tozette. (archiveofourown.org/users/Tozette)
I post bits of fics and about whatever I'm doing, and I have really loud opinions.
they/them. regrettably, an adult.
(I no longer have any idea if I'm older or younger than various of my followers and at this point I'm scared to find out. please don't follow this blog if you're under 18. I block people who promote harassment or self harm. I report all fundraiser asks for spam. ✌️)
Sometimes I feel like tumblr would be improved by a text-to-speech function that makes you listen to your own text read aloud before you confirm you really want to post it.
When it comes to social media, I think any sort of infinite-scroll, algorithm-mediated content delivery system designed to extend engagement is deleterious to your wellbeing.
I know I'm not alone in this opinion, but occasionally I do run into people who disagree.
Bleach time travel thoughts (again) (again again) (sighs). Have I shown you this?
--
"I'm not sure how close to Seireitei you'll end up," Urahara said, painting more of the blood and ink mixture over Ichigo's skin. "You could even end up in Hueco Mundo, although it's not likely..." Around them, several battered machines glittered with lights and hummed ominously. Ichigo recognised that one of them seemed built around a crumpled car door, but the other components were beyond him.
"Worry about getting me back there, geta-boushi. I'll figure the rest out," Ichigo promised.
Outside, blue lightning flared and another of Aizen's improved hollows howled. The walls rattled.
Ichigo chewed his bottom lip. It felt wrong, sitting restlessly here while others fought to keep them safe.
Urahara looked up, eyes clear and lucid beneath his hat. "Ichigo-kun, you'll be stuck there permanently. I know it will seem like you're all alone and killing Aizen is all that matters —"
"Isn't it?"
"...Yes. But no. If it goes right, you'll have plenty of time. If you rush in and kill a respected shinigami officer, you'll wind up executed — or buried in Muken."
"Right. Okay. So I'll prove he's experimenting on people first, then just kill him if it doesn't work," Ichigo agreed.
Neither of them was concerned that Ichigo might be unable to kill Aizen prior to his merging with the hogyoku. Pitting Ichigo as he was now against Aizen as he'd been a hundred and twenty years ago — in direct combat — would be like using a flamethrower to kill ants.
Unsurprisingly, Aizen had been at pains not to fight much of anyone until he'd gotten half the officers in the Gotei-13 kicked out and the other half under the thrall of his zanpakuto.
"If you really can't prove anything, wait until he's a captain and challenge him for the position." Urahara hastily put aside his brush. The mineral scent of the ink and the rusty tang of the blood combined in the air as they dried on Ichigo's bare skin.
"You can do that?" Ichigo wondered.
"Technically, trial by combat is one way to become a captain," Urahara said, turning away and rummaging through his drawers. "It would be frowned upon outside of the Eleventh, but it's always legal to challenge a captain in front of his division and kill him."
"Any captain? Even Kuchiki-taichou?"
"My, Ichigo-kun," Urahara said breezily, "I didn't realise you held such homicidal feelings towards Byakuya-kun still — "
"That's not why."
"— but he'll be quite young, back when you're going. Here —" He turned back to Ichigo and dropped two things in his hands: a dark glass jar and a worn coin purse in a familiar shade of green. "I'm sorry to say that I don't keep much hard currency in the Living World."
"Is this your wallet? I can't —" He paused. Met Urahara's grave eyes. He could, actually. Awkwardly, he said, "Well... thanks."
Outside, someone screamed. It wasn't a hollow this time.
They didn't break eye contact for a long second, and then Ichigo looked at the jar in his other hand. "What's this?"
Urahara shook his head. "It might help. It might not. It might not even survive the journey. I haven't had as much time as I'd like..." Unsettled, he tugged on the brim of his hat. "Release it when you arrive. But don't expect much."
So those were the resources he could count on: a little money and some unspecified Urahara-thing that may or may not work. And his wits and his zanpakuto and his own indomitable will, of course.
"Don't even worry about it." Ichigo set his shoulders and lifted his chin. "I've got it."
Responsibility fell over him like a familiar cloak.
"I really believe you do." Urahara's eyes were so soft.
Something cracked outside, and for a second the wall shook so dramatically that daylight showed through its slats.
Urahara put his hands on the bloody ink. His reiatsu rose, filling the room with a deep, familiar thrum. Around them, the machines began to whir and chug. "With any luck, this future will never even come to exist."
And neither, Ichigo assumed, would any of the people who inhabited it. Another flash of crackling blue light outside told him that Ryuuken and Uryuu had not yet tired. Not yet. Not quite.
Without Aizen, without White, there would be no meeting between Masaki and Isshin. Ryuuken's engagement would progress as designed. There would be no Uryuu — and no Ichigo, either.
And they were snipping a century off the lives of everyone else.
"Ready?" Urahara's face was strained and his eyes were grave.
Unbidden and fleeting, he remembered Urahara facing Yammy in that sunlit park, so many years ago — a bulwark between Ichigo and destruction. He owed a lot to his friends and mentors.
Now, that would never happen.
Ichigo stared right back into his eyes. He tried to fix them in his memory. Six different things warred for supremacy in the space between his mind and his mouth.
None of them came out.
"Ready as I'll ever be," he said, heart thundering in his chest.
"Aa." Urahara tilted his head. "Bon voyage, Ichigo-kun." The spell fired. Light bloomed.
Time stopped. Everything froze, so that the world was a still image. Even the sounds of battle fell silent.
Then the colours started to run. Then, a moment later, shapes and sounds, too. It started slow, like cold honey, a bleeding of form and a confusion of sound. He could smell blood, ink, perfume, burning plastic, hot metal and lavender. It hastened, until colours and shapes were whirling past, until he could taste Urahara's reiryoku — reality in a blender.
Ichigo's stomach flipped. He couldn't breathe. Nausea fell upon him like an anvil.
His vision went spotty, then dark.
--
A century earlier, Urahara Kisuke woke up to the sound of his own voice.
"Moshi moshi!" it said cheerfully, "Past Urahara Kisuke-san, are you there?"
He didn't answer, but it continued apace, apparently prerecorded. "If this recording is playing then it is because my improved hell butterfly worked a planned and it has found you alone. We should be very impressed with ourself!"
He squinted in the darkness and spotted it immediately: a pale shape with soft dusty wings, as big as his fist and faintly opalescent.
It was not, he thought, a threat, but it was very interesting that it had his own voice, his own tone, his own inflection...
"It can't say this more than once, so listen closely. Next week, Yoruichi-san will spring the captain's exam on you..."
------
(that's the end of the excerpt)
I like the idea of Urahara giving us past!Urahara as a pre-made ally to Ichigo. Having past!Urahara needing to adapt to the, um, you know, Ichigoness, seems like it could be very funny, and also very fun.
So, I have a really (worryingly) busy week this week, and I got up earlier today to get my jogging out of the way so I can come home and sleep after work.
But then I did my little jog and I showered and ate breakfast and now... I would like to stay sitting down... I don't want to get up for work...
No... :(
I could just curl up on the floor here and take a little nap...
I went to a leather tooling class yesterday evening! It was way too short to cover everything and I think it's the kind of skill you need to practice 6 million times to get good at, but it was still fun. I made a moderately ugly bookmark, haha.
Yes, you read that right. Normally, this would be our ninth year (NINTH 🫨🫨🫨) of UraIchi Week, but after nine years, some of us are getting burned out. Still love the ship but no longer as crazy about it as when we first started. But we still wanted to continue hosting events here, and of course, there are still people actively creating fanworks for UraIchi, which is why we decided to expand this year to include all of Bleach. Basically, the idea is that you can write anything you want, but it must include Urahara Kisuke/&Kurosaki Ichigo in some way. Naturally, that means you can still focus on UraIchi as your main ship, but you can also write for other characters or ships and make UraIchi a side or background ship. So long as they're a thing that exists in your fanwork, you're good.
As always, there is no sign-up, and everybody can participate. Completed works and WIPs are both acceptable, and any type of fanwork (fanfic, fanart, gifsets, fanvids, etc.) is welcome, though with this year's prompts in particular, this event does skew more towards fanfic. NSFW and/or potentially trigger-y content is allowed, but please remember to tag your works properly.
Posting:
Bleach Week 2026 ft. UraIchi is hosted here on Tumblr and on AO3. For posts on Tumblr, remember to ping @uraichievents and tag #Bleach Week 2026 ft. UraIchi (the ping is more important though, as I don't always check the tag). For AO3, you can add your work(s) to the collection linked up above. It will open on July 13th.
Prompts:
This year, we're going with alternative formats, spin-the-wheel style!
Spin the Wheel -> Get Your Prompt -> Create a Fanwork in That Format
As per usual, prompts aren't mandatory, they're just for inspiration, and it's a fun twist on the more common writing formats. The prompts we have in the wheel are also just what the mods came up with, so if you think of something else, feel free to go with that as well.
That should be it! Looking forward to seeing what people come up with!
For the past several weeks, I've done a Sunday night meal prep phonecall with a mate. But tonight I was done early, so I exposed them to my personality and read two of the gayest scenes in Villette aloud while they finished up their bolognaise.
I wanted to go jogging before breakfast, but I procrastinated so hard that "go jogging before breakfast" turned into "skip breakfast, go jogging," instead.
Jogging before breakfast is fine, but jogging without breakfast is bullshit and makes you feel like rubbish.
Episode 141... is the one where Orihime writes a sad letter and cries about her kidnapping. I do like the idea that by making her feel complicit in her abduction Ulquiorra ensures compliance, but otherwise... I dunno, Orihime's character is really on a downward trajectory here.
Oh yeah, episode 127 is the one where Urahara goes 'Inoue is a liability on the battlefield and someone has to tell her and it might as well be me!' and then she goes and gets Battle Fairy Tsubaki fixed anyway.
I previously recall thinking this was unfair, or, that, like, Urahara (and Ishida, who also says she's desperately unsuited for battle) weren't giving her much credit. Buuuut having revisited this series and her character... I also think she should stay home. Unfortunately, I agree with Urahara. I think it's incredible how utterly unambitious she is.
Oh no, I used to like her so much. Now I'm like. So sad about her. Oh, Orihime. :(
---
And then. 128–137 is ✨more filler✨.
I'm honestly looking for the episode where Luppi shows up this evening. It must be in here somewhere!
Off to 138 now.
---
Episode 138
Okay, well, we open with the most nasal opening song in the world. Unfortunate. Skipping that.
Arrancar!!!!!! Oh, good, Luppi is in this one. That's useful. I have forgotten everything I used to know about him. Why is Grimmjow still invited to the espada meetings, I wonder. Is it just that Aizen likes to fuck with him? Surely it must be this.
Shinji is staring at the sky like he's waiting for his feelings to come back from the war while Lisa and Kensei scream at each other about pornography in the background. This does feel very organic. I am not much interested in the vaizards other than Shinji, but this is a good characterisation beat for them.
And, with his usual keen sense of professional responsibility, Ukitake is watching other people train while he sits around and drinks tea.
Oh, Luppi is quite mean to Grimmjow. 'Ohhhh. Sorry! I meant the former number six!' and 'He's not even an espada anymore! He can't do anything.' Excellent, excellent. (Taking notes.)
Grimmjow is sulking and, clearly, all he wants is to smack Ichigo. Seems legit.
Wonderweiss has such a cute sword?? Purple and curly hilt... Omg.
Ichigo needs two vaizards to hold him back from a stupid fight, and then Shinji is like: no, no, let him go. The vibe is definitely 'just let him make his own mistakes,' I guess. I like Shinji more this time too... which is unfortunate because I already liked him. A delightful jerk.
Grimmjow is already obsessed with Ichigo. It's very cute of him. They do have impeccable ship vibes.
---
Episode 139
Luppi with his little waist cutouts. Cute.
I think part of Grimmjow's appeal is that we get soooo many close ups of his face. They definitely knew they were animating someone's darling. Lots of pauses on his narrowed blue eyes and fangy smile. You know?
I appreciate that Hitsugays is literally never afraid to escalate. LMAO.
Oh yeah, Luppi is an... octopus attack helicopter? With purple eyes and pink estigma... I forgot about this...
It's cute how Renji and Rukia are both just like: 'Oh, Urahara took the field. Welp. They're fucked.' I don't actually recall him doing that much in this fight, but I look forward to finding out if my memory is wrong.
Ichigo gets like 10–15 seconds of murder with the current state of his mask, so, naturally he lets Grimmjow chat. Kick him, Shinji. You took responsibility for this idiot, didn't you?
Grimmjow is covered in his own blood though, which is a good look on h...
Oh my god, the mask ACTUALLY breaks while he's fucking chatting. I have no memory of this. Oh, no, I'm laughing.
OH. Urahara joins the Luppi- Wonderweiss fight!!! Yeah I guess that checks out. He's the owner of a humble shop that sells cheap candy. 🥺 Ofc.
---
Episode 140
Yammy smacks Urahara from behind with a bala while he's already engaged with two enemies. So I guess we're like extra not meant to like Yammy. I see.
Matsumoto cheerfully declares she disdains men who talk too much.
Yammy goes 'that's what happens when you underestimate your enemies!' and then Urahara, standing right behind him, agrees, and then loudly imitates him in a high pitched voice. This is the gravitas and maturity of a captain anyone could admire. Aizen must hate that this man is smarter than him. >:)
Oh, sure, the blow up doll of Urahara. I do remember this thing, actually. How many blow up dolls of himself do we think this man has?
Anyway Urahara is OP and ridiculous, as always.
Oh, Grimmjow. I love the way he just stares, blank-faced, at Ichigo until he's really, really sure he can't fight anymore. And then he smiles a big smug smile. (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)
THE CERO REFLECTING IN HIS EYES. Oh, come on, the degree to which this idiot is the animators' darling is absurd.
Rukia does have some of the coolest (no pun intended) powers in the series. Her zanpakuto is very pretty. I know it's canonically meant to be pretty. But it's also very pretty to, like, look at on screen.
Oh my god, Shinji actually rescues Ichigo. And Rukia. Both of them. Christ. I did NOT remember. This is like two kitties playing tag.
I also like Grimmjow's little 'oh, shit' face. It's cute. He's got such a cute character design and the animators love him, LOL.
It's interesting how many characters just totally freeze in the face of a cero. I know it's done for effect, but from an internal view, I guess there's a whole vibe of magnificent destructive power on such a scale that it's hard to figure out how to even avoid it, despite how slow it is.
