#for non-writing things as well

[hella1975]

the thing about trauma and i think the reason im always more compelled by characters who lash out as a result of it instead of being made stronger by it is that it’s pointless. none of that shit happened for a reason. there’s nothing you’re supposed to do now that it happened. i can’t stand narratives that romanticise trauma bc the reality of it is that you went through that for no reason and you have to just deal and keep going. there’s nothing beautiful or brave about it. no one is writing you for it to mean something. it’s just… there

[kiraman]

are people aware of the fact that Mizu is not canonically in any way shape or form.............. queer....bi.....

(quick note here because reading comprehension stays dead and people may not read the tag novel: I want bi Mizu! I hc her as bi! I love sapphic Mizu)

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

the doctor isnt neurodivergent or autistic or adhd or nonbinary or genderqueer or asexual. what the doctor is, is Not From Here

[blu3b1rd]

Little storms edge animatic thing because I felt like it :P Imma be pretty fair, the skylanders fandom itself recently has been reallllly stressful for a number of random reasons, and i'm currently not physically well enough to constantly deal with stress, hence my extended break from really posting a lot I promise I'll be back but just leaving this here above the drawing so yall read it :)

Anyway, I'm too lazy to explain the lore behind this, the au's gone very far in the opposite of whatever canon skylanders has, uh that last parts after a time skip, thats bout it for me even trying to explain it. I dont know where the audio is from, i just kinda yoinked it from insta, so if yall want the mp3 file ill just toss it to you.

[demonboyhalo]

ik plagiarism usually must be v annoying/demotivating to go through, but when ur part of a small fandom and can tell exactly where a fic got its ideas from, it's kinda hilarious bc

oh? niche blorbo plans the same heists? crafts the same gadgets? uses the same quips? has the same music taste? my fellow writer in a tag w less than 100 fics, i see u peeking over my hedges and taking my plums

[the-acid-pear]

Y'know this little throwaway gag is so bizarre to me and I know this game is a bit very different to 2 and 3 but look at Matt's reaction when Jack raids the place in 3:

You'd argue he's simply stopping Jack bc he hates this guy and he also hates this job which Could Be True but i highly doubt bc overall despite his virginity and overall cursed vibe, Matt seems to be a good employee, by all means (I mean, Peter literally gave him a vacation instead of firing him in 2, so that says a lot).

Plus, Dave hates this guy as much as he hates him! He literally always calls him creepy and, AND!

This is the only footage you get of the prize corner in 2. Which is also the first game to show Matt and Dave's disdain for one another, Dave being likely more scared of Matt than Matt will ever be of him.

Which is all very curious. 2 does set a drastic change for Matt too with him going from being just strange to outright creepy, so was the old pizza place closing something that actually affected him or was he consistently that creepy all along? And if the later, did he just start hating Dave after that or did they always have beef and they simply had some sort of arrangement (or even higher word from Steven who tended to let Dave do whatever he wanted in general) that let him do so?

[panharmonium]

Hi! I love your Naruto thoughts and meta posts with all my heart and I want to ask your thoughts on something that has been on my mind literally since I was 13: what do you think about the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura? I went from being a hardcore shipper when I was a teenager, to being against any romantic relationship in Naruto after finishing the anime when I was in my early twenties. Nowadays I'm very into platonic love and depictions of friendship and I think the anime's obsession with forcing the "romantic interest" curse upon the main female character robbed us of... so much. There are a few wonderful moments in the anime where Sasuke and Sakura acknowledge each other, but because she's always "the girl with the crush", her actions are so often interpret as irrational or selfish by the fandom.

Hi @riemmetric!  It's great to talk to you again! Sorry it's taken me so long to answer this; RL has been making demands of me lately and it took me way longer to finish writing this up than I wanted it to (then again, I knew from the minute I read your original ask that my reply was going to get long, so I suppose I should have predicted a delay XD)

It's funny, my sister once asked me to choose between Sasuke or Sakura for an “unpopular opinion” meme, and I ended up doing Sasuke solely because I think the negative fandom opinions about Sakura are so unhinged and divorced from the actual text that I wouldn’t even know where to start.  People are entitled to dislike whatever characters they want, obviously, but there are some fandom takes that are, for me, so obviously rooted in bad faith viewings/readings that there’s no urge in me to discuss them.  That said, since you asked, I’m happy to go into my own thoughts on this a bit, with the disclaimer for other potential readers that I only write about fandom things for my own personal enjoyment, not as a contribution to The Discourse. If you don’t like Sakura, great!  I have no interest in changing your mind. Please consider this a sincere invitation to scroll on by and go enjoy whatever parts of the fandom appeal to you.

In general terms: I love Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship as much as I love all of the relationships in Team 7.  If we’re talking about them specifically as a romantic couple, then I probably fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, because I do like them together in a post-canon (to be clear: non-Boruto) setting, after time has passed and they’ve continued to develop individually and reconnect with each other, but I also wouldn’t exactly call myself an intense “shipper,” in the sense that I have no interest in pulling things out from the text and incorrectly citing them as evidence that Sasuke has hidden romantic feelings for her during the canon period. He cares about her in the canon period, just like he cares about Naruto and Kakashi.  That’s not up for interpretation; it’s the text.  But Sasuke during the canon time period does not demonstrate specifically romantic interest in anyone.  

[A note before people who might ship Sasuke with Someone Else emerge to rail against this statement - please just scroll past and continue enjoying fandom in whatever way is most fun for you. It is cool to ship whatever fanon thing you want; I think that’s great!  But earnestly citing any loving or emotional thing Sasuke does re: various characters in this story (yes, Sakura included) as indicative of specifically romantic love isn’t supported by the text. I know there are always going to be enormous subsets of any fandom who insist that it is, and I'm certainly not going to barge into anyone else's space to complain about that (because other people having fun together is harmless and none of my business), but I'm not obligated to indulge it on my own blog, either.]

Anyway, that said - the reason why I love Sakura and Sasuke’s relationship (from here on out I’ll use “relationship” in a general, non-romantic sense) is precisely because Sakura isn’t just “the girl with the crush.” Sakura has an arc when it comes to Sasuke, and its trajectory moves in the exact opposite direction of “irrational” or “selfish.”  She specifically goes from “the girl with the crush” to “the girl who steels herself and tries to put her personal feelings for Sasuke aside for the greater good” to “the girl who knows she can’t put her feelings aside, but who also knows full well that Sasuke doesn’t reciprocate them, and who still wants to save him regardless, because he matters to her as a person and a friend.”

[I'm putting the rest of this under a cut to save everyone's dash, and also to emphasize once again that this is a personal post on my personal blog which I wrote in response to a question from a personal acquaintance, the full content of which no one is obligated to read. I am not sending this post to random strangers and forcing them to look at it. I'm not even putting it in the character tags. I'm typing it up on my own blog and putting it under a cut. If you already know that you don't like Sakura, but you still click the link/read the post and then feel an urge to comment and complain, I am going to copy-paste this disclaimer and remind you that I specifically recommended that you scroll past and go have fun with fandom in your own way. Thanks in advance for responsibly curating your own fandom experience!]

So, from the top:

1. the girl with the crush

Sakura is, obviously, completely obsessed with Sasuke at the beginning of Part 1.  She’s also deeply clueless about him and his history (bizarre though it is, the story seems to indicate that she initially doesn’t know what happened with his family, the same way young!Obito is initially clueless about Kakashi’s father).  But what I like about Sakura and Sasuke’s Part 1 relationship is how this changes over time.

The critical scene that kicks this off happens right at the beginning of the manga, when she and Sasuke are talking by that bench - she complains about Naruto and blames his behavior on him being all alone/having no family to scold him; and even says she’s jealous that he doesn’t have parents to nag him all the time.  This obviously triggers an outburst from Sasuke, who tells her she has no idea what loneliness means and that she “makes him sick”/she’s “annoying” (importantly, the exact same thing Sakura said to Naruto in anger earlier that day), which in turn prompts Sakura to reassess herself and wonder whether she’s been making Naruto feel this terrible all the time, too:

From that point on, it’s a process of her putting little pieces together.  She still has a MAJOR crush, and she still acts like a twelve year-old, but as we approach the end of Part I, Sakura actually has a more accurate grasp on Sasuke’s current state of mind than Naruto does.  Naruto is initially excited to fight Sasuke on top of the hospital, because he feels like Sasuke’s finally acknowledging him, whereas Sakura is the one who immediately recognizes that something is wrong about this situation.  She is also the one who, after this fight, is concerned that Sasuke is really unwell and might do something drastic like run off in pursuit of the power Orochimaru promised him, but when she communicates this to Naruto, he assures her that this would NEVER happen:

(Sakura isn't convinced, though, because she goes to monitor the exit out of the village anyway.)

I’m not criticizing Naruto for his response here.  I ADORE hearing him say that Sasuke is too strong to need Orochimaru, with such perfect confidence - I love seeing how much respect and admiration he has for Sasuke underneath all their fighting, because that’s the whole reason he’s always baiting Sasuke and yelling at him and claiming “you're not so great!” He looks up to Sasuke; he wants to be like Sasuke; he thinks Sasuke is awesome! (It’s that Obito @ Kakashi behavior, you know?) But the fact remains that he is clueless about what’s actually going on with Sasuke in Part 1, and he remains clueless(ly optimistic) for a long time.  

(Eg, when he catches up to Sasuke during the retrieval arc and Sasuke climbs out of that cursed seal coffin, Naruto waves at him and calls "Come on, let's go!" as if Sasuke has been successfully rescued and is now going to come running home.  Even in Part II, when Naruto hears that Sasuke killed Orochimaru, he beams and immediately says, “So he must be on his way back to the Leaf Village!”  And everyone else in the room is like, “....,” because they know better.  Naruto doesn’t yet fully understand [or doesn't want to accept] the extent to which Sasuke has willingly chosen this path, and it’s not until after Jiraiya’s death/the Pain attack/the Five Kage Summit that Naruto really starts to understand Sasuke more clearly, which is something he himself admits.)

Sakura, in Part 1, has access to more information about Sasuke - she’s there for his first dissociative monologue during the bells test, she’s there for the curse mark’s placement, she’s there for his first violent transformation in the Forest of Death - she is, in fact, the unwitting catalyst for it (“Sakura…who did this to you?”), and her compassion is the reason Sasuke is later able to overcome the curse mark’s influence - so she has a more accurate/complete picture of “how he’s doing,” for lack of a better phrase, whereas Naruto, who doesn’t know about the curse mark in the first place, is still in the dark.  This means that Sakura is able to accurately discern that Sasuke is struggling more than Naruto realizes, and specifically to predict that he’s going to run away.  

(This dynamic is then interestingly flipped in the back half of Part II, since at any point after the Five Kage Summit, Sakura doesn’t have access to extremely relevant [if currently questionable and unproven] details that would in any other circumstance inform her behavior).

Of course, just because she has more info in Part 1 doesn’t mean she has some kind of miraculous insight into Sasuke’s every thought and feeling.  There are parts of her attempt to convince Sasuke to stay in the village that are as clueless as any of Naruto’s assumptions, and they showcase the kind of magical thinking common to childhood - like when she says that if he stayed with her, she could give him happiness, she’d do anything for him, even help him get his revenge - this idea that she herself can do something to make him feel better, that she can love him powerfully enough to defeat his pain - obviously none of that is rooted in realism.

Is this part of her approach irrational and immature and inadvertently self-centered?  Of course it is!  But it’s no more irrational and immature and inadvertently self-centered than Naruto’s stated plan to drag Sasuke back to the village even if he has to “break every bone in [his] body!” 

Hating on Sakura for her Part 1 attempt to convince Sasuke to stay in the village while simultaneously lauding Naruto for his feels like a bad faith misread of what is, to me, pretty clear narrative intention.  The story doesn’t at any point intend for us to see her begging him to stay as a selfish or conniving attempt to get something she wants.  She’s begging him to stay for the same underlying reason that Naruto is: she cares about him.  She thinks he’s making a mistake that will only cause him more pain in the end (she’s right) and she wants to make it so he feels less pain right now (she can’t.  But she doesn’t understand that/isn’t able to admit that, and she’s willing to try ANYTHING that might help).  

It’s critical that this farewell scene is set in front of that same bench from their first important confrontation - she references that day and how angry he got at her, and this time she tells him that she understands his reaction.  She’s learned things and she recognizes how insensitive she was being back then (“I know what happened to your clan, Sasuke”), even though she still can’t fully grasp all the complexities of the situation. She tells him that him blowing up at her back then helped her understand what loneliness actually meant (as opposed to her previous shallow understanding of it), and she challenges him about his choice right now: "So that's it, you're choosing the lonely path?" And when she tells him that she'll be very lonely if he leaves, we're immediately shown a panel of Sasuke thinking of both his friends, with the very clear implication that if he goes through with this, he will be lonely without them, too - that he's still struggling with the idea of leaving them, no matter how hard he tries to pretend:

Sakura at this point knows that Sasuke isn’t interested in her the way she is in him, but she still wants to give him happiness, however fantastical and immature her ideas sound to us (and, I’m sure, to him).  “I’ll do anything, even help you get your revenge/we'll have fun every day, and...and you'll be happy! I'll make sure of it!” - of course, it’s completely childish.  It’s irrational.  It’s ridiculous to think that any of this would ever be effective, but no more ridiculous than Naruto’s belief that he can simply break every bone in Sasuke’s body and keep him in the Leaf by force.

Both Naruto and Sakura are children who have a deeply oversimplified understanding of Sasuke’s situation.  They both still think they can fix him themselves.  They both think they can save him themselves.  They both think they can convince (or force) him to do what they want, what they think is in his best interests.  Both of them don’t yet understand that he has to want to come back, if it’s ever going to mean anything.  Their attempts to keep him in the village are immature and unrealistic, yes.  What they aren’t, however, is selfish, because neither Sakura nor Naruto are doing any of this with the intention of advancing their own interests.  They’re only thinking about Sasuke - how to keep Sasuke safe, how to make Sasuke happy - even when neither of them are taking an approach that will actually work.

Naruto and Sakura are children.  They’re afraid of losing somebody they care about.  Their attempts to prevent that from happening are desperate and messy and ultimately ineffective, but they are also genuinely felt and rooted in a true desire to rescue Sasuke from his pain, which - and this is the single most important thing that should impact our viewing of Part 1 - is something that Sasuke RECOGNIZES.  He doesn’t spend that agonizingly long moment bowed over Naruto’s defeated body so we can pretend he doesn’t understand that Naruto was just trying to help him.  He doesn’t take the time to murmur, “Sakura…thank you,” before laying her out carefully on a bench, just so we can discount it and pretend that he doesn’t recognize and appreciate her genuine intention to make things better for him, however clumsy that attempt might have been.

2. the greater good

If Stage 1 Sakura is "the girl with the crush," then Stage 2 Sakura is a progression to “the girl who decides to put her feelings for Sasuke aside in order to protect innocent people, including (but certainly not limited to) Naruto.”  She’s driven to this decision by interactions with Shikamaru, who all too recently had to grow up fast himself (“We're not kids anymore...we can't allow a war to break out between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Cloud because of Sasuke") and Sai, who risks his new friendship with Sakura and Team 7 in order to speak some hard truths and deliver one of my favorite lines in the whole story: “I don’t know what promise Naruto made to you, but it’s really no different than what was done to me.  It’s like a curse mark.”

(INCREDIBLE.  How can anybody be complaining about a season where Sai gets to say something that goes THIS HARD and Sakura LISTENS and takes DRAMATIC ACTION that actually propels the story forward in a meaningful way - )

[Okay, yeah, brief personal opinion interlude - it is just bonkers wild to me that there are people who complain about Sakura in the Five Kage Summit arc. That entire season is the greatest character arc she ever has.  Literally she has never been more interesting and dynamic than in Season 10; it’s the first time she ever gets to be as deep and fascinating as the boys; what is everybody so worked up about?  Oh, “she lied to Naruto that one time” - Sasuke joined infant-kidnapping baby-murdering human experimentation machine Orochimaru when he was twelve years old in order to (dare I say it????) selfishly pursue his personal goals and yet, somehow, we are still able to root for him.  He abandoned his friends/allies to imprisonment and death (Suigetsu and Jūgo) or outright stabbed them in the chest himself (Karin) in order to (SELFISHLY) get what he wanted, and yet, somehow, we are still able to love him, understand him, and be on his side.  Naruto is canonically not upset with Sakura about her lie after receiving context for the situation and I think we can probably take our cues from him without feeling the need to bring her up on war crimes; please calm down]

[Sorry, I just really love most of Season 10 and think it’s one of the best examples of how good this story can be when every single character gets to do something that matters (as opposed to things being all Naruto, all the time) so I get a little bit worked up over people complaining about some of the best writing Sakura ever gets.  I don’t understand what certain elements of fandom want from her. People complain about her being “useless” and not doing anything that contributes to the story, but then they complain just as much when she does finally get to act decisively and have just as complex/dynamic an inner world as the boys.  She’s “weak” for being unreasonably in love with Sasuke, but when she tries to be “strong” and put her love for him aside and eliminate him in order to protect Naruto and the rest of the world, she’s evil, because she should have been more understanding of his situation (despite the fact that she doesn’t KNOW anything about his situation).  But then when she can’t go through with killing him after all because she cares about him too much despite the things he’s done, she’s not "compassionate" or "kind" or "a good friend," she’s “weak” again. Nothing Sakura does in S10 is more wrongheaded or rash than any of the batshit, buckwild things Naruto and Sasuke have done in the past (and will continue to do in the future), but when Naruto and Sasuke have big feelings or take bold action, it makes them interesting characters, whereas Sakura can’t breathe in anyone’s direction without being minutely scrutinized for moral impurities.]  

Anyway. Back to a more measured response.  

Every single piece of development Sakura has with regard to Sasuke in this season satisfies me so much.  Her initial shock and disbelief at hearing that Sasuke had joined the Akatsuki?  Good, appropriate.  The fact that she starts to acknowledge the reality of what Sasuke’s done sooner than Naruto does?  Also extremely appropriate, very in-character for both of them.  Her taking Sai’s words to heart and deciding that the promise she asked Naruto to make when they were children is causing him to suffer and she has to relieve him of that burden?  Juicy!  AND thematically significant (promises!!!!  the burden that a promise places on a person, especially when it can't be kept - we've seen that before in this story and we'll see it again).  Her anguished pivot from wanting to protect Sasuke to realizing that she has a responsibility to protect the countless innocents who will die because of the war he’s trying to start?  HELLO THIS IS INCREDIBLE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.  Her knocking out the classmates who agreed to help her so they don’t have to share in her burden (and so the only person Naruto will hate when it’s over is her)?  BRUH.  Her being so committed and focused on her goal of saving innocents and protecting Naruto (not just from being harmed by Sasuke/the Akatsuki, but by the possibility that Naruto will someday have to hurt Sasuke himself) that she tries to take everything on by herself and walks into a confrontation that she absolutely cannot win??  INCREDIBLE.  (Literally the first time I watched this, I said, “Finally!!!  It’s Sakura’s turn to go off the rails!”  I laughed with my sister about how Kakashi isn’t even mad, because Naruto and Sasuke have been pulling stunts like this for years and Sakura was way overdue for her own meltdown.)  And then, after Kakashi intervenes in the fight - Sakura barreling back into the battle when she realizes he’s going to take on the burden of killing Sasuke himself in order to spare her and Naruto the horror - “I can’t let Kakashi-sensei bear this burden!”  I love her for that.  

And then, of course, in the end - her not being able to do hurt Sasuke after all.  Despite committing herself to the act, despite forcing herself to put her feelings for him aside, despite resolving to stop him from starting a war and killing innocent people, she can’t harm him.  She cares about him too much.  This, too, is thematically significant - think about Itachi’s “you don’t have enough hatred” - she doesn’t have enough hatred to kill someone she cares about, even if it seems like he deserves it, even if would be the right thing to do to protect others.  She can’t do it, and Sasuke almost kills her for her compassion.  

I love the dynamic this sets up between her and Sasuke, for a few reasons:

1) Personally, I think Sasuke respects Sakura much more for trying to kill him than he would have if she’d just tried to talk him out of his behavior or beg him to come home (a la their original confrontation in Part 1).  This is the first significant interaction he’s had with Sakura in years, and the fact that she does something SO contrary to his memory of her is an important demonstration of the fact that she’s not the same girl she used to be.  Sasuke spends a lot of time after his defection declaring to his old team “I’ve changed; I’m not that person anymore,” but this is one of the moments where he’s forced to acknowledge that his teammates have changed, too.  Time didn’t just stop for them when he left.  While he was turning into someone new, so were they.  They grew up without him, and his old memories of them can’t encompass the whole picture of who they are now.  

(This is a little tangential, but in general, I love the spectrum of reactions that Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi have in this sequence, and the way that all of them are ultimately messages Sasuke needs to hear.  Sasuke - who we know textually regrets what he did here, who apologizes to Sakura for it later - for “everything,” in fact - needs Naruto’s aggressively optimistic open-arms policy, yes, needs that potential, that unconditional possibility of return.  He also needs Sakura’s refusal to let him hurt her friends and start a war that will kill thousands of people, needs her surprisingly ruthless attempt to take him down; needs just as much her failure to do so, because it shows him that she still loves him too much to kill him even as she condemns him.  And he needs Kakashi’s grim line in the sand, needs someone who very possibly won't hesitate like Sakura (despite the horrifying personal cost), someone who will try to reach him but also won't let him escape and become the next generation’s Orochimaru, who won't let him cause untold suffering to untold numbers of people just because a teacher loved him too much to stop him when he had the chance. 

(And then even Kakashi chooses not to deliver a killing blow when he has the opportunity -)

(I know that in fandom people are more likely to be all, “oh, Naruto Good, everybody else Bad,” but I don’t think the narrative frames Sakura or Kakashi as “worse” than Naruto in any way.  The story goes out of its way to make it clear how desperately they don’t want to hurt Sasuke and how much they care about him.  And [this is just my interpretation, so obviously I won’t claim it as fact], I personally think that Sasuke - Sasuke, who, looking back, can see how lost he was then and how tortured he would have been if he’d gone through with many of his plans - would be grateful to Sakura and Kakashi for making an attempt to stop him when he couldn’t stop himself.)

2) On the other side of this, the fact that Sakura wasn’t able to deliver the killing blow means a lot. Sasuke was incapacitated under that bridge; he was completely at her mercy - but she stopped with the kunai an inch from his back.  She couldn’t kill him, even though she knew that he was completely willing to kill her (because he'd attempted to Chidori-assassinate her from behind just a few minutes ago).  That’s huge!  Sasuke is too out of his head right now to process this or understand it, but later, it's going to matter.  She stayed her hand.  She spared his life.  She loved him too much to hurt him, even when he’d given her every reason to take him down.  She hesitated, and he almost killed her for it, but her inability to strike him ultimately gave him yet another chance to come home, another chance to get better, another chance to have a life outside of his pain.  Despite everything, some part of her still hadn’t really given up on him, and that knowledge will matter later, when he’s finally able to acknowledge it.  

The point of all this is to say that I really have no complaints about Sakura and Sasuke’s dynamic in their S10 confrontation.  This season is the point where Sakura fully grows past her “girl with a crush” stage and into her “shinobi must make very harsh decisions” adulthood, but it never means that she doesn’t care about the person she’s trying to take down.  Her ultimate inability to deliver the killing blow remains a dangling lifeline for her relationship with Sasuke, an open door that Sasuke is able to walk through at the end of the story (literally, in fact, when Sakura opens that portal for him and saves him from Kaguya’s desert prison, and figuratively, too, when Sasuke apologizes to her).

3. she only wants to save you

The last stage in their relationship is what Sakura settles into during the war arc.  She started off Part 1 being just a girl with a crush, then tried to harden her heart and put her feelings for Sasuke aside in service of the greater good, but she was unable to actually follow through and kill him, and because of that, what she’s come to accept by the war arc is actually two things: that 1) Sasuke truly is willing to let her die if it furthers his goals, and 2) she wants to save him anyway.  

She has no intention of pursuing Sasuke romantically.  She knows full well that Sasuke isn’t interested in her.  She even knows that Sasuke isn’t really on their side (there’s a great scene where Sai questions Sakura about Sasuke’s return, and she reassures him that everything is fine, and Sai sadly thinks to himself “even I can tell your smile is fake”).  She’s well-aware that Sasuke didn’t try to help her when Madara stabbed her.  She’s well-aware that he left her to die in the lava pit.  She’s also well-aware that none of this is enough to make her stop loving him.  He doesn’t have to care about her - she still cares about him.  She still wants to help him.  She still wants to save him.

This is not hidden, hard-to-parse character development.  It’s explicitly articulated on the page:

Sakura’s not trying or wanting to make you hers!  She only wants to save you.

I’m not sure if people look at this last confrontation and unquestioningly take Sasuke at his word (as if we haven’t just read 71 volumes/watched 700 episodes showing us how how painfully distorted his thinking is), or if they stop reading/watching before the end of the scene, or if they don’t understand that Sasuke saying something doesn’t make that statement an accurate representation of reality.  The entire point of this scene is to show us how deeply mistaken Sasuke is about Sakura (and, by extension, the rest of Team 7).  He’s locked into a false pattern of thinking.  His single-minded focus on revenge and destruction has blinded him to the unconditional love his friends feel for him; he’s become so accustomed to using others and being used that he can’t understand or accept that someone would care about him without needing a reason, without needing him to love them back, without needing to receive something from him in exchange.

Sakura’s not trying or wanting to make you hers!  She only wants to save you.

Sasuke matters to Sakura as more than a love interest.  He always has.  She does love him romantically, yes, but she doesn’t only love him romantically, and her desire to help him is not and has never been contingent on him returning her feelings, romantically or otherwise.  Sasuke isn’t able to acknowledge that in this scene, but that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to just sit back and agree with his warped perspective.  Kakashi is the one who’s explicitly positioned as the voice of the narrative here.  We, as the audience, are supposed to recognize that Kakashi is the one telling us the truth.

[tangential thing 1: You don’t have to love Sakura's last plea to Sasuke here. It’s not my favorite, either - the best part, other than Kakashi’s speech at the end, is the moment after Kakashi collapses when Sakura’s expression changes from pained uncertainty to pure rage, when she grits her teeth together - when I first saw that, I almost leapt out of my seat like “Oh my god.  She’s finally going to let him have it.  It’s finally happening - ”  I wanted that so badly, and I still think it would have been a more effective writing choice for Sakura’s last words to lean more into her anger at the suffering Sasuke is causing all of them (himself included!) and less into yet another of Kishimoto’s “let me have Sakura articulate what a shame it is that she can’t do as much as Naruto despite the fact that I literally just went through a major reveal sequence in the war to show that she’s caught up to the boys; I can’t make up my mind about whether I want her to progress or not” - it’s extremely frustrating (and it's something he does at the very end of the S10 Team 7 reunion, too, which is the ONLY moment of S10 that falls flat for me).  But at the same time, even if there are ways this sequence could be more satisfying, it doesn’t change the fact that her plea to him is not remotely motivated by a desire to be with him romantically and not anything to condemn her for.]

[tangential thing 2: I do like how she remembers that moment when Sasuke says “Thank you.”  That panel precedes her saying “If there’s even a tiny corner of your heart that thinks about me…” (which I’m sure is one of the things that people like to criticize about this scene, aka “oh she’s sooooo self-centered” etc), but that particular line of dialogue is preceded by that particular flashback panel for a reason: Sakura knows that Sasuke DOES think about her.  He thinks about all of them.  Sakura remembers that “thank you,” and it reminds her that despite everything Sasuke has done and said since, despite all evidence to the contrary, she knows in her bones that his expression of gratitude back then was genuine.  He cared about her once.  He cared about all of them.  She’s trying to reach the part of him that still does, if it exists.]

[tangential thing 3: The fact that Kakashi says “she suffers from loving you,” and it triggers Sasuke to remember his own family - thinking about how much he suffered (and still suffers) from loving them - “Perhaps…those are the ties to a failed past” - the idea that it’s not worth it to have bonds if it means you suffer this much…that it’s too difficult, it’s too painful, and if Sakura and the rest of Team 7 were smarter they would just give it up (all Sasuke knows how to do now is sever potential bonds before they can hurt him; so why aren’t Sakura and the rest of his teammates doing that, why can’t they let it go, why are they making this so hard - ) << yeah, he clearly doesn't care about her/them at all.]

4. the shadow of my family

This has all been a really long way to answer the original question, but the short response to “What do you think about the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura?” is “I really care about it,” just like I really care about the relationship between Sasuke and Naruto, just like I really care about the relationship between Sasuke and Kakashi. And I don’t think the story ever asks me to choose between them.

I’m not sure whether it’s the impact of Boruto-era “canon” that gets in the way of other people approaching things this way (I don’t consider sequel material when I evaluate the original story), or if it’s Kishimoto’s frequent disinterest in/disrespect towards female characters, which yes, does sometimes make it harder, or if it's a shipping thing (bane of my existence), or some combination of factors, but for me, taking one member of Team 7 out of the equation hobbles the rest of the story.  I can’t read/watch Naruto while hating one of the protagonists and loving the other three.  It doesn’t work like that for me.  The story wasn’t written that way, and there’s nothing in the text that would cause me to receive it that way.

That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with disliking one of the main foursome (or any character, for that matter) - obviously we're all going to have different preferences, and everyone is free to enjoy or reject whatever parts of a story they want, or to like or dislike whatever characters they want. I know that some people have more fun disregarding canon and doing their own thing, which is fine.  My own personal zone of enjoyment comes from receiving the story as closely to how I think it was intended to be read as I can, and personally, when I look at this particular story, what I see is that all the members of Team 7 clearly demonstrate their love for Sasuke in ways that he himself later recognizes and acknowledges. All of them are driven by their desire to save him and their unwillingness to hurt him. All of them make repeated choices to chase after him when he runs away, to trust him when he hasn't exactly earned it, to give him another chance when he doesn't appear to deserve it. ALL of them, not just Naruto, do these things multiple times throughout the story, and Sasuke owes his life (and thus his eventual recovery) to ALL of them, many times over. Kakashi disobeys Hokage-elect Danzō and breaks the law to negotiate for Sasuke's life with a foreign head of state. Sakura and Kakashi both have opportunities to kill Sasuke in the Land of Iron, and they choose to spare him instead. Kakashi stops Sasuke from killing his only friends at two different points in the story, which would have been a mistake Sasuke couldn't have recovered from. Sasuke would have died in Kaguya's desert dimension if Sakura hadn't saved him (Sakura, who knew that Sasuke wasn't even truly on her side yet, who knew he'd abandoned her for dead multiple times already that day). Kaguya's bone bullet would have killed Sasuke too, if Kakashi, with his intention to die in Sasuke's place, hadn't leapt in front of it (Kakashi, who also knew that Sasuke wasn't fully on their side yet, who also knew that Sasuke had abandoned him for dead earlier that day). Sasuke and Naruto would have BOTH died in the Final Valley if Sakura and a severely injured Kakashi hadn't chased after them to heal their injuries.

Remove any one member of Team 7, and Sasuke never makes it home. Without the combined efforts of all three of his teammates, he doesn't survive.  That’s the way it should be, thematically, for a story whose first and most foundational premise was the importance of teamwork, and since Sakura was just as essential to that framework as everyone else, I’m just as invested in her relationship with Sasuke as I am in his relationship with everyone else.  You can’t remove one leg from a four-legged stool without damaging the integrity of the entire structure, and for me, discounting any single member of Team 7 irreparably damages the integrity of the entire story. 

TL;DR: I love all of the Team 7 relationships, including Sakura and Sasuke's, because despite what some segments of fandom seem to believe, the text of the story never gives me any reason not to.

[dailyfigures]

Random question: opinion on wedding dress figure versions?

And I do mean wedding DRESS versions. Not the wedding bikinis that so many companies make >.<

thank you for your question! :) personally i think wedding figures are often characters that are very popular amongst male characters and it kinda plays into the whole waifu thing. often these are either romance shows or fanservicey/ecchi shows, which are not the genres i watch so very few characters i like have wedding figures. ofcourse anyone can like wedding figures and there's usually nothing wrong with them, this is just my personal observation!

the only characters from shows i've seen that have a wedding figure are kanade from angel beats, junko & ai from zombie land saga and ofcourse miku. i don't love any of these figures so i don't think i'd personally own a wedding figure!

i actually don't really love any wedding figure (yes i just checked the whole wedding tag on mfc) but some i like based purely on aesthetics are muramasa and natalia (white is so beautiful on dark/tan skin), enterprise, azusa (this one is simple but i love the 2000s look of it), ranko, nekopara girls (I SAID based purely on aesthetics. if you ignore any controversy and pretend these are just random catgirl girlfriends they are very cute.) and sakura.

[rioblitzle]

i guess im not too involved in the zelda fandom cause seeing a post about rabid totk defenders is wild to me. from my perspective people were singing that game's praises for 2 months total before it fell to the "popular game bad actually" criticism wave and i don't think i've seen anyone say positive things about totk since then lmfao

[non-un-topo]

Forever fucked up over the fact that sometimes you have to write the thing you desperately want to read/watch because it doesn't exist yet

[little-whats-her-name]

"I can't hear you over the sound of the eight billion glasses and plates clinking, and the very high possibility that I'm going to lose my job, and the fact that everyone at this charity dinner hates me but we have to act nice to each other, and the weird lighting in this room, and these fucking Spanx!" - Katherine Hastings, probably

[aphantimes]

am i really shit at looking or are knuckles centric fics p uncommon

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

One thought I'm having right now is about just how often the study group calls Abed a robot or a computer. And how he even starts calling himself that. Like I don't think he believes that at all, but when you've heard something be said to you so many times, eventually you're gonna end up repeating it. And maybe even start believing the words to a certain level. Like poor Abed, who has spent his entire life watching movies and TV in an attempt to study people and how they're like, so he can understand what others do and think and feel. So he can talk to them and try to connect with them like everyone else does. Abed who has spent his life trying so hard only for it to never be enough, to the point where he eventually just gave up trying and started being himself despite how many times his friends and family call him not normal or a robot.

And then, when he's himself, there's finally someone who gets him. Maybe not fully, but there's a small group of people that try and there's Troy who actually kinda understands him. And that's got to be the best thing ever. And there's still comments on how different he is, but there's one person who doesn't believe that.

And I fully believe that Abed eventually had enough of all these comments. Remember the episode where the dean calls him special and Abed does this whole scene about bad writing in detective shows and making the main character autistic. He's been called so many things and here it goes again, and so he just says that. He puts this whole speech on being treated differently and then leaves because that's enough already.

Because people are saying he's all these things and he doesn't have empathy, and etc etc. Even though it's so obvious that he cares. It's just not always shown in the same way that the others do. And people call him weird, to the point where he calls himself weird. People say all these things about him that he fully wholeheartedly starts believing when, at the end of the day, all he's ever wanted was to be understood. To be heard and to not have to be alone. After all, is that not the most human thing out there? We all want people who get us. We all want to fit in and not have to face the world alone. He's just as human as everyone else, but he's the only one that doesn't get that same treatment.

[resident-gay-bitch]

got the idea from this, don’t ask me why

“eddie.” steve whispered into the dark night.

eddie made a weird noise in response, not quite a word and not quite anything else.

“eddie, are you awake?”

eddie sighed, turned his head to face steve, still laying on his stomach, “well i am now.”

steve just looked up at the roof, “i… no, don’t worry. it’s dumb.”

“no, what?” eddie asked, trying to force his eyes open now, genuinely concerned for his boyfriend, “what’s on your mind, stevie?”

“well, it’s just something i overheard some girls talking about at work today, and it’s been on my mind.”

“what’d they say? we’re they homophobic?”

“no.” steve huffed with a smile, “no, it’s just… irs just silly.”

“okay…”

“well, they were talking and, well, one girl had asked her boyfriend something and she was telling her friend about it, and they were swooning over it.” steve turned to look at eddie, who barely had his eyes open, “i just wanted to ask you.”

“okay.” eddie said, curious and nervous.

clearly it was something important, for steve to be lying awake about it at this unholy hour. for him to wake eddie up about it, when he knows how much of a grump eddie is in the morning if he doesn’t get a full nights sleep.

“would…” steve cleared his throat and looked back up at the roof, “would you still love me if i was a worm?”

eddie tensed for a moment, “sorry… what?”

“if i was a worm.” steve said, like it was obvious

“yeah…?”

steve huffed, “if like, tomorrow i just woke up as a worm or something, would you still love me?”

eddie blinked a few times, pushed himself up to lean on his palm, “you woke me up for this?”

steve nodded, “it’s just been on my mind.”

steve seemed to genuinely care about the answer.

eddie smiled, reached forward to sweep his boyfriends hair back out of his eyes, “stevie, my love,” he said voice sticky sweet, a tenderness in his eyes that had steve’s stomach fluttering, “if you were a worm, and i was a bird, i’d pick you to eat first out of all the other worms in the world.”

and then he leant over and pressed a kiss to steve’s head and snuggled back into bed.

“love you, baby.” he muttered with closed eyes.

if you were a worm, i’d eat you first?

steve wanted to get mad, he really did. that’s not what he asked. he wanted to know if eddie would still love and take care of him. but he said it with such genuine sweetness that steve was conflicted. should he get mad, or should he fall deeper in love?

“eddie?” he asked again.

eddie huffed, “yes, stevie.”

“why would you pick me to eat first?” steve said.

eddie opened one eye to look at him, “because you’d be the tastiest worm, obviously.”

“but why?” steve asked.

eddie furrowed his brow, “because you would be the best looking worm in the world, and you’re so sweet on the inside it would be like a good bowel of lucky charms.”

woah, eddie really loved lucky charms. they were his most favourite cereal in the world, his most favourite breakfast, his most favourite snack. he was never allowed it as a kid because it was so unhealthy, so whenever he got it now he’d go crazy for the sugary treat.

lucky charms were eddie’s most favourite thing in the world to eat, and he just compared them to steve.

“probably better.” he mumbled again, eyes closed.

holy shit, no way! eddie said he’d be better than a good bowel of lucky charms?

steve couldn’t help the sickly sweet feeling that crept up inside him, the smile that worked it’s way to his lips. he loved eddie so much it made him dizzy.

“i’d eat you first too.” he said to eddie before pressing a kiss to his cheek.

eddie smiled, “i hope so.” he grinned, “have you seen my ass? best cake out there.”

steve shoved him and laughed.

“that’s exactly my reasoning.” steve curled into his boyfriends side.

eddie kissed steve’s temple, pulled him in close, “now sleep, no more waking me up.”

“love you, eddie.”

“love you too, wormie.”

oh yeah, eddie was it for him.

[inaris-mage-of-storms]

"You really don't have to stay," said Scott, letting Sausage take the empty teacup from him. "I mean, I'm grateful for your help. But I'm sure you have more important things to attend to. I can manage on my own." He nestled further into the blankets wrapped around him, comfortably tucked into the corner of the couch nearest the fireplace, and watched the snow through the window.

"Nonsense," said Sausage, gathering up the tea tray and carrying it to the kitchen. "You're the most important thing to attend to right now. Bubbles has everything handled back home," he assured him as he returned to the living room and sat in the armchair across from Scott.

Scott had to admit he was glad for Sausage's company, even as he alternated between coughing fits and dozing through parts of Sausage's story about Bruno and Pepe arguing over the best method of storing supplies for the tavern. The ache in Scott's throat began to intensify, and he was contemplating asking Sausage for more tea when a knock at the door interrupted Sausage instead.

"Sorry, no visitors today!" called Sausage as he stood to go see who it was. "I'm afraid he isn't feeling up to – oh! Jimmy, hi!"

"Hi Sausage," came Jimmy's voice from the entryway. "Sorry, I can go. I just wanted to see how he was doing, and bring him this."

"It's okay, Sausage," called Scott, and winced at how hoarse his voice sounded. "He can come in."

Sausage poked his head into the living room. "Are you sure?" Scott nodded, and Sausage directed Jimmy to the coat hook before he led Jimmy into the room and bowed to Scott dramatically. "A gift for you, my king!" he said cheerily.

Scott laughed, his eyes sweeping over Jimmy. The sheriff's hair was ruffled from his habit of running his fingers through it after removing his hat, and his cheeks were pink from the cold wind. "You brought me a pretty man? Sausage, you know me so well," he teased, knowing full well that Sausage was referring to the dish clutched in Jimmy's hands.

"What?" squawked Jimmy, the color in his cheeks deepening. "No! He means this!" He held up the container. "I, um. I heard you weren't feeling well, so I brought you some broth. I mean, you don't have to have it if you don't want. The kitchen looked like Sausage has you stocked up on food pretty well. It's probably not even that good, if I'm honest. Not sure I got it right. It's similar to something my granddad used to make for me whenever I was sick - "

"You're rambling," said Scott, cutting him off. Too tired to care about appearances, he made grabby hands in Jimmy's direction. "And I'm hungry. Gimme."

Even if he hadn't been hungry, the smile that crossed Jimmy's face alone was worth accepting the gift. Jimmy took the lid off and handed it over. "It should still be warm," he informed him, just as Scott registered the faint glow on the bottom of the bowl from the enchantments carved into it.

He murmured his thanks and took a sip before closing his eyes happily. His nose was too stuffy to appreciate the full range of everything that had gone into the broth, but what he could taste was delicious. And, Scott realized as he took another sip and mentally sorted out every herb he could pick up on, everything that had gone into it was deliberately chosen to ease one symptom or another of his flu.

It tasted, above anything else, like love. He looked up and gave Jimmy a soft smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," beamed Jimmy, seeming pleased that his gift had been received so well. "I hope you feel better soon. I'll get going so you can get some rest."

Sausage glanced at the disappointed expression on Scott's face and smiled mischievously. "Actually, Jimmy, do you have anything in particular you need to go take care of?" he asked. Jimmy shook his head no. "Excellent! Then would you mind sitting with him for a bit while I tidy up? I don't want him to have to yell across the house if he needs something."

"Yeah, I can do that," said Jimmy. "Or I can do the cleaning, if you want - "

"No no, have a seat!" said Sausage, and guided him to sit on the couch next to Scott. "Just keep him company!" Scott narrowed his eyes at Sausage, but he only grinned and left the room.

"Sorry about him," said Scott. "You don't really have to stay, if you don't want."

"No, I want to," said Jimmy. "So long as you don't mind."

"I don't mind," said Scott, and took another sip. They sat in silence while he finished his meal, listening to Sausage humming in the kitchen. When the bowl was empty Jimmy set it aside for him, and Scott leaned back against the cushions. His thoughts were beginning to feel hazy again, and he shivered and pulled the blankets tighter around him, closing his eyes.

He jumped a little when he felt a hand on his forehead. "Sorry," Jimmy apologized for startling him. "Gosh, you're burning up." Scott shivered again, and Jimmy frowned. "You ought to be in bed." He pulled the blankets away, and Scott whined at him. "Sorry, sweetheart," murmured Jimmy, scooping Scott into his arms and standing up. "Let's go get you tucked in."

Scott leaned against him, letting the sheriff carry him upstairs. Jimmy got him settled in bed, tucking the blankets around him and brushing a hand over his forehead. He turned to leave, but Scott grabbed the bottom of his vest. "Stay," he croaked. "Hold me."

He couldn't make out what the expression on Jimmy's face meant, but thought he might cry if Jimmy decided to walk away from him now. In his feverish state Scott didn't care about the maintaining the facade between them. He was cold, and achy, and all he wanted right now was to be safe and warm in Jimmy's arms again.

"Please?" he whispered.

Jimmy's face softened. "Okay. I'll stay." Scott breathed a sigh of relief, and Jimmy took off his boots and vest before crawling into the bed with him. He wrapped his arms around Scott and pulled him close, and Scott buried his face in the crook of Jimmy's neck and fell asleep before he could murmur his thanks.

When he next surfaced from his slumber, the room was dark and he could hear Sausage in the doorway. "I need to get back to Sanctuary," he was in the middle of whispering. "Are you sure you're okay to stay, or should I try to get hold of someone else?"

"It's okay," Jimmy whispered back. Scott closed his eyes again, not wanting to risk Jimmy deciding to let go. "I've got him."

He heard footsteps, and the clink of something being set on his dresser. "He needs another dose whenever he wakes up," whispered Sausage, and Scott wrinkled his nose at the thought of the potions Sausage had made him drink when he first arrived. "One of each, and probably again in the morning."

"Okay," acknowledged Jimmy. They said their goodbyes, and Scott dozed off again before Jimmy could realize he was awake.

The second time he awoke, Scott could feel Jimmy's steady breathing and chanced a look at him. Moonlight fell across the room, illuminating his sleeping face. His arms were still firmly around Scott, holding him close like a treasure to be protected. Scott rested a hand against Jimmy's chest, feeling his heartbeat. As they lay together in the dark, Scott could almost pretend this was normal for them, like it had been once before.

A cough wracked his body, breaking the spell and waking Jimmy, who rubbed soothing circles on his back until the fit passed. "I'll get you some water," he said when Scott was finally able to catch his breath, and let go. Scott missed the warmth immediately, feeling a chill he was certain had nothing to do with his illness as Jimmy got out of bed and poured a glass of water from the pitcher Sausage had left next to the potion bottles.

He sat up and accepted the water from Jimmy, sipping at it while Jimmy uncorked a potion bottle. "Do I have to?" he grumbled.

Jimmy smiled and measured out a spoonful of the shimmering liquid. "I'm afraid so," he said, and held out the spoon.

Scott swallowed the mouthful reluctantly, then did the same with the second potion, and took another drink of water as soon as he could. "Gross," he complained. "No matter how she brews it, no amount of melon can cover up nether wart."

"It's not that bad," said Jimmy, looking amused. "You just have sensitive taste buds, I think."

"And that's not usually a bad thing," said Scott. "It makes food more interesting. Even sick I can still name at least five different herbs you put in that broth."

Jimmy laughed. "You do have a very skilled mouth."

There was a beat of silence while they both processed his words. Scott's eyebrow rose and a slow smirk crossed his face, and Jimmy turned bright red. "No!" he squeaked. "That's not what I – I just meant, you can taste things others can't, and you always have some clever comment or snarky comeback at the ready, so I mean – I didn't mean to imply – Oh my god," he groaned, and buried his face in his hands.

Scott laughed until he had to stop to cough again. "Maybe when I'm not sick I can show you what else I can do with it," he said hoarsely, unable to resist one final dig at the sheriff's blunder.

"You're awful," came Jimmy's muffled rebuttal. He ran his hands through his hair, face still a little pink, then took the water glass Scott handed him and set it back on the dresser. "Right. So." He rubbed the back of his neck. "You seem like you're feeling better. Would you be more comfortable if I slept in another room?"

Scott's smile disappeared, and he chewed on his lip before taking a deep breath. His head was clearer than it had been earlier, but he wanted to be selfish a little longer. "I'll leave it up to you," he said carefully. "But to be honest, I...I think I'll sleep better if you're here."

"Then I'll stay," said Jimmy, and Scott hoped he wasn't imagining the eagerness with which Jimmy answered. He got back in the bed, and pressed a shy kiss to Scott's forehead when Scott leaned into his embrace. "Get some more rest. I'm not going anywhere."

series masterpost

[padfootastic]

Day 25 - Braid

written for @prongsfoot-microfic!

The minute Remus saw the braids in Sirius’ hair, he knew it would be a bad day.

If it was just one, or even two, then there wouldn’t be a need to resort to such dramatics but that there were…three, four, five—sheesh who hurt him—six, seven braids in total meant that, well. Either someone was about to die or James was about to combust. Sirius would be doing the killing, of course, because how dare anyone push James to such an edge but that didn’t make any it any better. If anything, it was worse. Remus resigned himself to clean-up duty and damage control for the rest of the week.

Sirius’ hair was like a Richter scale determining the seismic intensity of James’ emotions. Oh, two-three braids? Not that bad, could just be a regular day. Five? Yellow flag. Houston, we have a problem.

A six-seven pointer? Steer clear for there’s either thunderclouds brewing or dangerous levels of brooding going on.

But, anything eight or above? Immediate evacuation. The entire surrounding area is at risk of total annihilation. All of Sirius’ considerable capabilities would be geared towards managing James, leaving everyone else vulnerable.

So when Remus sees the seven braids, tied into an intricate updo, he immediately gathered his things and got up. Better to make his escape now.

But it’s the look on Sirius’ face that made his brisk walk turn into a near run as he tried to get away from the blast radius as quickly as possible.

He sighed in relief as a large explosion rocked the ground beneath his feet the moment he cleared the corner. Thank Merlin.