Etcetera

Blogging Bleachy things

[afinepiece]

Blog Roadmap!

This blog is the main blog for my Bleachy interests, which I use to collect shiny Bleachy things out in the wild and hoard them (i.e., reblog). I have a few sideblogs dedicated to organizing my own offerings to the Bleach fandom (e.g., meta, fanworks, archived posts). Those are:

🌸 Meta: @muses-with-afp

🌸 Fanart and fanfic: @create-with-afp or AO3 or ffn

🌸 Old archived posts from afp 1.0: @afp-archive

[bleachbleachbleach]

*holding my head in my hands* it's me, Constantly Distressed By The Amount of Time Everything Takes and The Number of Other Things I Would Also Like to Do

[turnbackthependulum]

New illustration today from LAM-sensei AND OUHHH MY GODDD IT'S RENJI 🤤🫦 I wasn't prepared for him to be revealed first HELLO??? 🥵

[create-with-afp]

[hangdok]

Bleach one hour drawing (2015.08.01)

[umbrasolaris]

Feelin' rusty.

[lisztzada]

first time drawing these guys. are we divining this comedy

[kichurikat]

Decided to post my speedpaint to TikTok and thought I’d post to tumblr aswell. I’ve always been a silent lurker on this app but I think I kind of like posting on tumblr now.

Btw what’s everyone’s favourite bleach character? Mine is clearly Rukia, but I have no one irl to talk to about bleach despite how good it is.

[bleachlady]

Manga panels that live rent-free in my head, Bleach edition: Sado prepares to throw Rukia at a hollow (from chapter 10 "Monster vs. New Girl, Part 2 (The Substitute)").

[create-with-afp]

Chapter 2: Pain Is a Shut Door

Summary: Miyako Shiba and Captain Ukitake take tea with Byakuya Kuchiki, who makes an odd request.

Rating: M

There are no ghosts in Soul Society.    Standing in House Kuchiki, however, has Miyako beginning to doubt the wisdom of these words.  House Kuchiki has stood for centuries.  Many long centuries.  Never in the same configuration, Miyako supposes, but largely in the same way.  Within, the walls are white as snow, the wooden floorboards all run neatly and firm, and the doors are mostly shut, all except one, the one directly before her and Captain Ukitake. They have been standing quietly for a while now, both too afraid to break the silence that has been holding this place steady. After a few more minutes collect, a fuzzy hum begins to swell in her ears.  It is an off-putting sort of sound, the kind that you feel buzzing in your bones long before you notice its source.  Briefly, Miyako wonders if it’s her mind playing tricks on her.  Maybe it can no longer take the oppressive quiet. No sane person could, really.

[create-with-afp]

Chapter 1: Ruin the Friendship

Summary: Kaien reflects on the death of a friend.

Rating: M (language)

Kaien Shiba's afternoon nap isn’t happening, not when there is a stirring in his soul.  He listens to these stirrings more than most.  Maybe more than he should. Right then, the stirring sends his hand to his sword and sets his feet on a path leading deeper into the mountain.  Nejibana is hungry to be released, which is never a great sign of what fortune awaits him.

[muses-with-afp]

WDKALY

So, it has been a while since I last revisited We Do Knot Always Love You ("WDKALY"), a Bleach light novel that I am pretty sure still lacks a formal English translation. (See the translation that I reference here.)

Full disclosure: None of the light novels really hits for me. I don't know if it is a function of "lost in translation" since I am very much not the intended audience or what, but they all read like very mid-tier to lower-mid-tier fanfiction. However, I persevere because I want more lore and character moments that are sort of, kind of (if you squint really hard) "official."

With that disclaimer out of the way, as I was wandering through my latest re-read, I stumbled upon the part where Renji is invited to Kuchiki Manor for breakfast:

(MissSTORMCALLER, WDKALY, Part 13.)

O.M.G. I love all of this. How gloriously awkward. Like, imagine, you go over to your boss's house to see your fiancée for breakfast, and it is dead silent during the meal. They don't even make sounds while eating. What in The Stepford Wives is this even?

Run, Renji, run!!!!

Although maybe I am being unfair to the Kuchiki: How noisily is Renji being? Is he being normal, and they are just odd, or has he pulled up to the table and is scarfing down his meal like a ravenous pooch?

Renji, probably.

Most generously to all characters, maybe Renji is anxious to be around his boss and his boss's sister, whom he is planning on marrying. Like, the setup in and of itself is just so wonderously awkward.

I love it. More. Yesss. Yesss.

The second thing that strikes me as such a detail is that Byakuya and Rukia generally eat separately. In my head, I always assumed they probably had silent, uncomfortable meals together. Rukia's explanation, however, makes sense for why they don't usually eat together; it also gives a sense of scale and directionality to Seireitei vis-à-vis Kuchiki Manor.

Next up, is the exchange between Renji and Byakuya regarding sleeping arrangements, with Renji assuming Byakuya sleeps overnight at the Sixth, which he quickly corrects. I love this, too. Like, one, Renji doesn't know that Byakuya goes home at night? I feel like this is a thing you would know about your boss, given how much time you spend with them in close proximity. However, when your boss is Byakuya, perhaps you actively extract yourself from all subjects personal. Thing two, here, is Byakuya's correction.

This weird ass man. I love it because why would he bother with a correction? Is it a character tic, e.g., he cannot let a falsity stand where it regards him? Or, is there something cultural, i.e., "I am not broke enough to need to stay at the squad to save time"? Or is it a personal thing, i.e., "I would rather die here and now than let you think I spend one extra moment at this job like a loser"!

Byakuya, probably.

Moving along to more delightful and awkward moments in this gift of a scene:

Okay, starting with Renji calling Rukia "gluttonous"--or at least I think it is Renji calling Rukia "gluttonous" and not the waitstaff, which would be breathtakingly crazy in a very different way--I re-read that line so many times. I was assuming (until that line) that Renji finds this meal very nerve-racking, given his reaction to the silence mentioned above and deference to Byakuya, but maybe he really is pulling up to House Kuchiki and slurping down the meal because what the fuck, my good dude?

At this point, my brain flies to the fact that food and the descriptions of food in this passage are probably working on a few levels. The most obvious to me is class/culture: Byakuya and Rukia display exceptional manners and take their meal in silence, which seems alien to Renji. The second most obvious point here, to me at least, is that the abundance of food paired with "gluttonous" is probably a reflection of Renji's relationship to food as someone with no generational wealth and who hails from one of the most abject slums of Rukongai. Because, yes, Rukia's comment about wanting to eat at Kuchiki Manor every day does seem gluttonous from that perspective. (Even as Renji is on bowl 4 of the rice....)

What Renji seemingly misses, however, is what prompted her to say this very odd thing--something that Byakuya seems to pick up with a hacking acknowledgment: Rukia's comment isn't really about food at all.

This is the point where I hop on my high horse about how meals in fiction are rarely ever about the meals themselves. Instead, mealtimes in fiction serve so many great functions: bringing folks together, forcing interaction between characters, getting people into casual or overly formal situations where they might behave differently, what food is being served and what that means to the characters, etc. You also don't really have to explain much, since everybody eats, including the audience, who can fill in the gaps in the scenes with their own understanding of the banalities of mealtime.

Hopping off that horse now, Rukia's comment seems to highlight how Rukia isn't really talking about her love for the head chef's direction at Kuchiki Manor. She's blushing and mumbling. The blushing is mentioned several times, which makes this comment confessional. Because food for Rukia is also a loaded subject, given her own Inuzuri heritage.

This confession, also, isn't really aimed at Renji, even though he blurts out his opinion as if it were. The confession is aimed at Byakuya, who quickly moves to tell her that, "It's fine if you want to come back here to eat anytime."

This is all just so friggin' sweet!!!! Byakuya, good job! He picked up Rukia's anxiety about change, about leaving her home, the home she shares with him, and the comforts he gives her, even if they aren't physically in the same spot to share these comforts. And I can't help but believe he understands this confession, at least in part, because he has similar feelings about his little sister growing up and leaving.

Renji's response to Byakuya being, "Awesome! Thank you very much, captain!!" Is... just... so... Renji....

The Kuchiki staff, probably.

Byakuya's comeback being, "I wasn't talking to you!" is 10/10. Captain Rich Bitch does not play about meal invites, especially if you are chowing down like a wild animal, Renji. I like this ribbing, though, because it seems very in character coming from the man who intentionally ran Renji into a wall for the comedy.

Which also serves as the visual analogy for how this breakfast is going for Renji.

What a sweet moment between Byakuya and Rukia.

And Renji is... there ... knocking into decades of emotional constipation between two of the most emotionally constipated characters in the game.

I love it.

Good for Renji that it seems Chiyo is on his wavelength because... I don't think many want to get on the Kuchiki siblings-in-law's wavelength.

[welltempereddolphin]

Featuring:

Canonical evidence of Byakuya being happy with Hisana 🥹 (something like "I don't regret those happy times")

Probably the prettiest portrait of Hisana we've seen yet

Byakuya taking Rukia to the Kuchiki Cemetery

Rukia being the lowest ranking Kuchiki member regardless of her being Byakuya's adopted sister

"Having to mourn my sister after the loss of my wife..." 🥹

Byakuya's Kaien thoughts (no wonder he was so quick to see the resemblance between Kaien and Ichigo!) (also Byakuya's adherence to rules vs him admiring Kaien's kindness and trueness to his own values vs knowing how Kaien used to see him as a brat lol)

Kaien telling Byakuya (off for) treating Rukia too coldly lol I would love to see more Kaien + Byakuya lore just in general

THIS MAN GOING AROUND SEIREITEI SCARING UNDERLINGS INTO TELLING HIM WHETHER OR NOT HE'S CHANGED LMAOOOOOO @ byakuya and his lack of social skills istg this man is so funny whenever he's not joking

Also Renji being so casually respectful + diplomatic

Yama-jii telling Byakuya to stay back after that haori-related scolding scene like a headmaster at a school talking to a pupil lol

And Yama-jii does actually give him advice like a headmaster to a pupil

Byakuya's automated battle dialogue/sfx of "Too slow!" during the fight with Yama-jii is so funny bc of all the people to NOT mock for being slow...

Yama-jii, "I will entrust the Gotei to you (Byakuya)" is this the foreshadowing for Byakuya being the next Head Captain after Kyouraku???????

Renji: "Actually yeah Ichigo does look like he might be Kaien-san's distant relative" AHAHAHAHA

"Actually I always thought Kaien was the opposite of me" not the opposite of Baby!Byakuya though, not with the way he used to run around yelling at people

"Actually people smile at me more and it is not awful" and then Renji being super mature and understanding about it 🥹🥹

[welltempereddolphin]

Kuchiki Byakuya and the two sisters

[dewberrysix]

*Reposting old works

A piece drawn in 2024 for Momo Hinamori’s birthday on June 7.

See if you can spot the two Easter eggs in this picture

[sorryidrewit]

[recurring-polynya]

it must feel good as hell to haunt the narrative. you have to be in like, three scenes, tops, where you're smiling-laughing-running on a beach-whatever and then a gnarly death scene where ideally you put your blood-splashed hand on the main characters face and say something devastating that they will think about every day for the rest of their lives. you don't have to do, like, '''character growth''' or face dilemmas that try your moral strength. die early, pop in from time to time with haunting reminders of life's impermanence, then peace outta there and collect emotional residuals forever