginning of the movie/miniseries: Sara wants to fit in and live in the dorms. August wants to date Felice. Felice wants to not have to deal with her temperamental horse Rousseau, and instead secretly practice her cooking and baking skills without anyone at school (or her parents) finding out.

Felice finds out that Sara is a non-res, and talks Sara into inviting her over to use her household kitchen. In return, Felice will let Sara into her friend group. But over time they become real friends. (Maybe Wille becomes Felice’s sous-chef eventually, and that’s how Wille and Simon become the beta pairing in this story.)

Meanwhile… Sara learns that August can talk the board into letting her into the dorms, somehow. And everyone knows he wants to date Felice. And Felice is like “ugh, my horse is so temperamental, I’d totally adore someone if they’d just deal with my horse for me.” So Sara goes to August and is like I WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO TAME ROUSSEAU SO YOU CAN WIN OVER FELICE AND IN RETURN YOU MUST GET ME A DORM ROOM. And August is like, OKAY GIRL-SOCIALIST YOU HAVE A DEAL, because like I said, this is a far softer universe than canon and no one films anyone at any windows!

So anyway, Sara and August start sneaking into the stable so Sara can teach August how to tame Rousseau. And August is the jerk rich boy of course, but soon softens up because he’s learning to take care of a horse, and he and Sara are opening up about their family situations and such, and oh no! They are catching feelings! But neither of them thinks the other one likes them back! Even if at one point Sara misses the last bus home from Hillerska and August is like don’t worry I’ll escort you and they ride horses back to Sara’s house. (And Linda is very much like. What. Is happening.) And Sara’s like SIGH WELL I BETTER HELP AUGUST WIN OVER FELICE WITH THESE HORSE SKILLS HE’S ACQUIRING. THE VALENTINE’S BALL IS APPROACHING AND HE’LL WANT TO GO WITH HER.

There are, of course, Misunderstandings, because this is a romcom and that is how they work, but by the end all is resolved and Sara and August go to the dance together in their 18th century costumes. Wille and Simon are also together and Felice ends up with either Rosh or Ayub. I haven’t decided.

Bonus Scenario C: I’m not even sure how this one works

I have no energy left for scenarios but I bet sargust could pull off a reasonably excellent Academic Rivals To Lovers story. And someone should write that while also drawing inspiration from Rachel Lynn Solomon’s Today Tonight Tomorrow because it is absolutely one of my favorite books to ever exist.

Honestly, even if all people get from this post is that they should watch Jab We Met and read Today Tonight Tomorrow, I’ll be a happy dalahorse.

[captain-hawks]

i'm sitting at the airport terminal in the middle of the night and something wild just happened to me and my first thought was "is this miya twin coded?" so i popped over here because 1. you're one of my absolute favorites. 2. i was just re-reading your kita piece for all the glorious emotional smut. and 3. you also <3 the miyas. please excuse me as i process this.

in senior year high school i went to a weekend-long statewide competition and met these twins in the elevator. one of them definitely had more swagger, more teasing confidence (the kind that guys who are usually successful with ladies have) and the other one was a little quieter, seemed a bit more sincere even though he talked less. we hit it off in conversation and they asked me and my friend if we wanted to grab food with them. i wasn't entirely sure but i thought maybe they were flirting? i was pretty sheltered up until that point and didn't want to assume incorrectly. towards the end of the comp the quieter twin asked if he could come visit me in my city and i, confused, asked "why??" spoiler alert: i ended up dating him for ~2 years.

i found out early on in our relationship that after our "casual dinner" that night when they got back to their room, Swag twin wanted to try his luck and see if he could get with me, but Quiet twin said that he would FIGHT HIM because Quiet really liked me and genuinely wanted to ask me out and he said he wouldn't let his brother ruin that by trying to hook up. Swag was apparently used to usually getting his way, so he realized how serious Quiet was to threaten to beat his ass so i guess he backed off. I didn't find this out until after Quiet and i started seriously talking/dating.

I went out of state for college but we maintained the LDR until halfway through my sophomore year. classic breakup reasons: growing pains/long distance was taking its toll/i wanted to explore life. but we remained on good terms and consider each other friends! we rarely talk, but he still let me use his netflix login for the past 11 years. when he was moving into a corporate role a couple years ago i helped him with interview prep, and when i was looking for a new job he sent me reqs he thought were a good fit.

he's had at least a couple relationships in the near-decade since we broke up (we don't talk about dating but i had seen on social media at some point). i've dated and had a few situationships and am now in a 4 year relationship with my bf. however, he most definitely doesn't know this because we don't chat often, i'm rarely on socials these days and my bf is a very private person.

i'm so sorry for how long this has been. all of this context is to say...i am chilling in the airport on my way home and I GOT A CONFESSION FROM QUIET?? something about i'm the one that got away, he feels he'd won the lottery by meeting me and having me in his life, he referenced the fight he had with his brother all those years ago and said he'd fight the same fight TO THIS DAY. i am flummoxed. i think it is a sign from the great spaghetti monster in the sky that i need to log off tumblr because my very first thought was "what in the fanfiction trope is this?" does this shit actually happen irl? now i need to go deal with this.

anyways thank you for reading this if you got this far! idk if it's just because it's twins and their dynamic is vaguely similar to osamu and atsumu but i was like...have i been isekai'ed into a miya twin fanfic? the sleep deprivation may be catching up to me and i may be entirely unhinged idk

first of all, ily and i’m so flattered you thought of me and ran over here to share this story. i literally read this while brushing my teeth because i was running late for work this morning, but i was so invested i had to read the whole message before i left.

anyway, EXCUSE ME????? i actually can’t get over this. how does it feel to have lived in a real life miya twins fanfic? are you taking interviews at this time? HE SAID HE WOULD FIGHT!!!! HIM? THE ATSUMU/OSAMU DYNAMICS i cannot believe. somewhere an author is on their knees (it’s me, the author). AND NOW THE CONFESSION???? OVER A DECADE LATER? i almost choked on my toothpaste. (i feel like there’s also irony to be found in the inherently symbolic nature of getting that message in such a transitionary, liminal space like an airport in the middle of the night.)

nonnie, i hope you have safe travels home and can get some much-deserved rest after that absolute bombshell. if there ever happens to be a future update or footnote to this story………..you know where to find me.

[reachexceedinggrasp]

I go back and reread your posts occasionally because I really resonate with your posts about Epic Romance that I think transcends some of the tropes fandoms evolve around (e.g. enemies to lovers) which I don't always find myself connnecting with. I am just a bit curious about something:

What do you think of the pairing Solas/Lavellan from Dragon Age? (I searched your blog for it just in case you already spoke on the subject but sorry if I missed it).

I don't know if video games are your thing, or if a Player Character changes the dynamic you're into, but I was curious because it's a mythic romance of quite epic proportions. I know you've mentioned you sort of don't like a blog that is into adjacent ships to it (I think when you discussed Raistlin/Crysania) or maybe I'm just reading into that hahahah, so I understand if that influences if you do/don't. What I like about it beyond the character of Solas is that it's a tragedy with potential for hope ('Our love will endure'), and I think that's something your speed?

If you are not interested in the pairing (though I'd be interested to hear why, especially because Solas hits a few similar archetypal boxes and the reason why you don't like the pairing is as interesting to me as why you would!) and want another question to respond to instead:

2. Are there any new ships you've got into recently, or old you've revisited?

Hope you are doing well and doing the things you love!

Thank you for the ask! Yeah, same. EtL is only rarely written with the dynamic that I like, so most of the popular ships are not for me. I think I've disappointed a lot of fellow travellers by having zero interest in rivalry or frenemies style EtL ships.

I do play games, but I've only played like five minutes of one of the Dragon Age games. I've seen a lot of people talking about Solas and know he's the wank magnet tragic murder boy fav of the franchise, but I haven't gathered much of anything about the ship dynamic. I don't know enough about his arc/characterisation to say whether I'd be interested. But for sure, if there's an element of enduring hope, tragic romance can be my thing (so I read 5437540 fix-it fics).

I'm sorry I really don't have any thoughts to offer either way! :( If I get around to playing the game, I will post any ramblings I have about it!

I'm developing a fic for my long latent and repressed Cosmo/Kathy shipping urges, but that's like a radical departure for me on several levels lmao. Yes, I confess, sometimes I'll ship a couple of wholesome cinnamon rolls who have zero conflict because the banter is spicy and the vibes are adorable.

It's so funny how people are always trying to compare B&tB ships (like Reylo, E/C, etc. with grotesques or tragic heroes) to the Bad Boy/Ingenue/Nice Guy triangle and dismiss redemption romance fans as silly girls who haven't learned their lesson about being attracted to Bad Boys, because any example you can name of a triangle where the love interest is actually a Bad Boy, I ship her with the faithful friend (not a Nice Guy, but a legitimately nice guy). Like, I watched Pretty In Pink a couple years ago and man it was obvious she was not supposed to end up with Blane. I felt so vindicated when I read about the intended ending lol.

But anyway, I've been crying about whouffaldi again lately, re-reading some E/C fics, thinking of fleshing out/finishing some very self-indulgent E/C one-shots I made notes for, still wanting to write that Oh Hyun Jae/Soo Young fic that I accidentally wrote a kind of weird 'humour' prequel too D:, and as always trying to finish my Lokane fic finally. It has 2-3 more chapters, tops, and it's killing me I can't just get it done. It already has its main emotional climax, so I'm not leaving people hanging too bad, but maaaaannn!!! I swore a blood oath with myself I wouldn't start another novel-length fic until it is finished and this has lead to cascade of procrastination where I use it as an excuse not to do other things while also making zero progress with it. Agjkdfhdfd.

Also, I kinda want to add that extra chapter to my Bang-won/Hui Jae fic because I looooooove him and it's such a great pairing and I was pleasantly surprised how well that fic turned out, but it would be hard to justify and thus hard to find an 'ending' for it. It'd just be some 'stuff' pasted on lol.

[bluebunnysart]

Ok since this is where I post my fandom stuff now, I'm just gonna write it here. But I miss Sumikeke from LL Superstar so much lol

I just finished rereading one of my favorite fics ever about them and it's such a masterpiece. Still so amazing today. It contains so much yearning and feelings and depth that even though it's like at least 30k words long, it ends way too quickly and I'd happily read more and more.

It's not like I can't keep shipping Sumikeke now, but I was going through the tag again and another tumblr user put it really well: their dynamic and characterization was absolutely ruined in season 2, which is also why I felt really unpleasant watching it and had no idea how to react to the canon confession scene. It's nice that it happened at all, sure, but by that time, my love for the ship had already begun to fade (for reasons) and s2 seemed to just confirm my annoyances, frustrations, and fears.

I loved Sumikeke though. Don't get me wrong. I actually don't regret any of the time I spent on them at all, and I truly had so much fun indulging in this love of mine. They were great and brilliant, and I know people have different feelings about it (even going as far as calling it abusive :c ), but in my opinion, there was a method and an art to smkk that I tried to convey when I spent those times in college writing actual fanfiction for them lol.

First of all, and this is a big reason why I fell out of love with it, smkk is a bickering couple, but there's a line and nuance you need to have, otherwise it does turn abusive and boring and not romantic at all. When I first watched season 1, I was drawn in by how kind and gentle Sumire could be (big sister-like, taking care of Keke or giving her soft looks) and I latched onto that immediately. I dunno how fast it took to show up, but maybe by like episode 3, I was already eyeing them and wondering what kind of dynamic we'd have there.

As for Keke's antagonism towards Sumire, there was an obvious reason for that. Sumire was looking down on and using Liella to bolster herself, but to Keke, Liella and school idols were everything. It's a natural conflict that arises from people whose goals and opinions differ and who obviously clash over ideology and dreams. Keke would tease or snub Sumire, but it never crossed into actual bullying or anything, last I saw. Just the expected bickering between someone who actually might not like the other and Sumire, who knows she messed up and tries to make up for it, but it's fine if relationships aren't all sunshine and rainbows. Actually, I used to really love the tsundere trope and tsundere-like couples, so when I shipped smkk, I liked them in a more tsundere way. As the anime progressed, their relationship clearly improved and even had plot relevance and all that, and I was really impressed by all of it and fell in love and wanted to give back as a fan by making as much delicious smkk content as possible.

The method to the madness is Keke is childish, demanding, and even annoying maybe (I liked Keke tho lol), but Sumire loves her and since they're teenagers, they eventually grow out of such childish behavior/bickering but the fact remains that they love each other and it's really sweet and cute to see. Sumire was my fave Superstar chara (probably still is? idk), and I just looved her love for Keke and completely enjoyed coming up with story ideas that would showcase that. It's liking someone and having a crush on them even if they're kinda annoying but since you like them, you can look past that. It's that kind of love...!

But anyway. To be quite frank, the fandom ruined smkk for me, and I'm sad I let it happen. If smkk is like 50% arguing and 50% fluff (which is kinda a high percentage, I'll give you that), the fandom kicked it up a notch where it was like 90% arguing and 10% just deciding to make out after saying super cruel/dumb things to each other. I saw a lot of unpleasant things I really disliked (including straight-up immoral SA stuff) and I saw that my excitement from checking the tag eventually turned into aversion and eventually dislike/annoyance/irritation/frustration/anger.

Season 2 having them continue to bicker for bad reasons didn't help things and it felt like the anime was on the fandom's side in that regard. It's fine to give the fandom fanservice, obviously, but that's when I kind of lost interest for good and moved on.

But I truly had a fun time loving smkk, and it had so much potential and was so good. I really truly enjoyed it and that's why I miss it. I think with the release of SIF2 and seeing smkk in there, I was reminded a bit of my old fire (my old love), but in short, it's really unfortunate when fandom (or the show itself) ruins something for you.

I could say the same about my immense love of Shioriko and how I was really disappointed how they wrote and treated her (in the anime and side materials like Nijiyon too), but part of that's personal bias. The true Shioriko I like is probably SIFAS Shioriko and the other Shioriko's exist as their own entities, but since they're all supposed to be the same chara, it's hard to love her in the exact same way if you get what I mean, especially when I had such high hopes and expectations. It's ok though: such is life.

Anyway, I obviously like loving and affectionate ships a lot more than, like, bickering ships. Smkk was just special to me because when two girls act like that canonically, it's a lot easier to claim they're into each other or hiding feelings for each other. I also want to add that I liked the idea of Keke being embarrassed of her feelings for Sumire and that translating a bit into aggression-- obviously as Keke gets older or her feelings are reciprocated or her friends accept her for who she is, she gets less teenage-y about it.

That was a trip down memory lane though. I really care for LL, even though it breaks my heart sometimes. "Expectation leads to resentment", they say, so maybe I shouldn't expect anything at all?

I miss these girls and hope they get better writing. I'll still love yuri and shipping girls for as long as I live xD

[ponytailzuko]

apologies, i literally just saw this because i haven't been on tumblr at all. i'd probably change the entirety of season 5 to be honest. before that even. but definitely everything that happened in season 5. its 4 am so sorry if im being really mean to ml. i actually really love her guys im serious. miraculous ladybug is my pookie. anyways i suppose here are some of my grievances:

marinette's main civilian conflict that drives almost every episodic plotline is the fact she just absolutely sucks at confessing to adrien. shes just truly dogshit at it. so one would think that if the first season set this up as her main Problem, she might change on this subject by the end. perhaps she would either learn to move on, or she would learn how to confess. no, the show makes adrienette the side that is canon and also marinette isn't the one to confess! adrien is the one who does it. at least adrien has some development here where he reevaluates his feelings in some way, but adrien confessing is absolutely nothing new for his character. i have been watching adrien confessing his love for ladybug for seasons. it isn't a conflict for him.

chat noir not being at the main fight with hawkmoth is actually crazy. im sorry. i don't care the justifications everyone has. "it has more seasons." it is just genuinely unsatisfying to set up a magic system with yin yang powers built around the romance/partnership where the whole point is that they're equals, and then allow one of them to wield both of them?! when the whole point is that hawkmoth is WRONG for wanting both of them, to want to use the wish at all. wielding both of them at once, quite frankly, should have serious consequences. they just shot every theme they ever set up in the foot. ignoring the fact chat noir is also hawkmoths son, it just doesn't make sense for him to not be there.

honestly they just wasted every potential fun dynamic they ever could have milked out of gabriel and adrien by killing gabriel before adrien OR gabriel learned anything about each other. there were so many avenues for interesting storytelling, but they decided to go with two au episodes to say "if gabriel learns adrien is chat noir, adrien is akumatized and the world ends." why do an au! why not ACTUALLY akumatize adrien in the main timeline, and make him possible to defeat? the world did not have to end, that was a writing CHOICE. how fascinating would it be for ladybug to assemble a superhero team because her partner was akumatized? or chat blanc to be a multi-episode or even a season antagonist. or use the sentimonster aspect in an interesting way. or vice versa, have adrien learn gabriel is hawkmoth and be genuinely conflicted about what to do. literally ANYTHING other than both of them never learning anything until gabriel kicks the bucket. every drop of that conflict was wasted. big L.

this is a nitpick but the entire point of the love square is that it is a subversion of the love triangle so why did they introduce two love triangles and then not even commit. why did they break up lukanette and adrigami in one episode. they ruined the subversion of the trope for shit that didn't even last. sorry that is so small but it makes me so mad for no reason.

uhhh develop the class in some way or cut them. i cannot take ladybug's entire squad its just too many of them and they're all archetype and one-note. and their superpowers are eh. spending a bunch of episodes giving the class jewelry was not fun for me. sorry.

Tell me, is there anything about Miraculous Ladybug that you wish had gone differently?

everything

[wonipeun]

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༉‧₊˚ enhypen as romantic tropes !

pairing: non-idol!enhypen x gn!reader | genre: fluff, bit of angst warnings: mention of break up (? (please lmk is there's more !!!)

a/n: i'm back 😃 omg- i'm so sorry for this ETERNAL wait, i know it's been a while, i hope you can forgive me. thank you so much for all the support i get daily!!! i will try to update more often from now on :)))

ps: not very proud of this post,,, anyways- still hope you like it!

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이희승 · lee heeseung ‧₊˚

boy next door. you could hardly believe it when your annoying neighbors decided to finally move out, but it was a thousand times more shocking to see that the person who would be living next to you from now on would be that tall black-haired handsome boy with shy bright eyes.

no, he didn't knock on your door to introduce himself. and no, he didn't leave the house much so you could hardly see him (much to your disappointment), but somehow the constant meetings in the elevator and many attempts on your part to strike up a conversation got heeseung starting to having a crush on that cute person living next to him.

it was fun to hear his screams of frustration on the other side of the wall when he lost at games, yet you would always prefer the nights he rang your doorbell with any silly plans to hang out together. who knows… he may one day get up the courage and ask you out, but please be patient, he is doing the best he can!!!!

"have you ever been to that italian restaurant near here? you haven't? that's a shame, it's really good! we could go for lunch together someday if you want… and you know, get to know each other better."

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박종성 · park jongseong ೀ

박종성 · park jongseong ೀ

one-sided love is finally reciprocated. your friend jay has been in love with you since you were little, so you grew up with his constant confessions of his everlasting love for you and his thousand and one attempts to get you to go out with him. you always thought it was the dynamic of your friendship and that jay really got over his crush on you a long time ago, just wanting to continue the joke.

but the truth is that jay never stopped loving you for a single second. he grew up next to you, and along with his height, his feelings for you grew as he saw you become the most precious person in his eyes. he had confessed so many times and in so many different ways that he didn't know how to make you understand that the only thing he wanted was to be with you for the rest of his life.

and you were… confused. you didn't know at what point it happened, but your heart started to race when he was around. that's why one day you simply decided to… reciprocate one of his confessions. the last one, specifically. from now on, he could confess his love by calling himself your boyfriend.

"wait… are you serious? are you agreeing to date me? don't lie to me, i won't let you change your mind later!"

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심재윤 · sim jaeyun ˖ ࣪ ⭑

brother's best friend. jake had been your hallway crush from the moment you laid eyes on him. his brown hair and adorable smile made you fall for him instantly, however him being one year older than you made it much harder to see him.

that's why the surprise was enormous when you saw him enter your house for the first time accompanied by your brother, and let me tell you that he thought exactly the same thing about you.

jake liked you, a lot. and as much as he wanted to respect his best friend, he knew it wouldn't be possible having you around much closer than usual. he'll probably go to "drink water" at the same times as you and "casually" start a conversation in the kitchen. he will try his best to hide how nervous he is and even flirt with you when he feels it's opportune (respectfully, of course). little by little jake will be coming to your house more and more often, and we both know that the reason has nothing to do with your brother.

"from one to ten, how likely is it that your brother will kill me if i kiss you right now? (...) it's okay, i can take it."

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박성훈 · park sunghoon ⊹ ࣪

athletic rivals to lovers. in ice figure skating, only one can be the best. only one can represent the country as "the nation's best ice skater" at the olympics. and for several years, park sunghoon had been the only opponent who had made you doubt your abilities to become that.

he always managed to get on your nerves with his perfect way of doing every single move with that stupid pretty face of his. the feeling was mutual, of course. sunghoon also saw you as his rival from the moment he saw you on the ice ring, unable to help but judge your posture and facial expressions. who would have thought that you two would end up being paired for a duo?

you hated skating next to the perfect park sunghoon, especially since you couldn't help but stare at each and every one of his features closely the moment you were near him. why did he have to be so good-looking? he also hated skating with you, because even though his mind lingered on the feeling of hatred, his heart couldn't help but race when your bodies came closer, intertwining your fingers.

it was all about practicing a performance, but why didn't either of you wanted it to end?

"you've done it wrong again, how can you be so bad? here, take my hands. i'll show you how it's done".

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김선우 · kim sunoo ౨ৎㅤ۫ ㅤ֪

first love. there is no love purer than the first. you and sunoo fell in love at the same time, but it was him who took the first step and decided to confess his love with a beautiful handwritten letter. of course you reciprocated his feelings.

your relationship was the desired relationship of many, especially because you were both perfect for each other. you complemented each other perfectly and everyone envied it with jealous glances, although you were so immersed in your own bubble that you hardly noticed what was going on around you.

sunoo loved you, loves you and will love you as long as time will allow. he wanted that feeling in his chest when you were together to last forever. because he was your first love, and he certainly wanted to be your last.

"stay with me, forever. i promise i'll make it worth it"

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양정원 · yang jungwon ׅ ࣪ ✧

love triangle. jungwon had fallen in love for the first time, and unfortunately it had not turned out as well as he thought it would. especially because of the fact that in your love story of two, there was a third person interfering. and worst of all, it was his best friend.

his friend spent weeks and weeks telling him about you, how nice you were and how much he liked you. he kept insisting for several days to jungwon to help him get your number, and in the end he finally agreed. jungwon went over to ask for your number, and even though he succeeded it, he couldn't help but lie to his friend and say that you rejected him, falling in love instantly and wanting to keep your number all for himself.

he felt terrible for texting you behind his best friend's back, but the rapid beating of his heart when you texted him back made him forget all his worries. maybe he was a bad friend, but he didn't care much if that meant he could be the best boyfriend for you.

"i may have taken longer to realize what i feel for you, but i know i'll treat you better than him. choose me, y/n."

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にしむら りき · nishimura riki ♡   ֺ  ׅ

second chance. you and riki, despite being young, had dated for a while a little over a year ago. it was no surprise to anyone that it didn't work out, especially because of the immaturity of both of you and your lack of experience in love.

the relationship ended after a few months and sadly you never spoke again. it was a relationship of immature teenagers, but it was still sad to see the genuine love you had for each other slowly fading with each passing fight. you and riki loved each other, of course, but you didn't love each other in the right way.

you both ended up hurting a lot more than you expected, the days getting harder and harder. you learned to deal with the pain, but ni-ki didn't. he showed up back in your life a year after the breakup, promising to take proper care of you, to love you and talk things over like adults. he couldn't be without you, and losing you helped him realize that he was a big part of the reason for the breakup. he forced himself to change. for both of you.

"please, fall in love with one more time. this time we'll do it right."

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taglist! (open): @love-4-keum @zeesondiary @tyunni @lovr4lix

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[sneezemonster15]

Hi! What do you think about this?

Is it true? Or ss shippers spread lies as always?

Hi.

It is legit. And he isn't wrong. However, Sakura is not really the heroine in this story, Sasuke is. One of the anime's directors also said this btw, lol. It's very hard to not see it. But Kishi obviously cannot say that in his interviews. He can't openly talk about the gay love story that he wrote in shounen. Sakura is a girl in the same age bracket and in the same team and she is used as a plot device to develop Sasuke and Naruto's dynamic. So she is given the epithet of heroine when the truth is that Sasuke gets all the tropes and visual imagery that a heroine gets in a love story. Naruto and Shippuden are love stories. And that's just a fact.

Kishimoto also said that he wrote team seven as a love triangle. SS think that Sakura is the centre of this love triangle when the very evident truth is that it's actually Sasuke. Lol. But they just conveniently skip anything that does not act in their favor, they are cute like that. They twist everything in the manga to suit their insane theories and when that doesn't work, they use novels.

Anyway, the excerpt of the interview you shared doesn't really speak in favor of SS. All Kishi is saying is that he felt embarrassed writing that scene. Honestly, Sakura WAS very cringe in that scene. She is obviously a fangirl, always was. She rebukes Sasuke because he doesn't share a single word with her, doesn't tell her anything. I find it very funny when people hype up team seven dynamic when one of the members doesn't even willingly talk with the other but is always ears for the third one ie Naruto. I don't know what makes SS feel so proud because the truth is Sasuke doesn't show a willingness to talk to Sakura at all. It's Always Sakura who tries to get his attention or get in close physical proximity with him.

Regardless, at first Sakura does seem like she is handling it maturely, without trying to manipulate him.

She is right when she says revenge in itself won't bring Sasuke happiness. Sasuke also understands this, and it thaws him a little towards Sakura. Which is why he relents and explains in more words than he has ever said to her, that his goals are central to his existence and he must do everything to make them materialize.

Kishimoto deliberately makes it cringe after this though. Sakura keeps talking about Sasuke as if they were a couple. Sakura says - "Revenge won't bring anyone happiness, neither you Sasuke, nor me."

Lol. How exactly does she figure what she feels is important to Sasuke when he doesn't even talk with her? Lol. Why and where does she think she fits in this whole equation? Sasuke is right, him wanting to avenge his clan has nothing to do with Sakura. Or Naruto. Or Kakashi. So why does she think it would matter to Sasuke how she feels about it? And so he tries to explain it to her because he is a kind boy and doesn't deliberately want to hurt her feelings for no reason.

But she really makes it worse after this, by making it all about herself.

She compares her loneliness, she who has parents, friends, and teachers to care for her, with Sasuke's loneliness. Who has no family. And none of the people in Konoha understand what he has been through, no one was there to care for him when he went through hell, all alone as an eight year old. Being with Naruto starts to heal him, like Oro notices very keenly, but then Itachi's visit happens and everything is unraveled.

She compares her apples with his oranges. Seriously, she has no sense of proportion, does she? What an insensitive thing to say to an orphan. And then, when Sasuke is not affected at all, she confesses to him. So. Much. Cringe. First time I saw this scene, I was like, haven't you embarrassed yourself enough? I was just trying to reconcile to the fact that you mocked Naruto for his orphan status, and then you say this to Sasuke?

I am sure everyone here knows people like her who make everything about themselves. It's quite exhausting to talk to them. But Sakura reminds me of this character, hardship one upper. Lol.

Kishi is such a sensitive writer when it comes to writing emotions, he writes the emotional scenes, especially with Sasuke, with such nuance and delicacy. And then here's Sakura, just crowding up the station with her freight train like confession that morphs from caring about Sasuke's feelings to caring about her own.

It started with - Sasuke you won't be happy even if you got revenge.

To - I won't be either.

To - I won't be happy if you left because I would be as lonely as YOU if you did. (And no, it's not the same as when Naruto tries to stop him from leaving, because for one thing, their love is mutual.)

To - Because I love you. So stay in the village for MY sake.

To - Or take ME with you.

Which is really sad. Because the reason why Sasuke mocked Sakura and called her annoying in chapter three in the first place was because she compared her predicament with Naruto's. She really has no sense of proportion, does she? What does she even know how it feels to be in Naruto's or Sasuke's shoes?

Which is exactly why Sasuke mocks her back. Which she remembers and even reminds Sasuke about it.

This is so ironic. It's her core memory about Sasuke and yet she really learnt nothing from it. Nothing. Sasuke schools her about the difference between her predicament and Naruto's back then.

And he schools her even in this scene.

Sasuke realizes that Sakura has not changed at all. She does the same thing here that she does in chapter three. She fails at understanding both Naruto's and Sasuke's feelings. And makes it about herself both times. Well, she is consistently portrayed as a self absorbed, narcissistic and entitled girl, who must acquire whatever she wants, even Sasuke, who doesn't want her back. Because blimp sized ego. She was trying to manipulate Sasuke so he would stay, for Her sake. She constantly overestimates her importance to both Naruto and Sasuke and fails every single time. Lol. Like when she fake confessed to Naruto thinking Naruto would jump at the chance to get it on with her and quit Sasuke and then she gets rejected lol after which Naruto confesses to Sasuke on the bridge and pledges to die with him. She again attempts to confess to Sasuke at the end of war arc and she again makes it all about herself. Because Sasuke's wish to get justice and reform the world is equal to her wish to have him stay with her because she can't help loving him. Lol. She is such an embarrassment man.

Finally Sasuke has had enough, this was a very satisfying panel btw. Idc if people take offense. But it's not a coincidence that every single time Sasuke gets triggered and calls Sakura annoying, it's always in response to her saying something very selfish, insensitive and disproportionate.

SS can give however many ridiculous (non) reasons, painfully twisted beyond recognition, but lol, they are just trying to cope.

Sasuke is a very perceptive person, deeply attuned to how different people think. He knows Sakura's true nature. He knows how shallow and self centred she is and that her treatment of people is full of artifice. That is why Naruto stands apart and one of the major reasons Sasuke likes Naruto is because there's no artifice in him. What you see is what you get, warts and all, his closetedness is also a part of his personality. Naruto is honest, raw, unrefined and gritty. He doesn't mix words, he is not really very skillful with them. And he doesn't care. Because what matters to him is his emotions, he wears his heart on his sleeve proudly, and Sasuke is in awe of his emotional generosity, just as Naruto is in awe of his intensity and resolve.

Coming back to the interview, Kishi is talking about how fans could perceive it (and SS have) as if they were lovers because Sakura gets so weepy and mawkish, announcing her confession in such a cloying manner. And this scene uses the common trope of the aspirational male character leaving the village to accomplish something and the heroine trying to stop him from leaving, punctuated by heavy emotional beats. But that's just the surface level reading of this scene isn't it? Kishi loves his parallels and his foreshadowing. He is very careful about the way he develops his characters and he won't write them to deviate from their characterization without a reason. Sakura has given Sasuke no reason to actually like her, in fact, she only underscores her inherently shallow and self absorbed personality with everything she says, which has undergone no change whatsoever till date.

Kishi painstakingly keeps her character consistently unchanged even in Boruto. She is the same manipulative, emotionally violent, self centred and egotistical person in Boruto, Gaiden at least, who treats her own daughter so badly when she asks Sakura uncomfortable questions about Sasuke.

Anyway, concluding this winding answer, this scene is quite cringey and Kishi is right in saying that it was embarrassing, because Sakura makes it so. Every. Single. Time.

It's so funny to me that fans simply ignore the fact that the emotional core of this story is based on the concept of truly understanding each other and empathizing. Sasuke doesn't give up till the end and only relents after Naruto lets him know of his feelings that finally resonates with Sasuke. Which finally makes him realize that he is not alone, and it makes him cross over to Naruto's side. Naruto makes a fine profession out of it for heaven's sake, his talk no jutsu being the tool of his trade.

Sakura never understood Sasuke. She never even attempted, she always kept on about her own needs regardless of how Sasuke felt about her or even generally. No one understood him, not Sakura, not Itachi, not Kakashi, no one. Until Naruto. That's why the story ended with their reconciliation. And not the war arc. Because the story is about them.

[cloudmancy]

you guys sent in SO MANY asks and I physically cannot respond to all of them so I’ll post (most) of them at once. I am like a little messaging service an anonymous ruehob confessions blog of a sort... you are welcome... discussion goes in the reblogs/comments

[ID: anon ask reading “ruehob isnt really a like concept of acutal partners to me its just an exploration of regency tropes and dynamics... like i dont understand making like fluff post-canon stuff for them because it feels like the relationship is intentionally pretty shallow because its more about the narrative tension than either of them as Real People in a Real Relationship. theyre here to check the boxes of a dramatic regency romance and that is very fun like i love it but its also not really ABOUT if theyre gonna have a good life after the show”]

[ID: anon ask reading “personally i like ruehob but its true its literally because people hate women and wuvvy deserves so so so much better... i was kinda sad that aabria didn't address wuvvy's side in the AP and just made it out to be like a "ooh fun and drama" thing but maybe it's bc she didn't want to dive deep into it yet and i REALLY hope wuvvy will like. get to make a statement to rue or smth because she deserves FAR better at this point. i know the wuvvy neglect from rue's side might be because the player's have way too many interactions to go through but LORD!!!!!!! its not even supporting womens wrongs at this point bc like wuvvy DESERVES to do at least that much if she's been treated like this :| anyway people will stay hating women and prioritising ~ romance ~ over all else its maddening to see”]

[ID: anon ask reading “could be my years of reading fanfiction but the miscommunication trope are the reason that ruehob are acting like middle schoolers with a crush who they have only talked to twice and saying "they love them" is why they feel like an unfulfilling ship”]

[ID: anon ask reading “not to join the crowd but thank you for putting words to my inarticulate dissatisfaction w ruehob 😭😭 it felt very sudden and maneuvered into place and narratively dissatisfying, like they were trying to hit tropes rather than craft a satisfying romance into the story. there was no buildup!! there was one scene that led to contrived drama for several episodes and now they love each other. it could have been a really fun narrative about an infatuation between two powerful fey and the hearts they trample on in the process, but it's not being framed like that (or, y'know, they could've given their characters a history together). you're right about wuvvy/binx though, i'm a simple lesbian ready to get deeply invested in this”]

[ID: anon ask reading “i gotta thank you homie, after scrolling through your blog it's helped me put my finger on why i'm not as about ruehobb as everyone else seems to be and also that wuvvy can destroy folks, as a treat tbh”]

[ID: anon ask reading “insane take maybe but the ruehob of it all isn't about the long-term relationship- it's about the experience of one person making you reconsider everything. rue and hob do fall fast and hard and their relationship is a catalyst for self-growth more than it is sustainable, which I kind of like tbh and find relevant to at least my queer experience. we don't know what hob (and rue to an extent) would actually be Like because he doesn't know that, because he's never given himself the chance. wuvvy is stable and confident in her identity in a way that rue and hob aren't, and so their dumpster fire mess of longing and repression looks insane and unappealing to her, but I do think it's compelling to watch from our perspective. the issue comes in when every fan acts like they are soulmates who are going to be together 4ever and it's like. we don't know! these people haven't been themselves ever, really, we don't know! I think in AP7 brennan said that he intentionally put a seed of growth in hob that he needed to confront his relationship with his court and duty, etc, and rue just happened to slot perfectly in. it's not about it being rue specifically, it's about the self-discovery of realizing you can be loved, that there is something deeper than orders, as he says. same goes for rue: it's not about the specifics of hob, it's about wanting something and Not putting cordiality and safety and appearances first”]

[ID: anon ask reading “remember when hob was like rue doesn’t actually love me i was just there at a good time. i was sitting here thinking man…i WISH, that’d be way more interesting. anyway to each their own but ruewuvvy rights”]

[vanitasnocarteconfessions]

“Another anime!Misha arc confession because since the finale came out I've been having too many negative emotions about it. The erasure of Vanitas and Misha's entire dynamic in order to push in Vanitas' choice of choosing Noe to help him die is completely... awful. They made it sound like something out of logic rather than trust. The I DON'T NEED YOU line directed at Misha just tells me the animators don't like him. That line wasn't in the manga. That line was completely unnecessary. Vani loves his brother and he's horrible at showing it. But he would never say that. He would never say such a cruel thing after such a cruel reunion. Vani is not cruel! As much as he likes to pretend to be. He's all bark, no bite. He's too good. We've seen that time and time again. Yet this anime decided to yank that complex brotherly bond for no apparent reason. They've destroyed Misha's character into a crazy little brother trope. They didn't include how smart he was. They didn't include the smugness of him being able to block bullets. The hints that Vanitas knew it wouldn't work but did it anyway to prove how serious he was to not bring Luna back. There's so many layers between these brothers that to erase it and rush the anime was uncalled for. They erased so much of the blue moon dynamic. They erased how Noe was overwhelmed with Misha's heartache during the fight which meant that he was only so violent at first because of those emotions. Misha is a traumatized child and the anime decided to go LOL LETS SKIP THAT, show he's crazy and toss it aside! Erase the complex dynamic Jun made and make the choice Vanitas made seem more out of cold logic rather than the TRUST he has for Noe and the WISH for Misha to never go through what he went through. To never have to kill his own kin. To not suffer any more heartache like that. But hey, the anime is really pretty, am I right? Why focus on the complexities at all! I'm sorry this is so long but the fact they changed this arc so much is completely heartbreaking to me.“

[mangacat201]

𝐓𝐀𝐆 (𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄) 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

Got tagged by @hedgewyse whom I was very happy to get to know better via this tag game, thanks a lot! Sorry it took so long to respond, I needed to get on tumblr on the laptop where I can actually type up text and I had a lot of things going on this past week that kept me LOL.

Favourite colour: Blue.

No explanation, not particular reason why, it’s just always been blue. All shades from deep purple to almost white. But I have a special place in my heart for the word ‘turquoise’, which I feel is just so the most. 

Currently reading: Oh good gosh, my open doc reading list is so long, I will constrain myself to the most recent things...

“(Love is)The second oldest profession” The 9-1-1 Buck/Eddie pornstar!AU I knew I needed but kept for a special occasion

I’m also reading “Achtsam Morden” a national German bestseller and the first actual like physical book I’ve picked up in probably four years. It’s hilarious and murdery and perfect

I’m listening to “Blood & Paper” by Kevin Hearne (whom I recently got to meet at a book signing event when he was visiting here and a friend asked me to spontaneously tag along - best decision in ages) Love the audiobook version read by Luke Daniels, he’s a whizz with the accents.

“Hide the drums (there’s fire in the sky)” latest installment of the Magical Marriage Ribbons-Verse, the Untamed Mega Saga, for which the author starandrea has been posting a chapter every day since May 31st 2020, so 805 consecutive days as of now without missing ONE. It boggles the mind. (I’ve started reading when the verse was ... oh I think about three parts in, I haven’t missed one too since then)

Last song: “The Greatest Show on Earth” - Nightwish, it’s my soundtrack for my daily yoga practice (no I am in fact not joking), so it doesn’t really count last leisure listening was the soundtrack of ‘Robin Hood - Das Musical’

Last series: Ooofff... ok, so many balls in the air at the same time. I’m watching “The Sandman” of course, as you do and loving it. Also “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” which is THE MOST(tm). Recently finished my rewatch and catch-up of “Manifest” and rewatched a couple of episodes of The Devil Judge with a friend who just started and that I got into it, remembering why I can’t be normal about those boys (and how delightful it is to rewatch with someone experiencing sth for the first time). Of course went down the magnificent and batshit crazy rabbithole that is Kinnporsche. Also, “Tomorrow” which is definitely my fav K-Drama of 2022.

Last movie: Day Shift - Fun and a nice remix of vampire tropes that you don’t really see on top of each other a lot. But it felt more like a set up to a movie trilogy I don’t know if it’s made enough impact into getting, so the premise might have been served better as a mini series? ...The Gray Man, which was solid and enjoyable and absolutely bonkers with how hilarious it was to watch Chris Evans have a ton of fun playing straight up, no holds barred, unredeemable villian. Ryan Gosling can stay... Ana de Armas is queen bee.

Currently working on: My last day of vacation :sob: and of course my WIP/plot bunnie enclosure excel spreadsheet (yes, I do not do things by half until I halfass writing them). Anyway, actual words or plotty thinky thoughts were put into:

- The Devil Judge a/b/o PWP (that has, so far, about 5k of set up and no porn) with a Jung Sunah made them do it scenario and non-traditional dynamics (yeah, idek...)

- Vincenzo Inception fusion - Jang Han Seo wakes up from getting shot to a curious set up of sleeping people around him (really really wanna write this one but the premise is so vast I’m afraid of flaming out again)

- three separate 9-1-1 Buddie fics of varying size and scope that reaches from one’s in love the other isn’t and confessions make things complicated (or do they), the fall out from the truck bombing goes the other way for Buck & the “Eddie deals with his 5B-issues by discovering shibari”!AU (do NOT try this at home-therapy)

- The Untamed - Blades of Glory!AU

pheeeeew. hooookay, wow, that was interesting, hope your learned something about me. I’mma tag some people, but please, feel free to participate at your own leisure. @hattalove, @the-marathon-continues-nip , @iskarieot, @themostglorioushour, @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels , @fondofeveryprickle, @ahhhnorealnamesallowed, @sam-t-a, @b612sunsets

[shinidamachu]

If sunrise tried to emphasize the love triangle, they did a terrible job! 😂 Like you said, even with all the nuances, it was so clear to me at least that Inuyasha loved Kagome and felt incredible guilt over Kikyo. When I was watching the anime for the first time, my sister was like "oh yeah the love triangle is not really in the manga" and I'm like, "wait, there's a love triangle?" 😂 I just didn't get it. My love for the anime will never die though, that's just me.

This is the part where you all boo me because I confess that I'm not really against love triangles in general. I know it's overused, I know it can be frustrating and I understand if it's not for you. I, myself, have a couple of tropes I always try to avoid. But I never had a problem with love triangles.

It's the way they are portrayed and then solved that dictates if they did or did not work. And by "work" I don't mean "the couple I was rooting for became endgame." I mean "the love triangle was essential narratively and, as a result, who the characters ended up with made total sense with the story, developing and finishing their arcs in a way that feels organic rather than forced.”

In my opinion, the love triangle in Inuyasha felt flat because it wasn’t really necessary. It looked like its main purpose was to refrain Inuyasha and Kagome from being together romantically so they could milk the “will they, won’t they” suspense. And I get why. However, there were more substancial ways to do that.

We’re talking about an interracial pairing, from (literally) different worlds, in the middle of an universe saving journey. After a rocky start, they finally managed to become friends. Oh, and the girl is the reincarnation of the boy’s former lover. How aren’t these more than enough obstacles to keep them from pursuing a relationship?

Maybe Inuyasha wanted to protect Kagome from the consequences of dating a half demon. Maybe they didn’t want to start a relationship knowing their days were numbered, since they didn’t belong in each other’s era and would eventually have to part ways when the quest was over. Maybe the time wasn’t right because they had bigger priorities. Maybe they didn’t want to risk the friendship. Maybe they weren’t sure if Inuyasha was truly in love with Kagome or just projecting the feelings he once had for his deceased lover into her reincarnation. Maybe all of that. But each and every one of those reasons could have been explored without the love triangle. It wasn’t needed. 

Because ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ was essential to the story, but her ressurection wasn’t.

Now, if they were adamant about it even still, the least they could have done was to give ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ a fighting chance. If she had to come back, then Takahashi should have done it for real. No clay and graveyard soil body. Give me human, flesh and bones ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ. Give ɪɴᴜᴋɪᴋ an opportunity to truly try again, to sort out their issues, to actually be a “threat” to Inukag.

But with the way ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ was brought back, there were only two ways for ɪɴᴜᴋɪᴋ to happen. She either drags the main character back to hell with her like she first intended or they stay together even though she’s basically a walking doll and wasn’t supposed to be there. The audience knows neither one is really an viable option and therefore doesn’t expect it to happen, anyway. 

It was never a choice between Kagome and ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ. It was a choice between love and duty. Love and grief. Love and guilt. Guilt for not trusting ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ enough, for failing her. But also guilt for being happily in love with Kagome while ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ is all alone, feeling angry, miserable and betrayed. Kagome doesn’t understand that and jumps to conclusions. To her, it means Inuyasha still loves ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ. She feels hurt and we’re compelled to empathize with her pain, but her jealousy makes her biased.

Inuyasha and Kagome were always making progress, while Inuyasha and ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ froze in time. Even the major problems in the ɪɴᴜᴋɪ�� relationship were “fixed” in Inukag. ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ wrongfully put an arrow through Inuyasha’s chest? Kagome was the one to pull it out. ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ didn’t trust Inuyasha enough? Kagome trusted him blindly. ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ suggested to get rid of Inuyasha’s demonic side? Kagome told and showed Inuyasha she liked him just the way he was. Inuyasha put ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ on a pedestal? With Kagome, he never had trouble acknowledging her flaws and loving her all the more for it.

I’m not saying Inukag is perfect. I’m saying they had their own issues because they had their own dynamic because Kagome is not ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ. The difference is that they worked very hard to solve them, while we never really saw ɪɴᴜᴋɪᴋ doing the same even though they desperately needed to. So Inukag had great development and a fleshed out relationship while ɪɴᴜᴋɪᴋ kept running in circles.

How many times did Inuyasha run off to be with ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ? And how many times did those meetings actually brought meaningful changes to the so called triangle? It was always the same: Inuyasha goes to ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ, Kagome gets hurt because of it, nothing substancial happens between Inuyasha and ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ, Inuyasha goes back to Kagome. Repeat. It gets old real fast and when we know that drill by heart it becomes boring at best and annoying at worst.

It doesn’t matter how many times they make other characters say that Inuyasha and ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ are in love or that Inuyasha wanted to protect ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ forever, when the narrative itself shows us a different story. There was nothing stopping Inuyasha from going to ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ and staying by her side, but he deliberately always chooses to go back to Kagome because she’s the one he’s truly in love with.

And so, not only it wouldn’t have made sense for ɪɴᴜᴋɪᴋ to end up together with the way their relationship was portrayed, but is unfair to ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ’s character to be used as a source of angst for the endgame couple, dragged into a love triangle that brings nothing to the table when she had great potential to be way more than that.

What did Inuyasha get out of it? Letting go of his guilt and grief to get closure? What did Kagome get out of it? Realization that she was her own person and had her own place inside his heart? I don’t see how the love triangle was imperative for any of that to happen. 

What did ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ get out of it? 10 seconds of being an ordinary woman in Inuyasha’s arms right before dying again? That’s why they dragged her out of her resting place? It was a beautiful scene and I understand the symbolism but it just didn’t feel worth it after everything she went through.

The thing she wanted the most in the world was to live as an ordinary woman. And since they brought her back, they should have granted her that even if it wasn’t with Inuyasha, instead of killing her off the second she finally got it.

[ladyinbooks]

the dynamic between samiel/jay and hess/dan is always so feral but touching... your honor i love your boys so much. how does inspiration strike for character profiles or your stories? do you have plans for another project in the future?

LOVELY ANON! 🤗

Firstly I love your description of Hess/Dan, but honestly you've made me so happy this evening reading you love my boys! ❤️❤️❤️

Inspiration tends to strike in a whole host of different ways. I apologise, I'm about to get a little rambling here:

So, IB came about from a long, long time plotting. There was a period where things were not always happy, and for me it was just nice to escape and think about fun little scifi/fantasy things. Plotting became a way to do something good, even when things were down.

IB was originally meant to be very different indeed. It was a love story, but it was far more about Lenian mythology, and far less about politics.

Which is to say: it wasn't about Samiel and Jay at all.

It was about Hird and Venndred.

Samiel and Jay were meant to be side characters. Jay in particular, was meant to be a slightly morally grey character, and one of those 'not sure if he's trustworthy' types.

However, I honestly can't tell you exactly what happened. Just one day, I was sitting on the bus thinking about things, and Samiel very gently, and very politely, made it known that he was in love with Jason Lane.

And he had a back story.

And it was a big one.

And actually IB was about him, and Jason, and everything they would do for each other.

I... couldn't really argue with that.

I mean, in short when it came to IB, I have to blame the whole thing on the fact that two character, who were absolutely meant to be side characters, just came up and politely told me who they were, and what they were willing to do for one another.

And then I had to work out the rest. 🤣

For P2P, it was slightly different.

I have to hold my hands up and confess: it started off (as quite often my plotting does) as a spite fic.

When I say 'spite fic', I mean there will be a particular genre, or trope, or even just a book, where I'll get a kind of itch. There'll be a horrible voice at the back of my mind, wailing: 'No! This isn't how it should be! Why doesn't the author take a risk and do this?!'

P2P was my 'enemies to lovers' spite fic.

I say that, because honestly a lot of E2L is 'mild dislike to friends to lovers'. Or even 'enemies to friends to lovers'. I wanted to have a fic that really kind of went for 'actual enemies, who become lovers'. It doesn't negate the enemies part - it certainly doesn't negate the horrible things they still do to one another - but they are awfully, dreadfully, appallingly in love with one another anyway.

And then I got to wondering about what exactly the setting of this fic should be.

I won't bore you with the details, but I'd finished some work where the concept of the Antichrist was touched on, and I think at that point my brain just went 'Well, why not that? Why not have an Antichrist who is desperately in love with a human?'

So it kind of went from there.

I will add, although in terms of sheer plotting IB was far more work, there are a lot of little easter eggs (pardon the pun of the day) in P2P. Names, roles, settings and mythology were all great fun to sneak into that world. I mean, there's a reason Dan and Hess have those names. 😉

All of which, lovely Anon, is a very long way of me saying: sometimes the characters just appear and beat me over the head, and other times I think my brain just kind of collects shiny thoughts until a plot appears!

I do have plans for future projects! Next up is Rarely Pure (space dragons!), which is set in the IB universe. Then Going Down (criminal underworld in the IB universe!). After that, I've got a fantasy plot that's currently simmering at the back of my brain.

All of which should keep me writing for, er, the next couple of years! 😅