#vanigrey

imma be honest, all of these combinations were from @kamurasarchivist pointing at my references and saying “okay that one should be those three”

I'm gonna be so honest ts has just been sitting in my drafts since I posted the last ones cuz I had like a few more I wanted to make b4 I posted and I just didn't till now😘😘✌️✌️ idk why they take like 5 mins

I FINALLY GOT GOOD ENOUGH TO DRAW MY GIRLS KISSING!!!

Happy 30th Vanigrey fic, happy holidays in general, and may the shipping continue in 2026!

I'm back again with an event for Vanica/Grey this year! However, things are going to be a little different!

First of all, this is only a little thing - a day event - stretching over three days to account for timezones and give anyone participating a little wiggle room.

Secondly, there is NO prompts list this year. It's a free-for-all, essentially - write or draw whatever takes your fancy! Your only limit is your imagination.

I've made these changes because I'm busier than I used to be, so I've not got the time to run a larger week event. But I didn't want to skip entirely, so now it's small and cute!

There are only two guidelines for this: firstly, please don't use AI in your submissions. This is about what YOU can make! And secondly, make sure to tag me at @dapple-events as you submit a piece, so that I don't miss it.

You may be wondering why I'm officially announcing this so early considering it's quite a small event over two months away. That's because I'm actually about to take time away from Tumblr, which I'll discuss more on my main in a bit, so I needed to do this first and get the ball rolling before I go. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the event, I'll be checking in here every few weeks or so in the lead-up to the event, and I'll be returning to Tumblr to host this later.

Alright, let me rant about my wlw rarepair. There are a grand total of 8 fics for them on AO3, and every single one has been written by yours truly because I am ILL for them.

I am referring to Vanica/Grey, which makes me scratch my head in confusion on a daily basis and consumes my mind. You are probably wondering how this happened, since they never interact in canon.

This happened because I literally HAD A DREAM about them in 2022! It had no context for why or how this had happened, just that they were a thing, and I woke up thinking "huh. That's odd." And over the course of the next day, that puzzlement evolved into "that's kinda interesting!" And after two years, encouragement from a mutual convinced me to make it happen on AO3!

Why do I like this ship? Two reasons! First, there's the fact that they are complete polar opposites in every conceivable way. Vanica is outgoing, headstrong, relentless, and uses her magic entirely for offensive purposes. She also very much wears her heart on her sleeve regarding her desires (having fun in the moment, fighting opponents she likes).

Grey could not be further from that. She's very quiet, very shy and cautious and uses her magic to defend and support her allies, generally from the back. She's also hesitant about revealing her feelings, if we look at the canon situation with Gauche.

And this ties into my second reason for liking this - their uses of their magic complement each other and are polar opposites in themselves. Throughout the series, we see that Vanica's entire fighting style boils down to "attack the enemy until it's dead", and she only really starts enjoying her fights when her foe is giving her a hard time. She gets obsessed when Noelle manages to wound her, and she only takes notice of Charlotte upon seeing how strong her magic has become. Being defeated by Noelle even results in Vanica deciding they're friends!

Grey, on the other hand, is quite possibly one of the best-equipped characters for defense and evasion due to the sheer versatility of her magic. She can transform herself, other people, objects, magic, and she can heal as well. And that's how my first oneshot for them was born - it was based on the idea that Vanica would develop an interest after not being able to land a solid hit, because I think she would take that kind of situation as a challenge.

Also, something that we only saw once in the series and never again is Grey's mischievous and chaotic side during the beginning of the Underwater Temple arc. She enables and encourages Finral's attempts at flirting, then straight up abandons him after getting bored, then insults Asta, and later on starts behaving bizarrely while transformed as Gauche. I love that side of her, and I would say that Vanica would actively encourage that side to appear more often.

Writing these two is always a challenge, just because they're so different and don't interact in canon that it can be really difficult to put them together. I will be the first to admit that my oneshot series is too OOC! But every writer starts somewhere, and I'm happy it exists nonetheless. It also provided good practice for the fic I'm currently writing, Herald of Megicula, in which Grey is a devil that Vanica accidentally made a contract with instead of Megicula.

And boy, that is shaping up to be some toxic yuri! The thing with these two, at least in this AU, is that they're so very bad for each other. They influence each other in the worst way. Vanica tries to bring Grey out of her shell by giving such sage advice as "kill people" and is trying to teach her the fun of fighting. Grey, as Vanica's devil, enables her bloodlust by allowing use of her magic attribute and is generally willing to be a bit more feral. In the hands of somebody with no concept of restraint or caution (Vanica), a magic type that changes matter itself is a BAD IDEA. It's shaping up to be extremely chaotic, and a disaster from start to finish.

I just, aaaaa. I am struggling to convey what it is about them. Part of the appeal comes from how very odd this is, as well as the chaos potential. If I had to describe the dynamic between them, I would say it's "catch me if you can". They remind me a bit of that Greek myth about the Teumessian fox and the hunting dog Laelaps - a hound fated to always catches its prey vs a fox fated to never be caught, stuck in an endless loop of pursuit.

They're also clueless with communication and feelings. I affectionately refer to this pair as Clueless Yuri because the stupidity potential is so damn high. It's endearing in a strange way.

There's also an appealing forbidden aspect in that this is NOT a relationship one should ever aspire to IRL, and it should only be explored safely through the medium of fiction. I am morbidly fascinated by it in the same way one might be with a train crash. I would never, ever encourage anything like this in real life and the great thing about fiction is that it can scratch that curious forbidden itch in a safe way.

But there is one strange way in which they click, and that is the fact that Vanica is such a straightforward person. She knows exactly what she wants and she will tell everybody as soon as it pops into her head. I think that, for someone like Grey who's always anxious and second-guessing herself, that kind of decisiveness, confidence and leadership would probably help her to feel safe and secure. She knows what to expect, and that Vanica means everything she says.

I just, agh. These two. My very subconscious opened a Pandora's box of absurdity that can simply never be closed. I feel like I'm being dragged along for the ride when I'm writing them. I wonder where they'll take me next?

Thank you for submitting propaganda for: Vanigrey!