#also attribute this drawing to any ship you like it’s all love it’s all LOVE homies

[cuepickle]

I headcanon Steve as bi, for the meme I’ll allow it

#look I just believe in my heart of hearts that robin constantly calls Steve gay #but like not in a derogatory way #she’d call him pet names in a derogatory way #also if you hc Steve differently that’s cool man you do you it’s all love #my art #doodle of the day #stranger things #steve harrington #robin buckley #stranger things season 4 #sts4 #also attribute this drawing to any ship you like it’s all love it’s all LOVE homies

[black-suns-rim]

It's 1 am and insomnia is kicking me, so here are some random thoughts I have about yautja. Do what you must with this

Is there an aquatic subspecies that hunts only in the ocean? If so, what special physical attributes would they have? Webbed digits, smoother skin, mandables that tightly fit their face?

I feel like yautja would have a strong pack bond. Like clans are just like large family units and everyone takes part in raising pups. So like you don't have to be related to a pup for them to call you "auntie" "uncle" "cousin" and so on.

Everyone who follows me knows I love drawing chunky pups. Yautja mothers would probably over-feed their pups so they can grow big and strong cause they wouldn't want any runs or small pups.

Are marriage rituals a thing with yautja (more specifically for the older yautja who have life mates)?

I wonder how many canonical yautja are gay-

How would yautja react to the internet on earth? All of the cute and horrifying things it has to offer?

Some male yautja might have a praise kink

Yautja + trollhunters crossover? I have yet to see anything like that. It would be interesting to see a yautja hunting a troll and Jim battling off a yautja thinking it is one of Gunmar's goons

Now I can't stop thinking about a yautja clan that would specifically hunt trolls as their blooding ritual. Like the only thing you can take from a troll while they are still alive is the eyes, otherwise everything else would turn to stone if a yautja were to cut it off.

Yautja + arcane magic

A nomadic yautja who sells weapons, hunting gears and other nic-nacks to clans sounds like a fun story to write. That said yautja could also interact with other alien species, gambling and trading. Ok, no one take this idea, it's mine. I'm making another yautja oc now and you can't stop me Xyro, lol

I wonder if the yautja have any card games or simular things they play to pass the time while on their ship, waiting for the next hunt?

I wonder if love bites are a thing amongst the yautja. Just agressive love and affection

I can imagine young yautja on clan ships will just have cuddle piles together when they get too cold during sleeping hours since they don't have their own rooms

#yautja #predator #the predator #alien #random #random adhd thoughts #1 am #random thoughts #i cant sleep #help #interesting #cute #strange #fandom stuff #fandom #trollhunters

[jurassic-amber]

Prepare thyself mortal. For I have questions to bestow upon thee.

1. Do you have anything resembling a story / route planned for Abigail? Supporting characters, ect?

2. Ever drawn a metal guitar before?

3. Regarding your Digimon artwork, what inspires you to create digimon? Do you have a favourite digimon you’ve designed? Is there anything in particular that inspired their design?

4. I *know* you’ve got a character who transforms into a monster somewhere in that brain of yours. Tell us about them. All of them.

5. What is your favourite Iterator OC? Why? Is there anything that particularly inspired their design (both art and character wise)?

6. How are you so fucking good at art?

7. Do you have any Pokémon OC’s? Or hell, OCs from existing works you haven’t talked about?

Love you and your art, please share more :happyhugs:

1: I’m very vague on Abigail’s story overall, but I know how it ends, specifically. If they were in a game it’d be a very short game compared to base game Undertale, only going up to Waterfall before encountering the “final boss” they couldn’t beat. (Hint: it’s not undyne) Gonna leave it mostly in the dark besides that for the time being (because it’d take too long to draw)

2: Nope, but here’s a quick sketch of an electric guitar

3: Ohhhhh well, in the beginning I just drew a bunch of rookie level digimon to practice and do a sort of “attribute swap” where I draw stuff like plant digimon as dragon digimon or dragon digimon as birds, etc etc. But a lot of more recent work is actually modern designs for pen and marker drawings from when I was like 7! Some have changed names, some have improved colors, all of them have improved designs. Here’s an example!

When I get around to drawing their champion and ultimate levels it’ll probably diverge even more as I get different ideas as to where I want the lines to go. I also just love making digimon cause I often draw to fill empty niches in works I notice, and digimon basically has infinite of those cause you can partner a digimon up with any character and then try to think of a special line for them! As for my current favorite… it’s a strange choice, but definitely CryoGreymon! Most of the body is traced from official art of the normal Greymon, but I liked the modifications I made. I redrew an entire leg to give him a wider stance, added more spikes and stripes!!

It’s a champion form of Snow Agumon cause they never gave him a digivolution despite being the coolest variant (Hehehe cool and snow, get it?)

4: At first I was gonna do Aria for this, but then I remembered Cloe and fuck yeah let’s do her.

CLOE, pronounced Chloe is a character for a sci-fi mystery game, and when I say sci-fi, I mean space travel and aliens sci-fi. She’s an early game red herring meant to be reasonably suspicious to the characters, but obviously innocent to us, along with being a parody of every horror movie alien. She’s from a species that grows to disguise itself as other creatures and infiltrate their society. Her species needs a very high protein count. However being a species means they don’t all think the same. Some eat the creatures they disguise amongst, others steal prey, some intimidate others into satisfying their hunger. Cloe herself is an orphan and only survivor of an alien ship that crashed into a human controlled planet, and isn’t a species allowed on human controlled planets. Fortunately the agency that ends up handling the case where she’s exposed also was established in the first place to handle these type of situations. She follows one of the protagonists around after it’s obvious she’s innocent, and post game she goes under his care for the foreseeable future. As an alien she’s not allowed in normal school, so she spends her time at his house both studying and finding hobbies, like speedrunning in video games.

5: Not sure if you meant my favorite one I’ve made? I’m still trying to come up with all their designs tbh. But my favorite concepts ever were the vague one of Gifted Order and I also really like Two Bloodstained Hands. Gifted Order basically makes a part of themselves into a Slugcat, but gives themself rot in the process. They don’t quite see it as themselves, but are satisfied to give part of themselves freedom. This is inspired by a plot point in a game I like, leaving it vague which. I also like Two Bloodstained Hands’ concept of being feared just because they associate with violence in their work even though they aren’t a violent iterator

6: A lot of it is really just doing it over and over again, but aside from that I might have a couple tips? Most objects are made up of basic shapes, then you smooth them over. Depending on your art style, you don’t have to use every shape either, just a circle for the head is fine if you’re drawing something simple. Hair can be done with just wavy lines usually. And one thing I learned recently is practicing line weight!! Balancing thin lines and thick lines can give more direction to artwork or help highlight the silhouette if the outside is made thick.

7: god, I have so many… but in terms of Pokémon, I do have a bunch of fakemon designs! Remind me later and I’ll put up I’ll the fan-eeveelution designs I made

#my art #art #drawing #original character #digimon #original digimon #iterator OCs #fakemon #sci fi #god it feels weird putting such a variety of tags here even though they’re all applicable #imposter syndrome but it’s just me worrying about spam tagging

[andro-dino]

Tankanosuke and Sakyo, dealers choice on the reblogged ship questions (or you could do them aLL) >>>:3333

ehe answering this too bc I love them. I would do them all if I could but alas, I’d be here all day if I did, so I narrowed it down to four

6. Do they have any pet names/nicknames for eachother?

The entire world shifted on its axis the first time Sakyo called takanosuke “Taka” out of nowhere. He was trying to be causal about it but Takanosuke exploded. He usually only calls Takanosuke this privately every once in a while because the only time he ever did it in front of other people, they also went insane about it and have never let him live it down since. I think also he would proudly refer to takanosuke as his synchrome partner a lot and within the context of shogun steel I think that counts as a pet name too.

On Takanosuke’s end, he doesn’t really use many for Sakyo actually, though I like to think that he draws out Sakyo’s name a lot when he says it so maybe that in of itself could be considered a pet name. He also strikes me as the type to say “buddy” or “my guy” with romantic connotation

14. How would they describe one another if asked?

“Sakyo is super strong and cool! I admire him a lot! He inspires me to keep working hard and to become an even better blader. He can be kinda scary at first, but he’s really nice once you get to know him. He’s really intense, but I think it’s just because he’s really passionate about what he cares about. His drive and passion is something I really respect about him. He can also be pretty funny too, though I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose. You know actually this one time–!” [this continues for 45 minutes]

“Takanosuke? Well, he’s very passionate, for starters. He’s got more energy than you could possibly imagine he mostly puts it to good use. He’s a very strong blader and he works very hard and relentlessly to constantly improve and train even more, and I think that’s very respectable. I wouldn’t have chosen to become his synchrome partner if I thought any less. He’s very crafty and resourceful in battle. You wouldn’t know it just by looking at him, but he’s exceptionally skilled at analyzing his opponent and strategizing on the spot. He also cares deeply not only about beyblade, but his friends and what he stands by too. He’s too social for his own good in my opinion, but he’s also got a sharp tongue that moves faster than his brain sometimes, so he can make enemies just as easily as he can make friends. I’ve become the latter though, so I guess that serves as a testament to his persistence despite that.”

20. What are they like when sharing a bed?

I actually wrote a fic about this recently lol. I haven’t posted it publicly yet, but I probably will eventually. Anyways, takanosuke I think is a very heavy sleeper and he is definitely a sleep cuddler, so he’s totally koala bear-ing Sakyo all the time. And he’s got a strong grip too so Sakyo’s got no choice but to cuddle back, though he does it a lot more gently than Takanosuke does. Sakyo also wakes up before Takanosuke and in that time when Takanosuke’s still asleep, he just stares at him for a long while. He likes to study and take in every little detail of his face, especially when he’s so still in comparison to when he’s awake. (realistically I think takanosuke would also probably be a kicker but I’m choosing to omit that in favor of domestic fluff <3)

25. Pick a physical attribute that they love about each other.

I hc takanosuke with freckles all over his body, so for Sakyo, it’s definitely that. He likes to try count them or connect them to make little shapes and stuff (this was also brought up the in aforementioned unpublished fic ahsgsgs)

For Takanosuke, he’s a big fan of Sakyo’s hands. Big hands, bigger than Takanosuke’s, strong hands, graceful dancer hands juxtaposed by sharp claw nails. Good hands for holding a launcher. Good hands for holding Takanosuke’s own. He enjoys em.

#axel’s silly little thoughts #takanosuke shishiya #sakyo kurayami #im insane about them #there was no yellow text so I used purple instead bc that’s Takanosuke’s secondary color </3 #domestic takasakyo you will always be famous

[solarsavoy]

Sorry if this is a lot but 🏅👮😈👨‍👧‍👧✨

It's never too much! I'm happy to answer all the asks!!

🏅 What is something you recently felt proud of in regard to your writing (finished a fic, actually planned for once, etc).

I haven't been too happy with my fics lately tbh, however, I was really proud of finishing Karmagisa week back in July. I was really worried I wouldn't, considering my recent streak of updating irregularly. (Guess I'm just like every other fic write now. 😅 I just miss being able to keep up with posting regularly, because then I got regular comments which are like my lifeblood.) But yeah, so, Karmagisa week.

👩‍🏭 If one of your fics was going to get you arrested, which one and why?

I still don't think any of my other fics will have anything on Students of Despair. However, if I do it right, Pandora's might be worse in that respect. The reason is the same for both: I'm going to be googling a lot of dead body stuff and possibly adding in methods of killing. Yeah, that's probably gonna get me arrested. 😅 So if I do, somebody please point out this post to the police so they can see that this was in fact the intended purpose and I wasn't googling that stuff because I wanted to do anything.

😈 Is there anything you enjoy doing that you think your readers hate?

Strangely no? I did initially wonder if my readers would hate that I don't feel the need to make every ending happy, but I actually think that makes readers more interested, not less. (Looking at you, tuuli. XD)

There is one thing though. I love writing whatever ship the story may call for for the sake of the story. I won't change it just because some people don't like a certain ship. This makes me sad because I'm not intentionally trying to ever hurt someone for writing about a ship that I love and/or appreciate (because strangely not all ships I include are ships I personally ship, like NagiKae, but I do appreciate them) but as a writer, I feel it's my obligation to follow the story. I don't always know where my ideas come from, but it sometimes feels like if I'm not following the story, I'm disrespecting the thing that gave me the idea in the first place. Maybe that's weird, but I also attribute my inspiration to write at all to the same thing that gives me ideas. If I try to write a specific idea just because I want it, it's very hard to write without the backing of my muse. (It's hard to write at all lately, but that's a separate issue.) Anyway, that's less of speculation and more of a fact, but I do wonder if it hits more readers than I'm aware of. I know not every person is going to like every ship, but I still feel bad.

👨‍👧‍👧 Do you tell people in real life that you write fic? 

Oh, all the time.

In fact, there's a round of questions I ask literally every new person at one of my jobs. 1. How old do I look? (because they often guess I'm around 20-25 when they're actually a decade off and it makes me feel young XD) 2. You like books and reading or anime and manga? And then their answer to 2 will direct how the next part goes, which is either "I wrote a book and it's an isekai!" where I then blabber about my book for 30 minutes, or "oh, which anime? Have you seen Assassination Classroom? Great, cause I write fanfiction for that!" and then I proceed to blabber about that for 30 minutes. I do this because otherwise I never bring it up and there've been a couple people that were disappointed they didn't know I wrote/drew sooner, so I've just decided on this introduction of "yes, I draw, I write, I'm awesome, please check out my stuff" and then I proceed to never bring it up again because I haven't practiced my social interactions beyond that first one. (Did I mention I'm socially awkward despite being very chatty? Well, at least I got it out. I'm very bad at marketing otherwise.)

It always touches me when they ask how my art/stories are going later and it makes me not regret my word vomiting introduction as much, so I keep doing it. It helps because otherwise I feel way too into myself, introducing myself like that, like I'm a salesperson selling my stuff, which I am essentially doing. I know this, but no one will know about my stuff if I don't talk about it so, this is how I do.

✨ Choose three adjectives to complement your own writing.

Deep, intuitive (as in with the characters), and smooth (usually because of flow and/or how smoothly I tend to do AUs or mix ideas in crossovers).

Thank you for the ask! Love you Hailey!!

#solarsavoyasks #hailey is awesome

[narcoticwriter]

What Your Favorite Genshin Impact Ship Says About You: The Narcotic Edition

Also known as: Speed-running my cancelation in 4K and High Definition with the tea, receipts, and screenshots in real-time.

If I missed any of them or you want me to do an extension of this list with your own ideas of ships and pairings, feel free to comment any of them (except the ones with children and siblings, you know the ones).

If you don't know the drill already: For legal reasons, this is a joke.

Note: If you happen to see any ships you don't like in this list for whatever reason, then that's not my problem because I don't really care.

Zhongli x Childe: You have either been around since the heyday of launch for the game or you got into it because you saw them literally everywhere you went. You also love chopsticks and may or may not ship Soukoku.

Xiao x Venti: Your copium of 'Venti saved Xiao' is running dangerously low and as such, you desperately consume the respective character's canon media and make it intertwine with the others as much as possible despite them having no correlation whatsoever.

Kaeya x Albedo: You either looked at their implied lore and said 'yup I ship it' or you took Kaeya's voice line about Albedo to the next level. You can also draw Kaeya with three strokes of a writing instrument.

Yanfei x Yelan: You believe that Yelan definitely has an 'agreement' with Yanfei to keep her off the books. You also think it's dubious for an advocate of the law to know someone who overtly skirts around it for a living.

Lisa x Jean: You think there's nothing better in this world than two hot, smart, and independent women who love each other unconditionally. You are also either a fluff fan or an angst enjoyer.

Xiao x Aether/Lumine: You believe that Xiao's canonical character development of seeing himself as a person as opposed to a weapon of war is 75% attributed to the traveler's direct involvement. You also love the hurt/comfort tag in the sum of its parts, unsavory and all.

Keqing x Ganyu: You love the 'burnt-out workaholic' and the 'live to work workaholic' dynamic more than any sane person would. You also love the idea of taking naps with your significant other after a long day.

Xingqiu x Chongyun: You love the childhood friends to lovers dynamic. You also love the trope of the trickster and their consistent victim that also happens to be their beloved and you never got over the KhunBaam dynamic.

Zhongli x Venti: You have come to the belief that Venti is the only one who can share the memory and as such, you naturally know in your heart of hearts that they are closer to each other than people think.

Kaeya x Diluc: "Alexa, play 'Daddy Issues' by Demi Lovato". You also either enjoy second chances along with a dramatic change in dynamics or you have a step-sibling kink.

Gorou x Sangonomiya Kokomi: You think Gorou is the goodest boi and you think that Kokomi thinks so too. You also get instant serotonin thinking about how cute the both of them are as individuals and then go catatonic upon thinking about them together.

Raiden Ei x Yae Miko: You were neutral on the deity and their devout worshipper dynamic, but the added flavor of being ghosted for a long time combined with shared trauma and an unholy amount of sass made you a staunch believer.

Diluc x Venti: You believe that the bard god has an attachment to his emotional support bloodlines, but that on occasion, that attachment becomes a lot more. You also believe that Venti needed another way to pay for his wine.

Arataki Itto x Gorou: Itto's voice line about Ms. Hina combined with your undying hope of a potential Ms. Hina hangout are the main reasons you dove headfirst with no questions asked. You may also be a monsterfucker, a furry, or incredibly horny.

Eula x Amber: You believe in the sunshine and the protector of sunshine dynamic and have also been on the receiving end of slander by either association or having an unpopular opinion. You are also a RWBY and/or Voltron refugee.

Yanfei x Kuki Shinobu: Not only do you have two sharp and intelligent characters, but they were also in college together in canon? You're genuinely surprised more people haven't jumped on this.

Kaedahara Kazuha x Tomo: You either love angst or you hate it with a blinding passion. You also like the idea of a couple of dudes traveling together, sharing experiences, and just vibing.

Kaeya x Rosaria: Two individuals with questionable backgrounds that just happen to be drinking buddies? You signed the fuck up as soon as it was hinted at in the game. You also think that they can ruin each other.

Albedo x Aether: You are either unbearably soft or such an angst enjoyer that the better fics don't have the hits they deserve because all of the weaker-of-willed readers were chased away by the soul-crushing angst. You may also want Albedo to 'experiment' on you as a self-insert.

Kujou Sara x Kuki Shinobu: You believe that Arataki Itto is an idiot, but you also want him to be used as a plot device to get them together. You also believe that Shinobu and Sara are actual friends and would like a friends-to-lovers scenario for them as well.

Diluc x Jean: You believe that Diluc deserves nothing but happiness and understanding and that Jean can give him both, though you bemoan the lack of genuine Jean-centric introspection in the fanbase as a whole. You are also a sucker for domesticity and the idea of having a large, happy family.

Childe x Lumine: The use of the term 'girlie' still has you by the throat to this day. You may also relish the idea of you beating the shit out of a pronounced battlesexual and renowned warrior with relative ease as a self-insert.

Sangonomiya Kokomi x Kujou Sara: The trope of the sharp and skilled strategist who really just wants to sleep and the tsundere second-in-command who doesn't know how to live on opposite sides of a conflict grabbed you by the throat and hasn't let go since.

Eula x Yanfei: You think that if one character saves another character's life that it's completely acceptable grounds to start shipping them together. You are also a believer in shared trauma.

Kamisato Ayato x Thoma: You took Ayato's line about loyalty and dogs to the next level. You also love yourself a malewife and master of the house dynamic.

Scaramouche x Mona: The one line of 'the stars are a lie' and the true realization of Mona's profession has never left you and will continue to haunt you for as long as you stick around in the fanbase.

Bennett x Razor: You are one of the most wholesome people in this fanbase. You also played that one quest with a religious fervor that concerned your loved ones exponentially with time.

Kamisato Ayaka x Yoimiya: The timeless trope of a sheltered and socially awkward person meeting a firecracker of passion with a zest for life and a lasered focus on the things they love kills you every damn time.

Arataki Itto x Kujou Sara: The dumbass rivals-to-friends-to-lovers trope has you in a tizzy. You have also gone to insane lengths to clear your name through the use of artifacts, weapons, and worldbuilding lore.

Yanfei x Hu Tao: The thought of Hu Tao getting sued by Yanfei's clients and all of the hijinks they would get into are absolutely hilarious to you. You are also a Phoenix Wright enjoyer.

Kamisato Ayaka x Thoma: You want someone to take care of Ayaka and you think that Thoma's the right one for that job. You also want Ayaka to have a suitable husband to continue the Kamisato bloodline.

Kaeya x Childe: You are into the characterization of the both of them being suave foxy individuals that flirt with each in hopes of respective infiltration, only to find that they themselves have been emotionally compromised. You also want Diluc to suffer.

Yun Jin x Xinyan: The thought of two creatives in their own specializations loving each other and cheering each other on despite opposition from either part of their lives is beautiful to you. You may also want the same for yourself.

Shikanoin Heizou x Kaedahara Kazuha: They share national origin and visions, so you put two and two together and shipped them. You also think that their discordant designs per according to other longer-standing vision users of the same element is reason enough.

Shenhe x Yelan: What's better than having a secluded hermit that eats herbs and has a natural inclination for murder and violence? The living personification of movies in 80's Hong Kong and the Persona 5 soundtrack. You also love the trope of a well-known flirt fumbling around a socially stunted person because none of their tactics work.

Albedo x Sucrose: Two nerds in respective fields loving each other in their own special way that may not make sense to outsiders has you by the heartstrings. You have also read 'Unfocused'.

Childe x Diluc: The enemies-to-lovers trope has stayed with you consistently throughout your experiences in media. You may also like hatefucking as a concept.

Eula x Rosaria: You want Eula to commit familicide and you want Rosaria to give her some pointers on how to do it. You also like hot, sexy women.

Shikanoin Heizou x Kuki Shinobu: You relish in the fact that the only positive voice line about Heizou is from Shinobu and is purely transactional in nature. You are also optimistic as to the potential that has to develop in the future.

Diluc x Thoma: Two Mondstadters who don't like alcohol are the only two reasons you need to ship them. You also like the idea of them being childhood best friends and how they traverse their relationship after more than a decade of being apart.

Beidou x Ningguang: You are Hoyoverse.

---

Requested tag: @sword-dad-fukuzawa

#genshin impact #i am not tagging all of those damn ships #i will also never be sorry for any of this #going ham #narky thinks

[langernameohnebedeutung]

it's actually a little funny to me that Blaine gets compared to Spike all the time because...sarcastic blond antagonist thing aside, they're really extremely different characters? They just have very different goals, trajectories, means and methods, priorities, relationships, attitudes?

And yeah, maybe I'm over-simplifying it, but I feel like the comparison usually comes up in contexts that try to make Blaine appear more sympathetic or into an anti-hero or in shipping contexts. Really obvious example is Tv-Tropes:

...like. This is flat-out wrong. It's not even a matter of interpretation, it's just not true.

"eventually become allies to the heroine"? If anything, their relationship gets more hostile over time, especially after Mama Leone's execution with only a brief disruption by the fake amnesia period. (And Liv isn't Buffy either, but that's a whole different wan of corms and obv, the dynamic between a Vampire and Buffy the Vampire Slayer has a completely different context from Blaine and Liv's perceptions of each other, bc they are both zombies - but make very different decisions based on that.)

It just...feels like taking a lot of the attributes that make Spike's brand of evil more palatable and that exonerate him a little (like being soulless, his detachment from the human race, the chip, his impulsiveness and recklessness and lack of foresight, the fact that he cares for people like Buffy's Mom or Dawn,) and projecting them on Blaine in a way that...just doesn't really pertain to his character in any relevant way. And additionally, drawing attention away from very important aspects of his personality and understanding of the world.

And even if you look at the less obvious parallels - the hedonism, the penchant for immoral (side-) hustles, the whole unhappy artist gig - if you look at them more closely, they actually reveal more differences than commonality.

And I know I'm probably being kind of unfair because even the creators of iZombie and David Anders talked about the parallels - but at the end of the day, I'm a Blaine-girlie first and honestly, I feel like setting people up to expect Blaine to be like Spike and have a storyline like Spike's actually sets them up for disappointment. Because he was never going to be Spike. These two characters were always heading in almost completely opposite directions.

There is probably more to be said about this and it can be phrased more pertinently than I'm doing right now and it doesn't mean I have any issue with someone being invested in those parallels.

It's just...personally, I'm more invested in the differences that can be highlighted by those parallels.

And in a way, I feel like it also misses the point of Spike's story. A core that their stories have in common is the question what it means to be a 'monster' (which is really central to both Buffy and iZombie) - but Spike's story is so fundamentally about the struggle of building an authentic identity outside of being an evil vampire and what it means to be "good", "evil", what it means to love or care about others - while Blaine's story is fundamentally about how he sacrifices more and more of his own humanity and his identity (his soul, if you will) to become successful according to his father's definition of what that means - instead of stepping out of Angus' narrative and refusing to define triumph over his father's by his own values. And how his being a 'monster' ends up becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy that has little to do with him being a monster in any physical sense. Blaine dooms himself while Spike is undoomimg himself.

#izombie #fandom #Buffy let's Spike babysit Dawn #Liv wouldn't trust Blaine with a potted plant #(because he'd take it hostage and sell her back the leaves) #but yeah all jokes aside they never have this exclusivity to their dynamic #the way Spike and Buffy do #so I don't get this double-parallel that people draw there #it's just...entirely different

[onewomancitadel]

What are your thoughts on the claim that Knightfall is a dangerous portrayal to men women? imo this is a buncha bullshit but a lot of people I see calling it a "crack ship" are also saying that if it ever happened it would be toxic and harmful. Some say the idea of having a man save a woman is wrong and others say having Jaune date a killer would ruin his character. How do you deal with stupidity on this level?

Lol it's bullshit. Of course it's bullshit. It's not even worth debating because it's such a waste of time and such a reductive opinion grounded in bad media analysis and bad philosophy. If you hear the word 'toxic' you need to stage exit the conversation, it's a red flag.

Sure, women consuming the wrong fiction will make them get into abusive relationships, I love the victim blaming here. Or attributing abuse in real life relationships being a result of fiction? Yeah, I am sure that is going to fly in sincere debates surrounding intimate partner violence (IPV). I can guaratee you if you read any surrounding literature about IPV or DV, the focus is not going to be on who likes Kylo Ren too much or reads the wrong type of romance.

Even then, I don't think Knightfall is a) a crackship - it most certainly isn't, thank you, it's very narratively justified, and one of Jaune's biggest moments in the show, well two of them, are with her, or b) something bad or toxic at all, in fact thematically motivating the relationship (in canon) would be healing, forgiveness, and compassion, and fundamentally uplifting the notion of nonviolence. So Knightfall isn't even anything textually 'problematic'.

If it were textually problematic I would still dismiss the notion it would have a serious impact on real-life relationships - though trying to draw some type of actual casual impact is extremely difficult, because the kinds of things influencing real life harm is actually multi-modal. If you care about that thing, sincerely and truly, which to be quite frank people obsessed with toxicity in fiction don't care. Motivating a lot of this is just cloaked ship wars, or 'me not like this and it hurts my fee-fees'. Or deep, profound resentment for the art and structure of narrative and metaphor.

The reality is that tonally R/WBY is fantastical and it is romantic. A character like Cinder Fall killing Pyrrha Nikos isn't just flatly about killing, it's also conveying lots of different ideas:

the inevitability of change and growth (ooh! Autumnal theming!), the violence of change, the complete unseating she symbolically represents in the story [for the characters to grow], the death of childhood, the complicated morality of an expanding worldview as you come to see adults as people/the world beyond black and white/understand what made Cinder do it

and if you flatly define that as 'Cinder Fall big bad meanie who need dieeeeee' then your analysis bad too. But the irony here is that people who say ships like Knightfall are toxic are people fundamentally not interested in a) metaphor and the relationship we have to stories emotionally, b) actual compassion and transformation and healing, c) actual harm in the real world, especially when they go out of their way to hurt real people over fiction. You don't know the shit I've seen in the Reylo fandom (and yes, Reylo is a feminine-driven narrative, Rey was on the Heroine's Journey (most prominently in TLJ), though Reylo and Knightfall aren't necessarily tonally 1:1). I mean it was really shocking and so bad I don't want to talk about it, and people used Reylo as a cover to harass Jewish Reylo fans - calling them N*zi apologists!, Black Reylo fans, female and trans fans, and I saw some really shocking stuff. Again and again and again. By the time we hit the pressure point of TROS I saw one of the most offensive opinions about Kylo Ren expressed and retweeted on Twitter, which I advise you to skip the rest of this paragraph if you are in a sensitive space mentally: a user suggested that actually, if Kylo Ren's evil is analogous to mental illness, sometimes mentally ill people really do need to kill themselves because they're beyond help. Tell me: how is Kylo Ren being naughty worse than that? It fucked me up and still fucks me up, not just because of that but because of other things I have experienced.

So just ignore their framework and their approach. It's not about harm and it's not about protecting people or caring about what sort of relationships ought to be depicted in media. It's using false concern to load their argument and make it impossible to debate because you might concede territory to the idea that toxicity is okay. It's literally impossible to ever hold a conversation and I can guarantee you that 99% of people I've encountered with that opinion are 100% disinterested in hearing anything to challenge the notion of 'toxicity' because it's not about that - it's about ship and story taste. And nihilistic storytelling. Because stories are stupid and metaphors are also stupid.

Some say the idea of having a man save a woman is wrong

Lol this isn't even what it would be, but they're automatically trying to say it will be because they can't conceive of Cinder as an active character in the story because a) big mean baddie and b) stupid woman, really showing their hand there about how they conceive of female characters. Jaune helping Cinder, when everybody else has completely failed her, is profoundly meaningful, and Cinder being able to act on her own terms is profoundly empowering considering her enslavement.

But anybody trying to convince you that community is weak and we shouldn't help each other and we can't be uplifted through connection either has an ulterior motive or is somebody who has bought into deeply cynical thinking, which is probably more hurtful than anything Cinder could do.

and others say having Jaune date a killer would ruin his character.

Ruin his character how? Because he's their self-insert and it disrupts their projection? Because Jaune shouldn't do something important and transformative and he's better off left to the side? Because his Semblance shouldn't have a serious impact on the story? Lol

Yeah, would be so much better if Jaune killed Cinder. I've heard that story before, it's tragic and I don't like it. The whole point of Cinder's redemption is it would redeem the tragedy of Pyrrha's death. It's narrative patterns babey

How do you deal with stupidity on this level?

For some context, I am a TFA-era Reylo. I have seen it all. People who say Knightfall is toxic etc. (which I honestly haven't even seen because I know how to curate my fandom experience - just avoid stuff you don't like if you dislike Knightfall) are like little babies. Watch this

The way I personally deal with it is actually just to recognise you're never really having the argument you think that you're having. If you're somebody who takes IPV and the depiction of women in media really seriously, and you are interested in the way we resonate with narrative and want to discuss what it means for people to identify with villains, and if you enjoy discussing things seriously and trying to hear the other side out, you are having the wrong conversation and your 'ummmm this ship is toxic!!!' interlocutor does not care.

Yes, I'll allow there's probably some actual anxiety and projection into 'problematic media' that is actually about earnest concern - that displacement isn't controversial. But I would say that this doesn't make up the majority of the crowd. They're not interested in peer-reviewed sources, they're not interested in the kinds of 'problematic' stories which have been a part of storytelling for all of human history - and they deny humanist universalism and connection through stories as well, for dealing with complicated experiences, they're not interested in seriously debating the topic. It is the fandom age-old story of ship wars, and what kind of story someone is expecting, and this is especially apparent now with the rise of corporate storytelling. An easy story with cynical self-awareness, good vs. bad, kill bad guy. Make sure to insert a joke in there just in case you are getting too emotionally sincere.

But that doesn't matter. It doesn't mean anything to those people. Don't bother. Find your bliss instead. That goes for people who don't like Knightfall: maybe stop trying to destroy things and ask for other people to do the dirty work of making 'pure' media, and try to create things yourself.

You know why those 'pure' fandoms scare off creators and pretty much have dead fandoms? Because this kind of anodyne narrative analysis is actually creatively deadening. It's boring. Once you overthink your story this way it's impossible to write for. It's much more freeing to work in service to narrative, not in service to perceived political good... which for that matter, is a total separate tin of worms, which once you open up is extremely dangerous. If a story must be 'politically good' in order to allow to be told, I can guarantee you it will be used by the powers that be, not to tell empowering stories.

None of this is to say that I don't seriously think about the way social attitudes imprint themselves on fiction. The argument here is that social attitudes imprinted on fiction are as harmful, or as concerning as harm in real life, and must be wholly avoided. I am very comfortable reading stories which contain misogyny; I can recognise it's wrong, and part of my critical analysis enables me to use my groan up girl brain to identify whether it's something being used by the story to further its themes or whether the author is a fuckwit. I like to think that many others are just the same.

But Knightfall's not even like that lol. If anything it's empowering. To me I find the story of the deeply wounded villainess who comes into her own feminine power and redeems it through someone reaching out to her with uncompromising and literally magical compassion like, um, very compelling. Narratively the only person who can forgive Cinder is Jaune. That's why it's fun. It's not about fighting what you hate, but saving what you love.

Also, if the deep wound of the story is Ozlem, Jaune and Cinder - two characters in an ensemble cast, yes - coming together and proving you could work back from Ozlem as enemies back to lovers is... everything. That's not just emotionally moving, that's actually seriously saying something.

Although to me, the idea that you can still come back from something, and fix it, and you're not too far gone, and you can change, and you can open your heart, and you could decide not to choose violence today, and you could have a home, and you could be free, and you could take on responsibility you're prepared for, is very moving. See? It's not about toxicity. In my opinion, it's a resistance to vulnerability. Bad characters who change and recognise badness in themselves are scary.

Thanks for your ask anon. I may have got a bit impassioned there... sorrey...

#seraphina's asks #user: anonymouse #knightfall

[the-void-writes]

“Point Nemo is the location in the ocean that is farthest from land. What do you think is there?”

I’m sorry it took so long to do this one, but I finally managed to make it work. I hope it’s still okay that I went with space instead of the ocean (and I also hope people aren’t too tired of Will and Dante bonding and being mushy lol)

For All Eternity - Point Nemo

WC: 1,456

There had been a few instances of space travel in Paradise already, thanks to the knowledge and talents of the citizens who had lived through the space age craze. The Moon Celestial, Aphelion, only ruled over a part of the cosmos, so the rest was free for the people to explore. The skies over Paradise were full of the brightest, most vivid planets and stars, the kinds that ancient civilizations would worship and draw across their walls.

When the people of Bluebrook arrived with their new technology, Paradisians had the means to travel even further than ever before. That was how the astronomers had discovered the furthest point in space: Point Nemo— little Isaac got to choose the name, as a future astronomer himself.

As excited as everyone was for this new wave of space exploration, when they asked for volunteers to travel to Point Nemo, the townsfolk had all kindly pointed to Will. Every Paradisian, Bluebrook inhabitant, and Preston survivor knew that he had dreamed of space ever since he was a child. They knew he deserved to see this new point in the cosmos, just as they knew who else would go with him for the journey.

Dante bit back his smile as he watched Will suit up. They had gotten the protective wear from one of Rio’s friends, Cierra, who lit up like a firework when she heard “space travel.” Seeing the helmets and equipment made Dante more excited than he cared to admit. Even though he was afraid of heights, he had always admired space shuttles and astronauts. They were adventurers— heroes, everything Dante wanted to be.

As Will pulled the zipper up across his neck, securing the thin but durable suit to his frame, he kept glancing at himself in the reflection of the ship’s wall. Dante could see the halo of emotions that orbited his head. The once-colorful lights were dark and muddy, moving like rocky waves in a storm.

People’s auras were like personal color wheels, capable of being unique to one person or shared throughout a group. Sometimes, the shade of the aura was easily attributed to an emotion— blue for sadness, white for peace, and stuff like that. Other times, it was an artistic blend of color, a reflection of their busy or troubled mind.

After living with each other for a while, Dante had memorized Will’s aura well— a gorgeous ring of pink, blue, purple, orange, and traces of green. It reflected his grief and his fears, but also his love and compassion, all intertwined like snakes in a garden. Dante knew his colors, and loved them wholeheartedly. He also knew, when those colors grew as murky as they had on the ship, that Will’s grief was overpowering him.

“I can feel you,” Will said.

Dante released the mental connection, finally aware of how irritated his eyes were. The longer he used his power, the worse his eyes stung by the end. Will wiped a stray tear for him and smiled.

“Are you okay?”

“I should be asking you that,” Dante said.

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’ll be fine, I swear. It’s just— memories and stuff.”

His smile lit up the room, but his eyes were heavy and hollow. Dante took his hand and kissed it gently.

“If you need to stop at any point, just let me know.”

“I will, thank you.”

Dante looked him up and down, studying every inch of him. “You know, you make one fine lookin’ astronaut.”

Will laughed and hid his face. “You look better.”

“Hey now,” Dante poked his cheek. “You can’t just deflect my compliments.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time to correct that at home.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever go home again after this.”

Dante smiled warmly. “Fine by me. We’ll just make a new home up here.”

Will nestled into his arms, snug and content. “You’re too nice to me.”

“That’s a second deflection. I’ll start kissing you, if I have to.”

“That’s not a punishment.”

“I know.”

After a few last adjustments, they were ready to exit the ship. Will’s gloved hand wrapped around Dante’s, gripping it tightly. The door slid open, and a million little lights greeted them. Stars and clouds of dust stretched on for miles, twisting around each other like coral in the ocean. Everything moved in slow motion, except for the distant shapes of possible Celestials flying across the dark sky.

Dante didn’t need to use his power, because the look in Will’s eyes told him everything. This was a decades-long dream come true. He gazed at the wonders outside the ship like a sailor spotting land, a lost soul finally finding its way home. When he stepped outside the ship, still holding Dante’s hand, with the sun and stars glowing behind his head, it was the most breathtaking sight in all of Dante’s years in Paradise.

Will held his arms out, letting the embrace of the stars carry him like a wave. He could fly without his powers, or the nausea that came with it. Dante could hear him laugh to himself through his radio.

“I did it, guys,” Will whispered. “You were right. I made it.”

It was time to join him, to celebrate this momentous occasion with the love of his life… but Dante couldn’t take his hand off of the handrail. He took a deep breath as he stuck his foot outside the ship, hovering above the abyss.

“There are no heights in space,” he told himself. “You’ll be fine. This isn’t like the fair.”

He released one finger from the rail, then another, until he was free to drift into space. It was fine for a moment, but the cord tethering Dante to the ship hadn’t reached its end, letting him float further away. He stumbled slightly, already nauseated by the disorienting sensation of moving without walking.

“Nope,” he said, “it’s worse than the fucking fair. It’s so much worse.”

Something snagged on his cord, and his heart leapt at the thought of it breaking and sending him into darkness. Thankfully, a second hand came around and gently pulled him back.

“It’s okay,” Will said. “I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

Dante let himself fall back into his arms. “Is this what it’s like for you? Weightless and dizzy?”

“That’s… actually pretty accurate.”

“God— Will, you’re the bravest man I’ve ever loved.”

Will huffed. “I don’t think I could beat Vani.”

“You’d give him a run for his money, trust me.”

His breathing was starting to settle, but he couldn’t let go of Will’s arm. Will kept him close, accidentally bumping their helmets together as they slowly spun in place.

“It’s okay, I won’t let go of you. You’re safe, love.”

With his nerves settled, Dante leaned back and took in the sights around him. Rings of stardust filled the sky with the same beautiful colors that Dante could see in Will. They filled his dark blue eyes with pure starlight. It was like he was made from the cosmos themselves.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Will asked.

“Yeah,” Dante said, never taking his eyes off of Will. “Beautiful.”

Will caught his eyes and looked away shyly. A passing star fizzled and popped on its way into a cloud of gas, and they both watched it until its tail disappeared in the neon mass.

“I had a plan, as a boy,” Will said, “for when I got to space.”

“Yeah? What was it?”

“To make a home on a distant planet. A little place for myself in all the quiet.”

Through his helmet, Dante could see a tear fall down his cheek.

“I wanted to get away from people, so they wouldn’t hurt me anymore.”

Dante clenched his gloved fist. Everything he heard about Preston made him wish he could go back and destroy it— a redundant idea, now that it was blown to bits. It wasn’t enough, Dante thought. For all the torture they inflicted on the love of his life, it would never be enough. He took Will’s hand and held them to his heart.

“They were idiots, Will, all of them. If they could see you now, they’d be as speechless as I am. You’re a star, baby. You always have been.”

Will closed his eyes and smiled. “I wish I could kiss you right now.”

“So do I.” Dante cupped the side of his helmet. “Let’s finish up here, and then I’ll kiss you all you want.”

“Right— How are we going to catalog all of this?”

“Leave that to the scientists. We’ll just list what we see.”

“My list is gonna be a mess. I want to tell them everything.”

Dante smiled. “Go ahead, baby. I want to hear it.”

#writeblr #writing community #ask games #wip: for all eternity

[captnjacksparrow]

SNS Dynamics - Sasuke's Perspective

Lengthy post ahead

On completing my rewatch of Naruto part I and part II, many things which never made sense started to make sense. One among them is the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke. I used to ask why Naruto is going so far for Sasuke. And why Sasuke is helping out Naruto even though he wants to kill him. And I used to think that Episode 478 was retconned to make the final battle ends in a draw and Sasuke somehow made to reconcile with the titular character. Yet, I instinctively felt, ‘Something is very different about them’. But on careful rewatch, all the clues which consolidate their relationship was there. The way they love each other is totally on a different level and the creator very carefully planned this from the beginning of the Manga.

Though I really don’t like the ending for making every characters into a child rearing machine at an age of 20 to make way for an abomination called ‘Boruto’, I still loved everything till Episode 479.

I wanted to discuss about both Naruto and Sasuke's perspective. But that cannot be accommodated in a single post. So, I decided to start with Sasuke. Since Naruto's side of SNS is very open and vocal, we clearly knew what is going on in his mind. But Sasuke's side is usually very subtle but much more intense than Naruto which makes it worth analyzing.

Before getting to that, for most of the characters in the Naruto universe (I mean 99%), Sasuke is a person who looks cool, aloof, rude, overbearing, blunt, genius and emotionless. And that’s the truth. Except for Itachi and Naruto. So when I say he is rude or arrogant, it is from the people’s POV.  And since I always see myself in Itachi, I see Sasuke as that adorable innocent child who is very honest but forgiving.

I strongly feel that Sasuke has some innocent enchantment towards Naruto ever since he lost his family which later transcended into a bond which cannot be put under Friendship or Bromance. Enchantment, here I meant by, is not in a sexual way but more like the unconscious need to be in the presence of other person. Like walking beside each other eternally. Or even warming up next to a campfire near a chilly beach. You don’t want to fall into the fire but just enjoy the warmth. It maybe totally a platonic love like many claims to be. But his absolute disinterest in any other characters (even just as a friend) and the following traits he shows only to Naruto are clearly not just distinctive of platonic love either. It’s completely beyond platonic.

The following are the traits which Sasuke shows only towards Naruto, could have been avoided or delegated to other characters if the creator really wanted to assert their relationship as just friendship. There are lot of subtexts and emotions which I cannot accept it under the guise of bromance or friendship. It’s just not possible. If someone you like shows all these traits to another person, you should stop thinking about that person and move on.

The traits are :

Preferential Treatment

Attentive

Protective

My body moved on its own

One and Only

Powerful Eyes

Unconscious Closeness

Preferential Treatment

This is the very basic and first thing you show to someone whom you love. Meaning, I will treat this person much different from everyone else. When I was exploring this trait, I couldn’t stop laughing in many places. Because Sasuke is such a trolling machine who mercilessly trolls people who are in his way. He also inspire certain amount of fear which makes him even more unapproachable.

He has this cold bearing where people find it extremely difficult to manage or approach him. It comes off as very rude most of the times. One such example is Sai told Sasuke that he will get along better with him than Naruto. Sasuke put a Genjutsu on him for comparing himself with Naruto. LOL.

What's more funny is most people (Sakura, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Sai, Hinata) usually talk to him politely with honorifics like 'Sasuke-kun'. But he didn't give two shits about them and shitted them all mercilessly.

Here is the infamous proposal from Sakura in part 1.

Well she deserved this one to be honest. Throughout the entire conversation Sasuke never saw her face and responded very bluntly even though she was pouring her heart out crying. There was no visible distress or sadness from Sasuke’s side.

Whereas with Naruto, in the final Valley of The End, we saw him turning towards Naruto and answer him properly when Naruto asked the same question of what Sakura asked. There were so many emotions throughout the battle and Sasuke’s pain of leaving Naruto was clearly shown. Which explains the difference of where Sasuke keeps Naruto in his heart.

The following is the one from Chunin Exams prelims where Sakura is begging for him to quit with tears. The response is an usual 'Stay out of my business'.

Me: Sasuke!!!! Even I don't know how to approach you!!!! I understand you don't like to talk unnecessarily so you just shitted on Sai. But Sakura is your teammate, isn't it?

And then there is this little orange blonde who literally trolls Sasuke.

I really thot Sasuke was going to trash Naruto too, like he could have easily said, 'Naruto, you should also stay out of my business'.

But then

These words are something precious for Naruto. He wished for these words to come from Sasuke someday in his lifetime. But not at that time. And he was truly shocked and very excited. Believe me, when watching that scene, it was really great. But while making analysis like this, it’s absolutely hilarious.

This dynamics is similar to

Sakura: *cries unbearably* Sasuke-kun, I am worried about you. Don’t act so strong.

Sasuke: Shut up. Mind your own business.

Naruto: Bastard! She is worried about you.

Sasuke: Alright, I love you. Now shut up.

ROOOFFFFL :-D

I thought all these childhood bickers were over by part 1 and we will never see it in part 2.

Nope. I was wrong. Kakashi and Sakura were the scapegoats here.

Here's another round of applause from Naruto.

And I honestly cannot comprehend what was going on in Sasuke's mind and why he is really rude to Sakura and Kakashi. It seems he was really irritated by their presence or he maybe thinking they were useless or both.

When Naruto asks him something, he responds without any insults. What baffles me most is that during Infinite Tsukuyomi, Sasuke wanted to kill Naruto for his Revolution and awaiting his fated battle. And yet he answers him properly.

Can you see the pattern here?

He shits on people asking some question even with an utmost polite attitude but when Naruto asks the same question he was like "Alright Sweetie, Am gonna answer anything you want and say anything you like".

The following is the beginning of everything where Naruto can't even swear properly but still Sasuke couldn't even bother.

In short, the way he treats Naruto is quite different and hilarious when compared to the others. With his cold bearing, he absolutely has no need to put up with Naruto's outburst but he still accepts without a care every time. RIP to those souls who got the short end of the stick.

He must have an extreme tolerance towards Naruto's tirades to the point where he can never insult him back. And I also believe 100% that, nobody dares to make such frequent insults on Sasuke to his face except Naruto.

I know SK shippers jump in here to say Naruto is not the only one. But still the dynamics between Karin and Sasuke is simply a mirror image of Naruto and Sasuke, probably she reminded him of Naruto and hence made some exceptions for her because Sasuke never gives a damn about any other clan other than his own, but when Kabuto tells him Karin belongs to Uzumaki clan, he was shocked. I am pretty sure the only other Uzumaki member he knew is none other than Naruto.

Now, does this means he is in super love with Naruto? No.

But the way he treats every other characters and how he treats Naruto exclusively speaks volumes and this trope shouldn’t have existed in the first place. The creator should have made Sasuke treat both of his teammates equally which could’ve deflected the shipping angle. 

Attentive

Am not talking about how attentively he analyzes his enemies in the battles. Of course, in that department, Sasuke flies high. This is about how attentive he is to Naruto to the point where he can deduce what Naruto thinks and how Naruto looks without the need to communicate with him.

I know Sasuke suspected Sakura was acting strange before Chunin Exams when she said 'Good Morning' with some hesitation. But the difference here is that Sasuke can identify Naruto without even talking to him.

Funny thing here is that Sasuke was sitting somewhere far behind from Naruto and yet he could pick up Naruto getting freaked out without seeing his face.

Who could forget about the famous ‘Where’s real Naruto?’ episode during Chunin Exams?. It would’ve been fine if this happened once. But the creator went ahead and made this thing happen twice under entirely different situations. And everytime Sasuke can find fake Naruto without fail. This scene conveys Sasuke is very observant towards Naruto’s appearance & fighting skills (the way he evades an attack).

Now, being attentive to someone is not a special thing which attributes to love. But considering Sasuke’s personality who is aloof and focused on his own world, knowing Naruto like the back of his hand  is way too descriptive. Only someone who really understands the other person or constantly paying attention can find out such subtle changes. It doesn’t end here.

This is the battle between Gaara and Naruto. Where Naruto was literally confused about how to save his friends from Gaara who is much more powerful. And yet Sasuke can find Naruto’s mood just by seeing him.

Me: Yes, Sasuke!!! Gaara happened to pass by Naruto and forgot to kill him on a whim!!! So, Naruto is scared to the shit!!

Also Me: You guys always bicker with each other and are not best of friends. Sasuke!!! How could you analyze his mood just by looking at Naruto????

In Shippuden, There’s no inner monologue like the above, but whenever Naruto appears before him (Orochimaru’s hideout, Bridge, War arc), Sasuke gives his undivided attention to him. He even went so far as to advice him to pay attention to the battle. And I was like “Wait!!! you wanted to kill him... why pay attention to him at all? Geez”.

As much as you want to think that Sasuke doesn’t care about anyone, he does care about Naruto to the point where he doesn’t want him to be worried. How thoughtful just for a ‘teammate’.

How did Sasuke knew that Naruto would worry about him?, I wonder.

But all these things started from this

This boy has been noticing Naruto from way back when he was around 7 when he lost his family. Of course he would know every little things about Naruto because for some undefinable reason he couldn’t stop paying his attention to Naruto. A lineup of girls vying for his attention because of his cool appearance, whereas Sasuke simply loved Naruto without any reservations but because of his childish and warm personality which reminded him of his family.

‘I couldn’t stop paying attention to you’  and in some translations the words were ‘I couldn’t take my eyes off you’. Either way, these words are not for someone you see just as a friend let alone a brother.

Protectiveness

I can go on and on about how protective Sasuke is towards Naruto. I can write a separate post about it. This is the most important aspects of this ship which makes it sail higher than any other ships.

Of course, this is the Ninja world where people wants to protect each other and at the same time kill each other too. Sasuke protecting Naruto and Naruto protecting Sasuke is not too special. In fact, one of the weak and pathetic character like Sakura was saved once in every three episodes by Naruto or Kakashi or even by Sasuke sometimes.

And yet here I am mentioning protectiveness as the most important aspect of this ship. So what differentiates?

The way Sasuke protects Naruto is one of the intense thing I’ve ever seen. When I watch this series, I gained this immense ability to put myself in other characters mind just like Naruto. When I put myself in Sasuke’s mind whenever he tried to protect Naruto under different conditions, I simply cannot put their relationship under Friendship.

Here, Naruto is fighting Gaara in part 1 and Naruto was repelled by his own attack from the paper bomb. Sasuke being already battered by his curse mark bruise and he couldn’t move an inch. And yet he is shielding Naruto even though it is completely unnecessary because Naruto bumping into a tree log is completely normal. The creator even went under a lot of pain to draw that panel which took 40% of the page.

Now you may question, many characters even died protecting someone. What’s so special with just shielding?

Like Hinata jumping in for suicide before Pain, Iruka blocking Mizuki’s attack, Tsunade blocking Orochimaru, Neji dying as a ‘Love Cupid’ for hinata and Naruto.... I can cite many things here. What’s common among them all is that they were all perfectly capable of moving around and yet decided to save Naruto.

But that’s not the only point. 

Is there any need for him to save Naruto? No.

Will Naruto die if he didn’t shield him? No.

Then why? He could have spent that energy trying to do something for Sakura rather than do a pointless shielding. 

And then there is Kushina.

Naruto’s mom was already on the verge of dying as she had Kurama extracted from her body and Jinchuriki without a Tailed Beast will die. Because of Uzumaki clan’s strong life force, she could hold off for a bit longer. When kurama attacked Naruto, she shielded him with her body and saved her son from an imminent death.

Even though Sasuke didn’t die shielding him, but there is a semblance.

Both protected Naruto even when their body condition is worse. That is, Protect at all cost attitude.

I intended to put Land of the Waves arc here as it is very similar to what happens with Kushina. But that’s for an upcoming section.

Now, as a Mother her instinct to protect Naruto is very strong.

But who is Naruto for Sasuke? What makes his instinct so strong to protect someone who is not even related by his blood? Until and unless you love that person dearly you won’t do it.

That brings me to the next thing.

Yeah, it kind of looks ‘very friendly’ to give a 3 layered protection to someone who is already powered up like you and most importantly you want to kill him.(Can I say that looks really romantic?). Anyways my point is different.

What really happens here is this

It is a well established fact that Minato, the Yellow Flash is the fastest shinobi in Narutoverse. It wasn’t surpassed yet. He uses the Hiraishin No Jutsu to teleport at the speed of light. It was invented by none other than Tobirama Senju who is the fastest shinobi of his time.

We basically have two fastest shinobi in the battlefield here. And Minato being the fastest among them, definitely don’t want to blow up near his son for whom he died protecting him once. He wanted to teleport somewhere away and before he could do it, Tobirama teleported the bomb back to Obito.

What many fails to notice here is that all these things are happening in mere seconds. But Sasuke realized it real quick as usual and protects Naruto in an instant. How fast his instinct you may ask? Quicker than the two fastest shinobi on the battlefield and one among them is Naruto’s dad.

What I want to say is Sasuke’s protective instinct is quicker than Naruto’s father and similar to Naruto’s mother.

And you know, I questioned myself during the Chunin Exams arc “I think in the Zabuza arc, Naruto conveniently happened to be near Sasuke, So he protected him at the cost of his life. What if Sakura happens to be there? Would he have done the same? Maybe he would’ve died protecting her too.”

But all of my questions were thrown into drain by Sasuke as if he was able to read my mind. The answer is “Hell! I don’t care if she died. That’s her loss. I will not die for her sake.”

This is really confusing, hilarious and romantic at the same time.

Me: Sasuke!!! I understand why you want to save Jugo... Even though you abandoned him in the Land of Iron. LOL. What are you going to do with Naruto anyway when the whole world is blasted off?

He proved this again in the Kaguya’s Lava dimension too. Before you tell me that he saved Naruto because he needs him to seal off Kaguya, the previous scenario nullifies your argument.

And SS wankers shamelessly defending that Sasuke don’t want Sakura to die by Kaguya’s hands, that’s why he left her to die. Geez!!! Who the hell is Sakura to Kaguya anyway? Even if she were to die by Kaguya’s hands, it would almost look like how Obito died. It’s not bad at all. But falling into the lava pit, burning, screaming.... sssshhhh. Wake the f**k up!!!

Now how can you convince me that this is just Friendship? What’s more funny is Sasuke wanted to kill Naruto later at some point. Throughout the War Arc I was always confused as to why Sasuke even care about Naruto at all? He didn’t care about him ever since he left him 3 or 4 years ago and he doesn’t have to. After all everyone have their own paths to walk on.

Even if I put myself in Sasuke’s mind and see Naruto just as a friend whom I want to kill, I wouldn’t go under so much pain to save him. I would feel like it’s better for him to die by something else rather than me. Because I can’t bring myself to kill someone I know well.

These scenes are not just put there by chance.

Such a strong reflex to protect someone is only possible when you consider that person’s life more than yours.

Does any other ship has such things to show? I’ll wait.

Yeah Sasuke protected Sakura from Orochimaru and Gaara. But he also went so far to wait for Karin and awakened a new power to protect her. So does this means he love those girls?? No. He was just showing a team camaraderie. But it’s funny that later, he tried to kill those girls knowing full well they are unprepared to fight him. While with Naruto, it always comes with a warning. Try to understand this difference. Which is exactly why I didn’t put Sasuke saving Naruto during his Chakra training, or falling from the waterfall and many more. Because they are just a team camaraderie.

I don’t even have to compare with other ships, did Sasuke ever protected anyone like this in the whole series?. These are the things which could’ve been avoided or handled in a different way, like there was no need to emphasize on saving Naruto alone while ignoring others.

My body moved on its own

I don’t need to explain this any deeper. There are many people who says Sasuke is incapable of showing his true feelings. He is cold, rude, aloof and stoic so he always hides his feelings for everyone (mostly this line was used by Sakura wankers who wanted to portray that Sasuke always loved Sakura deeply but never shows). But they fail to understand the irony that one of the most beautiful line in this entire series was told by none other than ‘Sasuke Uchiha’, “My body moved on its own”.

Yet I find Sasuke shows his honest and heartful emotions before the people he loves. If he can show that to Itachi and Naruto, why not with Sakura?

I know those wankers try to say Sasuke repressed all his feelings until Chapter 698, so he has some romantic feelings for Sakura too. Bullshit!!!

Even though he repressed those feelings in his mind, his body always betrays him in the end and his feelings pours out from time to time. That is what this section explores about.

Man, this is the most painful GIF I have ever made.

In his battle with Itachi, he was completely consumed by the feeling of revenge and hatred for his brother. But when Itachi approached him in his final moments with an intention (seemingly) to snatch his eyes, he still couldn't push Itachi away though he could have. Sasuke just looked into his eyes and let him do whatever he was about to do.

Why?, Because he loved his brother so much once that he don't know what to do but simply embrace that moment. These are the moments your mind says to close your eyes or even run away (he totally could have) but his body will not allow him to.

This is what I meant by your body betrays yourself. Even in your darkest moments, you cannot fake. You always show your true emotions towards the person you love. The more you suppress, the more it will burst out.

Here Sasuke’s hatred is glaring through his eyes because Sakura is persuading him to not do something he wants to (as always). His only motivation is to kill that man. His resolve is a real deal.

But in a matter of minutes after giving that long hateful speech with some heavy determination, when he saw that hungry blonde boy who was tied up for trying to steal food, Sasuke just acted on his own and served him food even though he was told not to which could jeopardize his career.

This bipolar dance is something to notice throughout the series and is always interesting to explore. When Sakura tries to dissuade Sasuke from something, he always retorts to insults or an angry stare. But when Naruto accidentally stands in Sasuke’s way, he always involuntarily helps him out.

In short, towards Sakura he was like “Even you cannot take that path away from me” but when turning towards Naruto, he was like “Well, I can risk everything for you at the cost of my path”.

This seals the real deal for SNS ship.

At this point, for us viewers, Naruto is just an orphan who has no friends but always carries his life with a positive spirit hoping that someday he will be accepted by everyone.

Unbeknownst the fact that he already has one person who was willing to die for him and putting all his dreams into fire.

Important thing to notice, It’s entirely at Naruto’s fault for them being in this situation. If Naruto had used a bit of brain to attack from outside the mirror, they wouldn’t have been in this situation. But still Sasuke plunged into the trap without any regrets. That’s the beauty of this scene.

What’s more thrilling is that the creator told us Sasuke loved Naruto in the very next chapter itself. 

How?

By making Haku jump before Zabuza knowing full well that he is going to die which is not very different from how Sasuke shielded Naruto.

And not only that, but by making Naruto say “He really loved you”. I got to say the creator may sucks at writing Sakura and Hinata for God only knows for whatever twisted reasons. But when it comes to male characters like Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi, Obito... he was just amazing and on another level.

How?

By indirectly drawing parallels between Sasuke and Haku in a matter of successive chapters.

By dropping indirect hints and crumbs like these to tell us, the audience, the motivations of the characters.

I always had the thought why did he risked his life for a boy who always fights with him? This became more emotional when we get to know the real reason for why Sasuke risked his life much later in chapter 698.

Having faced all the turbulent things in his life, somehow seeing Naruto doing all those childish stuffs made him feel relieved. That warmth was what he needed at that time. He wanted to escape from it but couldn’t. That’s why he embraced his warmth unknowingly in his Team 7 days by constantly reaching out to him starting from asking tips, concerned about having breakfast and training with him to climb the tree.

Sasuke even come to like Naruto more than himself and that’s why he was willing to die for him.

This feeling is definitely not a bromance or friendship. It’s an innocent enchantment you hope to last forever. Which again explains why he tolerated Naruto’s insults and hostility all those times. Because Sasuke knew those childish things were the ones he got attracted to him ever since his childhood. Rather than saying tolerated, I should use the term enjoyed. He really enjoyed those moments being bugged by Naruto for no reason.

Because just like Itachi said to Sasuke once, ‘If you are excellent you become alienated and arrogant even though you were sought after at the beginning’ . But Naruto pestering him means he is very curious about Sasuke which no one else tried. He was adored by those girls for his coolness and revered by those boys for his excellence but nobody really tried to befriend him. But Naruto tried to befriend him through Rivalry. That’s why Sasuke unconsciously started to like him. This also explains why he roasted Sakura for badmouthing him even though Naruto attacked him and tied him up earlier.

If Sasuke can show all these feelings even though he was trying to suppress it towards Naruto and Itachi, Why can’t he show a single normal feeling towards Sakura??? Because there isn’t one. Except for an old Team 7 camaraderie where he saw her as an acquaintance and nothing more.

Many NH shippers claims, but Hinata loved her ‘Naruto-Kun’. She jumped in front of Naruto to save him from Pain, when in reality she just acted selfishly and couldn’t pull out the Chakra rods. Meaning she failed whatever she was about to do.

Another interesting thing to cite for NH shippers, they claim for Naruto, Hinata is the most important person his life. Since when? With that shitty movie called ‘The Last’ with shitty retconned stuff? In all the 699 chapters he always claimed Iruka Sensei and Sasuke were the important people in his life. And you know what? For Hinata to like Naruto, he has to jump in to save her from the bullies. But for Sasuke he just saved Naruto without any validation. He saw Naruto and liked his presence and just did it. 

When you could accept that failed attempt as a love, why not accept Sasuke loves Naruto when in fact he succeeded in saving him and that too unconditionally?

This is one of the tropes which should have been avoided if the creator wanted Sasuke and Naruto to be just friends.

One and Only

This is something very special that is offered to that one person in his life. That is Naruto. Even Itachi knew it. That is the Power to influence Sasuke’s heart. This is the fact even Sasuke himself knew it and that’s why he wanted to kill him.

Now don’t compare this with the manipulation shit which Orochimaru and Obito were doing. It’s not that. Many Sasuke fanatics always blame Naruto that he is also manipulating Sasuke just like everyone. That’s totally wrong.

Manipulation is something you do by talking about some twisted facts and make the other person to do what you want to.

Naruto never did that. Ever. Whenever Naruto and Sasuke meet, they always talk about themselves and how they feel. Not the world, not Team 7 or anything. Which is exactly why Sasuke himself willingly left that space in his heart for Naruto when he left him in the Valley of the End which he badly wanted to destroy. Sasuke, of all people, know Naruto is also very honest.

Sasuke lost all his rationality when he went into darkness by stabbing Karin who was helping him in his battle with Danzo. She even replenished his chakra many times. He not only just stabbed her, after when he found her still alive, he decided to finish her off with his Chidori.

And then the pink haired bitch appears before him and started to concoct lies with malicious intent to kill him. This provoked Sasuke more and more to reach this point.

Believe me, when you are lost in darkness, all you need is a small light which can show you a path. Someone who can extend helping hands to lift you up with honesty.

Sakura, being a crass woman, riled up Sasuke further with full of nonsense.

If you want to picture the darkness,

This is exactly how Sasuke feels. He is in so much pain and don’t know how to face it or deal with it. So he started to destroy everything he sees. For him Karin, Sakura, Kakashi are all just some pebbles in his way and want to trample them as he goes. His entire life has become farce after knowing his beloved brother’s real pain and miseries. Now he has no one left from his family.

Until Naruto appears.

He may not be his family, but he is the only person left for him in this world. Which is established in many Naruto endings and even Sasuke himself accepts this with Sage of Six Paths. 

But my Cherry Blossom queen really loved Sasuke, she only wanted the good of him. My question is ‘Then why the fuck she tried to kill him? She looked at Sasuke and find that he changed. She didn’t even bothered to find out what’s going on from his side.’ Then how is this considered as wanting only good for him? 

Surprisingly Sasuke calmed down a bit, the moment Naruto appears and even started to respond to him which he didn’t before with Kakashi and Sakura. Deep down Sasuke himself knew in his heart that the path he is going through is Self-destructive. Just like Kurama tells Naruto ‘Destroy everything you see’ in the Pain arc when he sprouted upto Eighth Tail, Sasuke’s traumatic mind tells him to ‘Destroy Konoha’.

All he needed was someone to extend an helping hand to tell him what to do without any malice. Naruto did that. Just like what Minato did for Naruto in Pain arc.

After clashing Rasengan with Chidori ,they meet inside the White bubble space and Naruto talks to Sasuke which evoked all his past memories which he never wanted to awaken.

That’s why Sasuke was visibly shaken with Naruto’s words. Because those were the words which mirrors exactly how Sasuke feels too. He was surprised and shocked that Naruto also felt the same way without him ever openly confessing those feelings.

When everyone tried to kill him for his monstrosity, Naruto is the only person standing there seeing him as his friend. Just like how Iruka saw Naruto way back in 1st chapter.

Believe me, even at the depth of darkness, when you see the person you love so much, you will stop and rationalize.

That is exactly why Itachi left Sasuke in Naruto’s hands. He even admitted to Sasuke that his words will not reach him no matter what.

Sasuke may not have abandoned his ambitions at that point. But Naruto gave him a clear path. That is ‘Show all your hatred on me’ and then do whatever you want.

I know SS shippers will claim that back hug from Sakura changed his murderous behaviour during the Chunin Exams. Yes. That’s true. But right after that, when Sasuke was fighting Yoroi in a one-on-one combat, his Cursed Seal flares up again. He retracted that seal out of his sheer will and thought about both Sakura and Naruto who was freaking out without even knowing about the seal. So, it’s not only a Sakura exclusive moment. The creator even went ahead and drawn a panel asking Sakura to not say anything about the Curse Mark to Naruto. Why do that?

As far as I understand, Sasuke saw Naruto and felt the warmth of his family. He singled that out in chapter 698. When Naruto was placed in the same team as him, he started to extend his good side to his other team members as well. But the moment he decided to leave the village, he severed the ties with Sakura (was there ever one apart from considering her as a teammate?) by saying Thank You. Meaning, you helped me many times so thanks for all of that. What’s more pitiful is, he didn’t even look at her face for the entire conversation except for saying ‘You are really annoying’. There is nowhere in the manga where Sasuke singled out Sakura for making him feel anything and did something for her exclusively. It’s all in the context of Team 7.

If Sakura is the most important person in Sasuke’s life, he should have stopped the rampage the moment he saw her but instead he got riled up more and more. Which explains where Sasuke kept her in his heart. Literally nowhere. He threw her into the trash. LOL.

If Hulk can calm down after seeing Betty Ross and you call that love, why not accept Sasuke loves Naruto??

Powerful Eyes

You know, Even in real life, Our eyes always reflects our true feelings, just like how your body betrays your mind , your eyes even betray your body.

Just like how Itachi could never fake his evil brother act in his final moments.

Just like how Sasuke couldn’t turn away from Itachi when he was approaching him to seemingly snatch his eyes.

Uchiha boys being a romantic bunch, always expose their awakening/ reawakening/ evolving their Sharingan in a most distressed situation. Just like Madara and Sasuke exposed their brimming eyes for Hashirama and Naruto. But in this department, Madara is wildly romantic as always. LOL. Despite losing 3 brothers, he awakened his Sharingan only when he was breaking up with his ‘friend’. And Sasuke, he reawakened / evolved Sharingan when trying to save / breaking up with his ‘friend’. Such a Biological defect!!!!

Poor Sakura pathetically fails in this department.

Anyways this part is not about Sharingan anyway. It’s about how such a powerful eyes becomes powerless before those Blue Eyes.

Eye Symbolism is something I really enjoy exploring in this ship.

Like I mentioned earlier, Sasuke has never shown his emotions atleast starting from Part II. He usually never shows any positive emotions like happiness, laughing, pouting, love, excitement (although he has shown all these towards Itachi and Naruto) and is known for negative emotions like anger, annoyance, hatred.

Look at how Sasuke is glaring with hatred for her insensitive words. She deserved this to be honest.

Now, is there any need to show your fury towards Kabuto?

Since the beginning of the Shippuden, some facts have been established strongly:

1. Sasuke has changed by leaps and bounds in terms of his attitude and hatred.

2. Sharingan is pretty dangerous. Many characters including kurama acknowledges it. Sasuke is very adept at using his Sharingan.

Orochimaru maybe right. But he doesn’t know the weakness. LOL

His hatred has reached to a point where he couldn’t think anything rationally and started to kill everyone, just like how Naruto kicked Sakura in his 4 Tailed Kyuubi Mode engulfed with the hatred of Kurama. Meaning, to reach his goal, Sasuke will kill anyone in his path without any hesitation. This shot is the representation of this.

And yet when he saw those particular Blue eyes, he stops his rampage immediately and visibly shocked even.  That’s the look of ‘why is that blue eyes here?’

You have every right to accuse me that I am over exaggerating this scene. I am not. Even I wanted to think that way too that I am deluding myself. The creator has only consolidated my view pretty strongly.

There’s no need to emphasize on eyes at all. The anime team has went under so much pain to animate this scene in a satisfying and compelling way.

What’s more? The creator even went under further extent to draw a whole page in the manga focusing on their eye contact after the Rasengan vs Chidori clash. Meaning, Sasuke has calmed down visibly and became very easy to reason with.

Trust me, even in your darker / vulnerable moments, your eyes will reflect your true feelings to the person you love. You cannot be stubborn. 

Now did it stop here?? Nope, it happened again in the Final Valley of the End battle too.

Sasuke is usually confident of his Sharingan (rightfully so) and likes to flaunt his eyes just like Madara. He was very sure that he was going to win.

While Sasuke had a clear resolve to kill Naruto when he was showing his back, but the moment he comes close with those Blue Eyes, his heart even pounded strongly (in the anime), and lost the resolve completely which made his Sharingan retract itself unconsciously. Meaning, his eyes betrayed him.

It’s funny that not even a minute ago he was very proud of his Visual Prowess as an Uchiha and his victory is inevitable but the moment he saw those Blue eyes, he just lost. You think I am again exaggerating?. Nope!!!

Oh Dear!!! This doesn’t get more romantic than this. An inescapable gaze from those blue eyes he loved all along.

Sasuke!! What happened to your proud Uchiha eyes?. You just stole Chakra from Naruto, isn’t it? Hints like these are really heartwarming, to be honest.

My entire point is, every character from every arc hypes up Sharingan starting from Zabuza, Haku, Rock Lee, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Kurama and many more, but why put a weakness for Naruto’s eyes? 

What I really loved exploring is the way Sasuke totally expressed everything through his eyes in Episode 478.

Sasuke shows his vulnerability towards Naruto with just his eyes. These are not something you show to everyone. Even when Itachi departed finally after releasing Edo Tensei, Sasuke looked sad, shocked and pained but didn’t cry. He accepted the reality of it. The last time when we saw him crying, it was after knowing the truth of Itachi, facing towards the beach and was weeping unbearably because there was no one else for him in this world. But this time, he is next to the person whom he feels truly loved and he doesn’t mind showing it with his eyes.

Well, on multiple rewatches, the clues for their love was already dropped in the 1st Valley of the End fight itself. Sasuke already lost his resolve to kill by balling his chidori fist rather than ramming through his chest. So the feelings inside the bubble are their honest emotions like always.

The pain on the verge of their separation inside the white bubble is clearly evident from their eyes even in their monstrous form. Even in the manga it was mentioned that ‘I can’t turn my back  Vs  I am not letting you go’

But what they really wanted to be from their childhood was this.

Look at Sasuke, how entranced he was on looking at that innocent boy. Now put yourself at Sasuke’s mind. Will you ever look at your friend like that??? Now, they are probably just 7 here, am not romanticizing. But Sasuke looks enthralled innocently.

But somehow, their paths separated them for who knows how long. But the pain in both their eyes is unbearable. Even the databook, mentioned that separating from Naruto is like ripping half of his body. Well, this proves it.

Now, if they really wanted to portray this as friendship, they never should have given Eye symbolism at all. They should have gone with ‘I was always jealous of you’ thing, like they portrayed in that filler episode 450.I would’ve gladly accepted it as friendship. Because that’s how friends behave when they are jealous and I wasn’t feeling any romance at all. There’s no need of that lengthy monologue on how he was always looking at Naruto and felt pain.

I am telling you, I won’t be looking at my friend like this. 

Unconscious closeness

Remember, I’ve written in the beginning of the post that Sasuke enjoys the warmth from Naruto. Meaning, he likes that person’s presence unconsciously and want to be near him. Sasuke proved this many times.

This is the most intense and confusing section I have to dissect for this post. But it’s the most entertaining nonetheless, atleast for me.

Starting from the Land of the Waves arc, here Sasuke is speed walking to match up with Naruto.

Initially I thought, he is trying to be competitive. But instead of walking ahead of Naruto to show who is faster, he just walks beside him. I find this really hilarious and adorable. This just shows Sasuke likes Naruto’s presence so much so that he wants to walk beside him.

Now many SS shippers tries to make this scene for themselves, when it is clearly not.

If you notice Sasuke in the Bell Training, he compares his strength difference with Kakashi and determines to get stronger. Same with Might Guy, he compares Might Guy’s speed with his own Sensei. Meaning, he respects people with strength. Naturally, he should’ve asked her and Sakura would have given him tips wholeheartedly. Because she really succeeded in that training.

Why bother to ask a deadlast?

The only reason I could find is that he wants to befriend him in his own stubborn way. But Poor Soul!!! He didn’t get the tips anyway. LOL. But despite getting the short end of the stick, he never hold it against him. Just like he never held anything against Naruto when he tied him up in Episode 3. All he did was just flaunt how he escaped.

Pretty cool for a 12 year old kid. Because If I were Sasuke, I would hold it for sure.

Once again Sasuke proves how he can care Naruto in his own adorable way.

He could’ve said ‘I am going to train too” if he really intended to train. There is no need to say ‘Going for a Walk’ and ask Naruto about breakfast. This explains that Sasuke simply missed the boy’s prolonged absence and reached out to him in his own cute way.

Now all these doesn’t mean he was in love with him. It’s just a childish attraction which makes him act like that involuntarily.

I just added this GIF to compare with the next scene.

Now Shikamaru falling on Naruto in an unconventional way doesn’t look anywhere romantic. Instead it’s the opposite. They are pretty friendly here.

But Sasuke’s approach to Naruto does looks undeniably sensual and I couldn’t deny the sexual tension that brings with it. (Even when I watched it for the first time having no idea of shipping anyone, I lowkey got creeped and thought, ‘Sasuke!! What have you become? ’)

This scene is something even I can’t dissect. Because honestly I don’t know. Sasuke is a person who never appreciates physical touches nor does he initiates either.

I get this crazy femme fatale vibe when seeing Sasuke with his sexy costume landing at a speed of lightning with his hands wrapped around Naruto and taunting near his ear about what was he doing there? The only reason I could think of is that maybe he missed him for 3 years which made him go unconsciously so close near Naruto. It’s also funny that he could’ve shoved his sword into Naruto’s heart before landing and no one could’ve batted an eyelid.

Damn you, Kishimoto!!! Is this scene absolutely necessary??? What are you trying to convey? Why do you give Sasuke, a sexualized aura?? I understand you love this character so much and you want this character to be desirable among women. Yeah, you succeeded by making Karin behave like a woman in heat, the moment they met. But instead of letting her get close to him, you made Sasuke to say ‘You... Don’t get so close’ whereas with Naruto, you made Sasuke to go willingly touch him in a half hugging stance. Geez!!!

Here comes the most interesting part in this section.

It may seem irrelevant at the beginning but trust me, it will make sense later.

Before that, I would like to appreciate the creator and especially the anime team to bring the battle sequence so lively and different in its own way. If you notice the purpose of every battle that happened in Naruto series, each carries it own meaning and deliberately distinguished. How you ask?

The fight between Deidara vs Sasuke.

Logically Deidara should be dead in the Gaara retrieval arc itself. There is no point for him to chase Sasuke who killed Orochimaru to whom Deidara had nothing to do with. It didn’t impact the story in any way. But the purpose of that battle is to show how far Sasuke has grown up in those 3 years. The way he can use his Sharingan to analyze his enemies abilities and weakness so quickly and take multiple steps ahead, the way he can use Genjutsu and other incredible jutsus in his arsenal were a visual treat.

Now, let’s analyze Sasuke’s arsenal of Jutsus. He can do Teleportation Jutsu, a decent Genjutsu, Chidori Senbon (needles), Raikiri (Chidori sword which ranges to 5 metres), Chidori Nagash (Chidori from his whole body), Transformation Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu Shuriken Jutsu with wire works, Kirin, Gokakyu No jutsu, Sword fighting, basic Hand-to-Hand fighting (I’ve never seen him do it ever since the Chunin Exams with Orochimaru), Archery fighting, Susanoo, Amaterasu and all the Rinnegan abilities.

Based on the jutsus he learned so far and how he applies in every battle, it all confirms two things:

Sasuke is a Medium-Long Range Shinobi

Sasuke’s battles are usually based on his Cleverness

Let’s go for Naruto. He can do Teleportation Jutsu, Sexy Jutsu, Harem no jutsu, Rasengan, Rasen Shuriken, Oodama Rasengan, Biju Dama, Tailed Beast Mode, Kage Bunshin No jutsu, Sage mode jutsu, Frog Kumite, Better Hand-to-Hand combat skills (better than Sasuke), Transformation Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu and all his Six path abilities.

Compared to Sasuke, Naruto’s jutsu variety is very less. But for every 4 punches from Sasuke equals 1 powerful punch from Naruto. Analyzing all of them,

Naruto is a Close-Range Shinobi except for his Rasen Shuriken

Naruto’s battles are usually based on his Jutsu Timing and Unpredictability

Now, Let’s rewind back to 3 years and look at the 1st Valley of the End battle. That battle was cleverly choreographed which carried very intense emotional baggage. Things we never knew about those boys until then were openly admitted and acknowledged. That is, for Sasuke, Naruto became his closest friend. For Naruto, he always wanted to be Sasuke’s friend way back when he was 6 or 7. For both, they already have some unexplainable bond by just looking at each other and smiling secretly.

The theme of that battle started as Am going on my own path vs I can’t allow you to tread on that dangerous path and ended up with I want to break our bond vs I don’t want to.

Now, this posture represents, Naruto is the one who pursues Sasuke to stop him from whatever he was about to do. Meaning, Naruto is the one who is constantly reaching out and Sasuke as usual kicks him out violently, that is he is pushing him away. That’s the essence of the whole battle.

Considering all the battles in the Naruto universe, I categorize them as follows:

Best Calculated (and emotional) battle - Itachi vs Sasuke

Best Hand-to-Hand combat - Kakashi vs Obito (what a fight it was!!!)

Best Mega Powered Up battle - Hashirama vs Madara

Best Emotional battle - Naruto vs Sasuke (1st valley of the end)

Best Unpredictable/Entertaining battle - Naruto vs Pain

Despite having all the potential to fulfill the above categories, The Final Valley of the End Battle never bested in any of them.

As analyzed before, the boys have grown up to greater heights. I expected a battle between Cleverness of Sasuke Vs Unpredictability of Naruto

But what I observed was something so intense. That is Unintentional closeness.

This battle symbolizes one thing: I am going to kill you to get lonely vs I won’t let you kill me because you will be alone.

Being a long range fighter, I expected Sasuke to go for this.

If you have to kill someone you love, it is best to keep your distance. Sasuke knows this full well when he battled with Itachi. Except for some Sword fighting, he maintained a certain distance to fight Itachi throughout, until the very end.

But when fighting Naruto, all I got was this.

That’s when I finally understood that this posture means, the fight is very personal. Which means, Sasuke or Naruto won’t be fighting by sitting on top of each other with their enemies or anyone else. That’s just between them alone.  

There was no analysis or cleverness from Sasuke’s side or any Unpredictability from Naruto. It was very bland and Sasuke looked clueless throughout the fight.

It started with some boxing style combat, including stealing hand seals and then some power punches. Very quickly it propels to Susanoo vs Tailed Beast mode. I expected some Hashirama vs Madara level power battle.

But all we saw there was this.

I mean, Come on!!! Man. Even the most Crazy and openly Romantic Uchiha, Madara himself never fought like this in Susanoo with Hashirama (Though Madara must be thinking ‘Damn Hashirama! I should’ve tried this with you’. LOL). Those mega battles carried variety of tactics.

Another thing I noticed was, Sasuke is the one who does lots of talking and constantly pursuing Naruto. Whereas Naruto is uncharacteristically quiet for the most part. 

And finally it leads to this.

Sasuke was unconsciously getting closer and closer to Naruto which is the opposite of what he wants to do. Because of that very closeness, he couldn’t look at his eyes with his Sharingan and eventually got an uppercut. It’s like Sasuke was screaming, ‘Hate me’ and Naruto was like ‘Keep talking’.

Every jutsu he had for attacking from a long-range were forgotten. He didn’t even try to put Naruto under Genjutsu. I mean with his Rinnegan, he was capable of putting all the 9 Tailed Beasts into a powerful Genjutsu. Why didn’t he try that with Naruto? There was no Chidori Stream or Lightning Blade.

I can imagine Naruto doing close range fights with someone or even sitting on top of the enemy. Example, part I, Naruto head bumped Gaara. He was literally fighting with his Shadow Clones against a Monster so he had to get closer. Naruto monstrously punching Deidara not knowing the fact that it was a clay clone.

But Sasuke??? Can you imagine Sasuke sitting on top of the enemy and punching to pulp??? No way. Not a chance.!!!

In one way or other way, Sasuke was always in the close proximity with Naruto throughout the battle and touching each other which is totally uncharacteristic of him when compared to his other battles.

Every battle he ever fought was always at a distance which is the clear representation of his own character. He is calculative, analytical, precise and moves fluidly with a flair like a true Ninja unlike Naruto who is always reckless, noisy, powerful and clumsy. 

Sasuke is someone who never lets his emotions get ahead in the battle, unlike Naruto. This is evident from the War when he was yelling at Naruto to stop worrying about Hokage as they were Edo Tensei who can regenerate. Even when fighting with Itachi, he calculated every move and attacked Itachi without any emotions except at the very end. Sasuke in this final battle forgot who he was and telling us viewers “Am just gonna get closer to Naruto and punch him hard”.

In short, Sasuke completely forgot all his battle tactics he had with Itachi and let his emotions get ahead of his cleverness and got himself closer to Naruto which eventually ended up weakening his resolve to kill him. This is what I meant by Unintentional Closeness.

Anyways, what I understood was, the creator didn’t put all this by without any meaning. It’s all very deliberate and drawn carefully.

Moving onto the final and the most defining moments of SNS.

When I watched this scene for the first time, I can’t comprehend the exact meaning. And I forgot about this later because of my excitement to know what happens next. But what I understood on my rewatch is that, the feelings exchanged here is very pure and innocent but distressing.

Sasuke already lost his resolve to kill by not ramming Naruto with Chidori instead balled up his fist. So he is not contemplating whether or not to kill Naruto.

Sasuke made every effort to leave Naruto and succeeded in it too. But somehow, accidentally, when faced with a person whom he considers so precious in such a close proximity, despite have a stinging pain in his arm, he is feeling the warmth he once felt. He just wants that warmth to prolong for some more time and he can’t able to evade it. So he totally gave in to that desire and feeling it unconsciously. Sasuke always watched Naruto (unbeknownst to him) and felt warmth, relief and weakness. This scene is the symbolic and innocent representation of all those feelings when he saw Naruto and he is exeriencing it for the final time. 

Does this means, does Sasuke wants to kiss him? No.

But every symbolism of that being happening is there. It’s just all open to interpretations. The creator could show us how Sasuke fell on his knees and staring at Naruto intently but never intended to show when he got up and left. I don’t understand this twisted mind of the creator.

Added to that, Sasuke was about to say ‘Naruto, I....’ God only knows what he was about to say. But every possibility of Sasuke confessing and kissing is there.

I know the creator cannot approach this directly considering the situations he worked under. But is there any necessity for such an intense scene? Even the anime creators loved this scene and made their own version of making Naruto’s eyes wide open and even more closer.

I wont be watching my friend or sister like that. 

That explains all the way back to this fated accidental scene.

There is nothing special about this scene. It’s all very clear that the kiss was accidental. It was really funny. But my point is why Sasuke never beat him to pulp or even push Naruto away like he did with Sakura and Karin? Why did he stood up for Naruto before Sakura? Why did he let go off Naruto even though he tied him up? Too many leeway for a single person in a single episode. And the most important part is, Sasuke thought it was intentional and remembers the taste. LOL.

Does this means he enjoyed the kiss? Not at all.

Most probably he was shocked to see Naruto in such a close proximity after seeing him from a distance for all those years. And he enjoys this as just another prank from Naruto in his own innocent way. But he won’t mind getting another one from Naruto either.

So, to conclude

I believe I made this post from an objective standpoint without making crazy theories and I don’t have to..... since canonical resources were plenty. Obviously my own bias will also be there which is unavoidable. But I tried to question the creative choices of why this scene even exist in the first place many times. Because those are the scenes which made the most impact inside me.

My first watch of Naruto gave me the benefit of doubt that ‘Are they in love? Nah... They are friends. Maybe I am just overthinking...  but why does it feel different??’ and that too only after finishing episode 478. After rewatching it again and again, it only consolidated my view.

For Sasuke, his worldly ties are pretty thin and runny. He was always a loner from the beginning even when he had his family. He never bothered to make any friends nor did anyone tried to befriend him. He was pretty close to his family especially Itachi. When he lost everything, somehow he got attracted innocently to Naruto and started to like him. But beyond Naruto he never bothered to add anyone in his heart. He considered Kakashi and Sakura were like his acquaintances who helped him a lot and that’s all.

Then after using Orochimaru, he gathered some high skilled shinobi for killing Itachi. But he made it clear that there don’t need to be any understanding but just co-operation would be enough. But along his way, he just abandoned Jugo, Suigetsu somewhere. He openly said to Karin that she is nothing but a burden to him. When his hatred reached upto a maximum boiling point, he didn’t even hesitate to kill Karin, Kakashi or Sakura. But the moment Naruto appears he calmed down. The proof? He was shocked to see Naruto at first. Then Naruto calls, ‘Sasuke!!!’, to which Sasuke responds with, ‘What?’. Despite becoming a maniac, he could find it in his heart to listen to Naruto.

It took an Edo Tenseified Itachi to bring him some rationality to question his beliefs about destroying Konoha. When Jugo and Suigetsu appear again, he casually asked them, ‘What do you want with me at this point?’, I mean, Come On, Man. LOL.  Even during the war arc, when things were about to blast off he only cared about Jugo (who helped him many times, so understandable) and Naruto (Geez!!! LOL).

Even after their final battle, the anime went so far as to create a scene where they were alone in a bright Konoha. But Sasuke looked very peaceful and listening to Naruto intently. When Naruto freaks out about Infinite Tsukuyomi, he casually laughs off and says ‘you still care about the world’. Meaning, he is happy there spending time alone with the person he loves. Doesn’t give a rat’s ass about missing anyone else. (How romantic!!!). Honestly, Sasuke wouldn’t mind if they were to stay that way forever. He would gladly listen to Naruto all day.  But when Naruto disappears he freaks out and starting to make up his mind about joining his brother.

It’s very clear that the people he adores are Itachi and Naruto. Towards Itachi, it’s super understandable, because he is his own brother. But Naruto??? Why should the creator go so far as to make Sasuke adores Naruto even after breaking up with him?

And why make Sasuke possessive about Naruto’s life? When Obito was about to kill Naruto with that Black Orbs, Sasuke blocked him and said ‘You are not the One to sever the past, I am’. I understand the logic behind Sasuke’s possessiveness on Itachi’s life because he destroyed his family, childhood and even Itachi wants Sasuke to be the one to kill him. But why possessive on Naruto? He is not related to him by blood. Naruto never did anything wrong to Sasuke to warrant any hate either. You will become possessive on something only when you truly hate it or wholeheartedly love it. There is no middle ground. My point is why put Naruto here at all in the first place?? Believe me, If Sasuke never paid attention to Naruto in the War arc, I would be the first person to jump out of this ship. 

Just to give you a basic example, Imagine you are living in a place far away from your family, friends and that loveable person. When Corona hits everywhere and forced Lockdown to travel outside the city, and the situation is getting worse day by day. Whom would you desperately reach out first? You would reach the person whom you are connected well in your family and that loved one. You will prioritize your friends only later. This is the Universal truth. Sasuke was seen showing that same instinct in the War arc towards Naruto whom he was not related by blood. And you all just want me to believe Sasuke sees him as just a friend?? Give me a break!!!

If all those traits I’ve mentioned above have been avoided to a greater extent, I would be happy to believe that they are friends. If not all, at the very least delegate some of the tropes to other people or share some of the tropes with other people along with Naruto. But dumping it all on Naruto alone makes me only curious and incredibly romantic too. 

It’s no wonder, Naruto would go so far as to reach out Sasuke even at the expense of his life.

Oh, Did I forget about the cutest and most exclusive trope to SNS?

U-SU-RA-TON-KA-CHI, the most personal word which carries its own meaning and is only for Naruto. So funny that Sasuke has to spend a certain amount of energy to call Naruto using a 6 syllabic word rather than NA-RU-TO, a 3 syllabic word which is much easier.

Disclaimer: This post constituted everything from from Chapter 1 to 699 or Episode 1 to 135 (part 1) + Episode 1 to 479 (Shippuden) excluding fillers. Though Sasuke shinden novel was made into anime, I don’t want to consider that here. As much as I loved the prologue in that novel, I still don’t want to cite that here, as I consider everything after 699 is $$$$ making bullshit.

FUN FACT:

If you put yourself in any character in the Naruto Universe except for Naruto, and ask them, ‘What do you think about Sasuke?’. You know the answer from Sakura, she will say ‘Sasuke-Kun looks very cool and acts aloof, that’s why I love him’. Kakashi will say ‘My favorite student’. And all the other people will say somewhat similar, ‘He is an excellent Shinobi who belongs to the proud Uchiha clan and Naruto’s rival’

But Naruto will be the only person to say this.

“Lot of fun to be around” ....... LOLLLLL.

Me: No, Naruto!!! Clearly not. No one in your universe can have fun with him except you. Go and Ask Sai, Team Taka or your own Team 7. They adore him for being Cool and Talented. But Fun is not the word that equates with Sasuke unless there is no You, Naruto.

Thanks for reading :-D

#sasunaru #narusasu #sasunarusasu #sns #naruto #sasuke #naruto uzumaki #sasuke uchiha #anti sakura #itachi #anti sasusaku #anti naruhina #naruto analysis #naruto and sasuke arent brothers as they never shared a womb #if you see your friend with all these traits then you are no longer just friend

[eternalstargazer]

Who's ready for me to painstakingly overanalyze an adorable scene that none of us SatoGou shippers thought we'd ever be fortunate enough to get (regardless of situation/context)? Of course you all are! 😄

Usually it's Goh that's curious about the behavior of Pokémon and wondering what's influencing that behavior, not Ash. He's not even really listening to Ash here. Then Ash changes the subject and assures Goh they're going to be fine once they get back to the lab, but Goh still doesn't seem interested in holding a conversation. Is holding Ash's hand so distracting that it's the only thing on Goh's mind at the moment? One might expect Goh to jump at the opportunity to talk about something, anything... to ease/deflect the awkwardness of having to hold hands with Ash in public, but he doesn't.

Instead, he draws attention to it (maybe he wanted to try and explain why his palm was getting sweaty 😉) when Ash asks him why he seemed bummed out. First, I like that regardless of what might be going through Goh's head at this moment, he wanted to avoid hurting Ash's feelings. He didn't want Ash to get the wrong idea and think he was sad/annoyed/disappointed (the definition of being "bummed out" according to online dictionaries) that the two were holding hands. He mentions he's a little embarrassed since they're holding hands, and this can be taken a couple of different ways. If you're someone that doesn't see anything beyond friendship between these two, then you would just chalk it up as Goh feeling self-conscious and uncomfortable, because that's generally how a straight guy would feel if he had to hold hands with another guy (even a good bud) or how kids at that age would typically react (especially a boy having to hold a girl's hand).

If you're someone that does see something much more between these two, then Goh being embarrassed holding Ash's hand is expected and natural. One of Goh's character traits (which, admittedly, the writers have sometimes been inconsistent with) is he doesn't have many friends and gets uncomfortable around strangers/social situations, and based on some of the flashbacks when he is around six or seven, it might be fair to say he's an introvert (staying in his room looking at computer screens/avoiding kids at school/not going to school). If he does have a secret crush on Ash, he's going to feel embarrassed when his fingers are intertwined with the boy that sets his heart aflutter. If real people in real relationships can feel embarrassment (for a a variety of reasons, as a quick Google search reveals) when holding hands in public, then it's reasonable to believe that Goh was embarrassed here because he's a shy boy that doesn't have a lot of experience making and maintaining friendships, let alone feelings that go beyond friendship.

The point is, Goh's embarrassment over Ash holding hands with him can be used both as an argument for and against journeyshipping. I don't think I have to say which side I fall on here. 😂

I've mainly talked about Goh up to this point, but what about Ash? Ash is... well, Ash. He is typically a lot harder to read because it's a running gag in the anime that he has no concept of love and everything that he does/how he reacts can simply be attributed to him being such a nice guy/great friend. Like here, one could argue that Ash is fine with holding Goh's hand because he wants to help his friend get back to the lab safely. His facial expression changes to worry when Goh sounds bummed out, but again, that could just be Ash being concerned that his friend sounds sad. To Ash, this is all perfectly normal and he would do the same for any of his male/female friends and rivals. Except for Paul. 😆 And possibly Trip...

Just as one could say it's just Ash being Ash when he gets distracted by an Alakazam putting on a show in a park and leads Goh in that direction rather than back to the lab. Some will say if Ash was really concerned with getting Goh back to the lab, he would focus on that, but at the same time you could also argue holding Goh's hand feels so natural to him and that he enjoys being out with and sharing things with Goh so much that he totally forgot about their present situation (he even says here "an Alakazam! Let's go see!" Uh... Ash? Goh can't see! 🤦‍♂️ Isn't that why the two of you are holding hands...? Or...?😏) . The two do practically everything together and spend almost the entirety of their days side by side, so would that really be such a stretch that Ash forgot about their predicament? That's the beauty of shipping; it all depends on how you look at things!

Lastly, credit once again to Zeno Robinson's portrayal of Goh! His line delivery here, especially that pause before the "holding hands" part is so perfect. Honestly, the dub's choice of BGM works pretty well as there was no BGM in the Japanese version, and between that and Robinson's tone and delivery, the potential undertones of this scene come across stronger in the dub.

As you might imagine, I'm very happy about that. 💗

#firstfriendshipping #journeyshipping #fatedencountershipping #gouacheshipping #gousato #satogou #satogoh #ash x goh #ash x gou #pokemon journeys

[gallavichthings]

Artist’s Spotlight - Steorie

Drum roll, please!! It is my great pleasure to introduce as our first artist interviewed in this new series, the one, the only, Steph aka @steorie! Do you want to know more about one of the most prolific artists in the fandom, the one behind several fandom-famous fanart (including our lovely icon)? Then wait no more! Enjoy her interview (and go follow her, in the odd chance you don’t already).

S: Ok, uhm, where to start? 😆 I’m a tattoo artist from Germany and try everything to get my studio going right now. Other than that I’m either reading or drawing in my free time. I’m boring like that.

GT: How did you become a tattoo artist?

S: Oh my, I kinda stumbled into this. I was very unhappy with my job back at the time and a friend of mine (who is heavily tattooed) said that if I can draw I could tattoo it too. (which isn’t all that easy in the end 😅) But yea, I went and started an apprenticeship in a studio for a few months, then quit my job and started working as a tattoo artist full time. And I’ve been doing that for a good 3 1/2 years now.

GT: Has it paid off?

S: Oh most definitely. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made. :)

GT: I gather you've always been artistic. Did you take any art classes or just practiced by yourself?

S: I never went to an art school. I just have always been drawing since I can remember. :) I love watching livestreams of other ppl drawing/creating things, though. I learnt a lot that way.

GT: Do you remember when you started doing fanart? Or at least doing it consciously?

S: Hmm, I think proper fanart that wasn’t some horrible doodles where no one could see what it was supposed to be, might be fanart for sailor moon and dragon ball. 😌 Think I was around 11/12? But I’m not really sure though. 😅

GT: Hahaha I'm sure your doodles were still great. But omg, two of my favorite animes! Who are your favourite characters on them?

S: Usagi and Rei. <3 their friendship was everything to me. I also love Vegeta! I have a soft spot for mean looking ppl with a big heart. ❤️

GT: Love Rei! I'm an Aries like her, so I had something to relate to her. And I love love love Vegeta, though my favorite is Trunks. But Vegebul remains one of my favorite ships.

Do you remember your first ships ever on any show?

S: Vegeta and Bulma are one of my all time fav OTPs. Also Seiya and Usagi are I think, my first ever ship, back when I didn’t even know what shipping was. 😆

GT: Nice to know we have two OTPs in common! What are some of your other ships? Do you still make fanart for them as well?

S: I dont have a lot of shows that im invested in THAT much that i have the urge to draw fanart for it. But im still madly in love with Agron and Nasir from the Starz Show Spartacus. (Everyone needs to watch this tbh!)

Another one of my first otps in a show are Michael and Maria from the original Roswell Show back in the 2000. They had the best chemistry too. :)

GT: How would you describe your fanart style?

S: Uh…oh my, let me think. 😆🤔I’m a big ol romantic deep down in my heart. lol I guess that shows in my style? Also I love bright colors. I want people to start smiling when they see my art. 🙈❤️

GT: I would say the colors definitely are your most easily recognizable attribute!

Walk us through your process, please.

S: I have to admit that I never do any sketches tbh. I just start directly with the lineart once I got inspired with an idea and go for it. I mostly do digital art. I work on an iPad Pro and use the procreate app. I have a lot of back and forth going on when I start to color. I use lots of different layers and settings and fool around with the colors and filters until I like what I see. Oh my gosh, I’m so bad at explaining. In the end I just BS my way through art and hope for the best. 

GT: And what does inspire you? Where do you get your idea from?

S: I mostly get inspired by the show itself. But there are so many mindblowing fanfictions out there as well that constantly give me ideas. Also music and the lyrics of songs I love. :)

GT: How often do you start a new piece? And, on average, how long does it take you to complete it?

S: I usually don’t work on more than one piece at a time. I need to focus on one and don’t want to work on anything else before I finish the current drawing. I usually need a week, maybe two? Depends on how detailed the drawing is going to be, if I’m going to color it, if I will add a background and so on. :) My submission for the Gallavich zine (which you guys will hopefully hold in your hands soonish!) took me about 28 hours for example.

GT: Wow! That's dedication! And it shows.

Do you take prompts? What about commissions?

S: I don’t have enough time for requests. :( but I do take commissions from time to time if I can manage it next to my main job. :)

GT: What are some of your own favorite Gallavich fanarts?

S: Definitely the one you are using as an icon right now. And maybe one I did back in 2014 when I first started watching the show. It’s of them from season one, sharing a smoke in their winter coats. :)

GT: They're both great! And once more, thank you for letting me use your art as an icon.

What are some of the other people in the fandom you admire?

Anyone goes, not only here either, and not just artists.

S: You are very welcome. :))

Oh, there are so many talented people out who make the fandom such a special place. Let me think for a second.

Art wise I’m in love with Lulu‘s (@luluxa​) painting. The way she colors her pieces is absolute art goals. So very impressive. Also she adds so many details and makes it such an experience to look at her art. Phenomenal!c❤️ I also adore Mitchell’s (@psychicskulldamage​) art! His chibi comics are sooooo freaking adorable and funny! The style is also so unique and it brings me so much joy whenever he shares something new. ☺️💓

Another huge inspiration and talent I admire is Gray (@gallavichy​). Her stories just go straight to my heart and I have taken a lot of inspiration for drawings from her stories. The emotions she inflicted in me with her writing is unbelievable.

There are so many more ppl who needs to be mentioned but these three immediately come to mind. :)

GT: When did you first start watching Shameless?

S: I started back in 2014, when season 4 aired.

GT: And what attracted you to Ian and Mickey's relationship?

S: Well, first of all, the chemistry between Noel and Cam is just sooo good and they are both so amazing together. It’s so much fun to see them together on screen. I fell in love with Ian and Mickey’s teasing, bickering and how they fought so hard at such a young age to be together, in whatever way they could be at certain times. The connection they shared, even if they were apart and couldn’t be with each other, it was always obvious to them that they were each other’s person though. And that fascinated me and I was in deep. :’)

GT: Did you join the fandom right away? How was the fandom back then different from now?

S: Omg it’s been so long. 😂 I was still very much into Spartacus at the time and only sloooooowly stepped into shameless. But the fandom was immediately so very welcoming and supportive, I was in deep quickly. lol I would say the fandom hasn’t changed much? At least from what I experienced. Still lots of amazing art, stories, discussions and memes going around, next to ppl fighting tooth and nail about certain topics. 😅 We are a lot of very passionate people, so it never gets boring. 😆❤️

GT: Truly.

You mentioned the fandom being welcoming and supportive. Have the comments on your art always been positive?

S: Surprisingly, yes! The art I made during s4-5 for shameless is still my most popular shameless related stuff, if we take a look at the notes at least. It really blew my mind.

GT: Let's go back to Shameless. What's your favorite season of the show?

S: I would have to say season 4. It was just phenomenal. From the acting, to the story telling, to the whole mood of the season. I was just so invested in everyone's storyline. Frank and his failing liver, Fiona in jail and how she endangered Liam, Debs slowly becoming a young woman, SHEILA, even Sammi was fun to watch and her storyline with Frank really got to me, how she showered him and was there to bring his drinking buddies from the alibi to Sheila’s house when he was too weak to make it there on his own. Of course I don’t have to mention how brilliant yet gut wrenching Ian and Mickey’s journey throughout the season was. Just chefs kiss on all fronts.

GT: I just love Sheila.

Do you have a favorite episode and/or scene?

S: I mean my fav episode has to be 10.12. :)

GT: I think we all collectively died when we watched that!

What did you think of the ending? 

S: Tbh, yes. As far as it concerns only Mickey and Ian. (I didn’t like all the endless open endings for everyone else though) Their future looks so bright right now. I couldn’t ask for more. I’m sure they will have a good, sweet life together. <3

GT: Do you have any headcanons for their future?

S: I’m sure, they will expand their business as they mentioned in 11.10. Hire some guys, buy more cars and so on. I could imagine them each doing something different later on though and only function as the bosses of the transport business. I hope Ian can work in the EMT, nurse field again somehow? And as for Mickey, I could see him do more with his passion for art. Maybe he will work as a tattoo artist himself one day. 😆❤️

GT: I agree, I'd also love for Ian to go back to being an EMT, he was actually good at it. And hell yes to tattoo artist Mickey!

S: Other than that I think they will eventually move back to the South Side again, maybe buy a house? And I hope they are gonna travel together once their probation is over. See the world and everything it has to offer. :’) Maybe visit Mandy, wherever she is and then Fiona in Florida.

GT: I so wish they'd at least mentioned Mandy again!

If you could go back and change one thing in canon, what would it be?

S: I think I wouldn’t change anything? Well, obviously I wish I could undo any harm ever done to them, but that’s not how it works. Yea, I think I wouldn’t change a thing storytelling wise. I would have wanted to see them on THE date. No matter which season but it would have been some nice fanservice if they had shown them at sizzlers or something else on a date. ☺️

Okay wait.

Ian sleeping with that woman in season 7. Cause I think he was always sure about his sexuality and it was kind of unnecessary? (You could maybe link it back to his bipolar and him being kinda already a bit unbalanced after the fight with Caleb and maybe his meds didn’t work properly anymore, but even then I’m not that sure he would have done it?)

GT: What's the most challenging thing about creating fanart about them?

S: It’s the coloring for me. I can do lineart for hours and hours but once it’s time for color I’m like …lmao

GT: And what's the most fun part?

S: Oh definitely the hair.❤ I loooooove drawing hair. And Ian's and Mickey's are kinda unique, which makes it even more fun. 😊

GT: What are your favorite themes of tropes to draw?

S: Uh, I don’t have any? 😳

GT: Hahah, that's ok. Great, actually. But are there any themes or tropes you won't do?

S: Uh, I dunno…do you have examples of what kind of tropes are out there?😅

GT: Well, for instance, I know you didn't use to make smut art until very recently. What made you decide to go for it? (not that we're complaining)

S: Ah, i get it now. Well, I’m still very picky about nsfw stuff. I usually prefer to leave some things to the imagination, you know. But i kinda got bored a bit, drawing always the same kinda stuff and you can learn so much about anatomy if you draw ppl being intimate with each other! 😆 So yea,i learnt once again to never say never.

GT: Hahah

About about future works. Do you have any WIPs or ideas for future art?

S: I have a few things I wanna draw (but so little time.) I also work on a fun commission right now. If ppl are interested in WIPS or something like that, I sometimes post WIP stuff on my twitter. :)

GT: Nice to know!

Same as here right, @steorie?

S: Yes. :)

GT: Speaking of, I meant to ask you, why steorie? Is it a combination of your name and something else?

S: Haha yes, actually. 😅 it’s so lame. I always made a typo when writing my name on the keyboard when I was younger and Steph most often became Steo. The rie got added cause I liked the sound of it. 😂😂😂

GT: Well, it's definitely unique!

That's about it, love! Thank you so much for being the first in this series!

Leave a message to your numerous fans.

(I'm not joking btw)

S: Thank u so very much for reaching out and having this fun chat with me. :)

Just thanks to everyone for the constant support over the years. I read each and every tag and comment you guys leave on my stuff! Thank you, thank you! ♡

#Artist's Spotlight #Gallavich #Ian x Mickey #Gallavich fanart #Shameless US #Shameless #Steorie

[kaypeace21]

Crash-course for all the evidence of Will creating the mindflayer/upsidedown

* Honestly I’ve talked about this stuff in my did theories- where I explained how the upsidedown/mf/ the lab subjects/ and russians all connect back to Will creating them. But since so may people assume that Will got his powers from the upsidedown/mf rather than Will creating it all subconsciously (with his powers). Thought i’d do a short analysis of just that connection (without boggling it down with those other plot lines that are interconnected) . *So I’m not mentioning the lights -because it interconnects with the numbers/lab.I’m just going to list every example in short succession from every season for brevity’s sake (so it won’t be structured as eloquently as prior analyses). 

refresher of how Will influences the mf/upsidedown ...

S1) 

Will ( in s1e1) says to Dustin if he could have any comic it would be the xmen. Dustin later  says "do you think - el was born with her powers like the xmen? " Will plays a d&d game saying the demogorgan got him -so it does irl. Will writes stories where bad guys weakness are fire so the mf/ demogorgans are lit on fire in s1-3 (and it's their weakness). Will watches poltergeist so Will is forced to be the child character in that film- who was trapped in a alternative dimension and could only speak to their mother through tech. The demogrgan is said to resemble a shark by nancy-mathcing Will’s Jaws movie poster in his room. in s1 Mr clarke describes the vale of shadows (later the upsidedown) as being created by “necrotic” (’dead’-zombie boy) and “shadow” (shadow monster/mf) “magic”. In d&d the Vale of Shadows, is  as a lush valley hidden in the mountains that holds a sacred pool with the power to make dreams reality. In d&d the demogorgan is literally called the "deep father" in d&d Nancy also says the demogorgan is like a “lion” the meaning of the name Lonnie- is literally “lion”. We see it attack Will when using lonnie's gun (in lonnie's shed). And it knocks the bat out of Jonathan's hand too. (Baseball/hunting were taught by their dad lonnie). The demogorgan also hurts a deer- mirroring Jonathan's story about how Lonnie forced him to kill a rabbit and how this upset him as he was a fan of the rabbit character from the film bambi.. El when she first sees the demogorgan also sees it eating it’s own eggs-aka symbolically the father hurting his own children.  Will's password for cb is rhadagast a wizard who protects Wildlife (the opposite of Hunter-lonnie/the demogorgan). 

Duffers cited as inspo the silent hill videogames): And in s1 Hopper named dropped the character Alessa’s last name. “The bad guys faked Alessa’s death. Kaufmann prepared a substitute body of alessa;  and performed the fake autopsy (like Will) . Alessa had precognition (future/intuition-like will the wise is said to have in s3) and pyrokinesis (firepowers mentioned  Will the wise has in s1).  Alessa’s latent psychic abilities are triggered and she shrouds Silent Hill in fog and an altered reality to prevent her ab*sive parent’s schemes from advancing. Many of the drastic changes that befall the town in the game, such as the horrific creatures that come to inhabit it, are conjured from her imagination and delusions. “ 

Will also says in s1ep1 he wants xmen 134-about the dark phoenix saga. ‘dark phoenix’  - has pyrokinesis ( fire powers-like Will the wise). And the dark phoenix also  “was able to warp reality on a universal scale”. One of the phoenix’s host was even the god Thor (god of lightning-an element Will is associated with a lot in s2)

(in s1 Will also spit up a slug- in d&d putting a slug in a humanoid can create/turn that humanoid into a mf. foreshadowing Will being posessed/becoming the mf in s2. ).

S2)

 Will plays digdug (a videogame about underground tunnels) so the mf creates tunnels. Will's dog dies so demogogans become demo-dogs. He also watches Ghostbusters- where a character is possessed by the ‘gate keeper’ and can control demon dogs. So this happens to Will too -similar to s1 with poltergeist .In s1 , Hopper even mentions the book Cujo about a violent dog, who is replaced by a new dog named ‘Willie’ (to allude to this).In s1 we see  Mike holding a drawing of Will’s- where Will's wizard has lightning powers (coming from his hand). everytime Will uses tech in s1, the phones explode and lighting appears out of them- hopper makes a BBQ joke about the burned phones.later in s2 the mf has these same lightning abilities and the lab technician makes the same BBQ joke.Joyce even describes the tunnels of the mf/ that Will’s draws as “like lightning.”  We also see the russians eviserated by lightning next season too.

A lab tech calls Will a wizard-and they monitor his brain waves, record him on video, just like they did to El .(when the mf first appears at Will’s house- the lab techs even notice ). The drawing of the mf is next to a baseball (Lonnie ref) and Will says it was a drawing for a story he wrote. In s2 Nancy describes the mindflayer (but she’s actually describing Will).“So this thing is like a brain that’s controlling everything.”Because it’s not the mindflayers’ brain - it’s Will’s brain controlling everything. ( a “hive mind” aka the mf/WILL share a brain ). Owens in s2e1 (BEFORE the mf possession) says Will's ‘anniversary affect’ would make him remember “tra*matic memories” and “OPEN the neurological flood GATES” (aka Will’s neurological GATES are the gates between the real world and upsidedown - which are connected to the mf).  

 Owens in s2e1 (after mentioning the “gates”) even says Will's ‘anniversary affect’ /  “tr*umatic memories” would  cause temporary “personality changes”for Will (the later mf possession) . I mean... Owens wasn’t entirely wrong was he? Will even feels the back of his neck in s2 and says it has to do with “memories” ...and in s3 feeling the back of his neck meant Will was sensing  the mf. Similarly, before his possession-mr clarke  mentions phineus gage who after an accident had a “complete change to his personality” (and the shot pans to Will).

Nancy even calls the mind flayer the “mind-flamer”- hinting at it’s connection to Will the wise who has fire powers). And Dustin says the mf “takes over minds with it’s highly developed psyionic abilities “ And to “summon an undead army... cause the mindflayer loves brains ” ( and in s3 the mf creates a undead army by taking over people’s brains). Hopper  even says “So how do we kill this thing shoot it with fireballs ?” (which destroys the flesh-monster in s3) ”

S3) 

Will (the “zombie boy”) writes a story about juju zombies after watching a film about zombies at starcourt in s3 - then the mf creates a undead army -which was also foreshadowed in s2 (and similar to Will’s  s3 d&d story).  We also see Will wrote this d&d story in front of "the thing" poster. So the mf creates a flesh monster resembling the creature in that film too.  We also see someone get bit (el) like in Will's story and when his friends retcon his ending to be about “sacrificing themselves via explosion (Hopper).” Will just says “fine you win” (so it ends that way).Also, the shadow monster is now called the Mindflayer - and mimics the mf from d&d (both can control rats with their powers in the show/game).  

Will in s2-3 grabs the back of his neck and he attributed it to “memories”, “dreams”, and sensing the mf. Will created castle byers after his dad left and he grabs the bat in cb which was next to the Will the wise drawing (similar to how the baseball was next to the mf drawing in s2) and destroys cb with said bat . Then Will touches his neck and admits the mf has returned.  EVERY moment Will senses the mf can be loosely connected to Lonnie. Lonnie used to call him h*mophobic sl*rs so anytime he subconsciously thinks of his feelings towards Mike the mf appears-1st time it’s on one of their ‘movie dates’, 2nd time when Mike and El walk off together down the hill to make-out, 3rd time right after he smashed castle byers after Mike says “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls”, 4th time (after the fight with Mike) when Billy is yelling to open the door (a trigger) and confides in Mike, 5th time when Mike asks him to go away so he can talk to El in the hospital waiting area, and 6th time when Mike says he loves El. The 7th time is when Jonathan is fixing up a car -something Lonnie used to do.Lonnie fixes up cars as a hobby-showing his remodeled car to Jonathan in s1 . Will then senses the mf and grabs his neck-which he said are connected to old “memories”.  max and Mike are silent until Jonathan says  says “got it (the distributor)”. Then Mike screams for his older sibling. We also see in s1 Jonathan checked to see if Lonnie threw Will in his trunk- something the mf does to some of his victims in s3.

Dustin and susie sing “never ending story”- which is literally about a seemingly normal boy  named Sebastian with a bowl cut (from a single parent home) subconsciously making a fantasy world being invaded by a dark force (representing the loss of hope/dreams) that only his imagination powers can fix . “make believe i’m everywhere ... what you dream will be...Rhymes that keep their secrets Will unfold behind the clouds.And there upon a rainbow Is the answer to a never ending story” . Cough-Will’s rainbow ship he CREATED.Both times the  lyric plays  “Rhymes that keep their secrets WILL “ ( it pans to Will). 

The film also follows a false chosen one who everyone says is supposed to save fantasia- named Atreyu (el). Specifically, for that plotwist that Sebastian (Will) has to be the one to do so , not Atreyu (who sebastian subconsciously created). In the novel/film-Atreyu ( the child who was deemed the ‘chosen one) is knocked from Falkor’s back, and into the sea of possibilities. There he wakes on the shore of abandoned ruins. 

“There Gmork (The Mindflayer) reveals himself, having been lying in wait.And then latches his jaws onto Atreyu’s leg.”

-Before the duet, Susie tells dusin she’s reading “ a wizard of earthsea” and says ged is about to save his world. The book is about a boy-wizard  named Ged (Will) who casts a powerful spell, but the spell goes awry and instead he releases a shadow creature! The new Archmage, Gensher, describes the shadow as an ancient evil that wishes to possess Ged. But the ‘shadow’ turns out  to be a representation of the darkest aspects of his personality. And the only way for the world to be saved is for the 2 to merge and for Ged to accept himself . 

-Will says he’s a wizard ( writing on a music tape in s3 “will the wise-wizard mix’ and having his password for castle byers be ‘rhadaghast’- a lotr wizard). The way they describe d&d Wizards matches Will/mindflayer perfectly “Wizards are adepts and magicians who combine according to the type of their spells. Relying on the subtle weaves of magic that permeate the universe, wizards are able to create spells of explosive fire, sparking lightning, subtle deception, and gross mind control. Their magic summons monsters from other planes of existence, predicts the future, and turns defeated enemies into zombies. Their most powerful spells can transform one substance into another, summon meteors from the sky, and open portals to other worlds” (all these powers Will the wise/mf are implied to have)

- Stranger things d&d comic (published post s3) : Will creating a illusion army of monsters -as Will the wizard.

- stranger writers twitter reffed several movies which discuss artist/writer WILLiam Blake who helped make the art exhibit “worlds turned upsidedown” 

possible reason for the flayed eating  chemicals& fertilizer (in s3)

full link/credits here.  Lonnie’s gf has a biker shirt from Harley davidson- with the eagle logo and their saying “live to ride’. Which would imply lonnie is also in such biker circles. Harley davidson in the 80s had dr*g gangs too (primarily m*th).

 One reason m*th is so prevalent in rural areas is that it can be formulated, or “cooked,” by small producers and one of the ingredients is readily found on most farms – anhydrous AMMONIA fertilizer. Both farmers and chemical suppliers have experienced thefts of anhydrous particularly in the Midwest.“

WHICH REMINDS ME OF the FLAYED EATING FERTILIZER AND CHEMICALS IN S3 . Nancy even says farmers/chem suppliers  are having fertilizer stolen! And she later thinks flayed tom was on drugs- “A mysterious  case of the missing fertilizer- a Nancy Drew Mystery”. This is also in the same season one character (who looks a bit like Lonnie) is a biker is corrupting the town.

Will creating /basing the supernatural from suppressed memories -means it’s from a very young child’s perspective . young Will would equate people eating chemicals, ammonia fertilizer, and ammonia... to using those SAME chemicals to create m*th and then physically consuming them . Why we see mrs driscoll eating fertilizer & Billy drinking ammonia.

The reason the flayed started behaving differently is probably because in s2 Will was forcibly injected with a needle & woken up with ammonia by Hopper-jogging some of those old memories. 

EVEN Nancy’s proof Tom is on dr*gs is a symptom of m*th use or withdrawl from it-excessive sweating (like all the flayed in s2-3). M*th causes hyperthermia (body is at a higher temp than usual)-so they like it cold!!!!! Even clammy hands that she mentioned is a symptom of m*th use. in children it can even cause seizures- like Will :(

And when m*th is made via fertilizer it first is made into a highly corrosive liquid which is sometimes green-like the Russian lab.“six pounds of toxic waste is created for every pound of m*th manufactured. The waste is often dumped on farms, in rivers and and is harmful to the environment.” Like all the chemical leaks relating to Hawkins lab/mf that affected the crops in s2/this pic of water in s3.

m*th was even called ‘bathroom crank’-which is sketchy given the bathtub is what mf fears and how the sensory deprivation tank is also called a ‘tub’ by el . Becky even said Brenner would get terry high and throw her in the tank/tub.

It also does take some chemisty knowledge to COVERT various substances (including fertilizer and other chemicals) to make m*th- which reminds me of the kids saying they can convert one substance into another (when explaining why the possessed are eating chemicals)- they say they’re making a new chemical “in themselves”

other hints

Will’s b day is march 22 . Which is when “fire burns most brightly” and his ‘birthday number is number 7′ (”it was a 7 the demogorgan it got me′) . The number 7  is specifically associated with  “wisdom and psychic abilities”.  His b day even adds up to 7 (3+2+2).His horoscope is also influenced by the shadow god-ketu (who is also associated with wisdom and psychic abilities too). 

* There’s way more details/depth/ other st inspirations in my DID analyses -specifically pt 2. (where i discuss how the mf/upsidedown connects to the numbers/russians- and also specifially Will).But this is just a crash course about the flayed/upsideown/it’s creatures connect to Will.

People will dismiss all of this as just the Duffers liking to reference random things they like/ and foreshadow via d&d without any in universe reason.  but I really think that’s a disappointing explanation/outcome. Especially the predictable cliche theory that the mf is just experiment #1. Not only is it boring, cliche, and predictable af- but it doesn’t line up as well with the mental health themes mentioned in ever season.Will created everything via tr*uma cause of his dad- and overcomes this: is not only a “twist” that will make rewatching more enjoyable given all the hints- it’s more narratively sound given how much the series touches on themes such as overcoming tra*ma, mental health, and problematic fathers. The #1/ex experiment=mf theory doesn’t explain why they made the supernatural connect to Will in this way . And with such a boring cliche ending it would quickly be forgotten like other big sci-fi/fantasy shows that quickly lost relevancy after being popular: like heros, g.o.t, etc.One makes the show cliche another makes it remembered for decades (ex: jacob’s ladder).

#will byers #stranger things #byler #byeler #stranger things theory #did theory

[supertunanana]

I’ve debated writing this for a while, because who wants to read my inane thoughts on the matter? What are my opinions really worth in the grand scheme of things? I’m not so self important to think this will be of any value. But, I’m an extroverted thinker, so this might help my brain finally shut up, and that’s worth something to me. 

The hypocrisy surrounding Jikook. 

Are they a couple? Maybe. I legitimately don’t know. I don’t default into thinking they’re straight. I don’t default into thinking they’re gay. Every member is a blob, sexually, until they define themselves one way or another. Because honestly, I don’t care. That’s between them and their potential paramours. There’s nothing wrong with either option, heck there’s nothing wrong with both or none. Live a life, man... good luck! 

And I have no problems with shipping, to the extent it is done in a sane way and fans do not impose their ships onto the actual people. What I mean is, if you think Tae and JK look good together and you want to read stories or draw art of them as a couple and you want to explore their dynamic, you do you. However, it crosses a line when fans get mad when real people or real situations do not adhere to their fantasy. When they contradict footage and quotes and the feelings of those involved because it doesn’t fit into their little shipping box, that’s when it’s a problem. Be realistic. Have distinct lines between fantasy and reality, between what you might like and what is actually happening. 

It is this reason, that I think shipping generally innocuous and indicative of the shipper more than the celebrity, that I also don’t think the celebrities in question need to be defended against shipping. Because  if it is distinctly fantasy, then unless they express an opinion on the matter, most celebrities don’t really seem to know about it or care. It’s harmless. That defense, those hackles raised, again say more about the fans than the celebrities. When Xiao Zhan’s (XZ) fans got pissed off that some fanfic writer was portraying him as trans, XZ never weighed in on it. It wasn’t until those fans, in DEFENSE of their idol reported the writer and those of their ilk to the censors in China and got AO3 blocked on Chinese internet, that’s when XZ stepped in. And not to thank his fans for defending him, but to apologize to all the innocent Chinese fanfic writers who lost their work and their sanctuary because a handful of his fans had gotten the site banned. Again, the problem here was fans imposing their own beliefs on the celebrity, in this case thinking he would be upset by this and thus needed to be defended. They ended up causing more harm than good.

So the crux of this, what’s been kicking about in my brain, was the need for the fandom to “defend” JK from “shippers” the day after “hickey gate” and why these things only ever seem to focus on Jikook moments.

First off, “hickey gate” stemmed from footage that was a full, editorial choice to be shared on the part of Hybe and BTS. It was behind the scenes, closed set, pandemic lockdown footage edited together and released as official content, not some concert fancam or paparazzo on the street catching a private moment. They chose to leave in both Jimin and Jungkook on TWO occasions addressing the bruise/bite/hickey on JK’s neck, with the source being attributed to Jimin both times. Thus, people discussing this after the fact is a natural biproduct of it being shared. Is it even “shipping” when we are given the footage and the explanation? Is it not just a strange fact? This isn’t someone superimposing a fantasy onto them. This is the boys flat out saying Jimin bit JK and left a mark on his neck. I get debate over whether it was a bite or a hickey might lend itself more to “shipping”, with the latter being more shippy, but seriously, just looking at it would make anyone to question whether the BRUISE was more a hickey than a bite mark. What it says about the nature of their relationship is a whole other animal, but the fact is, it happened. And people are going to have THOUGHTS and FEELINGS about this. And that’s obviously something Hybe/BTS were ok with to share it in the first place (seriously, we would have never known, we DIDN’T even have a whiff of this until they put the whole thing on the DVD, so they were obviously OK with this leading to speculation, because how can a member saying they BIT another on the neck not?). All the content we are given of the boys snuggling, biting, ear sucking, tenderly addressing each other, etc.. is mostly a choice. And that choice will lead to questions and debates, and they’re obviously ok with it. It’s not wrong for people to be like, “huh” when they do questionable things and choose to give us said content about the questionable things. 

But, there always seems to be this backlash when it’s Jikook. We have to “defend” JK, a fully grown man, who brought up the bite himself on camera from people talking about the bite as he himself said it was given to him. No backlash to people saying Jimin claimed doing it to cover up JK’s secret girlfriend (uhhh, when homosexuality is a no-go in SK, that seems a weird choice, but sure, ok.... like just cut it from the footage and slap some make up on like they do during the concert, since none of us noticed it then, and move on if you want to cover it up). But that’s allowed supposition despite having NO EVIDENCE to support it. And what we are TOLD actually happened is not ok and “shipping”?!? 

Worse, when days later some innocuous “TAE AND JK WERE STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER OMG! THEY’RE IN LOVE” trends, where is the “save JK from shipping” rhetoric? That is CLEARLY shipping. I’m not saying Jikook shippers don’t do this, too, they do. And I laugh and shake my head at every little thing being dissected and offered as “proof”, but there always seems to be this backlash when it’s Jikook. ESPECIALLY when it’s undeniably... different. Neck biting. Ear sucking. “with JK at 4 a.m.” when they found out Dynamite got number one. Golden Closet Tokyo. These things are facts. Again, they’re... weird facts that do lead me to raise an eyebrow a lot, but they are facts and they were shared by the members as facts. I don’t think it’s necessarily shipping to think weird facts are weird and may lead to conclusions that don’t adhere to the THEY ARE ALL INHERENTLY STRAIGHT manifesto so many fans seem to have (and I think “straight until proven otherwise” is a shitty perspective anyone could have in any walk of life and again speaks to inherent or unconscious heteronormative perceptions in society - hurray -_-). 

But even the dumb shippy stuff that ALL other combos have, is always an ISSUE when done by Jikook. Their bond or interactions are downplayed by major accounts. They’re an outlier. Some shippers even try to make it out like they hate each other (whaaa? HOW?!?!).  Any odd interaction that really is just odd is deemed “shipping” and cast off into the no-no void, where it’s WRONG if you side-eye it. And I know WHY. I know it’s because they ARE different and they do do stuff people just don’t want to look too closely at because it makes them uncomfortable, so it’s easier to just deem it all “other” and “crazy supposition” and get rid of it. But it’s frustrating when it’s legit and it’s stuff they’re choosing to show and give us. It’s frustrating to be told you’re not allowed to go “huh, weird” because now you’re just a crazy shipper. 

And again, I’m NOT saying Jimin and JK are in a relationship, because again, IDK, but I’m also not saying they're NOT either. I’m going to keep side eyeing the fuck out of some of the stuff they do and just enjoy that they are 100% each other’s person in the interim. And if that makes me a crazy shipper, then I guess that’s what I am. 

#jikook #thoughts

[captainkurosolaire]

~ Mass Update ~

Mainly going into future plans and intents alongside ideas below cut.

Ton's of things I've in store this will prove difficult to vent it all out. But here we go... First off rehashing and appropriately learning to tag and organize things better on my blog. Each category will have their own corresponding content, I seek to bring or share. [Tales of Goldbrand] -- I intend this to carry a Compendium of all my writes soon that'll have everything neatly in-order including a glossary, so it'll have highlights of stories that even matter or the best stuff. I've written here for a very, long time, there's been many shifts. I want to make it more accessible. While coloring what matters for people who want to learn Captain or his Crew with less chapters. While also giving choice to find it all easily. This is essentially a step-above master-lists. I'll be doing that after the Saga I have going on, right now is done. [Captain] -- Will provide you strictly with Captain screenshots, gifs, photo-sets. This is still his blog despite the Crew thing's will sort of make this a scuffed Multi-Muse blog. I've few more things to edit and tag fix to get all his stuff though. [The Wild Crew] -- Afterwards this story is done Immortal Age Saga, It's something that I mainly wrote as a passion project within three days to get my warm-up process fixed. It's to allow me to get a feel for all his Crewmates and casts, in combat, in-general, to feel their presences. While also giving a bit of their backstories. At any point, I can go back and polish or tweak things in. They're NPC's but... not entirely. All will have their own 'Dreams' and their own 'Disapproval's' they have their own missions even. These things will factor eventually, they might set seeds, to betray or disagree with something, but that's all angst and more stories to be created, but overall, they'll probably always be Crew, eventually. -- I plan on making character-profile sheets of them and putting them in this Tab, it'll have their screenshots, their likes/dislikes. Some RP partners or people can also be shipped with them, but they'll all be monogamous and originally start off probably Pan. This allows them to figure out what they like on their own stories. I've always been someone who likes organic-flow. Although this one story contain all 16 characters or more, the rest will probably be shortened to a Squad of 4 and dispersed when on adventuring missions. Until I do a War Arc, that's my main goal to build too. [Roster] -- Will contain this Crew in just screen-sets dedicated to them, I'll probably randomly produce those. I've PC players among this Crew too. I may not be done either adding more, but this Crew is mainly built around Quality. Most pirate crew's mainly, have hundreds, thousands. Even Fleets. This Crew has personalities, monsters, people who are living life's that exist with piracy. He's an particular leader that had PC players the same way, he's had split-personality serial killers aboard, tribal chieftains, succubus, all sorts of various people once on a Crew. It's often an outcast style, pirates default are chaotic in nature, so this really isn't any different, it's a Fantasy version of it. There's humanization characters aboard too though, so this cast is really decked, everything and person is vital, they matter because they remind or covet something that others can draw upon. If ever played (Three Houses or Mass Effect / Dragon Age Origins) A lot of things like that are relatable too this structure and format. Which, Is something I want to be able to give when RPing. I want a genuine feel of this new world someone else's muse will be the main-character too. Depending on what's interacting everything they'll be scale appropriately to follow the genre they're in and environment even. [Aesthetics] -- Already explainable what you'll find here. [Asks] -- Same thing. [Prompts] -- Trivial things I was tagged too, I plan on compiling later. [Writing] -- Another alternatively to randomly go-down and it works right now. [Logs] -- Will have more individualistic master-lists and posts there, my poems from Sheik Sphere the Bard, etc.

Things of that nature, I'll probably add still. It's where a lot of my creative writing is summed. [Gems of Hydaelyn] -- My main #tag for other characters and artists, creationist. Lot of amazing people easily to find their zones or follow them optionally if you like. Ton's I intend to support and bolster, be a lot less unspoken. I'm never the type who's been strictly inclusive. But I'll do that when I've time to even explore the dash, I'm always still planning ahead with things and projects. [CKS] My original character-sheet it's outdated on something's but not too terrible. I'll give him polishing someday, I swear? [21+F-List] -- Just purely degenerate stuff of Captain. I'm a pirate blog. I will represent that with openness and furthermore. I'm never projecting you some false-image. I started off a smut-writer by stripping that, I no-longer represent the same aura and identity. But those are strictly his stuff and kinks, I'm effective in executing them but they're not all relatable to me OOC. This blog will always be 18+ containing crude or dark material sometimes, romantic things, this Captain is blunt, will literally put his cock on the table in conversations. Swearing and being censored would be too uncommon and displace most of him, but there's more about him then all this. [Other] -- I pay homage to a lot of characters, I originally am a Concept Designer. Which mean's I make characters and ideas like my addiction. Bad characters / villains or other little things I like to share in designs, I'll put there. Some villains might get little photo-sets, even if they died. Just cause I like their design, or maybe I'll give them an AU, where they won. When I've wrapped up things. [Collabs + Ships] -- Is a new project idea. This isn't going to be something limited too romantic only ships. It'll contain, platonic, romantic, friendships, rivals, frenemies, family, PC Crew, all ships. I am desperately working on improving my gif, screenshot, posing game so I can supply 'Screen Stories' this is not only a way to RP that's accessible with even people who are upon time-crunches from work, It gives visual-representation. To impactful stories shared with others and establish bonds. That are all-valid and impactful matter. Lot of people take a lot of their characters attributes into them and are them dialed up, I work with that and bit more, differently. I'm disconnected from my characters and they'll get hurt and injured and killed by me, that's my duty as their Author to give them conflicts and struggles. I'm their major antagonist, but that doesn't mean at-all, it's always SET that way. The characters I like to make have their own life, they live in this setting and are abide by it, they're often nothing, nobodies, and by the interacting with others, they slowly gradually building, more... Through emotional impacts, they alter, these are REAL people by all their beliefs. Each person they come in-contact with are legitimate and treated like that too. They've always impacted or given them insights to grow, or represent more. Otherwise it'd be criminally disrespectful if I allowed any emotional I felt OOC be the grudge to something IC. Captain in-particular is set on defying me. I cannot have that. ...But I can't stop him. He's met and encountered so many people and lived so many scenarios based on the actions of others, he's giving a chance right now to actually do things a lot further than impossible. The more people he meets and encounters, experiences, the more I lose. These stories are emotionally interactive where everything is a factor and adds to the dice, where the other people are the one who get to roll the dice for him, not me. That's something I want to color in. People range in emotions, they have their down's, ups, their own wholesome-grounding people, spending time with your favorite people, there's nothing more cherishing than that, being in your own comfort-zone or 'safe-space' these are all treasures that we live under, today. Contrary if what people assume of me, I'm not another 'blogger' that's came

before, who's wanting to force a harem, then constantly is bewildered when that falls to pieces cause of selfishness or a lack of communication, or the skeletons they have in their closets and beliefs they hid behind and swindled fooled everyone. I'm not looking to be popular or anything really, I just create stories and want to share in those, and I want to also boost others included, upward with me, especially those who make me. There's no ego in anything I do, this is purely love. I've never cared about being replicated or duplicated, I've had stalkers, I've gone through more then anyone would imagine, I've been used OOC and abused, just for my writing and cold-harshly told, i'd never amount to anything other then that or vice-versa. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Passion. That's all I got and am anymore. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Passion is the hardest thing to keep. It's something that can be stolen, quite effortlessly. Few words of discouragement, a bad negative representation, a lack of confidence, or small amount of time, there's many thing's that can put that flame out. Once you lose it. The difficulty to reattain is hundred-times harder than climbing any mountain for real. I've watched the greatest creators crumble from under the pressure, from beaten down by others. I watched many of them do it to themselves because they put a grand vision of needing validation of another and once lost, felt uncompelling to press onward. But passion also can be given BACK and drawn. It can be shown and encourage others, with a soft-triggering, that pushes them. That motivates, that constantly sticks to it. There are many that fuel me. If I ever quit, I let them down, I spit in the faces of people who're better than me in every-way. Or people who've came and given me their precious Time. That have given their character's or dedication to the abundant stories and community-driven things I've done. There's ONLY things you can do, create, give and provide. It cannot ever come to life without YOU. This is a fact. ...I swear, If you let your creativity soar, you'll be amazed by the heights you get. Constantly polish and learn and hone the best you, challenge yourself day after painstaking day, to draw better improvement on something, no matter how trivial or unfamiliar you are. You'll find a confidence only you can give yourself. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Future Plans --------------------------------------------------------------------- For me, I've got so much more stories to give and also explore, I might be taking up soon some other artists and more skilled people from community and hire them for some of my future writes, to up my game or cause something thing's can't be done in-game cause no background carries it. I also got a lot of-set up things and more angst stuff I want to practice, plus I'm adamantly on that grind to produce screen-sets with the intent's to some sort of improving daily. Additionally more people I'll be reaching out too soon for these collab's ideas and things. I look forward to shaking your hands, giving some hugs, show you my respect and admiration, then creating some enchanting stories and giving plots light. Feel free to reach out to me, I get scattered-brain but I'm working on getting better about it. Eventually will get to you though, my goals, if uninterested just say so when I poke, no bites, unless you kinky. Anyways, cheers hearties.

#ooc #update #future plans stuffz #ToG #Work on thinking of daily practice now

[onewomancitadel]

How do you feel about other ships that could potentially threaten Knightfall? Theres the possibility of them pushing White Knight since they're the only characters at the moment who aren't paired up yet but some people are also suggesting that Silent Knight is also possible because both Jaune & Neo have lost a partner and think Jaune will help Neo with that but theres the other possibility that Rose Garden is just a red herring like Black Sun and they were preparing for Lancaster the whole time.

Sorry if this turns up in the ship main tags. I censor ship names in the body of text to stop that. Tumblr can be a bit silly sometimes, but I'm a Jaune/Cinder shipper and I only speak of Blake/Yang and Ruby/Oscar positively here.

Thanks for your ask anon, it's kind of a big topic and this post got very long but I hate using cuts because they're so annoying (for me as a reader). Hope you enjoy.

This is where I started writing and I was so salty:

Jaune/Neo is not remotely a canon possibility and it's absurd to consider it, I'm shocked it's taken seriously at all and Jaune/Cinder is treated like a crackship.

I get that Neo is sort of a cult favourite, but don't attribute narrative importance to her where there isn't any. It's fine if you ship it, but I'm discussing canon here!

If anything I think her most important arc is obviously in relation to Ruby (forgiveness arc in the Fallen Place?) and her fractured partnership with Cinder is a dark echo of Ruby and Weiss, as @branwyns has pointed out. So, in how she's been brought back, it's in service to Ruby's struggle.

I also don't know what position Jaune's going to be in, if he's going to be able to offer Neo anything when he's sort of in the middle of an identity crisis. If there is anything there, though, I don't see how it's suggestive of a romance, especially given that Neo's a minor side character. Jaune's a very important character, he's one of the two major male protagonists, his love interest has to be someone important.

I wouldn't call Blake/Sun a red herring as such.

I think it's a childhood romance alike to Jaune/Pyrrha, Ruby/Penny which doesn't survive, and toys with anime tropes. Like Jaune/Pyrrha isn't really fairytale True Love and everything is sad, Ruby/Penny doesn't really happen because the shoujo love interest has bigger things to do (also her Snow Maiden allusion is another post, but the Snow Maiden dies when she finally truly loves someone - Winter, platonic in this case), Blake/Sun ends up being a friendship because it doesn't have, again, intense fairytale True Love (and in a lot of ways I think Blake/Sun is similar to Jaune/Pyrrha, but whatever), and so on and so forth. Jaune/Weiss is also the aborted childhood romance. So on and so forth.

I think that Blake/Yang is probably the romantic key to understanding the rest of the ships, which is that it's a) intense and vulnerable, b) answers thematic questions in the series (Salem/Ozma, Raven/Tai so team STRQ), c) directly plays with the Beauty and the Beast intertextuality and d) also has all of that magical colour matching and union of opposites. Most importantly, I get the sense that the Beauty and the Beast it plays with in the context of the romance is the older, extant French textual source (Beaumont).

The Jaune and Ruby friendship is one of the things I really like in the show, and no, I don't think they're setting up for a romance on that front. Whilst him mercy-killing Penny can lead to some dramatic angst to fulfill criteria a), I think here it's more to suggest their ideological split as respective leaders. In terms of b), there might be more argument here, but then again I don't think Tai and Summer were all that romantically involved and there was sus stuff going on with Ruby's conception. (A baby born of utilitarian need who then becomes dearly loved/must draw on the memory of her mother to use her inherited power is very thematically ironic and interesting).

And on that front, Ruby and Oscar are a 50/50 Salem/Ozma split respectively, whereas pretty much structurally Jaune is a straight up Ozma and Cinder's a straight up Salem, which again, is why they pair better if you're addressing that.

In terms of c) they share no intertextuality. It might be argued on this front Ren and Nora don't, but in their case I'm pretty sure their intertextuality, like the childhood romances, is anime itself, and they're the one endgame romantic example (but involves a reconstruction of the trope with Nora's separation).

And if we're going Jungian, Jaune and Cinder are Ruby and Oscar's archetypical Shadows. That's more evidence for that pairing up.

Regarding the canonicity of Ruby and Oscar, well, a) there's now separation and intensity given the end of V8, with potential Cupid and Psyche elements b) I'm not even sure if I have to cover how they answer Salem/Ozma as fluffy happy children meeting again and fixing the mess, also I think Ruby getting a happy ending answers Summer's bad ending, c) intertextually, the Little Prince (one of Oscar's allusions) loved a rose. The RG's have way more on this than me but this alone is enough. Also d), which is a lesser point, red/green and silver/gold are match lol. No one else pairs with her silver like that.

So yeah, I think RG and Knightfall will probably happen in respect to one another, alike to their confrontations in V5 being very similar.

Now to address Jaune/Weiss. I have some complicated feelings about this topic because I have read meta which addresses the alchemical element of this pairing, but to be quite honest I don't really want to stir up drama in terms of how I disagree with that. More prominently I want to point out that two major Jaune/Weiss interactions both feature Cinder and it's very very suspicious to me. This could be a separate post and I have posted about it before to some degree, but I sort of think Jaune/Weiss might actually be the red herring.

Of course, a lot of people who aren't otherwise interested in their characters or only just a bit take this as totally endgame, and if you have a different opinion you're probably just a crazy shipper. Whilst I am crazy, I think that framing Jaune/Weiss as the only reasonable narrative answer misses a majority of the thematic concerns in the show.

Okay, I'll just put it in this post: Jaune fully realises his Semblance when he saves Weiss. It's a big moment, right? This should basically indicate to us that they'll end up together. Let me readdress my criteria: a) he saves her like he couldn't Pyrrha, so maybe fulfills vulnerability/intensity, b) Weiss is a Salem/Ozma split, Jaune's more of a straight up Ozma; Weiss is a STRQ Qrow, and Jaune's a Tai... c) no intertextuality, other than maybe Jaune being the Huntsman in her story. Blake has a few Beasts, so we can double up on the Huntsman front (Weiss is both Snow White and a Huntress, and she has her own knight). In terms of d), one of the lesser points, their colours don't go together.

So I'm just going to supply these screencaps:

Jaune never mentions Weiss in particular. Not necessarily a huge deal: I'm contrasting this with Blake and Adam, and one of the things that really made me convinced Blake/Yang was a thing

Adam, the sacrificial bull (I'm not sure if the Campbellian bull-leaping in V6 was intentional, but if it were, then it was a sacred marriage for Yang and Blake) is not the same as Cinder. I think the contrast is purposeful.

I think there might be some intentional foiling with Blake/Adam, where Adam is the straight up irredeemable enemy love interest and Cinder isn't - like, the way she responds to Emerald and Mercury leaving is not with possessive jealousy and murderous rage.

Going back to the big daddy, Salem/Ozma, as above. Again, I view Jaune/Cinder as a regenerative answer to Salem/Ozma.

Anyway, Cinder targets Weiss. Earlier in that sequence, Jaune doesn't make specific mention of Pyrrha. Cinder only has reason in this sequence to target an apparent love interest because that's her narrative role to do (and what everybody expects).

It's probably easy to brush off Cinder being involved as just the baddie causing trouble but basically the entire thrust is Jaune and Cinder's interaction; Jaune and Weiss don't really have much to say to each other and it doesn't carry the same romantic relief Blake and Yang do! If anything, I think confronting Jaune's self-sacrifice, Cinder's worldview, and their respective spiritual evolution and subsequent fall is like, the whole point. There's nothing that really feeds into Weiss' character arc here, that's why I remain puzzled; it's a big deal for Jaune, because he learns how to be protective, and it's a big deal for Cinder, because she's had the whole, 'They matter!' thing thrown right in her face, and also she's using a sword like Rhodes so she's in a bit of a personal crisis.

The underestimated thing here is that conflict with his anima here leads to him realising his Semblance, which is the purpose of anima confrontation (spiritual evolution)... so in the background there's Jaune/Cinder stuff going on. Which is why, given what they did with Blake/Sun, Blake/Adam, Blake/Yang, I'm sensing something odd here.

The second sequence, which notably involves Jaune and Cinder's fight over Penny, of course has him kill Penny to stop Cinder hurting Weiss again. That should be indicative, again, of Jaune/Weiss. But I'd expect there to be something again here, but instead the focus is on Jaune and Cinder. I don't know how else to describe this, but all of the angst and pain of Penny is not a concern in Weiss' character. Weiss knows what's happened, though, and it's fair to say she'll be involved in helping establish what happened with the others, but how that goes remains to be seen and is a totally separate topic. But if we're leaning hard on Tai and Qrow there, well, Tai and Qrow clearly have something going on in the sense of a personal dispute.

But the part I want to focus on is where Jaune is helping Weiss to safety which has, um, how shall we say

someone looking verrrrrrrrrrrrry upset - borderline jealous? - and I get that Cinder doesn't like Weiss because Weiss represents all of the failings of Atlas, but wow, that's insanely clever to make your romantic rival also represent everything you hate and rebel against.

You could argue here if you're a naysayer this is about her fucking with Winter, but Cinder's made no indication here that this is about fucking with Winter. This seems personal.

It would probably be easy to say that this is just setting up Jaune/Weiss with unrequited feelings on Cinder's part for Jaune, and then some confrontation ala Adam, but Cinder's not abusive towards Jaune. Also, what would unrequited feelings narratively achieve? In the case of Blake/Sun, Sun's feelings lead to a type of selflessness which helps him mature, and in the Vacuo arc I think that will become relevant, especially if you-know-who's a Maiden. In the case of Jaune/Weiss, his unrequited feelings for her are meshed with the pressure he feels to fulfill a particular masculine ideal. (Which is more evidence against the ship).

Cinder and Jaune have never been in a relationship, there's no trust to break, the only hurt between them is as enemies, and even then when they actually fight they barely hurt each other. In some ways I think the writers are sort of aware that like, yes they need to be enemies but there are probably people who would be upset if they did actually meaningfully harm each other directly, beyond Pyrrha and Weiss who serve narrative roles.

Jaune only chips her mask. She breaks his sword. That's the real harm they do to one another, it's transformative.

So if Cinder's being set up for a redemption arc where Adam isn't, then I think it's probably fair to argue that Jaune/Cinder is being set up as a positive relationship.

Also on this front, Adam was not one of the lead antagonists, he didn't carry the same special narrative role Cinder does as Ruby's Shadow and the Fall Maiden. So to say that her story will play out exactly the same as his when it's been contrasted purposefully is just silly. I mean, he has that big manipulative reveal of his scars to Blake, and it's obvious to us he did that to her a lot.

Meanwhile Cinder's own past, what others know of it, is used against her by Salem and Watts to manipulate and hurt her. So yes she's a very naughty villainess, but she's not an Adam.

I would make the argument here that of the three pairings - Blake/Sun, Blake/Yang, Blake/Adam - Jaune's equivalent three - Jaune/Weiss, Jaune/Pyrrha, Jaune/Cinder - follow a similar, but slightly different pattern.

Firstabble, the anime trope romance which is reconstructed: Jaune/Pyrrha, Blake/Sun

Secondabble, the historical romance which was one-sided: Jaune/Weiss, Blake/Adam

Thirdabble, the endgame fairytale true love: Blake/Yang, Jaune/Cinder.

So yeah I think Jaune/Weiss is only endgame if they decide to be really boring, play into vomit 'nice guy waiting for girl' trope for some bizarre reason that the show has broadly rejected, and decide to break the entire thematic and mechanical thrust of the show.

Let me quickly fit Jaune/Cinder into that earlier ship paradigm: a) very very intense and vulnerable, b) they are literally just straight up Salem and Ozma in reverse, they're even framed the same way, and also Raven/Tai, not explaining anymore but that's the same as Blake/Yang too, c) intertextually, Jaune's been set up as somebody's Prince Charming, and the bloke who cheated into a fucking Huntsman academy and was ostensibly a shit one being the real and best Huntsman/Prince for Cinder's story is endlessly, endlessly amusing. There's also all of the Rhodopis stuff (alike to Blake and Yang's allusion background) I have gone on about ad nauseam and then Jaune's own Joan of Arc influence involves crowns and a saint whom she hears from breaking out from the belly of Satan to free herself, so like, please do not get me started. Then, d), which is the lesser point and why I'm including it but not making a big fuss, Jaune and Cinder's colours oddly match, but it depends how hard you lean on her pin being indicative of her future colours (purple and blue), given that she's transitioned into black. But the orange and blue eyes do match so you can't take this away from me.

I also think that, like Blake/Yang was a pleasant surprise, Jaune/Cinder has the potential to be a pleasant and interesting twist. It's just the most interesting story you could tell, and I think we're due for something transcendentally happy, since that's the direction the show is going in. To be honest, I think that this is the long way around to Salem's happy ending. It's fitting to me that analogues of her in the story also fulfill that in some way.

So yeah I actually think the reason Jaune/Cinder has a chance is sort of exactly because people underestimate it and don't expect it. It makes perfect sense, though. It's very very very clever and I like it a lot.

I mean, where are we right now in the story? Cinder has recommitted to trying to be clever and smart and manipulative, even turning it on her own master. Jaune's mercy-killed Penny, the healer with bloody hands. There are some peope who think Cinder's redemption arc has been rejected, some who think Jaune won't have any angst or pain. I think there's something interesting to do with their respective characters from here. If they redeem Cinder, it almost definitely has to involve him. Everybody before him, Rhodes, Salem, Emerald, Mercury, Watts, only ever wanted something from her or of her. Staying quiet and doing as she's told, and enduring imprisonment. Imprisoning her again under the guise of a false freedom. Safety, food, love, shelter. Watts, his own motive and ends (no idea how people think him interacting with her was the point of no return for her morality). All of these failed attempts should indicate she can't be redeemed, right?

After all, how many tried to climb the tower to free the maiden?

But all of them only wanted something from her: her hand, the riches, the glory. There was just one knight who didn't care about any of that, and only did it because it was the right thing, and then they fell in love.

Which pairing am I talking about? (:

#seraphina's asks #user: anonymouse #knightfall #long post