#overly analytical rantings

[justlarkin]

Honestly, there's so much going on with Perun that even pinpointing what his deal sounds exhausting. These are my incoherent thoughts.

Mind: With the way they explain that Perun's sacred artifact causes his own mind to be warped and lost during each use until he loses his former self, I definitely feel like there was more to Perun and Veles' history that he doesn't remember. Perun changed, most likely for the worst, from abusing his sacred artifact. I'm pretty sure Volkh did say that Perun wasn't always like this when he was defending his reasoning for staying by Perun, after all.

Loneliness: Volkh described Perun's life back in Kitezh as lonely since everyone else was intimidated by him and his position. Veles is the exception to this since he obviously has no issues with opposing and insulting Perun.

Veles: From what Perun can recall and from what we have seen, Perun has thought highly of Veles for a long time, if not always. Ignoring his usual arrogant speech quirks, Perun has only spoken positively of Veles. Even when the rest of the world was calling him a Devil, something Volos viewed as derogatory, Perun never did. It's always just "the poet" with him. Not just "the poet" though, he's Perun's "favored or beloved poet", who he admires deeply.

Volos: Perun randomly attacking Volos and them seemingly having a mutual hatred only for it to be dropped when they get to Tokyo and Volos attending the school owned by the guy he views as his brother's killer is very odd and I suspect mind shenanigans.

Dream: Then there's the dream where he, or whoever's memory it belongs to, sees Veles heading somewhere in the snow storm and tries asking him where he's going.

1. If it's not Perun's memory, then I couldn't possibly imagine it being anyone else but Volos' since he was the only other person known to be close to Veles. If Volos' memories are mixed within his own, it would explain Perun's feelings towards Veles, even if they were actually enemies, since Volos loved and respected his brother. Though I don't like the implications of Perun doing that to Volos.

2. If it was Perun's memory, what was he even doing? He seemed so annoyed when he demanded to know where Veles was going? Did he follow him out there into the snow storm or was he looking for him? It's only a snippet of a memory, but it was like he was trying to stop Veles from leaving. At least that's what I think right now.

Perun Didn't Kill Veles: Veles wasn't hunted down and murdered by Perun or anything like that. They had made an oath and Veles broke that oath. He already knew the consequences of doing so and did it anyway. Perun was not responsible for what happened. It was Veles' decision.

Furthermore, Veles is known for punishing those who break oaths and considering the power of Veles' words, the oath was most likely made with his own sacred artifact, meaning that Veles quite possibly actually killed himself.

Farewells: Perun doesn't seem comfortable with the idea of having to say goodbye to someone forever. It's why Veles' death disturbs him and it's why knowing that the one he views as that poet is still somewhere he can reach makes him happy. He doesn't do farewells.

Current Theory: Perun was very lonely since everyone was intimidated by him and avoided him due to his position, so he developed a habit of messing with everyone's minds to keep them around and even going as far as trapping them once they perish, so they can't leave him. Veles was the exception to this though as he was brave enough to stand up to Perun and this either began a friendship or just a one-sided one on Perun's end. Though, I don't only think it was that. Perun loves Veles' poetry and it's important to remember that Veles' words, his poetry, are his sacred artifact and it causes division and separation. Perun's mind is such a muddled mess after being mixed with so many other people and he acknowledges it as a bad thing. But maybe listening to Veles' poetry could undo what he did to himself and bring him a moment of clarity and peace. It's a nice thought to me.

This part is only a guess on what possibly could've caused Perun to attack Volos. I don't know if Perun is a jealous person, but he does seem rather attached to Veles and has a fixation on being No#1, so maybe he reacted poorly when Veles would leave him to spend time with Volos instead and he realized Volos was more important than him to Veles. I feel like that would explain why Perun was harassing Volos, but seemed to randomly drop it and gives motivation for Perun possibly using his sacred artifact on him. After all, Brother does outrank Friend on the familiarity meter and being Veles' brother is what Volos suspiciously never mentions. If Perun took that away from him, he and Volos would be even, at least in some bizarre logic. Veles obviously defended Volos from him Perun and their relationship became more antagonistic from there.

Veles probably recognized that Perun was not only hurting everyone else by refusing to accept separating from them, but also himself since he accumulates wear and tear on his own being every time he uses his millstone. So he tried singing about farewells and separation to hopefully breakthrough to Perun with his poetry, but it only angered Perun at that point. And as a last resort, Veles made that oath and violated it, knowing he would die, so he can prove his point to Perun and make him realize that he needed to accept letting go and saying goodbye. He also could've wanted to traumatize Perun by killing himself. That is a very Veles thing to do.

[bratbby333]

even if it hurts

fushiguro megumi x fem!reader ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ angst, kinda toxic, college au, 21+ warnings: language, alcohol consumption summary: unrequited love word count: 3.2k

“I just don’t understand what she sees in that guy,” Megumi thinks to himself. He watches you as you exit the library from his vantage point, seated by the window. You walk toward your boyfriend, who’s leaning up against his car. Megumi’s chest gets tighter the longer he watches you, wincing as your boyfriend pulls you in close, your lips connecting with his for way longer than Megumi can handle. 

“It should be me,” he sighs within, eventually turning away from the window, bringing his attention back to Yuuji and Kugisaki, the two of them oblivious to his mental anguish. But, of course they are, and so are you, his unchanging, neutral facial expression never giving away his true, tortured feelings. 

Then again, Megumi doesn’t know what you’d see in him, either. He knows everything about you; the good, the bad and the ugly, caring deeply for your well-being and happiness, but that doesn’t outweigh the negatives that come along with him. His lack of empathy, his overly analytical nature, his disdain for small talk, the permanent frown on his face. He hopes one day you take a chance after all these years and accept him in the same way he already accepts you; flawed, but so beautiful. 

“Aren’t they just so cute together,” Kugisaki gushes out, before looking to her friends for input. Yuuji smiles wide, nodding in agreement.

“They seem very happy together. I’m glad she’s finally found someone.” Yuuji adds, before looking back at his notes. Megumi glances outside again, observing that you’re now seated in the passenger seat. He stays quiet, which isn’t unusual for him. Neither of his friends bat an eye at his lack of commentary, chalking it up to Megumi being typical Megumi. He wishes he could rejoice on your behalf, to congratulate you on your new found romance without stifling a gag. Even if he could fake his way through it, his words would be coated in jealousy. Instead, he continues to retreat within. You’d see right through his bleak attempts to be supportive, anyway. So he packs his feelings up in a box, stowing them away on a forgotten shelf deep in the darkest corners of his mind.

Within his tormented psyche, Megumi is anything but his normal self. Looking down at his textbook again, he can’t comprehend a single thing in front of him. He stares longingly into the book, willing himself to read, but his mind can’t help but always find its way back to you. One of his best friends. Your cheery disposition contradicts his cold, closed-off demeanor. The way your perfume lingers on his shirt after a friendly hug, how your body feels pressing against his. The way your lips curl before you laugh, how you wrinkle your nose after someone tells a joke, or the soft smiles you always send his way. How your eyes gleam with excitement when you see him (well, not just him, but your friends, collectively). You’re everything he isn’t, and everything he wishes he was. You make his normally frigid skin run warm, feverish even.

He knows it will never be you and him. Like the sun and moon; coexisting, but never coming together, a constant, cruel cycle. You two meet briefly in the same sky, before you disappear under the horizon and his world goes dark. That part doesn’t hurt nearly as much as what the actual outcome is: You will always be in his life, just out of reach; so close yet so infuriatingly far. He will always be an outsider looking in; a friend. It’s a tortuous realization. But the moon cannot glow without the sun. So he wills himself to stay put. To watch you fall in and out of love, over and over again; listening to you rave or rant about your relationship, he inevitably being a voice of reason for you when you need advice, even if it burns his throat when his supportive words leave his mouth; and it will never be him. And he accepts that as the painful reality he’s condemned to live in. Purgatory. It would hurt much less if he wasn’t as close to you; if you were just a friend of a friend, or even strangers; an unknown face, a passing daydream. Someone easier to lose. 

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

You press your hands against the metal bar of the library doors, sighing as you push against them. The setting sun dances across your hair, the warmth kissing your skin. You smile softly at your boyfriend, who always insists on picking you up after class. He pulls you into him, his lips meeting yours. Pulling away, you smile up at him before taking a step back, allowing him to open up the passenger side door for you. You turn your head back toward the library before getting in, looking through the window at the table you were just sitting at with your three best friends. Your eyes linger on Megumi, whose attention is back on his textbook. 

“I wish he was you, Meg.” You think to yourself, looking at the ground before sitting in the passenger seat. You’re quiet on the drive back to your boyfriend's apartment, thoughts utterly consumed by Megumi. But you know it will never be him. You’re too talkative, too excitable. Too different from him. With the two of you being such close friends, by the time you realized how your heart ached for him, it was too late. You don’t want to ruin what you have. You can’t confess. That would make the dynamic shift towards awkwardness and tension, possibly even destroying the friendships you cherish so deeply. So you stay quiet. You date other people in hopes that someone can replace him. But your attempts are all in vain. No one can replace Megumi. He knows everything about you, appreciates you for everything you are and accepts you for everything you’re not. But you know the deeper connection that you desire will never be reciprocated. He does all these things for me because we’re best friends, you rationalize.

You reconcile with the silver lining of it all; enjoying the time you’re able to spend with him, relishing in the jokes between you two, cherishing the glances you steal when you know he's not paying attention. You ignore the gnawing deep within you, the hunger for more. You cling to the way his smooth voice delivers eloquently thought out sentences to your yearning ears, the way your heart leaps when his deep blue eyes gaze attentively into yours. At least you can hold on to the notion that he will always be in your life, at the very least, as a friend.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

You can’t settle for meaningless connections. You’ve decided that you’ll take Megumi however you can get him, the cards dealt to you leaning in favor of just being friends. And that’s okay. You’ll hold on to the hope that one day he’ll take the risk. Such a selfish desire, you acknowledge that. You refuse to fight these feelings any longer, the stark realization that it will never not be him coming to fruition on that fateful car ride, which is why you’re at your boyfriend’s house, sitting across from him, attempting to explain that it isn’t him, it’s you.

“I’m sorry,” you start. You can’t seem to find the right words that will soften the blow. Your mind is an endless sea of thoughts, a similar deep blue that you find in Megumi's eyes. Oh, his eyes. One thing at a time. 

“You did everything right, I promise. I just think we’re looking for different things.” You don’t have much more to say, tuning out your now ex boyfriend’s pleas and questions as you stand and walk towards the door, not uttering another word. Your movements shift to being calculated and emotionless; maybe you are more like Megumi than you thought. You take a deep breath once outside, pulling your phone out and dialing Kugisaki. 

“Hey, what’s up? Aren’t you supposed to be with your boyfriend?” she asks. She can hear the whizzing of cars in the background of the phone call. You walk along a busy freeway with no destination in mind. But your body knows where it wants to be; with Megumi. Your heart drives you with such conviction that you’re nearly running now.

“I was, yeah, I just broke up with him. Can we go out for drinks? Ask Yuu and Meg, too.” You reply. Nobara pauses, waiting for more information before realizing you weren’t interested in sharing. Your tone was emotionless and commandeering; very out of character for you. She decides not to pry. After a moment of silence, you hear the soft murmur of voices echo through the speaker of your phone, before she returns to the call, the plan being set to meet at a local bar just outside the campus at 6pm. 

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

The study session is interrupted by an incoming call to Nobara’s phone. Megumi’s heart soars at the sight of your name on the screen. Kugisaki smiles before answering, but her twinkling demeanor drops almost immediately. He hears her ask a couple questions, but he can’t comprehend what was said over the loud roar of blood rushing through his ears. He doesn’t understand how you elicit such unusual responses from him. These feelings are getting harder and harder for him to fight. He snaps back to reality when Kugisaki relays that you want to grab drinks tonight. He’d do anything and go anywhere for you, jumping on the chance to be around you. Keep your composure, they can’t know. Megumi stoically agrees to the plans, as does Yuuji. The call ends a moment later.

“I did not see that coming,” Kugisaki sighs, placing her phone back down on the table. Megumi looks to his friend, anxiously anticipating her debrief of the conversation she just had. The possibility that you were hurt made Megumi want to jump out of his skin, to console you in a deeper, more intimate way that friends probably shouldn’t do. Kugisaki’s vagueness of the whole situation was making his nerves run cold. 

“It’s not unusual for her to want to grab some drinks…did something happen?” Yuuji asks, concern painted across his normally cheerful face. Kugisaki just glances between the two boys, her brow furrowed. Megumi’s blood is ice in his veins when Nobara finally tells them. He tunes out his friends, his mind inundating with possibilities, sending a silent prayer to the heavens that you’ll soon take a chance on him. He kicks himself for thinking that way, guilt soon replacing his desperation. How dare he attempt to take advantage of your pain for his own pleasure. What kind of man has he become? 

You want nothing more than to run into Megumi’s arms, to hold his face in your hands. You can’t help but feel sinful for what you’ve done. But being with someone when you crave someone else’s touch goes against everything you believe. Inauthenticity. It’s causing you more harm than good. You can’t stand it anymore. 

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry it didn’t work out…just earlier today we were talking about how happy you two seemed together. Can’t help but think we jinxed it,” Yuuji apologizes as he crashes into you, his arms constricting you tightly. Such a sweet boy. He holds you there for a moment, rocking you back and forth, before breaking away, Kugisaki taking his place. 

“His loss, you’ll forget about him soon enough. Let’s get drunk. Maybe you’ll find someone new while we’re here!” Nobara smirks. Megumi can’t help but cringe at that suggestion, the thought of seeing you engaged with yet another man, a man that isn’t him, shoots a lead bullet through his chest. He reaches his boiling point. He can’t patch up his wounds anymore. 

Megumi approaches you last, placing a firm hand on your shoulder, patting gently and saying nothing. Pretty on brand for Megumi’s way of showing comfort, but there’s something different behind his eyes; a new, unknown feeling that you can sense while looking up at him. You fight every urge in your body telling you to ask about it, to pry deeper into his mind, knowing he wouldn’t tell you, anyway. You desperately want to lean into his touch, electricity shooting through your body. You smile gently at his unreadable expression before the four of you head inside. 

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

Seated at a table away from the bar, the four of you talk about the upcoming exams. You set plans for your next study session. Yuuji invites the group to a movie premier on Saturday night. Everyone reluctantly agrees, even though the premise of the film sounds dreadful. As the night goes on, the drinks keep coming, and you and your friends are properly buzzed, giggling and joking around. Everyone except Megumi, only offering the occasional smile and quiet chuckle. Everytime he laughs, your heart beats faster. Unbeknownst to the group, he’s clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, fighting every urge to spill his deepest, darkest secret. 

Your eyes trace lines along his face, taking in every curve and angle of his disposition. Something is bothering him. Your stare is burning holes into his side profile, and he shifts his weight in search of relief from your intensity. The sun and her rays. You’re snapped out of your trance as Yuuji stands from the table, pointing his finger in Nobara’s direction. 

“Nobara Kugisaki, I challenge you to a Skee-Ball tournament!” he shouts. The abruptness of his actions shocks the three of you. You glance at Kugisaki, who’s smirking at Yuuji. 

“You are so on.”

The two abandon the table, trash talking one another on their way to the machine, leaving you and Megumi alone. You feel elated at the time you get to spend one on one with him. He feels differently.

“It was for the best, he seemed like an ass anyway,” Megumi huffs out, avoiding your gaze as he takes another sip of his drink. His comment catches you off guard, but it leaps from his mouth before he can give it a second thought, as if he had been waiting the entire night to say that to you, only feeling confident enough to do so with the liquor in his system and the listening ears now on the opposite end of the bar. 

“Well, no, he was perfectly nice, Meg,” you retort, confusion painted across your face. This is so unlike Megumi, the man of few words.

“So why dump him if he was so nice? There must be a reason,” he challenges. Megumi has moved from denial, to bargaining, to anger in the span of a day. He can’t help but lash out. He’s bursting at the seams. Being near you is no longer enough, and his ego is his last line of defense before you fully break his heart without even meaning to. The constant torment he’s felt since meeting you has slowly been chipping away at him. All he knows is that he’s had enough. If you leave, if he pushes hard enough, he won’t hurt anymore. He will no longer have a constant reminder of what could be. He will finally reach acceptance. 

The hostility of his words bruise you, anger plastered across his face. Why is he upset with me? I did this for him, not that he’d ever know that. You brush off the sting from his comment. You’re just happy to hear him speak. You’d do anything to listen to him express whatever thought popped in his head, hanging on every word that leaves his lips, even if they send shards of glass into your heart. It aches so beautifully. You can’t muster up the courage to tell him that he’s the reason it didn’t work out. You’re exhausted from trying to force connections with other people in hopes that they could replace him, the constant back and forth leaving your life in ruins. You cut ties with perfectly good people because you know they will never be Megumi. So you cling to anything you can get from him, even if it destroys you.

“I…I don’t know, Meg. I think I’m searching for something else,” you reply quietly, your response insinuating much more than you intended. Your words float through the air so inaudibly that they are nearly drowned out by the music pouring out of the bar’s speakers. But Megumi hears you. He always does. His head snaps to face you, meeting your gaze. He feels his blood pressure spike. Is she referring to me? No…that can’t be what she means. She’s just feeling vulnerable right now. He maintains eye contact with you, looking past your eyes and searching deep within your soul, hoping something in there will guide him towards the answers he so hopelessly needs.

Your breath catches in your throat. Why is he looking at me like that? Did I make it too obvious? Did I ruin everything? Megumi’s eyes dart around your face, searching for something, anything, that would alleviate his pain. It doesn’t matter what you meant by that statement. He can’t stand this anymore, teetering on the edge of insanity. If I can’t have her, and I can’t stand keeping her around without torturing myself, then… fuck it. He decides to jump.

He grabs your face with both hands before crashing his lips into yours, a muffled yelp escaping you. Your eyes go wide, your body freezes. Time slows to an insufferable pace. You can’t comprehend a single thing, a part of you trying to convince yourself that this isn’t real; if it’s nothing more than a drunken kiss. But it’s real. It’s everything and more. You close your eyes, surrendering to this moment. You move your lips against his, desperate to savor him. He feels the exact way you imagined him to, the taste of him clouding your senses. You can’t get enough. The two of you fit together perfectly. You are utterly and completely consumed by him.

His heart races as he feels you reciprocate. His hands run up and down your body with urgency, trying to make up for years of wasted time. The loud bar fades to black as he pulls you deeper into him. All he can feel is you; you’re all that matters, that has mattered. Your hands meet his cheeks, moving to thread themselves in his hair at the nape of his neck. He groans into your mouth, his tongue battling against yours. You claw at one another hungrily. After years of starving, you are finally satiated. Every doubt that clouded your mind is cast to the wayside. All the pain and suffering has come to an end. The outcome that you both desired comes to fruition. 

“Fucking FINALLY!” You break away from one another, the sound of Kugisaki’s voice bringing you back to reality. She's standing before you two with her hands on her hips, head cocked to the side. Yuuji is positioned beside her, grinning from ear to ear. Megumi takes your face in his hands again, pulling you close.

“Fucking finally,” he whispers. 

author notes: if this seemed very unhinged and scatterbrained it's bc it most definitely was..and i tried to write this is in a specific way so that it bounced back and forth and contradicted one another and...u get it. im sure u do.

anywho, thank u so much for engaging with my stories...every like, comment, and reblog makes my little heart soar xx

my inbox is always open, send your requests here♡

if u wanna be added to my anon club, drop an emoji when u send ur message, and i will add u on my welcome page xx

© bratbyy333 on tumblr. all rights reserved. please do not distribute. 2024.

[alwaysinstyle]

A Long-Overdue RANT Girlies Appreciation Post

Tonight feels like the perfect night to tell you how much I love you all, and I apologize in advance for the length of this post.

~ Nina ~

My precious Pastel Woods outfit hype-woman who’s always ready to Style Carry™️ me onto the battle field, deceive the enemies with her iconic mermaid hair extensions and then KICK SOME ASS for the both of us. Darling, if your Pinterest board is any indication, you have me absolutely figured out and it is both hilarious and iconic. You are for real my Kenny-coded friend’s evil twin and I know without a doubt that you two would go full GTA mode on the NPC bad drivers to bring me an iced coffee (from ANYWHERE but the Bad Vibes Café). Speaking of which, I hoping you’re treating yourself to an iced chai, because you deserve it, you gorgeous and talented REAL author who I adore. Thanks for climbing up on stilts to give me a kiss on the cheek whenever I’m feeling down. Your constant kind words mean so much to me and yes, you did make me cry actual tears when you called me your IRL Superhero. Your dear Wal-Mart Taylor Swift sends all the love in the world.

~ Teri ~

Scary Teri, my favorite Ten Ferrets Stacked in a Trench Coat, my fellow road rage gal who loves screaming in the car as much as I do. I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate you for biting the bullet and being the Cartman friend with whom I can make THE darkest jokes and tell THE darkest stories (and, of course, exchange graphic jump-scare surgery pics) without scaring you away. At the end of it all, you still tell me I’m vibrant and resilient, and that warms my heart more than I can express. Thank you for allaying my fears of becoming a Cynical Asshole (formal diagnosis as you all know). Thank you for making me feel strong when I feel weak. I look forward to many, many more unhinged conversations and overly analytic beta reads of your spectacular fics. I do, in fact, still expect to receive a package containing the buckets of tears I have harvested through Hourglass.

~ Riley ~

My dearest WARRIOR, sword-wielding protector Riley, co-sponsor of the Style Carry™️ who makes me spontaneously combust with everything she writes. We come together to form one joint Whump Deity as the Queen of Injury Fics and the Queen of Sickfics, and I love that everyone on ao3 GENUINELY lumps us together as one being. I don’t blame them since we really do be sharing one brain cell. It kicks ass being each other’s target audience because even with our most self-indulgent shit, mark my worms, the other WILL be absolutely blended. Whenever I’m feeling down, you’re ALWAYS locked and loaded with lizard pics and not to mention graphic illness and injury for my viewing pleasure. Your fics, bedtime stories and sneak peeks that are ALWAYS tacitly solicited bring me such an incredible amount of joy. I mean it. It was the sweet siren call of OJV that brought me to Tumblr in the first place. I am so glad to have come to the dark side and to have become a RANT girly, and I owe that all to you. You are the heart of RANT, dear. Without you we’re just ANT, and ants aren’t even that cool. Thank you so very much for being the ultimate hype gal, for being THE world’s best commenter, for reminding me to take care of Ye Olde Flesh Prison when I’m being terrible about it, and for worrying about me when I’m too stubborn to worry about myself. Your support means the world to me, my dude. Our chats and headcanon dumps have actually been the grounding force keeping me sane (ironically, since we’re so insane about Style). Keep kicking ass and avoiding creepy pizza men, okay? I love you so much and I love being NOT normal together.

@1moreoffkeyanthem @asteria7fics @boxwinebaddie

All three of you, and everyone else on this crazy website who makes me smile, THANK YOU.

[unknownteapot]

My unpopular shourtney opinion is that I really hate the way the Smosh fandom polices its shippers. It's the ship that smosh themselves arguably fanservices the most, yet you hop onto any social media platform and there's this weird clique-y negative attitude when it comes to anyone shipping them. Which is extra ironic considering: put 'smosh' into the tag search here on tumblr and ALLLLLL you're scrolling through is rpf ship content. But, oh, guess we're all down to clown over shaymien 'cause it's fun but it's invasive when it's shourtney? But not iananthony or shayne/chanse or amanda/angela or spencer/courtney or or or etc. There's such a huge hypocrisy when it comes to Shayne and Courtney and the double standard of "don't ship real people, it's weird............ except for these real people that iiiii've deemed shippable" is a huge turnoff from making me want to participate in the fandom. Like, we're all little weirdos at the table. You don't have to police the party. AND ADDITIONALLY: people overanalyze interactions and videos and pictures ALL THE TIME. Yes, I wish the shourtney fandom in general would chill with freeze framing videos and doing crime scene level analysis on them, but I see that happening with every ship mentioned above too. It's the nature of shipping, it's not exclusive to shourtney✌️

ooofffff anon, hello hii and thank you for sharing <3

i do understand where you're coming from with the irony of it being okay to ship certain couples but not others, and while i haven't experienced much of it myself yet as i'm fairly new to the fandom & tumblr, i do see the double standards. but, i also think there's a reason they exist and it's a valid one (even if it is a little sad)

people who've been fans longer than me can correct me- but i'm pretty sure there was a strange discord(?) where invasive shourtney 'proofs' were being posted and discussed and so on for a while, and as we know c has experienced their fair share of stalker-ish behaviours. due to how immensely popular the shourtney ship is/was in the early days of smosh and the behaviours of some members of the fandom, shourtney shippers gained a reputation of being overly analytical and invasive. that's where i think its important to draw the distinction between shipping and trying to prove a relationship.

i think a lot of shourtney shippers fell/fall into the latter category, where 'shipping' treads the line of seeking to expose them somehow or 'show the truth' -> in my eyes that's not really shipping, that's just an invasion of privacy, so i do understand where others' hesitation or disdain comes from when talking about shourtney shippers in this context.

however, of course some of us are here because we just love them, love their dynamic, find them to be a safe space for us or want to rant about how cute they are or the look they shared in a video- that's just standard fan behaviour in my eyes. i don't even have that much of a problem with people analysing (public) interactions/freeze-framing videos of cute moments or whatnot, because that's just looking into their dynamic, that's shipping culture at its core. every ship is entitled to cute gifets and loving rants, like u say:

"Like, we're all little weirdos at the table." anon i love u hahahahh

it can be frustrating feeling like we're looked down upon as shourtney shippers, but i think now its up to us to build that reputation back up of respect and boundaries, and lean more into the shipping side of things rather than the 'proofs' side of things <3

(god this was long, i hope this answered your ask anon :)

[sweatertheman]

i am going to assassinate john egbert i am sick of him.

why are these humans so one dimensional???? they have their like. one characterization, and they just dont ever break from it! this isnt even no character development, its just no character! and fucking john, man, what an egg! he just. doesnt seem to care? about anything? what is his problem? why hasnt he shown even a single deviation from his initial characterization in the THOUSANDS OF PAGES IVE READ SO FAR. even, fucking... DAVE got that one time he was super keen to suicide bomb himself, and rose gets to be kinda interesting, and jade is completely unhinged. what the fuck is this guy's deal? man doesnt even care about the time he got murdered! or the time he got murdered again and became a literal god! he rants at a murderous alien about ghostbusters in the middle of her telling him about the murder she plans to do! why is he so... nothing?! he doesnt seem to have a care in the world most of the time! he doesnt seem to care that the fucking earth got destroyed! what the fuck john?! are we at least going to explore that???? i dont fucking know! why is this comic so long?!

and like, I DONT CARE, if at some point he does get around to like. expressing an emotion. or some kind of character. 2000 pages from now. THATS NOT AN EXCUSE, JOHN. what, did you just forget to have a character for like 6 years straight or something???? like, he isnt even unconcerned in an interesting or aspirational way. he doesnt have anything to say! and before someone says he has emotional repression issues, can you at least tell me why???? like, obviously most of the homestucks have that, but i can at least tell you WHY they do it. Dave likes playing the cool guy and doesn't want to be vulnerable, presumably because he was raised by a psychopath. Rose is overly analytical and likes to play therapist, telling other people what their problems are instead of looking at herself and her tendency to see malice in others. Jade has lived alone most of her life and puts all her faith in some greater picture. As soon as that stability and comfort goes away she becomes unstable and volatile, angry at everyone. What's John's excuse?! nothing! that's what! i mean, MAYBE he think its his job to be leader and sort of take whatever happens in stride, but. no? why does he think that, then? he's the leader in name only, perfectly keen to take orders from random trolls. he doesnt come up with plans, he doesnt lead. MAYBE he considers himself the wholesome centre that keeps everyone together? sure, but why?! why does he think that? its not like he's always been able to tell that his friends are unstable and tries to be supportive to keep their lives better! i mean, maybe he has???? i dont remember, and it hasnt been made clear! isnt john supposed to be like, our main boy? shouldnt his story be important enough to focus on in any way? its been thousands of pages already, and nearly EVERYONE ELSE has budged in some way! and NO attention has been drawn to john! NO intrigue around him, NO emphasis put on his traits! he just. DOES THINGS SOMETIMES. MAYBE he'll bother to be a character at some point, but thats not an excuse for dancing around having his character examined in any way for years on end, and in real life too.

fuck john/june egbert. i am going to kill him/her/whatever and it WILL be a just death.

[xx-poetry-witch-xx]

i think my problem with not getting therapy is that shit only gets bad when im alone because that’s the only time i let myself feel things because i hate expressing symptoms in front of people so like during the day when i should like actually be reaching out to people i convince myself that im fine because if i wasn’t it wouldn’t matter whether or not people were around i would be experiencing symptoms all the time which i do i do experience those symptoms they’re just not visible which means they’re not bad enough therefore i do not deserve help until they are which happens when im alone at night and the cycle continues and i think thats my problem but i dont know how to break it because theres another little part of my brain that forgets to do anything and everything productive like i havent done like any actual homework in weeks and my grades are like falling dude im praying i do well enough on these midterms just to fucking pass im so fucking stressed out but im too worked up to try and actively change anything because at this point i am just trying to make it day to day and even hour to hour is a struggle so how the fuck am i supposed to make changes and better myself when i am barely even making it to the next fucking hour like what am i even supposed to do at this point anyway this is just a rant please dont send me messages that are like do this or do this i fucking know and thats also part of my problem is that im overly analytical and do a lot of reasearch so i can help myself but when things are still bad because emotions dont follow logic and im going to feel things anyway i dont know how to handle it so i just im fine okay im fine i just need to get through these next two weeks and go the fuck home

[deltoravivisection]

No you're right. There is something admittedly : / about implying that symptoms of mental illness = supernatural causes but I do also think it's cool how the text presents relevant characters as both normal and generally non-malicious. Well, maybe not normal, but definitely people who should be respected regardless of their "weird" behavior. If a character is evil, it's usually for reasons completely unrelated to their inherent supernatural abilities or odd character traits. I think Nevets is another interesting example. Cause he's obviously like... majorly messed up and arguably non-human, but literally no one questions him being Steven's brother. Regardless of how different he is, he's a guy with a family who (presumably) loves him. Like not to get wayyy overly analytical but I think Deltora has a lot of really interesting themes going on regarding acceptance and community, but I won't rant at you in this post lol.

I'm kind of obsessed with that one bit in Secrets of Deltora that implies that you will get blown up or beaten to death or otherwise maimed without fail if you make ableist comments to people.

[the-hound-and-the-raven]

Not to be emotional over fiction on main,

But Hellsing Ultimate gets me fucked up for a very specific reason that a lot of fans brush over, and it's really easy to do so. We all love Irreverent Asshole Alucard, Mister I'm A Dick Because I Can Be And It's Fun, and that's great!!! I love him like that!!! But every so often it'll just hit me like a ton of bricks that that is a hollow shell of a being there, y'know? Like, Big Bad Hellsing literally tore every iota of being from Alucard. He doesn't remember who and why he was, and that's tragic enough as it is, but it's the fact that he thinks that who is is now is All There Is To It, and that's that. He truly believes himself to be this half-lovable half-despicable piece of shit that is almost completely incapable of really Giving A Single Fuck or Feeling Things besides Anger™️ and Slight Amusement™️ with an occasional cameo from Almost Fury™️ and Annoyance™️. And that is more tragic than half of Greek drama in its own way. Hellsing literally beat and starved the best parts of Dracula out of him. He doesn't remember his loyalty to his men, the intense joy he felt once upon a time at seeing his wife, he doesn't remember being so totally and completely In Love™️ that he became a monster when Elisabeta died. He doesn't even remember her name. And that is truly heartbreaking to me, that generations later, Hellsing Prime has basically won the battle every abuser fights. He has convinced Alucard that his own positive qualities don't exist, he's deprived him of everything that made him incredibly human and, in a more than a few angles, tragically but shrewdly noble and dastardly at the same time. And that just sneaks up and fucking guts me every now and again. I love TheCrimsonFuckr in all his Assholish Glory, but it's horrifically saddening to think of how he got there. His memories manifest as Repressive PTSD nightmares for Christ's sake! And then!!!!! In the OVA!!!!! He REMEBERS!!!! AND EMBRACES!!!! Anyway, I just had to give a mini rant on why I'm Totally Not Crying over this cherry red cloaked twig becoming a massive beautiful man whose hand is the size of his childe'a fucking HEAD.

[twirlyeyebrows]

How Could I Have Known?

(A Zosan Fic)

Link to Chapter 8!

Link to Entire Work on ao3!

Ch. 9 - A Plan for (Almost) Every Occasion

Sanji dragged himself into his room and instantly flopped down on his bed. He didn’t even bother putting his pajamas on or brushing his teeth. There was nothing that needed more attention than the thoughts in his head.

He flipped his whole body over and sat with his back against the mattress, facing the ceiling. He groaned loudly as he kicked his shoes off and put his face in his hands. He had no idea how to feel. He had no idea where to even begin.

He realized he couldn’t just lay in his bed like this. He attempted to shift around and get situated but every position he tried felt uncomfortable. He kicked his legs over the bed and sat on the edge, folding his hands together out of habit. He was finally able to think.

His face was frozen in a blank stare. The words bounced back and forth from ear to ear as he tried to make an understanding of them. “Because it’s you, Sanji.” He shivered at the thought of Zoro saying his name, especially in the context he had. “What the hell is happening?” He said to himself out loud. “I can’t believe the moss brain… likes me.” He struggled to even say the words out loud. He stood up and began to pace around his small room.

“The question is why? Why me? Why me of all people? Of every single person he’s ever met, why does he have feelings for someone like me?” He ranted to no one. Once his brain started reeling, he couldn’t get it to stop. He began to get all of his thoughts out as if he were talking to a therapist.

“Am I supposed to be flattered?” He paused for a moment. “...Am I flattered? I think I might be flattered.” He said quietly. As abnormal as this entire situation had been, there was no denying that at least a small part of him was pleased with this. Even if it had been from the person he was least expecting, he had still received a love confession. That was a big deal, especially for the self-proclaimed prince of love himself. He continued to walk around.

“What am I supposed to do now? Is he going to want to hang out with me as like… friends?” He stopped in his tracks and ruffled his hair. “Probably not.” He continued pacing. “How are we supposed to tell the crew? Are we going to tell the crew? Is this something we’re supposed to keep between us?” Sanji walked around in silence as he realized he was using terms like “we” and “us”, he wasn’t sure why.

“Jesus! Why is this so hard?!” He put both his hands on top of his head and sighed as he faced the wall. “Why does Zoro have to like me?!” He thought this over and over again, not noticing he had only said the man’s actual name. He wasn’t thinking it in regard to his own discomfort but in regard to Zoro’s. Even though this was completely confusing to him, he really couldn’t care less about himself. He knew that personally, he’d be able to get over it at some point. More than anything, he found it unfair to Zoro that the universe had made the swordsman fall for him.

“He may be an absolute bastard sometimes but God… he doesn’t deserve this.” He moved his hands down from his hair and onto his face. “He deserves someone better.” Sanji hadn’t even realized what he said and the implications it had.

He takes a deep breath and lets both his arms fall to his sides. He tried to think as analytically as he could.

“Okay. This isn’t so bad. This is going to be fine.” He tried to reassure himself, he knew it wasn’t working but he didn’t want to admit it. “All I need to do is not make Zoro uncomfortable. Whatever he does, I’ll just go along with it.” He said while faking an overly cheery voice as if this plan were that easy to execute.

“However he acts tomorrow will dictate what I do. I just need to be prepared for any possibility.” He began to ponder every scenario in his mind.

He spent the entire rest of the night planning out what he would say and do in almost every situation that could arise the next day. He had a plan for if Zoro burst in his room and started slicing through him with perfect Three-Sword Style, he had a plan for if Zoro completely ignored him and made it obvious that he never wanted to talk to him again, he even had a plan for if Zoro had accidentally told the entire crew of their exchange while in his drunken and unstable state.

He was as prepared as he physically could be but it would never be enough. His nerves were still off the charts. He just wanted this to be over with. He wanted Zoro to be back to his normal and painfully annoying self. He wanted to be able to serve him food without having to desperately avoid eye contact. Most of all, he just wanted to help. He wanted to be able to make this situation better, not worse.

He used a lot of that night spent wide awake not only brewing up a plan for every letter of the alphabet but also thinking about his own feelings towards the current event. He had come to the conclusion that he didn’t have an ounce of malice towards the man. Initially, he considered the possibility that his feelings had been those of disgust or annoyance. He quickly realized that this wasn’t the case at all. He had only thought that because he was so often butting heads with the swordsman. It was like second nature to call him out for any tiny thing he did, so naturally, his brain resorted to that at first.

After stripping back the layers, he realized how much he really cared about Zoro. He had figured out that watching him go through this had been so difficult because he truly sees him as a great friend. He thought about how his response of silence had hurt Zoro’s feelings and it made him feel terribly guilty. There was no way that he would be feeling this bad if he didn’t worry about Zoro at least a little bit.

As he kept track of all his lists and flow charts of possibilities for the next day, there was one feeling that he couldn’t pinpoint the source of. When his brain would wander over to that territory it seemed to close itself off, as if his own mind was trying to guard something against him. Sanji didn’t realize how this was possible and he desperately tried to make sense of the odd sensation. Every time he attempted to uncover this feeling he got a cold shiver down his spine but his face got warm. His hands would begin to get clammy and his heart rate would increase for seemingly no reason. Sanji was stumped. He considered going to Chopper and asking if he knew anything about this kind of stress but he assumed that he would be alright if he just didn’t bother trying to uncover it. It had to have just been a side effect of receiving such shocking news and being so nervous for the future. Whatever this uncomfortable feeling was, there was no way it would stick around.

…Right?

(I posted the link to this chapter on ao3 earlier but I wanted to post the full thing on here too. So if you’ve already read this chapter on ao3 and are wondering why it’s the exact same, that’s why :0 anyways.. ch. 10 should be out tomorrow woohoo)

[ninjabelle]

Key-points in Berserk if Guts was allowed to act on his emotions where Griffith’s involved - Meta

There is a theme with regards to Guts always wanting to run to Griffith when he is feeling emotionally shaken up and vulnerable and though it happens a bunch of times in a lot of subtle ways all throughout Berserk the 3 that majorly stand out to me are - going back in time - the hill of swords, primrose hall and after the Zodd fight when Griffith’s recovering.

Let’s start there, and this is also a direct (long winded lmao, forgive me) response to this reply by @bthump about what I wish had gone differently.

When Griffith gets injured after fighting Zodd together Guts wants to see him. I forget the exact timeline but I’m pretty sure this is effectively immediately after. As soon as he’s able to, but he’s stopped by Caska and whatever it was that he wanted to say or do gets put on hold until his talk with Griffith outside later on when, surprise surprise, they get interrupted again. This is also a theme and another recurring, deliberate one. Guts never gets to have a true heart to heart with Griffith and vice versa and this is something that drives the plot forward because otherwise those two would’ve run off into the sunset together long before the eclipse ever had a chance of happening. The whole of Berserk rests on the fact that Guts and Griffith have unfinished business and the entire story takes a nosedive into the dark and depressing once Guts overhears Griffith’s speech to Charlotte at primrose because, again, he’s stopped by Caska (again!! poor girl gets done so dirty every time she gets used like that but that’s meta for another time) and he does not have the opportunity to speak with Griffith about how deep that affected him either.

So, back to just after the first Zodd fight, though he doesn’t seem as deeply wounded and emotionally raw as he was after accidentally kebabbing Adonis while trying to get to Julius, I believe he was deeply shaken up by the whole Zodd encounter regardless, not to mention the thought of Griffith being injured, the guilt - god, the guilt, between the two of them I don’t know who would win when it comes to sheer amounts, but the key difference is that Griffith’s guilt morphs into self-loathing and ruthless actions and Guts’ guilt manifests as self doubt and a recklessness and disregard for his own safety that gets thrown back into his face when Griffith shows time and time again that he’s willing to put himself at risk to protect Guts in spite of all that. Imagine what a shock to Guts’ system that was, to be seen like that. It’s what he still wants, even now wayyyy post-eclipse.

If he hadn’t been stopped that very first time, I imagine him storming into that room and demanding Griffith explain why he risked his life again. His handling of the guards earlier and the fact that he never, not once during the golden age gave a single shit about politics and standing and propriety and would only participate for Griffith's sake speak volumes, because in that moment of intense feeling and on a quest for answers he moves on emotions alone, like he does in battles, where he goes with his gut instead of strategizing, and it helps the Hawks win, because he is the perfect wild card and so complementary to Griffith's more analytical nature. You could argue that emotive Guts = best Guts, but when it comes to directing them at Griffith in a productive way he always gets stopped one way or another, and I mean every. single. time.

In a perfect world Guts gets to storm into the room, where they’re alone and they do not get interrupted and instead of a non answer like ‘do I need a reason?’ Griffith would tell him exactly why, and the only you made me forget my dream is said to Guts’ face instead of thought during Griffith’s despair event horizon. Guts probably wouldn’t even know how to process that and would promptly leave the room to think that over, or not think about it and swing his sword some in frustration, but crucially that would have created an opening and a version of Berserk where Guts is mercifully allowed to seek out Griffith when his emotions dictate that he should.

So then, even if the story unfolds the same after this and Griffith still makes his speech to Charlotte and Guts still wants to see him that night because he just did something horrible and needs comfort, even if Caska gets thrown in front of him again to stop him there would be an opening - because it was allowed to happen before, and last time he learned he meant more to Griffith than he could have ever imagined, maybe he would know to take Griffith’s words about equals and see them for what they really are instead of feeling so horribly incompetent and resolving to leave.

In a perfect world he seeks Griffith out afterwards, and tells him he overheard, and Griffith would probably panic and start babbling politics as damage control, and Guts would throw in a ‘what are we?’ and Griffith would look into his eyes and say ‘you’re so much more to me than an equal’ (I’ll write the fic someday, I promise) and then... well. All I’m saying is when Guts is allowed to be emotionally vulnerable when he’s alone with Griffith that would give Griffith the boost of confidence he needs to finally open up and tell the truth about his own feelings. Because Guts isn’t alone there, Griffith’s just as emotional, just as fragile, if he allowed someone close. He’s just better at pushing all that down until his indifference becomes a mask he wears and a weapon he wields.

He could overcome it, but it starts with Guts, he’s the catalyst, as the only one that could have ended Griffith’s dream that’s only fair.

Now last but not least, the hill of swords.

In a perfect world, the eclipse never happened because Guts, knowing his true worth in Griffith’s heart, would never leave. And even if he did, for whatever other reason, having opened up to someone would have made Griffith a hell of a lot less repressed, and less likely to hit a point of despair so strong it triggers the behelit. After all, it wasn’t the torture that broke him.

But.

The eclipse does happen, and even then, with all the bad blood between them and al that hurt and anger Guts still want to run to Griffith. There is a reason why my favorite moment in the whole entire manga is that scene. It’s just- mwah. Kissing my fingers. So good. I almost have no words. Almost.

Guts, for a moment, forgets that he has to kill Griffith. And I say has because wants does not feel right to me. I don’t believe Guts, nor Griffith, nor Caska or anyone in the story for that matter really ever gets to do what they want. In the world of Berserk desire is a ticket that leads straight to tragedy. But Guts has to kill Griffith, and he forgets himself for a moment and is ready to run to him, and in that moment I see the echo of all the moments before where he wanted to do the same thing and was stopped.

Again it’s Caska that jolts him back to reality and his rage and away from Griffith, who even as Femto draws Guts in. Who even after everything he’s done has Guts standing there with wide eyes and the whole of his body straining towards him. Now if this sounds overly romanticized to you I say this, look again. That’s Guts, again, vulnerable and raw and hurt, and to who does he want to go? I guarantee if Zodd hadn’t whisked Griffith away when Guts went on his mad dash to run him through with a sword under the pretense of rescuing Caska it would not have been her he’d locked eyes with first.

Do I believe they would have talked heart to heart, even in that setting? I doubt it. But if Caska hadn’t been involved, and Zodd was nowhere to be seen I wonder what could’ve been said. I imagine Griffith as Femto wouldn’t have let Guts come close enough to physically harm his brand new body, but perhaps if he was slightly less in denial about no longer feeling anything he would have let Guts rant and rave and cry out all his anger instead of flying off, and maybe in seeing the pain in Guts for what it truly is - betrayal over hatred, a broken heart over unstoppable righteous fury - that would have made it easier for his heart to thaw, and perhaps then at least he would know that he meant more to Guts, like Guts meant more to him. And Guts, would he admit that to himself? That it’s not just anger and hatred he feels for Griffith? It gets hinted he knows that damn well several times post-eclipse, that the anger and hatred is just a front, the beast of darkness whispers it to him all the time. But it never gets to go somewhere, because he’s not alone with Griffith when it happens. Even now, even as enemies instead of comrades he’s still not allowed to be near Griffith when his emotions demand of him that he should be.

And that’s a damn shame.

Ninja out~

[comradegeorgemoved]

hi okay so since the asks are getting a bit of traction, i think it's important to say that while it's fine to be annoyed by any CCs behavior/streamer persona, i really don't want to venture into actually speaking for them and their intentions and being overly analytical to the point of being invasive. remember that we see maybe 5-10 hours of them a week out of 168, and there is so, so much we don't know about their lives, their friendships, and their personalities.

for example, i remember seeing so many people convinced that dream and quackity had weird tension between them, and in the past two streams now think they're bffs. people saying sapnap was going to hold his chess win over george, when we haven't seen that at all (much). not to mention, people flip flopping over whether dream hates dnf or not. so yeah, many content creators have said that we only see around 10% or less of their lives. you and me only show a small amount of what we do on social media. it's only respectful to apply that consideration to the dream team as well.

there's a pretty thick line between "i don't like watching this / the behavior they're exhibiting makes me uncomfortable" and "i think they're terrible friends to each other and george would be better off without them" imo, and while you're obviously entitled to your own opinions, i personally don't feel comfortable crossing that line on this blog :)

won't be answering any more (anon) asks unless it's a dissenting opinion since i feel like i've said all that could be said, but thank you for engaging with me! feel free to rant in my inbox anytime.

[justlarkin]

Came to an epiphany regarding Nüwa, so I'm making it y'all's problem too 🐍⚫ Let's do a breakdown.

-Villainess: Nüwa was a "villainess" because she wouldn't follow society's norms. She liked to take action instead of sitting around and letting things happen. She's wasn't afraid to get hurt and messy. She wouldn't sit around and be disrespected and objectified by anyone, especially not a man who's beneath her. She'd do whatever she wanted without concern of what others thought. She's arrogant, antagonistic, temperamental, and spiteful unlike how a "proper lady" should act. Nüwa is the opposite of what a patriarchal society thinks women should be and she's hated for it. 

-Hakumen: Hakumen may have been Nüwa's most loyal servant and idolized her like no other, but Hakumen doesn't seem to understand Nüwa as well as she believe she does. Sure, Nüwa showed her that spiteful, hateful side that she kept hidden, even from her own brother, but that's it. She just saw a woman behaving wickedly, going down and speaking cruelly to those already suffering, with no care for other's opinions and decided not to look deeper into it because, like Fuxi believed, "Nüwa would simply do whatever she wanted because she wanted". While, yes, Nüwa did do things because she was selfish and just wanted to, there was still a motivating force behind those actions. That's what Hakumen didn't understand.

Nüwa sent Hakumen to deal with Emperor Zhou after he disrespected her and she did way more than what was necessary. She hurt so many innocent people because she was only concerned with behaving wickedly and causing as much choas and devastation as possible. It's what Nüwa would've wanted after all, right? Then why did Nüwa betray her and sell her out in the end?

Hakumen said that Nüwa's love always came with war. That what ultimately got her exiled was that she fell for a hermit named Erlang Shen, otherwise known as Yang Jian. He was a famous warrior who fought for Emperor Zhou and was sent to hunt down Hakumen. Nüwa was the one who captured her and handed her over to his entourage to be exiled. Did she really just attack Zhou to get Erlang Shen's attention? Did she betray Hakumen for some man and have it back fire on her? Was she trying to save Erlang Shen from his fate? Hakumen clearly didn't understand what was going through Nüwa's head, so it's hard to take her word for anything. Part of me does believe that there was some validity to Hakumen's words though. Maybe Nüwa did fall for that genius hermit and maybe she did have a reason for behaving the way she did.

Though, I think the reason for why Nüwa betrayed might be more obvious than Hakumen realizes. She simply didn't listen to Nüwa's orders and caused more devastation than was necessary. Nüwa didn't intend to cause a war when she sent Hakumen down there. She only wanted to harm Emperor Zhou for disrespecting her and Hakumen took it too far. A subordinate who can't follow simple direction simply isn't a good subordinate.

-Fuxi: Most people seem to be under the impression that Nüwa hated Fuxi, but I'm pretty sure that she did genuinely love him. They're Yin and Yang. While differing in nature, they're still complementary to each other. They're a unit. It's just not in their nature to genuinely be at each other's throat.

Fuxi already knew how Nüwa was even if she didn't show it to him directly and he still loved her regardless. It's not like she had to maintain a persona around him. Nüwa didn't have to entertain Fuxi's wishes to do sibling activities like strolling through gardens together or allowing him to cook for her, but she still did. She probably just genuinely wanted to spend time with her brother even if he was an annoying, clingy gnat.

No, I think that Fuxi was more of an annoyance to Nüwa if anything. Fuxi was someone who had became desensitized to the devastation of the world and who had fallen into a pattern of letting nature run it's course instead of acting. He thought that all of Nüwa's efforts were pointless because everything would end the same way anyways. He thought lesser of her as if she were just a stubborn child who didn't understand the ways of the world. She hated the way he'd use his fortune telling to skip to the end instead of experiencing things for himself. She hated how he just sat back and let things happen instead of fighting. Fuxi refused to act for all of his life and that's how he ultimately lost her in the end.

Nüwa may have disliked his way of living, but I still believe that she loved Fuxi in her own way.

-Shennong: Why give her sacred artifact to a stranger instead of her own brother or most loyal servant? Shennong just had something that both Fuxi and Hakumen lacked. Fuxi had already given up and developed his passive, pessimistic ways. Hakumen, no matter how close she believes she was to Nüwa, didn't understand her or her intent and took things too far. Shennong was the most like Nüwa. He was someone who continued to fight stubbornly even when it was a clear losing battle. He sacrificed his own health to try to find a way to cure others of their ailments. He ended up collapsing alone on the battlefield, writhing in pain from the irreversible damage he had done to his own body and the injuries he earned in combat, because he pushed himself too hard all in the hopes to save his people, even if it was just a single soul. It was something that Nüwa did day after day when the heavens tore and she'd go down to try to repair it, only to return home covered in cuts and bruises like clockwork. They were unknowingly two of a kind.

Fuxi would've let Nüwa's banner go to waste and run rampant while Hakumen would've potentially abused it for her destructive ways. Shennong was smart though. He understood the way the banner functioned and found a way to use it to save others. With it, it was no longer just a losing game since he was now able to predict where war would break out and he'd be able to respond swiftly to help others. Even it was small, it made a difference and that's all that matters.

-Actions: I've been questioning what Nüwa could've possibly been thinking when she acted. I don't believe she simply acted selfishly and therefore did whatever she desired. That was a part of the reason, but there had to be a driving force behind it. It's never as simple as "I just felt like it", right? Her actions seemed to be so contradictory. Why did she go down there countless times when the heavens broke and act so vitriolic to everyone just to turn around and try to repair the heavens with her own two hands? What was the point of destroying countries herself when she was just going to come home hurt, covered in cuts and bruises from trying to stop the devastation? It really didn't make sense to me. That was until Hakumen quoted a line that made it all click. "It's all the fault of that wicked woman". Everyone blamed the devastation in Penglai on Nüwa and that's exactly what she wanted.

I genuinely believe that Nüwa behaved so wickedly in order for her people to not lose hope and to continue fighting for their lives.

Penglai focuses on the grand scheme and letting nature run it's course. Nothing you could do really matters because no matter what, nature will win, and things will return to how they're meant to be in the end. War, devastation, disaster, famine, plagues are all things that seem like a big deal now, but they don't matter and are so inconsequential in the bigger picture. If the people of Penglai understood this, then they would simply give up and accept whatever if thrown at them like Fuxi had. After all, how could they fight against their inevitable fates? Nüwa didn't want this. It didn't matter if things would return to how they were meant to be in the end or how inconsequential it seemed to be in the bigger picture. The pain these people were experiencing was real and it shouldn't be disregarded and swept under the rug. They still mattered. Even if you argued that she didn't love these beings she created herself, it's just not in her nature to let them give up. Nüwa favored the fighters. That's why she liked Shennong and disliked Fuxi. Shennong didn't give up while Fuxi did.

Nüwa needed to give them something else to fight against. Someone to blame for all the problems of the world. Someone that could be defeated to give them hope. That's why everytime the heavens tore and war broke out, she'd go down spitting vitriol at everyone and garner their hatred. That's why she sent her familiars like Hakumen to destroy dying countries. Even when she wasn't actually responsible, she'd still go down there and act as if she was and give no real answer to if she really was when directly asked. As long as people believed that "it's all the fault of that wicked woman" she was satisfied. This was her love and with it came war.

Nüwa's actions might've been a surprising display of martyrdom that I've overlooked this entire time. I mean, it makes the most sense to me. She is "The Great Mother" after all, so wouldn't go through great lengths to save her "children".

Nüwa is so fickle and indecipherable though, so it's hard to read her true intent.

Just know that I love women, god speed.

[jujutsubabe]

Congrats on 500 and oml I’m so in love with the idea of friendship matchups 🥺. So I’m a she/her, INFJ/INTJ (pretty much 50/50 thinking and feeling), and a Libra. I tend to be pretty shy, but I’m also witty, blunt, sarcastic, analytical (sometimes overly), fairly independent, and geeky with a bad rbf. I tend to be kinda serious (borderline grumpy/mean) despite my short height (like 5’2), but I try my best to be nice to those I care about. My hobbies include drawing, reading, playing video games/watching tv, martial arts, and playing instruments/singing. I also love animals and traveling around. A red flag for me when I meet new people is when they seem to be fake or overly narcissistic, while a green just varies from case to case. I like all movie genres but my favorite is action and my fun fact is that I’ve been taking martial arts for around 10 years. (This was really long I’m so sorry 😭)

10 years in martial arts?? Omg 😳😳 you go girl!!

You would mix well with...

Nanami!!

Woooo Nanami likes people who are good at their jobs/ hobbies, so to see you being dedicated to martial arts?? He would def respect you! You both seem to be blunt people who tell things as it is, so I’d imagine the both of you calling out Gojo on his bs and being annoyed about the world together💀. Cue the both of you ranting about the effects of capitalism and how much you hate working.

You two would def go to bakeries together, and though he comes off as very blunt at first, it’s later revealed that he’s a sweet guy, so I think he’d be welcoming to new friends and enjoy your company. You both are independent enough to not need to talk to each other every day, but when you two hang out it’s like you didn’t spend a day apart from each other, the both of you hopping right into how your week went and having fun moments together! You both seem like pretty analytical people, so I’d imagine you’d need days where you just go for a drive and get out of your heads. Or sit out a window and talk about what’s bothering you with some tea or even just share a drink together.

[xiaosmoon]

Hi! I realise I'm sending an ask really late but i hope you're not under too much stress!

Pronouns: she/they

Zodiac: libra sun, virgo moon, cancer rising

Mbti: intp-t or istp-t

Weapon: claymore

Hobbies: music, playing instruments (i play quite a few), writing quotes, cooking, reading, watching anime/tv shows and making beverages (tea, coffee, boba), watercolor painting.

Likes: hugs, warm tea, cats, animals in general, coffee, smell of pine, bergamot and smoke, rainy weather, thunderstorms, a good bath and ramen.

Dislikes: onions, rose scents, lizards, food which is too hot, overly sweet things, loud noises, less that pleasant cold weather, ignorant people.

I'm quiet and reserved most of the time, and those who I am close with can expect anything from me whether that be Shakespearean speech or aggressive ranting or extra affection. I am a loyal person with an elite sense of humor and I'm often adamant and decisive. Not very social but friendly and open minded. Extremely passive aggressive (suppressed yet obvious anger issues), intimidating, Analytical, observant and though I'm laid back but can't stand slow talkers/walkers. I also have a very colourful vocabulary.

I don't have a preference for gender, that ratio keeps changing but let's go with males.

Thanks in case you decide to write a match-up! (I'm pretty boring ik)

your vision & s/o would be...

kaeya

vision: dendro

for your first date, you guys go out for a picnic!

as a couple, kaeya always brings you tea! while you're working or relaxing

after a stressful day, kaeya will prepare you a nice warm bath with your favorite scented candles

you two are always cracking jokes together with endless teasing (lovingly ofc)

whenever it rains, you and kaeya will make a blanket fort just to watch the rain fall

you guys both seem like extreme coffee drinkers so you have every single flavor of creamer in the kitchen

overall, you guys make a cute couple

[natsubeatsrock]

Guide to Avoiding Fairy Tail Criticism

Fairy Tail is far from a perfect series. I'm not here to argue otherwise. I've made plenty of critiques about Fairy Tail over the years and I've been a strong proponent of people being allowed to say things they don't like about the series.

Though, as I watch the fallout of Hbomberguy's video on RWBY and how its fans are dealing with it, it's hard not to think about the stupid things people have said negatively about Fairy Tail. This series has its fair share of stupid, bad faith complaints repeated by critics over and over. While I've talked about some of these in the past, I think it's worth talking compiling a list of things that people who hate Fairy Tail say that I can't take seriously.

"Fairy Fail."

Let's just get this one out of the way. It's not clever in any way. I can't believe this has become as popular an insult as it has. I've seen so many people jokingly refer to this series with this name. No one who unironically uses this is genuinely interested in engaging the series on fair terms at all.

More than that, it's not even true. Despite any issues regarding the series, Fairy Tail is still a fairly popular series with fans, especially outside of Japan. It's one of Kodansha's most successful IPs of the 2000s. The fact that people put it on the same level as Shonen Jump's Big 3 is impressive. If this is what a failing series looks like, I can't imagine what success would look like for Mashima.

"Mashima didn't plan anything."

This is one I've fallen victim to in the past. To be fair, Mashima hasn't been the best at explaining this to his fans. For critics, it's easy to see that Mashima says he comes up with plot points as he goes. Of course, the reason this is a critique is that this is as far as many go.

As Mashima explains it, it's not that Mashima didn't have any plans for future events for the series and how future events would go. While he didn't start the series with many concrete plans aside from the basics, he has had plans for how the series would go. But rather than being fixed plans, Fairy Tail's decisions have been more fluid paths Mashima chooses to go down as the series continues.

This isn't a bad way to write a story. As a story progresses, you may realize that certain ideas may be less possible than others or things you've planned at the start make less sense than you originally thought. Again, the critique could be that Mashima's style of writing is responsible for some of the series' weaker moments. However, it's wrong to say that Mashima shot from the hip every week, as some people have described his writing. Luckily, Fairy Tail is the only series Mashima has written this way. Both Rave Master and Edens Zero have been planned more from the beginning.

"It's like One Piece, but worse."

I've seen it thrown around that Fairy Tail looks like One Piece. If that's all there was to it, I don't think this would be on this list. Despite what people tell you, Mashima was never an assistant for Eichiro Oda. Mashima got into the landscape without being anyone's assistant. That's easy to dismiss.

However, I've seen people argue that Fairy Tail is a poor attempt at trying to copy One Piece's formula. Ignore for a moment that Edens Zero is closer to following that model and even it isn't a copy. Or that every series this side of Dragon Ball has been accused of being similar to it and people have been doing the same with series after Naruto.

The focus of Fairy Tail isn't similar to that of One Piece. There is no grand treasure or giant goal that the series revolves itself around finding. A lot of the main conflicts to Fairy Tail present themselves less as threats to the individual goals of characters or but to the guild's existence.

"There is no point to Fairy Tail."

I've talked about this one in the past. One thing you'll see people say regarding Fairy Tail is that there wasn't a goal the series was getting to. People will often make the poor comparison to Bleach in this regard, despite Bleach's focus being Ichigo's growth towards being able to protect the people that care about him.

This is a point that even fans of the series miss. I've recently been describing Fairy Tail as a series told through the lens of its main characters about the guild. The focus isn't on how the Fairy Tail guild grows towards being the best, especially since they start at the top. We're meant to watch the characters in the guild as they interact with the world around them and the other guild members.

If that sounds like a weird way to run a series, it's not. Durarara has a similar setup but splits the focus from one core group of characters to several groups and individual characters split up across its main city. Its plot focuses on how each different group connects with each other in ways they don't know and we can't expect as viewers. I wish people would engage Fairy Tail criticism on this level because there are ways to criticize in its implementation of this. However, people see that there's no "I'm gonna be Hokage" or "I'm going to find the One Piece" plotline and think that the series has no point to it.

"Natsu/Lucy is a bad protagonist."

This is related to the last point. The series is less about how Natsu or Lucy achieve their specific goals and more about the guild after they meet each other and start working together. If the series were about those things, we'd get more time focusing on Natsu's search for Igneel or Lucy's growth in the guild. Once you understand what the series is about, the focus the series takes makes sense.

However, I want to spend some time explaining the functions that either character. Again. While the series is, for the most part, told through Lucy's perspective, Natsu is the main driving force of the series. The comparison I've been making for years now is the Sherlock Holmes stories. If Natsu is Sherlock Holmes, Lucy is Dr. Watson. Mashima's referred to both as the main character and the argument could be made that this focus expands to other main members of the Strongest Team.

"Juvia had no arc."

Yet another one I've been responsible for sharing. I've had a weird arc over the past few years of writing about Fairy Tail going from tacit defense to reluctant attacks to my current stance of nuanced critique. However, I've never been a huge fan of how Juvia's been written, despite liking Juvia herself. It's been thrown around that Juvia didn't have a real character or arc, especially outside of Gray.

Juvia's arc involves coming to experience love better. She goes from learning to love other people as friends to engaging with romantic love. She even gets the opportunity to share that love with others. While the focus of that arc becomes centered around Gray, it's not as if Juvia becomes less loving of others or that her arc focusing on Gray makes no sense considering he started her on the path of becoming more loving.

As much as I should sympathize with this argument, it's become a lot more annoying to see this kind of argument levied towards female characters. You're not seeing people argue that Jellal's change is too focused on Erza. I'm not even saying this as someone who loves how this has been played out in the series. It's just annoying to see at all.

"Watch Craftsdwarf's videos on Fairy Tail!"

I've talked about a few of the issues I have with the series already, but I keep seeing this brought up. I'll give credit where it's due. Craftsdwarf's "Overly Long Analytical Tirade on Fairy Tail" does make good points about the series. And considering it's broken up into different parts, it's more digestible than that rant about RWBY. I'm a big fan of the kind of media analysis videos and I've often linked some of my favorite videos in my posts here.

However, Craftsdwarf's videos aren't perfect. The videos come at the series from a hilariously uncharitable point of view, resulting in repeating many of the points I've already mentioned in this post. Their analysis of both Fairy Tail and Rave Master is often shallow and ill-formed. It might be helpful to watch the series to see a negative perspective about Fairy Tail. However, I worry that the points made in that series will be the foundation of future criticism of this series.

“Fairy Tail is the worst (popular) battle action shonen.”

It’s funny seeing this one levied towards plenty of series that aren’t Fairy Tail. People say this about Dragon Ball. People say this about the Big 3. People say this about other hits in Weekly Shonen Magazine like Seven Deadly Sins and Fire Force. People say this about the current popular stuff from WSJ like MHA and Black Clover. Fairy Tail is far from the first or last series to get this complaint.

Even ignoring how hilariously hard this is to quantify as objective fact as opposed to personal preference, I’ve noticed that most of the people making this claim don’t do the work to understand why things they don’t like happened. To be honest, I don’t know too many fans who are willing to do the same. A lot of fans have the infuriating mindset of “it’s bad, but I still like it”.

Despite whatever anyone tells you, Fairy Tail has internal logic outside of “nakama power”. Characters face genuine loss and win for logical reasons. Even if it’s not as consistent as fans would like it to be, I don’t think the anime/manga fandom is worse for this series being as popular and beloved as it is.

Let me know if I forgot any or if you’ve heard another one.

[tadofvylad]

I ship you with Vylad because, first of all, you already love/care about him and would be willing to listen to him when he needs to talk about stuff... and secondly, because I think you'd get along with him. I don't know, I can't put my finger on it--you definitely have an analytical side, and an intelligence that I think he would like. You don't seem the type to be overly loud or blunt, traits I think he would dislike. (1/2)

I think you two could sit in companionable silence half the time and listen to each other talk for hours the rest of the time; it would be a very intellectual and intimate relationship. Nothing casual. Nothing halfway. (2/2) 

Thank you very much! Frankly, both people I’ve ranted to about Vylad irl asked me if I have a crush on him. Personally, I doubt it would work as a romantic relationship, I just don’t think we’d be interested in each other.

I think we can also both be very intense in a quiet way. We tend to get very involved in something once we start down certain roads. We also both tend to be introspective.

I definitely ship us as found family! I feel like he’d be a great older cousin, like someone who’d watch out for me, and I could remind him not to be so hard on himself all the time. I think my admiration for him would probably make him feel more awkward, than anything, but I can still see us being very close.