#she said if you don't have gifted kid trauma from your childhood (little does she know) I'll give you some before you get to thirty

[vaguely-concerned]

heartbroken yet deeply entertained by julian's repeating pattern of 'all I want is to be close to someone and for them to truly know me :(' and then whenever it threatens to actually happen he goes 'oh that's too close to knowing me actually I uh. need to skip town/planet/galaxy/dimension right now immediately very sorry about all that my bad goodbye'

[silverselfshippingchaos]

Sunspot and Aperture for Maxi hehe! :3c

Hello my friend!!

Sunspot: what's your favorite costume or outfit your FO has ever worn? (If they don't have a canon physical appearance or they only have one canon outfit, make something up!)

Oh you know damn well what you were doing mentioning Maxi and outfits, huh- You know my weaknesses too well LMAO!

Maxi, having been around since the 90s, has had a great deal of outfits! I'd argue that his best outfit is his sc6 appearance.

(goodness he's so handsome)

It really fits his vibes perfectly! It'a a really good outfit all around. Also... you see that pink scarf? That was a gift from his girlfriend hehe!

Stunning.

... That being said, best does not mean favorite. I must begin by having that I tend to like older men (shout out to Eizen being 1000 years old), so it's to no one's surprise that my favorite outfit is sc5 Maxi, where Maxi is 45 years old.

But in all seriousness, it's a really nice outfit. I love how sleek it is and the red accent on the boots is just fantastic. Yeah yeah, he's old now, but I feel like sc5 Maxi is so cool because you can see how much he's grown from his past. I'm really proud of him for overcoming all of that. It's not easy and he still caries the weight of that trauma, but he's gotta so much better.

But also, uh... Wow. 😳. His jacket is a little cropped, so we get a nice view of his back too. And you see that chain on his side? Ash has one too! They match! A lot of this S/I's outfits are inspired by my Indian heritage, but she's very stylish and sleek, and has little matching bits with him.

I wholeheartedly believe sc5 Maxi is the most attractive Maxi. I get all ajsjajejwjeb whenever I see him!!! I love how stylish his outfit is and I love the fur and I wanna steal his jacket! He's beautiful.

Ofc he doesn't really age anymore, but older Maxi just has this level of confidence and style that younger Maxi doesn't, and that makes me quite flustered! He has this one other line where he chuckles a little and oh man-

He also takes care of a bunch of kids and uh. You see, I have a lot of fankids- I'm pretty weak for little ones, and seeing Supportive Uncle Maxi certainly didn't help.

Point is, sc5 Maxi has grown past a lot of things and he's come a long way. I'm so proud of his development.

... And he's also really hot in that outfit- He's not a pirate anymore, but he's still just as stylish!

Aperture: Has your perception of your FO changed as time went on? In what way?

Wow you're picking the ones that remind me most of Maxi on purpose huh- /lh

I grew up with this series. One of my earliest memories is my uncle kicking my ass in sc3 with Tira. This series has been my everything since I was a very little Ash, and naturally I looked up to Xianghua as a young girl. Xianghua was always with Kilik, but I didn't really pay Maxi too much mind. Then I got a little older, and had a whole moment of wait he's kinda cute

So I devoted myself to learning how to play him. It's been years since then, and I'm not quite as young as I was then either. I thought he was just some silly childhood crush, but hey, it never went away. If anything, it just got worse and worse the older I got.

I grew up with Maxi, and even if he hasn't always been my guy and I spent a long time in denial of him being a real f/o, he's always been there with me. He's the childhood crush that never stopped growing.

Now that I've been shipping with Maxi for a while, he feels like a pillar of support for me to always be able to lean on. He's something very familiar and safe just since I know him so well. He's the f/o I always find my way back to no matter what. Kyohei may be my husband, Aqua may be my wife, but there's no words that can describe that connection I have with him. He's been a constant throughout my life, all the ups and downs.

Little Ash thought he was hot, nowadays Ash does too LMAO

But I also think I've grown more respect for him in recent years. His life hasn't been easy, but he kept going. He made things up with Ash after their relationship fell apart, he worked hard to better himself, and now he's back. His story isn't a happy one and he's never been a good man, but he's always tried. I love that.

[ghostietea]

Furuba autistic headcanons

With it being April, or autism acceptance month, I wanted to finally drop my list of characters from Fruits Basket that I read as autistic! This is based a lot on my own experience, as well as that of other autistics I know or have seen talk online. I hope some people can get something out of it, feel free to tell me what you think 😊, though please refrain from getting upset that I would dare suggest your fave is autistic.

Hanajima

Before becoming able to better control her powers, she would be constantly overwhelmed by the things she heard to the point that she couldn't even really go out in public. This reads a lot like sensory overload.

Constantly picked on in school because other kids thought she was weird. Eventually reclaimed this weirdness and turned it into a whole persona.

Seems to talk usually in a relatively flat tone.

Had trouble socializing with no friends outside her family until middleschool.

Has a very funny, dry sense of humor that I find very similar to a bunch of autistics I know, including myself.

Hatsuharu

Listen. You have seen the funky little man, you have seen the way he talks, the way he acts around others. He is, and I mean this in the best way, a weirdo. I do not know how you could look at him and see a neurotypical.

Once again, like Hana, Haru is funny in a way that feels very autistic.

Very flat, dry, tone delivery. Sometimes just Says Things that make everyone else go huh??? Suuuuper blunt. Doesn't emote facially a lot of the time.

When this man sees a social norm he doesn't get he WILL NOT follow it. Pierces his ears just because his hair got flak, defends Momiji wearing whatever he wants because sometimes y'know the social rules are just dumb and don't make sense. Especially dress codes.

Sometimes says things not befitting the current tone of the situation.

Represses (masks) a lot of his emotions, leading to outbursts that seem uncharacteristic.

His main childhood trauma revolves around adults branding him as "dumb" and ridiculing him. Haru, however, is super smart and wise!! Just in an offbeat way that not everyone may get.

Machi

Reads as very "flat" emotionally to the point that others would call her boring. Also has a flat vocal delivery.

Relies on specific habits or ways of doing things or else she gets super upset (her hatred of imperfection.

Has trauma surrounding adults completely misconstruing her intentions and thinking she's doing something malicious when she's not.

Generally behaves in a way that's hard for others to understand, one of her formative moments with Yuki was him saying he wanted to "see how the world looks" through her eyes.

Once again, trouble socializing.

Tries super hard to please her parents but in the end they still see her as somehow inherently "defective."

Listen. A lot of this one and the last two are mostly vibes, hard to verbally define. You just have to look at them and trust me.

Tohru

Displays behavior very reminiscent of masking throughout the story, a huge part of her arc is about how she hides a lot of herself and has a very controlled persona. I think it would fit very well if she had other autistic behaviors that she suppresed also it helps explain why she is relatively socially adept, it's learned behavior to make people like her more.

Yes she is very good at saying what others need to hear, but especially early on she is pretty blatantly imitating her mother's words. She only gets better at getting through on a more personal level later on (see her with Rin and Akito v. early series Tohru). She does this by relating her own experiences, a very autistic way of showing empathy that often gets us written off as self centered. The way she relays things her mom said could also be seen as this, and she even worries at a few points that she's being insensitive for going on about things like that.

While emotionally repressed she is hyper empathetic and feels other's emotions so strongly she cries.

Her speech patterns are all imitated from her father and she often copies verbal things from others (see Ritchan-san). Noted in canon that people think her way of speaking is slightly off/not befitting of someone her age. Additionally, her father was polite more sarcastically, while she plays it straight and sometimes takes things very literally or fails to get the message, indicating trouble with reading tone. Has numerous strange verbal tics, including saying parts of her internal monologue out loud without context.

Very expressive with her hands including waving them around and flapping them up and down.

Does have a bit of trouble with accidental insensitivity in social interactions, like how she constantly fixates on her mom and realizes that might bug the Sohma.

Has trouble paying attention in school since it doesn't have much to do with her interests

Her only friend until she was a middle schooler was her mom

Has a pretty unique outlook on things compared to others, people seem to think she's pretty eccentric. There's always a "this girl is nice but in an odd way, she's our weirdo and we love her" vibe.

Sometimes has an "inappropriate" emotional response to situations

Has a lot of trouble with change, similar to Akito. Which oh, look at the time, next hc coming up.

But first, a disclaimer. It is cathartic for me to read Akito this way, but with that reading comes the baggage that she would, mayhaps, be showing a more negative side of things... It doesn't bother me since it's a joint hc with other characters and she does develop at the end but yeah, general villain hc baggage. This is in no way me trying to excuse her being The Worst being autistic doesn't absolve you of being able to do wrong . Also, a lot of these points can and do have other explanations related to her upbringing, but things can be for more than 1 reason. With that said, she really strongly comes off as autistic to me, in a way that's sorta hard to explain. I wrote a lot more for her than the other, both because I felt I needed more to convince people and that this headcanon was more sensitive and I needed to be careful in my explanation. Also hey! She's my special interest within a special interest.

Akito

Shown to have a dislike of summer weather due to heat and brightness, could be due to sensory issues in tandem with sickness things. Also covers her ears when people raise their voice sometimes which is partially her trying to shut down opposition but also 🤔 can read a different way. She'd also avoids louder Juuni like Ritsu and Ayame because she can't handle them.

Wears pretty much the same outfit every single day. Said outfit is also pretty loose fitting.

Always seen sitting in a pretty unconventional way. Evidence:

Of course this is also the isolated in a cult thing and there is a level of her purposefully doing things to intimidate but: doesn't follow a lot of social rules (overly touchy with strangers, legit doesn't get that what she's doing is wrong, ect.). Repeatedly confused when people indicate she should act otherwise without explanation. Has a breakdown when this comes to a head and approximately says that "they" shouldn't expect her to know "common sense" if "they" never explained it to her, that the way that she was was her "common sense."

Often talks in a way uncharacteristic of her age when shown as a child in a more faux mature/pretentious way. Might just be the translation and idk how to explain it but her speech as an adult also seems off from what one would normally use in conversation. Additionally, when she tries to fake being friendly in her intro chapter, it comes of as extremely stiff and unconvincing.

Generally displays behavior that could be thought of as childish as an adult, but a lot of this behavior could also read as autistic (covering ears, emotional deregulation and meltdowns, ignorance of basic social norms, ect.). It's also important to note that she knows that this behavior makes her seem younger and more helpless to the older zodiac and uses it as a manipulation tactic. Has issues regarding people treating her like a child or only hanging out with her because of pity. While she does weaponize it, we can tell that this grates on her, as seen with her finally blowing up on Kureno, which is partially triggered by the maids saying some sorta infantalizing stuff about her. Irl, a lot of autistic adults and teens struggle with being infantalized for our behavior generally or treated as little babies that can do no wrong. Even in fandom, you see people doing stuff like jumping to call autistic adult characters, such as Entrapta from Shera, "minor coded." It is also common for us to have at least one bad experience with someone hanging around us out of pity. This is something that really gave me a similar feeling in Akito's arc. She's not a baby and she can understand and do better if she is given the chance to learn and break from all the freaky cult indoctrination she's been subjected to instead of just being constantly enabled. In the end, a lot of her growth is represented by her showing that she is capable of changing and being independent.

Shows particular difficulty with socialization, often sits by herself spacing out at social events. A lot of her fear is rooted in the fact that she doesn't know how normal relationships work, becoming overly reliant on the curse because she doesn't know how to make friends.

Clings desperately onto the notion of being "special" and in some way superior to others to be worthy and to make up for perceived inherent "flaws." It's the nd gifted kid burnout vibes for me.

Easily bothered by things that don't bother others. Feels emotions very strongly to the point of getting physically ill and has bad emotional regulation.

Relatively good at reading others in an analytical sense (though has more trouble when it comes to seeing how they feel about her since she's wildly delusional) but brings up her observations in a very cold, detached way and hurts people even on the rare occasion she didn't mean to. Has extreme trouble connecting to others and understanding their point of view. This makes her come off as pretty unempathetic even though that might not fully be the case. Also thinks that people like Momiji are trying to look down on her when they try to empathize with her. A lot of why Tohru can get through to her is that she manages to convince Akito that she's not condescending by relating shared traits and experiences. As I said earlier, autistics often empathize by sharing their own experiences with someone, and I know I often have an easier time confiding in other autistics because of a fear of being seen as lesser by those that don't understand me. I think the connection between these charachters and the way that Tohru manages to reach Akito like that while others couldn't makes a lot of sense through an autistic lense!

Additionally, when Akito herself gets around to trying to help others instead of just projecting trauma, she tries to reach out to the old maid by relating back to her own experiences. This however, doesn't work.

Has "cold" emotional reactions sometimes even to things that do make her upset. For example, how sort of calm and detached she acted after her father's death can make her seem uncaring. However, we know that this event did mess her up a lot and she is still (poorly) dealing with a lot of grief from the death of her father years later.

Copies mannerisms from others, the most blatant example is with Ren, who she directly parrots lines from as a child to Yuki.

Partly just her posturing, but gestures a lot with her hands when she talks. Also seen several times clutching her hands in her hair.

Deals extremely poorly with the idea of things changing to the point that it is a driving force of the story.

Does not understand when people tease her.

Ect. Ect. Ect. Listen, I could go on for ages but just trust me, the mean gremlin lady is autistic.