#somehow...im compelled by it. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sanchoyo · 3 months ago

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oh yeah I did say I wanted to ramble abt tmm ships !! specifically the 3 ichigo x boy ships that were Big in the early fandom

(u guys know i like pretty much every girl ship in tmm, but I feel like I never talk abt the like..canon teased ones?? aside from masago...)

Long. and possibly incomprehensible. under the cut

ryouichi- I surprisingly like this one. look i know the boss/employee (..employee and unwilling test subject/bio weapon catgirl??) can be offputting.

that said. (2) kitties is cute. and the bickering is cute to me!!! I love how much ichigo sasses him in a way she does NOT sass the other two, its fun to watch!! theyre both so hardheaded its funny to watch.

(also, one-sided ryouichi can lead to angst with other ships like..ryou turning down lettuce because hes got his eye on ichigo. ryoukish where they both commiserate on their failed crush. not that i think ryou would admit it out loud, esp to quiche BUT you KNOW quiche would know. or angst with ryou denying his feelings because he feels like pursuing her would be inappropriate. which would be fair to say. but also I feel like half the time she does NOT speak to him like hes her boss, something hes both grateful for and hates sometimes due to the lack of respect, hahah)

also they could both relate to having secret identities with the whole mew ichigo & alto thing. idk I just never see much love for this one anymore, and even tho its not my #1 ship for either of them its really fun to explore. also theyre both literally kitties how can people not find that at least kind of cute..... also its giving girlknight and the prince she works under which is a great vibe. she could bridal carry him as a treat like she did with masaya in tmmn, as a treat.

masago- u all know I like it a lot!! my fav ichigo/boy pair. and its canonnnn and getting more popular in recent years, which is great for those of us who have Liked it From the Go. It's fluffy! but more importantly to me: its weirdo/weirdo! he loves her so much he spawned a second knight persona just for her! he learns to be a Person because he loves her so much, too! she learns to care more deeply about the environment through him and falls in love with not just him, but his passion for that, and finds her own passion in it! they really do make each other better people!

she thinks the catgirl thing is soo freaky and he will hate it but hes into it!! (sidenote, yall think he likes the beauty and the beast story. for No Reason.) he sees himself as a freak because of the low empathy/masking but she literally just likes his honesty about it and doesn't care?? he was ready to square up with her dad because at the end of the day HER opinion is the only one he gaf about. she thought she would never have a shot with him because he was the most popular guy at school BUT HE ADMITTED HE LIKED HER BEFORE THAT. FOR A WHILE. theyre both into the 'putting a ribbon/bell/collar on ur partner' thing??? WEIRDOS. they are blue/pink which is cute.

she had a moment where she literally thought 'if hes evil Me Too' GIRL YOU ARE SO DOWN BAD. they were both going to kill themselves for the other. when ichigo was feeling humiliated and flustered about the cat thing masaya immediately cracks a 'oh we slept together then?' joke about her cat form to make her chill like LMAO?? he feels more at home with her parents than at his own house. she is his home. they can both be themselves around each other, 100%.

the angst potential with the whole db debacle. the growth as characters from 'i need to protect her at all times' from him developing into 'she is so strong and I trust her/I will support her however I can' and her 'wow hes perfect and so cool fawning over him' to 'oh wow hes actually got a lot of depth and passion and im so happy to know him, the real him is great' UGH (and seeing them continue to develop this into tmm return was so satisfying btw). she was willing to just jump ship and follow him to a whole different country. (I know this got a retcon in new but -- it still stands. to me.)

they will both be classified as ecoterrorists by the time they are 20.

one of the het ships of all TIME my god no notes. well, a lot of notes, and thoughts, but they Compell me So much it makes me Ill.

kishigo- look ive said i dont ship this one a ton. that said, as someone who does not ship it i do think that uniquely qualifies me to take a very... weird angle with it because im not strictly looking through a shipper lens. if that makes sense. Im not sure if I've talked about my views about it but i Am Now.

ichigo is usually annoyed or scared about him (or both) in canon. i GET the appeal of enemies to lovers (truly a trope of all time) but hear me out: i dont think thats exactly what it would be if I, Personally were approaching writing it.

Ichigo... is his toy. hes said that! she is not a Person to him, shes a Thing he plays with then gets mad someone else is also Playing with her (aoyama, the blue knight, etc) he hurts her, because she is not really a Person to him. but ☝

he gets conflicted fighting her!!! not because he really knows her as a person or that I think he really believes taking her captive would ..like, work, longterm (I mean? maybe he did believe that at his worst menty bdown but ...tart and pie would NOT have let that happen, lol?? just from a practical standpoint having another person would be a risk to their safety, a waste of resources, too, unless pie planned to ..experiment on her?? to learn more about the mews?? this is a side tangent but im sure a fic like this exists im sure ive seen that premise when I was 12 on ff.net. I dont think quiche would want to let that actually happen, but...then again, hes fine with stabbing and slashing at her, so who knows!)

what /I/ think is that she was more of a stand-in for how he felt about earth/humanity. hear me outttt on this. hes a teen boy forced to wipe out all of a species (dozens would have been killed, not just humans...maybe ALL life on earth) why would he kiss her randomly (assuming he knew she was a mew mew at that point, with the 'see you later' line..)?

I think it was him playing, sure, but also curiosity. 'what will she think about this?? will it make her mad? what can I get away with here?' (sidenote: quiche is the original alienlover. will not take arguments at this time.) anyway having curiosity on a mission like this is BAD. because curiosity leads to many More Emotions and realizing oh No Thats a Creature with feelings. every time hes messing with her, he's seeing more personality and more confirmation that he Can get Reactions out of her and...and that FUN to him. exciting, even! god knows on such a big and grim mission having something to look forward to, something that can be a positive idea, is actually important!!

until the possessiveness creeps in and he realizes. oh he cant actually HAVE her, not in a meaningful way. but, he started by treating her as an object and its too late to take that back, even if he wants to know more. or is lonely with just pie and tart, he CANT have more friends here, or see any friends or family he already had back home. because while he doesnt have loyalty to db, he has SO much love for his people and shes against them, they're on opposite sides of a war THEY started and he knows hes threatening her peace and happiness. so its not so fun, anymore.

but uh oh!! he WANTS her, but he cant WANT humans, though, he wants this beautiful planet his people were robbed of, but humans are disgusting and polluting this beautiful planet thats THEIRS how DARE they. but SHES one of them ??? and how dare he have fun with her while theyre SUFFERING back home?? and how dare she DENY him this when its HER fault SHES polluting the planet by EXISTING because shes one of them.

but she doesnt HAVE to be so why is she being difficult and not just coming WITH him already?? doesnt he deserve to have her when hes on such a tough mission, so thankless, he NEEDS a reward and fun, why wont she smile and laugh with him like she does with HIM? hes being GOOD by offering her this mercy, this escape, its not like he could be WRONG abt the rest of the humans besides her, so why doesnt she understand?? (hint: its because he doesnt really understand these feelings either. as clever as he is, I think quiche is not self aware or emotionally intelligent enough to realize half of this. it wouldnt even matter if she was dating someone else, no matter who she'd date quiche would take issue with her being with anyone else because that makes his projecting onto her harder.)

its all very Not Fair. and to give quiche some grace, I do think hes intended to be around the same age as ichigo, so... a 13-15 year old boy sent to do this absolutely horrible thing with the pressure of his entire civilization on his back? yeah. im not saying he was ever right, but. yeah. its not a surprise he snapped so badly and is constantly. Like That.

and my god ichigo does NOT want to fix him. she is so not that type of girl. the thing is, I dont think he knows or cares to know what kind of girl she actually is! because even after everything, at the end, he still steals another kiss and thinks thats fine, because he's wishing for her happiness, but never to really know her, which would be what a real relationship would be built on. its one for the road, right, and who cares as long as its closure for him and funny, right? everyone just needs to lighten up! type vibe. still having a very selfish streak...

he wants to see her as the One, a special girl that he Loves and is His. shes SO different and Above the humans. but ichigo! does NOT see herself like that! she LIKES other people and doesnt see herself as above them! she wants more than anything to be normal!! she is weirded out by and resents being a mew mew at first, seeing herself as a freak because of it!! she had a crush on the same popular boy all the other girls liked!! shes truly not a 'not like the other girls' girl, and being treated like she has no autonomy on top of quiche's weird fixation just! makes it worse for her!

no amount of explaining his sooosso sad background or forcing a weirdly ooc masago breakup would make her want a relationship with him, I think.

even if the hypothetical breakup was bad, she's not..running to him first. she has a dozen friends and ryou is a much healthier option. not saying no one has ever had a bad rebound, but...

I am saying people act as if her being in a relationship would be the biggest roadblock...no, its his treatment of her!!! if hes magically way nicer when shes single, that feels like a huge red flag!! like oh, shes single now so youve changed so you can have a shot and trying to console her as an In?? thatttt makes me feel really grossed out. playing nice to get what you want. eugh.

so basically if I were to write kishigo it would be like. he needs SO much work on his own first. or it would be fucked up and onesided like in canon. or an AU. because he treats her like a terrible tourist on vacation where he can't get in trouble for bad behavior. I do not think he sees her as a person.

THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART OF MY KISHIGO THESIS: he does LOVE the chase, though, and I feel like, should she ever actually reciprocate? he wouldn't know what to do long term!! he likes the flirting and the Game of teasing her!! I think he likes fighting her, too!! a sweet ichigo would be weird for him! (but how dare she be sweet with anyone else, btw) but it never had to be HER, specifically, just any girl unlucky enough to be his target to fixate on, and someone he could project all his weird issues onto! if berry had been the first leader instead of ichigo, it probably would have been her as she wouldve been the special leader cute girl he has to fight! kishigo is NEVER about ichigo, to me. because I've never bought into the idea its about ichigo to quiche!!

IT'S ALL PROJECTION ALL THE WAY DOWN.

ANDDDDD THIS IS HOW AROACE QUICHE CAN WIN---

(they boo me for being right)

no but listen: aroace quiche coming to terms with that. thinking he wants to date ichigo soososo bad but shes firmly like 'you dont KNOW me well enough to say that. get to know me more. let me see if youve really changed.' post canon. but then him slowly learning about her as a person and realizing oh my god. you are a Real Person. with flaws??? and not always fun to mess with?? so much like every other human?? occasionally gross or messy and not the Perfect Ideal of a Girlfriend he can project endlessly onto and chase forever without having to really put in work?? NOOO!!! nevermind the fact hes actively feeling grossed out by everytime he sees ichigo/masaya kissing and thinking its jealousy when its really repulsion at romance. in general?? he likes flirting with her because shes a SAFE OPTION! SHES TAKEN AND WILL NEVER FLIRT BACK! he can kiss her to see if he feels anything! because they are enemies and stuff, right?? so it wouldnt REALLY work, no harm to explore that (against her will) and her reactions ARE amusing to him!

then starts wacky shenanigans where he feels like he must, at some point, tell her he doesnt ACTUALLY like her anymore after seeing her in her natural habitat, and actually building a friendship, but is scared to break her heart because surely shes fallen for him by now, but shes too sweet to her annoying boyfriend to admit it, right?? shes just been suffering in silence and their (gross) relationship will fail because of him?? (no. ichigo is still perfectly happy with aoyama.) this would segue in from my hit tmm au where instead of staying at the cafe in ReTurn, the alien boys rotate between the mews houses (and maybe masaya/tasukus houses for funsies) as a sort of cultural exchange (and the cafe, too) and quiche does too much self discovery through it. this could also go into ryoukish because i can headcanon two contradictory things at once.

all of these could have been explored already in fanworks but ill never know because i dont personally. like the ship much lol! but there is a certain nostalgia of the 2009 amv variety for it. sorry for any kishigo shippers who read this and are booing me. I genuinely dont even mean it as ship hate, Im just having fun playing with them like barbies. I don't hate quiche as a character or anything, he's fun!

I just personally enjoy crackships more if I have to pair off quiche. but this was a fun thought exercise trying to be like 'hypothetically, if I was TRYING really hard to write any kishigo content/adjacent content, how...'

#i did not forget i wanted to talk about this ive been busy betwn work and my nephew being off for spring break weve been Going & Having Fun #and art when i have the time the creative juices have been FLOWING this week like crazy #i love spring its free Energy for me. altho its annoying bc my pollen allergies egugugh #one eye has been watering for days. just one!! hell on earth im literally O_-#sanchoyorambles #tmm #i feel like i can talk myself into a lot of weird ships if i try really hard but i didnt expect this post to go the way of aroace quiche...#somehow...im compelled by it.#it was a stream of conciousness im hitting post then hitting the hay i shouldve been asleep 3 hours ago rippp #possibly incomprehensible because it is 1 ammmm my brains weirdest time #i am a peepaw i go to bed EARLY usually

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itskaist · 2 months ago

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Hello! Thank you for signing up for my little fandom project. Like I mentioned in my post, these will be once a month character building/exploration questions. I don't expect immediate answers. Feel free to take the whole month, if you need! If you have more than one Step, pick your favorite or whichever you think needs more love.

We're going to start with the basics this month: Where did your Sidestep get your name? Do they know what it means? Do they feel any particular way about their name?

- Cigs

"Feel free to take the whole month," how about two months. Can we negotiate. Haha arriving incredibly late, but arriving! Thank you so much for doing this! 💜

Four 'Steps, a lot of thoughts.

Josiah Cohen

Josiah after his escape used many different, disposable names. Simple ones; Tom, Bill, Lee, Joe. He's actually stuck with Joe for a while, and that's what he was using right before switching from petty crime to vigilantism. I have a small story in my head that I'm still not sure if I consider canon for him; but in essence, he would have saved a smalltime store owner from getting robbed, and that person would take him in for a time. Fed him, gave him a job. They'd had a late son also called Joe, short for Josiah, and so, that is the name that he took on. Liked it enough that he discarded 'Joe' altogether. Didn't want it to be used as a nickname during his time as Sidestep, it reminded him of those scrappy early days too much. So Anathema proposed 'Josie', instead, and after some pretend-grumbling, Josie it stayed. He enjoys the minor gender-fuckery aspect of it.

Cohen came about quickly enough. He was looking for something simple to complement the more uncommon name, to make the whole set seem more natural. At the Farm, he was sometimes assigned a Jewish cover identity for missions, and he came to like it; so he chose the most common Jewish surname that he could find.

His Regene name at the Farm had just been Grey. In my mind, the Regene language would have to be very simple, one symbol encompassing many meanings, to convey a lot with as little as possible. So 'Grey' is a gentle translation, as it could also mean featureless, blank, empty, having no personality. He would have been very isolated there, removed, intentionally so by the handlers but also himself not quite knowing how to socialize in that kind of an environment. So that is what he was called, an unknown, but also possible threat due to being afforded special care and attention; uncanny valley of a Regene, not quite one of them, not quite one of the People. In that grey zone, if you will.

Mina Beik

Mina's Regene name is (or was, for the longest time) Midnight Heart, and it was difficult to leave it behind. She identifies strongly with being a Regene, a weapon, a monster of their making. So she wanted to choose something that at least sounded similar. In her first days after the escape, she'd just inhale television, watching anything and everything at shitty motels that she stayed at. She'd especially come to love telenovelas and soap operas of any kind, anything with a lot of content that helped her observe People and learn of them. There was a character in one of those that she had watched called Mina, and she identified strongly with her. Hadn't used that name for a while still as she struggled to figure out her gender, but as she did come to terms with her identity as a trans woman, she remembered that name and chose it as hers. 'Beik' was just something random to, again, complement the sound of her Regene name as she added more segments to it.

And to that end, post-Heartbreak, she became Midnight-Heart Broken-Reign. 'Midnight' for her hair and eyes, but also mysterious yet serene manner; 'Heart' for kindness and intuition. 'Broken' added in around her time of escape, a cut through her own heart, not enough of neither in so many ways. Then taken back, reclaimed, as Broken Reign, a strike against powers that be.

From the people whom she loves, she likes to be called 'sweetheart'; but really anything cutesie will do. Sweetpea, sweetums, sugarplum, candycane. The more tooth-rotting the better.

Gabriel Vidal

Gabriel wanted something meaningful, something monumental. A name that he could give out proudly. He circled some first names of famous people, but didn't quite wanted them to overshadow who he is, or at least, who he wanted to become. So in the end he settled for something half way, something more mythological, religious--an angel. Gave him a kick once he came back as a villain, to have fallen.

Vidal was a nice counterpart to that, from vitalis, vital, life. Something enticing about combining the heavenly and the earthly, the eternal and the temporary; just as he is stuck somewhere between Regene and human, produced and born. Shortened to 'Vi' as a nickname because 'Gabe' is an aberration.

His Regene name would have been Second Sun Eclipsed. His inner sun burning so bright and usually so joyfully, but also capable of devouring fervour. He always strived to be the best, to excel and to be praised; and yet he always came up just short. Eventually, he came to suspect the handlers of skewing his results in order to motivate him, or something, because how else to explain it? All he ever wanted was to satisfy them, to be their first, their favourite. Could never achieve it. Someone else almost always outdone him, eclipsed him. Well, no more. He'll take what he can't get.

Sasha Ausecha

Choosing a gender expression was one of the first things on Sasha's mind post her escape, and a source of so much exhaustion. As a fresh escapee and then Sidestep, he did initially stick with the Farm-assigned female gender, but only out of… fear? Confusion? Something was itching right under her skin, and not fitting, not matching. He was always bold and proud, and hated this feeling, feeling lesser, feeling smaller, somehow. Scared. Didn't want to be neutral, neuter, undefined. So, a name that was female-yet-male was the one. An inside joke. A poke at her own insecurities. Slap a bandaid on and figure it out later. Just be both for now, and then choose. Never did get to the 'choosing' part, but maybe that was the whole point.

As for the last name, it meandered and changed form for a good while. However, originally it comes from her interest in religion and ritualism, something scarcely allowed or talked about at the Farm. He was looking for some unusual saint or else a holy person, to take their name on for companionship and protection. Fell down a rabbit hole of early Byzantine saints and chose Auxentius of Bithynia. Died on February 14th and celebrated that very same day, an auspicious omen, wouldn't it be? A blessing for a life loved and lived fully.

Her nickname is Chichi, which in its multitude of possible translations, I'm choosing to say was a hilarious mashup of 'chico' and 'chica', back in her Sidestep era when nobody quite knew how to address her, and neither was he eager to enlighten them.

Regene name Chirping Bird Caged. The cuckoo singing oh so pleasantly behind the bars of gold...

#fallen hero #kaist speaks #bonus points for jude: yes it was the beatl es song. yes it was.#if anybody found out somehow they would find their body floating in the pacific the next day #although i'll say recently i slashed my sidestep repository to a comfortable four #one per each main villain path #esp bc with wanting to talk about them 6 was a bit too much for me #aruna im shelving for some other oc-making opportunity bc they already were a resurrection of an ealier step concept #that didnt quite work then and it still wasnt working for me now #im sure i'll return to the concept eventually seeing as i already have #and jude is. well. hes floating around there. t-posing in the background #im actually thinking of incorporating him into the main 4's stories somehow #as like a handler or maybe a fellow regene friend/rival #he compels me he does but i would like to maybe do something fun with him eventually #rn everybody pray for me that i do the gender one over the next couple of days and not take another month #doubtful tho bc its gender so its gonna take ten times the words than this. such is simply the way.#however! it shall happen. and once again thank you cigs for doing this!<3

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