Vilshyk-ft - Луковочка

(c) Oleksiy Kustovsky

Natsu, Lucy & The People Around

Remake(updated) of a wonderful post. Unfortunately they've deleted their blog so I couldn't link the main post, instead I'll just link the one I came across with. The original post was probably made prior to the final arc started, judging from the panels used. I'll be adding a lot to this. Let's dive in!

Natsu and Lucy are often called out for being more than best friends by people around them. Their strong connection has always been a highlight, regardless of friends and foes. It's completely natural at this point, it's not just about teasing for fun but what those people interprete Natsu and Lucy's actions towards each other as, what they perceive their connection to be.

The physical aspect of Natsu and Lucy's relationship has earned them the most teasing. Both have showcased clear attraction for each other, with Natsu expressing his desires with actions more often and Lucy being timid about it.

The emotional aspect is heavier though.

They're the centre of each other's attention. Ranging from the weirdest things on earth to his biggest accomplishments, Natsu wants Lucy to know everything about him. He'd bring her greasy food, a frog from Edolas, act like a child while showing her a dragon statue. Uproot an entire tree and flow it down the stream in front of her house. He'd remember the day she joined the guild, remember her favorite color, food and the names of her each spirit and the number of keys she has. In danger his first instinct is to quickly stand before her and make sure she's safe.

Lucy is no different. In any situation Natsu is her top priority. She'd risk her life and push herself to her limit to keep him safe, hold him back from doing anything reckless. She'd rush to catch him when he falls, carry him to the safety forgetting about all other people and all other things.

If one is in pain, the other notices first. Whenever Lucy feels down, Natsu instantly calms her down. Whether it's Lucy doubting herself, feeling sad or scared of anything, crying in pain for loss of someone, Natsu is always there for her. Vice-versa. when Igneel returns, Lucy notices Natsu's distress first. When he worries himself after his sudden transformation against Animus, it's Lucy who comforts him.

They hang out with each other all the time with Natsu openly stating that he loves Lucy's smell and her house. Lucy adores his company too, feels obligated to do jobs with him. They both lean towards each other a lot.

There's a lot of eye-contact and physical contact between Natsu and Lucy, regardless of place. To the point where they can't distinguish between casual talk and flirtation. Looking at each other with flirty eyes, Natsu resting his arm above Lucy's shoulder, laying his head on her lap while nauseous or the other way around, holding her hand to drag her with him to anywhere, warm forehead touches are their language.

They take care of each other outside of physically protecting them, in more than one way. If one is sick, the other sits at their bedside to look after them. Natsu gets Lucy something interesting to write for her story, he picks up jobs on time so her rent isn't due. He shows her stars to make her happy. Lucy lets Natsu sleep in her bed, she takes care of the scarf he cherishes so much, she treats him to meals often and shares her own.

Lucy mirrors Natsu's actions from time to time. She often acts like him. Does soap surfing, draws on his face the way he draws on hers, teases him. She uses his catchphrase too.

All of this doesn't simply go unnoticed by other people, especially those who are close to Natsu and Lucy. They know both of them inside out, hence their remarks are sometimes indication towards what isn't explicitly exposed to us readers.

Starting off with Natsu's family :

Happy and Zeref

Happy has teased Lucy about Loke and Gray (filler), and Natsu about Lisanna (filler) before. When Loke confessed his feelings for Lucy during the Bixlow fight, Happy teased them. I think it's pretty natural, as well as when Gray followed Lucy home to make sure her safety and Happy said he liked Lucy.

In the childhood flashback, Lisanna was pretty vocal about her feelings, that's why her and Natsu were teased by little Happy.

However, he never continued them.

Interesting thing to note that, Happy can differentiate between romantic love and platonic love. He has only ever teased people about their possible love interests. He never joked about Natsu and Erza, despite knowing how close they are, yet he made fun of her and Jellal's almost kiss.

Back to Natsu and Lucy! From some unknown point in the story, Happy only called out Natsu and Lucy for liking each other. Whether it's the physical or the emotional side, Happy never missed to point out anything. In the 100yq, when Natsu and Lucy find themselves into a compromising position again, Happy remarks about how it's not the first time.

Happy's viewpoint matters because not only he's Natsu's best buddy, but also he's very close to Lucy, individually. He has spent a fair share of time with her without Natsu being involved, hence his take on their relationship is significant.

Next is Zeref.

Whilst mentioning the people who are close to Natsu, Zeref emphasized on Lucy the most, even more than Happy who has spent all his life with Natsu. As a matter of fact it was roughly only two years since Natsu and Lucy had met, yet she was said to have already made a great impact on Natsu's upbringing.

At that point, Zeref was aware of everything revolving Natsu since it was one of his battle strategies. Intelligence of the enemy, is what he mentioned to Gray. His comment about Lucy wasn't made out of nowhere, in fact it was what he perceived after his study about Natsu.

I don't need to explain why Zeref's point of view matters. He's Natsu's brother and the one who had created him all those years ago and handed him over to Igneel.

Teammates

Erza once remarked that Natsu can always be found in Lucy's apartment. During the christmas party at Lucy's place, when Lucy got all drunk and flirty with Natsu, Erza paralleled them with the other two canon ships and referred to them as a couple.

In Dragon Cry movie, Natsu asked Lucy how he looked like to her all the while being mere inches apart from her face, Wendy assumed that the two were having romance.

Their outlook matters a lot. Besides each other and Happy, Gray, Erza, Wendy are the closest to Natsu and Lucy. Their perception on the topic is one of the most reliable ones.

The Strauss Sisters

Although Mirajane thinking that Natsu and Lucy were dating was for the tease since the next time she guesses the same for Gray and Lucy, she definitely approves the idea of them together.

In earlier days, she got hold of the keys to Lucy's apartment and gave them to Natsu because he loves spending his time at Lucy's. When asked about who the guys wanted to peek on in onsen, Mirajane assumed that Natsu had been there for Lucy. In response to Lucy's denial, she reminded her of the times Natsu had seen her naked.

Now, Lisanna. The most important among the two.

After only a few days of Lisanna's return, even though she didn't get to know Lucy properly, she quickly realised that Lucy is an integral part of Natsu's life. Even in that short amount of time, Natsu and Lucy's strong bond was visible to her.

Lisanna telling Happy to stick by Natsu's side would make more sense, since Happy is Natsu's best friend and she's closer to him than Lucy. But Lisanna chose to tell Lucy only, to stay close to Natsu instead of mentioning all.

Her perspective does hold importance, she was once very close to Natsu. She might not have gotten much time after her return, however she still knows him more than any average guildmate and her judgement about Lucy was made on that basis.

Guildmates and Friends

Natsu became attached to Lucy within a very short time. She had a great impact on his life from a very early point on. Levy's statement further added to that claim. It might not have been said to imply something romantic between them, it still served the purpose of gradual development.

While Cana teased Lucy about Natsu groping her, she brought up the physical aspect of Natsu and Lucy's relationship. Then in 100yq, she also tries to provoke Lucy to make a move on Natsu. With that, she implies that Natsu and Lucy are more than just friends.

Juvia being the love-struck girl she is, imagined Natsu and Lucy as lovers and they were paralled with two other canon ships from her point of view. In 100yq, she mentions Touka as Lucy's love rival, depicting Lucy's romantic feelings for Natsu. Even Gajeel hinted at Natsu having a crush on Lucy, since he had liked Anna back then.

Asuka also thought that Natsu and Lucy were dating each other and their bond was similar to her parents'. It only server to prove that there is more to Natsu and Lucy's relationship than plain friendship.

Evergreen as well as Brandish commented about Lucy being in love with Natsu. Porlyusica also opted for Lucy to warm up Natsu's body, instead of simply asking anyone else.

All of these people clearly understand what Natsu and Lucy are to each other, and what they see between the two is more often than not deemed as outright romantic by the same people.

Virgo and Aquarius, both have witnessed Lucy's bond with Natsu grow gradually since the beginning. Virgo assumed the two were a couple and brought matching dresses for them. Whilst in 100yq, Aquarius emphasized on Natsu's significance in Lucy's life to bring her back to her senses.

Edolas-Lucy naturally assumed that the earthland counter-parts are also romantically involved.

Overall, Natsu and Lucy as a couple have all the support from their near and dear ones. Natsu's family, his best friend, Lucy's spirits and her edo-counterpart, their teammates and friends, little Asuka- almost all of them agree on one thing and that is : there's a romantic tension between Natsu and Lucy, and it would be totally natural for them to end up together.

The enemies too have talked about that :

The common point of view is one type of confirmation to us readers, that there's more to what we're told about Natsu and Lucy's bond.

german words i wish existed in english

a messy and incomplete list

nachvollziehen (v.) -- to understand, but less empathetic. i.e. i see the steps that brought you to that conclusion, but i don't understand you.

doch (interj.) -- you're wrong and really it's the opposite of what you said. often said with a healthy dose of sass. i.e. "this isn't a good movie." "doch. (it is)"

frech (adj.) -- somewhere between naughty and sassy and silly. when you're being a bit of a brat, you're being frech.

dreist (adj.) -- audacious, but far more colloquial. when you have the goddamn audacity, you are dreist. i.e. to park that far over the line is dreist as hell

heimat (n.) -- home, but stronger. a home is wherever you have built a life, but heimat is where your roots are. heimat is where you feel pangs of nostalgia when you go to visit your family for christmas and see the shop at the corner.

weltschmerz (n.) -- literally 'world-pain'. the world sucks and sometimes you just sit and feel the pain of it all. that's weltschmerz.

existenzberechtigung (n.) -- the right to exist, often in a comedic context. i.e. pineapple on pizza has absolutely no existenzberechtigung.

fernweh (n.) -- literally 'far-ache'. the opposite of homesickness, the desire to go far away. i guess wanderlust is similar, but that is also a german word, and this is more painful and visceral

schweigen (v./n.) -- the act of not speaking. silence, but more deliberate. the palpable feeling that people are withholding their voice.

verschlimmbesserung (n.) -- when an update with the intention of making something better actually just made it worse. looking at you @staff

A General Timeline for Kuroko no Basket

back on my ballshit. i've wanted a concise timeline for knb for years, but it's hard to do. even this probably isn't super accurate, but I did my best to check every reference I could. I decided that being broader here by not including specific dates/years and simply breaking events down by months was the best way to go.

I didn't have the age graphics for the months of February and March because they'll remain the same as January's (until Momoi's 17th bday in May). The official calendar I'm referring to here by the way is this one from KuroFes. I hope you find this useful!

check out more of my knb infographics here!

Українська

Усім привіт! Я радий, що усі фанати Хвоста Феї, а точніше, прихильники відносин між Нацу та Люси, пишуть свої фанфіки тут. Люблю читати все, що ви пишете. Однак, мої найулюбленіші історії з усіх, це найбагатошаровіші. Тобто, ті фанфіки, у яких Нацу і Люси не починають поцілуватися і зайнятися сексом відразу, а замість цього, стається поступове входження в їхні відносини. Наприклад, драма, відсутність взаємнорозуміння, або можливо просто щаслива історія без поспішного розвитку подій. Авжеж я не кажу що не подобаються такі короткі історії, особливо коли в мене не вистачає часу, але я думаю, що ціла спільнота фанатів Фейрі-Тейла може погодитися з тим, що чим довша та розвиненіша історія, тим краща історія. Тому я прошу у вас рекомендувати найкращі фанфіки про Нацу і Люси, які ви коли-небудь знаходили! Дякую вас!

English (I used the translate)

Hello everyone! I am glad that all fans of Fairy Tail, or rather, fans of the relationship between Natsu and Lucy, write their fanfiction here. I love reading everything you write. However, my favorite stories of all are the most layered. That is, those fanfiction in which Natsu and Lucy do not start kissing and having sex immediately, but instead, there is a gradual entry into their relationship. For example, drama, lack of mutual understanding, or perhaps just a happy story without a hasty development of events. Of course, I'm not saying that I don't like such short stories, especially when I don't have enough time, but I think that the whole community of Fairy-Tail fans can agree that the longer and more developed the story, the better the story. So I ask you to recommend the best Natsu and Lucy fan fictions which you've some point found here! Thank you!

Note: I enjoy so-called “lemon” fanfic a lot as well)

“Hey…Lucy…open your eyes. Come on…wake up! Please…Lucy…”

Photo from Vasylivka,city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast(region), which is currently occupied.

"Vasylivka is Ukraine" written on the wristband.

And in the second picture - a russian propaganda banner with the words "We are one nation/people" and then in the corner "We are together with russia" .

Together forever