#sorry im on my reminiscing arc.

[fallenrain40]

hmm... just thinking about all the stuff i did and had as a little kid did any of you guys have Leapsters when you were little? or LeapPads? for some reason me and my sibling were obsessed with the two little leapfrog mascot dogs Scout and Violet. we'd pretend to be them when we were playing and I'd make my sister be Scout because Violet was purple and I ALWAYS had to be the purple one. omg also...

did you guys have these guys?? i remember i loved them so muchhh

[bonyato]

One remarkably funny aspect of my experience w/ DGМN was all those instances in which Id favor a digidеstined's critter more than I did the kid they were partnered up with. it felt exactly like this image

[joelletwo]

resolving loquats. badly

if i had more time i would have written a shorter letter. sorry

loquats the arc of threes - miharu with its three guardians, the two exorcists and their tag-along marriage counselor natsume, three chapters, etc etc

reading it for years ive been stuck on how none of the parallels resolve cleanly. comparisons are drawable between just about every character and every story element, but none really make a straight line to a neat conclusion.

most roadblocky to me is matoba's similarity to both masakiyo and masakiyo's would-be youkai companion. what does it mean to compare him to both the man shutting himself off from his desires and the being trying (unsuccessfully) to reach out and fulfill them? what does the actual point of miharu as an arc boil down to and why does it need to be so obfuscatory?

and then earlier this year unrelatedly i read the seminal text on metaphoric triangulation and romantic horniness. and went aha. lol. it didnt actually help me it just unleashed me but its been fun.

i still dont have it together enough to do my dream of untangling every single connection we've all been drilling into for years all in one place. i still think if i could i could unlock midorikawa's brain. but i can lay out

(dont try too hard to read these)

[a square diagram messily laying out relationships between masakiyo, the interfering youkai, matoba, and the mihashira (miharu's three guardians), the square then broken along the diagonal into two triangles showing how matoba identifies with both masakiyo and the youkai, and both of them displace a desire of theirs onto the youkai and the mihashira respectively]

[two triangles - 1. the identification/desire relationship between masakiyo, his beloved, and the interfering youkai, all able to be cast as matoba 2. the same between matoba, mihashira, and an interchangeable miharu/natori]

[two triangles showing unresolved/unbalanced relationships between 1. yorishima, matoba, and natori and 2. matoba, natori, and loquats]

at this point i started getting incoherent. and then i died for ten million years from Job

but what im still trying to work towards. is that matoba - who sits on the I Hate My Life Bench with masakiyo (with whom he shares a few on-the-nose name connections to really hammer it home), has long black hair and one eye like the youkai who wants someone stubbornly alone on their own path, is jealous of the mihashira's naive commitment to obsolete promises - has a link to basically every story element that represents Unfulfilled Desire.

everything that could mean to him in this arc - quitting exorcism, keeping promises, being the most capable vs relying on others, shouldering a legacy, enjoying a loquat - remains ambiguous. but he Wants. strongly enough that his usual mask keeps slipping bc he's having to think about it. he's The Wanterrrrrr.

and natori, well,

[spreadsheet with three categories of question marked relationship to each other - subjects with displaced desire (teen seiji, hiiragi, yorishima, touko), objects (all natori), and displaced objects (all loquats)]

well he's just in hot demand. what's he do in this arc? people want relationships with him, and the means they have available to get that is through the available loquats picking opportunity. he is. the universal object of desire. he's swept along with the flow for all the setup to this arc more than he's really an Actor (lol) in it.

(and do they both, to complete the triangle, make natsume the universal Means of Resolution, like how everyone uses loquats to get natori? don't involve natsume in your exorcist business even tho i do that, but if he was here he could solve everything for us, and now he's gonna get in the middle of our loquats reminiscing unbeknownst to both of us for unclear reasons,,, well he doesnt really solve anything for them. concretely. but he does. with his 90 chapters of development with both of them. serve as a wedge to open up some space in their closed-off relationship.)

but so anyways. matoba the wanter and natori the object to want. simple, even if all matoba wants, if he can admit it, is to enjoy a loquat with a peer and nothing more. so who's driving this car and spinning it round and round in unresolvable metaphors. midorikawa youre just making it more tragically gay by making it plausibly deniable.

but in the arc of Unfulfilled Desire That Is Also Self-Inflicted - the foolish mihashira could just stop showing up don't they know, the youkai could just go enjoy the freedom it's been given, miharu could just let his beloved share his burden - he can't admit it. he lets all the metaphors get all tangled and tangled and tangled because he's caught in between his desires for connection and withdrawal and isn't able or willing to resolve that tension himself.

but its NOT the arc of repeated cycles - matoba would let himself get stuck there, but natori in the backhalf is the one to take action to break us out. by offering his shoulder. over and over and over. and then over and over in every arc after but lets not talk about that.

so natori makes it simple again. and what we get when its simple is just direct one-to-one visual parallels of matoba and masakiyo. and what we get when this gets animated is an extra scene of masakiyo with his (romantic) beloved, pushing her away (romantically), refusing to let anyone's support in or any of his (romantic) desires be fulfilled (he didnt even succeed at keeping his house alive!!!! lol common cringefail exorcist behavior). and what we end the arc on is matoba... made up of twenty layers of self-denial... not quite able to accept it... but paralyzed by not being able to reject natori's help anymore

which is. mwah. chefs kiss beautiful incremental excruciating not-progress. makes a man want to affect the trout population

[licorice-tea]

The Way Things Go

Pairing: Kaku x reader

Content: huge spoilers for water 7 and enies lobby!!! kaku calls reader “miss” but gender nuetral pronouns are used besides that, reader is a strawhat, flirting and things!

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: this is going to be a mini series covering the reader’s arrival in water 7 (with the straw hats ofc!) to the end of enies lobby. basically, how the reader meets kaku, falls for him, learns his true identity, etc. it’s been a WHILE since i watched the water 7/ennies lobby arcs so im sorry if some things aren’t accurate!! also this is very self indulgent, ik he doesn’t have a ton of fans but seeing him in egghead put me back in my kaku era😇 enjoy! <3

Part 2

You walk towards the doors of the shipyard nonchalantly, but with clear direction and intent. “I need to help find a shipwright who can evaluate the Going Merry and tell us what it’ll cost to fix.” Just a few minutes ago, you’d split up from Nami, Luffy, and Usopp in favor of heading straight to the shipyard while they went to find a place to exchange all of your “stolen” treasure for berries, first. Which is how you ended up standing outside a set of massive doors and an equally tall wall to what you had been told was the Galley La Shipyard. However, after finding no buttons or opening mechanism, you try and fail to push open the incredibly heavy doors.

“Afternoon, miss. Are you looking for a way into the Galley-La Company, by chance?”

You turn around expecting someone older, who has lived a life and now finds no reason to speak in anything other than proverbs and make casual small talk using the same dialects that were popular half a century ago. But instead you’re met with a young man, no older than 25, and a nose reminiscent of Usopp’s. He’s tall, with pretty eyes and strawberry blond hair. You notice the words “Galley La” stitched on the front of his baseball cap, and realize he must work there.

“Hi! Yes, I’m looking for a way into the shipyard.” you nod earnestly.

“Allow me to introduce myself then,” the man removes his hat and holds it to his chest as a gesture of respect, “I’m Kaku, one of the shipwrights of the Galley La Company.” Then he extends his hand toward yours, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss…?”

“Y/n,” you take his hand and shake it once, “and the pleasure’s all mine.”

He smiles and (ever so slowly) lets go of your hand, then brings two fingers up under his chin in a pondering expression. “Say, you look awfully familiar miss y/n. Don’t tell me… you’re a model!”

You giggle at the compliment, “Only on wanted posters!”

“Ah, we get plenty of pirates around these parts, but I’ve never met one as pretty as yourself.” he punctuates his comment with a wink.

You smile and shake your head, “I’m sorry but I’m kind of on a time crunch; would you be able to let me into the shipyard? My crew and I need repairs on our ship.”

“Certainly, miss. Wait here, and I’ll have the doors open in a jiffy.”

As the shipwright leads the pirate through the yard, he makes quick work of getting closer to you. It doesn’t take long for Kaku to boldly rest his hand on your lower back as if to guide you in new directions. At one point he even hooks his arm around your shoulders to turn you toward a particular construction area, but his flirting does not go unnoticed.

“Next on our tour,” he gestures forward at a building with one hand, with his other on the small of y/n’s back, “this is where we design some of the new ships.”

The building is one of few within the large, outdoor shipyard. Kaku opens the door for you and announces to his fellow shipwrights, who are hard at work designing various ship parts inside, that he’s brought a guest. The building isn’t very large inside, either- just a few tables decorate the interior, all covered in blueprints and drawing tools. You wave politely around the room and even excuse yourself for the intrusion, but your tour guide puts his arm around you once again and assures you that it’s no bother. And he’s right; the ship designers either pay you no mind or kindly explain what they’re doing as  you make your way through the room. Their work is intriguing, and extremely detailed- almost artistic, in a way.

Kaku catches the glint in your eyes and asks, “Are you an engineer? Or- no, an architect?” he incorrectly guesses your occupation, but his attempts are cute at the very least.

You laugh and smile, “No, I’m not. But this work is really amazing… there’s just so much attention to detail; it’s very…”

“Beautiful?” he offers with a proud grin.

“Hm. I was going to say skilled, but yeah, beautiful.” You continue in a slow lap around the room to observe the blueprints and the shipwrights drawing them. When the two of you exit, you give another wave by the door and thank the shipwrights for letting you see their work. Kaku stays behind and winks at his coworkers, who all grin or shake their heads in amusement at his clear pursuit of the visitor (you), before following you outside.

He jogs to catch up and falls into step alongside you. “So, what do you do then if you don’t mind my asking, miss y/n?” Then, he takes on a teasing tone: “Besides pirating, of course.”

“I do plenty.” You joke back. Sure, you could tell him your dream and your role on the crew but… where’s the fun in that? Besides, you barely know the guy.

“You’re awfully mysterious, miss y/n.” He not-so-discreetly observes your profile as you continue walking through the shipyard. “Say, how long are you and your crew in town?”

“Oh, well.. however long it takes for our ship to be repaired, I guess.” Then, your gaze meets his with a somewhat knowing expression. “Why do you ask?”

Kaku smirks, “I’d like to get to know you better.”

With a smirk and a hum of acknowledgment, you both continue walking side by side with an added air of flirtation in every brush of your hands or shoulders. You reach the end of the shipyard, and turn around to head back. On the way back to the front entrance, Kaku agrees to personally asses the Going Merry free of charge, “just for you.” The two of you make plans for him to come to the place where the Straw Hats hid her later that evening when he has time. Finally, you two have done a complete lap around the Galley-La Shipyard, and you find yourselves back at the entrance.

“Thank you again for agreeing to check out our ship. She means a lot to us; my crew and I.”

He puts his hands in his pockets, sort of mimicking your own nonchalant demeanor; “It’s no problem at all, miss. In fact, it’ll be my great pleasure to work for you.”

You giggle at his flirting once again, and bid him farewell. “Well, I’m going to go find my crew mates. I think they probably found us some hotel rooms by now.” (You’d all planned to stay in a hotel while in Water 7, in order for repairs to be carried out.)

Kaku nods, “Then I hope you’ll come visit me when you have the time. Or would you prefer it if I came to you?”

“…You don’t have to do that.” Awkward laughter escapes your lips.

“No, but I sure would like to,” he takes one of your hands and surrounds it with both of his, “if you’ll let me.”

This has your mouth gaping as you search for the right response… He’s so straightforward, unlike most of the young men you’ve met on your travels. “W-well, ok.”

“Ok? So, that’s a yes then?” He chuckles, trying to lighten the mood and ease your nervousness (though he does find it endearing.) “I could only accept your enthusiastic consent, miss y/n, if I were to go ahead with courting you.”

“I- Courting me?” you hold back a laugh, not wanting to tease him for his old fashioned way when you find it so charming. “Then, yes. I enthusiastically agree.”

He grins, “Swell! I think I’ll swing by your Going Merry around 5, shouldn’t talk long to asses damages and give you a quote on how much she’ll be to fix. How about we meet then?”

And you nod, “Sounds like a plan.”

“It is one.” He leans in conspiratorially and wriggles his brows, “One could even call it a date.”

You hide another smile by biting your lip and take a step back. “Right… Well, I’ll see you then!” With a wave over your shoulder, you’re off. He watches for a moment as you disappear into a more crowded area of the street and chuckles to himself.

What a sweet guy. A little old fashioned, but very polite, and so tall and handsome and- sigh.

You’re already falling for him.

[thornswoggled]

you know what it is. 106 stream of consciousness. lets go

WOW ok just by the thumbnail alone im surprised. i did NOT think we were gonna get to see the rest of hildas scene with lindel so soon. like i had no earthly clue where this chapter was going to start up

chapter title lindel feels very reminiscent of ch1 "future chise" illus

"misery makes strange bedfellows." hmmmm. all small caps too for some reason

yamazaki prepping us to view lindel as a secondary antagonist by drawing his face in shadow like every other frame

ARE THOOOOOOSE FUCKIIIIING DWAAAAARRVES????????? HELLOOOOOOO???????

why did we not meet these thangs the first two times they went to iceland. maybe she decided to add a little spice

oh my god missing subtitles. literal empty bubbles. comicgrowl needs to be dealt with. severely

more talk of eggs and chicks. which could mean nothing

looking at the slider.... this is another slightly longer chapter. huge for a guy like me

OMG we get to see what happened that time rahab summoned them oooooooooo

lindels shirt in this scene is really cunty. sorry. who said that

"this is the 2000s era" ok so we are still playing coy with what year it is. probably a good idea

"my first time meeting the current you." so yamazaki is weaving in the concept that rahab can meet people on different parts of their timeline. which feels a little op and a good deus ex for conflict resolution but thats my own personal beef with timeline fuckery as a plot device

wadda hell. this dragon hatched fully fledged like a damn bulnosaur

ohhhh this dragon is the one flying behind lindel in that one color spread for arc 3. the one i captioned with "whatever. go my dragon"

adolfs protestation about magic is like. yes. i agree. because tamb does not have a robust magic system and its attempts to form a solid action-based plot are largely impotent, which is FINE, we are here for character development anyway. i once made a webcomic with the same problems so i dont mean to throw stones in glass houses but like. yeah the distinction between mages and alchemists and how magic works is not something i have ever been sold on

great callback to chise summoning those wasps in arc 1. i enjoy seeing a scene from the early chapters reimagined in the modern art style. tangent, but in the supplements the note for that scene was something like "chise has never seen this kind of bug in real life so she probably remembered it from a nature documentary"

pokemon-ass messaging here. fucking catch em all

just now noticing the twins got their hair swoop from hilda

"i managed to avoid lying." i was about to ask how exactly he lied but then skipped ahead and read the answer whoops

lindel hurrying hilda out the door but he doesnt even know what she came here for yet. like she didnt get to tell him about the red dragon yet LOL

im also just now realizing that the dragon we saw at the end of 105 was the dragon adolf hatched and not the dragon that cursed chise. ok 🧍‍♂️

"they even forbade me from speaking my language" so i think lindel is implying here that hes part of the sámi people which tracks. i wonder if they were speaking one these languages when he met elias? i still dont know why lindel bothered to ask where elias came from when he could have inferred it from whatever language he spoke

adolf explicitly states that he left germany before ww2 which i think was very funny on yamazakis part (DO NOT GET IT TWISTED, she said, HE IS NOT A NAZI) but at the same time. why was he fleeing british soldiers. maybe they just assumed he was a nazi cuz of his name and accent. idk

ok so its time to go back to school already. silky being convinced that theyll be stuck there for months again is. so funny

"do you think we can ask the college to send letters for us" what do you mean by that. does the college not give you the means to send mail. are you expected to just use the royal mail. why arent you using royal mail anyway. hello

ok so she stomps on the floor and a new door springs up. it looks like an exterior door based on the lock. is this a sort of uhhhh howls moving castle/witch hat atelier windowway sort of situation. is silky going to break into the college so she doesnt have to miss her kid. she looks so stupidly nefarious i know the reason she looks so creepy is going to be funny as fuck

so overall i cant say that lindel and adolf are my fav characters or that i am terribly invested in them so i dont feel i got a TON out of this chapter but i am excited with the last page we got. happy for the lindel enjoyers and the lore dump yall got. i guess im not sure what purpose this new dragon is serving either because its (probably) not related to red vs white dragon conflict. i guess you could say that its a third dragon that emphasizes the importance of choosing your own path rather than being locked in this fated cyclical battle the way the red and white dragons are, which would be in line with tambs greater themes. like a third choice, i guess. adolf is also shaping up to be in a similar position to chise - that is, he has a unique relationship with magic, and his master has to lie for him so he wont be unduly researched lol. i am interested to see how much time we will see chise actually studying or being in class considering all the other things shes now expected to be responsible for. her ass is not studying 💯💯💯

[suffarustuffaru]

I think Subaru remaining a child is actually a very purposeful choice?

It allows us to explore Subaru as his child prodigy self, and who he would be if he had come to this world as that version of himself instead of at the age of 17, and who is VERY different from the Subaru we’ve come to love over the course of the series so far. He’s more brash and arrogant, WAY more cutthroat, and even though I don’t think he’s lost that compassionate core of his personality, he does lack a great deal of the sympathy and kindness that’s defined his character so far. Like, older!Subaru would absolutely not have abused RBD like this, especially not after Arc 4, and it is turning him into something that is genuinely terrifying. Like, you said that Arc 8 would not have changed if Subaru was returned to his normal self but — I actually COMPLETELY disagree with that, because while the general plotbeats might remain the same so far, Natchuki Subawu is a MONSTER. He’s paralleling every IF Route so far, he’s disregarding his life as a tool, he’s dismissing other people’s wills and wants for how they live their own lives, and he’s explicitly been using RBD in a way that prevents them from developing unfavorable opinions of him (Gladiator Island) and is now promising to keep using it with Jamal and Berstetz in order to prevent them from dying “noble deaths” on the battlefield (which is a complicated subject, but is current way of dealing with that conundrum is just him going “I’ll just bring you back lol”).

I really believe that Natsuki Subaru would not have done any of this — at the very least, not to this extent. Natchuki Subawu is allowing Tappei to explore 1) a version of Subaru we have been told existed but have not been properly introduced to until now (his child prodigy self, before his mental health spiraled and he ended up alone and anxious) and 2) a version of Subaru that is turning into something really, really terrifying — and I honestly believe he’s going to end up getting very severely punished for this by the end of Arc 8.

(I just took that line in your previous post talking about why Subaru is remaining as Subawu for so long as an excuse to dump my thoughts in your inbox lol, sorry)

hey anon!! no need to apologize hah, in my last ask i invited anyone who disagreed with my stance on the childbaru arc (given my general opinion being “i get Why its there but i Dont Like It and dont feel its 100% necessary”) because 1. id love to learn more about the intricacies of this arc!! subaru is such a complex interesting character as well on top of that!! and 2. i feel like some people, not just me in this fandom, have some mixed feelings on the childbaru arc so im very curious to hear from people who are bigger fans of this arc yes!! i would like to expand my horizons and all ☝️☝️

and also its been a while and im only answering your ask just now Oops but my feelings on childbaru have changed over time for sure 👍 just a little bit. and i didnt explain myself super well in past posts!!

yeah so. you really delivered on very succinctly explaining the purpose of the arc and you have such a great understanding of the plot and the effect this all has on subaru!! (i also appreciate you using “natchuki subawu” HAH we should all stop using childbaru or something and just use “natchuki subawu” now because that has gotta be one of my favorite rezero chapter titles ever). and also all the points you bring up are really really good!! and it takes all of my more in depth thoughts on it out of my head because yeah, its why i dont Entirely dislike the childbaru arc. in fact, its why i like it hah.

it’s absolutely a very purposeful decision. as much as the symbolism has the subtlety of a hammer (i can respect that though <3). it builds off of the natsumi arc and subarus previous major arcs (arcs 1-3, arc 4, arc 5, and amnesiabaru in arc 6) in a very interesting way and shows subaru regressing to Horrifying extents thats still different yet fascinatingly reminiscent of the if routes. i like a lot of aspects about the childbaru arc for this reason—the complexities of subarus character in general, the themes regarding Heroism and Image, more Horrifying exploration of rbd, the way subaru is reaching whole new heights but extreme lows (like the suicide pill) and is likely bound to be narratively punished for regressing at some point!! because tappei doesnt Usually hold back on punishing subaru, so i have next to zero doubt that he’ll deliver on that hopefully!! childbaru is a Regression overall in more ways than one, which is an idea ive warmed up to for sure because its fascinating!! i also am pretty fond of childbarus design—his outfit is very nice and fits him perfectly imo, and ive always liked the decision to add green to subarus color palette post-arc 5. his color palette quite Literally depicts him having a more colorful palette to match the colorful fantasy world around him, i think. and it just looks really nice with the warm yellow/orange.

but okay enough about me gushing over subarus character design, back to the topic at hand!! yeah so. i still have Some mixed feelings on childbaru despite all the Purposeful Intent behind it and all the things i like about it.

and my only reason is like. okay i feel like this is super petty but at the same time HAH. i Really dont like how subaru declares louis as spica, his daughter, when they both look the same exact age 😭😭😭 i have a few personal problems with louis’s arc 7-8 storyline anyway, as much as i like her causing drama in arc 8, but im hoping tappei proves me wrong on that with the rest of her arc but. anyway.

yeah like subaru and spica both look 12 yrs old 😭😭😭 preteen adoptive dad moment??? its just so incredibly awkward and i feel like the impact of that scene did not Hit. both in the sense that the entire time i was thinking “subaru you look like a kid just like louis how the fuck are you her adoptive dad” and also my personal problems and opinions regarding arc 7-8 louis means i dont care about her too much so that scene did not Land for me. but thats mainly a personal thing!! and i might change my mind on it later but yeah like. louis is always gonna be my biggest beef with arc 7-8, which i talked about a bit in previous posts iirc??

as for subaru, i def like both the natsumi and childbaru arcs and completely understand their purpose. i respect tappeis crazy wild character development hes done with subaru—its absolutely amazing. but i do kinda wish the transition from natsumi to childbaru wasnt so Jarring. i almost wish we just saved natsumi and childbaru for Each Half of arcs 7-8, which is a combined arc as you know, or moved childbaru to when capella comes into play later in rezero.

and i know that sounds like doing A Lot just to avoid subaru and spica being the Same Age when he declares her his daughter, but i feel like pacing wise it wouldve been cool to give the natsumi arc and the childbaru arc Their Own Main Story Arcs. not that theyre bad as they are in canon—i love them, for the most part (apart from my beef with louis HAH)!! but def i think it would be way less jarring in a lot of ways if—and ok youd have to move and change plot points but this is just me spitballing random ideas here—if childbaru was All/Almost All of arc 7 and natsumi was arc 8.

childbaru takes up a good chunk of arc 7 anyway, and then once the emilia camp and julius/ana come back in arc 8, subarus grown already to put him on an. Aesthetically Equal ground as the rest of his friends bc now hes grown again. but this is after childbaru arc so the Wack Lessons his childbaru self learned carry onto the natsumi arc—and i know in canon the natsumi arc lay groundwork for childbaru but the themes go right into each other in canon anyway so i think this could work!!

and since im sure the Consequences of Subarus Actions will probably start catching up to him around arc 8 (and kind of already have. with the louis drama ig?? if you wanna count that??) the natsumi arc is. a good transition ig. and now we can have mom natsumi with spica instead of 12 yr old preteen adoptive dad subaru ?? 😭😭 natsumi but in front of all of her friends and the entire country and the entire world this time ?

but no yeah what i just said is a wacky idea and its not that i think canon is Bad. i just have personal problems with louis 😭😭 and im petty about 12 yr old preteen adoptive dad subaru akfndnd and i kind of wish natsumi got a full arc to balance out the Combined Themes of natsumi arc and childbaru arc !! the transition from natsumi to childbaru felt a little jarring imo <3 but as im rereading arc 6-7 now (its been a while and my memory is Hot Garbage pfft) ill probably think more on this. and ill be reading arc 8 front to back once its fully wrapped up to get a better and complete read on it 👍

also other people like cecilus al medium got turned into kids too, but i think it just felt the most significant with cecilus :,) though i may be wrong on that. feel free to enlighten me 👍

i just think the thing with a lot of tappei plotlines is that they go on for a while. theyre kinda slowburn and of course theres a lot of characters in the cast so arcs get put on pause and picked up later alll the time. which is totally fair and understandable with so much ground to cover!! but bc of that i feel like for me personally (and for a good number of people probably, such as how audience reactions to the amnesiabaru arc 6 arc were when it was beginning (people Did Not Like It) vs when it ended (people called it the best arc ever))….. anyway for me personally i think bc of how tappei does his arcs its normal to feel uncertain about it in the beginning or middle bc its hard to predict how itll wrap up and If itll get wrapped up well. which is how i be feeling rn with rem and louis and otto and lots of other people 👍 and honestly even when i first saw childbaru in arc 7 i was like “wtffff but okay ill trust tappei for now and hope he wont get weird about kids again ahahaha”. but thats just my thoughts on it.

so all in all thanks for the ask :3 !! you have a lot of passion anon ty <3 (and im pretty sure i know who you are but totally cool if youre shy pfft)

[aimfor-theheart]

hi again!! im the same anon with the niki song reccs! im glad you appreciated my first ask cuz i was nervous that itd look like an unsolicited reccommendation 🥹

can i just ramble a bit more because—PLEASE the stage play format!! ive only read a few ever but the way kaeya's face is almost always shadowed or turned away from the audience to show his shady-ish and closed-off nature⁉️ how it ties in with his in-game-all-the-world's-a-stage thing⁉️ the way the fic plays around the concepts and thin lines of truth and lies, secrets, show and pretend⁉️ I AM ALL FOR ITTT 😩🩷🫶 and the way you describe the setting, its also very reminiscent of like, the paper storybook animation mondstadt had in some of its cutscenes!! every time i read it i can imagine myself in a proscenium, thrust, or black box stage akzjdjfkdsk

also if you dont mind me asking, what are some songs in your playlist for my heart, your song? id love to give them a listen!! 🩷

omg no anon you’re all good!! i loooove song recs like all the time!! and i also just think its really sweet you have songs that you associate w a fic of mine 😭 like i could cry forever 😭😭💗

ANDDD 😭😭 the fact that you picked up on kaeya’s staging!! anon!! i’m so glad that it came across!!! even in writing scenes for stories and not plays, i think about the like “staging” of them quite a lot, often like i’m an audience member myself and i’m always trying to find unique “stage pictures” or like…..these “pictures” that convey something, like in theater. and i loved the idea of having kaeya’s face and staging always away from the audience until he reads the letter at the end of act ii!! and i could CRYYY to compare the scenes to the mondstadt storybook 🥺🥺💗💗 waahhhh thank you so much this fr means the world to me oh my god 💗💗

i do not mind at all!! my heart, your song has a very long playlist with a lot of live music on it bc the reader is a performer!! also some from musicals where i took inspo on the kinds of songs reader was performing!! here are some of my favs on that like 4 hour long playlist:

1. this live more acoustic version of Venus as a Boy by Bjork

2. Would That I by Hozier

3. Lover’s Desire by Anais Mitchell for more upbeat “chase” scenes as i call them—lots of flirting and playing and falling.

as things start to get angstier and reader gets more reckless:

4. Hymn / Her by Jordaan Mason

5. Eric by Mitski

6. I Don’t Care Much from the 1998 Broadway Cast Recording of Cabaret (this is actually the song i kinda envisioned reader playing at diluc’s in the postface to scene ix—or something like this)

7. this live version of Shrike by Hozier

and for some softer, more healing ones that are towards the end of this playlist, and that i’ve been writing act iii to!

8. No One Else from the Broadway Recording of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812

9. An Ending (Ascent) by Brian Eno

10. this piano version of Avatar’s Love from ATLA because I’ve always had a soft spot for this melody lol

sorry if this got kinda long 🙈🙈 but fr the playlist is actually like. 3 hours jfkdjska and i’ve tried to make all the songs flow into each other genre/sound wise….as well as have a complete arc of the story bc i’m just. insane LMAO

but thank you so so so much again—for your song recs previously and also your lovely thoughts and further curiosity for music 😭💗💗💗 it means a lot to me and makes me so excited jfkdjska

[yumikeki]

How I'd go about reintroducing Mephiles back into Sonic lore(sorta)

So this isn't going to be super structured, its gonna be really rambly but its basically cuz i'm repeating the whole thought process I had while looking stuff up, brainstorming etc so sorry if it gets a bit long, so I'll put design stuff and the whole thing under a keep reading link. Got it? Good. Lets uh, do this.

So to go back to the very beginning, the sonic channel poll. That was a wild time haha. When i first saw it I wasn't initially interested in Mephiles. I would've voted for Vector or Sonicman tbh. But seeing people talking about how cool it would be to reintroduce a character that got wiped out of existence made it a bit more entertaining to me. Which made it suck a little more that he didnt win. But hey, im not complaining about Sonicman, good for him. But that got me thinking about how difficult it would be to reintroduce Mephiles. After all, he came from a very infamous game that still leaves scars in Sonic's history, and having him just come back when his whole story revolved around a game that ppl do not want back is tricky. At least with Silver they rewrote his future a bit, and Blaze already had lore. Elise might still exist but they can mention Soleanna without having to explore too much of its past game story. Mephiles was pivotal to a plot that Sega does not want to bring back. So, i don't think they'd want to bring him back in his initial form. I also think they're trying to stray from the god stuff Sonic 06 brought into the series(besides the End).

But then I thought about IDW's canon. Where its almost sorta filler, it'll acknowledge the games but the game will only reference its characters and story in passing(so far). IDW would probably be the best place to put Mephiles so that he gets an arc without it affecting the mainline games, but still exist. Still I think we need to go further in. Solaris was not only killed in the future, but erased from existence in the beginning. Existence was rewritten to what it is now, how to you bring back a character that was not only killed, but erased? Well for the killed part, what about reincarnation? Weakened to a mortal form with lesser powers(still reminiscent of the past, but not to the time manipulation powers it once was. Essentially, mostly just the shadow powers with some new perks, but no time travel or time god powers). There can be many ways to introduce a reincarnated character, but I have an idea in mind ill elaborate on later. Next, for the erased part. Well, my idea was, why not use Null Space? Maybe what Eggman assumed was a realm created by the Phantom Ruby was actually a pocket dimension where things that didnt make sense in the new reality were put into. It has so little lore and its not very explored, rewriting it a tad wouldn't be a big deal. There was things in Null Space, despite it being described as a place of nothingness. Everything that was from the 06 reality that couldnt fit neatly into the new one was put into this pocket dimension that's essentially the void. Thats where "Mephiles" has been this entire time.

Back to the reincarnation bit, having a character like this means that while this character is in fact Mephiles, it also sorta isn't. I think this grey line where it brings back Mephiles but can be its own character in time would help ppl feel more confident in bringing him back. He wont be 100% the same, but he still has those qualities that made him seem so cool in the first place. Cold, manipulative, and destructive. Trying to always be one step ahead of others.

My idea of bringing Mephiles back would be in the form of a child. Why? Well when I think of being reverted to a weakened state, i sometimes default to children. Children also represent untapped potential, the ability to grow and change, and be easily influenced by their environment. For a character that beckons to the past but also has the ability to grow beyond it, being a child makes sense to me thematically. Also the idea of the edgy, cold merciless personality being in the body of a child is endearing to me. I actually designed a hedgehog form for this character that's supposed to harken back to Mephiles' initial form, but look like his own person. Its not what I think is the ideal form for the character, but hey i tried. My tablet broke tho so its only a doodle.

I like the straightjacket look of it, and it's loosely based on the scepter of darkness because this body is a mortal cage for Mephiles' soul. Its supposed to look like a creepy edgy kid, Mephiles himself is kinda offputting in that way anyways. Might simplify the little thorn spikes from the shoes or waist, or remove em entirely. The coat is also supposed to cover his body markings, in case one would want to keep his identity a bit of a surprise, initially. The claws are summoned, not inherently a part of his body. Looks like Mephiles' hands, just bigger. Also partially inspired by Sig from Puyo Puyo.

Since this is Mephiles-but-sorta-not, he needed a new name. I wanted to keep it close to the original Mephiles while still having its own identity, so I did research. And uh, it was probably very obvious for most but he's supposed to symbolize both God and the devil? So Mephiles is short for Mephistopheles from Faust, which also became another name for Satan. Iblis was a demon in the Islamic tradition that is also another name for Satan somewhat. And Solaris, which is a name that harkens to the sun(being a sun and time god), also harkens to Satan's original name Lucificer(meaning light-bringer/bearer, keep that in mind). Plus with the 6's of different features in the first phase and then turning into an angel of light in the final, its kinda obvious who Mephiles is supposed to represent. Well, besides also being a fusion of the concept of God, for relating to light and time. On a side note, looking into a game ive played but had no interest in, Sonic 06 really was supposed to be such an ambitious game. It had all these plot intricacies, metaphors, and the weight of fighting a god was supposed to be really heavy. It was supposed to be the biggest fight in Sonic history. The biggest bad who ever bad-ded. It was meant to be so important. It was probably obvious to most, but it was only by looking into it that I got an appreciation for 06. Its just a shame that it ended up how it did. But anyways, back to names. So I wanted to follow the same theme as Mephiles, Iblis, and Solaris, being that they are all names for the Devil. Lucifer was considered the original name for the Devil, but I dont want to be that obvious. Well, i looked into the name, and Lucifer actually had greek origins with i believe the God of Venus. Well, another name for the god of Venus was Phosphorus(which guess what, also means light-bringer!). So i shortened it, and behold, the new name is Phos. So we have a design and a name! Whats the story?

Well, I don't have everything planned out, but I did have a few bullet points I'll post here:

Reincarnation of Mephiles, stripped of divine power but has his shadow manipulation still 

Lives in the Null Void from Forces(the Null Void is actually a pocket of space created when the original reality deleted itself.)

When Sonic enters and escapes Null Void, Phos leaves as well. 

Has no memories, bumps into sonic and co 

Wants to learn who he is, gets attached to sonic due to familiarity

Hates shadow, like original counterpart

Shadow does not trust him at all, and Sonic is suspicious but hey, they dont know who Mephiles is anyways. The kid looks sketchy but hes also abandoned and amnesiac, it would feel pretty bad to beat up a child. Maybe not for Shadow lol.

Has extreme empathy, but no sympathy: Is able to read people to an inhuman degree and reflect their emotions like a mirror due to lacking individuality(initially)

Starts off as cold and emotionless, incredibly manipulative due to the ability to detect the feelings of his target. 

Ends up living with Vanilla and Cream as compromise(its really funny that Cream befriends a demon baby)

He does good things and makes friends not cuz he wants to, but because he figures making allies and doing what he can so they dont kick him out will help out more in the long run. When he messes up and his morality is questioned, hes able to barely stay by putting things in his favor and talking it out.

Maybe initially tries to manipulate Sonic, but later learns of the strength of his character.

Gradually not only understands the emotions of others, but begins to absorb them as well, gaining his own feelings based on the ideals of the people in his life, primarily Sonic, Shadow, and Silver(the three who killed him in the first place)

Eventually learns about the truth, plots to regain his other half and reach his deity status somehow

Maybe ties into targeting Blaze for her fire powers? Could be related to what happened to Iblis after the reset.

????

When he realizes he wants to be his own person and choose his life, its too late and he's becoming Mephiles. 

Sonic and co go to save him, fight ensues, Phos helps from inside his own shattered mind, and is eventually able to revert back to normal, keeping his weakened powers but is not inherently evil or empty anymore. Still kinda cold and crafty but he's doing it for good(or what he believes in good, kinda stubborn like Shadow).

Joins the cast as a regular character. 

So for his powers, I kinda simplified them into a few things:

Shadow manipulation powers. Absorbs shadows, can merge into shadows to hide or teleport between them. Maybe the shadow balls come back, not sure. Can make shadow-y clones too.

Crystalline powers. Harkens back to his past body. Is able to make claws out of a crystal like substance and slash at things. Maybe can shoot them like projectiles too.

Idk if he'd keep his ability to morph into other peoples appearances though. IDW already has that one guy and its not like Mephiles made exact copies. Plus he already has his own body. Considering that Phos is meant to be somewhat empty inside and reflects the emotions of his peers, it could be fitting. Maybe when he becomes more introspective he shifts into the appearances of other characters when he thinks about them. idk.

But uh yea that was everything i had written down(i made notes based on the late night brainworms I was getting that lasted a couple of hours. This was the fruit of that labor haha.) I'm not saying this is the perfect way of bringing him back, its possible people will be upset with this version or not prefer it, but hey i like it so its gotta mean something. Technically by writing this down it kinda guarantees SEGA would not use it anyways, so its not important anyways. I might keep this as my own oc and doodle more concepts of this schemer demon baby in the future though, I think it's really neat. The idea of having a powerful small child with emotionless whims that you pray stays on your side is very cool to me, and this whole thing was fun practice anyways. I hope you guys have a good one, if you have any critiques or ideas you'd like to share id love to hear it. Just uh, be nice to me please lol. I'm trying my best. But yea that's it, thanks for entering my brainstorming personal hell.

[sege-h]

Charlie standing up to Ben is kind of equally important to me as Isaac's story and the stuff about being ace and aro

I'm also glad it was pointed out Ben had kissed him without asking--I feel that's such a horrid trope in romance where people have like their first kisses without asking in any way even tho it's not clear whether character A actually wants to be kissed by character B. And then it kind of becomes normalized irl too and no one asks.

But what really hit close to home was like...

Charlie being allowed to say "I don't forgive you, I don't owe you that, and even if you do actually become a better person I don't want to be there to see it because I never want to see you again"

And that that's ok and a good thing

There's just so much of 'oh this person apologized so you HAVE to forgive them' and 'but look he admitted hes a fucked up person and also he has fucked up parents so how can you NOT forgive that!" and "But look hes trying to be Better! You gotta give him a chance!"

When like. Anyone can say they're trying to be better without actually trying. It's just a thing they say because it might make you forgive them. They dont actually want to put in the work

The acting/direction was really good here too because you can see that Ben doesnt even know what he did wrong-- he thinks a 'im sorry for everything' without actually knowing what 'everything' is will make things go back to what they were. You can see it in the way he smiles when Charlie brings up their first kiss-- because it's a good memory to Ben and he thinks they're about to have a nice reminiscing time about a good memory. Which. It isn't for Charlie.

(And also the way he's remained unchanged in relentlessly texting Charlie to talk to him and then showing up to confront and corner him irl when he didn't text back)

And it hit close to home too. I've HAD that person in my life, I've had the 'oh im a fucked up bad person' and the 'oh my parents are fucked up' and the 'im sorry for everything (whatever that is) im better now (if I say it you'll believe and forgive me)'

And as much as I like a redemption arc story and stories where people are forgiven and grow and change, I equally appreciated that not happening here. I appreciated there being no forgiveness, and Charlie saying as much and that he doesn't owe that to Ben. To me at least there was a catharsis in a character confronting someone like that and telling them "I don't owe you forgiveness, I do hope you become a better person so you don't hurt anyone again, but I don't want to be there for it and I never want to see you again"

[micamicster]

Ok opinions on the end of the untamed beyond incoherent screaming

Perfect open-ended conclusion. The right amount of bittersweet but with possibility. Can’t believe the needle they managed to thread there with the censors incredible work round of applause.

Kinda the same as point one but they do an incredible job wrapping up the Wei wuxian Jiang cheng conflict like… nobody is completely in the right nobody is completely in the wrong and at the end of the day no matter how much you wish you could just cut ties and move on you’re permanently linked together. You can’t hate them because you still love them. You can’t love them because you’re still angry. It’s so ugly and it’s so good. That final take care gutted me im bleeding out as we speak

The only woman to survive this show is, at best, a tertiary character. I hate to see it

They should have leaned more into the gothic creepiness of the final arc. Go full necrophilia with jgy and nie mingjue’s head! He’s already so fucked up whats one more violent transgression!

Speaking of gothic that last scene with wwx whistling was soooo creepy i loved it

My actual biggest disappointment was that it’s a cop out to have jgy be the one to actually kill jin xizuhan. Sorry but I think it makes the story less complex and the relationships less interesting if wwx bears no responsibility for that at all! I liked the story better and it hurt worse when wwx did in fact kill his brother in law with friendly fire sorry. I may make a longer post further justifying this I feel v strongly about it

The pacing on this show is horrendous. I’m addicted yes i binged it in 2 weeks yes but that’s despite everything about the show. Why was the climax 5 episodes long and each episode is a different conversation in the same room. Who planned this

Obsessed with the way that all of his fucked up uncles love jin ling so much. Jin guangyao strangling jin ling coming like five minutes after he says with heartbreaking sincerity that one of the worst things his father did to him was keep him from holding baby jin ling. That poor kid suddenly understands the fuckedupness of family relationships on a whole other level after that line

I feel very strongly that there is no way wen ning can possibly have simple uncomplicated entirely positive feelings toward wwx and being resurrected as a zombie like… the themes of consent and autonomy and the number of times someone in this story saves someone they love by warping or imprisoning or violating them… it’s so complex and painful. That said wwx wiping dirt off his zombie’s face like he’s a little kid makes me bawl

I get that it was for dramatic effect that the wen yuan reveal happens in the last episode but seriously lwj what the fuck. Your boyfriend sadly reminisces about a child he loved who’s dead now and you don’t TELL HIM THE KID’S ALIVE?? I get that y’all had a lot going on but what the hell is wrong with your priorities

ALL THIS SAID. I am obsessed I am weeping I have brainworms for life

[atlabeth]

everything happens for a reason part 15 - zuko x fem!reader

I thought I had you figured out

part 14 | masterlist | part 16

a/n: this is ch15, aka part 1 of y/n being a sad bitch in prison and suffering from main character syndrome. life is hard when ur in love with a guy going through a redemption arc

holy SHIT this took so long to come out. especially after such a cliffhanger. i am so sorry guys, i really have nothing to say for myself lmao. i kind of lost inspiration to write for avatar as i got more into outer banks, but i still love avatar and this story a whole lot. ive put so much work into it that i can't abandon it - this is my baby lol. thank you to everyone who's stuck with this and me along the way, i've been working on this fic for almost 8 months!! if i keep going along with chapters at this word length, i think we're gonna end up around the 100k word mark by the end. which is actually insane. anyways ill stop talking. hopefully the wait wasn't too horrible <3 (but this angst is. im sorry)

warning(s): more angst, prisons and bad conditions (esp for a 15 y/o), everyone being a jerk, ESPECIALLY zuko and y/n to each other, threats and talks of death, did i mention angst? it's a heavy chapter folks prepare urself

wc: 3.5k

chapter title comes from haunted by taylor swift!

Returning to the Fire Nation was a strange thing.

The place she’d escaped from so many years ago, where she met Zuko and left her mother. Once a prisoner under the guise of a servant, now a fully fledged enemy of the Fire Nation.

Y/N found that she could never truly hate her time in the Fire Nation, even after all that had happened — Zuko was still a shining star in her life, and to her, the only good thing to come out of the Fire Nation.

She didn’t see it that way anymore.

After the fight in the caves, she’d been locked up in an Earth Kingdom cell for holding purposes and later transferred onto a ship en route to the Fire Nation. The days at sea were cruelly reminiscent of the sailing she did with her friends after leaving the North for the first time, and the memory only succeeded in making her feel more isolated. Once they reached the Fire Nation she was thrown into another cell, and thus began her new life.

She didn’t know what to do with herself. For months Y/N traveled alongside the best and brightest people she had ever met, and being alone after all that time was nearly impossible. She traced shapes in the dirt floor of her cell, but her shackled hands prevented her from much more. Eventually she turned to trying to occupy the hours with her own mind, replaying stories in her head.

Stories her father crooned while he rocked her to sleep, before he was cruelly ripped away from her.

Stories her mother whispered during late nights in the servants quarters, before Y/N was forced to leave her for four long years.

Stories Yue shared with her as they watched the moon set from the palace balcony, before she sacrificed herself for something she never played a part in.

Stories her friends rambled on and on about as they sat around the campfire together, before they had no choice but to leave her behind.

The Fire Nation had taken everything from her. It was only a matter of time before they got to her too.

Keeping track of time was a fruitless endeavor. In a concrete cell where her only view was the hallway through the bars, and her only clue to what was going on were the visits by the guards who brought her food, Y/N had no idea how long she’d been in there. For all she knew, the Fire Nation had already won the war. The only reason she didn’t think that was true was because Azula surely would’ve come down to brag.

No one visited her. Her meager meals were delivered through a slot in the bottom of the cell door, and her guards never talked to her. When they did it was always some form of insult, either against her Water Tribe heritage, her role in working with the Avatar, or her position as a prisoner. Sometimes it was all three. The barbs quickly lost their sting.

Not even Zuko came.

Y/N didn’t know why she thought he would. A part of her was thankful — after what he did in the caves, she never wanted to see him again.

How he talked to her in the tea shop. He told her he was trying to change, that he wanted to be with her. That he regretted everything he had done, and he would wait as long as she needed until she was ready.

How he said he would never hurt her.

The other part of her wanted him to visit her. To stand before her cell and try to explain himself, whatever reason he had for betraying her, just so she could throw it all back in his face.

She wanted to scream at him until her throat ached, bang against the bars of her cell until her knuckles bled. Make him hurt as much as he’s hurt her, secure her place in his heart and then shatter it into a million pieces.

Maybe it was selfish.

But while he was reaping the benefits of his betrayal, she was rotting away in a cell. While he returned to the life he wanted as the crown prince, she had to sit and watch as her life was torn away bit by bit. While he was hailed as a hero, she was branded as an enemy.

While he got to act like he didn’t do anything, she felt her heart break a bit more every day.

So yes. It was selfish.

But she didn’t have the luxury to care anymore.

-

Y/N was roused from an uneasy sleep by the faint sound of footsteps. She rubbed her eyes with a grimy hand, pushing herself up to rest against the wall. It felt like it had been an eternity since her last meal — she suspected it was on purpose, to keep her weak. The same thing they had done to her mother.

The faint glow of a lantern furrowed her brows, and she inched closer to the front of her cell. Her visitor was someone in a red cloak, his dark, choppy hair making it hard to see his face. When he set the lantern down and pulled the hood of his cloak down, her jaw clenched.

“Get out.”

“Y/N—”

“Do I have to repeat myself? Get out.”

“I’m not leaving.” Like the stubborn boy he was, he kneeled in front of her cell. Y/N’s eyes remained trained on the ground.

“That’s a first for you.”

“You don’t understand.” There was a hint of frustration to his voice, but it lacked the boyish charm she used to associate it with. “I had to—”

“You had to what?” she interrupted, gaze flicking up to him. “Betray me? Get Aang killed? Destroy the world’s last hope for ending the war?”

“Azula offered me what I have been chasing after for years!” he exclaimed, golden irises blazing. “You’re delusional if you think I could give it up. It’s my birthright.”

“Is it worth it?” she asked. “Is it everything you’ve ever dreamed of? Has your dad even apologized for what he did to you?”

Zuko faltered at that, but he recovered quickly. “Change takes time. I can start by getting you out of this place.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You’re delusional if you think I’m leaving this country in any other way than death.”

“You don’t understand,” Zuko repeated. “I have power now; I’m the crown prince. I can help you—”

“I don’t want your help!” she yelled, her rage finally bubbling over inside of her as she turned on him with the fire of a waterbender pushed to the edge. “The last time I trusted you was when I thought you were on my side, and it landed me in here. If you think that I’m going to trust you now that you’re full Fire Nation again, then you have never known anything about me.”

Zuko scoffed, his entire demeanor changing. “You don’t know me.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “I don’t. That’s why I’m in here. Because I don’t know you. Because I thought I was more important to you than your fucking honor.”

“The Fire Nation is different from your little village!” he seethed, the flames in the lantern swelling with his anger. “I did what I had to do in Ba Sing Se — you’re a fool if you think it could’ve gone any differently. This is how the Fire Nation works.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” she said darkly. “Just know that if I die in here, I’m going to make your life a living nightmare.”

“You can’t say things like that to me anymore,” Zuko said, something so painfully unfamiliar about his voice as he practically turned his back on her. “I’m royalty. True royalty.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked with a slightly deranged laugh. “Betray me? Separate me from all my friends? Throw me in jail?”

Zuko’s shaky exhale told her that she was getting to him. Y/N moved to the edge of the cell, as close to the bars as she could get with her shackles, and stared right at him.

“I’m prisoner scum from the North. You’re the crown prince of the most powerful nation in the world. And yet here you are.” She allowed her lips to quirk up slightly in a sardonic smile. “You’re even more trapped than I am. Good luck trying to get out of it.”

He growled as he pulled away, picking up his lantern as he backed away. “I don’t know what I ever saw in you. You’ve always been nothing more than an obstacle.”

“Then leave,” she spat. “I’m done with you, Zuko. I’ve been done ever since you took Azula’s side in Ba Sing Se. If the only thing I’m worthy of is being in your way, then leave. I just hope the guilt doesn’t get to you before you can do all your princely duties.”

He stood there for a moment more, glowering at her with a mix of emotions she couldn’t decipher. “I don’t love you. I don’t think about you. You’ve never been anything in my life, and you never will be.”

And with that, he turned his back and left.

The weight stayed on her shoulders as she slouched against the wall, but she didn’t feel the sorrow she expected. All that remained was an uncomfortably familiar numbness, along with a strange flicker of acceptance.

Maybe he was lying about it all, maybe he had truly lost anything he harbored towards her after the fight in the catacombs. Y/N didn’t care. Either way, he fought against her.

(She didn’t want to think about what it meant for him to still love her and betray her all the same.)

Y/N had dared to play with fire, and she had gotten burned more times than she could count. The raised scar on her forearm as well as the invisible memory of searing flames against her palms served as a painful reminder of who Zuko used to be, who he was now. Maybe someone he had always been, and she was just too caught up in the beauty of something she imagined to notice.

But no longer would she rake herself over the coals with the dim hope that he could change.

No longer would she sacrifice herself for him.

She was done trying to save the boy with the scar.

—

Her prison cell was quiet as ever since her conversation with Zuko. A part of her was angry that he hadn’t come back, that he hadn’t tried to talk to her again just so she could reject him. The other, more rational part, was relieved. She managed an ineffable front while he was here, but she knew she was bound to crack sooner or later.

The isolation was driving her mad. She had no idea what day it was, or the time, or how long she had been in here. It had gotten to the point where she began to look forward to her guards coming in to give her meals, and most of them despised her.

Y/N longed for one of Aang’s stories about his culture, told in his own voice instead of her own. The echo of Katara’s laughter throughout the night sky, one of Toph’s insults; she even missed Sokka’s horrible jokes. She knew she would never again make fun of him for his humor once she was reunited with them.

But the worst part was the thing she couldn’t explain.

Her wrists were shackled to the wall to prevent her from fighting back, as with any prisoner, but she had a feeling that the guards here weren’t used to keeping waterbenders in custody. Though the air was cool enough in the prison to prevent moisture from forming and the dirt below her was dry as a bone, their carelessness for her identity played in her favor.

One day, her guard delivered a cup of water along with her meal. The normal routine was for her to either get just enough water to keep her alive but too little to do any kind of bending with, or for her hands to be completely restrained as she was given water like some kind of animal. The Fire Nation was afraid of the waterbender in their midst, even with her status as a fifteen year old girl.

The day it was slid into her cell, her heart nearly stopped. Could they really be so unattentive to deliver an escape right to her, the same thing that got her mother out? Her hands were cuffed, yes, but that didn’t matter. For such a small amount all she needed were her fingers, and those worked just fine.

But as she positioned her hand over the top of the ceramic and twisted her fingers, nothing happened. Y/N didn’t feel any of the usual flow of cool energy, but she had attributed that to her weakened state and lack of practice. But this was something simple, something that young waterbenders experimented with at their first lessons. Even the most novice healer could transfer water from the pot to the mannequin, the most inexperienced soldier ocean water into the air.

But there was nothing. No surge of power, no movement, nothing. She couldn’t do anything.

What was meant to be her saving grace only served to further hammer the dagger into her heart, to add one more mark to her growing list of failures.

She wasn’t going to get out of here. She couldn’t get out of here, not with her lack of strength and her inexplicable loss.

All she knew was her last shred of self had been torn away.

In one last cruel act from the spirits, her bending had disappeared.

-

The days were longer and harder after discovering the loss of her waterbending. The biggest part of her, something so intrinsic to her life, the only thing that kept her alive after her village was invaded — gone like that.

How could she cope with that? How, when she didn’t even know what had caused it? Would she ever get it back?

The thought attacked Y/N viciously and constantly — she would die in a Fire Nation prison cell, broken in every way.

One night, though, something was different in her visitor. With nothing much else to do, her ears had grown attuned to the few sounds she heard since her imprisonment. Y/N could distinguish the guards just by the way their boots hit the ground and the length of their steps, and that’s why she knew even before they came into her sight that something was different.

But it was still a surprise when it turned out to be none other than the reason for her downfall.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, a slight barb to her words accompanied by the downward twist of her lips.

Azula just smiled, looking regal as ever with her neat topknot and deep red robes. “I’m here to announce your departure, of course. Getting you out of my hair and seeing the light drain from your eyes in person is something to celebrate.”

“Departure?”

“There’s an influx of new prisoners being transported here as a result of a rebellion being crushed in Ba Sing Se, as well as a league of Avatar sympathizers in the heart of the capital after being discovered. In order to make space for the traitors, you’re being sent somewhere much more fun.”

“Just tell me already,” Y/N said evenly. “Nothing can be worse than here.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Azula corrected with a smile. “My father doesn’t exactly want a repeat of what happened with your mother, so you’re being sent to a prison specifically for waterbenders. If you’ve ever wondered about what southern benders are like, I have a feeling you’ll find out a lot with your future company.”

At that, Y/N couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “You’re wasting your time. My bending doesn’t work.”

Maybe it was a card she should’ve held closer to her chest, but Y/N didn’t see the point. If she was sent somewhere specifically for waterbenders, she knew she would deal with far more mistreatment than slightly barbed remarks and unwavering indifference. Her eventual death at the hands of the Fire Nation would be even more likely. At least if she was sent to another prison, a normal one, she would have a chance at escaping if her bending somehow came back.

Azula’s eyebrows rose slightly, but she regained her composure quickly. “You’ve lost your waterbending? Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Why would I lie about something like this?” she asked, straightfaced. “I’m sure any prison I end up in will be just as horrible as the others.”

Her lips twitched up in the facade of a smile. “Very well. I believe I can make arrangements for you suiting your new situation. How do you feel about the Boiling Rock?”

“Sounds like a vacation,” she said dryly.

“I think you’ll like it,” Azula said. “It’s completely surrounded by water — it’s really lovely. I quite like the irony of you being in the middle of your element, knowing that you’d be able to escape if you weren’t so useless.”

A puff of loose air was all she could really manage in lieu of laughter. Her situation kept getting more and more hopeless, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

“What did I ever do to you, Azula?” Y/N asked, eyes trained on the ground. “Why do you hate me this much? What is this vendetta?”

“You want to know what I have against you?” Azula’s eyes turned cold and she stepped closer to the bars, taking a knee on the floor directly in front of the cell. “I know my brother is still enamored with you despite what he says, though I have no idea what he sees in you. I know he comes down to see his uncle, as well as you on occasion. Even when he doesn’t he still talks about you. Now, I don’t particularly care what happens to Zuko, but things will be much easier if he’s on my side. You are making him doubt what he has done to get here. You are nothing but a pest, and pests must be taken care of.”

“Kill me then.” She surprised herself with her bluntness as she looked up at the princess, but the way Azula described it, it would be a welcome mercy compared to her current fate. “You could finish the job right here. I’m completely defenseless. One blast, and it would be over.”

Azula stood up then, though still keeping the same proximity. Her voice was authoritative, powerful, and Y/N understood why she had been able to do what no Fire Nation general could even at such a young age. “The Fire Nation doesn’t just exterminate their pests. We make lessons out of them. And you will be a lesson to every servant, every member of your little ‘Team Avatar’, and my insolent brother to know their place. And, well— this was what should’ve happened to you all those years ago.”

“Besides, this is a lot more fun than killing you, isn’t it?” Her golden irises flashed with something dangerously close to glee. “I hope you enjoy your trip. It’s the last one you’ll ever take.” Azula then pivoted on her foot and left, the door closing quietly behind her.

The only sound she was left with was her nearly inaudible breathing. Y/N leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes as it all came to a head. She tried to keep it steady, but the water trailing down her face was a sign of her failure. If she was worth anything, she would be able to use this to her advantage, bending her tears as a last resort. Her mother managed to get out of captivity with little more than a cup after months of torture and isolation. But Y/N couldn’t even bend.

She was completely and utterly useless.

And now she was about to head to some prison, the Boiling Rock in the middle of her element yet unable to do a single thing. Trapped in a jail cell an entire country away from her friends with no idea on how they were doing, no idea on the fate that was in everyone’s hands but her own.

Y/N buried her head in her hands, trying her best to muffle the sobs as she let herself succumb to them.

What had she done to deserve this? Fight for the good of the world? Trust the only boy that had ever loved her the same way she loved him? Try to end the war that had ruined her life and seemed intent on breaking her completely?

She was so damn exhausted. She didn’t have it in her to fight anymore, not when this was all fighting got her.

Her whole life had been an uphill battle, from the moment her village was invaded to Zuko turning his back on her.

Maybe it was time to finally accept she couldn’t win.

-

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[broke-bruce-wayne]

hi! im new to dc but i love poison ivy, can you recommend me some comics about her? (sorry for my bad english!)

Sure thing, I’ll give you a couple of my favorite Ivy stories. Some of them are villain Ivy, some are more heroic, and some are in-between

Canon One Shots: 

Secret Origins (1986) 36: Pavane Ivy’s post-Crisis origin story, written by the one and only Neil Gaiman. 

Batman: Poison Ivy (1997): Ivy has left Gotham for an Island paradise, only for it to be destroyed by weapons manufacturers testing a new weapon. 

Batgirl (2011): Annual #2: Ivy works with Batgirl to go after a mysterious pharmaceutical corporation

Canon Arcs

Greg Rucka’s Ivy Trilogy: My personal favorite Ivy stories. Takes place during and after No Man’s Land, but the only relevant information you need to know is Gotham has been abandoned by the Government and Ivy has claimed the park during it. Part 1: Shadow of the Bat 88, Batman 568, Detective Comics 735. Part 2: Detective Comics 750-751. Part 3: Gotham Central 32

Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death: Her only solo series

Trinity (2016): 1-6: Less of an Ivy story and more a story featuring Ivy, but I enjoyed it so I’m putting it down

Other Stories:

Injustice Year Zero 8: This is the only issue I’ve read of Injustice, but it features both Ivy intimidating Joker AND a Harley/Ivy wedding, so if either of those things interest you, highly recommend

Love is a Battlefield (2021): Features Harley and Ivy reminiscing on their lives together

DC Pride 1 (2021): A cute little Harley/Ivy story

Batgirl Adventures: Ivy is in trouble, and Harley works with Batgirl to help her

Poison Ivy: Thorns: A YA Graphic Novel retelling of her origin. I enjoyed it immensely

She also plays a role in almost every Harley Quinn series. My header is from the Harley Quinn Road Trip Special, which is a fun story. Also, her stories in The Batman Adventures are good. There are others, so I might add to this as I remember specific issues, but that’s a solid starting point of my Ivy recs. 

[estrel]

So this was just pointed out to me but in ep 5 of season 15 Lilith says something along the lines of “I had to die for what I wanted most” which... she did. And she came back via Gods Power (which Jack now has) As well all know very well Cas died(ish? He was just kinda absorbed) for what he “... wants but can’t have” Im sorry this is hardly coherent a friend pointed this line out to me and I freaked and you wrote most of my favorite metas so I thought I’d ask a penny for your thoughts

first of all, i want to say thank you for sending this to me. this is the episode i’ve been wanting to write about for about a month or more, but never had a reason to, so i’m very happy that i can, now! 

Cas’ Arc Isn’t Finished Yet

important: i should clarify that there are two storylines going on in this episode: dean’s relationship with cas (a reaction to their break up) and sam’s chuck visions of parallel universes mirrored by the two werewolf brothers in the ep. just a lot of 15x18 and 15x19 vibes in general..

the “then” section of this episode references dean and cas’ breakup from two episodes before, 15x03. this is the basis of this analysis, because in my eyes the entire lilith plot revolves around cas’ relationship with dean (and sam) and how he feels inadequate in comparison, or as though he doesn’t belong. 

here’s a refresher on what was said in 15x03 (taken from the recap):

cas: something went wrong. something always goes wrong.

dean: yeah, why does that something always seem to be you?

cas: i think it’s time for me to move on.

another important quote from the “then” section of 15x05 that they included from 15x01:

sam: god’s gone. it’s just us.

dean: and about three billion ghosts.

sounds to me like 15x09:

sam: you know, with chuck not writing our story anymore, we get to write our own. just you and me, going wherever the story takes us. just us.

dean: finally free.

so let’s now get into why cas is a mirror for ashley/lilith:

ashley is set up to have two close friends that mirror sam and dean. when they’re all on a camping trip together in the beginning of the ep, she tells them she feels out of place because they both have jobs and she doesn’t. reminds me of a scene in 15x03 when cas tells dean:

(note: at this point “ashley” is actually lilith pretending to be her, but neither dean nor the audience knows that yet. which, again, is why dean is set up to be us in the s15 narrative)

'ashley’ even talks to dean about her feelings of inadequacy directly--she asks him if he likes his job, to which he responds:

even the way he’s sitting and his facial expression remind me of:

...a little (a lot) distanced from the conversation. uncomfortable. on the verge of saying something more.

then ashley/lilith further proves herself as a cas mirror. she asks dean if he thinks it would be better if everything was already planned out for them. remember, we don’t know this is lilith talking, and ashley wouldn’t know that everything was, actually, planned out by chuck. putting ourselves in fake-ashley’s mindset, we can see that she’s under the impression that she’s making it up as she goes.

you know the only character that canonically does that? that is the only one free from chuck’s script?

cas. 

after that, lilith/ashley puts dean to sleep, and he wakes to find her gone, taken by the werewolf brothers, leaving sam and dean to have to rescue her from them. finally, she reveals herself as lilith, and this ensues (remember that at this point, she is a clear mirror for cas):

(side note: can we talk about her outfit, too? the white shirt, the tie...all very reminiscent of cas.) 

so here we can see....even more so a parallel to cas in 15x18, when he’s taken by the empty. the only difference is that chuck didn’t bring him back. but then she talks about chuck’s plan for her, which was:

...interesting. cas mirror was supposed to be rescued by dean and seduce him. okay. i’m listening, i’m looking

then she makes a deal with dean to save sam’s life, and the two are in the car together. this is when we finally get to what you referenced in this ask (so sorry i went off) when she talks about how she died to free lucifer from the cage:

familiar, familiar...

”the one thing i want...it’s something i know i can’t have.”

let’s think about the lilith/ashley/cas similarities again...

lilith is pissed that god brought her back, because she believes she died for a good cause. cas, in my opinion, is in the same boat--dying to save dean in 15x18. so this begs the question: what would make cas want to come back?

like i said here, i think if cas is to come back, then it needs to be because of choice and it needs to be because he’s wanted back (aka, not because god thinks he could be useful. i think this is exactly why they made jack make a point of having a “hands off” approach). cas can’t keep the feelings of inadequacy that his mirror, ashley, had in this episode--these are the exact feelings he’s been battling since pretty much his introduction. which means, in order for his character arc to come full circle, he needs to break free of thinking that he’s unwanted, he needs to think that he deserves to be saved. 

and we know this...

[leeyanyanyaaan]

omg hi so i JUST caught up to the reboot and im AKJSBDAJSBDKJASBDAJSBD honestly that's the best way i can describe how i feel bc it feels like my minds been blown in a good way that im at a loss for words

like GOD i DID NOT expect for this reboot to give me SO MUCH FEELS???? not only nostalgia wise, but like, plot and everything as a whole???

i can tell that @/mlp-fever really put so much thought and care into this reboot, especially the script/storyboard, and that it wasn't just some refilmed 2022/3 version and i really admire that yknow as someone that loved lpstube (w lps popular being one of my firsts) when i was still 10 AND as a writer now

it feels like a fanfic done right, an alternate universe, that did more than just reiterate the story with a few additions, it's practically rewritten so much that you almost forget this was a reboot but at the same time a lot of things feel like they still go into place and still feels cohesive and still feels like yeah this is lps popular? gosh sorry if my rambling makes absolutely no sense im just... yeah im just really blown away by the reboot XD

alongside with the plot, i NEED to talk about the characters because they pulled at my heartstrings SO much as i was watching. savannahs corruption arc (the amount of times i needed to pause the episode and dramatically put my hand over my mouth as i would think "no savannah don't do this!" or "oh no savannah this is bad..."), brookes redemption arc, the change with the people savannah would be around. honestly, the characters were SUPER fleshed out and had more depth than in the original, the way that there's really no clear good guy bad guy and that everyone has their faults and mistakes and it really impacts your empathy for the characters, that its what really makes up for the major change in plot bc by the end of season 1 to my the story didnt feel too lacking or that it was missing big chunks or anything.

AND THEN SEASON 2 god if i wasn't already shipping savannah and brooke then im sooo shipping them even more now like HHHHH THE WANT FOR THEM TO BE TOGETHER!!! THE TENSION!!! THE WAY WE KNOW THAT THEIR JEALOUSY IS BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN FEELINGS FOR ONE ANOTHER!!! literally it also pains me to see how savannah is really obviously not into tom and how jealous shes getting of briac and then brooklyns hesitation when howard said how shes seen as an overprotective sister.

theres so much ive left out especially from season 1 about brookes character and her projection of inner homophobia, the difference in sages character etc etc and i wish i could speak more about them but my single braincell is really lacking the words i want to convey about this reboot series hhhkjasbfs but i can say that every episode, i would look into the comments and there will ALWAYS be a very well analysed and thought out comment about each aspect in every episode which sends the message much better than i could do XD

sophie's lps popular was definitely a major part in my childhood being on the internet, its what started me getting into lpstube (aside from lpshannah), and yknow as a kid back then, maybe the mature themes didn't really get to me (cough also i watched really dark lps series back then cough), but thinking about it as im older now, even if you could say that the plot in the og could've been better, i guess whats nostalgic about it was how its reminiscent to the stereotypical american highschool teen shows that i think were more common back then and i just wouldn't take that away from the show, even though it would've been nice to see the show to its end to give more background to the characters!

cleo's reboot is wonderful in its own, unique, right, the way that you can really tell its more than just a simple refilling of the show, as ive said earlier, you can really see the thought and care put into putting this reboot together and that's what i love! the way that you can also see more of a transition from 2010 to 2020 in its themes and story (eg the plots focus on the complex relationships and feelings the two main characters have for each other and how everything is no longer black and white and no longer following older stereotypes), and the way you can really feel how much more realistic and relatable it feels in compared to high school drama shows back then in GENERAL.

uhuhu overall i just- i absolutely loved going back on nostalgia lane watching this reboot it really was a great experience and i cant wait to see more for season two! im sorry this whole reblog response absolutely makes no sense and is just me rambling akjdfabskdfh

This isn't a Homestuck post but if you are someone who has any nostalgia for LPStube and especially LPS Popular I have got to sell you on THE REMAKE someone made that doesn't have as much like bad depictions of EDs and actual abuse and instead focuses on turning each character into a believable person with understandable motives not even to MENTION the fact that S2 is going to have a canonical trans character and S1 includes a girl character with a crush on another girl and it just overall handles the conflict between Savannah and Brooke better. It characterizes everyone in a way that doesn't have one clear good and bad guy like how it is in the original (with Brooke being clearly in the wrong in the majority of situations) and while the old LPSP has nostalgic value for myself (and it includes more drama for those interested in that) the remake just feels a lot more well made which just makes it a great watch. Made by MLP Fever on YouTube. Give it a watch (and talk to me please)

[sapphic-sasuke]

https://captnjacksparrow.tumblr.com/post/666754928812965888/the-thing-is-because-they-konoha-ninjas-are-a

This stuff is really stuck on my mind tbh and I’m confused, I thought the uchiha were one of the founders of the village along with senju and they should have a say in things / equal rights the same as senju but we were shown multiple times that wasn’t the case, about the coup d’état I think it was well deserved considering the clan head didn’t even fight back when his own son came to kill him. (thus the reason I felt the coup was more of an desperate attempt more than anything) I think sasuke not caring about his clan but using them as an excuse to feel angry behalf of itachi is complete bs but what do you think?

im cryin they said extremist sasuke fans don’t interact😭 no hate to op that’s just funny as hell

i honestly couldn’t bother to read the whole thing after a certain point (sorry anon) and ended up skimming it

but from what i got, they said revealing the truth behind the uchiha massacre would tarnish the uchiha clan’s reputation in konoha and so hurt sasuke.

i think sasuke by the war arc was past the point of tarnished reputation (he literally was a terrorist). i do agree that konoha would not defend the uchiha clan but that’s bc they all have been conditioned and indoctrinated to believe that the village comes first above everything else (which is weird and reminiscent of extreme nationalism, why put a village above your family????????) when people say they want the truth behind the uchiha massacre to be revealed, they want the sanctioned genocide to be acknowledged. even IF konoha ends up against the uchiha clan, people want the genocide to acknowledged. innocent family members died that day, all because they happened to come from a clan that was planning a coup; that’s horrific. it’s a stain on konoha for allowing that to happen.

and of course the reveal of the truth behind the massacre won’t end up positively for sasuke—that’s not the point. the point is to reveal the truth in the first place, to not hide genocide from the village. how people react to that knowledge is irrelevant honestly.

i also think sasuke not caring about his clan is not true. i’m not going to elaborate on that point bc we both agree and just. yeah.

[gayninjas]

(1/2) Okay so I'm still new to Naruto so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Also, this is long. I'm sorry. I'll split it.😅

Out of the K12 kids, Naruto, Sasuke and Neji were fucked over by Konoha (either by their clans, the old man hokage or the villagers). I'd include Rock Lee but I think he was just bullied as a small kid for being... weird? or not having chakra?? And he worked super hard and that didn't last long.

Anyway, I've read plenty of reviews about how the series ended poorly and how messages like "you can change your fate" were disregarded. That the the Naruto franchise would've done better staying an actiony, ninja shonen that focused more on changing the shinobi system instead of turning into the forced romantic shojo that it became. I agree with all of that.

And I said that to say this, I really am disgusted with how things went for Naruto, Sasuke and Neji. Naruto doesn't receive any apologies from those who should give him one (like the villagers! I think the old hokage bastard died so.. no apology there I guess). Like, I know Iruka apologizes to him and I don't know why. I know Iruka was Naruto's first bond, what'd he and only him have to apologize for.

Not only that but Naruto just accepts everyone and then hides the fact that those in charge of Konoha planned the Uchiha massacre!!! (Does Sasuke know he's doing that?) It's ridiculous to just hide the genocide committed by the state (because he's patriotic? Wants to stick to the status quo as much as possible while trying to change things??). And it's somehow worse to hide it when you have this intensely close relationship with the lone survivor of that genocide.

Like, why write Naruto like that? To receive no actual closure (imo) on how he grew up in Konoha and tp make him a top tier bootlicker

included the second part of the ask

(2/2) With Sasuke, that genocide happened and he was just left to his own devices on the outskirts. And he's treated as a villian for justifiably wanting to "destroy" Konoha and wanting a revolution. It gets under my skin how much the K12 kids don't give a fuck about stuff like this. (I like all of them (except for 2) and stuff like this sours my opinion on them)

Not only is he treated as a villain, it appears that no one pay's for the Uchiha massacre (except for Itachi?) which is bullshit. It's just swept under the rug. And THEN Sasuke is written to become another Konoha bootlicker??! He has to go off on his own to atone for his sins? What!

And finally Neji. He died as he knew he would, for the main house family. I will hate that forever and always. His destiny didn't change. Little!Neji in the chunin exams exposing how fucked up the Hyuuga clan is, no one (except Naruto?) cares. He gave Hinata a chance to back out before he killed her, which was allowed, she didn't, he was about to end it and then 4 teachers(?) jump in to save her because, special treatment. Can't let the (former) Hyuuga heir die, she means more than the other kids.

And he was treated as an antagonist for being rightfully pissed off. But no, he just gets over it I guess after befriending Naruto, the Hyuuga clan continues with its slavery bullshit and he dies sacrificing himself for Hinata. What a way to go.

And I know they don't address the slavery Neji wanted to abolish in Boruto. They just ignore it and act like everything's fine and dandy. Naruto isn't one of those series where things just happen offscreen and we know it's cool, right? They can't just expect ppl to think the Hyuuga clan changed right? They don't even focus on them, Neji died and so did any relevance to the Hyuugas because Hinata doesn't do anything.

(Had Neji lived I know he also would've been turned into a major bootlicker too)

In conclusion I can't stand how these 3 boys were screwed over by the village in many ways and then screwed over by bad writing. It's irritating. I love Naruto but there's so many problems with it.

i tried to be concise, hope i covered everything!

I agree that if the Naruto franchise didn’t end off with lackluster romance plots and instead gave closure for all the things they left open ended after the end of the war it would have made a much better ending to the series.

Kishimoto had even admitted he had trouble writing romance in as he hadn’t ever planned on it. He never considered it that relevant so when they did include it, the whole thing felt so forced and awkward it was even kinda ooc for Naruto and Sasuke (scenes like narutos flat ‘im not in touch with my emotions’ reaction to hinatas confession that butchered his character were an absolute pain to sit through)

Nejis death being an awful plot devise to develop NH was a terrible move, like neji sacrificed himself for someone who moments later held narutos hand and went "his hands are warm"??

Don’t even wanna list anything I dislike about ss cause their marriage is so lifeless i feel dead thinking about it.

As for the villagers, they were happy to alienate a poor kid who couldn’t fend for himself and let him believe he was a demon and was deserving of it all but then started licking his boots when they realized they had the equivalent of a nuclear weapon desperate to protect them, and even then they weren’t remorseful of their actions, its all very sickening really,

I think the whole end of Naruto was handled in a way that went against the characters values? like I can easily imagine Naruto being rightfully enraged at the people who issued the massacre of hundreds of innocents, and he wouldn’t ever think of hiding anything like that, especially from the victim who was also his friend??.

How they wrote sasuke as someone who now fucking bows down and becomes a soldier for a village that destroyed him and has done nothing for him is just absolute bs. Although with sasuke, even if one argues his loyalty was for Naruto, the patriotic lines are just too much.

As for the rest, I don’t have much to say cause they never tried to understand why sasuke was doing what he did, they only saw a power hungry uchiha who was seeking revenge.

And yes nejis end was tragic for all the wrong reasons, i was more pissed than sad watching it. He was treated as a tool for nh and his anger at the hyuga clan and their issues was brushed off without much thought because the series never delved into it or resolved it.

And yes we got no real closure for the uchiha massacre, all the messed up things in the hyuga clan and the way Naruto was mistreated his whole life etc. Its aggravating how they expect us to believe its all fixed and fine now

I really do love the pre shippuden arcs like the zabuza and haku arc especially though. They were the peak naruto experience for me and are always the scenes I reminisce and often get nostalgic over.