#without going into to detail this one's complicated bc he technically lives with the fear already and has experienced it before;

[constellationcrowned]

"Icons only" + Kariom (facing his greatest fear, maybe?)

Send "Icons only" and something for my muse to react to and I will show my muse's reaction using only icons (1-5) and no text

[stitchlike]

hc - earth grudge fear ( jiongu )

since kishimoto slipped a disc right in the middle of kakuzu and hidan arc, it is up to me to explain kakuzu’s horror jutsu, it is MY duty now.

so the only details that are known about earth grudge fear / jiongu is that its a forbidden technique that kakuzu stole from his village and that it’s capable of extending his life by stealing hearts of other people. and that, as seen on tv, kakuzu is full of tiny, black tendrils that can be manipulated by him and can be used to heal from even the nastiest wounds. the hearts claimed by jiongu seem to be able to operate on their own, though i would not call them sentient (because 

but nothing was ever explained about the origin of the technique or what exactly is it and thats where i, coyote, come in with my epic cool headcanons, here i go

tl;dr -  earth grudge fear is a weird fusion between a jutsu and biology. originally, the black threads were summoned and used as a medical jutsu but the risk associated with them was too great (and too freaky). the gathered black threads were sealed away and the art of summoning them was forbidden. kakuzu stole the jutsu, used it on himself and is now the sole living host of jiongu / earth grudge fear. which has severely messed up his body and would have continued to do so were it not for his tragic, untimely death.

first record of jiongu / earth grudge fear is that of an ancient medical technique, especially useful during the first shinobi conflicts. the shinobi medics of the region that would eventually become takigakure knew a technique of summoning a small gathering of black threads. those threads, when guided to a wound, would move on their own and stitch together the cut tissue. the black threads were capable of re-attaching lost limbs and closing otherwise life-threatening wounds. this was also a time before precise medical jutsus were developed/learned from other shinobi regions. the black threads were the main healing technique, they were effective but crude. they did not help with the pain or regeneration, they just closed the wounds. eventually, they were replaced by more modern medical ninjutsus.

PLUS medics of takigakure were actively seeking to replace the black threads because the repeated use of them was proven to be very detrimental to the body. with every summon or every stitch, there was a risk of becoming infected with the threads that could slip into a human body with ease. the tendrils are drawn to chakra and since human body generates it, they seek to infiltrate it in order to be closer to the source. this resulted in medics suddenly coughing up the clumps of wriggling black threads or shinobi removing their bandages only to see something moving underneath their skin. the black threads were very effective for severe wounds, but repeated use was extremely dangerous. the threads could obstruct airways and accidentally choke their host or they could end up clogging veins, leading to serious heart complications. the threads would also multiply by transforming the victim’s body, often affecting vital organs and leading to their failures as their tissue was literally turned into new tendrils.

this is also where the name of the jutsu comes from: earth grudge fear. people internally infected by the threads were seen as cursed. coughing up the clumps of threads was a sign of being haunted by those who received similar wounds but died.

de-threading was possible through extensive operations which were often fatal (hard to pull out a bunch of wriggling worms from the brain, for example). the removed threads had to be sealed away, as once summoned they would not return to their place of origin (nobody knew where that was anyways). they also seemed unable to die, even after separated from the host body. 

once future takigakure shinobis learned the art of more practical (and tamer) medical ninjutsus, it was decided that summoning black threads was no longer beneficial and the jutsu had to be forgotten. every single scroll containing the summoning technique was gathered and burned. only one remained behind (just in case). it was the scroll that had access to the writhing mass of black threads gathered from de-threading operations. this summoning pact was takigakure’s first forbidden technique, a keepsake from ancient conflicts.

and that’s the scroll kakuzu stole after his prison break. severely wounded after his escape, he decided to use jiongu’s famed healing abilities AND embarrass the village by stealing one of its treasures. he summoned a sea of chakra-starved threads which entered his body in a very painful, nasty rush (which was not what he expected). at this point, his recollection of this night gets a bit fuzzy. though, he has a vivid memory of his jaw getting split in two so that a mass of black tendrils now residing in his stomach could snatch up a whole human heart through his throat (which is the origin of his face stitches). i do want to write about the night kakuzu uses jiongu for the first time but this post is already monstrously long, so thats for another time. but i will mention that kakuzu burned the remaining scroll so he is now the only jiongu user in the shinobi world. 

kakuzu is a VERY unique case of the jiongu infection that has never happened before, even at the peak of jutsu’s usage. at the time he joined akatsuki, his body consisted of 75% black threads. at this point, the threads have essentially become his chakra pathways, replaced most of his muscle tissue and created clusters that took on some of the organ functions, like. his body is MESSED UP. its a horror show, for real. the threads are a part of him and controlling them is second nature to him, it’s just like chakra control or moving a limb. and yes the threads or the hearts animated by them can function independently of kakuzu but their priority is protecting their host body, always. they heal him, they keep him alive, they let him store additional chakra through stolen hearts and control it like its his, they can be used offensively as those funky heart beasts in anime. he can use them medically too, without spreading the infection. its like total symbiosis between him and those wriggly boys.

BUT... BUT... one question remains and that’s where did the black threads come from in the first place? who invented the summoning jutsu that summoned a bunch of wriggly tendrils that could sew up wounds? nobody knows, kakuzu has no idea, however i do because im typing these words right now. the threads are not of this world, they came FROM SPACE along with the seed of god tree. the threads are essentially a form of a parasite that’s drawn to chakra. though, maybe its less parasite and more like virus, because the threads are not sentient, all they know is that they have to infiltrate any chakra container they find. the threads infected the god tree until they were sealed away by kaguya. and then the scroll that kept them sealed somehow found its way to the future region of takigakure and the rest is history. so yes, space eldritch worms that cannot be killed. why? because it’s creepy and i love that !

if kakuzu continued to live, it’s possible the constant injuries and the constant multiplication of black threads would cause him to outgrow his human skin. his attitude towards the kinjutsu is... Complicated. that’s also material for another post but he doesn’t hate it, its just something he did to stay alive. he also doesnt treat it as a living thing (and hes right bc its technically not alive), its just like. germs in your stomach, you don’t exactly think of them as your faithful companions, they just happen to live inside ur guts and help you out.

i think that’s all i remembered to write! so, just as tl;dr stated at the beginning: a weird fusion between biology and a jutsu. it almost seems like it doesnt fit in naruto world but then u remember this anime has aliens and cloning science and then it does make sense. the end!

i have finished what kishimoto’s slipped disc could not (IM JOKING !!!!).

[voidfishersong]

Fallane and Eliza Fate, please

Alright, these two are from different ‘verses just fyi. so any supernatural elements are very, very different, as well as social situations.

WARNING: Fallane’s contains reference to some things that might be triggering. nothing in-detail, but please be advised.

Full Name: Fallane

Gender and Sexuality:

 male-ish but with a rising intonation and a hand-wiggly gesture. sexuality is definitely just a hand-wiggly gesture, we think he has a slight preference for men but tbh no one cares

Pronouns:

 he/him. if you used other ones he probably wouldn’t object but if you asked he’d say ‘he/him’

Ethnicity/Species:

 Egyptian. and he’s like,,, vaguely a demon but not actually. he’s

supposed

 to be one of the generals/servants/sextoys/whatever of AN ASSHOLE who reincarnates every 30 years or so, possesses a young girl, and makes everyone’s life hell but he said ‘nope that’ and (mostly) left. so he’s not actually a demon but that’s what his kind got characterized as by various mortals and usually he doesn’t correct people

Birthplace and Birthdate:

 like literal ancient egypt in like 2,700 bc or smth

Guilty Pleasures:

 I don’t think he’s guilty about any of his pleasures.

that came out way more sexual than I intended

I just meant that he likes things and he’s not ashamed of it

Phobias:

 ahhhh this ‘verse is so dark help. I’d say sexual assault is pretty high on the list. I think he’s also a bit claustrophobic. more than a bit. he’s very claustrophobic he just doesn’t get into many situations like that

What They Would Be Famous For:

 he could be a model? like actually. he wouldn’t but he

could

. he’s got a wicked fashion sense and is really good at makeup. ooh he could model makeup too

What They Would Get Arrested For:

 can u get arrested for smoking indoors? he would. or shoplifting. he likes petty crime because either a) ‘this shouldn’t be privately owned and private ownership is just a social construct’ or b) ‘haha what are u gonna do, catch me?’

OC You Ship Them With:

 Sam!! Sam Reeve x Fallane is best ship. you could also ship him with Kai but Sam is most perfectest. I made a ship name for them but it’s lame and I’m not sharing unless u dm me. I also ship Fallane with a healthy lifestyle but that’s never gonna be canon so

OC Most Likely To Murder Them:

 does Nara canonically murdering him count? there r a lot of ppl who want to murder Fallane so I feel like this is an unfair question. Kai genuinely hates him for a large part of the story. ahaha Kai canonically kills him too jesus christ Fallane you’ve been killed three times you gotta chill. but I think Nara would be more likely to succeed than Kai so. the answer I pick is Nara. in a sarcastic way tho it’d be Mista, who is so done with his shit and she’s the type to say ‘im going to murder you’ when he like, puts his feet on the table or something

Favorite Movie/Book Genre:

 mystery? anything he can sarcastically criticize the plot of, tbh. maybe horror

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche:

 if he’s a horror fan, then it’d be where any time someone says ‘dont do this’ the person does it and dies. I think he definitely dislikes the ‘aliens are always technological experts’ cliche like what if the explorers are anthropologists with no clue how their ship works?? did you ever think of that?? no you didn’t

Talents and/or Powers:

 his main talent is sarcasm. he’s very gifted with picking up languages and accents, and he has a high appreciation for all forms of art. in the supernatural realm, he’s got a lot. he’s a natural low-level empath, and then he got powers on top of that, which made him nigh immortal, gave him rly cool wings, and magical charisma (which is like subconscious suggestion, except,, magic) which he mostly uses to convince people he’s paid for shit he

hasn’t

 paid for. in the name of disabling capitalism, of course, and not because he just wants the pillow. then he’s also got some extradimensional abilities which are often interpreted as a kind of telekinesis but isn’t technically. and his empathic abilities get turned up to eleven until he can project so hard he can accidentally (or purposefully) kill someone

Why Someone Might Love Them:

 if you’re about grey moralities, ambiguity, and anti-heroes, you’ll probably love Fallane. he’s also very protective, and a single dad of energetic twins so there’s no shortage of relatability, either. but I think a lot of his charm comes from his interactions with other characters, because he feels very strongly and brings many things other characters are afraid to say. there’s a weighty sense of honesty with him, and a real desire to do right by the world and help the downtrodden. he also struggles with trauma and mental illness and he’s really, really messed up but he

tries

 and sometimes he fails and I think people will find a surprising amount to identify with. Fallane is my ultimate walking contradiction, but I think it works.

Why Someone Might Hate Them:

 I feel like he’s a character people would be just indifferent toward UNTIL people started being apologists and saying he does nothing wrong and then he’d be one of those characters that the fandom just splits on, as polarizing ends get increasingly more argumentative. he can be manipulative too and I think people might take issue with things like that, but I feel like most people who would actively hate him would be misinterpreting him. he’s not supposed to be a paragon of good morality

How They Change:

 in the first few waves of this ‘verse Fallane was a definite villain, if a hero-aiding anti-villain. then I decided villains were overrated and now there’s no villains, just a complicated mess of varying degrees of grey morality. in canon, this is reflected. he goes from a certain ‘I can’t do anything substantial about it so I just won’t bother’ to someone who

acts

 on his desire to combat discrimination and abuse. he also gets his family back, and gains a little sister, and he’s constantly learning how to love (in every way) and how to

live

.

Why You Love Them:

honestly?

because

 he’s learning how to live. much of Fallane’s backstory (and his role-switch from anti-villain to anti-hero) came from when I got over being suicidal, so he’s sometimes a comfort character. ngl, I also love his aesthetic. I’m also a bit biased because he has ocd and I have ocd and that’s relatable too and it makes his aesthetic

extra

 relatable. he’s also incredibly emotional and that’s always an adventure to write. I really love Fallane guys.

also this ao3 tag is like the greatest descriptor of him:

Full Name: Eliza Fate

Gender and Sexuality:

female, bisexual

Pronouns

: She/Her

Ethnicity/Species:

English. and she’s a vampire so uh yea

Birthplace and Birthdate:

England and uh….. like…. idk….. a long time ago

Guilty Pleasures:

both slow and fast jazz music. also she’s surprisingly good with children - I like to think that sometimes, she volunteers at daycare-like-places in the shadier parts of town where there’s too many kids and not enough workers and she just helps out these toddlers and teaches them to jazz dance, the way you teach little kids anything, which is hold them and pretend they’re following anything you’re saying

Phobias:

I don’t think she’s phobic of anything, but she’s afraid of losing her family. they’re very important to her and I think her deepest fear is that someday she’s going to wake up completely alone. she’s not afraid of any one person leaving (obviously she’d be upset), it’s just the idea that

everyone

 could disappear

What They Would Be Famous For:

she’s kind of famous within the criminal underworld because she’s like a mob boss, and she’s mostly famous for having a very large family, and for being independent. she went almost two centuries without a right-hand man/woman/etc which, especially as a woman, was quite unique

What They Would Get Arrested For:

I mean she already murders ppl and runs a mafia so that

could

 get her arrested, but if she ever got caught it’d probably be something like she murdered a child abuser or something really,

really

 violently and not well-planned

OC You Ship Them With:

 Itsuki, who’s her canon boyfriend, and Andrea, who’s her canon girlfriend. she’s poly and her relationships are usually open relationships, including with those two. I also ship her hardcore with Katsumi, although that’s a very different dynamic (1960s lots of drugs and alcohol and free sex and it’s about pushing each other further and further and not always healthy but they know that and it’s okay). I feel like Eliza would be really great for romance fanfic because you can go with many time periods!

OC Most Likely To Murder Them:

 Rin. boi Rin has wanted to murder her since he met her probably, he just hated her on principle and then Eliza went and decided she liked Itsuki so Rin hated that and

then

 she started dating Katsumi too and so she’s in love with both his roommates and that pisses Rin off. it’s funny.

actually it’s often really depressing because they end up blaming each other for Katsumi’s death and just about everything else and I think Rin might actually wish she had never existed but

usually it’s a sarcastic ‘I would murder you right now Eliza I swear’

Favorite Movie/Book Genre:

 slice of life. I think she likes the variety and the normalcy of it all, and she usually thinks the couples are cute. her least favorite genre is probably mystery

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche:

 love triangles. they’re way, way overdone. also they invalidate the possibility of poly or open relationships. on a less serious note, she hates any mystery story that ends with like ‘the detective was the culprit all along!’ there’s not really a reason why she hates that but. she does. I made her I make the rules

Talents and/or Powers:

 powers: well, she’s a vampire. talents: charisma. she is very good at getting people to understand her viewpoint, when she puts her foot down on something, which is rare. she’s also good at dancing. and very good at sex too apparently. she’s good with children too! but only really smol ones, once they get above like 5 they’re usually assholes

Why Someone Might Love Them:

 she’s strong, and independent, and I think she’s over all a good person. she doesn’t take shit from people, but she doesn’t assume that people

are

 giving her shit. she’s quite easy-going, all-in-all. she’s also really loving to her family, and in many ways she fulfills feminine roles, but the way she does them and the way she thinks about them are empowering, I think

Why Someone Might Hate Them:

 when Eliza was first conceptualized in mid high school, I was terrified that people would see her as bad representation because she’s not morally straight

and

 I worried that making her bi and poly would make people angry. but I think I’ve mostly gotten past that? idk. but I definitely think people might dislike her for her constant relationships - she doesn’t do well if she doesn’t have at least one datemate, and people might see that as too dependent or needy. she sometimes comes across as needy, so there’s that. I think there’d definitely be Eliza Fate stans and Eliza Fate haters

How They Change:

 you get to see her progression from the civil rights era to present day, and she does change a bit, but overall she’s one of the most stable characters in this ‘verse. she really learns to accept rejection, and since she adopts a literal child (Nayeli) into her family and doesn’t raise Nayeli with any expectations of her joining the Family, I think she learns to work with people during their formative adolescent years, too

Why You Love Them:

Eliza is a character from the second wave of this ‘verse, so she’s quite old to have changed so little. I also love how she can differ depending on the time, so her roles change depending on the context. her personality doesn’t really change between any of them, but she’s a very complex character (a side effect of having been in my head for at least 5 years) and you can actually

see

 all her facets. also she’s a mob boss mom??? like that’s cool idk she’s super suave and i’m gay

[herotheshiro]

[new thing i’m gonna do is put the manga’s cover on my review posts so y’all who don’t know/memorize titles can tell/remember what manga i’m talking about at a glance. photos will purposely not be good quality, i’m just grabbing off of google images and this isn’t a scanlations tumblr or anything]

so. today i’m writing about hate no kouya de vacances wo/the world’s end. it’s actually made up of 3 one-shots, and i’ll be reviewing the 2nd and 3rd ones -- i didn’t read the 1st one bc it’s not stuff i’m that interested in reading (ageless demon picks up human child, child grows up and he and the demon get together as adults).

2nd story is called the frog boy i think, it’s about a HS boy who’s really pretty but he’s disgusted by himself and his own looks. he befriends a classmate who’s really into bugs and fossils and etc and obviously this is BL they get together at the end. this was a nice read, i liked that when the classmate finally confesses near the end, you know he likes the main for more than his looks even though the beginning of his confession is like ‘i’ve been thinking lately you’re prettier than a luna moth...’. tbh i was afraid the story was gonna take a morbid turn and the main disfigures his own face out of personal disgust or something and the classmate would be into it, but nah it was basically just a ‘i like you for more than/past your looks’ story. ending where the main suddenly stops being nauseous abt his looks didn’t really make sense bc you just don’t suddenly stop hating yourself just bc someone you like confesses to you but whatever, story logic where everything gets wrapped up in the end nicely is how it is.

3rd story is called something along the lines of vacationing at world’s end [characters on cover are for this story], and man tbh this is the story i really wanted to write about in this post. (spoilers oncoming bc i’m just gonna give the entire story here so i can discuss it) main character shin is a scientist/astronaut living alone on a planet carrying out research missions while he keeps contact with a scientist rurikiya (was that his name? i forgot) back on earth (who he is also actually in a relationship with. more on this later in my thoughts). he’s been out there alone for years, so occasionally he has his mission support AI (designed by scientist dude) take the form of the scientist dude and he sleeps with him and eventually just hangs with him in rurikiya form. finally it’s time for shin to return home but turns out a year prior earth had been completely destroyed by an asteroid and also rurikiya died then ... and turns out the person he had been talking to for that entire year was the AI, which turns out rurikiya put all his neural info into up until his death which was why the AI was basically able to develop as and be rurikiya without shin realizing something was up.

ok now that the summary’s out of the way ... stories like this always really pull at my heartstrings. technically it’s a “happy” ending bc in the end shin and rurikiya are together ... it just brings up the decades-old question of “if you copy a person exactly, DNA and thought patterns and all .... is that copy really the same thing as the original person you copied from?” which is hella complicated to even begin to unpack in post that’s just a manga/BL review. there’s another BL that comes to mind that touched on this which is that one abt the main who meets this guy who travelled back in time and is like ‘we’re destined to be together’ and eventually they get together but then the guy dies and idr how the story progresses but the ending is the main living in the future with a robot clone of the time traveller dude ... and now that i’m thinking about it, there’s also a couple other stories i can think of which had similar stories/concepts, and all of them just make me feel so sad...

anyway thoughts on story plot. story starts, and i’m like ‘omg... this is gonna be a case of AI falls in love with human or vice versa huh...’ and then halfway through the story i was like ‘ok the AI is actually gonna be rurikiya somehow, like rurikiya can actually see through the AI so he knows shin has been hooking up with him every night’ bc i thought it was gonna be a simple story where it ends with them together at the end in a HEA and then they hit me with the ‘earth has actually been destroyed’ revelation so then i was like ‘WAIT OMG... THE AI HAS BECOME SENTIENT AND IS IN LOVE WITH SHIN’ and then they’re like ‘well actually rurikiya put all his neural info into the AI so the AI is actually rurikiya basically’. basically a ton of whiplashes... i was under the impression that shin had a secret crush on rurikiya but also turns out (based on the side story at the end which is rurikiya’s pov of shin going off to the other planet and during earth’s doomsday) they were actually in a relationship or something (but then this kind of makes me confused re: that scene when AI rurikiya is like ‘isn’t that creepy? we’re basically the same’ and there’s a shot of shin and rurikiya in bed together ... was that supposed to be like ‘oh all along shin thought he was sleeping with an AI but he was actually sleeping with rurikiya?’ or was it a ‘oh we’re actually both interested in each other like that but that was a weird way to reveal it’. i mean the side story kind of basically says they were in a relationship w rurikiya being like ‘[shin] should have proposed before he left’ but idk. i guess you could argue otherwise) ??

anyway the manga ends with them being like ‘yeah the AI is rurikiya. now with earth destroyed ... at least they can be together for the time being’ which like ok but also i’m the kind of person who’s like ‘no the copy and the original are different entities’ so i’m conflicted ... the ending i feel like could also be interpreted as shin knowing that the AI isn’t rurikiya (bc he’s like ‘you’re dead’ to the AI’s face) but accepting him and his concept of rurikiya as a replacement since the “real” rurikiya is gone. though the acceptance of the ‘aren’t i enough?’ line could go (again) either way ... either 1. the AI with rurikiya’s neural info has memories of their relationship and basically his personality and develops as rurikiya so rurikiya is still with him albeit in AI form or 2. rurikiya and the AI are different, but the AI can take on rurikiya’s form and thus rurikiya can still “be” with shin. again the side story made me a lil confused here bc i was like ‘did rurikiya shift his consciousness to the AI’ with the ‘i can see it shin’ line bc if it’s just an AI then how ... or is rurikiya being like ‘in my mind here on earth i can see it’. the thing about this 3rd story is that i feel like it’s not entirely tight re: the whole AI situation as you would expect from a fully developed sci-fi story but i mean lol this is just a one-shot and there are enough details that everything makes sense (or you can easily make it make sense). also the comment about ‘when the meteroid was coming, only the millionaires, govt officials, and the barest minimum of staff got on the escape ships and i wasn’t able to get a ship to you’ made me so sad bc you damn know well that same shit would happen if this doomsday shit happened today.

anyway i wonder whenever rurikiya was updating the AI with his neural info did he see that shin was sleeping with him. i mean i think the whole sleeping with the AI thing didn’t happen until the year post-earth being destroyed but idr the story’s timeframe. also wanted to say my favorite panel in this story was the panel right after rurikiya tells shin that the earth was destroyed a year ago: it looks so different compared to the rest of the story’s style, and you can tell the raw horror/fear in that one moment.

other than the 1st story that i didn’t read, the 2nd and 3rd stories were nice even though the last one was really sad to read. stories like that which indirectly talk about the concept of forever and losing things always really make me feel some kind of way ... like eden in February and that one one-shot of the guy leaving his country home for college in tokyo both murdered me bc those were basically their themes. god.