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lattewithatwistoflemon · 3 years

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Gundam Wing Essay

January 25, 2021

Gundam Wing has this powerful nostalgia for me, even though I didn’t actually watch the show when it came on television when I was little. I just shrugged it off and said I didn’t like Gundams. Yet I’m finding myself drawn to these characters and wondering if, in some subconscious way, this show influenced who I’ve become. From my love of damaged, traumatized bishounen to my inclination to dress exactly like Relena, despite never consciously thinking about her in all these years... I feel like maybe aspects of this anime molded me into who I am today.

Every time I heard one of my favorite songs, “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer, there was a couple there in my head, and I couldn’t pinpoint who they were... But after looking at the Gundam manga issue I got when I was 7, where Heero and Relena are in a romantic garden together, and seeing the ending sequence of the anime, where Relena stands in a field wearing that dress and that hat, I can’t help but think “it’s them”. It’s been Heero and Relena in my head all along, as this idealized fairy tale couple, every time I heard that song. Thinking back on my childhood impression of them, I realized I always imagined them as being like Romeo and Juliet, talking to each other over a balcony, over a courtyard garden, in a star-crossed, Shakespearean romance. In my head, they were always so deeply in love. Perhaps they were a symbol of romance itself. I don’t remember if I had seen a specific scene in the anime as a child that made me see them as a couple, or if my memory is just based on that one chapter of the Ground Zero manga, but either way, they were imprinted on my mind as the most quintessential, devoted lovers. She was a fairy tale princess, and he was the gallant knight who would come rescue her.

Zechs feels like an ideal fairy tale prince... the kind that will kiss my hand, give me roses, and carry me bridal style through a beautiful European garden, to a sweet little white outdoor table, where we drink tea out of fine China teacups, while the sun shines brightly, and the leaves of the trees around us cast shadows upon us that sway with the breeze. Yet Zechs also possesses that same dark, seductive quality of the Phantom of the Opera, whispering in my ear with that voice that’s both sinister and incredibly romantic at the same time, as if luring me into his embrace. Zechs has this beautiful duality to him. He goes down a dark path on multiple occasions, but even so, he feels terrible guilt for what he does. Because of this, he still comes across as honorable and chivalrous to me. Other anime characters that I’ve seen since then have had a similar feel, such as Yue from Cardcaptor Sakura and Griffith from Berserk. I’ve even created original characters for my own stories who are long haired, princely men with ambiguous morals, who I now wonder if they were subconsciously inspired by this one, long-forgotten figure that I had briefly seen as a 7-year-old. I tended to like blonde characters when I was little, and like most little girls, I loved the idea of a perfect, gentlemanly prince charming. I’m genuinely surprised that I didn’t remember him from when I was a child. Perhaps if I had seen those gentle blue eyes beneath the mask, I would’ve fallen in love.

Duo has a much different quality from Zechs. He feels familiar in a way that’s hard to pinpoint. He’s brash, energetic, and laid-back at the same time. He has this friendly, approachable quality to him that the other characters don’t possess. It feels like I can actually get close to him, while all the others feel like they’d push me away. I’ve realized Duo reminds me of various other characters, most of which are from video games, such as Sonic, Dante, and most importantly… Link. Link was my very first crush. My attachment to Link stemmed from the Ocarina of Time game. It wasn’t until many years later that I watched the animated Zelda series, in which Link is very much like Duo. I never thought of myself as being particularly attracted to that version of Link, yet now, when seeing an actual anime character who resembles him in appearance and personality, I find myself incredibly drawn to him. I can’t say for sure whether my attraction to Duo is due to his similarity to Link or to any other character or if it’s simply because of how warm and approachable he feels compared to the other gundam pilots. I remember that Duo’s design always stuck out to me the most, as the cute one with the braid.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been interested in angry, angsty characters who have traumatic backstories. For the longest time, I was under the assumption that Heero would be a basic, friendly protagonist. So when I finally started watching this show 20 years later, I was surprised by him being the type of angst-ridden anti-hero that I love nowadays. When I was 13, I discovered Saiyuki, and instantly obsessed over Genjo Sanzo, who’s exactly like Heero in that sense. His past trauma turned him into a cold, ruthless killer, who, despite his self-loathing, came to the decision that he must continue killing in order to live. While watching Gundam Wing, I saw these same qualities in Heero. Whatever he’s experienced before the start of the anime must have damaged him so badly that he’s become this cold-blooded killer. Judging from how quick he is to throw away his life for his mission, I conclude that he despises himself for all the people he’s killed. Just like Sanzo, he pushes aside that self-loathing to live on and continues fighting for what he believes is right. In addition to Sanzo, another character that I love with a similar personality type is Kai from Beyblade. Although his circumstances aren’t as extreme as Heero’s and Sanzo’s, since he hasn’t killed anyone, he also has a chip on his shoulder from his past trauma that causes him to be cold and put up a wall between himself and the people around him. Out of the characters that I know of who have this personality type, Heero would have been the first one I had seen. Even though I don’t remember knowing that Heero was like this, since I had assumed he was completely different all along, part of me gets this feeling of “what if he was the start of this? What if he’s the reason I love this type of character?” I wonder if it’s possible for him to have influenced my inclination towards these characters without me having any memory of it.

Adding to this topic of traumatized characters, Trowa also fits the bill. His trauma isn’t portrayed as anger against the world, as with the characters listed above. Instead, he’s often depicted as depressed and sometimes frightened, in a way that makes Catherine and myself feel pity for him. When he loses his memory and holds himself, shivering, that is a perfect illustration of the type of characters that I like, due to their vulnerability and need for protection. My very first favorite anime character was Hotaru from Sailor Moon, who very frequently displayed these same actions, which made me instantly love her. Also, Trowa reminds me a lot of Hakkai from Saiyuki.

Both Heero and Trowa are suicidal. Trowa had one or two moments highlighting this, but Heero has had at least 5 instances where it looked to me like he was trying to kill himself. He would often do something incredibly dangerous, without any regard to his own life. In one instance, he very nearly blew himself up, which resulted in him being bed-ridden and covered in bandages. I’ve always had a strong interest in suicidal and self-loathing characters like this. Whether this is from some sort of motherly instinct that makes me want to protect them or some sort of sadistic interest that I have with fictional characters, I’m not entirely sure. But either way, these two Gundam Wing characters stuck out to me very strongly due to their trauma and suicidal intent. Since Heero had always given me the impression of being the epitome of a shounen hero, him being suicidal struck me especially hard, and this just made me like him all the more. Even when I watch more lighthearted shows, I like to headcanon these kinds of things. For instance, I headcanon multiple Beyblade characters to be abused, suicidal child soldiers, so it was interesting to see that these things were canon in Gundam Wing. It’s rare for me to find an anime that focuses on traumatized bishounen characters similar to Saiyuki, so when I realized Gundam Wing was like this, I felt like it was written for me. I’ve come to call this the “pretty boys in need” genre.

Another reason this anime speaks to me is that, whenever I see Relena, I feel like I’m looking at myself as an anime character. Over the years, from high school to college especially, I’d developed my own fashion sense and aesthetic. This consisted of me wanting to wear ruffled blouses and long skirts. I loved feeling like a proper Victorian lady. I wore puffy sleeves, bows, and frills. My favorite colors to wear, which people have said look the best on me, were shades of red, pink, or maroon. I’d also wear a lot of white. My favorite hairstyle has always been straight cut bangs with my hair partly tied back, just like Relena’s. The hairstyle was consciously inspired by Gabrielle from Xena Warrior Princess, but I can’t help but wonder if Relena had some subconscious influence on it as well. My hair is naturally brown, but I was born blonde, and I often bleach my hair, so it’s usually somewhere close to her dark blond/light brown hair. My eyes are also dark teal, like Relena’s. Although I’ve lately been working a lot and hardly have the chance to dress up, I still see this Victorian princess image as my ideal appearance, which makes Relena feel like an idealized anime version of myself. I feel like I’ve grown to become her. Although, this comparison is almost strictly appearance-based. Some people say I’m serious, but in general, I don’t feel like I’m nearly as serious as she is. My life revolves around anime (certainly not politics), and I’m known to be very giggly. Although Relena and I do share an interest in angsty bad boys. I can’t help but wonder if maybe, somewhere deep down in my subconscious, I always wanted to be like her?

Lastly, the entire aesthetic and feel of this show feels incredibly nostalgic to me. There’s a scene in the second opening, where Heero suddenly looks up at the camera in a way that makes my heart skip a beat. I’ve been having trouble figuring out exactly what the feeling is that this evokes for me. I’ll say it’s a mix of sweet nostalgia and perhaps guilt. The characters’ faces and art style are so incredibly familiar to me. I’ve known of them since I was 7, but I never gave the show a chance by trying to watch it. I told myself I didn’t like it, after seeing a couple minutes, because I very quickly came to the conclusion that I didn’t like mecha anime. I was only 7, yet this opinion stuck with me for 20 years, without me ever trying to change it. Over the years, I had almost completely forgotten about Gundam Wing. I shunned the show. Perhaps I shunned Heero most of all, with my assumption that he’s a normal, cliche shounen protagonist. So when he looks directly at the screen like that, while I’m captivated by the familiar beauty of the art style, I also feel a pang of guilt for neglecting him all these years.

I think the best way for me to conclude what it is about this series that makes me feel so strongly is that this space opera genre possesses the feeling of an Arthurian romance or a Shakespearean tragedy. While watching this show, my mind isn’t focused on the battles or the gundams. What draws me to this show are the characters’ relationships, emotional trauma, and the visual allusions to times long ago. Because of this, the small, barely remembered bits that I had seen as a small child had left such a big impact on me that, now, when I watch it for the first time, it feels like it’s been living inside my soul all along. When I watch this anime, I get this feeling that I can’t believe I’m actually watching it. As something from a bygone era that I had quickly discarded and never thought I would ever get back, it feels like some sort of miracle, as if I had gone back in time to watch this long-forgotten relic of my past.

Leah Marie

#if anyone takes time out of their day to read this... thank you so much!#i wanted to write something small but #it turned into a 2k word essay #i wasn't sure if i was going to like this anime but #it's safe to say i do #gundam wing #mobile suit gundam wing #gundam wing essay

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lemontrash · 4 years

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Epithets; the Pros and Pitfalls

Ok gang, so recently the topic of epithets in fanfic has come up and this is a topic I have been thinking about a LOT for A LONG TIME so I figured maybe now is the time to share my thoughts on phrases like ‘the braided baka’ and ‘the ebony-eyed Chinese pilot’ and what some of the pitfalls are in using epithets to enrich your writing.

NOTE: I am not slamming the use of epithets! I am not coming into your fic from 25 years ago saying ‘shame!’. I am only maintaining that these are tricky to get right, and to raise awareness of how epithets can be a really useful, powerful tool of description but also a double-edged blade.

What is an Epithet Anyway?

An epithet is a word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality, in addition to or instead of their name, and which are used to identify.

On one side of tradition, they are poetic. Homer, writer of the Odyssey, was a big fan of these. ‘The wine dark sea’, ‘rosy fingered Dawn’, and ‘Nausicaa of the long white arms’ are some of his most famous, never mind ‘Apollo, destroyer of mice!’. In his works they were generally descriptive, or talked directly to the schemata (the perceptions and understanding) of his audience.

Everyone knows Achaeans are super hairy, right? You know that.

On another side of tradition, they are identifiers. If you have a populace named virtually nothing but John, Richard and Henry and you’re not used to using family names, then calling this John ‘Long John’ and that John ‘Little John’ helps direct attention to the right person. Or to acknowledge their good or bad deeds/attributes (Peter the Brave vs Stinky Pete, for example) or their lineage (Aragorn son of Arathorn/ John of Gaunt). They can be used for comedic purposes as a device to make purposefully similar characters more amusing (Wee Jock, Big Jock and Smaller-than-Big-Jock-but-Bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock all agreed to steal the sheep. The Pirate with the Peg Leg and the Pirate with the Clothes Peg boarded the ship.)

But notice that many of these epithets still use people’s names or are direct substitutions for when a name isn’t known. And they are largely subjective - epithets carry not only description but opinion - the opinion of society at large or the opinion of the individual speaker - and pinpoint value - what it IS about this person we should pay attention to.

And that means epithets can be used to praise, (Richard the Lionheart), to criticise (Bad King John), and to stereotype (those hairy Achaeans).

Oh and these are just epithets used for people. Epithets come in other forms, for example:

“The earth is crying-sweet, And scattering-bright the air, Eddying, dizzying, closing round, With soft and drunken laughter…”

The highlighted parts of Beauty and Beauty by Rupert Brooke are also epithets. But i’m going to focus on those used to describe people in this discussion.

In short, epithets always carry meaning in two ways - they focus on what the user feels is perceptively important about the subject of the epithet, and as a result, when we look through the lens of an epithet, our view of a character narrows.

Why are they Great?

Because they’re poetic by nature; they add interest and often eloquence. And because they tell us so much about the point of view of the user. They can add new facets to characters and give writers a secondary means of identifying characters to reduce name fatigue, or differentiate between otherwise similar characters. They can be comedic or evocative. They can show the changeability of characters as they develop or when circumstances change. Clever Odysseus, Lord of Men can become Pitiable Odysseus, hated by the sea.

But because they are poetic, because they carry opinion and because they are inherently narrow in their focus, there’s a whole bunch of pitfalls to be aware of when using epithets. Getting this wrong, well, maybe you just make your story harder to follow. Get it very wrong, and at worst you could genuinely offend someone.

What’s the Problem with Poetry?

The first basic issue you may encounter is that your epithets are too vague or are being overused.

‘My better half’ is an epithet. But if he (she? they?) has not been introduced in any capacity and you also alternate referring to him (her? them?) as ‘the hardened police officer’ and ‘the sloe-eyed beauty’ I might be forgiven for losing track of how many people are in the scene, how they’re related and how I should be thinking of them. Especially early in a story where i’m still getting up to speed with the setting. Here your epithets are muddying the story and it’s a situation where you should be using names. Even for fanfic where we’re assuming that the characters are familiar to everyone, you should be clearly introducing your version of the characters, because generally readers like to know they’re on the same page from the start rather than get thrown for a loop later on. And also you can’t be sure what your reader is thinking, so tell them.

Don’t forget that a NAME captures the whole of a person. Epithets only capture a slice.

You may also make your epithets too purple. ‘The azure-orbed golden-haired CEO’ is a mouthful, and may be adding detail that is irrelevant to the scene; imaging encountering that in a scene where Quatre is busy slashing through Leos in a desert battle. Who is stopping to think about that? Why does it deserve a spotlight right here, right now?

The other type of overuse is to pick one epithet that is your favourite and use it for every other mention of that character. Because epithets carry more meaning than names this is a little like shouting that character’s name through a bullhorn. It’s great the first couple of times - Wow! Exciting! Memorable! - but it fatigues faster than using their name would have. The epithet can then become annoying (’I know he’s got long hair, stop saying it!’) or at very very worst it can become othering. You will alienate your reader from the character, and at the absolute worst, this may mean your reader either comes out with expressions of an attitude to that character that you had no intention of courting or encouraging, or they think YOU have those attitudes and go away from your story thinking ‘wow, that was a well-written story but OOF. that guy’s got some uncomfortable feelings about stuff’.

Whose Line is it Anyway?

Epithets can be factual. They can be based on things you know, I know, and (most importantly) everyone in the story knows. For example, ‘The Wing Gundam Pilot’ is a factual epithet for Heero and is based on knowledge accessible and agreed by 99% of people.

It would still not work if the narrative POV is a character who doesn’t know Heero or doesn’t recognise him as a Gundam Pilot at all. E.G. He’s in disguise and questioning Abdul, who has never met him before.

And this is because epithets are still directional. They convey an understanding or a focus from the user to the reader, regardless of if the user is a character within the story, or the voice of the author themselves. And that’s where it can get weird.

Let’s say I’m writing a story from Rashid’s POV. As a person, he is unlikely to be fussed about the colour of Heero’s eyes, or the fact that Trowa is tall because Rashid is too pragmatic to give a hoot if your eyes are blue or not, and literally everyone is a shrimp compared to Rashid. So in that story, epithets like ‘The azure-eyed pilot’ or ‘the tall pilot’ would be strange if not meaningless coming from that character, and in fact would break the 4th wall by forcing the author’s voice into the foreground.

Effective epithets are either universal and readily accepted (and therefore often neutral/factual, even if they are poetic - rosey-fingered Dawn) or they are naturally biased towards the perspective of the user. Which means characterisation of an epithet used by a person in a story to describe another person in the story goes both ways: When a story in Heero’s POV describes Duo as a ‘violet-eyed beauty’ I may think ‘Duo, purple eyes, pretty boy, yes. check!’ but I will probably also think, ‘wow, Heero’s a massive closet romantic and he has some serious pants-feels for Duo’.

Or if that doesn’t match my view of Heero as a character, I may well think that this author has missed the point of Heero Yuy: Perfect Soldier and it’s THEM who has the serious pants-feels for Duo. If it’s the middle of a gritty battle scene, I may also think ‘Wow, is this really the time, author? Put it back in your pants’.

Or maybe in the above example, it’s a 1x2 but this is jumping the gun. Heero isn’t aware of his own feelings yet so this kind of epithet is premature in Chapter 1. Bring it in down the line when Heero’s acknowledging to himself that Duo makes him go all weird and sweaty.

So use epithets knowing that they will describe the target but also the user, and if those things don’t accord, can jar your reader quickly out of the headspace you were trying to achieve or shout your own voice over that of your characters.

Distilling or Reducing?

If I take a mint plant and distill it, I will end up with a bottle of menthol oil which I could shove under your nose and declare ‘this is perfume!’ and you, eyes streaming, would have to stand there and generally agree.

But if i take a mint plant, rip off a leaf and push it in your face and declare ‘this is perfume!’ you’re less likely to agree with me. Because in this case, I am not distilling, i am reducing.

Epithets can work the same way. At their best, they take everything you want to convey about a character and their situation/personality and condense it into one potent phrase that socks your reader in the face.

But all too often, they are used reductively and then you actually lose a great deal of what’s important about a character for the sake of showmanship and/or lazy writer’s short-hand.

Let’s go back to the Odyssey. Odysseus has just washed up after being shipwrecked; he’s naked, salt encrusted, beardy and beasty and savage. Whilst stumbling around on the shore he is met by a princess, Nausicaa. Nausicaa of the long, white arms. That’s her epithet. From a modern feminist perspective, it seems a little reductive, but in the context of the story, it’s a distillation. She plays an opposite to Odysseus in this scene as he struggles to come back to civilisation after his hardships. She is washing rich clothes; he’s dressed in rags. She’s feminine and cultured and graceful; he’s acting like a wild lion. She represents civilisation and ideals with her fragility and her skin that’s been protected from the sun. He’s burnt and has forgotten how to act like a man.

So whilst the epithet is focussed it tells me a lot of what i need to know and expect of Nausicaa in terms of her role in the story, and the fact that she will compel Odysseus to come back to himself as King of Ithaca.

However, epithets are commonly based on appearance, status or origin, and can very easily fall into stereotype and tropes. Remember Homer’s hairy Achaeans? Was that a flattering description? Would Achaeans bang their chest and cheer proudly to be described as hairy, or would they be put out? If Achaeans are hairy, then what are Trojans?

Let’s bring this to a modern context. If I use ‘the American pilot’ as short hand to convey that Duo is brash and loud and reckless...can I guarantee that my reader will agree with that assumption? Personally I know a lot of Americans, many of whom are not brash or loud or reckless. And if Americans in my fic are de facto brash and loud and reckless... what are Chinese people like? Humourless and ill-tempered? Or is that just Wufei? As a British person, I can find it more than tiresome to see myself represented as old-fashioned and endlessly polite; particularly when it gets obvious that the writer hasn’t the first clue about the UK or British culture. I can only imagine what it’s like for minority groups.

If you start short-handing in this way, it’s the top of a potentially slippery slope into unintentional racial or cultural profiling. This is where epithets can start to raise eyebrows or make readers reach for the back-button. You need to ask yourself - is this lazy description or is this meaningful? Is this from a ‘generic’ POV (IE, mine as the author) or is it quantified by the POV of a character in the story who may carry those biases? Should those biases be acknowledged or explored by the story? Should those biases be carried in character speech only, then, or is it ok to put them into the prose?

Is there a way I can characterise that without short-handing with a basic epithet? If I’m already saying that Duo flipped the table and threw his hands up in impatience, does tagging on this epithet strengthen the meaning of those actions, or are his actions defining the epithet?

Did you know that the alternative meaning of ‘epithet’ is ‘a disparaging or abusive word or phrase’? This is loaded description.

And finally, sometimes the epithet is just plain boring. If the epithet is a universal fact, then it is also a static snapshot of the character we’ve seen before; and it’s often not even individual. Heero has blue eyes... but so does Quatre, and so do Relena, Zechs, Mariemaia, Treize, Sally Po, Sylvia Noventa and that guy over there. It tells me nothing about Heero as a person and even if we argue ‘but it’s a specific shade of blue!’ Well...sure. It’s still not that unique and you shouldn’t have to dig that deep into the epithet to make the trait stand out. It’s the literary version of a newspaper headline yelling ‘WOMAN WEARS CLOTHES’.

For example, compare:

‘The blue-eyed Vice Foreign Minister entered the meeting room’

Cool beans. So what? Relena’s arrived but my attention is already distracted away from her looking for something more plot-related. Especially if this is chapter 3 and her appearance has already been described to me 6 or 7 times.

‘The false queen, Relena Peacecraft entered the meeting room’.

J u i c y! Sounds like tea is going to be spilled. Who’s still holding this grudge against her? Is she the villain here? I’m gonna keep reading.

TL;DR

In summary, epithets carry a lot of personal perspective and can be powerful devices in writing. Used well, they will lift up your writing and make it memorable, vivid and engaging. Used thoughtlessly, you can stumble into a number of pitfalls, some which will make your writing harder to read or unintentionally comedic, and others that could make you look like an asshole.

#fanfic writing #writing advice #epithets #YMMV

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doctorcanon · 5 years

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Random Future Fics

Gundam Wing: Child Soldiers - A reimagining of the Gundam Wing Series with some racial and gender adjustments. Changes include: Duo being Black, Heero having long hair, Relena being a ginger, Trowa with tattoos, 63!Quatre with a hijab and other things. Will include a complete reimagining of Endless Waltz.

Tales of Domini (Tales of Series) - A series of fics using elements, characters and plot lines from the Tales of the Abyss, Vesperia, Graces, Xillia 1&2, Zestiria and Berseria. The main characters from each game travel together in an effort to stop the Elympion war effort only to find a plan to subjugate the gods and subvert the will of Malaks. Also comes with a shorter, modern version written in the style of the movie Crash.

In the Woods Somewhere (Bravely Default) - Inspired by In The Woods Somewhere by Hozier and A Night in the Woods. After dropping out of college for undisclosed reasons, Edea Lee returns to her hometown to find out that a lot has changed but her friends Agnes, Tiz and Ringbel still welcome her with open arms. However, she finds that something is deeply wrong with her troubled ex-boyfriend Ringabel who’s been blacking out and disappearing sometimes for days on end. She eventually learns it’s not some undiagnosed ailment.

A Very Troubled Young Man (FFXV) - A fic that takes place in both the past and present of the Four Protagonists of FFXV but mostly centering on Ignis. Detailing how they first met, what they did to get home and what happened when Niflheim came back for revenge. Has multiple endings, one that adheres to canon, one where Ignis dies and the third where everyone lives.

Weak (FFXV) - Ignis is a young, hardworking office manager with a troubled romantic past. He has a thing for nice suits and older men and those men tend to take advantage of that. He begins to question whether or not love actually exists. So when older businessman Gladiolus Amicitia makes advances on him, he figures the man just wants to sex with him. Yes, Gladio wants that but their relationship gets far more emotional than initially planned.

Like Everyone is Watching (Kingdom Hearts and FF Titles) - A fic written in the style of a documentary that follows the students of one of the most famous performing arts schools in the World. Particularly focuses on students of the coveted Triple Threat Program Ignis, Sora, Lightning, Lauriam and Ringabel.

I Don’t Know How to Play Guitar (D-Gray Man) - Follows the eccentric life of Allen Walker, accomplished acrobat, living at the Las Vegas Strip. He struggles with vice, virtue and his own troubled past as his friends and his family start to notice his unhealthy habits. With the death of his adopted father, Allen can no longer hide behind the good boy façade he’s always maintained.

Contrivance: The Nightmare Complex (Bleach) - Pretty much canon compliant. A complete rewrite of the Fullbringer Arc with the Quincy War sprinkled in there. It’s been a year since Ichigo lost his powers as a shinigami. For the last two weeks, he’s been accosted by a young skinny transient who goes by the name of Ishida Uryuu who claims that they know each other. He’s never seen the kid in his life and neither have his friends Ginjo, Tsukisima, Orihime and Chad. After a rather terrible encounter with a Hollow, he couldn’t see and Ginjo being gravely wounded, Ichigo confronts the mysterious Uryuu. The latter warns him not to trust Tsukishima and Ginjo and not to trust anything he sees.

#Bleach #Gundam Wing #d-gray man #Bravely Default #tales series #ffxv

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thisweekingundamwing · 6 years

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This Week in Gundam Wing 21-27 October 2018

Here’s this week’s roundup!

Remember to give your content creators some love! And join in on the events at the bottom!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@anaranesindanarie

11:11 https://archiveofourown.org/works/16430819/chapters/38471807

Trowa Barton/Duo Maxwell, Long Meilan/Hilde Schbeiker, Catherine Bloom/Abdul Kurama, Chang Wufei/Duo Maxwell

Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Long Meilan, Chang Wufei, Hilde Schbeiker

What happened before Tequila, Breakups

The events before the start of Tequila. Not necessarily in order.

@gundamwing-ellesmith

WIP Wednesday http://gundamwing-ellesmith.tumblr.com/post/179394868609/wip-wednesday

This time I’m sharing a snippet from my next big fic (still a work in progress, so give me a few more months to complete it…). It’s a 3x1, with a dash of 11x1, and a whole bunch of bad stuff that’s happening to poor Heero… (duh!)

Story takes place in AC 206.

@lifeaftermeteor

Saturday Snippet https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/179499575750/duo-and-heeros-apartment-brussels-belgium-12

Duo and Heero’s Apartment

Brussels, Belgium

12 September 210

Shenlong1

Bound, Bonded and Betrayed (Ch. 75) https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9726683/75/Bound-Bonded-and-Betrayed

Rated: M

Character: Heero Y., Duo M.

Summary: Heero is the eldest son of the King of Colonia. His 21st birthday is approaching and as tradition dictates his betrothed is soon to arrive. However he is also bound by tradition to select his own personal slave. The events that unfold lead him down a path that not only tests his sanity but his humanity and love as well.

@terrablaze514

Freedom Fighters Snippet https://terrablaze514.tumblr.com/post/179407984742/freedom-fighters-wip-wednesday

So, this is a WIP Wednesday post (from Freedom Fighters). It's AU, and this scene is dark. I think I've caught the characters thoughts and feelings well.

2+1, implied OT5.

Let Down Your Hair Snippet https://terrablaze514.tumblr.com/post/179407577902/let-down-your-hair-wip-wednesday

This type of fic was inspired by a beautiful fanart I saw back in May, and I think two fellow GW writers wanted to see how the story turns out. This is only half of it. 2x5x2, OT5. Somewhat Canon.

I Do Snippet https://terrablaze514.tumblr.com/post/179406539882/i-do-wip-wednesday

The idea for this fic was inspired by World Mental Health Day, and two writers who had discussed "Safe-touch therapy". It's bound to be a long oneshot story, Quatre-centric. Also an OT5 and Dorothy x Relena. My apologies in advance if this snippet is too short, but I came across some writing advice that held me back from sharing all I've *really* gotten so far. Anyways, completion soon awaits.

@vegalume

WIP Wednesday http://vegalume.tumblr.com/post/179396394330/wip-wednesday

Excerpt from Holiday Arc: Thanksgiving - the eventual part 7 of the Holiday Arc

Fanart:

@duointherain

http://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/179344756559/from-the-chapter-of-terminal-velocity-im-about-to

Duo Maxwell

@lemontrash

https://lemontrash.tumblr.com/post/179424377309/a-v-quick-scribbly-duo-one-day-ill-figure-out

Duo Maxwell

@pazsune

http://pazsune.tumblr.com/post/178246285281

WuFei Chang

@rhysgalentalcernunnos

https://rhysgalentalcernunnos.tumblr.com/post/179509925591/anaranesindanarie-commissioned-this-treize-as-a

Treize Khushrenada

@seitoushi

https://seitoushi.tumblr.com/post/179477207116/a-quiet-moment-for-a-quiet-couple-on-their-day

Heero Yuy/Trowa Barton + Kitties!

@shinigami-of-excellence

http://shinigami-of-excellence.tumblr.com/post/179395235722/aca-collection-of-did-i-ever-post-these

Relena & Zechs

@vegalume

http://vegalume.tumblr.com/post/179459915546/midnightear-youre-on-a-date-with-zechs

Zechs Merquise

Photosets/Screenshots:

@hisuimaxwell

http://hisuimaxwell.tumblr.com/post/175068028262

Duo, WuFei, Trowa, Quatre, & Heero

Head Canons:

@disturbed02girl

https://disturbed02girl.tumblr.com/post/179285896445/thisweekingundamwing

Heero Yuy

@lemontrash

https://lemontrash.tumblr.com/post/179430311144/gundam-cakewrecks

Gundam Characters and their ‘Cakewrecks’

@lbro009

(It’s headcanon ish... shh~.)

Quotes/Dialogues:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179339018359/heero-can-you-take-constructive-criticism

Heero & Quatre

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179294811548/trowa-doktor-s-says-that-if-i-cant-find-a-new

Trowa

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179330112622/heero-all-i-know-is-that-pre-kiss-trowa-doesnt

Heero, Trowa, & Quatre

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179358320403/une-on-the-phone-just-snap-his-kneecaps-and

Une

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179426725613/at-preventers-hq-duo-fei-and-i-are-able-to

Duo, Sally, & WuFei

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179439744690/quatre-i-wasnt-injured-i-was-lightly-stabbed

Quatre & Duo

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179440502209/heero-you-gotta-learn-to-love-yourself-trowa

Heero & Trowa

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179444669353/wufeis-babysitting-adventures

WuFei & Mariemaia

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179477145666/quatre-what-are-we-gonna-do-duo-i-dont-know

Quatre, Duo, WuFei, Trowa, & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179499599579/duo-i-turned-out-perfectly-fine-heero-duo-this

Duo & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/179510511470/heero-i-care-about-all-of-my-friends-equally

Heero & WuFei

OC October:

@lifeaftermeteor

Childhood Memories Prompt https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/179466243130/last-one-for-gwoc-october-childhood-memories

Sousuke Maxwell-Yuy

@skullqueensart

Meet the Family Prompt http://skullqueensart.tumblr.com/post/179305307282/meet-suzies-family

Suzie Tsurugi

Were they involved in the War Prompt http://skullqueensart.tumblr.com/post/179299574067/gwoc-october-week-4-day-1-2

Suzie, Mike, Angel, Kikki, Renee, Masato, Saturo, Jack, and Katsuro

How did they get involved Prompt http://skullqueensart.tumblr.com/post/179473727927/gwoc-october-week-4-days-34

Suzie, Mike, Akito, Kain, Angel, Kikki, Renee, Masato, and Saturo

@lochtayboatsong

https://lochtayboatsong.tumblr.com/post/179281685365/my-gundam-wing-sims

GW Sims OCs!

Goes with the Meet the Family Prompt.

Calendar Events:

@gwcocktailfriday

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, between 3 & 5 pm EST.

Here’s the prompt for Friday November 2nd! https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/post/179483610881/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday-november

@gwoc-october

Prompt Calendar https://gwoc-october.tumblr.com/post/178493762370/hoping-this-is-good-for-a-final-calendar-if-not

Come have fun and tell us about your OCs!

Only a few days left everyone!

Have no worries about “missing it” as you can answer these prompts about your OCs until next October when the prompts will change!

@lifeaftermeteor

https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/177748352595/spooky-gw-shenanigans

Spooky Shenanigans at @gw-horror

https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/178903787564/might-be-that-time-again#notes

A potential Meet Up on the Discord Server for GW fans!

Pick a time frame and we’ll set what works best for a majority of people and host it then!

November 10-11 or November 17-18!

Please reply to the linked post!

@simulacraryn

Heero Yuy Month https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/177808907580/iso-more-heero-yuy-fanpeople

The Month of January (obviously, as it’s 01 *winks*)

Stay tuned for more news!

#21-27 October 2018 #Gundam Wing #Weekly Rouondup #This Week in Gundam Wing #thisweekingundamwing

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ladyjstruth-blog · 7 years

Text

Quatre & Trowa Spend an Evening at a Carnival (Excerpt from Back to Reality)

Already it was near dusk by the time they were walking along the harbor pier that hosted a small Carnival year round. The bright lights were on, crazy carnival noises and local radio broadcasts carried across the pier from many of the attractions.

The two walked in between rows of game tents while avoiding crashing into children as the little urchins ran headlong through the crowd. Trowa's sudden change in behavior seemed to have been something of a dream like it had never happened and Quatre was munching contentedly on a bag of cotton candy (it was his second) while Trowa held a large stuffed panda bear that he'd won at a shooting booth. Trowa smiled at Quatre's love for sweets.

"You have such a sweet tooth." He commented casually, glancing down at the smaller youth.

The blonde smiled and shrugged, pulling out a small handful of the fluffy pink stuff. "I've got a good dentist," he replied offhandedly. His quip answer provoked a deep chuckle from the tall acrobat, causing Quatre to falter a step. The sound almost made him melt. He recovered quickly though and Trowa didn't seem to notice.

Relief washed over the young multi-millionaire. He could handle executives and siblings hounding him about WEI on top of his school work, during exams no less, but he wasn't sure he could handle Trowa's reaction to Quatre spilling his guts about his feelings toward him.

Especially when the blonde got the impression that Trowa wasn't exactly batting for his team, so to speak.

As much as Quatre was attracted to his former comrade in arms, he was too afraid of ruining their friendship to say anything. The last thing he wanted was to scare off the one person he wanted to get closest to for something that might not even work.

Trowa's voice cut sharply into Quatre's internal dilemma.

"Quatre, want to go take the ferry around the harbor?" The taller boy was looking at him expectantly and Quatre figured it hadn't been the first time he'd been asked that question.

"Oh, yeah…sure," replied the blonde as he hurriedly finished the last of the cotton candy, throwing the bag away as they stepped onto the ferry boat. The crowd was fairly large already and the air inside the enclosed area of the boat was too stifling, so Trowa led the way out onto the open deck.

They stopped near the railing, Quatre allowing his school bag to drop to the floor unceremoniously at his feet, leaning with his forearms on the rail. He looked into the gloomy black waves of the water as they pulled away from the dock, allowing them to take his thoughts with them.

Trowa stood, straight and erect with his hands in his pockets, panda bear resting against his leg, and taking in the colorful lights of the harbor. His eyes soon drifted over to the blonde by his side only a few feet away. He couldn't help but enjoy the view.

Quatre was turning into a very naturally attractive young man. He felt the urge to run his hand through that beautiful golden blonde hair, gently trail his fingers down Quatre's neck, whisper sweet nothings in his ear while his hands slipped down across his back sending ripples of pleasure across the younger boy's body, and lower to his waist, and then continuing even lower…

Trowa was startled, as much as the usually composed ex-Gundam pilot could be anyway, out of his less than innocent thoughts about his friend by a question spoken so softly he almost didn't catch it. "When will you leave?" asked the blonde, looking up at Trowa, searching for an answer he knew wouldn't be there.

The brunette shrugged, not picking up on the hidden meaning underneath the simple question. "A week, maybe longer if we do well enough." He watched as Quatre casually turned around, leaning his back against the rail, stuffing his hands in his pockets and gazing up at the few stars that weren't obscured by the bright lights of the city. The blonde closed his eyes and sighed, causing a guilty knot to form in Trowa’s stomach. "Not long enough is it?" he asked.

Quatre shook his head. "It wouldn't be nearly so bad, you know, if you would write or call or…something, every once in awhile," Quatre accused with a bit more vehemence than he had intended.

"Duo and Wufei at least contact me once in awhile and I talk to Relena enough to know what Heero's up to...As much as you're allowed to know what he's up to anyway. But I don't hear a word from you until you show up out of the blue. Not one, Trowa." Quatre looked over his shoulder to meet Trowa's eyes with his own. "What's up with that? I thought we were closer than that," he finished quietly, fighting desperately to keep the tears from welling up in his eyes and the pathetic quiver out of his voice. He was suddenly very angry with Trowa and also very hurt, but he didn't want to collapse into a blubbering mess in front of the guy.

Trowa didn't react, just met Quatre's gaze coldly. The brunette saw the tears in his eyes threatening to get the better of his friend and the knowledge that he was the cause pained him. He knew he owed Quatre a better explanation than he could give. There wasn't any good reason Trowa was willing to admit to that kept him from making contact with him up until today, so he kept silent. He saw a flash of anger in those vibrant blue eyes, and then an expression of defeat as Quatre dropped his head to stare dejectedly at the deck.

Quatre blinked the tears away and waited until he trusted his voice before changing the subject. "How'd you find me anyway?" he asked curiously. Any hint of anger or pain was gone from his voice, replaced by faint curiosity. "I mean, it's not exactly like I announced what school I was attending and Wilmington has a very strict code on privacy for exactly that reason".

"I hacked into all of the private schools' databases in the surrounding area until I found you," Trowa replied nonchalantly, looking back out across the water. "It's not like it was hard," he added as an afterthought.

In spite of his annoyance of Trowa's lack of interest in keeping in contact with him, Quatre chuckled at his answer. He should have guessed that that was how he had done it. Just because they didn't necessarily have to hack into places anymore didn't mean that they still couldn't.

"Old habits, I suppose" commented the blonde, looking back up at the sky. The stars made him think of the colonies, which in turn, made him think about the ESUN, followed closely by thoughts of the Republic. "We're going to war again Trowa," he said with a painful finality in his tone.

"It’s highly likely, yes," replied the taller brunette. He turned to face Quatre fully and moved closer to the blonde. The change in personal space brought Quatre's attention from the sky back to Trowa, who was now only inches from him. He felt his throat constrict and it took all of his willpower not to look away from the determined look that he found in the other’s eyes.

"There is a chance though, that the Republic has merely taken up mobile suites because they feel threatened by the ESUN, optimistically speaking anyway. And a large part of me wants to believe that," Trowa continued. "But if the Republic does go to war against the ESUN, I'm ready to fight again. I have no doubt that Relena will ask us for help if it comes to that. But until she does or the Republic declares war, whichever comes first, I'll stay with the circus. I'm not yet willing to leave Cathy for a maybe."

Quatre stared into Trowa's eyes for a moment before looking back over his shoulder at the harbor dock with all its radiant lights edging closer as the ferry boat made its slow trek back to port. "It's a shame," he thought out loud. "I had just gotten used to being a normal high school student. It was nice."

Trowa could see the conflicting feelings raging within his friend. Out of all the pilots, Quatre was one of two who had previously held a relatively normal lifestyle, even if it hadn't exactly been all happy days and sunshine.

The war between Earth and the space colonies that surrounded the Earth which he had so actively participated in, the constant conflict with and eventual death of his pacifist father followed immediately by the death of his sister, and the overall baggage one accumulates during a war had changed him significantly. Hardly normal for a fifteen-year-old, but in spite of such traumatic events he had forged a new life as a civilian quite successfully. Something none of the others had managed to accomplish.

And now, thanks to this new Republic of Eurussia, it was all getting yanked away because Quatre wasn't the type of person to stand aside and watch everything he had worked to achieve get destroyed.

Trowa couldn't imagine how it must feel to the kind hearted seventeen-year-old. Trowa had never been an overly expressive individual and his upbringing amongst mercenaries hadn’t exactly promoted sensitivity. But he could see the confusion, fear, anger, and determination in his friend's eyes. At that moment, all he wanted to do was comfort him. Let him know that despite whatever happened in the future everything would be okay.

Before he realized what he was doing, he had brought a curled index finger underneath Quatre's chin, gently forcing the blonde to look him in the eyes. "Quatre."

Quatre's breath hitched as Trowa tenderly coerced him to meet his gaze. Butterflies made themselves known in his stomach, he felt his heart pound hard against his chest and somewhere in the back of his head he prayed that Trowa couldn't feel his pulse.

Quatre was powerless to do anything other than stare up into those wonderful green eyes. He was also becoming increasingly more aware of how close they were to each other. Just one more step and their bodies would touch.

"Trowa…I..." Quatre started as he made to move closer. The intimacy was lost however when, just as Quatre had moved toward the other pilot, his cell phone rang. Buzzing obnoxiously in his back pocket, Quatre cursed under his breath as he reached to silence the thing. At the same time, he was painfully aware that Trowa had promptly withdrawn his hand, which had felt so comforting to the blonde, and had backed away a few paces.

Returning to his original position, Trowa watched calmly as Quatre fished the offending gadget out of his pocket. Casting the stoic young man a look of apology at the intrusion, he noticed the caller was Rashid.

Cursing again, a little louder this time, Quatre pressed the answer button.

Full story can be found on AO3 at: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9327206/chapters/21135179

#gundam wing #post cannon #gundam boys #trowa x quatre #young love #trowa barton #quatre raberba winner #rashid kurama #thisweekingundamwing

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cynfinnegan · 7 years

Text

WIP Wednesday

From one of my many Gundam Wing/Harry Potter crossovers...

Gundam Factory, Colony L3-8253, 8 February, AC 195

Trowa Barton was in a state the workers at the Gundam factory were all too familiar with by now. He was royally pissed off, and from the rumors that were flying around the factory, it wasn't difficult to figure out why. His new "toy boy" had vanished four days ago, and no one could, or would, tell him where the nameless youth disappeared to.

He went to Nanashi's tiny apartment inside the factory first and found not the boy, but a middle-aged woman now occupying it. He asked her if she knew where the boy who had lived there was, but she didn't and told him so, peppering her commentary with complaints about all the blood she had to clean up off the floor which, apparently, was a little detail Barton had forgotten about.

He made his way to the Infirmary next, where he demanded information on the nameless youth's whereabouts. They told him in no uncertain terms that they couldn't give him any information on the boy because they weren't related.

Although he knew he'd never be punished for his crime, Barton spent several long minutes blustering and threatening the doctor and nurses, but to no avail. He wasn't the boy's family, so they weren't going to tell him a damned thing.

He left the clinic a few minutes later, muttering more threats against them under his breath. It then occurred to him that "No-name" was probably back at the factory, working on the Gundam that he was soon to pilot.

He rushed to the main part of the factory, hell-bent on finding the cinnamon-haired youth he'd beaten and raped to "teach him a lesson on keeping his mouth shut," but unfortunately, when the sandy-haired man got to where Heavyarms was being built, he overheard Doktor S and another man, one of his many assistants, talking about altering Operation Meteor to only take out OZ and Alliance military targets instead of dropping a colony onto the Earth, destroying them both. Barton rushed over to confront the pair, his face contorted into a mask of fury.

"WHAT?" he bellowed angrily, clenching his hands into fists. "You wanna target only OZ? You're changing the plan, old man!"

"If it goes according to plan, Operation Meteor will kill over twenty million people from the onset!" Doktor S replied, just as angrily. "Isn't that going just a little too far for revenge for Hiiro Yui?"

"Exterminating twenty million leeches isn't going far enough! This isn't about revenge anymore; this is about who controls the Earth Sphere! The Colonies have always been meant to rule over the Earthers, with the Barton family being the top dogs! When we finally take control of everything, we'll take humanity to new heights!"

Doktor S sighed, shook his head and retorted with "That sounds like your father, Dekim, talking. The Colonies still depend on Earth for food and medicine. We'll be dooming ourselves to slow starvation and disease if we go through with Operation Meteor as..."

"I get it now," Barton interrupted snidely. "You don't want us taking over the Earth, do you, traitor?! You're jealous that once we do, the Barton family will be in charge of everything! I'M TELLING MY FATHER ABOUT THIS! JUST WATCH! I'll CARRY OUT OPERATION METEOR BY MYSELF AND THE PEOPLE OF EARTH WILL BE SOR...!"

As the sneering Barton started to walk away, the terrified assistant pulled a pistol from a hidden holster, took aim and shot twice.

Nanashi jumped in shock when he heard the shots; it had been four years since he'd last heard gunfire, and he'd forgotten how incredibly loud it could be in a confined space. He recoiled in horror when he saw the body of his rapist fall to the floor with two holes in his back, his dead eyes looking at him accusingly. Next to him, a terrified Harry stuffed one small fist in his mouth and fought the urge to scream as he started to back away from the corpse.

"Now you've done it," they heard Doktor S say flatly.

"I'm sorry, sir," the frightened assistant replied, "but I have family planet side. I couldn't just let him...!"

Harry felt the heel of his foot catch on his "brother's" toolbox and found himself stumbling backwards towards the edge of the platform. Nanashi caught him before he could fall over the railing, but not before the little boy jostled the toolbox enough for it to rattle.

"WHO'S THERE?!" the scientist growled menacingly. A moment later, Nanashi and Harry came out from their hiding place, eyes wide and hands raised, with Harry trying to hide behind the older boy's long legs.

"Who are you?!" the assistant demanded, raising his gun again.

"I'm no one," the youth said to the Doktor and his assistant, proud of the fact that his still raspy voice shook only slightly as he did what he did best, think on his feet. "You can kill us if you feel you must, but you'll be throwing away an opportunity if you do..."

The assistant took aim, and was about to shoot the boys, when S raised his hand and said "Hold on, Jensen. The Foundation's going find out about this sooner or later, so we might as well hear the boy out."

"But Doktor...," the nervous assistant, Jensen, said, then reluctantly lowered his pistol.

"I don't want to conquer the Earth," the teen continued.

"What?"

"I don't want to conquer the Earth," Nanashi repeated, his fear dissipating some, "but I can take his name and place as Heavyarms' pilot and carry out the mission to destroy the Alliance and OZ."

"You'll pilot the Heavyarms in his stead?"

"Yeah. I've grown rather fond of her. Life on this colony's been good for the most part, but I'm better suited for the battlefield."

That was all Doktor S needed to hear. He'd been on his way to enlist the boy everyone called Nanashi as a replacement pilot when he found the terrified Harry looking for help after Barton attacked the teen and here he was, volunteering to do it. Barton had refused to learn how to effectively pilot the Gundam, preferring to spend that time harassing the techs and assistants. Nanashi had been the latest, and also the last.

"All right, then," the scientist said with a lopsided grin. "From this moment on, you're Trowa Barton. We have two months to train you on how to operate Heavyarms and her weaponry."

"I've experience piloting a Leo," the teen replied, his eyes still on the machine.

"Perhaps, but the Gundam's cockpit, AI, and weapons systems are vastly different from those of a Leo, so you'll be starting over from scratch. Once we launch, you'll be in charge, and you and the others are to carry out your missions as you see fit. Don't worry about the colonies; OZ and the Alliance destroyed the peace of outer space when they assassinated Hiiro Yui. This operation is our revenge."

"Understood."

Nanashi saluted sharply. Harry mimicked his actions, but watched everything with a sense of heartsick dread. If Triton left the colony and returned to Earth, what would become of him? Would his aunt and uncle come back to reclaim him, or would they all abandon him to this unfamiliar place? Gathering his courage, he tugged on the back of the Doktor's smock and asked "Excuse me, sir. I don't mean to sound selfish, but what about me?"

The Doktor knelt down so he was at Harry's eye level and replied "You'll be going with him, of course. OZ and the Alliance will never suspect our pilot being one of a pair of brothers traveling together. It's the perfect cover story."

"You mean lie?" Harry asked, confused.

"No, not exactly, Harry," the youth explained, gathering the still badly-frightened little boy into his arms. "The Doktor wants us to pretend to be brothers while we're on Earth, but you know what? Even if we're not related by birth, I feel like we're family. Does that make any sense to you?"

"Yeah."

Though the newly named Trowa Barton had been Harry's "brother" for only a few days, it was painfully obvious to him that this little boy was starved for simple human affection.

The men and women in the mercenary corps he'd ran with as a kid weren't the most demonstrative bunch of people on Earth. They were professional soldiers, after all, but at least they'd cared about him a little. It wasn't uncommon he received a brief hug, a pat on the back, a kind word, or even a small bag of sweets from someone once in a while.

Still holding Harry, Trowa swore to himself that, no matter what he had to do, the little boy in his arms would never want for the love or protection of a family again, even if it was only him providing that love and protection.

#wip wednesday #gw #hp #gundam wing #harry potter #crossover

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radishsnakes-moved · 7 years

Note

1) Sorry if I came off as rude or attacking you, that wasn't my intention, but I just think that calling shinoyama 'queerbating' is simply not correct. Yamagi's feelings for Shino were hinted at as soon as in ep 4 of s1, when he outright asked if Shino liked girls - girls specifically (why would he be interested in Shino's orientation if he wasn't intersted in him personally in the romantic sense?), then were made clear in ep. 7 with the heart grab scene and then further reinforced later on, by

2) showing Yamagi's evident disdain/jealousy every time Shino mentions girls etc. It was very obvious from the beginning that Yamagi is gay for Shino, so the only question left was whether Shino would ever find about Yamagi's feelings and reciprocate, to which episodes 45/46 gave us an answer. The 'let's drink till morning, the two of us' WAS, in fact, Shino's explicitly asking Yamagi out romantically. It just couldn't have been anything else in that context, when we know for a fact that Shino

3) does consider going out for drinks, two people only, as romantic (again, the AkiLafter scene in ep. 41, and Shino's 'don't you know what that is? go with her alone'). And then there's Yamagi's reaction - the wide eyes and the 'quit joking around, you don't even know how I feel' (plus his confusion about 'how Shino felt' later on when he talks to Eugene) which made it clear that's exactly the way it felt to Yamagi as well - as a date invitation, except he couldn't know back then that Shino was

4) serious. But Shino WAS serious - the fact that he grabbed Yamagi's hair out of his face to look him straight in the eyes before asking him out was a clear indicator of how serious he was. He wouldn't have given Yamagi false hopes otherwise, while being perfectly aware of Yamagi's feelings for him. And it's not only that, the entirety of Shino's body language towards Yamagi in all their scenes together in ep 45, his fond expressions, the looks and the smiles that we'd never seen on him

5) before that, the gentle tone of his voice, him calling Yamagi scary with evident fondness (it's actually a common motive in anime, to reveal that a manly man may not be afraid of enemies, war etc. but he's always afraid of his spouse), everything about those scenes screamed that Shino knew about Yamagi's feelings even before the big reveal and was totally on board with them. Ep 46 basically confirmed what was already obvious, that in the end, they both had romantic feelings for each other

6) and had Shino not died, they'd have ended up together eventually. They're basically as canon as an IBO couple can get and their not getting a happy ending doesn't make them any less canon (technically there's still a chance Shino could turn out to be alive, as they literally went out of their way to not show us his body). As for the other potentially queerbaiting couples, I don't think that orumika, gaeein or makugae are meant to be interpreted as romantic (even though I ship all three).

7) As for Aston/Takaki, in their case I do interpret them as romantic without a shred of doubt in my mind; after all, there was a canon blushing and Aston promising to protect Takaki and his happiness was a clear-cut romantic trope, and they just seem like your typical Gundam couple, but I guess it was probably too early to establish that explicitly in canon, as Aston was most likely not ready yet to realize what his feelings for Takaki really were. Anyway, they fit into the pattern of s2's

8) policy of killing romantic couples off (followed by Naze/Amida, akilafter and shinoyama, and maybe Mika/Atra/Kudelia in the nearest future). But that's just Gundam for you, to destroy a love before it has a chance to bloom. It doesn't really qualify as queerbaiting to me, as they do this to hetero couples just as much. As for Gundam 00, I don't think that anything has been confirmed when it comes to characters' sexualities and such, but it was easy to figure out from the context. I've seen

9) a post in the general tags listing all the characters considered to be LGBTQA, so, from the top of my head - most of the named innovades are gender-neutral, from what I've gathered, with the exeption of Anew and Ribbons, I guess? The situation with Tieria is more tricky than that, though, as it's been made clear in the show that he identifies as a man, and that's how basically everyone sees and treats him; it's been also said a few times in the show that only men can be Gundam pilots and

10) I think it's about the physical build rather than how someone identifies (thus the theory about Nena Trinity being, in fact , an actual trans-girls; I've read it once on tumblr and it made a lot of sense within the story, but I can't find the post anyomre; I guess the blog has been deactivated), but then the official materias list Tieria as gender-neutral too, so it's really hard to tell, especially given the fact that Tieria has the means to produce spare bodies for himself and probably

11) decide their gender as well? So yeah, the whole situatuon with Tieria is as unclear as it can be, but one thing clear is that he identifies as a man in canon and is canonically in love with another man (Neil) even if he can't classify those feelings yet (as his letter to Lockon would suggest). I think it's safe to say that Lockon is bi; he says something about being nice to women in the show once and he clearly feels something special for Tiera (that even Feldt has noticed) and calls him

12) cute etc. I think it's safe to say Lyle is bi as well, as he literally hits on Tieria in the beginning (only to be immediately shot down, because there's already one Lockon in Tieria's heart). Setsuna is pretty much considered to be asexual (but not necessarily as aromantic, as he clearly feels something for Feldt in the movie). Alejandro Corner is gay; he's explicitly shown to be sleeping with Ribbons in the Special Edition compilation movies. There could be more, but it's hard to remember

13) everything on the spot (I should try to look fot that masterpost in the tags; hope it's still there). As for other Gundam gay couples I personally consider canon, there's Trowa/Quatre from Gundam Wing and Dearka/Yzak from Gundam Seed. Oh God, this turned out so damn long and now I'm feeling bad for bothering you and making you read all this, but those Gundam discussions are always so compelling (hope tumblr doesn't eat any of the messages; I had them saved just in case though).

Don’t worry about it; I’m always happy to discuss Gundam! Admittedly, I don’t get as heavily into Gundam as I’d like to; 00 is my favorite series, but I’ve only seen the main 50 episodes, not the movie(s). As for other Gundam series, I’ve only watched the original, Unicorn, about 1/4 of Wing, a tiny bit of Age and Reco, IBO, BF, BFT, and F91 (IBO and 00 being my favorites of what I’ve watched). I’m going to try and address every point in this, feel free to shoot another message if I miss anything important!

Admittedly, in the beginning I didn’t pay attention to IBO while I was watching. I tend to have a one-track mind when it comes to anime I like, and when I’m obsessed with one, I usually can’t bring myself to care about another, so I didn’t pick up a lot of things.

ShinoYama is, in my opinion, the least queerbaity ship in the entire Gundam franchise; I’d go as far as to say it’s completely canon, and honestly, I feel like it’s the closest we’ve gotten to a gay ship being treated exactly the same as a het ship. Yamagi obviously had romantic feelings for Shino, and Shino didn’t seem to consider it out of the question. Had he survived, I actually think they might have gone canon. Sorry if it came across as me dismissing ShinoYama as queerbaiting; I think they’re the closest we’ll ever get to representation!

It could be me caving to heteronormativity, but I feel like AkiLafter was made more explicit than ShinoYama in the “he’s being asked out on a date” department. It was handled similarly, but I still get a different vibe from it. I could be wrong, though!

Body language and wording are always a part of ships in series like this. And I feel like they were all leaning towards romantic in ShinoYama; they were heavily implied to like each other romantically. But again, it’s always just implied. None of the explicit kissing and “I love you”s that you get with things like Lyle/Anew and Naze/Amida.

I abandoned MakuGae pretty early on once Ein was introduced, so I don’t know a lot about what hints may have been dropped. And Ein and Gaelio weren’t around each other long enough for anything to be solidified. Orga and Mika, however, I feel are at least slightly indicated to have feelings for each other; it may be completely platonic, but there is such a strong emphasis on all the times that they hold hands, if one of them had been female it would have automatically been considered to be canon, even with the MikaKuuAto situation going on; which I could talk about for a long time, but in short, it’s pretty much canon, though with the KuuAto being a bit more subtle than MikaKuu or MikaAto (I am acutely aware of how Kuudelia said she loves Atra, though; that’s not something I can overlook, I’m just comparing it to the explicit MikaKuu kiss and Atra’s request to “have babies with” Mikazuki). MikaKuuAto is an entirely different subject that I’ll save for another post.

Aston and Takaki were very much hinted to be romantic. All the tropes were there, all that was missing was explicit confirmation; and there’s not a doubt in my mind that we would have gotten that had they been a straight couple. My issue with all of this, if you can call it that, is that the het ships are always made more explicit than the gay ones, however “canon” the gay ones may be. The only problem in my mind is that so many het couples have been made concretely canon, while the only gay one we’ve gotten is ShinoYama. And though there’s an equal amount of killing off between them, you’re still left with more living het couples than gay ones. Equal killing of love interests is like the difference between equality and equity; if you take an equal amount from someone with everything and someone with almost nothing, that’s technically “equal”, but the person with less inherently loses so much more than the person with everything.

I admit it’s been a while since I’ve watched 00, so I don’t remember much about it. Nena being trans isn’t something I ever picked up on, so it could have been made more clear. I definitely headcanon most of the Innovades as some form of nonbinary, but I always based “canon” for that around what pronouns are used for the characters; and in all of their cases, it was always he/him or she/her. With Tieria, it was mostly a headcanon spawned from the episode where he crossdressed to infiltrate that party, and how easily the female form and voice came to him; hell, on Wikipedia’s “List of transgender characters in media”, Tieria is listed there. Later in Season 2, though, he’s portrayed as being a cis male, so that somewhat threw my headcanon of him being a trans boy out of the window. I also heavily headcanon Regene and Revive as trans boys, though solely because of their voices. Really, though, the pairs like Regene and Tieria or Anew and Revive; they’ve been stated to share the exact same genes, so in same-gender pairings, neither or both of them are trans, and in different-gender pairings, one of them has to be trans.

I do think it’s implied that Tieria loved Neil, but again, it was never made as painfully explicit as things like Chris and Lichty, Anew and Lyle, Naze and Amida, etc etc. Tieria obviously cared a lot for Neil, and never really got over his death; but I still feel that it was never made as clear as those other ships whether the feelings were platonic or romantic.

As I never saw the movies, I didn’t know about the thing with Alejandro and Ribbons; if that’s a thing that happened, then I definitely have to see the movies. And though I never fully watched Wing, I did pick up on something between Trowa and Quatre, but still; Never hinted at as much as Heero and Relena.

Wow, my response ended up almost as long as your questions. You don’t have to worry about bothering me; I very much enjoy talking about Gundam! If I missed any points you made, don’t be afraid to send me another message~

#gundam 00 #gundam iron blooded orphans #gundam ibo #gundam tekketsu no orphans #g tekketsu #gundam wing #Anonymous

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