#avatar arc

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

WE DID IT RANGSHI FANSSSSS!!!!!

RANGI'S COMING TO THE GAME!!!! \TT0TT/

[and-the-rest-of-the-universe]

When Natsu, Lucy, and Happy bust into Avatar and fuck up Gray’s cover, he calls Erza and reports a “Code Blue… no, no, not that kind.”

We can gather “Code Blue” means someone blew Gray’s cover. But it’s not the Code Blue Erza expects. So what—or who—did Erza expect when Gray called a Code Blue?

Well, who do we know who has a special affinity for tracking down Gray Fullbuster? Anyone with, say, blue hair?

When Gray went into this mission, Erza insisted they not tell Juvia about it for her safety. And then they sat down and came up with a protocol for the scenario where Juvia, left high and dry, freaked and tracked him down to make sure he was okay because that’s totally something she would’ve done had she not adamantly held onto the faith that he would come home (and she was right! he would’ve come back after his mission was done it just took longer than expected and then got disrupted… and she tracked him down anyway, Natsu just beat her to it because she was sick). 😭

Now I’m thinking about the alternate timeline where Juvia goes storming Avatar in search of her beloved and Gray stressing the fuck out because she just walked into the middle of a death cult. I can’t imagine he’d play mind games with Juvia like he did with Lucy and the others. I like to think he’d expose himself immediately in order to protect her from the Avatar wizards.

[sun-stricken]

I hope this isn’t too much of a bother but do you have any hcs abt grays time in avatar? Cannon is frustratingly vague about his time there. Have a nice day!

i totally thought i responded to this days ago holy shit its been a minute

I havent read or watched the avatar arc in forever, and refuse to do it again so i played it a bit fast and loose with the dynamic

This gets a bit dark, just a little forewarning

* if you asked the mages that shared his time at avatar, Gray had earned the reputation of someone callous and cold and untouchable, who didnt get his hands dirty

* he used more charismatic techniques to obtain information, or fear, but it was rare to see him physically harm them

* If you asked Gray about his time in avatar, he wouldn’t give you a straight answer, if he gave one at all

* Avatar knew who he was, for an undercover mission he wasnt under a whole lot of cover. He was sent in as himself, his “cover/backstory” was a lot of half truths and a warped narrative

* He climbed through the ranks faster than expected, which caused a lot of rumors and speculation, such as maybe the ‘Higher Ups’ were so enthralled by an ex-light guid member turning over they rushed him through, or he did something so heinous they were impressed, or maybe he slept with them

* there were a lot of rumors.

* Of course, most arent true, Gray just had more to offer than the average person

* In most dark guilds / cults there are ‘trials’ of sort to prove someone loyalty, hazings of sorts

* He had to go through them ten times over

* It lasted weeks, around a quarter of the time spent at Avatar was his ‘initiation’

* There were certain points where Gray thought they might actually break him

* He refused to use his ice-make magic during his time in Avatar, he couldnt bear using Urs magic for something like this

* He developed these piercing migraines from his eyes constantly darting around his surrounding, and he rarely slept

* Avatar wasnt a inherently paranoid guild, but it was protective and unrelenting, being caught as a traitor was terms for a public violent execution

* There were two other alleged traitors in Grays time there, when they were accused they were tortured and executed in front of the entire ‘guild’

* and he wouldn’t allow himself to even twitch in case that set his own death in motion, It just served to further his reputation

* He never told Erza about this.

* Despite his reputation, the untouchable aura he gave off proved attractive to some people, they thinking being seen fraternizing with someone like him would earn them some respect, and given some of the rumors surrounding him, they thought he would reciprocate

* He didnt, for obvious reasons, and he often left the more handsy and assertive with frostbite and frozen to the ground for hours

* He had bi-weekly check-ins with Erza so he could relay his and their progress and so she could gauge his mental state; Gray gave her watered down versions of the things hed seen and endured during the months he was there unless it pertained to what she needed to close the operation

* He and Erza had a system where he would call her and she would help him smuggle out any victims Avatar took for information or as a message

* He had killed once while in Avatar, it was a man they were ‘interrogating’ who couldn’t provide anymore information and they couldnt just let him go, so they entrusted Gray taking care of him while they watched, it was a test to see if he would, it was as fast and humane as killing someone can be but he will never ‘get over’ it

* He can still remember exactly how he looked, how he sounded, down to the smallest detail

* That was what almost broke him

* He didnt draw it out, it was fast and clean, which was another reason for his ‘doesn’t get his hands dirty’ reputation

* He tried to live by the ‘the ends justify the means’ principle, he survived Avatar by doing what he had to, regardless of what that was that was

* He tried so hard to help himself cope with it, but he just couldnt no matter how hard he tried

* Even though he acted annoyed when the rest of his team burst into Avatar and tore down his whole operation, he was relieved, so fucking relieved he didnt have to stay any longer

* The transition after Avatar was, for lack of a better term, fucking terrible. there was a lot of panic and guilt and paranoia and dissociating to get him through it

* He trained his instincts to act to the slightest trouble, which would be fine considering every movement towards him before was trouble

* But hes back with his friends now, with the people who wouldnt hurt him. So instead of being proud of his reflexes all he feels is panic and guilt

* Gray was constantly searching for an exit and always kept one open and in sight, and would forget he was with safe people and lash out if they blocked one

* Months following the reformation of Fairy Tail held a lot of blanks for Gray, his brain in an attempt to finally protect him would have him go on autopilot, dissociate. He did this a lot early on after Deloria but he thought he ‘grew out of it’, clearly not

* His sleep got even worse after Avatar, he thought the familiar environment would help him but it only made him more on edge

* He knew what could happen to them if he let himself sleep at the guild, the thought of something happening while was taking a fucking nap was nauseating enough that his brain wouldn’t let him let his guard down enough to feel tired

* And sleeping at home was out of the question completely, if a dark mage decided tonight was the night for vengeance against him for tearing apart their cult, how could he defend himself if he was asleep?

* This was fine for a while, but when the adrenaline crash of no longer actually needing to be on guard 24/7 and the weeks of no more than half an hour (involuntary) naps caught up to him, it caught hard

* i mean, it was brutal, collapsed at the first moment of relative peace he came across, it felt almost like withdrawal, with a lot of sleeping

* in some ways he feels so fucking angry and almost betrayed by Erza for asking him to go undercover for her, for making him go through everything he did. But he knows if he didnt its possible she wouldve, and he would do it all over again if it meant that wouldnt happen.

* In other way, hes angry at himself for letting himself get to this point, for letting them break something in him like they did.

* He’ll realistically never be able to go back to before, never be able to trust people, his friends, truly and without reservation again

i hate the avatar arc sometimes but it provides such good material

[in-your-reflection]

I'M REALLY LIKING THIS WHOLE "EXPLORING" THING. I ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE WHAT THE WORLD WAS LIKE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOMEONE LIVING IN IT.

ANY IDEAS WHERE I SHOULD GO NEXT? DOESN'T HAVE TO SPECIFICALLY BE IN SINNOH

[gralunaisland]

Honestly, Juvia is one of the most boring characters I've ever seen. She is an extremely shallow character and her development is nonexistent. There is nothing to her besides her lust for Gray.

juvia is Nothing Without her Lust for Gray

I agree with you very much, Anon. You really put it perfectly. she just brings nothing to the table but toxicity and a stagnant character.

Like you said, she's shallow. she judges everyone at face value (especially women, whom she always assumes the worst of). she also doesn't ever try to understand other people and always misinterprets Gray's intentions and thoughts even though it would be so, so easy to understand him because she actually doesn't care about him; she only cares about what juvia wants.

As for your comment about how her development doesn't exist, I just made a post about that here where I parse some instances where Pros might say that juvia has had character growth and debunk them. she never grows as a person and also basically forces everyone around her to change to accommodate her antics and toxicity, like Erza and Gray, both of whom had their characters decidedly retconned to, for the former, encourage juvia's disgusting pursuit of Gray, and for the latter, return juvia's affection in a similarly manic manner, neither of which makes any sense for their true characters.

I've said it a dozen times, but juvia is a satellite character, and does not exist without Gray. You are very right when you say there is nothing to her except her lust for Gray, because if you take that away, she's an empty husk that stops functioning, as seen in the Avatar arc.

Plus, if you think about it, it's her lust for Gray that drives every action she takes. It was the only reason she decided to "become good", as she never actually tries to make amends or even just apologize to the FT guild for what she'd done after the Phantom Lord arc. That means all of her supposed "character growth" literally hinges only on Gray. You bet if he turned evil she'd be right at his side (like in the Daphne arc).

And if it ever seems like she's doing something for the good of the Fairy Tail guild, think again! she's only helping out the guild that her snookums attends; if he left, she wouldn't spare them another thought. This is made apparent by her taking his side in the, again, Daphne Arc, as well as her ditching everyone and not caring about them because she got to follow and harass Gray just the two of them after the disbandment of FT. You also see that in how she treats the other guild members and how she didn't try at all during the GMG.

All in all, I really don't have to add more here. juvia's suckiness speaks for itself, and I've been talking about this subject quite often lately. Anyway, Anon, thank you for your patience (so sorry for taking so long to get to answering you) and for sending an awesome ask!

[sojourner-between-worlds]

While I'm thinking about Fairy Tail, now I gotta rant...just a touch. Besides the lack-luster ending, there's just so many things that were dropped or not explored to their fullest potential that definitely still could have been in the final arc if Mashima hadn't been so intent on getting to the end so he could start on his FT Space AU, aka Eden's Zero, instead. And, yes, I know there's some kind of sequel coming at some point, but honestly I doubt it will bring up any of these things (partly because some of them it just... feels too late to bring up again.)

There are definitely more than just these, but I haven't dedicatedly watched since before it finished airing and these are the things that came to mind in rewatching the Galuna Island and Avatar arcs of things that are just. never explained. at all:

Demons are more common than people obviously realize and not all of them are just giant rampaging monsters. After Galuna, this is never brought up again.

What. is the black stuff. on Gray. Like, it's an obvious side effect of his Demon Slaying Power Up, but it's just never actually explained. At all. What is it? How did he get it under control? What even was there to get under control that was causing that???? Also. Left out of the anime (iirc) but present in the manga: the eye thing. Happened once, never brought up ever again. I have. So many questions.

The other 17 gods and the god slayers. During the Avatar arc, Erza comments that the one summoned is one of 18. This is never brought up again. Also just. everything to do with god slayers. Nothing is ever explained or expounded on. They're just. there.

Aaaaand here's a bonus two things he really could have just. done better on. and completely missed a golden opportunity:

That one year gap? Could have taken the time to make Juvia into less of a creepy stalker, but NOPE. No character development in sight. For real, if she had ever stopped being creepy then maybe I could have shipped it, but after a while it wasn't even just enduring anymore. It was annoying. And that one-year skip could have taken the opportunity to fix that. They lived together for six months. That absolutely could have been enough time for her take off those rose-colored glasses and get to him better. But Nope. Still just Creepy.

I will give Mashima the benefit of the doubt on this one because maybe he was planning more for this, but also... wouldn't it have been better to never bring in god slayers and instead use that as set up for demon slayers instead? Like, god slayers are never really utilized, and Gray is the only known demon slayer (besides his dad, of course). The GMG arc could have been good set up for Gray instead of bringing up more Questions about a sub-set of mages that are never answered. (Again, hindsight is 20/20, I can give him the benefit of the doubt that maybe he was planning more for them at the time and maybe hadn't even thought up demon slayers yet, so.)

[gruviasilversblog]

I have a new fanfic in mind (new in the sense of writing, because I've pinned it for a long time) and a fic that I had already thought about writing a long time ago, then a comment on a chapter of my fic "Team B (For Badass )" convinced me even more. Thanks anon!

The plot is this: Jellal speaks seriously and scolds Gray and Erza for what happened with Avatar and for not trusting Juvia and her abilities as a sorceress. A kind of AU, then I'll explain everything in the author's notes when I write it.

My problem and what do I want from you? Simple! I can't find a title! No ideas! Please help me! I'm going crazy! It's really bad when you have a complete story but you miss the title which is one of the most important things!

[fire-keys-and-wings]

Natsu and Lucy moments - Chapter 429