#god. i love grandmother ren.

[sea-buns]

Was having a sick day today and decided what better time to do absolutely nothing else but lie in bed and finally begin arc 2 of the wwwo...

And my god.

I can't think of a single work of cinema, or art, or literature, or ANYTHING that has struck me as fiercely as Ame's memories with Grandmother Ren have. I don't have the mind today to even begin to unravel all the little threads of love and care and- and whatever word encapsulates the kind of softness that comes from understanding something with your entire being- that you can feel littered throughout the tapestry of that sequence. And I don't think I ever will. I don't think I'll ever find words that live up to my love for that whole deal. All I can muster is this extremely ineloquent:

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Fucking incredible showstopping performance from Brennan and Erika, holy mother of fuck.

[mizumech]

Day 3: Saplings/Puppies

Hey, it’s mizumech and this is my submission for Day 3 of Treebarkweek! For this work, I used the prompt ‘saplings’ and combined it with Day 7’s ‘death’. The name of this work is ‘stationary nostos’ and it is 1110 words long. I reserve all rights to editing :)

-

There is a ghost in the heart of Dogwarts. 

By now, Dogwarts is no longer the great nation it once was. It is but a crumbling temple. Flat slabs of stone make some sort of altar, rainwater anointing it in its own sort of way.

Villager belief on the myth of this once-glorious kingdom differs.

Some say a divine woodspirit beheaded the Red King under the full moon.

Some say it was a ritual for power, to gain the blessing of a rabid God.

Some say it was a bandit who unknowingly mugged the king under cover of night.

The truth is…far from that.

But nobody knows what it is.

Sometimes children slip away from their mothers to play in that mist-shrouded castle, and come running back.

A ghost, they cry, he looked at me!

-

There is a ghost in the heart of Dogwarts, and it becomes harder and harder to deny.

People do still tell the story of the Battles of the Banner, of the king and his loyal hand, bouncing children on their knees as they do.

People whisper that a whimsical tree grows from the blood of the Red King where he died; twisting itself in wait of a new woodspirit to crown him.

“Where was his rider-hand,” grandmothers laugh as the rhyme comes to a close, “Where is your rider?”

“Dead in the sand!”

The children laugh as they are tipped off their laps, because they know they are safe. 

Someone will catch them.

-

There is a ghost in the heart of Dogwarts, and he despairs in his loneliness.

The descendants of the sand hold onto an axe inscribed with archaic language not their own.

It’s one of their greatest war prizes, a symbol of strength and a beacon of hope and courage. 

Wandering traders tell tales of the snowy north as they offer cacti and live saplings for emeralds, and scoff at the axes of the blacksmith.

They have a better one back home that will aid them should war come to them.

Descendants of the sand know of a huge chasm in the middle of the desert that they will never fill. Although they will never tell as to why, they do say it would be a cruelty to do so. 

Their obelisks are carved with eyes, and the twilight dusk washes them purple.

-

There is a ghost in the heart of Dogwarts, and there has been for a long time.

It’s not strange, really.

Martyn will never leave the love of his life.

Well, maybe that’s not true.

Dogwarts has never been the one he has loved most.

It would be better to say that he cherishes Dogwarts. He cherishes every stone and every moment he has spent with it.

But this is not Dogwarts.

A lifeless pile of stones does not make up what he remembers so clearly in his mind's eye.

A cracked altar does not constitute the bond he has felt and the life it has given him.

A once-dead farmland that now bristles with new life is closer, but could never compare to the days he spent in the sun with his lover, scattering wheat and planting carrots.

The habitual offerings of poppies and cherry from the villagers hoping to appease the ‘woodspirit’ within will never match up to the mead the kingdom once made and shared.

A tapestry woven of the tale hung on the wall will never, ever be a match for the love of his life.

Ren.

He mostly hisses at people for fun nowadays; just like the old times.

Killing someone from beyond the grave would be funny, if not impressive.

-

There is a ghost in the heart of Dogwarts, and he paces the halls every day in search of the king.

They both died in Dogwarts, so how can it be that only he remains?

Martyn wishes on every sunrise and every sunset that it’s not true that Ren is trapped somewhere in the desert waiting for him. 

He’s tried to leave Dogwarts once, only to be pulled back immediately once he reaches the border.

It’s a far cry from the wandering past he used to live.

It’s him and Ren forever. Through thick and thin.

What even is forever?

They’ve been apart for so long. Are they still together?

Are they?

Will they?

…forever?

His hands have been empty for so long. No warmth to them, no hand to hold. No blood on them, no axe to wield.

With every day, the throne gets colder, and his heart breaks a little more. 

Forever, he thinks, as the sun goes down. 

Forever, he pleads as the stars shine above him.

-

The Watchers eventually figure out that there is a ghost that dwells in the heart of Dogwarts.

They do much to make him leave.

They tempt him with the promise of the axe returning back to him.

But what is the point of an axe when there is no one to protect, he asks, why should I be content with an axe?

They make a ludicrously pathetic offer of a sapling.

The monopoly is long over, he says, why should I leave my vigil for a mere sapling?

They offer him the enchanting table. pretty much a collector’s relic in this time.

He hesitates.

I can no longer don armour and I have no need for money, Martyn says eventually, what can I do with an enchanting table? 

The Watchers turn away from him.

“Ren,” he murmurs, “could you give me Ren?”

They ruefully shake their heads. One ties a sash of Dogwarts banner around his waist and one pushes a coral crown onto his head.

There, they say, that is your king.

-

There is a ghost in the heart of Dogwarts, and none could possibly move him.

Villages come and go, and the kingdom’s well water swirls with copper coin tarnish.

Moss grows over the cobblestones and the earth slowly reclaims everything, and saplings pop up and flowers blanket it in the spring.

Go, the Watchers urge him, go. You will never find Ren anyways.

Martyn is stubborn. He will not be moved.

Forever is forever.

It’s not right, they say, it’s not right for a ghost to want to live.

My king lived, and he wanted to die to protect his kingdom, Martyn counters, is that any less right?

They have no answer for him, and so Martyn stays; Guardian of the Blackheart Altar and Hand of the Red King.

-

There is a ghost in the heart of Dogwarts, and Hand as he once was, he has now become the Heart of it.

Is it so wrong for a ghost to love?

[hehosts]

♡    #RENRABBIT!    ♡    THIS IS A PRIVATE ROLEPLAY, HEADCANON + META BLOG for the host / escort / rent-a-boyfriend original character — HATANAKA “REN” YORI, the king of hearts.    here is my GOOGLE DOC !!     all psds, graphics, and icons were made by me.    MATURE CONTENT WARNING!!!    THIS BLOG IS 21+ ONLY / MINORS DNI!!  see my additional verses here!!!! my verses tend to reflect my most familiar fandoms. this blog is now using beta editor as of 04/2023. #HITTHEJACKPOT

BELOVED BY HAL, 31, HE/HIM/HIS. est march-2020. you might know me from my multimuse blog lifesliced. ren is connected to my “slice of life” cast on multi. he is best known to be affiliated with fujita akira, the MC of lifesliced.

PLEASE NOTE: this cast and (general) storyline are currently being turned into a manga!

EXPLORING THEMES OF FATHERHOOD, loss of innocence / loss of boyhood, grief, the test of loyalty, PATERNAL LOVE, existentialism, manifest destiny, red lights, nostalgia, loneliness, redemption, DUALITY, doing whatever is necessary, working "after hours," and what it means to be human. — who am i?

♡    #BOYWITHLUV    ♡  

FEATURING INTERACTIVE SIDE MUSES: 

HINA — ren’s ex-wife, mother of kyosuke, and the queen of hearts

GORO — ren’s boss, the face changer, the identity thief, and the ace of spades

YONG-SUN — goro's ears / his source of information, the dragon, and the jack of diamonds

JI-HUN — goro’s left hand / his eyes, the cobra, ren’s keeper, and the jack of clubs

DENG — goro’s right hand / his extension of will, unaligned to ren, and the joker

ABOUT DENG AND JI-HUN (STATS INCLUDED)

JI-HUN'S GOD AU // * CLICK HERE!

CHARACTERS MENTIONED:

THE HOSTS — the rabbits of the red-light district

HATANAKA KYOKO — the mother of yori, grandmother of kyosuke

HATANAKA KYOSUKE — the son of ren and hina, grandson of kyoko

you can read more about hina and goro in ren’s google doc!!

PLEASE NOTE: everything here is based in research and is always developing / changing to accommodate new information. while the overall story is based in reality, there is still a sense of suspended disbelief. while i aspire for heavy realism, there are things that i have to bend to accommodate not only storytelling, but also rp. 

MAIN VERSE: host + escort SECONDARY VERSE: rental boyfriend + escort

** there will be no sexual content towards / with / about underage muses! however, i will write sfw threads with any muse! **

CREDITS: particularly to this lore, the idea started with otter (formerly @/genkigang) (on hiatus) and her character sho (#2 host, the genki type). ren came because of sho, as sho needed a #1 host to compete with, as well as a manager. the idea of shining! and many of its designs were made by otter. dash icon credit also to otter!!

she also writes for other members of my cast such as haru (the rookie host), yūto (#3 host, the gentle type), kyoko (the mother of ren), kyosuke (the son of ren and hina), and actively helping me develop the rest of the cast. this is a very collaborative project. you will see these characters mentioned often. 

[asknarashikari]

On the rider group chat, the Heisei 1 riders congratulate Shinji with finally reuniting/getting together with Ren.

Yusuke posts a thumbs up emote

Shouichi sends them congrats and tries to get Shinji to say that he will have Restaurant Agito for the catering and wedding cake.

Takumi will comment that it was about damn time and that he was sick of Shinji and Ren dancing around each other.(Ignoring how it took three of his kohai to get him and Yuji together.)

Arata will comment how his grandmother said that if two people are truly meant to be together, then life will constantly cross their paths.

Ryotaro will squeeze and some how slip, causing him to fall onto a cake(Don’t ask).

Hitoshi will send his congrats and offer up courting advice that are from feudal Japan.

How would the rest of the riders react to this Heisei 1 interaction.

Tsukasa: "Finally. You two pined worst than Hino did for his birdman." <- where's the lie

Shoutaro: Half-boiled tears

Philip: "Congratulations. Do try not to die again, will you?"

Eiji: Gives them a congratulatory pantsu of love (aka a matching set)

Gentaro: "Senpai love kitaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Haruto: Just a thumbs up while munching on doughnuts

Kouta: Offers to bless their union (or something) as the resident space god

Shinnosuke: *Proud Dad Friend Noises* "Finally, you two got your shit together!"

Takeru: Gives them a discount on the wedding package at the temple

Emu: *Proud Mom Friend Noises* "Finally, you two got your shit together!"

Sento: "So... who won the bet on them this time?"

Sougo: The one who won the bet

Aruto: Makes a horrible pun about them getting together or something

Touma: Congratulates them, like normal people do

Ikki: Gives them a couples' discount at the bathhouse and offers to ask if Lovekov would be their flower snake demoness

Ace: "...What is going on here I do not understand what is the big deal with these two geezers kissing"

[clearalibi]

Day 2! Upped 1.1 to 1.5 mph which is absolutely null but I didnt want to overdo it because I have a habit of doing that sort of thing. Saw the Greek god again, he appeared to do pull ups right in front of me eee, I really think he might be from Greece...Mel said theres way hotter but our tastes seem to differ pretty vastly except for Gerry. Eh she agreed Sam V and Ren are "cute and alright but not my type" so I guess Imma give her the benefit of the doubt. Still a lil mad she said that about Barry tho. He called himself a model and a legend on hot ones, scoffing at the title of actor..I agree when he said he doesn't seem like one of them. Probably cause he's an Irish wolf god or something. Mel had the audacity to say something shitty about his eyes! Oh I wanted to say something mean about Benson soooo bad, I didnt, I should've called her a filthy casual that would've hit.

But! I am not being empathetic enough. (If only there was a Naturo like individual to help me.) There is prob a lil envy behind her support. Even though I was helping her dream big looking at Gerrys studio home combo and having other combos discussed. After I explained to her what kickstarter and patreon was, fuck i gotta keep her young is 10 years really that much of a difference??? she expressed she wants to do something, but shes like i dunno all I have is crystals. Why didn't I fucking ask her to film my shit? Why would I trust my ex's sis over my bestie? That bich dont know me and when I vaguely asked if she'd help me film something in time for VDAY she assumed it was for her bro. Yet she couldnt be upfront enough to say I misunderstood no, she had to ghost me and fucking gatekeep really?!?! Sorry that too many people fucking triggers me and you decided to adopt 7 fucking kids. Fuck you hoe. You and his ma shouldn't have given off fucking Lannister vibes the first time we met, weirded me tf out.

I thought of Cat because it was the obvious choice, I wanted quality, this could be my only chance. I'm gonna suggest this next weekend, get a feel for her, she might get super into it. Then maybe I can mute Ren and show her Animal Flow because rewatching things with different povs of what to focus on is fun idc.

Now that I know how Mel feels about Brits idfk how to feel about her to be real. But I also need to lose this complex feeling of I LOVE HIM WHY CANT YOU SEE WHAT I SEE that I have.

I have been trying to be civil with my mom despite the fact that she pimped me out 3 times but the ex was the only one to get some. She actually paid my crush to do yardwork I shit yall not. I'm glad he did a shitty job, I'm actually gonna give him kudos to that...and now that I think of it maybe he was where my aversion to blondes stems from.

I was telling the ex it would be soooo fun, if the closest we can get to the next Eminem also got famous for roasting a mother figure. I swear I have tried to be the bigger person, but this cunt is still turning my grandmother against me. FOR NO REASON!!! BECAUSE I WONT LIVE UNDER HER THUMB. BITCH I AM 31. GET A LIFE!!!!!

Seeing how she handles her spiders I now know if I had any doubt, that I'm only alive because my grandparents mostly raised me...to their credit I don't think they brainwashed me, I think they saw how problematic my ma and her bros turned out and reevaluated themselves.

[happymeishappylife]

Comics/Graphic Novels I Read in 2023 (Part 3)

21. Displacement by Kiku Hughes

Another great graphic novel about the Japanese Internment, but this time author Kiku Hughes adds a little sci-fi as she explores her family’s history. I found that actually a good way to tell the story and the history because as Kiku explains, she obviously wasn’t born in the time of the interment, but her family never talked about. Still that generational trauma and loss of Japanese identity happened because of the brutal treatment against Japanese people, so to see a young Kiku mysteriously transported back to that time and seeing her grandmother’s experience as well as living her own leaves a heavy mark. What was also interesting was to see Kiku’s experience not be similar to grandmothers which I think was valid as a girl from the future who might also be a bit queer.

22. Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures Year One #3: The Fountain’s of Forever by Nick Abadzis, Elena Casagrande, Elonora Carlini, Rachael Stott, Leonardo Romero, Hi-FI, and Arianna Florean

I wasn’t paying attention when I put these in order to realize these were from different years, but it was nice to get my answers as to why Cindy started travelling two (and I’m glad to see it was out of care for her best friend) and also how Nubis came to be and We also meet Dorothy who was once a famous actress, but turns into Sutekh’s hand. Since she was referenced in the last books it was nice to be introduced to her.Plus it showcased how early on how well Gabby and the Doctor work together, as well as how brave and compassionate Gabby is.

23. Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures Year One #7: War of Gods by Nick Abadzis, James Peaty, Giorgia Sposito, Warren Pleece, Arianna Florean, and Hi-Fi

Obviously not sure what happened in between issues 3 and 7, but we return back to where it started as Sutekh tries to take over Nubis and return to this universe. This was actually cool to see given that it plays right off the Fourth Doctor story. I also love that there were panels showing Sarah Jane and the Doctor to ground it to the show. Still Dorothy and the Doctor are rushing to save Nubis and the universe, but Gabby gets caught because she’s extra courageous in standing up to Sutekh.

24. Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Adventures Year Three #1: The Sapling Growth by Rob Williams, Alex Paknadel, I.N. J. Culbard, Simon Fraser, Leandro Casco, Wellington Diaz, Triona Farrel, Gary Caldwell

The last time I left the Doctor and Alice, things were beyond dark and grim so it was nice to catch back up with them when things were looking up. They go off searching for their musician friend Jones only to come across his funeral and then get trapped in a forest with a time stealing Silence named Scream, creepy. They escape, but only after putting a few of their memories into the Sapling. But before they can decide what to do with them, they arrive on Earth that is suffering from multiple decades colliding into another. That’s one thing to sort out but with the threat of Scream it becomes a little more deadly. I’ll be curious to see where it goes.

25. Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Adventures Year Three #2: The Sapling Roots by Goerge Mann, James Peaty, I.N. J. Culbard, Ivan Rodriguez, Wellington Diaz, Klebs Junior, Leandro Casco, Triona Farrell, Stefani Renne, Thiago Ribeiro

Instead of one overreaching plot like many of the previous stories have been, I actually really enjoyed this collection because it felt like the show. The Doctor, Alice, and the Sapling go on mini-adventures, saving Oods (or trying to), escaping a dying ship and preserving a species dying memory, and preventing a clown from stealing people’s memories so they can continue to enjoy the Ren Fair. Sure the problems still exist, but this was much more of a focus on The Sapling learning about memory as he settles into his existence.

26. Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Adventures Year One #3 by Al Ewing, Rob Williams, Simon Fraser, Boo Cook, Warren Pleece, Gary Caldwell, and Hi-FI

Again, wasn’t paying attention to the years when I put these in order, so yet again I jumped back to the year 1 collection. But I’m glad because I got to meet and get used to Jones to better understand his relationship to the team. But I missed the subplot of the Doctor falling victim to the talent scout which is continuing to haunt them and Arc, a sentient entity who is tied to the malevolent being. The sucky part about missing that, is there was some really emotional scenes where the TARDIS kicks the Doctor out and that means whatever he did was pretty serious so I’d love to catch up on those adventures.

27. Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Adventures Year Two #4 by  Si Spurrier, Rob Williams, Simon Fraser, Warren Pleece, Gary Caldwell, and Hi-Fi

Before the Sapling, and after the talent scout, we find the Doctor and Alice in the mists of learning more about the War Doctor. It’s here we meet The Squire for the first time, who I’ve read in other comics, and learn about how they served the War Doctor. We also meet Daak who wants to bring the Doctor to justice, but gets subverted by the TARDIS who hides his wife’s coffin. Then as they continue to be hunted through space and time, they discover who really is behind this, but we don’t quite get to catch up with The Master to see what incarnation is causing the problem. Can’t wait to see Eleven and the Master go head to head, so hopefully I find that issue soon.

28. Doctor Who: Four Doctors by Paul Cornell, Neil Edwards, Ivan Nunes, and Comicraft

A worthy multi-doctor story where we see Ten, Eleven, and Twelve team up (or bicker with each other) to discover why a fixed point in time has been established between them to ruin Marinus. It starts because Clara tries to prevent it, but nothing could prevent it and so she, Alice, and Gabby, get pulled along to see which of the Doctors continuity bomb is causing this breakdown. Honestly, seeing the points where Ten could go wrong and not save Wilf (WHAT?!) to become the Timelord Victorious was pretty ballsy. Likewise seeing Eleven give into River and let the universe break down instead of rebooting it was sad. But heartbreaking was seeing Twelve go mad and cause these issues because of Clara demanding he go to hell. It was nice to see the canon of the show blended in that way and I would love to see more. Especially with the nicest and sincerest compliment to Chris’s doctor who couldn’t be involved because he was always, Fantastic!

29. Doctor Who: The Lost Dimension Book 2 by Gordon Rennie, Emma Beeby, George Mann, Cavan Scott, Ivan Rodriguez, Wellington Diaz, Rachael Scott, Mariano Laclaustra, Anderson Cabral, Marcelo Salaza, Fer Centurion, Thiago Ribeiro, Nauricio Wallace, Rod Fernandes, Carlos Cabrera, Mony Castillo, Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt

The 60th Anniversary we could have had! And honestly this is absolutely the way it would go down with nine and ten being confused, the eighth doctor randomly showing up out of nowhere with no explanation and twelve running the show. I love that this is season 10 twelve too because he is also still in teacher mode, though maybe a little distracted by Jenny showing up. Plus, it was so nice to find the comic where Bill flirts with the Doctor’s Daughter because that’s amazing. And I like that 12 is weirded out a little, but not dismissive of it.

[cathwritestragediesnotsins]

can I have a Shouto x female reader with a newborn. Like just either HCs or a Drabble about how he would be at parenting. I’m kinda obsessed with dad Shouto right now. X/

Shouto couldn't believe it. Everything that had happened in the past 12 hours felt completely unreal, like a dream he would wake up from suddenly. This all felt too good to be true.

His eyes flooded with tears that silently dripped down his cheeks as he looked back and forth between the two beautiful babies. One with wisps of red hair and the other with wisps of white. Rei and Ren. His children, your children.

He felt your hand reach up to wipe away some of his tears. His eyes met yours, and he only felt his heart swell even more, to the point he thought it might burst with happiness. You looked so beautiful. God, he loved you so much.

"Thank you," he says quietly, "I love you" "I love you too Sho." You smile a watery smile at him. He reaches up a hand to grasp yours that rests on his cheek and he wants things to stay like this forever, the two of you, holding onto each other while you each cradle a tiny new life in your arms. Shouto never wants this moment to end, and yet at the same time, he can't wait for the future.

The peace of the room is shattered when suddenly Natsuo comes bursting through the door with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a bunch of balloons in the other. "Where are my niece and nephew!?" he says, too loud in his excitement. Fuyumi, who follows close behind him, smacks him across the back of the head before he can disturb the babies. "Shut up!" she scolds. The white-haired male rubs the spot of impact sheepishly and whispers a 'sorry'

"Hey, guys" you greet with a tired laugh as the Todoroki family, save Enji, crowds into the small hospital room. "Oh, Y/N, Shouto, they're beautiful" Fuyumi gushes, immediately by the bedside, looking over Sho's shoulder at a sleeping Ren, and Rei, who quietly gazes around with her drowsy-looking eyes. "Aren't they?" you say in amazement, glancing fondly at the twins. "Congratulations." Shouto's mother says quietly. "Thank you"

"What're their names?" Touya asks, trying to get a good look at the newborns from where he stands, caged into the corner by all the bodies in the tiny space. "This is Ren," Shouto says, lifting the little boy in his arms slightly. "And that," he, nods toward the little girl resting against your chest. "Is Rei" he finishes, making eye contact with his Mother. Mrs. Todoroki lets out a small gasp, her eyes quickly welling with tears. She smiles, then leans over to where Shouto is sitting on the foot of the bed and hugs him tightly, careful of her new grandbaby, and mumbles something in his ear before pulling away.

"Would you like to hold her?" you ask quietly once the moment between mother and son has passed. "Can I?" she asks meekly, hopefully. "Of course." you pass your little girl to her grandmother and watch with a smile as the two Reis meet for the first time. Mrs. Todoroki's small sobs fill the quiet room, the moment only made more beautiful and powerful by the terrible experiences and mistakes that brought everyone to this point.

The pain that each person in the room held, the scars, the hurt, and the brokenness they carried because of their surname, all fell away. They knew that they would never be a perfect family, but they would love these children with unconditional and selfless love.

And then, maybe, just maybe, the curse of the Todoroki family would be broken.

[thebrixtons]

Previous - Beginning - Next

(Transcript under the cut!)

Clementine: Uh, whose house is this?

Ren: My grandmother’s. We’ll be staying here.

Clementine: Are you sure she won’t mind that we’re here? I don’t want to intrude or make her hate me.

Ren: It’s fine.

Clementine: Is she... is she here? Oh my god, she’s here and I’m dressed like this? I look a mess!

Ren: You don’t have to worry about meeting her. She’s gone. Passed away when I was eleven.

Clementine: I’m sorry I assumed...

Ren: It’s my fault— I should’ve told you. I thought we should stay here instead of booking a hotel or staying at a ryokan.

Ren: My mother still hasn’t sold this house. I wonder if there’s a small part of her that loved my grandmother, too.

Ren: You know, I didn’t visit her often. Just a few weekends every year when my mother was home from work.

Ren: When she couldn’t stand the sight of me.

Clementine: So, she just... left you here? With your grandmother?

Ren: She says says ‘out of sight, out of mind.’

Clementine: I’m sorry.

Ren: It’s okay.

[lamelinam]

The maid and the Cat, Ren and Akira: some musings

What gloomy love brightened the half-lives of the Sohmas’ most Cursed ones?

I often wonder what the relationship between the former Cat and his attendant would have looked like, twisted and sad as it must have been. Precious little is shown about those two, and only through Kazuma’s pov. We know she took care of and pitied the Cat, to the point that she even slept with him and bore his child. This is not unlike Kureno’s relationship with Akito. She might have treated him with the same kindness and devotion, distant, perhaps harmful, yet selfless.

Selfless? I think another way to extrapolate on the story of Kazuma’s grandparents is with Ren and Akira’s relationship.

Many great meta writers have already pointed out that those who fill in the positions at the extremes of the Sohma hierarchy, the Cat and God, or in this case the Cat and the idolized, deified family head, are foils to each other and are the ones that are dehumanized and isolated the most.

But now I think that you can also compare the way the previous Cat and Akira both chose ("chose" being a relative term in the case of the Cat) a romantic partner.

(Akira wasn’t God, but as the family head, he was worshipped just like Akito. His sickness also contributed to making him stand apart. Not only was he kept inside the compound because of his frailty, the hold that death had on him blessed him with this ephemeral, divine aura. “Was it the sorrow that befell him at such a young age that gave him that otherworldly beauty?»)

Both Kazuma’s grandfather and Akito’s father were doomed, Akira to die an early death, Kazuma’s grandfather to live the life of a living dead. Both were buried alive in the Sohma estate, either at the outskirts or at the center of it.

Both reached out to their progeny. (But Kazuma rejected the offered cake, and will endeavour to atone and honour his grandfather’s memory. Akito clung to every memento she had of her father and will need to learn to let go of him.)

And both the previous Cat and Akira found some measure of comfort in the affections and arms of their female caretakers, Sohma servants who saw their loneliness and expressed their compassion, though not in a particularly healthy way: Kazuma’s grandmother acting out of pity, Ren out of obsessive love.

It’s interesting to me how their respective position was reflected in their partners’ feelings : the imprisoned, despised Cat, Kazuma’s grandmother looked down on. The respected, otherworldly beautiful Akira was adored by Ren.

Kazuma sums up his grandparents’ relationship thusly:

Those correspond to the main "duties" that a wife is traditionally supposed to provide her husband.

The day-to-day caring.

Childbearing.

Attending their husband’s deathbed.

Obviously Ren wished she could have skipped the second one and be there for the last one. (I headcanon that she had prepared her last words years in advance, finding small pleasures and comfort, on the back of the wave of despair anticipating Akira’s death, in rehearsing the declarations of passionate love she would address to the dying man.)

The Cat’s companion attended her partner’s deathbed, seemingly very composed, even cold, as seen in Kazuma’s memories, while Ren, deprived of her husband’s last moments, that she felt were “stolen” from her by Akito (in reality by the maids :@), was mad with grief.

"The only one who can save him"

Those parallels make me wonder whether or not the Cat’s companion might not have developed a saviour complex, like Ren, both believing that they were the only one able to save this lonely, condemned person they were taking care of, and relishing it.

“I love you” vs "I pity you"

On Ren’s side though, it seems that she believes she truly saw Akira, as the person hiding behind that otherworldly aura, filled with sadness and fearful of death. Seeing that Akira agrees with her ("Ren noticed I was lonely"), fought against the Sohma leaders and regretted on his deathbed that he and Ren couldn’t reconcile, I believe this is not a delusion of hers. Her love was genuine and passionate, and she and Akira were happy. Unfortunately, that happiness didn’t survive her pregnancy, for she was also jealous and obsessed.

Kazuma supposes that his grandmother believed that she was doing something good. I wonder at her expression. It is shadowed, enigmatic. Is it a smirk or not, is she sad or not? i wonder whether she was selfless in her pity, like Kureno, or selfish like Kagura, perhaps feeling better by «sacrificing» herself in associating with the Cat for the sake of a miserable soul.

(Whatever you can say or imagine about her, Kazuma doesn’t seem to suffer from the stigma of being the Cat’s grandson, nor does he bear any trace of an abusive upbringing - in fact, he was among those doing the abusing - or even the echoes of the previous generation’s, so my guess is that she was an okay mother and grandmother... which would have made Kazuma’s disappointment and hurt at her words all the sharper... Like Tohru thinking of the zodiacs members she finds so kind and adorable secretly looking down on someone else she realizes she cares about more than she thought.)

There is no way to know how the Cat reacted to a pity-love. But considering Kureno and Akito’s relationship, this might also have been but a superficial balm, and potentially just as hurtful. Then it depends on the interpretation. Kureno’s pity cocooned Akito and kept her from moving forward, but the Cat was condemned anyway to an eternity of imprisonment. Moving forward was forbidden to him. And if his self-worth was already completely destroyed as his role and his treatment are meant to do, he might have just felt grateful towards the attendant. There’s no way to say for sure whether he would have been hurt or not by the truth, and I don’t know which option is the saddest!

... but I know what could be sadder. Because is the maid entirely to blame? We know that in Fruits Basket, love requires a measure of selfishness. The one cursed with the Cat has no self, no existence, no wants and no future, and they accept this fate. They believe they deserve it. (Which is why the Cat's Room doesn't need bars in the manga, nor locks. Rin was under lock and keys because either Akito didn't completely trust her to keep her word or she didn't want someone to discover her.)

It would be very difficult for someone to fall in love with a person who has renounced to everything, perhaps including love. Because who's to say that the Cat loved the maid too?

Recognition vs indifference

How depressingly fitting that we don't even learn the Cat's name, while Akira’s is remembered by all and echoes back and forth in the later part of the story.

Ren marrying the Sohma family head was such a big political deal it provoked a family schism. The Cat’s story with the maid gets completely ignored. It is probably known, just not "officially recognized", says Kazuma. Like everything related to the Cat, it was relegated to the back of the minds, in the dusty closet of the things that are uncomfortable to think about but that you tolerate if it doesn’t upend your little world-view. Ugh, some maid is being inappropriate with that monster! Well, as long as she doesn’t free the loathsome creature, who cares. (And she wouldn’t, because she’s no Tohru.)

In contrast, the maids of the main family thought that Ren was stealing Akira from their grasp. Ren didn’t seem to care for the family, and in a way, her love allowed Akira to also escape from them, "snatched away" by "that woman”, for the old attendant. Unlike the Cat’s attendant, Ren felt like a threat to the Sohma strict hierarchical system. (Fortunately, God will be born to bring back the right order of things, phew! Certainly she he will accomplish what Akira-san was momentarily too misguided to do and rid us of that woman!)

Inheritance.

Both women's profession of their true feelings deeply marked their progeny and the way they view relationship, whether personal or not, romantic or filial.

While her mother affirmed that "a woman only needs one man", Akito leaned on the love of the zodiacs ; Kazuma viewed and loved Kyo as a human and dreaded that his son would find himself in the same situation as his grandfather but also with the same kind of companionship. (His reaction to Kagura speaks of a long-held anxiety). But Ren's hatred for Akito coloured the way Akito interpreted her words, while Kazuma’s grandmother’s declaration shook Kazuma, his personal relationship with his grandmother notwithstanding.

This comparison isn't about good or evil, neither to judge those characters. Furuba isn’t about that. Obviously, they are not blameless. But it is very difficult to say whether or not Kazuma’s grandmother was wrong to act out of pity if it provided a bit of comfort to a prisoner. And is it surprising that Ren developed this saviour’s complex when it seems she was the only one willing to breach Akira’s isolation bubble?

Anyway, Takaya-sensei is really good at making foils. Either because she does it on purpose or because her characters are so deeply intertwined with the themes of the series the parallels appear on their own. But in this case, I don’t think it’s for nothing that the chapters recounting Ren and the Cat’s attendant stories follow each other (chapters 114 and 115).

Of course, this meta is less an analysis and more suppositions and conjectures (frankly, I wonder if I might not as well have written a fanfic). From the little we see, the Cat’s companion and Ren work as distorted yin-yang mirrors, their differences highlighting the similarities of their situations, from the ugly effects of the inner workings of the Sohma cult to the messed up inner workings of the heart. Genuine but obsessed, jealous love... Pity, perhaps self-serving, in the guise of martyred love.... One thing I can say for sure is that these two both gave me chills in their own way.

[veggieheist]

Witch!AU Reylo is always a good time 🤩🙌✨🔥

More art on my Instagram✨

Story blurb down below!👇

Rated T

cn // witches , witchcraft , kidnapping , fear of assault

✨🍄✨

Kylo Ren stood in the cool shade of a tree, leaning against the wide trunk nonchalantly, ignoring the other people gathered there to take advantage of the respite from the heat. In the branches above him a mourning dove cooed, a soft sound among the chatter of people and the buzz of the cicadas.

In his hand was a piece of ashwood, small chunks carved out by the whittling knife in his other. He took care with his work, but his sharp eyes lifted every so often, focusing on the girl selling wares from her wagon across the dirt road from the tree. The heat did not seem to affect her much, her tanned skin evidence of her love for the sun.

Kylo watched her over the course of the day. She smiled at passersby, spoke matter-of-factly to those seeking tonics for ailments, laughed with a woman who seemed to enjoy telling local gossip to a new ear, and now seemed very unaffected by the flirtations of a young man. 

Kylo’s eyes narrowed, his hands stilling. The boy was persistent, and she was getting irritated. When the boy tried to reach for her hand, Kylo watched as she let him, pulling close enough for her to whisper something in his ear. Kylo’s skin tingled as the magic wove through the air. The boy staggered back, a dazed look on his face, and then wandered away.

A repelling spell. Kylo scoffed. Smart. But not very smart to do something like that out here, in the open, where anyone could see. The girl’s eyes darted about, looking for the alerted gaze of someone who may have noticed her act of forbidden magic, but there was only one audience member to her indiscretion, and he had his hood up, enchanted to ward off any notice. He was as if part of the shadows; unassuming and forgettable. Her eyes slid over him as expected, and Kylo smirked, returning to his whittling. 

She was the reason he was stood here, sweltering in his black robes and armor. She was a witch, even though she tried to hide it behind her simple tonics and herbs. He’d been tracking her for days, and finally caught up with her here. 

He was on a mission from his master to capture her, and even though he knew not what the purpose was--she was hardly trained, seeming only to be able to harness the bare minimum of power afforded to their kind--but Kylo was not going to question it. 

In the shade of the tree, Kylo wiped the sweat from his brow and adjusted his position against the rough bark of the trunk. In his hands the knife moved through the wood object, its shape taking form.

It wouldn’t be difficult to snatch her. He already had a plan; all he had to do now was wait. 

--O*O--

Rey finished gathering up her wares from the table she had set up outside her wagon home, bringing them up the steps to place in the cabinet designed to neatly hold them. It had been a lucrative day, so there weren’t as many going in as she had taken out, and she patted her coin purse with a smile before hiding it. 

She folded the table next to bring it inside as well, setting it back up in front of the bench seat along the right wall. Her wagon was a modest home, but cozy. Her bed was along the back wall, a nest filled with blankets and pillows, an array colorful beads on hanging strings glittered from the waning sunlight coming in through a small window. 

The left side wall contained more cabinets with dishware and food, jars with herbs and preserves, and a small woodfire stove. The right side wall had more cabinets still, although these ones were kept locked. Inside were books, old scrolls, and grimoires, but also some amulets and dangerous items not meant to be handled by innocent humans. 

Rey couldn’t afford to be caught, so she hid them behind concealing charms and repelling spells. No one would search those cabinets because they would seem far too boring to garner any attention. 

She’d already had a close call earlier in the day, when an inquisitive constable had approached her table. He’d carried a large cross hung from his neck, and a sharp look to his eyes. She’d smiled broadly at him, hoping he couldn’t see the anxiety making her sweat. It’s just the heat, she would have said if he’d asked. 

“‘Tonics and tinctures,’ eh? You a witch?” He’d crudely asked, not even trying to be tactful. 

“My great great grandmother was one, sir,” she answered, a lie, probably, since she didn’t know her family, “but all I have is a penchant for medicines. I have a signed letter from a priest, Christening me as a Holy Hand.” 

Most people like her did that--connected themselves to a church to avoid being burned at the stake. They were less likely to be looked at with contempt if it seemed like they were doing God’s work. 

Rey just needed money to get away. To go anywhere. She didn’t know what she was looking for, but so far she hadn’t found it. 

The constable had looked over her letter with a critical eye, but ultimately gave it back and continued on his way with a gruff, “Don’t stay too long.”

It was a warning she would heed. She’d be on the road by first light in the morning. 

Rey brought feed and water to her Clydesdale, murmuring softly to him as he munched. “On to the next town in the morning, Bibi.” Then she whispered a spell to strengthen him and climbed the steps back up into her home. Being a Clydesdale, Bibi was the only kind of horse able to pull her wooden camper by himself, but she still tried to help with whatever magic she could manage. 

Rey shut the wooden door and made a simple meal of bread and vegetable soup, eating at the table silently. By the dying light from the three windows about the cabin, Rey knew it was time to draw the curtains and ready for bed. The lamps filled the small home with warm light, and she was just reaching to untie her corset when a knock came on the door. 

Rey frowned, going to it. There was a latch to open a small window and see who was calling, but it was still difficult to make out the shadowy features of the hooded man standing outside. 

“I’m closed for the evening,” she said. “If you need something I can help you in the morning.”

She closed the latch before the man could answer, a wave of cold gooseflesh making her shiver. The visitor was silent, and she wondered if he’d walked away after a moment of not detecting any sound. She moved to her small closet again when the door latch clicked and swung open.

Rey stood straight, alarmed, sure that she’d locked it. 

“I’m closed,” she said with more conviction, the words for her repelling spell on the tip of her tongue. 

The man who entered her humble dwelling had to duck to get through the small door frame, and his head nearly brushed against the roof. He was broad, dressed in black, and as he entered Rey saw the flash of red gems embedded in the hilt of his sword at his hip.

She sucked in a breath. An inquisitor? Here? Had the constable sent for one?

But no, he didn’t carry any sign of the cross, nor did he have the stench of smoke that seemed to permeate an inquisitor as if their souls were made of ash.

This man had a darkness about him, but he was no witch burner. 

He removed his hood and suddenly Rey felt like her eyes could focus again. She frowned, blinking. Strange. He was handsome, with dark hair in waves to his shoulders, a large nose somehow more elegant than ugly, and piercing eyes the color of whiskey. He seemed to not care that she had already told him twice she was not open.

Rey swallowed but steeled herself. She’d warded off enough men in her life to be able to take this one on easily. 

His eyes went from scanning her to roaming around her living space. She couldn’t help to feel judged, and it made her scowl.

“If you need something, I can help you in the morning,” she said, voice hard. “Please leave.”

He finally looked back at her. Somehow he seemed to fill the entire wagon up with his presence, even though he was still standing in front of the door. That it was open helped Rey feel less trapped.

“I’m looking for something,” he said, ignoring her again. “A kind of herb. Willow’s Needle.”

Rey shook her head. “Willow’s Needle is a forbidden herb, used only by witches. I’m one of the Holy Hand, I don’t do witchcraft. Here,” she found the priest's letter and held it out for him. She tried to control the shaking of her hand. “It’s signed by Father Michael from--”

There was a gust of wind from the open door, blowing the letter from her hand and extinguishing all but one lamp that hung above her bed. The door swung shut, enclosing them together.

Rey stepped back, her heart thundering. The man stood still, staring at her with dark eyes. 

“Are you here to kill me?” She asked, thinking of the knives kept in the drawer by the stove. The man was closer, but Rey knew that even if she could get one it would be no match for his sword. And even then, she had a feeling this man was far deadlier than the piece of sharpened metal at his side.

“No,” he said, taking a slow step forward. He was like an encroaching black cloud, and for all the magic Rey knew she had under her fingertips, she was finding herself far too overwhelmed by his presence to think straight enough to use it. 

“Don’t be afraid,” he told her quietly, within arms reach now. “I feel it too.”

“Feel what?” Rey whispered. 

His lips quirked up on one side.

“Magic.”

His hands rose and Rey took an alarmed step back, gathering strength to try and throw him with a spell, but she stopped. Lights began to sparkle to life as he whispered into his cupped hands, a dazzling display of power that Rey hadn’t witnessed in years. Not since she was a child, before she was taught to keep hidden. 

Her curtains were closed so one would see this forbidden show except her, but it still felt like she shouldn’t even be looking. What if someone saw? What if they accused her of it?

The man lowered his hands to show her his creation, and Rey stepped closer, entranced, warmed by the light. She gave a delighted gasp at the tiny bird made of magic nestled in his gloved palms, and she glanced up to see a much softer expression as he watched her in turn. Rey looked back at the bird, shy in the face of this nameless man’s attention. This rare male witch.

All at once it didn’t matter that he had barged into her home and frightened her. He was like her, and maybe that meant he was lonely too. Maybe he was here to find a traveling partner. Someone to be himself with. 

Rey’s heart ached to be truly seen by someone who wouldn’t be afraid of her.

She’d instinctively held her arms to her chest in a shield when he’d advanced, but now one hand unclenched, wanting to show she wasn’t afraid, that she accepted his magic. The little bird chirped a twinkling song, and Rey smiled, wanting to see if it was as soft as it looked. 

“Go on,” the man murmured, as if he could hear her thoughts. “You can take it.”

Rey smiled and accepted the warm illusion into her own palms. It was a very convincing mirage, one she had never been able to conjure herself. She looked up again, but the man’s face was closed again, his eyes sharp, and all at once Rey felt the illusion evaporate. As soon as the small wooden carving of a bird touched her skin, her whole body froze. 

She couldn’t move. Only her eyes widened in horror at her error. Ashwood.

“It’s a paralysis charm,” he explained as her dread rose. “Carved into the wood. A simple thing, really. Any witch worth her salt would have been able to detect it.” He stepped close, all warmth gone, his cold eyes calculating as they scanned her frozen form once again.

“I don’t know why my master would want a weak vagrant like you, but I suppose you’ll have your uses.”

Rey could only whimper at the implication, and she wished she could move and fight back. But her hands had seized around the bird figurine as if in a cramp, and she knew she would not become unfrozen until it was no longer in her grasp.

The dark witch-man bent and easily picked her up into his arms, her body pliant but still out of her control. He took the few steps to her bed and settled her down in the pillows. Her eyes watched him fearfully, the worst thoughts of his intentions flitting across her mind, a desperation beginning to bloom in her breast that nearly had her whining in an attempt to beg him not to defile her.

But he actually pulled the edge of her skirts down to cover her exposed calves, and then straightened, not giving her unguarded body a second glance.

“You should try to sleep,” he told her. “Fretting won’t do you any good, and the spell won’t go away until the bird does.” 

And then he turned and left, the wood creaking beneath his heavy boots, the door clicking shut behind him. Rey heard the lock latch into place, and then the sounds of heavy hoofs, and straps being moved. The wagon lurched as Bibi was attached to his leads, unfamiliar with the man doing it. Rey willed the horse to stomp him, to run away and find help for her, but she felt a wall in her mind. 

Whoever this witch-man was, he was far more powerful a person than Rey had ever encountered before. 

She heard boots climbing to the perch near the window by her bed, and then the flick of reins. The next time the wagon lurched, it stayed in motion, the whole cabin swaying and jostling from the unpaved road. 

Rey had no idea where she was being taken, or by whom, but she knew if she was going to survive this kidnapping she was going to have to use all of her wits she could muster. 

Anything less and she was sure to succumb to whatever dark agenda awaited her at the end of this journey. 

✨🍄✨

[utapri-hcs]

The lads as dumb shit my friends have said

Welcome to an ongoing series of the lads as dumb shit because I have dumb friends including myself

Ai:How dare you pin me to my own bed Ren

Reiji:*spits out water* WHAT?!

*it was animal crossing*

———————————————————————————

Natsuki:Oh yeah! My cousin owns a bear!

Syo:...what?

Natsuki:He is a Pomeranian!

Syo:...what?!

———————————————————————————

*in saotome gakuen*

Ryuya:Ren?

*ren is laying his head on the desk*

Syo:He’s gone sir

Ren:....i... hope Masato dies...zzzzz

———————————————————————————

Ranmaru:You are quite literally the worst sneaky ninja

*cuts to otoya running across the room to nab Tokiya’s honey*

———————————————————————————

*during saotome gakuen*

Tokiya:Did you bring your student id so we can get the discount?

Syo:No..

Otoya:...can we use an arcade card instead?

———————————————————————————

Reiji:So aiai found out you were trash talking him..

Ranmaru:SHIT HE FOUND OUT?! DAMN ROOMBA

———————————————————————————

Cecil:Do you know who ticklemypickle is?? Please, It’s very urgent

———————————————————————————

Camus:YOUR BANANA WIFE ISNT REAL

Ranmaru:SO IF YOUR SOCIAL LIFE;NON-EXIST. DOT DOT BITCH

Camus:SO ARE YOUR BRAINCELLS

Ranmaru:SO IS YOUR PERSONALITY

———————————————————————————

*Reiji with a hat*:I really am alone

*Reiji without a hat*:Hah loser

*Reiji with a hat*:Have you seen yourself???

Ranmaru:Shut the fuck up

———————————————————————————

Cecil:I’ve had satan for too long

———————————————————————————

Tokiya:What do you need?

Ren:You~

Tokiya:Ask Masato next time

———————————————————————————

Ai:You know when I am bored, I light matches for fun

Reiji:Ah, so Aiai is a pyromaniac.Neat. So uh-

———————————————————————————

Otoya:Good luck!!

Syo:Wait for what???

Ai:War

———————————————————————————

Reiji:Yes, they are very seductive colours

Syo:SINCE WHEN IS GREEN A SEDUCTIVE COLOUR

———————————————————————————

Shion:Hey are we friends?

Nagi:What is love, baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more-

———————————————————————————

Syo:You can’t back out or else I get a free slap pass

Nagi:Can’t slap me if I slap you first

———————————————————————————

Reiji:How much does breathing cost?

Otoya:It’s free!

Reiji:Aish, so expensive

———————————————————————————

Ren:I only speak in gay and the truth, mostly the truth

———————————————————————————

Masato:How many Easter eggs should we get?

Cecil:yes.

———————————————————————————

Ai:You dare question me mortal?

———————————————————————————

Otoya:How do you handshake a girl?

———————————————————————————

Camus:Sounds like me but I’m better at lying

———————————————————————————

Yamato:Nagi called you a grandmother

Van:Exfuckingcuse me

———————————————————————————

Syo:Ren I swear to god, say goodbye to your kneecaps tmr

———————————————————————————

Nagi:When do you sleep?

Reiji:Never

Nagi:Noctunal satan

———————————————————————————

Ai:Oh no, you are now suffering from a brain tumour

———————————————————————————

Van:SHE IS A LIZARD PERSON AND I KNOW IT

———————————————————————————

Natsuki:Ren-kun, is tumour an anime character?

———————————————————————————

Syo:I am a pacifist

Ren:Said no one

———————————————————————————

Yamato:I was weak...

Nagi:I am weak

———————————————————————————

Eiji:This inspires me!

Reiji:This just makes me depressed

———————————————————————————

Nagi:Oh no Ai who will judge me on everything

Ai:Oh no Nagi who will never shut up about anything I do

———————————————————————————

*Ren sitting the rest of Starish down*:Okay team meeting, I’m going to teach you how to play clash because I need that $20 from Aimi

———————————————————————————

Eiji:I’ve been feeling sick since Saturday...

Van:oh no

Yamato:Oh No

Eiichi:OH NO

———————————————————————————

Otoya:Rei channnnn

Ranmaru:I don’t think he’s alive

Reiji:Well dang I guess I’m not

———————————————————————————

Tokiya:What do you even want?

*the rest of Starish*:The best for you

———————————————————————————

Ai:Reiji I thought you don’t perform well under pressure

Reiji:I DONT, WELL I DO BUT I DONT

———————————————————————————

Van:Batman noises

Nagi:...did you really just say Batman noises?

———————————————————————————

Reiji:Hey Aine, are you away?

Aine:Nah just taking a coma thanks for asking

———————————————————————————

Eiichi:So was it Nagi or was it Van?

Yamato:Yeah it was

Eiichi:I-??? That doesn’t answer my question?? I’ll..just go ask Kira

———————————————————————————

Reiji:I’m going to scream, wait nvm I found it

———————————————————————————

Natsuki:I love cooking!

Syo:NO NO NO NO WAIT STOP OH GOD-

———————————————————————————

Ranmaru:You really fucking are the god damn CEO of fucking McDonald’s

Camus:And what are you going to do about it huh? Buy a happy meal?

———————————————————————————

Camus:Kotobuki what makes you think I would play kahoot?

Reiji:Uh I have gummy bears?

Camus:I’m in, you should’ve said that first

———————————————————————————

Otoya:It’s because they don’t have a lot..

Camus:Ah understandable, imagine being a peasant

———————————————————————————

Van:Look at him pop off!

*shion sleeping in a corner*

———————————————————————————

Ranmaru:GOD DAMN IT REIJI, YOURE THINKING TOO MUCH LIKE A REIJI AND NOT ENOUGH LIKE A RANMARU

*Reiji crying*

———————————————————————————

Reiji:AH WAIT DONT HURT ME, I ALREADY HAVE ARTHRITIS

———————————————————————————

Ai:Syo is a loveable loser

Natsuki:What about Van-kun?

Ai:He is just a loser

Natsuki:What about Rei-chan-senpai

Ai:He is just sad

———————————————————————————

Ai:On my list on dumb friends, you are the highest

Syo:HELL YEAH- wait what?

[sobdasha]

had a few more thoughts about the Honda family

and all the Souma parallels.

(and by “a few” I apparently meant “a lot”, I did not mean to write this many pages)

In the other post I’d made a comment about how Katsuya’s romance with Kyouko, severe age difference issues aside, is just plain pathetic, a point which I believe to be Upheld by canon. And I wanted to talk more about that, the implications of that, and how that further builds the Akito and Tohru parallel. And also, Why Tohru Can’t Love Her Mom And Kyou At The Same Time.

The ideal, in Fruits Basket, is that when you make a connection with one person who loves you and sees you, this will enable you to make further connections with the people around you. Tohru does a whole heck of a lot of this; for one example, see Yuki explaining this to Kisa in the liking-yourself speech. Yuki does some of this for bitty Haru and later for Machi. Kazuma does this for Kyou. And so on and so forth. The positive experiences are meant to have a ripple effect.

It’s important to be grateful for what you have (Yuki and Machi’s “just one person would be enough” scene), but it’s human to crave more than that (Kyouko telling Saki that it’s probably normal to want other people to accept you even if you already have a loving and supportive family). It is important to crave more than that.

This was, in fact, the entire point of the curse. God meets cat. Cat’s companionship allows god to form connections with other animals. Cat is dying and god decides that 13 friends is the perfect number of friends and starts the reincarnation cycle. Cat says, “god you never once left your house. I wanted to see you go down and make friends with the humans. I wanted to see you experience the world and laugh in the sunlight. God you made 13 new friends but you’re still lonely and closing yourself off to the world forever, this is wrong and I am sad.” The banquets were supposed to be the gateway drug of friendship and meaningful connections, not the place where 14 souls stagnated alone and isolated until it became a curse.

That same wrongness happens in Ren and Akira’s relationship, where finally making a connection with one person who loves you and sees you made their world smaller and smaller. It wasn’t healthy, probably because 1) they remained in a toxic environment, 2) Kureno implies that Ren has mental health issues and I assume those existed prior to Akira’s death and were exacerbated, rather than created by, her grief; also I can’t imagine she actually came from a non-toxic family herself, and 3) Akira’s “you’re going to die an early death and the only thing we need from you first is a successor” trauma. Akira never found anyone other than Ren who understood how upset he was. Ren never formed a relationship with anyone other than Akira, partly because she was now trapped in a toxic family that despised everything about her and she refused to Prove Them Right by leaving. They both viewed their child as an object rather than a person; Akira seeing proof that he and Ren were definitely OTP and the Souma could go shove it, and Ren seeing a Rival.

I have a memory that I said at some point—probably in a Talking About Shigure post—that Kyouko helps Katsuya connect with other people. But this, I think, is not really true. I was thinking of how Kyouko helps bridge the non-relationship between Katsuya and his father. But that’s just one person.

Really, Katsuya and Kyouko are more like Akira and Ren.

Marrying-someone-who-just-graduated-ninth-grade aside, the fact that Katsuya and Kyouko meet is genuinely a good thing. Katsuya finally connects with the humanity in another person. Kyouko is finally cared about as a person. Their misanthropic-jackass-and-abandoned-cat relationship improves both of them, probably. Their connection is definitely the reason Kyouko decides to go to high school and quit her gang. It’s harder to tell with Katsuya, but you could argue that seeing Kyouko struggling and fighting and screaming against the world, as honest about her joy as she is about her loneliness-channeled-into-rage, causes Katsuya to say screw it and pursue the career in pharmacy that he’s interested in, instead of fake-politely submitting to the world’s expectations and internally resenting and disdaining everyone around him.

Katsuya softens in his relationship with his father. Both Katsuya and Kyouko see their child as a person in her own right, Tohru, rather than an object. Katsuya, in fact, is adamant about that fact when Kyouko is terrified of her pregnancy—that they can treat their baby as her own person, and if they aren’t perfect parents and they hurt their child, they’ll apologize—because Tohru is a person and an equal—and admit that what they did was wrong and why it’s wrong. They’ll treat Tohru with the respect they should have gotten all along.

But I don’t think it ever goes any farther than that. Like god, the Honda family becomes more and more isolated.

Does Katsuya make any work friends? We don’t really get a complete view of their lives, because Takaya is one person who can only do so much and space is very precious, so we only see what’s crucial to the story. But I would be really surprised to find that Katsuya had made any close friends outside of Kyouko. I honestly doubt that he has anything more than casual work acquaintances. (In contrast, we repeatedly see Kyou together with the two guys who got names in the anime that I forgot in his class; his friendship with them doesn’t get explored much in the manga, presumably because it doesn’t do any heavy lifting for his character development, but Kyou clearly has casual friends who seek him out and whom he doesn’t mind being with. See also the way Saki and Arisa also interact with those guys as a part of the group, while Tohru really only interacts with Saki and Arisa or the Souma.)

And I don’t think Kyouko fares any better. Does she have any close friends, other than her husband and daughter? Does she make friends at work? I don’t know what kind of work Kyouko does, and if she would have the opportunity to take her breaks socializing with coworkers. But it appears she spends her work breaks in an abandoned area socializing with a first or second grader. Kyou is the only person, as far as we know, that mid-twenties Kyouko can start to open up to. She doesn’t get all the way there—Kyou doesn’t connect the dots until much later—but it’s the closest she comes to talking about how she hurt Tohru after Katsuya died.

Where are the family friends? It doesn’t strike me as weird that the Honda family doesn’t have them, because I have also grown up in a poorly socialized household, but even I am used to running into unfamiliar people in public who explain that they know my mom or dad. I’m pretty sure family friends are a normal thing, and that’s how you get aunts and uncles that aren’t related to you, much in the same way that I’m pretty sure it’s normal to be friends with your cousins (especially if they’re in a similar age range and live nearby) and it is very common for grandparents to bring grandchildren with them to the grocery store because the grandchildren are staying over and they’re having a relationship.

Where is anyone but the Honda family at at Kyouko’s funeral? Kyouko made friends with Arisa and Saki, but did she ever make friends with Saki’s parents? Where are Saki’s loving and supportive mother and father and grandmother when the Honda family is arguing about who has to take on the burden of Tohru? Where are they, if they knew of the bad blood between Kyouko and the Honda family (and the disinheritance between Kyouko and the Katsunuma family), to sweep over Tohru’s protestations and tell her that it will all be fine, they’ll make it work out (they packed up and moved house for Saki, after all), it’s not Tohru’s job to worry about being a burden, it’s the job of people who love her to take care of her?

It can be both “because of the necessity of the plot” and “because they didn’t know.”

Tohru inherits this small, isolated world. And because of the trauma of being abandoned by her grieving, depressed, absolutely-not-coping mother, Tohru picks up on that Souma curse mentality. Tohru’s dad left, and Tohru’s dad tried to take her mom with her, leaving her with no one but Grandpa (who is not intimately part of their world but is not fully outside it either). Tohru’s dad is now a Rival. Tohru’s dad is now an Outsider. Clearly, a bond with an Outsider weakens the True Bond that Tohru had with Kyouko. Clearly, Tohru’s dad is Not Needed (because the other alternative is that Tohru is Not Needed). Clearly, only one of them can have Kyouko.

And it’s going to be Tohru.

Tohru picks up Katsuya’s fake-polite speech, equally disingenuously but from the opposite direction (ie, Katsuya was fake-polite to be an asshole, and Tohru is genuinely polite but faking the words). Tohru is pretty sure this is a form of wicked manipulation (much like Yuki is convinced that “be kind unto others as you would have them be kind unto you” is a form of wicked manipulation). Tohru keeps up with it anyway. Kyouko, as Kyou suggests, was probably comforted by this; rather than going full Akira “you exist to prove that I lived and loved a woman”, seeing Katsuya’s mannerisms in Tohru reminds her that her husband did exist without having to erase Tohru as a person. Kyouko does a lot of growing on her own, but with no support system and no friends outside the family and being fresh-out-of-college age, it’s not surprising that she fails to talk with Tohru about this, and tell Tohru that she knows why Tohru’s doing this, she knows how she hurt Tohru and it was wrong, you don’t have to do this anymore. This is a hurt between them, a grief, that they never talk about, even though they both know it’s there and Kyouko tries to smother it with love and affection and Tohru tries to shut it up in a box of denial.

Tohru’s world is now just Tohru and Kyouko. Tohru doesn’t make any friends until middle school. We know she gets bullied and doesn’t fit in throughout her entire school life. She is a riceball in a fruits basket and probably just manages to scrape by in conformity culture. When she does make her first friends, Arisa and Saki don’t count as Outsiders who compromise Tohru’s bond with her mom because Arisa and Saki are also misfits on the fringe. They are outcasts Tohru can bring into the circle. They are all monsters together, like the cursed Soumas (the only reason no one refers to Akito as a monster to her face, the way they do the rest of the Zodiac, probably has less to do with the fact that Akito doesn’t transform and more to do with the fact that Akito being in a position of power is useful for their own ends, so best not to undermine the head of the family by pointing the whole monster thing out).

And then Tohru’s mom dies.

Tohru isn’t god and she can’t make an eternal banquet. Tohru doesn’t know how to process her grief and how not to fall to pieces. Tohru knows how to empathize with other people, but she doesn’t know how to be vulnerable. Did she remember Kyouko wanting to follow Katsuya, and think about doing the same? But Tohru also wants to keep living, somehow.

So she makes her mom not be gone. Her mom is dead, Tohru knows that, just like Akito knows that Akira’s soul isn’t in the box choosing her over Ren and showing her the way to happiness. But maybe. So she talks to the portrait of her mom. She tries to rescue her mom from suffocating inside a mudslide. She takes her mom on holiday to the onsen. Her mom gets kidnapped once by Hiro. Tohru’s mom is definitely not gone. Tohru and her mom definitely still have an eternal bond. Tohru’s mom will always be first in her heart, so that Tohru will always be first in her mother’s heart. Tohru will never abandon her. Tohru will never leave her behind.

(Tohru will never be left behind.)

Tohru’s world is just Tohru and her mom.

Tohru has two best friends, Arisa and Saki, but she won’t let them in. She won’t depend on them. She won’t tell that that her grief is crushing her and that she’s living in a tent because she’s terrified of being abandoned. Tohru makes a lot of new friends in the Souma family, and she’s very happy, but she won’t let them in either. Tohru can’t open up to any of them freely.

I don’t think I saved it anywhere the survived the computer death, but I saw at least one post in the fandom talking about the growing disappointment of the reboot anime, and they had a valid point, so I’ll bring that in now.

I really like the reboot, but I am losing my passion in the final season. Adapting a story from one media to another is hard, and at the beginning I thought they were doing a good job. Small things were being cut, scenes were being rearranged and stitched together, but there was a definite purpose behind it. Instead of literally following each chapter, each episode tried to be a self-contained theme in the same way a manga chapter would be. Because themes repeat again and again in Fruits Basket in a slow build, this was working well. But small things that didn’t quite fit got cut. Scenes I liked and was sad not to see, but that I accepted had to be left out to make the episodes stronger.

But they’ve been piling up and piling up. Small holes have accumulated into big plot holes that the third season is tripping over. I’m sad that we don’t see the small progressions of Yuki and Machi’s relationship, the quiet scenes that show Machi is trying to pay attention to Yuki the way he has paid attention to her, and also all the Mogetas. I’m sad Komaki is the new manga-only character. If we don’t get Kyouko’s full backstory, we lose a lot of the context that’s in this post. I could go on and on.

But most importantly, as that someone else pointed out, we missed out on the progression of Kyou and Tohru’s flirting. It’s too late to cram all of that into a montage episode, and so now we’ve been given episode after episode of Mom Tohru, and hardly any Tohru Struggling With Romance In Addition To Struggling With Grief before suddenly everyone is confessing their love and I’m not as into it in the anime as I am in the manga.

So many of the Souma love and accept Tohru, but Tohru remains an Outsider—not because of the curse, but because she hasn’t formed close friendships with them. Tohru has a lot of people among the Souma she likes who like her, but she’s always a Mom to them. Tohru shares some of her own pain with them, but it’s shared for their benefit, not for Tohru’s own catharsis. Tohru shares so she will be loved, not so that she will be accepted.

Except Kyou.

Kyou, who looks at Tohru and thinks, “I’m pretty sure she’s that lonely person even now, even while she’s smiling and genuinely enjoying every moment with us.” Kyou, who’s falling in love with Tohru. Kyou, whom Tohru’s falling in love with.

Kyou is the only one that Tohru takes a desperate risk with. Kyou is the only one Tohru ~disillusions~ and ~disappoints~ in the hope that he’ll accept her regardless.

Kyou is the only one Tohru tells, “I don’t talk about my dad because I kicked him out of the family. I know my dad loved us and I loved him back, but I pretend to talk like him so my mom will forget about him and love me instead. He came between me and my mom and now I pretend he doesn’t exist. And I know I’m an awful person for behaving like that, so I keep his picture and pretend I don’t, and I pretend he’s the Bad Guy who earned it.”

The idea that Tohru can’t love both her mom and Kyou is, in a way, true. (I think that same post I’ve been referencing also talked about how dropping the budding romance also dropped a lot of the clues that this is Tohru unable to process her grief? Which is also very true. But if Tohru has the Souma mindset, then actually she has a legit point about not being able to love two people at once despite being a very loving person. Both can be true. Multitudes.)

Kyou is an Outsider to the world of Tohru and her mom. And if Tohru chooses to love him, it will weaken her bond with her mom, which is predicated on loving her mom more than anyone else. If she expands her world to include him in it, she will be betraying her mom. Tohru will be the Bad Guy who left her mom behind and abandoned her. Tohru will be her own villain, condemned for the same crimes she pinned on her dad.

Kyou 100% gets where she’s coming from with this, because he turns this exact argument on her when she confesses to him and he panics (akin to when Tohru chases him down in his true form and he slashes her and, in the reboot, yeets her into the lake, so that she will be hurt so bad she’ll never pity/love him again). He asks her if her love for her mom—her bond—was just a lie.

Tohru making friends after Kyouko’s death has been a lot like Akito letting Yuki and Kyou out into the world, certain that it would drive them back to the bond. Yuki getting character development is a huge betrayal. Tohru wanting to be together with Kyou, when she should only want to be together with her mom, is a huge betrayal.

Tohru has no model for expanding her world. She’s good at loving people, but bad at letting them in (Kyouko was bad at that too—like Mom Tohru, she was very good at sharing anecdotes about her violent youth, but very bad about sharing how she’d failed Tohru as a mom). Like Akito, she only really knows the bond—the certainty that her mom would love her. She’s been so terrified of not being loved that she’s acted this entire time like her mom is still around. When Kyou’s love is a possibility, she can only conceptualize it as a betrayal of her relationship with her mother.

It always seemed a bit too abrupt that Tohru looked at Akito with the knife and went “oh shit we’re literally the same”, but now that I’ve thought this all out, it makes eloquent sense. The whole time Tohru’s been working against the curse, she’s been in denial about her own blessing-burden-curse. Now that she’s just admitted it and had it thrown back in her face, she can look at Akito and see another person in an insular little world, isolated and lonely and walled-off from the world. Of course Tohru desperately wants to make friends with knife-wielding Akito—she just decided to let go of her ties to her mother that were suffocating her, and take her first steps into the world, and got immediately dumped by the person she loves. Of course she wants to make friends with someone who knows exactly where Tohru’s coming from and how terrifying what Tohru just did is and how awful it is to be rejected even though she’s got other friends she loves out here in this world she’s decided to finally step into.

Tohru is so damn lonely, and Akito is there, also lonely and screaming and crying and undeniably human.

(Smile, Tohru tells herself in the hospital. Smile and tell Kyou you were happy to meet him and just let him go. Don’t be a curse. Smile and let him find his own happiness. Which is more or less the same struggle Akito is also going through. But maybe they’re going through it together. Maybe they used their words, together, when they couldn’t confide in anyone else. Although it feels a bit unlikely that Tohru let herself break down about Kyou in front of Akito, and Akito already had one pity-party in front of Momiji and may not have wanted to burden Tohru with a second.)

One thing I really love about Fruits Basket Another is that Hajime alludes to the fact that Kyou probably won’t inherit Kazuma’s dojo after all.

Kyou inheriting the dojo is something both Kyou and Kazuma have wanted, and it gives me many warm fuzzies. It is very narratively satisfying. The dojo, while Souma property, is not actually part of the main estate.

What I love is that Kyou probably won’t take over the dojo specifically because he and Tohru have made so many friends in their new town that they don’t want to pick up and leave. Kyou finally succeeds in freeing Tohru from that small, lonely world, much like he’s been freed from the fate of the Cat Room. Their relationship enriches them personally and also enables them to make so many new connections. Kyou has friends at the dojo! Tohru has friends at work maybe! Friends where they buy groceries, friends among the parents of their children’s classmates, friends outside of their extended Souma family! They’ve kept ties that don’t hold them back and made new ties that don’t weaken or steal away any of their old ties!

When they left Tokyo, Tohru was prepared to go anywhere as long as it was with Kyou. Now, she and Kyou both don’t want to leave because their world is so much larger than just their nuclear family and they’ve put down roots. They’ve seen each other not only lonely in the moonlight and worn thin by death and loss, but they’ve gotten up and gone down the mountain to where the people live and made friends among them, laughing in the sunlight. Just like the cat always uggghhhhh I’m not crying I’m just so damn happy for them I can’t

[kitkatopinions]

Also, I thought about Friya some more, &, is it wrong I want her to be Nora's Grandma? I know it's gonna be a hardass juggling act with 3 allusions for Friya (Friar Tuck from "Robin Hood & His Merry Men", The Blue Fairy from "Pinnochio", & Freya from Norse Mythos.), but like, I was on Team "Fria is Nora's Granny" but also Team "Nora came from Atlas/Mantle" since I imagined there were a lotta aristocratic families based on God's from different myth's in Atlas, including from Norse Mythos.

I love the idea of Friya as Nora's grandmother and I love the idea of Nora being from Mantle!

I've always been frustrated that none of the main cast that attended Beacon are actually from Vale (Jaune, Nora, and Ren are all from Anima, Pyrrha from Argus, Weiss obviously from Atlas, Yang and Ruby from Patch which is 'just outside of Vale,' and Blake from Menagerie.) so I've been putting more of them in Vale in my (probably will never be made) AU, while I've turned Vale into an actual country with more than one city and more than one combat school. But I would legit sacrifice some of that to have Nora be from Mantle.

That sort of thing would open up so many possibilities for her character expanding, especially if she clashed with Weiss.

[galacticidiots]

So you want to read some banging Reylo fics...

{or: a roundup post of some of my recent reads}

And It Burns. (T, 6K) I am begging you to read this. It’s Lightside Ben and Darth Kira and it is glorious and so beautifully written. The constant push and pull between them, the shifting dynamic, the way the character roles are reversed but everything still feels so incredibly natural and organic and them... masterful. So, so gorgeous.

To Say (M, 600 words) is a really, really beautiful soulmate AU drabble. You will definitely cry, but it’s so worth it. Truly.

I’ve got you (under my skin) (E, WIP) Y’all, it’s nanny Rey and she’s hooooorny. So is Ben. They’re both like, indecently horny. It’s great. Basically, Ben hires Rey to look after his son. (Sexy) stuff happens.

Six Feet Under (E, WIP) Archeologst Ben & Egyptologist Rey are working on a dig together when they find a very interesting journal. It goes very much uphill from there. Guys, this is so much fun! Do you know how long I’ve wanted a story like this? (as long as I’ve been alive, probs). I love the fact that they’re supposed to have huge IQs but they’re basically idiots when it comes to like... feelings.

Truth Be Told (M, 29K) IT’S AN ALIAS AU. Ahhhhh. Alias is one of my favourite shows of all time and this does not disappoint. Rey is the babeliest badass, just like Sydney, and Agent Ben is dreamy, just like Vaughn. This reminded me of the best of Alias and for that, I love it.

Midnight Snacks (T, 2K) They meet late one night in the community kitchen and Ben is offended that Rey would choose to eat something as awful as noodles - so he makes her something infinitely better :))

A Bright New Light (G, 3K) A really special take on Ben’s time at the Temple and how he felt when Rey was born. I love everything about this. The author’s take on what Ben felt when he was sent away, on his conflicting emotions, his inability to fit in, and his yearning for belonging all align perfectly with what I have always envisioned. I also love the care they put into the side characters, like Luke and particularly Tai, and the way they wrote about the bond. So, so beautiful.

a love like ours (T, 6K) In which Ben is a funeral director and Rey is a florist and ohmygodit’samodernHadesandPersephone AU. Utterly charming!!

Do You Know The Muffin Man? (T, 2K) The one where Ben is smitten with his co-worker Rey and he starts leaving muffins on her desk. So really, my taste in everything.

can’t take my eyes (off of you) (E, WIP) Is the genderswapped 10 Things I Hate About You AU of my dreams. I don’t know what else to say besides the obvious - read it.

take care of you (M, 3K) Come one, come all - get your sugar sweet devoted Reylo fix! Wherein Ben has had a bad day and Rey wants nothing more than to make it all better *happy sigh*

Remedy For Rivalry (E, WIP) Listen, some people say there’s no such thing as a perfect story, but then this comes along and it’s an historical arranged marriage enemies to lovers WHO HAVE HISTORY type of deal and they are proven wrong. Because this? Perfection.

how to be something you miss (T, 7K) They’re exes but they love each other and they miss each other but they’re dumb... is the thing. Soft. Soft, soft, soft and sweet and perfect.

all of you, all of me (intertwined) (T, 7K) *sobs in a good way* This is an incredibly sweet take on the whole ‘redeemed Ben trying to fit in at the Resistance base’ scenario. Lovely stuff!!

A Nightingale Sang (E, WIP) I know I keep begging you to read stuff, but I am begging you to read this. It’s so fucking beautiful I could cry. I have cried, and I’m sure I’ll continue crying. It’s a WWII AU and Ben & Rey are both pilots. I don’t want to spoil it for you because this is not the kind of story you read - it’s the kind you experience. Give it a chance, I promise you won’t regret it.

Choreae Lucis (E, 7K) The one where single father Ben takes his daughter to Ballet lessons and his heart pirouettes for teacher Rey. Sooooooooo sweet and wonderful and SOFT.

neither here nor there (E, 6K) What happens when Rey purchases a sex toy that is an exact replica of porn star Kylo Ren’s, uh... lightsaber, only to find out that her neighbour Ben is Kylo Ren? This happens, and it’s glorious.

curse the beauty, curse the queen (E, WIP) I’ve only just started this but the premise is delicious - former Queen of Naboo Rey and Senator Ben Solo are to be married, in a plan hatched by Ben’s grandmother Padmé. Naturally, I’m in lust.

Twitfics

System Override - If you’ve been following me for any measure of time, you might be aware of how much I love the Illuminae series (it’s a whole, disgusting lot). This gives me the BEST illuminae vibes. Basically, It’s Supreme Leader Ben bonding with AI R.E.Y. I love love love love it.

want you more than a melody is my current obsession. Orchestra AUs are of one my favourite things in the world and this one is GOD TIER. Ben plays the cello, Rey plays the flute, and they are reunited at the New York Phillarmonic after six years without seeing each others. Turns out, Rey was left with more than just memories after their whirlwind romance. This. is. everything.

Betas Only is a roommates AU in which Ben is looking for a beta to share an apartment with him. Beta Rey applies (lol). Also on AO3!

Priceless - Y’aaaaaaall, it’s a Wedding Date AU and I’m in love.Or: the one where Rey hires Ben to be her escort to Rose’s wedding.

Fall Into the Dark Side - comic bookshop worker Rey and comic book writer Ben are possibly my new faves. I binged it this morning and I love everything about it.

Lingerey - the one where Rey texts her dearly detested colleague Ben a photo of herself...scantily clad. Shenanigans very much ensue. Gourmet!

Lingerey (II) is another take on the above prompt, but this time Rey is Ben’s son’s nanny.

Shampoo Challenge features roommates Ben & Rey and Ben’s dick going viral.

Artfullly sees Poe asking Ben & Rey to participate in his risqué art installation.

To Whomever Gets My Dog tells the tale of military man Ben who has to leave his pooch behind. Thankfully, Rey is available to foster him :)

Last twitfic rec post | Fic Rec tag | Masterpost

[kingburu]

can we... know more about maria's parents? 👁️👄👁️

Laura, daughter of Victoria and Rafael, son of Letus (Thanatos)!

@ariihen and I have always joked/pushed around that idea that Nico is a Roman legacy in canonverse and dd-verse--but especially so in dd-verse. Since “Conquer or die” is a phrase that’s used by the Romans, we based Maria’s parents off that motto and basically said Victory or Death. Or in this case, victory and death!

Since Victory/Nike is kind of high strung, so is her daughter. Laura’s a sharp-tongued who has no patience for BS, and will throw hands if she needs to. 

On the other hand, Rafael is a softer, gentler man since Letus/Thanatos’s realm is kind death. Since death is in his blood, we talked about how Rafael would have a low sperm count to begin with and Laurel probably miscarried a few time before they were finally able to have Maria, so they’re very protective of her. 

Thus, Maria di Angelo, Legacy of Victoria and Letus was born with a kind father and a mom who told her never to take anything less than gold who’s a little kookie and zany, and it’s the Victoria in her that basically said, “Anyone can sleep with Jupiter/Zeus, who wants to do that? Has anyone tried to romance his wife?” (by proxy this is her attitude with literally any god in any AU that tries to romance her, she enjoys a challenge) and it’s the Death in her that makes her a little weird and say a bunch of double entendres  Like, Zeus tried to romance her by taking her to the normal makeout spots and she wasn’t interested. He had to beg Hades and Poseidon to be Bros and let him take her to their realms and bc she wanted to see how cool the Underworld was and she was curious if anyone has tried to dissect a merman before (literally just think of Eclipsa from Star vs. the Forces of Evil and that’s how sweet/kookie she is) 

When she fell in love with Hera, Laura congratulated Maria on winning her challenge but was not impressed with Hera bc the Queen of the Gods was not willing to marry her daughter. She also thinks that Hera’s cooking is subpar at best and “if you’re the goddess of family then why aren’t your kids running through the door?” and made Hera wear one of her aprons and use her hands to make pasta in the di Angelo household

Hera had to learn bc Maria can’t cook worth shit

Ironically, Hera’s need to impress Laura just puts Laura’s competitiveness into overdrive so that’s just a neverending battle for her 

Rafael is just a chill dad; apparently Letus was known as kind and wanting to just sleep a lot; so he and his Type A wife really just balance each other out a lot. Laura made pasta, but Rafael made bone cookies for the Italian Day of the Dead and taught both Nico and Bianca how to make them. He really doesn’t care if Maria gets married or not, but he definitely cried both times his grandchildren were born bc he was worried that the di Angelo name would die with his genes 

(he also doesn’t think Hera knows how to cook very well but he will eat what he was given)

This all started because ren and I joked that Percy would dress Nico up as his Italian grandmother to get the early bird senior citizen discount at the restaurants in New Rome, so he’d wear a gray wig, small spectacles, and a shawl made of Peacock feathers and Percy would parade Nonna Nicola around (i’m really hoping to bring this into the story at some point)

But another joke was that since Nico is a roman legacy, Laura would try to become a lar and protect the Fifth Cohort, so Thalia and Percy have just been listening to this crazy lady babbling on about her adorable grandchildren for a long time before Nico finally showed up. Laura has a soft spot for Nico bc he can carry on the family name

On the other hand, Rafael would be following Bianca around and supporting her shopping habits, and he has a soft spot for her bc she looks so much like Maria

Lastly, their names were chosen since laurels are a symbol of Victoria and Rafael means “Healing God,” or in the way it’s being depicted, the di Angelo patriarch is the “Healing Angel.” 

[sunnysunsins]

RWBY volume 8 opening analysis. Obv, spoilers

Ok, so. Imma do what I do best: overanalyze the shit out of every frame i find interesting. AGAIN SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

We start off with Then-Now cut of Mantle and Atlas being overrun by Grimm. Nothing new here. Then we have our girls with their past selves.

Interesting things: while RWB are prepared to fight (with Ruby being confident, Weiss - careful and Blake - serious), Yang is just hugging her arm with a smile. Also notice the glowing dots around them. I’ll bring it up later We also have that effect with Ironwood and Atlas

Which burns to shit as that light in Iron’s eyes is gone. Also small detail, but note that Atlas starts to burn as Clover’s hand is shown.

Clover let’s go of his pin

And it shows the AceOps. Elm is serious

Vine is praying

Marrow is sad and remorseful

And Harriet is pissed. And note how she shares her shot with a sullen Qrow. If i may throw some bullshit, i have two thoughts: 1.Harriet was close friends with Clover. 2.She is going to take his place as the leader of AceOps

But back to Qrow. He is offered a hand by Robyn

And he takes it, both wearing serious looks. 

Remember that Robyn needs to shake a person’s hand to activate her semblance. Maybe she used it and knows that Qrow isn’t lying about Tyrian killing Clover.

And now we got The Boi.

In a cage, tormented by Grimm. Some have said it could be an illusion created by Emerald, but honestly I want this to be literal. Mostly because it will be a great way to develop Oscar. And it also remind’s me of “It’s Venomous” by @shadowsnowdapple​ and it’s always a great thing. 

Oooo spoopy Mommy Salami. Imagine she really CAN grow wings tho! Also her caging and intimidating Oscar is just- everything I wanted, honestly. 

Next we see Jaune. Notice how his sword splits the screen in the middle

And when the camera pulls back, we see why - Ren and Nora

Ren looks back at her with a sad look 

And she does the same, but unlike him, she turns completely - 

And the pink lightning crosses her eyes along with the snowstorm.  As we know, Nora was supposed to have her backstory in vol.7, but it got pushed back.  While lightning is her power, it is also in the skillset of the maidens. And notice how the snowstorm picked up when the lightning crossed the screen. I am a strong believer that “Fria is Nora’s grandmother” theory is still possible.

Next we have the Schneesters. They walk across the SDC snowflake like preparing for a duel.

Winter with her old clothes - passes Weiss - new clothes

She looks at Weiss with seriousness and maybe anger -

And as they are back to back, she drops the act and let’s sadness and maybe remorse show

Whitley is worried, Willow is just sad

And the SDC logo shatters, giving rise to Salem and her army of Grimm. Funny how it was Jackass and his stupidity that let Salem get into Atlas without much of a problem.

I find it interesting how both Salem AND Ironwood are Queens in this chess match 

Watts is a smiling motherfucker. I couldn’t find any easter eggs on his screen

And his reflection turns into Pietro(s). While he is working, his reflection is worried about Penny

And she still tries to come to terms with her being the Winter Maiden

And as the glass shatters, one Penny is trying to calm herself, while the other is worried, looking for something offscreen. We will get to this later

Next is a single snowflake landing on Ren’s palm

That turns into a pink petal, color similar to Nora’s

Ren holds it with a sad/determined look as Jaune comforts him

The Mantle Squad is here. Team JOYRide ready for action

Another petal floats by

And Nora tries to catch it

But can’t. 

But hey, the Amity Squad is also here!

Everyone looks onto the 3 tasks at hand: protect Mantle, get Amity up and running and get Salem out of here. Also, I love the composition of this shot with dawn sky transitioning into red clouds around Grimm

And notice how when the squad is ready to fight, Penny floats up and turns to us, hovering under Amity with her blades out. Remember that too 

Ruby and Yang nod to each other

And get to working on the Grimm. 

Nothing to see in the fight. 

But then Cinder walks by, taking a casual stroll through the frozen in time fight

Neo is not amused at all (BACKSTAB BACKSTAB BACKSTAB)

Emerald raises her hand to great Cinder, but get’s ignored

And she doesn’t like that.

Cinder get’s tormented by her grimm arm, with solemn Emerald in the background

From Cinder’s fire come our other bad guys. 

Hazel looks sad... with his weirdass muscles and weirdass clothes..... 

Tyrian is always a delight

Mercury looks like he’s about to drop the thiccest diss track

And THICC indeed

Oh my queen~ I get why Ozma wanted to smash even after she fell into a lake of bleach

And nice contrast of her red eyes with the Relic’s blue glow

And they BOTH have smoke trailing out of them! Could this be the Staff also has a being inside it? 

Whatever it is, it makes Ruby’s eyes turn brown in this shot

Or it’s just the sunrise, lol

Notice how her scythe split the party into the two squads. ALSO NOTICE WHO ISN’T IN THIS SHOT. (I’m getting to her, just wait a bit) 

The ground breaks

And the girls fall into abyss, reminiscent of Volume 3 opening

AND the fall into the motherfucking pool of Light that Salem got dunked in by the gods

Notice how the waves on Ruby’s face are the same as what Salem had. And also notice those glowing dots that i mentioned at the very beginning

Ruby is reaching for the Staff

But a certain grimm hand pulls her back. The only hand with 5 fingers.  Remember in volume 6 Cinder fell into a lake below the Haven vault?  Also I’d like to point out that she gently pulls Ruby’s hand away. Seriously, look at it in the op! She doesn’t grab her and tries to rip her arm off. She just takes her hand like “no, don’t do it.” and gently holds it back while all the other grimm arms reach up towards the staff. And then we have two messages:

And, on the contrary:

And all of this is interwoven with those sketchy images:

The bloodhound grimm that Salem sent after Oscar

Penny being hacked. Come on, this one is obvious. And i did say to keep in mind some other sus scenes with her.

And as the weapons fall...

Only one remains standing.