Tangle of colors

He was the first surviving child of his parents. Reading the manga, I can assume that they were very poor peasants. I think, before Hannya-kun, their children died for various reasons, which usually happened in this social layer. This is the logical reason why they could not observe the cruel, but practical custom to get rid of a child whom parents cannot feed.

At first he was absolutely jealous of Aoshi literally for everyone. His affection was not romantic (because of his whole life I see him as asex), but it was (and remained) … an obsession. As he got older, he learned to appreciate the people around him and managed to subdue his dislike, but there was a time when he hated that someone was next to Aoshi.

This is the reason he got his fighting nickname from Okina. (for reference: the nickname and theatrical mask that this man wears is a demon who is the spirit of a jealous woman in Japanese legends)

At first, Misao was one of those whom Hannya did not like for being close to Aoshi. But she was absolutely not afraid of him and quickly broke his resistance, because she is literally the cutest thing. It hit him. Before that, he was not attached to anyone other than Aoshi, and Misao was annoying for him (because of his non-existent childhood, he did not understand children at all). Misao was the second to show him what it means to be human.

She also made him laugh for the first time in his life.

Of all his friends, he could not accept Shikijou the longest, but later was the closest with him except Aoshi

Hannya is a team mom for his friends or something. (And this is canon. And I really would like that in the anime there was his  altercation with Shikijou and Sano, as in the manga)

But he is unstable mentally and himself knows about it. Like Aoshi, he practices meditation, but in his case it does not always help. In addition, he does not like it (although he never admits it)

Melian

here’s my headcanons that i’m writing drunk for how i think all the fruits basket characters feel about christmas

tohru:

loves it moderately

like she likes christmas it’s her favorite holiday but some of these mfs fucking love christmas and she can’t prepare

she likes to get gift for everyone and i think she’d be really good at getting gifts for people

kyo:

he tolerates christmas

he doesn’t like the cold (it’s 2 degrees here <3)

hell tolerate it for tohru

he gets gifts for like three people

yuki:

actually loves christmas

loves the cold (ITS STILL TWO DEGREES OUTSIDE.)

loves giving gifts but isn’t very good at it

gets gifts for EVERYONE THO

haru:

THIS MF

idk if y’all knew he’s my favorite

he dresses up as santa

bc of the hair.

and he brings his gifts for people in a sack while screaming ho ho ho mfs

he also sends out christmas cards but they’re low-key giving markipliers olyfanz 

the gifts he gives are mediocre like he wants to put thoyght into it but he has six brain cells and five of them are always thinking about rin

so his gifts for rin are really good



rin:

she doesn’t like christmas

because harus annoying on christmas

but she likes getting spoiled

so she deals with it

she doesn’t get anyone anything

she hates christmas music so she doesn’t even go into stores during december

also she’s such a sag so her bday is close to christmas so she doesn’t like that

ayame:

i feel like he would celebrate christmas and Hanukkah bevause he just wants to

he gives everyone handmade gifts and they’re really cool

will sing christmas songs to everyone

deffinitly goes caroling but only to bother people

shigure:

only here for the alcohol (me too)

doesn’t get anyone anything

akito:

actually likes christmas

would give anyone she doesn’t like a very specific gift that my mom once gave to my aunt

a toaster and a bath set

iykyk

probably gives people she likes like handmade sweaters

hatori

also likes christmas but only to spoil his family

wears a santa hat around durring december

gets very annoyed at harus santa cosplay

momiji:

oh my fucking god

he loves christmas

he decorated the whole house

the whole estate

starting december first

everything. about. christmas.

watches a christmas movie every night

only listens to christmas music

these are all the ones i have i hope you like them

thank u

My participation for @halfelvenweek !

So I think it's easy to see why people leave the show and/or the manga with this image of Shigure as a ruthless and inherently selfish, interested person, because this is the supposed core that was ultimately revealed of his character.

Yet, if all the other character writing and understanding could be read as linear, whose development espouses the progressive revelations made about their past, I think Shigure's might be best thought of as cyclical. He is one of the characters that is the most suited to a re-read or re-watch in order to get the grap of.

Watching again the earlier episodes is quite an experience. I spend so much time pondering on his ruthlessness and his all-consuming passion for Akito, that I tend to forget his humour, light-heartedness, all the little ways he helped and sheltered his cousins, how he listens to and is present for them, how kind he is to Kisa, Momiji, Tohru, small gestures like how he stopped Kyo from shaking Hiro for instance, and imparts wisdom and advice left and right, etc.

And it'd be easy to say this is all a mask hiding his true self, a nice little bow and colourful paper wrapping up his dark desires and his real objectives, but the best lies have a seed of truth. And in Shigure's case, I think it is more than a seed. Paradoxically, I think the mask ends up being his real face, and the supposedly core ruthlessness, something he ends up discarding. His curse is to be unable to realise it on his own.

Because that is the form that the Curse took for him. He believes himself incapable of kindness, as focused on his goal as he is, as determined to make his dream come true as he is. But Shigure's implacable side and manipulative tendencies are something that he learned out of necessity as a way to deal with the Sohma family and the controlling nature of the Curse. To lie and dissimulate allow him to regain a parcel of autonomy and preserve himself while giving him the capacity to plan and strategize with a cold head. This is why he cannot be "kind" except as an "afterthought", why there are always layers of self-interest to his character peeking through, but those are always, tellingly, kept on the radar of his self-awareness.

What happens when his goal is reached, the curse broken and he is finally free? When he doesn't need to pretend anymore? My interpretration is a lighter variation of "I become the mask" trope.

I believe he is finally able to realize that the pretense isn't really one. The kind, generous, light-hearted, silly persona isn't so much a mask than one of his faces, one of many, but one no less real, and perhaps more real, than the merciless side and the bitterness he can let finally to rest when the Curse is gone. It parallels the kindness he is finally free to show Akito when he is certain that the tenderness and love are his, not the Bond's, and will be received as such.

#5: In your own space, promote a canon/talk about a part of canon that you love.

On a time of night Eärendil at the helm of his ship saw her come towards him, as a white cloud exceeding swift beneath the moon, as a star over the sea moving in strange courses, a pale flame on wings of storm. And it is sung that she fell from the air upon the timbers of Vingilot, in a swoon, nigh unto death for the urgency of her speed, and Eärendil took her to his bosom; but in the morning with marveling eyes he beheld his wife in her own form beside him with her hair upon his face, and she slept.

[Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath]

Something in that last line makes me shiver every time: this is true magic, the big, visible kind, but then she was Lúthien’s granddaughter.

Somehow with all the blood and horror going on back at Sirion, the power of this thread of the story almost gets lost. Eärendil gets lambasted for never being home, Elwing is cursed for neglecting her children (Do we know she neglected them? Do we know she didn’t try and hide them or send them to safety with a trusted servant? No, we just assume the worst). And yet they were the true heroes of the First Age.

Eärendil was at sea so often because he was seeking a passage west with the idea of reaching the Undying Lands and begging for help. No one else was doing this and some one had to. He was also keeping an eye out for his (in the case of his father, elderly) parents, who had gone off on a similar fool’s errand. When Elwing reached him, flying against the wind, dropping finally to the deck almost dead from her efforts (and she probably had the form of an albatross, not a seagull, seagulls just don’t go that far that fast), they had two choices: they could go back to Sirion, which Elwing had left in flames, their children’s fate out of their hands, or they could go on. And they had the one bargaining chip the Valar might be impressed by, fastened around Elwing’s neck. They went on.

They went on through storms, through mysterious mists and illusions, the light from the Silmaril cutting through the unnatural gloom. And finally, they breached all the magical barriers set up against them and reached Elvenhome. They did not, at that point, know they would never be allowed to leave and that their eternity was set to be very, very strange. It was a huge price - their youth (they were both very young), their children, everything and everyone they had ever known was gone. But that paid for the Army of the West and Morgoth’s eventual downfall. To me it makes them as brave as, or braver, than any of the sword-wielding warriors who came before them. Also, they won.