#ANYWAYS MORAL OF THE STORY

[stevethehairington]

AYO FUCK NETFLIX HARD WITH A SPIKY CACTUS

[1296-very-good-year]

The thing that bugs me most about Caitlyn's arc is how obviously she was forced into the position Jayce had been set up to fill.

Jayce was the de facto head of the council that Sheriff Marcus (keep that in mind) reported directly to for city security.

He was the Golden Boy, Man of Progress, beloved by everyone in Piltover for the invention of Hextech! Charismatic! Handsome!

They didn't NEED martial law. After Jayce emerged unscathed from the terrorist attack, most of the council dead, Piltover would have been falling over itself to give him sole authority regardless of him wanting to quit the council right before the attack.

And Jayce should have been beside himself with rage! Jinx turned his invention, his dream, into a weapon that nearly killed him and the two people he loves most! Mel and Viktor, at the same time! She ruined his peace deal! (And killed Silco, but for some reason Cait and Vi never tell anyone about that)

But nope. He's just sad, and tries to talk Caitlyn down from wanting to kill Jinx.... Like wtf!! Where did his passion go?? His recklessness? Caitlyn got it all.

Let's say he's still reeling after killing the kid in his shimmer raid and fearing the consequences of violent intervention. Fine. But then there is the attack at the memorial. Now it's bigger than Jinx, and his entire city is threatened.

Picture the end of episode 1, with the council gathering in the basement after the memorial attack and it is JAYCE marching in to announce the strike team, with Caitlyn and Vi beside him, with their shiny Hextech weapons.

They didn't need to give Caitlyn political power. She could have become Sheriff under Jayce! She would have had nearly the EXACT same scenes. She doesn't get a single moment where she acts like a political leader in Act 2 anyway!

We never see her do anything the sheriff wouldn't do, which tells me this was a late change to cram all the remaining story into one season, to every character's detriment. If Caitlyn had just been following Jayce's orders until running into Vi, her flip would not have felt so jarring.

She loves Jayce as an older brother, she's grieving her mother, she and Jayce could have BOTH been manipulated by Ambessa. Let Caitlyn be at the forefront of all the awful shit she's ORDERED to do, instead of ordering it HERSELF.

By giving her ultimate authority instead, the few clipped scenes of her redemption, her "I know" and letting Jinx go free are nowhere near enough to get the audience back on her side. As evidenced by how many people hated her arc this season.

[sketching-shark]

For as much as I've already gushed about how Journey to the West really stands out as a great work of literature, given the current state of popular "redemption arcs" it really can't be said enough how awesome it is that the og classic makes it impossible to ignore the various crimes of all the pilgrims and why they needed to go on a redemption journey in the first place.

Like it contrast to your typical broody jerks where the plot bends over backwards to pretend their various war crimes and all their victims don't matter, actually, just look at what JTTW gives us. You have a murder monkey who reminds us that he loves killing people every other chapter. You got a literal and metaphorical pig man who freely admits to eating a ton of people in addition to committing sexual harassment. You got a giant cannibal who also ate countless people and even wears a lot of their skulls as his own personal goth necklace. You got a dragon who may or may not have committed arson in addition to trying to eat at least one other guy. Even the holy monk went out of his way to get some guys tortured to death. They all explicitly suck in such fun and interesting ways even while trying their best, and THAT'S a good part of what makes their story so fun and satisfying to read.

[bigfatbreak]

warmup of the day is: here's to hoping for another year

[heirloommtomatoes]

the way kaladin is like. the only character who gets an arc relating to overcoming his prejudices but it’s…him overcoming his “prejudices” against lighteyes…like huh……?

[katabay]

PAGLUIB

way back in like. march?? I took a stab at writing some kind of kabitserye type of story but it was a mess: it kept veering off into murder mystery drama territory because I was reading a lot of murder mystery novels around then and it Wasn't Good because I hadn't tried writing mysteries, let alone murder mysteries, before lmao

I did write a handful of short mystery stories since then, so next year I might take a stab at this idea again now that I'm no longer jumping head first into a genre pool I don't know how to swim in :)

[bunnieswithknives]

hey in ur peri animatic: (https://youtu.be/OCqlRuDaXYU?si=K52WDu_vw9rg7chz) that I have been permanently obsessed over since today and have watched about 20 times by now so much that I have drawn & posted stuff based on it what was that partial bug form peri had?

I haven’t watched either of the show btw so if it’s explained in the show please tell me plsssss

OK, SO the bug thing is not technically canon to the series. It's based on my own headcanons for fairy biology, but i do have justifications for it!! Fairies have very strong shape-shifting abilities, so it would make sense that the form they show to humans isn't necessarily their true form(not to mention extreme that mimicry is very common in insects). And you want to know the visible traits almost every fairy has in common? Being very small with Insect-like wings.

The fact that their humanoid form isn't their true form in actually confirmed in the show! Cosmo and Wanda are revealed to look like biblically accurate pseudo-angels in the museum episode. (I say pseudo angels because the Flaming Sword of Eden is only debatably sentient and I don't think is considered an angel. Ophanim are also debatably not angels because they don't have wings (sorry for the angel tangent I like angels))

So wouldn't their true forms be angelic then? Well, yes. But I like bugs so. Also I have more headcanons to justify myself. I like to think that they have both a true-true form (incomprehensible to the human brain, probably exists mostly in a dimension invisible to us, that looks how we imagine biblically accurate angels), and a fairy form (which is visible to humans but is naturally very insect like and tends to scare people). So, in order to interact with humans, they have to learn to shapeshift into a humanoid form but will occasionally slip if they get too relaxed/aren't careful, hence the mandibles coming out when he yawns!

The reason they struggle so much more with human forms than the animals or objects they typically turn into is that, well, they aren't trying to convince those animals or objects. The more human they try to look, the harder it is to keep up convincingly. If you turn into a really uncanny squirrel, only other squirrels will notice. If you turn into a really uncanny human, they form a lynch mob and burn you at the stake.

[ghostly-schematics]

I think what more people need to understand is that the pjo cast were cast with the intention of matching the reasoning behind their book appearance, rather than just how they were described. Luke, for example, was described in the books as a blond, muscular surfer kind of guy. At the time of publishing (2005), that was your generic attractive character, and he was described like that to make you trust him more so the betrayal was more unexpected. Now, almost twenty years later in the show, he looks like a tiktok fuck boy because that’s what people now tend to like more. On the other hand, Annabeth was blonde in the books because that was what made people doubt her intelligence, which isn’t something as common now. However, racism is still very real (as proven by people’s responses to Leah being cast), which makes people underestimate her, giving way for the same character arc. This concept works with the rest of the castings as well. Grover still gives the vibes of a lovable loser. Percy looks ready to sass a ninety year old man. Chiron looks appropriately wise and the Ares kids look ready to fuck you up.

The only character that I would say is different is Clarisse. In the books she’s described as big and muscular and ugly, as it was quite common at the time to say ugly = bad which is something that has not aged well at all. Dior’s casting goes against those negative attitudes and ties into the theme of “not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster and not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero”

And at the end of the day, everyone in the cast perfectly captures their characters’ personalities regardless of their appearance

[smile-files]

something interesting i realized while on the vessel-making screen in the deltarune introduction is that it's physically impossible to make kris: there is no hair that perfectly matches theirs (none have the cowlick or the right jagged shape on the bottom), and there is no sweater that perfectly matches theirs (none have a single stripe). this is fascinating, as it perhaps suggest that, if we (the player) had a choice, we *wouldn't* make kris. they aren't something we want, or are even capable of wanting, rather something we're stuck with.

and i suppose the fact that they can't be *created* as a vessel is telling, because we didn't create kris -- they weren't made for us, they're not a player avatar. they're a pre-existing person we just happen to gain possession of.

we weren't made for each other; they don't want us, and we don't seem to want them either (if the inability to choose to create someone like them says anything); funny, then, that in a way we're "soulmates"...

(both pictures are from the deltarune wiki!)

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

something about how both wei wuxian and jin guangyao repeatedly say they ‘didn’t have a choice’ in their actions. in both cases, it’s not literal impossibility, instead determined by their mindsets and personal conduct…. but while for wei wuxian that means he can’t do something immoral, even if it means losing all his social power, for jin guangyao it means he can’t do anything to lose his social power, even if it means doing something immoral. the other option is still there, but it’s never one they’d pick.

something about how they’re trying to walk the same path but in opposite directions: wei wuxian willingly left the nice, broad road in favour of upholding morals and debts, while jin guangyao is trying to claw onto it and stay there by any means necessary. in both cases, being parted from it so easily is only possible because this nice, broad road — full of people whose social power is unconditional, given at birth, independent of their actions — was never truly theirs to begin with. but despite how it is possible to be forced off due to nothing, as we see with wang lingjiao, the positions of both these characters were ultimately due to actions they took.

(about how no matter the similarity of the paths, no matter the narrowness of the choices, the direction you take is still up to you.)

[ilynpilled]

genuinely find it insufferable when ppl conflate any minority receiving the same dark attributes that any other dimensional character could get (god forbid any are written to be a villain or antagonist), especially when it is written as largely informed by their experiences in their society to highlight flaws in the dehumanization faced by these groups, with “this is a stereotype!!” and “we are being told disabled ppl are evil bc they are disabled!” i think u guys might just be uncomfortable with these underrepresented groups being written as human beings affected by their experiences and offered the same level of complexity and intrigue and diversity of roles that everybody else gets regularly

[fluffydice]

The biggest tragedy of Teruhashi is the fact that she could be up there among the best examples of a complex female character that guides the audience through an understanding that characters don't have to be all-or-nothing when it comes to their moral alignment to be considered 'good' or 'bad' or something else--and then isn't because this is both a gag anime and she wasn't written by a woman

[bing-whoops]

NEXT

TO BE LOVED IS TO BE CHANGED | DIAVOLO . *. ⋆ ⊹ ౨ৎ˚₊

prologue: "villain and violent, infant and innocent"

꒰ summary ꒱ being friendly with those who lived nearby in your apartment building can come in handy especially while living outside of campus; this is highly recommended if you also have a roommate. Until a nice weekend at the house in the beach ends up with a three dead bodies, a roommate in a cult and — a demon baby?

꒰ pairing ꒱ diavolo x reader

꒰ warnings ꒱ child endangerment, suicide, death, mention of drugs, swearing, and brief vomit scene.

꒰ word length ꒱ 3.4k

꒰ author's note ꒱ this is my first series in general so any comments regarding it (or dm’s) are appreciated and encouraged! I would love to hear you guys' thoughts on it

꒰ MASTERPOST ꒱꒰ NEXT ꒱

The coldness of the night settled in your bones like an old friend. The waves splashed harshly against the boulders that were seen laid at the bottom of the cliffs that adorned the beach where you were currently residing at. The moon was was gleaming with a potency that you hadn’t quite seen before — or maybe you had and just hadn’t had the time to appreciate it as much as you should have.

Perhaps you should have thought more before deciding to take the weekend off in a house in front of the beach. Although, house would be a little bit of a stretch considering it was not only lacking any sort of electricity, but you were sure you had heard rats scurrying around the bathroom.

‘Well, there’s no use lamenting after the payment is done.’ You thought as you continued to lament the money spent to stay here — was this the regret every horror movie character felt after doing something that lacked survival instinct?

You tightened your grip on the jacket that you were currently wearing to try and ward off against the night that seems to become increasingly more freezing as the minutes pass. You shifted around in the medium sized boulder you were currently sitting on, and dragged your knees close to your chest to get more comfortable.

It had been what? Two hours since you arrived? Maybe a little bit more, maybe a little bit less. You didn’t care much either way as this had been the most relaxed you had been in weeks.

Of course just as such thought crossed your mind all of it went down the drain.

You flinched from where you were sitting as a commotion started being heard — above you?

The sand made your frantic attempt at getting away from where you were sitting a little harder than expected, but it could have been just the way that the screams had startled you into action. You warily stepped backwards, inching away from the bottom of the cliff while trying to crank your neck upwards, and narrowed your eyes after seeing flashing blue and red lights coming near the edge.

“The police?” You muttered with resignation, it seems as if a single weekend without anything occurring is too much to ask for, and a little of wariness. What could be the reason for a police car to be here?

The situation became more confusing as shouting erupted once again from the top of the cliff that you was still too close for comfort.

The muscles in your hands tightened as you clenched them after seeing a women with short black hair inch closer to edge of the cliff until you were able to realize what her intentions were. Your eyes widened in fright as dread settled inside your mind as you realized exactly why the police’s shouting seems to become more frantic the closer the woman stepped to the edge.

Are you about to witness a suicide?

No other thought had the time to cross your mind because in the next second the woman stepped backwards and slipped down her doom.

Faster than you could comprehend she crashed close to where you had been sitting less than five minutes ago. The sound that her body made when it finally reached the bottom was the most nauseating noise that you had ever heard (you wish you could wrench it from your memory)

You froze where you stood for a moment before your eyesight finally focused on the blood that was dripping from her forehead onto the sand. This made you quickly approach her unresponsive body and settle as close as you could to her head without actually touching her body in fear of making any injury that she had worse.

The only thing that stopped the automatic thought of her being dead was the pained groans she was still making.

“Hey! hey — I need you to try and stay awake okay?” You tried to frantically say while tripping over your own words while trying to search your pants and jacket for a phone to call emergencies. Only to realize that you had left your phone inside the bedroom after realizing how low the reception was in the area.

Your breathing started picking up the longer it passed. Remembering that you were not the only one that saw this you quickly looked up to see if the police officers could at least indicate what you should do with their speakerphone. Yet surprises did not seem to be ending today because once you looked up you witnessed a baby falling off the cliff in the exact same spot the woman had thrown herself off.

Faster than you could realize your body stood up from where it had been kneeling next to the woman and raised your hand up to your chest in a straight line while bending them slightly; you frantically went through everything that could go wrong trying to catch a baby falling from such height.

Before you could keep stumbling around trying to calculate where the baby would fall your hands buckled as they tried to hold the sudden and harsh weight dropped on them. A yelp almost left your throat as you stumbled to the ground while holding a baby.

The baby that had fallen

The baby that had somehow fallen and not landed on your head and broken it

The baby that did not demolish your arms after falling on them

The baby that was without injury —

It was almost miraculous that there were no visible injuries on the baby that was currently being held on your arms while you still trembled from fright of what had just occurred.

But just because there were no visible injuries didn’t mean that nothing was wrong either. You warily changed the way you were holding the baby to be able to face it and check its face.

Now that you didn’t have to actively worry about someone else trying to free fall off the cliff you observed the odd child that was quietly being held by you. Its hair was an odd reddish color that seemed more bold than any ginger you had ever seen in your life — you were almost willing to believe it was dyed rather than natural.

But even that was nowhere near as startling as her eyes. (He? she? You weren’t sure) The eyes that were staring back at you were the unsettling ones you had ever seen in your life.

For a faltering second you even asked yourself if what you held in your arms was an actual breathing human baby and not a doll.

The eyes’ shape and size was not the problem rather its color was the reason for your momentarily surprise. It was as if somebody had taken gold and melted it in the baby’s eyes. An unsettling color for an unsettling baby. You pursued your lips before quickly beating yourself mentally for focusing on such meaningless description while the woman was still bleeding out — miraculously still alive; the only sign of her condition being the whimpers of pain she was letting out.

“Agh!” A scream startled you as you approached the woman once again. The scream that had left her mouth was louder than any other she had let out since her fall. This did not seem to be a one time occurrence as short scream kept leaving her mouth while you tried approaching her.

You clutched the baby to your chest as you stopped in your tracks less than a step away from leaning down to check on the woman. You weren’t sure why but it seemed as if the more the distance shortened between the two of you the more frightened she seemed.

“Please hang on! The police already called emergencies they’re on the way.” Your words stumbled out of the way in a attempt to comfort the woman that was dying in front of you. But you truly didn’t know if the police had in fact called the ambulance or anybody that could help this women. You had just lied and hoped that it was the truth.

A gurgled sound seemed to leave the woman in the floor. This time in a lower volume.

Cautiously you lowered yourself slowly in fear she would start screaming if you approached too hastily once again.

Another attempt seemed to leave her mouth at speaking yet only indecipherable gurgles were heard. Just as you were about to attempt to stop her from wasting energy trying to speak you watched as her eyes settled on the baby and her face twisted into something ugly.

( Later as you settled down in your bedroom you would chastise yourself for describing a dying’s woman expression as ugly out of all things )

Her lips trembled as her mouth opened and close as if in fear. The woman’s last word would be engraved into your mind for a long while.

Yet they would only make sense months down the line.

“Demon.”

The police were useless.

You had no idea how someone could be so incompetent. You would like to say that you have met a long variety of people with different personality and intelligence in your lifetime; there is not much confidence in you to be able to say you have met people more incompetent than the ones sitting in front of you.

“Is emergencies on their way?” You asked with resignation after leaving the body of the woman on the other side of the beach to be able to speak with the officers inside your house about what you should do next.

The police officers glanced at each other, a cue seemed to be passed between them in that sort second, then at you who was still holding the baby that both of them refused to hold unless necessary.

Both of them felt sympathy towards you, really! But neither of them had ever held a baby before and this situation had escalated from a supposed teenage bonfire party to a dead woman; neither of them felt very confident on the possibility of it getting better.

“Possibly,” One of the police officer commented with a shrug not realizing how nonchalant he was coming off the the college student he was speaking to, “This area is quite far from civilization and getting down here took us a couple of hours it is highly possible they will take even longer.”

Those words caused a sigh to leave your lips. It was not one of exhaustion rather one of annoyance.

The baby you held in your arms was now more energetic; from limply laying in your arms to excitedly playing with the zipper of your jacket and holding onto your arms as tight as he could. Apparently it was also a he.

This what what the police informed you the woman had been using when referring to the child; they had also said that she had screamed about the baby being a demon spawn. So yeah, anything she had said was taken with a grain of salt.

Giggles erupted from the baby in your arms as you took your hand away from his hand. At least someone was having fun today.

“What are we supposed to do then?” You asked the officers after seeing them shuffle unsurely around the house each time they heard a creaking sound resonate around the house.

“You should keep yourself reachable,” The second one piped in as if he was worried you would object, “We will probably have to take that little guy in your arm to the station to find any other family member.”

“Or if there’s any missing babies around this zone…”

“What was that?” You asked with a frown adorning your face. The one who had been interrogating you not too long ago had muttered something incomprehensible that you couldn’t figure out.

After realizing he had been a little too loud the police officer cleared his throat and waved it off. With a quick shake of his hand.

“Nothing! Just thinking about the procedures that will soon take place.”

You warily nodded shifting your weight from one foot to the other keenly aware that neither of them seemed eager to leave or take the baby or deal with the dead body that was probably still rotting and bleeding in the sand after her death.

‘Are they waiting for water to be offered?’ You wondered after seeing the same police officer walk around the very limited space that this house gave you under the reasoning of looking for evidence.

‘Evidence for what? The woman that fell half a kilometer away from here?’ Your annoyance was barely tampered under your self reasoning that this could not last too long and once they left with the baby plus the body everything would settle down.

Deciding to take the initiative you shifted your hold on the baby who was clinging tightly to your jacket and walked closer to the second officer who tensed in nervousness.

“Well officers! Please do contact me if anything comes up that involves me.” You tried to say with some cheer in your voice (who could blame you really? Your pants were still dripping with blood from the woman the officers had not looked thrice at and your palms were still shaky from what had occurred and what could have been)

The reason for this sudden friendliness was to make the baby transaction easier. And it was.

Because as soon as you showed signs of giving the baby over the officer panic clowned his face as once he finally took the baby he held it as far away from his chest as possible with his two arms.

The first officer awkwardly stood around — his hovering did not help soothe anybody’s nerves in this situation.

This silence continued until the radio attached to the pants suddenly received a message that startled the three of you. Not the baby though, he just seemed to hate his new babysitter enough to try and kick himself out of his arms. The baby still held his arms towards you.

Like the professional you were you ignored it and instead discretely (indiscreetly) eavesdropped on what was being communicated.

“… her name was reported to be Laura Bolton.”

Your stomach dropped.

Before you realized you intersected the police officers before they could do what you had been trying to make them do for a while, leave.

“Right — sorry did you just say Laura Bolton?” You asked with cautiousness knowing that there was a possibility of someone sharing a name with your roommate.

“Well that was the name we heard.” The man who was still holding the baby wrong responded.

“I couldn’t quite hear the rest did they describe what she looked like?” You asked with apprehension while trying to keep a smile in your face. It became in readily harder as you realized you didn’t even hear why they had communicated her name through the radio.

“Late twenty’s, approximately six feet tall, white, dark-haired woman.”

That fit the description too well.

“What did she do?” It wouldn’t be the first time your roommate had gone to jail; each time it happened it only made you wish for time to go faster so you could leave that damn apartment complex behind.

“She was found with the woman you saw not too long ago and this baby,” A pause was made as if unsure of what he should say next, “It seemed as if they were doing some sort of — of well religious ritual.”

There’s an odd emphasis on religious.

Why is there an odd emphasis on religious.

‘Oh god.’

You had an epiphany.

‘She joined a cult didn’t she?’ You thought as you stared blankly at the officers who seemed uneasy at the sudden change of atmosphere.

You said your goodbyes to the officer and wished them good luck but your tone was flat in the rest of your interactions.

Perhaps that was why you didn’t pay much attention to the baby in the officer’s arms was still reaching towards you while making grabby hands.

It was a cute sight.

You would have probably tried calming down the baby in any other situation. However, it had been a taxing day.

(And you had no idea how bad it was gonna get)

You roughly pushed the door with annoyance — somehow the hardest part to deal with was opening and closing the door.

You sighed, your hand came up and massaged your forehead. It was an attempt to stop the migraine that usually popped up when you become too stressed.

Your steps caused the wood under your shoe to creak loudly as if demanding you to notice it. You couldn’t find it in yourself to care enough for it at this moment. You headed for the mini bridge you had brought yourself to get a cup of water (or wine, you weren’t feeling too picky)

But once you had opened the bridge and were about to reach for the water bottle a defeating crash was heard outside. There were no screams.

You gazed longingly at the bottle of wine and closed the bridge quietly.

Trying to make as little sound as possible you approached the front window next to the door to gently lift the curtain and sneak a peak outside.

Was it dangerous?

Maybe not.

However a little precaution never hurt anybody.

What you saw was not carnage only because everything had been covered. Your hands let the curtain go as if they had burned you; outside of this little house were supposed to be the police officers. Alive officers.

What you saw was a giant boulder being where the police officers were supposed to be in. You would have thought that they already left had you not seen a grown’s human hand peaking out from under the boulder.

There only seemed to be a survivor.

The baby.

The laughing baby.

You opened the door and wearily looked up the cliff the old lady that had allowed you to rent this house had assured you was as sturdy as cliffs could get. Fear settled in your heart of you also adding to the kill count today. After seeing nothing out of the ordinary you quickly sprinted to where the boulder still stood and grabbed the baby by his stomach and sprinted back inside the house. The baby gurgled with glee as he clapped his hands in excitement. At least someone was having a good time.

You tightened your hold on the baby who already had his finger tightly wrenched in your jacket — a little tighter than you would have thought was possible for a baby.

In the privacy of your mind you wondered whether this child was lucky or unlucky with what had happened today.

Trying to place the baby on the bed did not end well. No matter what you did you couldn’t dislocate his grabby hands from your jacket. As nausea gripped you and didn’t let go you stumbled to the bathroom trying to not have a fourth death in a single night by dropping the baby and promptly threw up.

The baby quieted down after seeing you breathing heavily and simply patted your head.

In the end you went to sleep with a migraine, a nausea filled stomach, and an energetic baby that did not let you out of his sight without throwing a tantrum.

You contemplated the possibility of walking back to a police station and reporting what had happened only for your body to hit you with the worst migraine imaginable. Its pain was enough to make your knees buckled.

Strangely enough it left as soon as it arrived.

While this occurred the baby that had been screaming had quieted down after seeing you hold onto a wall for support.

His unsettling gold-like eyes stared as if they could see through you. Perhaps you would have been more scared had pity not overcome you — this was after all a child whose mothers last word was calling him a demon.

Not the best way to be greeted into this world. You refused to acknowledge the strange way he looked just to avoid the possibility of ending in the same train of thought his mother had after calling him a demon.

Just because he looked different didn’t mean he was the devil’s spawn.

Right?

[darlingcloudie-9]

oough………. my babies………….. i care for them very much 🌸

[saintshigaraki]

when you go out to events with sae and you're trying to say something to him but it's so loud that it's hard to hear so he bends over a little so his ear is right by your lips....much to think about

[itsabouttimex2]

I noticed that you write MK to be a teen, when most other people call him an adult. Any reason why?

I’m in general not a fan of the “Megapolis, in spite of being a fictional futuristic high-tech city, has laws that mirror modern day China one to one” theory that most people use to try and prove that “MK is ‘canonically’ an adult���.

Because MK is like… a genuine masterclass in how to write a character’s age in that there are so many signs pointing to teen or adult (and in some very few cases even a child, but only rarely), but never entirely confirming a single number.

Which is just… so good? Because any person of any age can see themselves in MK’s shoes, which makes him much easier to relate to?

And also in general I just hate the “my headcanon is canon because (thing that is not proof)” that people use to bludgeon down other headcanons.

MK is written to be age-ambiguous for a reason! The show is meant to appeal to teens, who exist from “thirteen-nineteen”, so he’s been given traits that could easily point in any which direction for his age.

(He’s also a character in a CHILDREN’S TOY COMMERCIAL. He literally exists to sell expensive plastic toys. Why are people so serious about him “needing” to be an adult?)

Like, yes, he lives alone…

On the second floor of a building owned by his adoptive father, not by himself out in the city away from his guardian. He’s also very bad at taking care of his place, even though it’s a single room. Like, tell me this doesn’t just look like an average teenager’s room. (He also owns a night-light shaped like Monkey King’s cloud.)

Yes, he works as a full-time delivery boy and drives around everywhere…

But Tang calls him a “growing boy” in the second episode, which isn’t the sort of thing you say to a full-grown adult.

He’s given lots of moments to be very adult in ways that are hard to read as “childish”, and childish in ways that are very hard to read as “adult”- BECAUSE HE’S DELIBERATELY MEANT TO EVOKE A VARIETY OF AGES SO THAT ANYONE CAN RELATE TO HIM.

(These two scenes in particular lean towards MK being very young, but it doesn’t mean he’s canonically young, you know? Just like driving and having a job don’t make him canonically an adult.)

So I write him as an age-ambiguous “teen” while never described where exactly he is on that spectrum of “thirteen-nineteen”, which I think is the best way to write an ambiguously-aged character- by leaving them ambiguous! Then he can be an adult or kid or teen in the mind of whoever is reading my fics.

Wow this was supposed to be short but it went a little longer than I expected.

Thank you for asking!