makeste | Weekends is ~*MEME TIME*~

Gokudera (because I know you love him)

The icon:

I don't really know why but I think it's because Reborn is so clever and this pose makes him even cooler. And I love how you write, it's intelligent, funny and ironic. Just like Reborn.

YAY GOKUDERA. ♥

1. Even though he is a shounen dumbass like all the rest, he's also an incredibly smart dumbass. I always try to keep in mind that Gokudera is a genius when I write him; he's very analytical, and he is always, always overthinking things. Regardless of whether something can or should be logic-ed out, he will try to do it. (And then very often fail to act on his logical conclusions since his emotions always get the better of him anyway.)

2. HE'S ALWAYS FUCKING SWEARING. This is kind of a tricky spot since the Japanese language doesn't really have swears so much as varying levels of politeness, and depending on who translates the manga or anime he doesn't really swear much at all in canon, but I just feel like he's the kind of person who if he was speaking English in an uncensored world would just be saying shit and fuck every third sentence. And since I myself am like that, it just sort of spills out naturally whenever I write him. XD

3. He often will say and even think one thing while his actions and behavior demonstrate something else entirely. This is especially true when he's interacting with someone he claims to hate, like Yamamoto, but actually doesn't hate at all. So he'll be insulting him and calling him an idiot and rolling his eyes at his dumbassery, but at the same time he basically interacts with him as an equal, making plans and discussing the Tenth's safety and rising to the bait every time Yamamoto teases him (instead of just ignoring him), and worrying about him if something is wrong, etc. And this also happens when he's trying to act like a tough guy but secretly is being a giant woobie on the inside. So I try to keep that contradiction in mind when I write him.

4. Gokudera hates showing vulnerability for any reason. He grew up under constant reinforcement of the idea that if you open yourself up to someone for any reason you're going to get hurt, and even now, with as far as he's come since then, he still struggles with this. His default level of openness is still "Fuck off I'm fine leave me alone," and even though there are certain people he's gradually becoming more comfortable with, he still never drops his guard completely. He has sort of varying levels; with Tsuna, he has a habit of deflecting any personal inquiries with smiles and some form of "it's fine, don't worry about me, more importantly..."; with Yamamoto, he deflects in mostly the same way except that he also adds an insult or two for good measure, and so forth. Even with the people he trusts, he never openly admits his fears or worries unless they don't directly involve himself, or unless the circumstances are extraordinary.

Fortunately, if the other characters want to know what he's thinking, they can fall back on the very reliable alternative of simply guessing since it's usually written all over his face anyway. XD So if I'm writing interaction between him and another character (especially if it involves angst), I always keep this in mind and remember that even if things are really bad he's still never going to go blurting out love confessions or (GOD FORBID!!) asking for help or confessing dark secrets from his past unless some sort of apocalypse has happened (...or unless the Tenth is asking really, really insistently XD).

5. This last one is very specific and is something that I've noticed I take a different approach to than a lot of other writers (including some of my favorites), but when it comes to serious mafia brutality and violence (torture, killing, etc.), I don't think he's as hardcore as he makes himself out to be. I know he's definitely had a hard life and if the Reborn mafia were anything even remotely like the mafia in real life, it would be a different story, but since it generally isn't, I tend to take the view that Gokudera, for all his thug history and street smarts and angsty backstory and trigger-happy nature, is actually a lot fluffier than he lets on. He's certainly capable of getting murderous on someone, and I don't think the grim, battle-hardened, kills-this-guy-without-a-second-thought TYL!Gokuderas that are so common in fandom are OOC at all; it's just not how I personally view the character, because it's hard for me to reconcile that view of him with the almost ridiculously sunshiney and optimistic mafia of the KHR verse. For me, if I'm going to read or write about him like that, I always have to mentally check it off as an AU first. To this day, I'm not 100% sure why, especially since I have no similar qualms with certain other characters (but then again those characters were canonically referred to as natural-born assassins), but there it is. ;;

And that icon is one of my favorites. Thank you so much for the kind words, even though I don't think I'm anywhere even approaching the level of Reborn coolness (I mean, just look at that pose, gosh Reborn COULD YOU BE ANY MORE AWESOME?), heh.

I feel the same way about Gokudera!!! He is such a complex character, makes you want to know more and more about him! I love his passion about things he likes, as Tsuna and UMAs! XD When he likes something he really dedicates himself to it. And I love people like that. \o/

I think that he is actually really shy about relationships! That's one of the reasons he is saying something and acting in a different way.

I don't think he's as hardcore as he makes himself out to be.

Totally agree with it. I think that if he had to do something horrible to protect someone he loves, he would do it, but it would very painful for him.

Um...quick question. How do we show someone else's icon?

I usually just right-click on it, select "copy image location" or whatever the equivalent is if you're not using Firefox, and then use html image code ([img src="URL GOES HERE"] but with >'s instead of brackets)to post it in the comment. DIRECT LINKING, HELPING LAZY PEOPLE LIKE ME DO MEMES SINCE... WHENEVER IT WAS INVENTED. o/

Because this is my image of you whenever you go crazy on a new chapter of Reborn. XD

Oh--and THANK YOU!!

Lol, the stars in eyes. IT'S QUITE ACCURATE. XD And I like having a Ryohei icon represent me because it seems appropriate given the amount of capslock I abuse.

And you're welcome! ♥

This one forever. Or the one of Tsuna looking super zen with Leon on his head XD

Heh, happy Yama always makes me happy too. And zen!Tsuna might just be my favorite icon ever (except no because I have the wall one). I feel like I can never have too many derpy KHR character icons. XD

This one. Or the wall one.

And on that note... I kinda want to ask about Yamamoto, but I think I want to ask about Tsuna more.

Edited 2011-01-16 20:52 (UTC)

That one always cracks me up. XD I'm so happy I have a Yama!drape icon in my life.

Speaking of Yamamoto, since

teruame asked about Tsuna below, I'll do Yama here and then do Tsuna.

YAMAMOTO TAKESHI!!

1. I have NO IDEA if this is based off canon or if it's just a weird idea I somehow got into my head (or maybe I got it from someone else's fic or RP), but I've noticed that my Yamamoto makes a lot of pop culture references. It's part of his whole "life is a game!" personality, I guess. Also he's a dork. He makes baseball references whenever I can get him to, also. It's just part of how he sees the world and puts it into terms he understands the most easily.

2. Speaking of how he sees the world, Yamamoto has a tendency to grasp things more subconsciously than consciously. Like, when he gets something, it's instinctive; he doesn't think about it much, he just knows it on some fundamental level. He's not stupid, but his intelligence is such that it's very subtle because he hardly even pays attention to it.

3. The one thing he is extremely perceptive and intuitive about is his understanding of other people. Especially the people he's closest too, Tsuna and Gokudera and Squalo, but other people too. He seems to see the whole picture behind someone else's behavior and actions; he gets the why of what they're doing, not just what's there on the surface. This is one of the reasons why he likes almost every single person he's ever met; he can see the good in people even when they're not necessarily upfront about it. (The other reason is because almost every single person he's ever met is in some way or other hilarious.)

I think one of the key distinctions I try to make when I write Yamamoto is that while he is a simple person, he's not simple-minded. The world is just more or less simple to him; the stuff that doesn't come intuitively, he just places in some frame or reference where it does make sense (hence the spots/pop culture references, I guess). He is able to filter out the complexities of things and work his way down to the one or two most important ideas and that's what he files away for future reference.

4. Yamamoto has a lot more worries and uncertainties and so forth than he shows on the surface, but the main difference between him and someone like Tsuna or Gokudera is that he is always working to get past them or push them down/suppress them, because he doesn't like to be ruled by them. He sort of has a negativity filter; it's not that he's oblivious about things, he'd just rather be optimistic and happy than not. He likes to see the best in things, and usually it's easy for him to do.

That said, if pushed correctly he can be pretty fucking hardcore. He has certain things that keep him grounded--his friends, his dad, baseball, the sword--and if someone or something fucks with one of those things, depending on the severity of it he may very well flip his shit. YOU DO NOT MESS WITH THOSE THINGS. Aside from that, though, he is a very easy boy to keep happy.

5. Lastly (not really, I could go on and on about Yama BUT I AM LIMITED TO FIVE THINGS ALAS), when I write Yamamoto I always try to keep in mind that even though he is pretty happy-go-lucky, it doesn't mean that in his way he isn't taking things deadly seriously. SEE: his philosophy on games. Everything is a game to him... but he also views games as Serious Fucking Business. He is a competitive little bugger and he kicks ass and knows that he does and likes kicking ass and gets frustrated on those (very few) occasions when he fails at something. If it's something minor he'll just shrug it off after a moment or too (again, he tries hard not to focus too much on negativity), but if does happen to be something serious he will brood about it for days and days. It happened when he broke his arm, it happened when he first met Squalo and got his ass kicked, it happened when he lost to Genkishi, etc. He doesn't like losing, but even more than that, he doesn't like feeling like he hasn't done his best.

But because he's Yamamoto, even then he usually manages to channel those feelings in a healthy way as motivation to come back hard in the next round and kick even more ass to make up for it. HE GETS KNOCKED DOWN BUT HE GETS UP AGAIN, etc.

Aaaaaand I'll shut up now! I LOVE YAMA A LOT CAN YOU TELL DERP. XD

I CAN TELL YOU DO LOVE YAMA A LOT ♥

I definitely agree with point 5 about everything being a game but games being serious business, but I must confess that I hadn't thought about the intuition/subconscious stuff that much. It was pretty enlightening for me :)

Oh, and I also agree with point 4, too.

Edited 2011-01-16 23:31 (UTC)

Darn...^^; Sawada Tsunayoshi, I guess? -trying to not be too predictable, and failing- :S

I'm so happy I get to ramble about the big 3 right off. :D ♥

Hmm, Tsuna...

1. Tsuna is not a saint. He's a good person--could be a great person, someday, with a little growing time--but for all my jokes about shounen Jesii, Tsuna still has a long way to go before he reaches that level. It's the bad situations that always (ironically) bring out the best in him, but under normal, every day circumstances, those times when he isn't being asked to rise to the occasion, he's alternatingly selfish, whiny, derpy, lazy, and self-pitying. Despite my love for the character, when I'm writing him I try my best to remember those imperfections because they're also a part of what makes Tsuna who he is. (I don't always succeed at this, though; I'm sorry to say that lots of times when I'm writing him I fall into the trap of making him too Wonder Boss-ish, orz.)

2. Keeping the above in mind, I've noticed that I kind of give Tsuna this slightly sarcastic, ironic edge to his thoughts when I write him. That's because in canon he does have that WHY ME FUCK MY LIIIIIIIFE side to him, and oftentimes he's the one observing an insane situation and being all, "what the jesus is this" while everyone else is just "OH HA HA, THE MAFIA IS DOING SOMETHING CRAZY AGAIN. *GOES ALONG WITH*" or else they're the ones who started the craziness in the first place. So because Tsuna is usually the straight man in all this, and because it's reached the point where he is used to being the straight man and almost resigned to the weirdness at this point, the sarcasm comes out. Well, not really sarcasm so much as "oh brother, here we go again :|", I guess.

3. When I write Boss!Tsuna, I try to give him an air of reluctance, keeping in mind that he's never wanted this job and the only circumstances under which I can see him accepting it are if he finally realized that if he doesn't man up and become the Vongola Tenth, it would be the same as turning his back on all the people that he could have helped through that position, and all the people whose lives would probably be destroyed if some other, unkinder soul took up the position instead. He's the hero who never wanted to be a hero, basically, and at any given moment he would probably be a lot happier just living a normal life instead of making these life and death decisions or wasting away in business meetings. He doesn't regret his choice, and usually when I write older Tsuna he's at a point where he's finally starting to accept that this is his life, but all the same he's never truly going to be happy until he's finally allowed to retire, so I try to put some of that resignation in there somehow. I think he's a better leader for it, though.

4. Tsuna is so mild-mannered and polite and constantly worried that he's going to say or do the wrong thing. Probably the main side-effect of all this is that he is extremely hesitant to say or do anything ever. If left to his own devices he would probably fizzle out and procrastinate everything and never willingly interact with another human being or do anything ever that could potentially result in a negative outcome. He hates taking any kind of risk because he feels like he's usually liable to just screw things up.

Happily, he has people like Reborn to assist him with this crippling problem. I think at least 90% of what Reborn actually does is just push Tsuna to do things and stop worrying about the consequences. Because he does worry, a lot, always, and he tends toward the same overthinking things problem that Gokudera has, only he usually lacks the brashness to say "fuck it" and go ahead and do things anyway. He starts a lot of his sentences with "Uh..." or "Haah..." and makes a lot of stressed-out noises and is just generally a nervous wreck a lot of the time.

5. Lastly, Tsuna loves normality. I think his idea of a perfect day is "sleep in, wake up and flop around in my pajamas, maybe play videogames with Yamamoto and Gokudera and Lambo and then watch some TV wile putting off homework, and then drinking some milk and going back to bed yay. |D" Anything that is remotely out of the ordinary makes him :/, and that includes himself in superhero mode. When he got back from the future, he hid his ring in a shoebox under his bed IIRC. XD Even knowing that he's capable of kicking ass and actually saving the world when things get rough, he'd much rather be an ordinary boy going to school with his friends and vegging out in his spare time.

And yet, there is a contradiction there, because he isn't quite content being a loser anymore, either. Having had a taste of greatness, he may not be aiming for the stars anytime soon, but he's said in canon that he likes the fact that people actually have expectations of him now, that he's not automatically dismissed as a failure. He has confidence that he didn't have before, and I think that deep down, some part of him is actually grateful for the constant chaos in his life because he realizes that it brings out the best of him and forces him to be a better person. Hence, even when he's complaining about all the insanity that goes on around him, he's secretly pleased by it too, and would be unhappy if it ever all went away, even though he doesn't consciously realize any of this yet.

Anyway, so I guess I'm done rambling about him now, and that was a pretty interesting exercise. I don't write about him as often as I do Yamamoto and Gokudera, so I haven't had as much of a chance to really think about these things. I don't think I always follow all of these guidelines very well, either, but there you go. XD

Said this way, I totally agree, and this is one of the reasons I like this series. In a gentle, unobtrusive way through all the wackiness, people GROW and there are changes within the sameness. ^^

This...THIS. :D This is why I love reading your Tsunas. ;)

I think that's exactly why Tsuna never aspires to be above average in ways: because he is afraid of what would happen and the disappointment that will show up from it, since he is now used to having expectations placed on him to some level, but...if he were to ever be expected to handle really heavy duty things, he would probably think twice before stepping into the fire. He doesn't want to go back to his old self anymore, since he knows that going back means a lot of changes he might not be okay with, and at the same time he is a bit frustrated that he can't be too normal anymore. XD At the same time, he wonders what it might be like for him to go forwards a bit more, and yet he doesn't like to change too much. Which is a problem, because being in a world like his means having to change a lot and constantly.

Oh, well...I'm rambling on and on again. -_- Sorry about that...

Yamamoto? Or Reborn, if you'd rather.

I did Yama earlier so I'll go with Reborn. :D

1. He's always looking at the bigger picture. The little things don't matter so much as long as it all works out well in the end. Hence it takes an awful lot to ruffle his composure in any way. He is super chill.

2. He has a gift for seeing the potential in people, and for knowing how to manipulate someone to bring out that potential. We see this most often in canon with his relationship with Tsuna, but over the course of the series he's done his tutor thang with every one of the guardians at one point or other. I like watching Reborn interact with the other main characters because we almost invariably get some sort of insight into said other character as a result. He knows exactly how they work and how to work them; I don't think there's a single one that he hasn't pushed or challenged in some way at some point, and they're all the better for it. So whenever I'm writing him and his interaction with another character, I try to show that tutor side of him that's always poking and nudging and making bluntly insightful remarks and sometimes just outright beating people up until they learn. He may not have started out as a tutor but that's what he is now, and he himself is all the better for it too.

3. He does not lose. Ever. But that's also because he's never been so stupid as to enter a fight he knew he couldn't win. I don't know that he's actually the strongest character in the series (though, probably), but he's absolutely the most dangerous, and the most competent. I don't know if I could ever manage to pull off such a thing as a vulnerable Reborn. I think the very concept is almost inherently OOC.

4. Reborn understands that dignity is not so much a thing that can be gained or lost as a thing that you either have or don't have. That's why he's never embarrassed or ashamed in any way about anything he does. He can dress up like one of Longchamp's girlfriends and not bat an eye because he knows he's still the hottest thing since the sun, and you all wish you were half as fly.

5. Like Yamamoto, he has a tendency to think everything in the world ever is hilarious. (Actually, he's a lot like Yamamoto; I think four out of five of the Yama list I did above apply to Reborn as well.) So I always try to keep in mind that as much as he is always looking at the bigger picture, and always being a manipulative little bastard, there are still occasionally times when he does something that has absolutely no rhyme or reason behind it at all. Sometimes he really does just do it for the lulz. XD

Hm I'll be a little different and pick...Haru! (bc I discovered your 5986 fic and love it)

HARU, HARU...

1. Whenever I'm writing her, I have to get in Haru mode and start adapting her speech patterns; the hahis, the habit of using the third person, etc. All the characters in KHR have their own particular dialogue quirks, but Haru has probably the most distinctive way of speaking of all the characters I've written. I've really only written the one fic with her, but I can't tell you how much time I spent fussing over the dialogue and editing and re-editing until I was mostly satisfied.

2. She is extremely fanciful and daydreamy and kind of sees the world in more romantic, black-and-white shades than most people. Even when she's peripherally aware that that's not how things actually are, it's how she prefers to frame them. Because there's something nice about imagining herself as the fair maiden and Tsuna as her sparkling knight in shining armor (or alternately, her suavely handsome and excitingly dangerous mafia husband).

3. She's smart. I always try to keep in mind that no matter how weird or cutesy or generally Haru-ish she is being, she's actually one of the more intelligent characters in the series. She's attending one of the most elite schools in the area, her dad's a math professor, she's involved in all sorts of extra-curriculars (gymnastics, school plays... or whatever it is she does that involves making all those weird cosplays), and so forth. Sometimes her eccentricity overshadows all that, but that's one of my favorite things about her so I try not to forget.

4. No matter who you are or how terrifying you may be, not only will you be very hard-pressed to make Haru actually be scared of you, if you happen to offend her or cross her in any way she will JUMP ON YOU LIKE TRAMPOLINE. She's not easily intimidated and doesn't back down easily, even on those occasions when someone else does make her nervous. See: her interaction with Gokudera, that side-story she had in one of the novels with Bel, all of her Haru Haru interviews (most of which are with certifiably insane characters), etc.

5. She always wants to be helpful. And I don't just mean the cooking and cleaning (APPARENTLY THE ONLY WAY GIRLS CAN BE HELPFUL IN KHR SIGH), it's more than that. She actually a lot of times goes out of her way to not be a burden. Like, I think it's worth noting that aside from Lambo she was the character that cried the most during the Future Arc; I think there were at least three separate occasions, IIRC. Thing is, all three of those times she went out of her way to either try to hold back her tears, or wait until she was alone to let it out. She didn't want to worry anyone so she hid it. And she herself is constantly worrying about how she can the others better, and trying not to be a burden on anyone, and one of the times she broke down into tears during the Future Arc was because she was berating herself for being selfish even though she's like one of the least selfish characters in the series. She reminds me a lot of Gokudera in this aspect--actually, the last three things in this list are all Gokudera-ish traits--but anyway, she has the same habit of putting her important people's priorities way, way ahead of hers, sometimes to an almost unhealthy degree. BECAUSE SHE IS A GOOD PERSON.

Man, all this Haru talk is really making me miss her in the series right now... sigh. :(

Borrowing first meme!

And asking you reply about Yamamoto. ^^v

Wait, you already answered, never mind. (Unless you want to do five more?)

Heh, maybe I will if I can think of any more. Yesterday when I was ranting about him I was kind of like, "AND THEN, AND THEN...!" but today for some reason I'm drawing a blank. Alas. XD

I...I don't know. I don't think you're angsty or anything, this icon just resonates the most. :D the Gokudera with beamu eyes and his fist clenched in victoly would be a closeclose second.

BYAKURAN FOR THE OTHER MEME, GO.

I'm just here for the icon meme.

This one! This one is you, bb! ♥

*derps away like a derping thing* |D

There's just something about Tsuna's zen-face while having Leon on his head that makes me go "Makeste." XDb *derps*

Just here to say that this is the icon I associate with you, which has always made me super happy, because it's probably my favourite icon of all time.

Heh, I've always loved it for too. And I use it for everything, it's probably the most versatile icon in my arsenal. GOKUDERA STARING AT HIS HYPNOTIC CAT, HIS ARCH RIVAL WHO IS ALSO THE OTHER HALF OF HIS SOUL IN ANIMAL FORM. It says so much! And yet it says it so non-specifically that it can be applied to nearly any circumstance. THANK YOU, GOKUDERA AND URI AND YOUR BACKGROUND OF COLORED DOTS ON A FADED YELLOW BACKGROUND THAT IS SOOTHING YET NOT QUITE DULL.

...okay, I think I probably sound kind of facetious by this point, but I swear I honestly do love this icon a lot. Enough to actually ramble about it, I guess. Heh. *SHUTS UP* XD

I always know it's you when I see this icon. It's so energetic and positive and adorkable and, hey, IT'S DERA <3

As for characters... how about Squalo? If you write him at all, that is XD

I do not know why Squalo's shark always comes to mind, but whatever.. I like sharks. XD<3

I still consider that moment one of the all-time series highs. SQUALO RIDING THE SHARK. It still sends giddy chills up my spine at the sheer badass WHAT THE FLYING FUCK of it all. XD

I'm not usually the commenting type, but as a long-time reader, I have to say that I am shocked and appalled that no one seems to have picked this icon yet:

This just says "you" to me. And then, after a few animation cycles, makes me giggle uncontrollably. Forever. XD

... Though, after I went to your userpics to retrieve the URL, I realized that since Dera's fight with Shitt P., this one has actually been a close second:

<333333333333 ... Just saying.

Also, for the other meme, if you don't mind, I would love to hear what you have to say about Shouichi. :]

Ffff, direct links, how do they work? X] Trying one more time before I give up.

First one:

Second one:

... Success/failure?

/gives up XD Sorry!

Weekends is ~MEME TIME~

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Just a lurking lurker who lurks... :]

Re: Just a lurking lurker who lurks... :]

Re: Just a lurking lurker who lurks... :]