I’ve always loved the idea of Norman and Ray getting together during the search for Emma but not wanting to do much until they find Emma because they both love her as well and want her there. But I’m never sure how Emma losing her memories would said relationship and plans afterwords
Oooo Anon I don't know if you're the same person who sent this Norray ask but if you haven't read @salsae's (so what am I defending now?) I highly recommend it because I've essentially taken it as canon and reread it probably once a month.
Beautifully written with loving nuance, her work was (and still is <3) foundational for my interpretations of the trio when I first got into the series in 2021 and was searching for quality fanfic.
In regards to how Emma's memory loss would play into things, I think they'd all have good and bad days at first. A balance of being grateful they defied the odds to have a chance of creating a future they can be proud of together at all, of Emma being alive and well and living happily with Alex, of being reacquainted with all the things big and small that made them fall in love with her and having the opportunity to love new ones. Of reconnecting with these two boys who for reasons her mind can't explain but her heart knows without a shadow of a doubt feel like home.
(Chapter 180)
Of perceived selfish grief over wishing Emma would regain her memories when a confused look is thrown their way after they reference something from their childhood (isn't it enough that she's there?). Of self-doubt that she'll ever be able to live up to the Emma everyone loved or relearn the language she sees the boys communicate without words, of seeing what she believes is a brief flicker of hope die in everyone's eyes when she reminds them of all the little ways she's not her (is it more cruel they found her instead of being able to believe their Emma lives on somewhere in distant lands?), of anger over having those memories just within her reach only for her dreams to deny her each time.
But as the days turn to months and the months turn to years, things get better. The sentiments Emma shares in chapter 180 hold true.
HEY guys! Haven’t been here for ages, really, sorry :( I think I’ll try to use my art blog more in 2018. I haven’t posted much art, either, because this year I worked on a lot of zines (i think 9? woah!) so it’s just been previews galore. some notes:
- I think 2017 is the record for most completed pieces I did in a year! I did ~15 full artworks in May and finished 2 portfolios from scratch in a week each (Sheridan, OCAD) in FEB/MAR.
- I also did my first HUGE canvas piece this year that I sadly didn’t finish; it’s of my OCs.
- did NOT work on webcomic at all, oops. 2018 goal: do a comic, pls. you love panelling.
- I made a lot of technical progress in the first third of the year, then I really dropped the ball come summer.
- In the fall I realized that without knowing it, I’d taken a break from art. I hadn’t drawn except for zine deadlines in months. A little earlier, I decided I was taking a break from zines to focus on personal art. That didn’t really happen, and I was feeling a bit burnt out. After lots of internal conflict (I was in art school, finally, and I was taking a break?) I decided to not force myself to work on art and by November I’d comfortably slipped back into drawing in my sketchbook.
- I still haven’t found a stream-lined art process, though I’m happy with the lineless style I find myself comfortably slipping into. Lots of experimenting this year though—each zine piece I tried to experiment with something new, and I did! Zines really pushed me to do finished pieces.
- I’m really proud of JAN-MAY and I hope that in 2018 I return to that level of productivity!
- I learned to use cool colours for shadows (MARCH) then forgot then remembered again (NOV).
- Did a lot of pieces with open sky comps and negative spaces! (MAY, AUG, SEP)
- created my first washi tape design (AUG) + printed my first zine
- I TABLED again, and profitted more than last time! 2018 goal is to table again again
a LOT more OC/Original work this year; over half of what I created was OG content. Which I’m glad for! I really took a break from active fandom this year, I’m playing it by ear to see if I’ll be returning. Kiyoyachis are still going strong in my art though :’)
I get a lot more wordy in my notes every year, comp.ed to my 2015 summary , 2016 summary :’)
as always, im on twitter @salsaeatschips now! hope to post more next year, see you all. thank you for all your support <3 really couldn’t have done it without you
kuroo and bokuto are both early risers (despite bokuto’s owl-like tenancies he actually crashes at night v easily), and tsuki will get up if he has to, but akaashi sleeps like a goddamn log and it takes someone (usually bokuto) manhandling him + coffee to get him out of bed in the mornings.
kuro naps a lot tho when he can b/c he studies best l8 night when all his bfs are asleep (except mayb akaashi who stays up so he can read in the peace and quiet) and the two of them enjoy sharing the silence w/ each other, ear buds in.
but some lazy weekend mornings even though kuroo and bokuto hav already gotten up (and probably showered, mayb tgh) they’ll return to the bed and talk softly (or at least try) and keep tsuki from leaving the bed when he eventually wakes up so then when akaashi finally wakes up (around noon) they can all cuddle tgh in the warm afternoon light
someone always complains about akaashi’s morning breath (tsuki snuck out to brush his teeth)
I wanted to ask: what are your favorite norayemma fanfics? 👀👉👈
Ooo we will be here for a bit I love promoting fics that resonated with me so deeply and continue to shape my interpretation of the series (check out my TPN Fanfic tag for snippets to longer commentary in general), though I have yet to properly comment on some of them on AO3.
Beginning with one of the realest author's notes from @hylialeia:
Can you believe they invented OT3s 🖤🧡🤍
☆ This unnamed piece set during the timeskip by @p-s-geeks:
There is a flower in your pocket. It’s wild and medicinal. You’re familiar with it. You remember white bedsheets, a pleading whine, two pairs of hands embracing you, and the flower on your forehead, working more wonders that it was biologically capable of (it wasn’t the flower, you know). The flower currently in your pocket is probably in a worse state, has probably shriveled up and wilted after hours of being plucked. It weighs lighter than a feather but feels heavier than diamonds.
[…]
You unearth the flower from your pocket. Ray deserves to see this. Deserves to relive memories with you. And you kind of need him to. Right now, he’s the only one who’s been through thick and thin with you in majority of these trials and tribulations. He’s the only one who can look at it the way you look at it.
[…]
“It’s alright” Ray says, pressing himself closer to you. You hold onto him like he’s the last lifeline on a sinking boat. “It’s alright. You’re not alone. You never were alone”
You sleep listening to her gentle words in his gentle voice and it’s the deepest sleep you’ve gotten in a long time.
(You wake up to a beautiful orange sunrise. To limbs tangled around yours. To soft snores. To groaning and complaining about morning coming too early during summers. And the hole in your heart subdues itself. It doesn’t disappear, doesn’t stop panging, but you still smile in remembrance and hope.)
How all the little things build and build until they become so deafening, and how so much solace is able to be found in those small‚ tender exchanges on one quiet night, with Ray echoing simple yet loving words he learned from her so long ago that became etched into his being after Grace Field not only by her but through the actions‚ big and small‚ of their family as well (because family is so very integral to each of them). How at first orange is such a painful reminder and how it ends on a most radiant sunrise that's the true embodiment of Emma, giving them both the strength to continue onward.
☆ Everything in banana_slug_army's library. Too much to cite in one post, but here's her tag on here and me talking about the only kind of jealously I enjoy between them:
(I do subscribe to the headcanon of Norman having a pang of jealousy over how much time RE got to spend together before their reunion in the Paradise Hideout with how he tends to navigate extremes at that age, but it’s of a very specific variety. Seeing how close the Grace Field escapees have become during their near two years out in demon world and how that shared trauma brought them together could be a mixed bag for him, with the aching reminder that he wasn’t there with them, didn’t share those memories with them after a lifetime of being together, and the initial flare of jealously turns into shame over thinking it in the first place when 1) he’s mad at not being able to have been there with them‚ not at them, 2) how selfish it is to still want that when they already went through his death once and now will have to go through that a second time, and 3) he spent so long isolated and effectively helpless in his immediate circumstances while at Lambda and suffered for no justifiable reason that it manifests in a festering internal rage, which heartbreakingly can never be given a satisfactory answer…so basically banana_slug_army’s Interwoven lol)
☆ Everything in @salsae's TPN library. Again too much to cite but here's her tag on the blog, me gushing about (so what am I defending now?) aka the quintessential Norray-focused REN fic exploring NR's relationship nine months into the search for Emma, and me gushing about her canon-divergent REN wedding fic, to have and to hold (fanart here). I am constantly citing this snippet of defending and thinking about the flashback and dream sequences Shirai went back and added to the volume release of chapter 181.
☆ Speaking of wedding fics, @carnivorouswillgraham's w.a.m.s. gushing can be found here. Also the post that inspired the fic with my silly edit.
The softness she regards them with, almost proto-shoujo bubbles. 🖤🫧🧡🫧🤍
Norman, adorably, hesitating because he’s still grappling with latent feelings he can’t even begin to articulate about his friends, but at the forefront of them is how he unquestionably gravitates to them and is attune to all their little nuances.
Ray, heartbreakingly, hesitating because he’s grappling with the reality he’s beginning to comprehend and the crushing acceptance that he can’t save all his siblings as things stand now, and after already narrowing it down to just Emma and Norman, being faced with the question of if he could honestly live with himself if he chose one to save over the other. The conclusion he comes to further bolsters his resolve to confront Isabella in just a few short weeks, and foreshadows the devastation of Norman’s shipment after a lifetime of realization and meticulous planning.
Really like the quiet magnitude of this both for Emma and Norman’s blissful unawareness of the farm system’s horrors conceived for them and ofc from the future romantic perspective as being the core foundational tenant of REN. 🖤🧡🤍
☆ Last of the wedding-related fics but honeynpeaches' Between Your Fingers, Between the Lines also has the first portion of Ray's chapter dedicated to it so I'll use that as a segue (gushing found here). The third chapter exploring Emma's inner monologues throughout the course of the series remains unpublished, but the Norman and Ray chapters can be read as self-contained fics. Highly recommend it and frequently to go back to reread when I need to reground myself in their character foundations.
So many little nuances and call backs, profoundly beautiful.
Additional citation of snippets in this post and this post, as well as this post for Ray angst fic recommendations.
There are so many amazing passages in here, but the "[o]ften, those eyes are blue" line absolutely fucking wrecks me every time. How the cadence of that brevity lands on such a simple fact that now evokes so much sorrow when he used to have such warm and positive associations with those eyes. Windows to the soul and everything that made Norman Norman and what he loved about him.
And then the often referenced celestial symbolism of him as the stars of the trio (to Emma's sun and Norman's moon), but a less romanticized, more viscerally horrifying perspective on it.
☆ As the Crow Flies by Goldfish_Writes I've talked about in more depth here. I'm not very big on full genre AUs, with my usual thoughts being "I consider the characters' personalities inherently shaped by the narrative itself. If you remove them from those circumstances they cease to be the same characters anymore, and I grew attached to them in part because of the circumstances they found themselves in; I got attached to this story." I'm also not very big soulmate AUs as they seem to miss more than they hit for me. But I am a big fan of REN, and I'm interested in seeing where this fantasy story goes.
The pre-established Noremma is absolutely delightful. Another thing thing I've mentioned before is my dislike of Norman being extremely uncharacteristically nebbish or aggressively confident and suave when pursuing relationships that' works in tandem's usually packaged with Emma becoming bizarrely demure. Again, I understand the appeal of stock scenarios, but it's not something I enjoy reading for them. I adore when they reach this level of knowing, playful banter with an underlying thrum of challenge, bred of familiarity at which boundaries can be teasingly skirted and which are low blows and off-limits, and founded on them being equals (after both of them, to different degrees, placed each other on pedestals).
☆ home by 81194, featuring a classic scenario of Ray, a dumbass, trying so so hard to lie to himself about his feelings for NE and failing spectacularly throughout a series of snippets before the two take matters into their own hands.
i think emma wouldn’t have been so spontaneous if she hadn’t been sure of how everything would go. things always go her way when she’s involved, after all… i love her sm.
Very much in agreement on Emma's respectful tenacity and ambition on these matters lol
☆ A Relatively Brief Reflection on Cognitive Dissonance by ribbontype is a wonderful character study of Norman up to the trio's reunion in chapter 121 executed through exquisite, deft prose, allowing one to easily luxuriate in its flow and imagery.
The way they make him whole and reaffirm his resolve to damn destiny itself. <3
☆ Tethered by SuddenWhispers is a beautifully written fic beginning during the human world arc and continuing past canon as the cast navigate what living truly means in the human world, along with what Emma regaining her memories could mean for the new promise.
Also some Ray and Barbara and Cislo interactions with the latter two acting as mentor figures to the former encouraging him on one of his weaker fronts of advocating for his wants, hello??
☆ the ambiguity of belonging by Kiss_Kiss is another post-canon fic that's smaller in scope but no less rewarding of a read with its quiet and desperate moments of vulnerability between the trio reaffirming how much they mean to each other.
Also not only is the handwave of Lambda sickness done away with for Norman, but it also touches upon what the difficulties of losing one's ear entails for Emma, something I rarely if ever see.
☆ Finally, hoping you're someone i used to know by @hylialeia
A post-canon fic delivered in gorgeous lyrical cadence. Such loving attention is paid to sentence composition that the words aren't merely a means to an end, but a reflection of a deep appreciation for both these characters and the craft itself, the weight of them meant to be lingered over and savored. Always a treat when you can find a fic like this in a fandom.
do you have any norray headcannons of them growing closer during the search for emma?
☆ First my required hyping of @salsae's (so what am I defending now?) because I've essentially taken it as canon. Beautifully written with loving nuance, her work was (and still is <3) foundational for my interpretations of the trio when I first got into the series in 2021 and was searching for quality REN works.
☆ I also really love this unnamed piece by @p-s-geeks:
There is a flower in your pocket. It’s wild and medicinal. You’re familiar with it. You remember white bedsheets, a pleading whine, two pairs of hands embracing you, and the flower on your forehead, working more wonders that it was biologically capable of (it wasn’t the flower, you know). The flower currently in your pocket is probably in a worse state, has probably shriveled up and wilted after hours of being plucked. It weighs lighter than a feather but feels heavier than diamonds.
[…]
You unearth the flower from your pocket. Ray deserves to see this. Deserves to relive memories with you. And you kind of need him to. Right now, he’s the only one who’s been through thick and thin with you in majority of these trials and tribulations. He’s the only one who can look at it the way you look at it.
[…]
“It’s alright” Ray says, pressing himself closer to you. You hold onto him like he’s the last lifeline on a sinking boat. “It’s alright. You’re not alone. You never were alone”
You sleep listening to her gentle words in his gentle voice and it’s the deepest sleep you’ve gotten in a long time.
(You wake up to a beautiful orange sunrise. To limbs tangled around yours. To soft snores. To groaning and complaining about morning coming too early during summers. And the hole in your heart subdues itself. It doesn’t disappear, doesn’t stop panging, but you still smile in remembrance and hope.)
How all the little things build and build until they become so deafening, and how so much solace is able to be found in those small‚ tender exchanges on one quiet night, with Ray echoing simple yet loving words he learned from her so long ago that became etched into his being after Grace Field not only by her but through the actions‚ big and small‚ of their family as well (because family is so very integral to each of them). How at first orange is such a painful reminder and how it ends on a most radiant sunrise that’s the true embodiment of Emma, giving them both the strength to continue onward.
☆ This is when they start antiquing together since they're already traveling all over the world, spotting little shops with hidden treasures.
↳ Tying in another headcanon of mine that they find and fix up a duplicate of the music box Isabella gifted Emma for her sixth birthday, I debate whether they find it before or after finding her.
(Mystic Code Book Chapter 1 Q&A | Questionnaire Translation Source)
☆ They also find a vintage chess set and start having matches again. The win totals remain close.
↳ They find it comforting how after so long the other still has the same subtle quirks to how they play, hold and move the pieces. When one takes a bit longer to make a move and the other glances up to see the tiniest familiar tick, it can be hard to stop that warmth from blooming in their heart.
↳ Sometimes the younger kids will watch them play and want to join in. These matches tend to take longer, but they don't mind. The sight of the other gently coaching and encouraging the children leaves them so very fond.
☆ This actually applies to any situation where they're tending to the kids since they're both very family-oriented. Reading them bedtimes stories, helping them with projects or lessons, Ray showing the kids how to cook, etc. He was never cruel or malicious toward them back at the house:
(Chapter 8 | 9 | 15 | 22)
But seeing Ray being able to openly express his fondness for their family without having to maintain a cool detachment and air of indifference heals Norman's heart some. Similarly, seeing Norman fall back into caring for the kids without the mantle of Minerva weighing on his shoulders does the same for Ray.
(so what am I defending now?)
☆ To plug another of sae's fics, when the two end up on dish cleaning duty together it's not uncommon for this to play out:
(to have and to hold)
☆ In a similar vein, in the winter sometimes Ray tells Norman to hold for a second so he can fix his scarf. Norman, in a light and breezy tone, tells him he doesn't have to worry about him, you know? Ray responds with a tch, saying he worries about everyone, in the way he keeps watch and frets in a nurturing way about the rest of their family. The way his fingers linger ever so briefly on the fabric followed with a light pat over Norman's heart to signal he's done hint otherwise.
☆ It's funny watching them get roped into something like a Mario Kart tournament because they don't trash talk each other at all, but they will get insanely intense with the trajectory of their green shells, banana peel placements, snaking, etc., all while keeping relatively calm exteriors.
↳ It's also funny to see Norman be a sore loser in his own way.
☆ Whether it's at one of the Ratri estates or while they're out on another search, if one wakes up in the middle of the night and can't find the other, their first guesses are to check outside or a spot in the establishment they noted earlier as a good vantage point to see the stars. Sometimes they converse, sometimes they don't, but they appreciate each other's company as their minds drift to whether Emma is looking up at the speckled sky, too.
☆ I love how often people will ignore Lambda illness being largely handled and resolved in order to go for some no-brainer hurt/comfort. After waking up from some of the worst bouts of it to even some of the more mild ones where he didn't have to be hospitalized, Norman seeing Ray calmly reading at his bedside or dozing off himself is a welcomed sight.
↳ Combining with an earlier bullet point but I also really like the imagery of them being out on a nature excursion/picnic with Norman having to deal with a milder attack, and after reassuring everyone that he's fine and encouraging them to go off and play while he rests a bit, it whittles down to just him and Ray sitting under the shade of a tree, space left for a third. Watching their family indulge in such mirth without fear of a future cut short, they know even with the lows that have come before and could come again, when they find Emma, they'll be able to genuinely tell her they've been well.
REN enthusiasts have been blessed with some absolute gems of fanfics that I've adopted as my own personal canon on this topic, making me very fond of Emma learning about weddings from the books' in Grace Field's library and immediately thinking of course she and her two best friends should have one. They've been inseparable since she arrived at the house, and she can't imagine her days without either of them, so the only solution is for all three of them to marry each other.
I adore the way Ray's chapter of Between Your Fingers, Between the Lines by honeynpeaches opens when he's around six years old and Emma dropping flower crowns on the boys' heads, declaring they'll be wed that very day.
Everything about this little snapshot is perfect. Emma walking onto the scene framed in the imagery of a halo. Norman being an adorably smitten baby going on the fritz for the first few minutes of the entire conversation. Ray being an amalgam of emotions held together with a rubber band on the verge of snapping. His reaction to Emma's quick and casual defiance of whatever she deems arbitrary is a wonderful blend of comedic and heartbreaking. The pure frustration at her flippancy born out of a deep and endearing love that trumps his fear of the whatever consequences result from confronting Isabella.
But he sees how Emma and Norman smile, and he can’t deny them. He’s never been able to. Not really. Not when it matters most…He’d give anything for them, and he already knows it.
Down to the more minute gestures of Norman moving to calm Ray after he's calmed himself down in a familiar, reassuring rhythm
(Chapter 28 Bonus Comic about Chapter 14's flashback)
with the gentle placement of his hand over the other boy's, and Emma taking his other hand to move close to her heart to subconsciously convey how much it would mean to her to be able to reify their bond through such a ceremony, even if it's only pretend.
For how their play wedding goes, I love what @carnivorouswillgraham does in w.a.m.s. that I've already gushed about here
But aaah do I love the idea of the music box Emma received from Isabella as her gift being the musical accompaniment to their ceremony.
(Mystic Code Book Chapter 1 Q&A)
In addition to them just all being adorable little babies enjoying the chance to recreate such an important ceremony between all three of them, even if just pretend.
Baby Ray going through an existential crisis but still trying to be present for his bffs/soon-to-be spouses and genuinely finding some solace in these moments with them that will solidify his resolve to confront Isabella in just a few days.
Just continue to fucking gut me.
For adulthood, I'm half and half of whether they'd have one, but if they do and Emma regains her memories, I imagine it playing out very similar to how it does in @salsae's to have and to hold, which I've gushed about a bit already here.
All of their friends and family gathered together at one of their homes or whichever quiet venue could accommodate such a large gathering, some of their siblings walking them down the aisle as Nat plays the piano, Emma in relaxed summer attire befitting or her kind and free spirit, incorporating the paper cups as part of the vows and the galaxying braining of turning it into a REN thing rather than solely an NE one, the trio taking turns crying out of joy (because ofc they can't all cry at the same time), Ray somehow getting roped into catering his own fucking wedding…it all comes together in such a beautifully brilliant way that I can't really think of anything to be altered except Alex walking Emma down the aisle.
If Emma doesn't regain her memories, I'd still imagine something similar playing out with it being a lowkey event in someone's backyard, but there's less chance of Ray prioritizing getting NE together separate from him (for a while) because in his mind they're forever classified as a matching set that he's not a part of
(2020 Exhibition Interview)
And more of a chance of them officially getting together as a trio to start off due to both the search for Emma leading Norman and Ray to grow closer in her absence (while holding off on progressing further in a relationship until reunited with their third) and then all three of them navigating her memory loss.
What sort of occupation do you think Norman would like?
Because I 100% agree he should not be a CEO
[Offshoot of this post]
I'm very biased by @officersnickers and @salsae and either see him as a doctor of some sort (default to pediatrician) or a university professor/researcher. Something that can incorporate his affinity for mathematics and science, provide him with mental stimulation and challenges, and allow him to achieve recognition on a global stage if he so desires without throwing away his empathy and humanity.
I feel like that last element is a big thing for a lot of people given what he went through at Lambda. The worst year and some odds month of his life had him isolated away from his family in a cage, alone, and he suffered greatly for it.
It's an idea that's illustrated so poignantly in the chapter 128 cover art. Ray has become so much warmer and devoted to his friends and family after being afforded the chance to hope "for a future that is like a dream" and to care for them openly under Emma's tutelage, heart a wellspring of love and empathy. They're all shaping each other while he's left to wither, and the cunning and ruthlessness that save him almost lead him to a point irrevocable (by the narrative's standards; for some, he passes it).
(Chapter 181.4)
It's hard to ascertain what capacity a CEO operates in in this future, what ethical standards there are and what boundaries he sets for himself on top of the vast range of industries they dabble in, but that he's tied up in it at all with all the negative connotations surrounding the role and potential exploitation involved after overturning fate itself and restructuring a world order leaves a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths, even with the simplicity and flexibility it affords in explaining away financial woes.
With a doctor, teacher, or any career without that level of baggage, there's the opportunity for him to incorporate his interests and be met with engaging challenges while simultaneously tempering that ruthlessness via establishing interpersonal relationships and working toward a collective, communal good. The possibilities for him are endless, but that's what I like for him since he holds Emma as his guiding star.
(Chapter 14)
For Emma, I've seen multiple instances of her being a teacher, especially one who works with young children due to how wonderful she is at understanding and empathizing with people, but she also has the tenacity to become a political activist or some other role of leadership.
(salsae's to have and to hold and these hands could hold the world)
Like Norman, anything that gets her actively involved in the wider world for a communal or societal good and allows her to flourish works for me.
For Ray, I have such a big soft spot for him being a librarian and rekindling his childhood love of reading under kinder circumstances and sharing it with future generations, but with his aptitude for science that Shirai mentions in the mystic code book and we see crop up throughout the story
(Chapter 137)
there's a lot of possibilities for him too, though out of the trio I feel he'd be the least likely one to entertain the spotlight.
(Chapter 181.4)
But maybe an architect who blends art and science together to construct a community given one of the things he wanted to do in the human world with his family was see the Sagrada Família (another one influenced by Snickers).
Interestingly, I've yet to stumble across any fanfics or headcanons where he becomes a professional chef, and I wonder how much of that is a shared sentiment of viewing cooking as part of his love language that he'd rather stay personal, something he only does for his friends and family rather than making a career out of it.
(banana_slug_army's The Language of Cooking)
While also unlearning bit by bit the idea etched into his psyche after years as Isabella's spy that love is always transactional.
