SweetenerLuvsS

[isitworthitlemmeworkit]

It low-key kills me how much y’all hated Lisanna back in the day, like I’ll never forget her being the villain in all these fanfics or the edits of Elfman’s takeover rocking her shit 😭 and FOR WHAT LOL

As someone that loves Nalu she was literally never a threat to them, she’s actually extremely supportive of them??? Here’s her acknowledging their bond by telling Lucy to stay close to Natsu bc he is stronger when he’s around people he loves and trusts.

Obviously Lisanna and Natsu were close when they were little, and she really enjoyed teasing him too but they were also literal children so idk why people felt so weird about they’re wholesome little bond or like it was a threat to Natsu and Lucy’s bond as adults? 😭

ALSO something that I don’t see mentioned is Lisanna probably knew for awhile the kind of bond Lucy and Natsu would grow into because after she “died” and was in Edolas, she met Edolas Lucy before Earthland Lucy… which means she probably already had an idea that Natsu and Lucy would be close. (also further proof that it was always going to nalu in the end, bc in all universes they really do end up together)

At the Grand Magic games when everyone is trying to find someone to partner up with, only for Lucy to end up crashing into Natsu (ultimately pairing them together) and Lisanna giggles. It’s obvious to me that she finds them cute and humorous together. Like she’s a supportive sweetheart and you guys need to be a lot nicer to her character 😂 also Hiro Mashima has literally mentioned at his panels that Lisanna is way too nice of a girl for Natsu and I AGREEEE. Natsu and Lucy‘s banter and chaotic energy together is literally what makes them so great together and a fan favorite, and clearly Lisanna ships it too

Lastly, I’ve also seen people say that they hate her bc she didn’t add anything to the story once she got brought back. Like yes, Hiro Mashima brought her back and didn’t do much for her character BUT that still doesn’t make sense to me for that to be a reason to hate her for that…that seems silly to me

Don’t get me wrong I can understand the frustration of bringing her back bc I do feel like it takes away from the whole point of loss and living with it and how that shaped Elfman, MiraJane, and Natsu (I mean unfortunately Natsu still learns this lesson with Igneel later on so…) but also why can’t yall just be happy that Elfman and MiraJane have their lil sibling back and can be a trio again like DAMN lol

Anyway this is just my perspective, at the end of the day ship who ever you guys want! I was just coming from the perspective of trying to understand why Lisanna always got so much hate and it always felt people just simply didn’t like her bc they viewed her as “competition” towards Lucy but it never gave that 😭 Mashima intentionally never wrote a love triangle between them but somehow the fandom created one anyway 😂

Rest assured Lucy and Natsu have always been okay and Lisanna is doing just fine as well lmao

[ether-gearhead]

Well, lookie-lookie here! Yet another NaLu trying to gaslight us about Tenrou Island! The words Lisanna ACTUALLY said to Lucy (say it with me!):

“Make sure you always stand by Natsu’s side! When the friends he trusts are by his side, Natsu gets even stronger!”

FRIENDS HE TRUSTS, PEOPLE!!! Meaning ERZA!!! Meaning GRAY!!! Meaning WENDY!!! Meaning HAPPY!!! And IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS SCENE IN PARTICULAR, ALSO MEANING LUCY!!! But of course, you hold up Stone Age as some romantic ideal to aspire to, so I can’t count on your primitive cognitive abilities here!

[pinkbunnyy6]

i lowkey wish mashima did more with lisannas character😭esp after going through the trouble of bringing her back

like it lowkey felt underwhelming esp thinking about it from the guild’s perspective… everyone thought this girl was dead for years and now we’re just moving past it like oh okay 🤍

[ether-gearhead]

Sorry, but NaLus don’t get to bitch about Lisanna being sidelined when NaLus are the LITERAL FUCKING REASON Lisanna was sidelined! It’s this EXACT FUCKING LACK OF SELF-AWARENESS that disqualifies NaLus as human beings!

[jellofroglegs]

The Lisanna hate is dumb (shipping wise)

Look, I can understand if you dont like her for the writing. The writers honestly fumbled with her in my opinion. If you dislike her over that, its valid and reasonable.

But to hate her over a ship is kinda overboard.

People act as if Lisanna is gonna tear Lucy and Natsu apart while twirling her evil mustache and shit. In reality, girl literally doesn't do anything after she is brought back. Shes just living her life. I dont think Lisanna is gonna kill Lucy to get to Natsu or do something malicious.

Lisanna is just a nerd who likes animals and is sweet, not a malicious Lucy killer who wants Natsu to herself.

[ether-gearhead]

Sorry, but NaLus don’t get to complain about Lisanna hate when your species actively spreads Lisanna hate.

[ether-gearhead]

One of these days I want to write a fic where Natsu and Lisanna announce their relationship and Lucy more or less throw herself at Bickslow on the rebound and see the NaLus melt the fuck down over subjecting Lucy to the same plot Lisanna goes through in LITERALLY EVERY BIXANNA FIC EVER.

[scarlet-belserion]

[ken-tfc]

Hi hope you’re doing ok and drinking plenty of water! I was wondering if your still accepting request; would it be ok if I request Gajeel x lisanna please (I feel like their would get along XD ) if this ship makes you uncomfortable; you can ignore this no worries 💓

OF COURSEEE

They’re bonding over making fun of natsu <3

This is a fun duo hehe

[natsubeatsrock]

Opinion I'll Probably get Stoned For #215

Stop comparing Lisanna's death fake-out to Juvia's death fake-out.

[ether-gearhead]

Just saying, NaLus would absolutely HATE the word “suitable” if they actually knew what it meant.

[sprinkellecafe]

Did Mashima actually say anything when he was asked what he”prefers?” Or did he just hold up the NaLu drawing and call it a day?

It was at an event I think, @yashirosukes has spoken about it before but when Mashima was asked to then pick between Nalu and Nali after being asked that he backtracked and said that was a difficult question to answer. I think he held up Nalu to

1. Appease the fans and

2. Them as a pairing of main characters, not romantically.

However when asked the same question with Nali involved it became less a question about character duo dynamics and more a ship question and Mashima then backtracked

[proxima-bee]

can you imagine how good shows would be if writers thought of women as human beings

[cleric-chono-is-my-everything]

can you imagine how good fandoms would be if fans thought of women as human beings

[sprinkellecafe]

can you imagine how good society would be if men thought of women as human beings

[hirakyun13]

a quick sketch of the otp

[asktodochako]

NaLi as NaruHina, so this is a part of a thank you for 1K votes for Dragneel Contract, and up next I shall draw two characters as SaiIno, any guesses? ^.^

[wykart]

what do you mean my disability disables my abilities? what the fuck

[ether-gearhead]

What the hell, we’ll address this now!

I’m almost certain this other Natsu that Natsu is talking to is somehow E.N.D.. Most of Zeref’s other demons (at least the ones involved in Tartaros) have sentience of their own, but obviously we haven’t seen that from E.N.D., given its whole purpose was to revive Natsu. I’m saying this because I’ve long held the headcanon that E.N.D. could eventually awaken as a voice in Natsu’s head, and if Ignia’s flame was powerful enough to give E.N.D. its own level of sapience, then that would make me obscenely happy!

[ether-gearhead]

This voice in Natsu’s head had better not end up a plot device to force NaLu.

[floertoer]

A-1 pictures really loves lisanna. they animate her so gorgeously

[absolutezerotolerance]

Sorry, me again, the person who recently asked for clarification of sorts on the gaslighting on the grave thing. Believe me, I hate Juvia with a passion, she’s the thing that dampens all of Fairy Tail the most for me, but even after reading your amazing post on the grave scene, I’m still not sure it’s gaslighting. However, I do 100% believe it’s emotional manipulation (which is just as bad as gaslighting of course) because she’s taking advantage of his distressed emotional state to shove her way into his private life, but maybe I’m just an idiot but I don’t see how her saying “Juvia doesn’t deserve to love you” is making Gray question his sanity or reality, which is a necessary part of gaslighting specifically. I wholeheartedly believe you are correct on the subject; I guess I just need a bit more help getting to the conclusion that it is in fact gaslighting with 100% certainty unfortunately. I do agree that her saying it’s rude for him not to smile after losing Ultear is gaslighting because that’s her trying to make him think he’s crazy/doing something wrong by grieving, but for some reason this grave scene won’t land home for me. I am so sorry for disturbing you, and please take your time with responding if needed. Please have a good day!

So basically the short version of my question is: is Juvia saying she doesn’t deserve to love Gray specifically a form of gaslighting?

I didn’t know how to answer this question at first, because I knew it was gaslighting even if I wasn’t fully sure how to explain how, but after a lot of thought, I’ve figured out how to word it and how to explain why it hurts so much more than traditional gaslighting. 

You’re focusing on the wrong part of the scene, and arguably, the wrong character in the scene.

When she says that she doesn’t deserve to love Gray, it’s emotional manipulation and a guilt trip in order to make him more likely to tell her she’s wrong, and to think that he’s wrong to be more upset than her. She’s using it to aid in the gaslighting, but that part is not the gaslighting itself, at least not in this particular instance.

It becomes gaslighting when she uses it as a way to coerce him into forgiving her for the things that she says and does in the rest of the scene. She stalked him across several contries, and admitted to killing the necromancer that controlled his dad, but she only gave a half ass apology for the first one, which we never even see Gray accept. She starts to turn the situation into one where her own “guilt” is more important than Gray’s sadness, which we see as she piles the blame on herself and claims that she doesn’t deserve to love him. 

All of the emotional manipulation and guilt trips combined gaslight Gray into ignoring his own grief to comfort hers, because rather than her gaslighting him directly, she’s making him gaslight himself. 

(Gray should not be the one apologising in this scene. From every angle, Juvia's in the wrong here - killing his father, stalking him to Isvan, pouring salt on his grief. Gray apologising hurts so much, because it's an apology coming from the innocent party, not the guilty one.)

For example, if an abusive parent tells their kid who has chosen to speak out against them or to them “I guess I’m just a bad parent then.” It’s a guilt trip that’s being used to get the child to backtrack on their statement. They may bring up the good things they’ve done and turn it into a “woe is me” session to guilt trip the victim into thinking they were out of line, and that their hurt is lesser than the hurt their parent is feeling for being called out. This causes them to gaslight themself into apologizing or into comforting their abuser. 

This doesn’t just happen with parents to children though, and Juvia’s gaslighting in the grave scene is proof of that. She has guilt tripped and emotionally manipulated Gray into gaslighting himself on the severity of his own grief. He goes to comfort her because her manipulation and his own gaslighting has made him believe his grief is lesser, and her blushing and telling him he’s warm lets us know that she was never really guilty, she just wanted Gray to comfort and forgive her so that she had the go ahead to go right back to what she was doing to him before this. 

And by giving an affirmation like "you're warm", that could be read as her forgiving him, it's a positive affirmation that says that he's doing the correct thing by comforting her. So, in manipulating him into gaslighting himself, she doubles down on the manipulation by rewarding him for doing it. And, in a lot of cases of abuse, it's the moments of kindness and "love" that sew the seeds in a victim's head that what they're going through isn't actually abuse, because "they were nice to me this one time".

Therefore, it’s indirect gaslighting instead of direct gaslighting, both of which cause the person being gaslight to question something about their own reality, just in different ways, and contrary to popular belief, indirect gaslighting is more common than direct. 

So the gaslighting in the scene is Juvia’s fault because she manipulated Gray into gaslighting himself. That’s what really makes this Juvia so unforgivable in this scene for me, and is a big part of what cements her as an abuser in my mind.. It also just further cements that Gray is a victim, and it makes my heart hurt just thinking about it.