Ascot x Umi - general discussion/appreciation/flail

[Mokonalord]

Because TEAM MUSCAT! *waves flag*

Ascot x Umi flail/spam/appreciation thread!

Ship Apprecitation Thread Guidelines:

• Keep content here PG-13. Feel free to leave any smut in Rarabai. You can link to higher-rated stuff, just mark it as such.
• This is a feel-good thread. If you don't personally ship it you can still post here as long as what you have to say is positive (or at the very least neutral) towards the ship.

[Mokonalord]

I've been deliberating how I would write this ever since I joined this forum and saw the lack of an appropriate Asmi thread. After all, Asmi is my OTP. As easy as it would be to make a post like, "Asmi, it's cute, fight me." I felt like it deserved more. So here it is. My tribute to grapes. (See the Introduction thread for that explanation)

Anyway, Asmi. Ascot/Umi. The pint-sized sadistic Summoner turned teen sweetheart and the headstrong hilariously overreactive Knight of water. Why does this pairing mean so much to me? Well, for starters, it was what got me hooked on MKR in the first place.

Let's go in the way-back machine to the summer of 2001. My sister and I had been reading descriptions of the series online and decided to watch it for ourselves. Of course, back then, that meant checking out Suncoast to see if they had the VHS in stock. We started with the first video? Of the second season. In Episode 23, there's that adorable scene when the Magic Knights reunite with an older Ascot. I'm sure you guys know which one I'm talking about, it's in both the anime and the manga. When Caldina lets slip that he grew up for Umi, I was completely beside myself with the sweetness.

It's sweet, and it gets sweeter the more you think about it. The Magic Knights just returned to Cephiro that day, and nobody seemed to think they'd show before they did. Meaning unless Ascot changed himself in the past few hours beforehand (which seems unlikely given how chill everyone else there is with it), he grew up for her while not actually expecting to see her again. Caldina's obviously oversimplifying here. He didn't grow up to impress Umi. He grew up because she left that much of an impression on him. Big difference.

Moving along, that's how MKR reeled me in with flustered Summoner bait. And to this day, I ship Asmi so hard, despite the rest of the anime's second season, despite the OVA. There, that should do for an introduction.

[suzanami]

I'm largely apathetic about Umi's love life but I prefer the way the manga handles it!  I didn't buy what the anime served us with Clef (though the folks on the forum here have shown me how the pairing would work, I still feel like the actual content of the anime was forced and didn't justify the ship) so I've always leaned a little more towards asmi. 

and asmi is soo adorable in the manga!  as I've said, god somewhere else, on the forum, I don't think Ascot is as mature as his new body might suggest and I don't think he and Umi would be ready for a relationship for quite a long time.  but the seeds!  the seeds are SO CUTE.  Umi is less contents-under-pressure in the manga than she is in the anime.  so while in the anime I can see her being overly dominant with him, in the manga I think they'd do just fine

[Mokonalord]

It is absolutely adorable in the manga. I really wish a few more of those scenes had made it to the anime. There's the obvious second season rewrites, for instance. *grumble grumble*

But a few things I actually think were flaws of the first season anime (say it isn't so!) is Ascot wasn't there when Umi got her Mashin, Hikaru and Fuu were awake when Umi gave Ascot the "You need to trust your friends!" speech, and we don't get see her consoling him as he cries. It just makes it less personal, you know?

I get what you mean about seeds, though. Honestly, they both still have a bit of growing up to do, so, yeah, putting it off a little while would probably be for the best. But one day they could make very pretty flowers indeed. Or even trees!

I strongly do not ship Clemi. It's not like I don't believe it could work, I just don't like it, and because I don't like it, I can easily rationalize a million reasons why Asmi is better, when really, it's just better to me. Kinda funny, though, back in my younger years of being an MKR fan, I was way more anti-Clemi, and I couldn't even imagine being friends with people who shipped it. Good thing Ascot's not the only one who grew up.

[Revolutionaren]

Clef/Umi is also my NOTP. Everyone here knows it, it's cool, I appreciate that it's big on this board, I can deal with it.

But when I first got into Rayearth, I did ship Ascot/Umi quite a bit, now I'm just 'eh'. Sorry.

But I do agree that the way it's dealt with in the manga is hella cute. I'm down with that.

[Mokonalord]

Just rereading volume 6, with all its cute Asmi scenes, and taking note of the "I baked a cake!" "Ooh! That's that Earth dessert you were telling us about." panel. Now I'm coming up with all sorts of fun ideas involving Ascot and Umi's cakes.

Like, when he first tries it, Ascot's determined to like it in any case just because Umi made it for them, but then he actually tastes it and he's all, "Sweet Mokona, I have never known the true meaning of delicious until this day." Caldina has to stop him from eating the whole thing, then he gets the one sugar buzz to rule them all, and everybody's just trying to get him to calm down, but he doesn't care, because life is bliss because there's Umi and her cakes.

They have to make a rule that Ascot can only have two slices of any given cake Umi makes, one slice when everybody first gets one, and then the very last slice if there's any left over (otherwise he'll eat all that's leftover). The only exception is for weddings. It's not a true Cephiran wedding until Ascot's totally bananas over all the cake he's eaten.

So, yeah, IMHO, even anyone who doesn't ship Ascot/Umi should definitely ship Ascot/Umi's cakes.

[moonsea]

I like Clemi but I ship Ascot's child form and Umi too (maybe because i like child Ascot better,he's cute when he's short.but i'm not sure)
my favorite scene was definitely the one in the manga,when Ascot asks Umi if she has a boyfriend and in the anime,when Umi 'misunderstood' his name and called him muscat

[Pixie]

I'm soooooo late... I meant to write here ASAP but life is terrible and hit hard. But here I am! Better late than never, right???

I have to admit that Umi/Ascot is my otp for MKR, the idea of them is just so adorable, and I was so disappointed in the anime and the OVA for shoving it aside so completely. When I signed up here I had hoped to find others who would share my love, but after seeing how Clef/Umi centric the form is, I lost a great deal of my confidence in bringing up anything to do with Umi/Ascot.

I loved Umi instantly at the start of the series, and Ascot was just too cute as a kid. The fact that Umi triggered Ascot's desire to grow and change, to become a better person, just makes it all the more perfect for me.Despite Umi's general obliviousness towards his crush, I like to think they could grow into a wonderful couple if given the time.

One of my favorite things in any fandom is domestic stuff.

So, I take Mokonalord's idea of Ascot's growing love of cake, and raise you the image of Umi trying to teach hi how to make a cake. It's awkward, and flour ends up everywhere, and figuring out how to convert temperatures from Celsius to whatever is used in Cephiro. And the cake isn't perfect, and Ascot is a bit sad and Umi is frustrated but content all things considered. And she tells him how horrible the first cake she ever made, and they end up swapping stories and picking at the misshapen cake.


Also... AUs... I am a lover of AUs, and I want all the AUs with these two.

[Mokonalord]

Better late than never! Glad to see you contribute! After all, any day's a good day for Ascot x Umi.

Aw, cake fail. I just want to hug them both, but then I'd get flour all over me.

Gotta love me some domestic fluff, especially since volume 6 sets them up for it so well! I mean, dat orchard scene and then them going off to make tea together towards the end- *starts singing badly* SO HAPPY TOGEEETHHHHHHEEEERRRRR!

But you know what else I like? Angst. Like, say, my Danganronpa!AU where Ascot turns out to be the culprit in one of the trials, and Umi's just completely devastated. Or putting them in an Eponine/Marius type scenario with Ascot dying in Umi's arms, telling her not to worry and that he's okay because she's there *ugly sobs*. Or this fic.

Also AUs! All the AUs! AUs where I can needlessly complicate everything by giving Ascot a totally shitty family life or giving Umi a drinking problem so she's always calling Ascot up in the middle of the night for a ride home or making Ascot a prince who did not actually need saving from the dragon, thank you very much, that dragon is his friend and so were all those other monsters she killed?

Oh, just give me all of it. Simple, complicated, short, long, it doesn't matter, just let there be Ascot and Umi!

[Pixie]

XD yeah, I guess!

I love basic domestic stuff. Little things like that really make a big difference in characters. It's good development, I think.

XD

I've never seen/played Danganronpa, but AUs of any sort are awesome.

You send sad. Such sad. I had read this. It was sad then. Sad now.

Omg the Prince Ascot being friends with the dragon, I like that one.

I have an au just waiting to be typed where Umi is a dragonspirit and Ascot summons her. If only typing were easier.

[Mokonalord]

I just have a huge weakness for things that traumatize me a bit (probably why I'm also into SNK and PMMM). Danganronpa is basically a game series where a bunch of high schoolers are locked in some sort of environment and told they can't escape unless they murder someone and go through the trial to figure how whodunnit without being convicted. Also, if the murderer succeeds in getting away with it, everybody else there dies, but if the right person is actually convicted, only that person dies. In my MKR version, the characters are locked in the castle and told that the last one standing will be the next Pillar. So how does Ascot, of all people, turn out to be a culprit? Well, he figured out early on that being Pillar wasn't something he was suited for or desired in any way, so his efforts turned to making sure the people he cared for most stayed alive (Caldina, Lafarga, and Umi). That lead him to kill two people, the first who was attacking Caldina, and the second who was threatening Umi. And Umi only finds this out during the trial. SO. MUCH. ANGST.

On happier notes- YES TO ASCOT AND DRAGON!UMI! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I WANT TO SEE THIS! *fanflails about* I mean, I've got my own version where somebody curses Umi into becoming a dragon and Ascot finds and tries to befriend her BUT I WANT TO SEE YOUR VERSION TOO! WHY IS ACTUALLY GETTING FICS/FICLETS FROM HEAD TO PAPER/SCREEN SO HAARRRDDDD?!
Or how about Umi as some sort of esteemed dragon knight who gets away from the pressures of her daily life by hiding away in the stables and teasing Ascot (who's in charge of the dragon care)? And Ascot just being like "You know I'm actually working, right?" but then he's always so obviously happy to see her and never tells another soul when she's there, and the two of them have been really close ever since she started at the dragon knight boot camp and he was just a wee stablehand whose main job was shoveling dragon crap. *so much fanflail* *fanflails into oblivion*

[suzanami]

YES TO ASCOT AND DRAGON UMI

[Milieva]

DAMN YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLL (mean that in the most loving way possible, of course)

I NOW WANT TO WRITE UMI TEACHING ASCOT HOW TO BAKE A CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(or perhaps experimenting with baking supplies in Cephiro or something)

(flour everywhere, but isn't the main flour source the cheese fruit? and what does it taste like. how can you make it sweet. sugar cane or beets can't grown in Cephiro.. what plant is used for sugar? I don't know.  What is going on??)

[Pixie]

XD Well, now that I know it's of interest to others, I'll be sure to work on typing it up as soon as I'm able. Right now I can't sit at a computer for more than a few minutes, so not really a thing I can do. But as soon as I can, I will get back to typing it up.

XD UMI SHOULD TEACH ALL THE BAKING THINGS. She could bring the ingredients? Not sure if Tokyo Tower would actually allow you to bring outside food in? But that's what artistic license is for, ne?

[Mokonalord]

Well, technically, in the manga, Umi does bring a cake with her to Tokyo Tower, so that would confirm that in their universe, bringing outside food would be okay, whatever our universe's Tokyo Tower security might be.

Still, she probably would want to learn to make one using Cephiro ingredients eventually, just to make things easier. Smuggling ingredients through Tokyo Tower all the time just so Ascot can get his cake fix would probably get old. But, even if Cephiro doesn't have the right kind of ingredients, the other countries probably would. I mean, Lady Aska wants to make it a wonderland full of candy and Geo makes teacakes for Eagle and Zazu. The sooner they can get regular trading established, the better!

Also, yes, please write your fic when you have the chance and proper motivation! I will also keep writing my stuff, and maybe one day have something worth sharing! Well, there is the one recent prompt with a little Ascot/Umi flavoring, I suppose.

And Milieva, glad to see you in here! By all means, listen to your heart and write Umi teaching Ascot to bake a cake! Even as a platonic thing, I'm sure it would be adorable! *fanflails*