#The Etienne Sisters

[laimabynight]

DIABLERIE

Art by AURORY

[thornilee013]

And some Etienne (o・ω・o)

prev | Etienne | WW 28.8.2024

“Your aunts are coming back though,” Jean whispered, unable to keep the smile from his lips. “They want to see you again.” 

Somewhere deep down, Jean knew that his sisters also wanted to see him. But it was hard to believe that they had seen the absolute mess of a person he’d turned into and still had a desire to connect with him. Not only that, but they were specifically moving across an ocean to be close to him. Amélie was even thinking of applying to university in California. Marine biology, she’d explained. 

Of course her shark phase had never gone away.

MASTERPOST

[nalascat]

BARBIE SEXYMAN TOURNAMENT

[etienne-mon-amour]

The little meow meow himself

Just look at this man and tell me he's not perfect (you would be lying) ❤️

I love his cutesy smile in this screenshot, it melts my heart 💓💕💗

[lemecdeliott]

Lucas no sabía qué esperar. Hasta hace poco, Eliott le había revelado lo que hacía por las noches. No quería reprochárselo, mejor aceptarlo para que la sinceridad siguiera siendo parte de su relación. Sin embargo, comenzó a dudarlo al ver al sitio a donde los estaba llevando. —¿Guantes? —Preguntó, arqueando una ceja, para luego girarle los ojos por la broma—. ¿Al antiguo jefe le gustan los traviesos? —Replicó ahora él, sin soltar a Eliott, porque no quería perderse.

Este sitio era conocido para ella. Pero por Lola sabía que, al menos para Lucas, sería la primera vez que lo veía. No entendía bien porqué, si Eliott era toda una leyenda descubriendo sitios abandonados. Aún así, no diría nada; es más, le alegraba ayudar. —La cámara esta lista —dijo Maya, pensando era divertido seguir las ideas de Eliott—. Eso agregaría bastante a la experiencia... sobrenatural —bromeó.

                             🌾 ❛❛🦝 🖇  💕Eliott estaba demasiado emocionado con todo los sitios que había descubierto por toda esa exploración urbana, porque muchas veces le servían de locación para sus grabaciones. Ahora estaba emocionado porque iba a compartir ese pequeño gusto con Lucas, Maya y Lola. —Les gustara, solo tengan cuidado en donde pisamos, no hay que separarnos y hay que ponernos guantes ¿de acuerdo?—Sugirió mientras abría paso entre la maleza. Bueno eso seguro Maya lo sabía ya. —¿Tenemos la cámara lista, chicas?—Preguntó. —Con cuidado, se cuenta que el antiguo dueño suele aparecerse en los terrenos de este castillo—Picó las costillas de Lucas solo para molestarlo.

                             🌾 ❛❛🍇 🍓 🧃Lola estaba emocionada, se había dado cuenta que no le molestaba pasar tiempo con Eliott y Lucas, eran incluso más divertidos que su hermana y Basile a su forma, claro. Pero, lo importante era que estaba con Maya. Había dejado que su novia llevara la cámara, mientras ella se encargaba de la luz y cuidar a Maya.���Por supuesto, jefe—Bromeó apuntando a Lucas y Eliott con la luz de la lámpara. —Cuidado Lucas, no te vayan a robar a Eliott—Bromeó al escuchar a su amigo querer asustarlos.

[amara-laz]

This story is holding itself together with one (1) staple

[thedustyshehnai]

I wish I could describe how this book made me feel. It’s almost astronomical, the array of emotions and feelings that emerged straight from the soul as I flipped each page. The detail, the love, the uncertainty - to describe it with the fewest words, it’s magnificently unpredictable.

The characters, each one of them, inscribed something deep within my spirit. The love and bonding between Marie-Laure and her father, Etienne and his demons, and Werner and his sister, Frederick and his birds, and his powerful resentment towards something wrong - his power. Madam Manec with her peach jams and the big pot where she carried all the love. The big museum with its exhibits, all those herbarium sheets and fossils, and the curse of a diamond that was equivalent to eight Eiffel Towers that should've been thrown out into the deep trenches of the oceans long ago, but only an insane would throw eight Eiffel Towers into the unknown. Papa, with his crafty hands, built the whole of Paris with his bare hands. Marie-Laure is so unaware of what everything around her looks like, yet she hears the very minor details. Jutta, the little girl who had a mind of her own, who had words of her own, and her elder brother, who was nothing by himself, who really lived under the shadows of others, had a heart so weak to resent, too weak to fight, that the heart decided to do what everyone else was doing - a heart scared of rebellion. Frau Elena served the abandoned children till her very last breath, showering those nameless breathing corpses with so much love. Von Rumpel and his war - his war with the world, his quest to find the cursed diamond, his greed, his unfathomable hatred, his desire and passion for war and victory, his dying body, his hunt for immortality that the diamond is rumored to confer upon anyone who possesses it, his selfish greed, his undying fear of the unknown,and his trembling fear of death.

The depth that this particular book touched is unmatchable. It feels like loose sand slipping through your fingers, and the helplessness that comes with it - the haunting beauty and magnificent pain of separation, of lost identities, of lost people. It’s astonishingly remarkable, to say the very least.

[darkestxdreams]

Pretty much the last thing Etienne would have expected to see in this essentially God-forsaken town was a nun going around chastising people for getting a little too close. Lapsed Catholic that he was, he was familiar with the, ahem, habits of nuns, but the thought that one would be trying to do the same thing here seemed even more crazy. The sight was such a surprise he almost laughed, but he refrained lest he too run afoul of her chastisement. Instead, he pretended to agree, nodding and saying, "Yeah, why don' you watch it, huh? Keep your hands t' yourself! What kinda example you settin'?"

where: the streets of huntsville who: open to all if there was one person that people should fear the wrath from as much as god, it was sister laurel hardy. she was a woman with the lord god on her side and both god and her will judge the people of huntsville. she was the bouncer before the pearly gates.

sister hardy walked through the town on the way to the chapel, gasping at two youths display of pda "sweet suffering jehovah, leave room for jesus you filthy little heathens!"

[boy-above]

minette's brother etienne! he's very awkward so i tried to capture that in his pose. kinda like when youre in a picture and don't know what to do with your hands.

etienne is the sibling who received minette's power when it was ripped from her body, but he wasn't a consenting recipient. his parents didn't tell him what was happening at the time and he only realized his sister was "dead" once he saw the pile of ashes that was supposed to be her body. his parents forced her power into his body, intending to make him the next proper heir to the solstrian throne. while minette was weak and born flightless, etienne was healthy and a great flyer, so his parents viewed him as a much more suitable heir.

etienne was traumatized by the night minette died though, and having her power resting inside him makes him feel sick to his stomach. i would say its comparable to receiving a heart transplant but knowing that not only was the donor non consenting, but they were in fact killed specifically to put their heart inside you. this action from his parents when he was still young made him jaded and made it impossible to radicalize him any further, although he pretended to be on the same page as his parents lest he end up like his sibling. his father, the king of solstria, died from natural causes shortly after this, but as etienne grew older he decided he would go to great lengths to kill his mother, so he as the new ruler could bring peace to solstria and cease the corruption the kingdom was built on. he'd be lying if he said murdering his mother wasn't also to avenge minette though.

once he suceeded in killing his mother, one of the things he did as the new king was establishing a day of mourning for minette. this is when minette who was very much not dead felt guilty and decided it was time to call him to rexcanima to meet with mikhail, and see if etienne was worth reuniting with. she was spooked at first and didn't come out from her hiding place, judging her brother while he met with mikhail. etienne was pissing his pants in mikhail's presence, as his family was responsible for the extinction of mikhail's whole Species, and he wanted to make a good impression and prove to the world that he was better than his family. when minette decided etienne was worth reconnecting with, she came out from her hiding place and they had a tearful reunion.

etienne is overjoyed that minette is not only alive but is happy and married to a king and god. "minette, i killed mom to avenge you. please don't think you weren't loved because i love you and i'll still love you if you'll let me." he is still nervous about mikhail though. afraid that if he breathes wrong he'll be crushed by a big wolf boot. but he'll get over it.

bonus:

[amarielebeau]

Gambit, Mental Health & Trauma

(Prefacing this with this is my interpretation and analysis of Gambit as a character, past and current events. I've been a fan of roguegambit for over a decade- I love them both so much!!!!!)

Gambit is a character who has canonically experienced a lot of trauma- being abandoned by his parents, growing up on the streets, sold into slavery as a child, his first marriage failing, being exiled from his hometown, etc. (I could honestly go on for days.)

Yet, this is largely ignored by comic writers. In situations where his consent is violated, for example, it's brushed off as a silly haha, and he has no reaction to it whatsoever.

I think the reason his trauma is so unexplored is firstly, because he's a man, and secondly, a lot of these events happened in solo's written by men. Examples of this are Gambit (1999), when he was sold into slavery and Etienne died, as well as the Foxx storyline in X-Men (2004)- both were written by men.

Even in Astonishing X-Men (2017), after the Foxx storyline, Mystique claims -in a throwaway line- to have slept with Gambit presenting as twin sisters. His reaction is, "Wait, what? How?" and that's it. No one else in the group reacts, and it's never acknowledged again.

Personally, if I found out that the mother of my (ex-)partner, who sexually harassed me over an extended period of time in the past, had gone on to violate my consent in such a manner, I would be upset. To say the least.

It's only in more recent years that conversations about men's mental health and consent have begun to happen, so it's not much of a surprise to me (sadly) that events were ignored or brushed over in the past.

The reason for my pointing all of this out is in response to his characterisation in Rogue and Gambit (2023).

Thus far, rather than dealing with his trauma, Gambit has ignored it.

RG23 is the point where everything has caught up with him, and he doesn't know how to cope. I can understand why it might seem like he's suddenly being written as a completely different person- for a very emotionally-driven person, somehow, his trauma has never negatively affected him in the past.

However, to understand RG23, we need to revisit Knights of X (2022)- where Gambit's depression came to the forefront. In issue 1, we see Rogue has left a note stating, "Shug- Working late. Don't wait up - Cher". We see he's unhappy about this, it's not the first time, and it's what leads him to join KOX and travel to the otherworld. He's lonely.

This panel from issue 2 tells us everything we need to know about Gambit's headspace at that point in time. He misses Rogue, he doesn't believe she misses him, and he doesn't believe she loves him anymore.

Gambit has always struck me as the kind of person who desperately wants to be loved, but does not believe he is worth loving. At the beginning of his relationship with Rogue, he wanted her to love him, but he couldn't let himself emotionally invest in her.

This could be attributed to a whole number of things, but I think it all comes down to low self-worth. We know Gambit doesn't think of himself as a good person, which leads to him willfully making bad decisions at times (self-destructive behaviour). We also know that when he loves, he loves with everything he has and more.

After his exile from New Orleans, Gambit chose to abandon Bella Donna instead of bringing her with him. I think, from his perspective, he'd done irrevocable damage to the peace between their families, not to mention killing her brother. He couldn't allow her to sacrifice everything just to be with him, so he left her. Why? Because he didn't believe he deserved her love and dedication.

I'm certain this is a mindset Gambit took to all of his relationships going forward. Flirting, flings, and one night stands are an easy way to feel important for a minute without the risk of someone truly knowing him and deciding he isn't worth their time.

I think this is why it took him so long to admit to Rogue (and himself) that he was in love with her. I think this is also why we've seen him completely give up on communicating with her between KOX and RG23.

If Gambit starts a conversation with Rogue about their relationship, he's opening himself up to rejection. We know from RG23 issue 2's Rogue interview that she would never reject him (from her perspective their marriage is fine), but he doesn't know that. To hear the one person he loves most in the world outright say she doesn't love him anymore... It would break him completely. So, Gambit avoids the conversation.

In KOX issue 3, Gambit essentially killed himself to save his team.

Now, consider his mindset: he's in the Otherworld because he thinks Rogue doesn't love him anymore.

I'm not saying that directly led to him killing himself- as I said, he did so to save his team. However, I think it's safe to say if his mental health was in a better place, he wouldn't have made such a decision, let alone have gone to the Otherworld to begin with.

This page from KOX issue 5 highlights his feelings for Rogue. She's his heart. His reason to live. Compare her statue to all of his:

Rogue's statue is surrounded by light. There's no way anyone could miss seeing it versus his statues, representing multiple versions of himself- all of them are shrouded in darkness, no visible details.

Not only does Gambit not want people to see him, he wants them to look at Rogue. To Gambit, Rogue is the best part of him.

I'm not gonna pretend that's a healthy mindset. If anything, it further emphasises to me his low self-worth.

I want to point out this page for several reasons.

Firstly, it could be said that Gambit didn't want to be saved, and that's why his Death persona manifested to kill his team. He wanted to stay dead.

Secondly, Death is the very very worst part of him, yet he says, "You ain't really changed if you ain't looked in the mirror and seen the worst parts a' yo'self. I am Death, mes amis." He's essentially telling them that this terrible, awful person is who he's always been deep inside. We know this isn't true, but this is what Gambit believes.

Thirdly, as mentioned earlier, when Gambit slips into that belief of "I'm a horrible person", he often makes bad decisions. In RG23 issue 2 (set after KOX), we see him tie an innocent civilian's hand to a gas stove, turn it on and then set it on fire. Gambit knows this is a horrible thing to do, but he's in such a horrible mental state that he doesn't think he's above this behaviour. I will come back to this point.

Gambit asks how anyone new is coming to the Otherworld because the gate between Krakoa and the Otherworld was closed, and Betsy could only take ten of them. To partake on such a dangerous mission, Gambit chose to risk leaving everything behind without knowing if he'd even make it back alive.

In a sense, he abandoned Rogue in a similar way to abandoning Bella Donna. He went somewhere neither of them could reach him. Or supposedly couldn't.

Rogue was first to greet him after his revival. Gambit couldn't believe this because a) he thought he was dead, and b) why would Rogue, who is too busy for him, be the first to see him after his resurrection?

It's easy to think that this moment resolved Gambit's worries that Rogue didn't love him, and that, going forward, their problems were fixed, but as RG23 shows, it didn't. Rogue showing up for him once isn't enough to fix their current issues because the problem lies deeper than Rogue's absence.

At a superficial level, it's easy to blame her for Gambit's mental state, but I believe this depression he's fallen into has been a long time coming. Decades of unprocessed trauma, insecurity and self-destructive behaviour- literally dying and coming back to life, have culminated in the Gambit we see in RG23. To be honest, you have to be in a very very dark place to kill yourself, self-sacrifice or otherwise.

Issue 1 of All New X-Factor (2014) shows Gambit is no stranger to drinking and barfights. The difference is his mindset. We know he can win a fight against multiple people- we've seen that happen many times. So why, in RG23 issue 1, was he suddenly unable to block a punch, let alone hold himself upright?

Because he didn't want to win.

When Rogue arrives to rescue him, we learn multiple things. It's not the first time he's disappeared somewhere without telling her; it's not the first time she's found him so drunk he's incapacitated; it's not the first time she's had to save him from a fight he's not winning.

What this tells me is that Gambit is purposefully putting himself in dangerous situations as a form of self-harm. He doesn't tell Rogue where he's going because he doesn't want her to save him. He drinks to the point he can barely stand to make sure there's no way he can win a fight, and then he starts a fight to get the shit kicked out of him.

It almost seems like, in some sense, he still wants to die, but he can't kill himself. Not while he remains in limbo with Rogue.

It works both ways- if he never asks Rogue how she feels, he never finds out that he's right and that she doesn't love him. He also never finds out he's wrong and that she does love him.

It's important to add here, that Rogue is in a very difficult position.

RG23 issue 1: we can see Gambit actively shutting Rogue out. He calls it a "misunderstanding" and his "business". Despite the fact that they're married, Gambit is basically telling Rogue to stay out of it.

Again, he's shutting her out, making light of such a dangerous situation and then outright ignoring her. In fact, Gambit's completely disregarding her feelings. We can see Rogue is exhausted. It's hard to care about someone who doesn't care about themselves.

And Rogue does care. A lot. Every time Gambit goes missing she goes out to find him, saves him and then brings him home to take care of him.

But she can't help him if he won't let her.

When someone you love hurts themselves, it hurts you too, and Gambit is indirectly hurting Rogue, but he refuses to see that because he's decided that she doesn't care. In his spiral of self-destruction, he's completely shut down communication between them.

Asking for help is never easy to do, and we know he thinks she's too busy for him. He doesn't want to burden her with his issues.

Furthermore, he doesn't want to face his issues and resolve them.

In issue 2 of RG23, after losing their powers, Rogue is freed from the burden of having to consciously control them at all times, and we see them share a moment of physical intimacy.

I find his use of "tête-à-tête" here (French for "a private conversation") ironic because we all know they weren't talking.

Returning to what I said earlier about Gambit and flings- physical intimacy is an easy way to briefly fill the void of what he's missing in emotional intimacy.

I don't believe he suddenly views his relationship with Rogue as something akin to a fling. I think the opposite.

Gambit invests in their relationship physically but not emotionally because to him, that's the safest way he can connect with Rogue right now. Touch is his love language, and when he can't find the words to speak, physical intimacy is the best he can do.

Rogue and Gambit (2018) showed us that, back then, Rogue was the one struggling to communicate her feelings, and Gambit was always very open with her about where he stood, so why the role reversal?

We can see Rogue trying to communicate, but Gambit shuts her down, pushing her away.

By doing this and holding onto the idea that Rogue doesn't love or care about him anymore, Gambit is sub-consciously trying to ruin their relationship.

Given how much he loves Rogue and wants to be with her, this tells me he's still in a very dark headspace.

Going back to the statues being parts of himself he doesn't want anyone to see, as well as becoming Death once more, and finally confessing his core belief- that he can't change, he will always be a terrible person: Gambit's trapped himself in his own insecurity.

If he opens up to Rogue, he risks her seeing him for who he truly believes he is. What comes with that? Rejection.

Here, we see Gambit drinking once again. Rogue also mentions how, on one occasion, he argued with a sommelier over wine. In both issue 1 and 2 Gambit's use of alcohol has been highlighted in a negative light. It's an unhealthy coping mechanism.

Also, it's easy to look at this scene and think Rogue is the one who can't let loose and lighten up, but I think what's actually happening is Gambit is ignoring her feelings, as he did in issue 1. She has a drink and two glasses next to her on the table, so it's not as if they haven't already spent a considerable amount of time having fun there.

When Rogue says they should leave, Gambit's more interested in continuing his escapism- until Black Panther arrives, and he starts another drunken fight he can't win. A pattern has been established.

"He'll save her. He's a hero." is a very telling line that reveals why Gambit did what he did- because he's not a hero, and he knew the woman would be saved.

To reiterate, Gambit believes he is a terrible person who is not above doing terrible things. He does not change: he will always be who he was as Death. The worst of the worst.

By risking an innocent woman's life to save himself (and Rogue), he only furthers this belief.

We see here that Gambit looked back to check if Black Panther did indeed save the woman he endangered. Without looking at Rogue and speaking quietly (evidenced by the smaller writing and bubble), he says to himself, "He saved her." Because Gambit isn't the terrible person he thinks himself to be- he couldn't leave without knowing the woman was safe.

This is how we, the reader, know that Gambit hasn't suddenly changed and become a terrible person. He's struggling with his mental health and sense of identity after a lifetime of trauma.

Honestly, there are so many more traumatic events I could talk about.

There's a long list of people Gambit's lost- as mentioned before, in his 1999 solo, it was shown he was partly responsible for the death of his cousin, Etienne.

In X-Men (1991), we found out that, after a failed heist, Gambit was forced by Sabretooth to pick between saving his brother and saving Genevieve. He chose his brother, and she was killed.

In his 2012 solo, Gambit's love interest, Joelle, killed herself in front of him. In his 2022 solo, he failed to save his love interest, Marissa, and as a result, she became visibly disfigured.

It goes without saying events like the Morlock Massacre would've had a huge impact on his mental health and sense of self-worth too.

If you've read all of the above, you might be wondering why only now are we getting to see the repercussions of all this? Why does all this trauma suddenly matter?

Rogue and Gambit (2018) opened the doorway for exploring their issues as a couple. Mr and Mrs X (2018) gave Rogue an opportunity to revisit her trauma (and finally conquer her powers in the process). Now, I think it's Gambit's turn. At this point, he's surpassed rock bottom, and the only way up is finally confronting these issues.

Will everything I've mentioned here be explored in Rogue and Gambit (2023)? I doubt it. It's very plot-driven and only five issues long.

However, I do think the first step for him is resolving his communication issues with Rogue, which I'm certain will happen in RG23. Afterwards, it wouldn't surprise me if we see him continue to fight his own demons in future issues until he finds his closure.

IN CONCLUSION: I understand the frustration with Gambit's characterisation and why it may seem like he's suddenly become an entirely different person. I don't expect everyone to agree with everything I've said!!

This is my personal interpretation of everything- I'm not trying to blame the current situation entirely on Gambit and act like Rogue can't make a bit more effort.

Their issues are a lot more complicated than simply Rogue not spending enough time with him.

I look forward to seeing this develop further in RG23 :D

tl;dr in my opinion his characterisation so far in Rogue and Gambit (2023) makes sense following the ideas established in Knights of X (2022): Gambit is depressed, has a very low self-esteem, and doesn’t believe Rogue loves him anymore

[wannabecatwriter]

Making their way to the door, they were surprised to see three familiar faces, and one new.

Etienne Lucroy, his beau Antoine Belange, Antoine's sister Samantha, and her new beau Kristofer.

"Happy Birthday!!! I hope we're not intruding, bit it's been years since I've seen you and when Etienne said you were here, I couldn't just not stop by, especially on your birthday!!!" Samantha half-yelled, always a ball of excitement.

Henrietta was happy to see her so cheerful, especially after knowing her prior marriage was not a happy one.

But goodness, how could she have forgotten her own birthday?!

"It's great to see you as well, Sammy! Come in, everyone," Henrietta regained her footing.

"Happy Birthday, dear," Etienne gave her a shoulder pat coming in. "Is everything good?"

"Great! Yes."

That reminded her. While she had a certain plan for this evening, it would have to wait. There was no way she was going to pull it off with others in the house.

And she wasn't even sure anymore. Did she want to?

Looking at the happy people in her home, she decided that her birthday was most certainly not a good time for killing anyone.

Then the doorbell rang again.

[thornilee013]

Etienne please!

prev | Etienne | WW 28.8.2024

“Of course, I’d make sure you wouldn’t have to be alone all day even if your aunts weren’t going to be here. My professors have all given me clearance to bring you along to class, but only if you behave. If you can’t behave, then you’ll have to stay here in the room while I’m at class. I’m sure Jeremy would be happy about that, but I don’t know if you would.”

MASTERPOST

[nalascat]

BARBIE SEXYMAN TOURNAMENT

[etienne-mon-amour]

Etienne's silly face pt 1

Here it is. That's my man ✨

[fantasyandromancelover]

Spider-Man AU Act 1

Inspired by literally every movie and TV adaption of Spider-Man there is, and in a case where there are not one but three main heroes.

Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Raimi’s Version) - Alastor

Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Webb's Version) - Angel Dust

Peter Parker/Spider-Man (MCU Version) - Moxxie

Mary-Jane Watson - Charlie

Gwen Stacy - Vaggie

Michelle Jones - Millie

Harry Osborn - Blitzo

Ned Leeds - Fizzarolli

Uncle Ben and Aunt May - Alastor's parents

J Jonah Jameson - Husk

Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin - Adam

Dr. Curt Conners/The Lizard - Asmodeus

Dr. Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus - Sir Pentious

Max Dillion/Electro - Travis

Adrian Toomes/The Vulture - Chazwick

Flash Thompson - Striker

John Jameson - Vortex

Liz Alan - Queen Bee

P.S I stink at hero and villain names.

In 1980, Etienne, Henrion, and Carlo "Crimson" Hansen were brothers who started out as petty thieves living on the streets. But later in life they were employed by a mysterious crime lord who dealt in illegal experimentation, drug smuggling, and seizing control of other corporate businesses. As they years went by Henrion and Crimson revealed in the money and power that organized crime gave them but Etienne gradually grew to regret it upon seeing just how dangerous their boss's operations were and even more so after he fell in love his long-time girlfriend Marie. In time all three brothers had one son, Etienne's and Crimson's were born through marriage while Henrion's came from a one night stand with a hooker. When Etienne became a father he decided to quit and live a life of honest work, begging his brothers to the same for their sons but they both refused.

Then a year later in 1986, Etienne received a call from Crimson's wife begging him to come help her, insisting that her husband has gone mad and that she needs to escape with her child. Etienne agrees to help but knows his brothers will seek retribution, so he arranges for himself, his family, his sister in-law, and his nephew to go into hiding until the heat dies down. Unfortunately when he goes to get Crimson's wife and one year old son he finds her dead, having been killed by Crimson and is knocked out. When he wakes up he learns that Henrion and Crimson have kidnapped his own son and later discovers that all three boys were being used as test subjects for their boss's experiment to advance human D.N.A. Apparently older test subjects were unable to survive the effects and younger ones were suspected to have a stronger system. Engraged that his brothers would stoop to this Etienne kills them both, takes his nephews to raise his own alongside his son, and left town with his family to start a new life, changing their name from Hansen to Devalcourt.

Fourteen years later, seventeen year old cousins Alastor and Anthony "Angel" and their fifteen year old cousin Maximus "Moxxie" have been brought up in a loving and nurturing environment provided by Etienne and Marie and all three are blessed with extremely high IQ's and intellectual gifts. But upon reaching the teen years they develop their own personal issues. Alastor is a socially awkward nerd who is constantly mocked and bullied by his peers, Angel is a rebellious punk who acts out to deal with feelings of abandonment and is belittled by most of his teachers, and Moxxie is always trying to fit in only to constantly be rejected. Despite this they do have some friends. Alastor’s rich high school classmate Blitzo who's father is the owner of a corporate company, Moxxie’s fellow theater geek Fizzarolli who is also bullied due to being held back several years, and the boys’s beautiful next door neighbor and childhood friend Charlotte “Charlie", who Alastor has secretly been in love with since he was six.

One day the school takes a field trip to a genetics lab run by Doctor Asmodeus Rapha, a brilliant scientist and former science teacher for the boys, and among the few to recognize Angel’s potential. Asmodeus unveils his latest invention for all to see, the Neogenic Recombinator, a device that crosses science with spiritual forces to create a whole new form of healing and advancing one's natural abilities. However the effects of the device have so far be unstable due to the fact that all the recent test subjects of it can't handle to extreme change in their blood and D.N.A. They are also introduced to Asmodeus's workers Travis and Chazwick, his pretty young intern and Charlie's best friend Vaggie who takes an instant dislike of the boys, believing them to be trouble makers.

During a tour of the lab, Stiker the school bully and his gang grab Moxxie and drag him off somewhere to beat him up. Alastor and Angel come to his defense which results in a fight breaking out and one of them hitting the Neogenic Recombinator. The device is turned on and it hits Alastor, Angel, and Moxxie with a blast but nothing seems to happen to them so they quickly run home, to avoid getting into trouble. However in actuality they have been given super natural, demonic, powers and skills without any negative side effects due to their blood and D.N.A having been made stronger cause of the experiments made on them at a young age. All three have super-strength and genius level intelligence but Alastor can control and morph with shadows, produce tendrils as a means to climb and swing, and his given heightened senses. Angel has advanced speed and agility, instinctive combat skills, and producing a paralyzing venom. And Moxxie can shapeshift, has healing and regenerative powers, and can build any form of device, weapon, or force.

At first the boys just use their powers to benefit themselves. With Angel using his to intimate local thugs who mugged him for money, Moxxie getting revenge on Striker and hid gang, and Alastor signing up for a wrestling match to win a thousand dollars, money which he intends to use to help his parents with their money problems. Charlie happens to notice that Alastor and his cousins are acting different and she informs Etienne and Marie of her worries. Etienne, secretly fearing that they might make the same mistake he and his brothers made, has a talk with all three of them but Moxxie and Angel get angry and snap at him to stop trying to be their father. When he talks to Alastor, just before dropping him off at what he thinks is a trip to the library, Etienne confesses to Alastor the whole story about him and his brothers. He warns him that while in the beginning they were only trying to take care of themselves and their family, in the end it lead them down at dark path of murder and betrayal. Then he tells Alastor that as the oldest he has to look after the family should something happen to Etienne and he gives his son the advice "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility." Alastor only brushes off the advice, telling his father that he has no responsibility to Angel or Moxxie because technically they're not his brothers and unlike his father, he didn't choose to look after them. That was just saddled on him.

Turns out Alastor had lied to his father about going to the library and was really going to the wrestling match he secretly signed up for. With his powers, he easily beats his opponent and wins the match but is cheated out of the money by the crooked sponsor. Shortly after said sponsor is robbed and Alastor let's the thief get away as revenge. Later as Alastor waits for his father to pick him up, he discovers that a car jacker shot his father and Etienne dies in his son's arms. Heartbroken and enraged, Alastor hunts down the murderer but is horrified to find that the killer is the same thief he let get away. Alastor is now condemned with guilt, convinced that his father's death was his fault and Angel and Moxxie are also stricken with guilt for how they treated their uncle. At Etienne's funeral Charlie, Blitzo, Fizzaroli, and Vaggie comfort the boys and Marie. Alastor then swears on his father's grave that he'll make things right and always look after the family no matter what.

Meanwhile Blitzo has always felt neglected by his father and is desperate to win his approval. So desperate that he begins taking drugs to be good at sports and become a star athlete, ditching his real friends to hang with the popular crowd, and sets out to woo Charlie despite knowing that Alastor has loved her for years. Charlie tells Blitzo that she's not sure if she wants to be his girlfriend but she agrees to date him to see where this goes. At the moment Charlie isn't really looking for a relationship, she's too busy trying to achieve a career in acting yet unfortunately no one really supports that dream except for her Vaggie, Moxxie, and Alastor. One night Charlie has a fight with her father over her career choice and Alastor invites her out to comfort her. As they talk Charlie confesses that she always admired Etienne for being a devoted and supportive father, calling him a hero to which Alastor agrees. He then confesses that he believes himself to be a disappointment to his father and that he may never be the man he wanted him to be. But Charlie just kindly assured him that he's better than he thinks and that someday he'll be a hero just like Etienne was.

This inspires Alastor, Agnel, and Moxxie to honor Etienne's wish for them to be good men by using their powers to defend the innocent from evil. Donning masked costumes, they fight crime and save lives as honorable vigilantes with demonic powers and skills. This earns them the names the Demon Deer, the Spider Sinner, and the Incredible Imp. However despite their heroics, newspaper publisher Husk is convinced that the three of them are villains and vows to find proof as this by hiring Alastor as the newspaper's photographer due to him being the only one able to get a clear picture of the heroes. Meanwhile Angel decides to clean up his punk act by taking up an internship with Asmodeus which allows him to work alongside Vaggie who is soon impressed by his hidden genius and Moxxie helps Charlie further her acting career by getting her involved wit his acting trope.

Unknown to everyone including Blitzo, his father Adam is secretly the crime lord Etienne used to work for years ago and has been building his own criminal empire to run the city. At some point Adam decides that he wants to use the Neogenic Recombinator on himself despite Asmodeus's warnings of the danger. The device does in fact give Adam supernatural powers and skills but because his body and D.N.A has no immunity or stabilizing factor like Alastor and his cousins do, he is driven insane and becomes a villain known as the Dark Archangel. At a world unity fair where Adam was supposed to meet his son and Charlie, the Dark Archangel arrives and assassinates a rival crime boss attending the event. Alastor as the Deer Demon fights him but has to let him escape when Charlie falls from a building amidst the chaos. He catches her in time and she can't help but feel that there's something familiar about her savior.

Adam continues to plan the murders of his competition but many of his attempts are thwarted by Deer Demon, Spider Sinner, and the Incredible Imp. Eventually he realizes he can't take all three of them so he kidnaps his employees Asmodeus, Travis, and Chazwick and uses the Neogenic Recombinator to mutate them into villains that he unleashes on to the city to distract the heroes. Travis and Chazwick are both gleefully embrace their new, sadistic identity but Asmodeus tries to fight it and goes to Angel and Vaggie for help. The two of them and Alastor keep him secretly contained and run experiments on him into order to find a cure for the mutation. During this Angel and Vaggie grow closer and after a surprise kiss, they start a relationship. Alastor and Charlie grow closer too much to Blitzo's jealousy. On a rainy night, Alastor and Charlie share a romantic moment just after a failed audition where he encourages her to keep holding on to her dreams. She walks home alone but Alastor notices some men following her and sneaks after them through the shadows. The men try to gang rape Charlie but the Deer Demon saves her again. Thinking that it was Alastor who saved her, she kisses him in the rain but is shocked and embarrassed when they part and she sees that it's not Al. Or so she thinks.

At Thanksgiving, Charlie, Vaggie, Fizzarolli, Blitzo, and his father are invited to spend the holiday with the boys and Marie. At first the dinner goes well but then Adam sees a photo of Etienne, recognizing him as his former employee which rouses suspicion. He also finds out that Charlie happens to be the daughter of his ex fiance Lilith who left him to be with his best friend Lucifer from college. Adam suddenly starts acting rude, berates Blitzo and reveals that he's been taking drugs, taunts Moxxie about his father killing his mother, and calls Charlie a gold-digging whore. Moxxie runs off with Fizzarolli following to comfort him and Charlie is reduced to tears. Blitzo doesn't defend any of them out of fear but Alastor respectfully tells Adam to leave and warns him never to speak that way about his family or Charlie again. When Adam is gone Blitzo tries to comfort Charlie but she rejects him and retreats into Alastor's arms, seeing that he only was interested in her to impress his father.

Adam, having never known that any of the Hansen brothers had children until now, uses his illegal connections to pull up concealed information about their background and discovers the experiments done on the boys. This causes him to deduce that Alastor, Angel, and Moxxie are the Deer Demon, the Spider Sinner, and the Incredible Imp. He chooses to punish them by striking at their hearts and preying on the people they love most. First he has Chazwick attack Fizzarolli and force unstable drugs into his system which leads to an overdose. Next he has Travis release Asmodeus and set him up to be hunted and put down by animal control. Finally as The Dark Archangel, he breaks in and terrifies Marie to the point that she has a heart attack. Alastor and Charlie stay at the hospital to look after Marie and Fizzarolli while Moxxie and Angel look for Asmodeus and the other villains.

At some point Blitzo comes to the hospital to apologize and make amends but backs out upon seeing Alastor and Charlie embrace. He goes home that night and reveals to his father that Charlie prefers Alastor over him and that Alastor has always loved her. This reminds Adam of when Lilith chose Lucifer over him and he assumes that Alastor and Charlie purposely hurt his son. He kidnaps Charlie and uses her as bait to lure Alastor to the Brooklyn Bridge. Alastor goes there as the Deer Demon and finds the Dark Archangel holding her and a tram car of children hostage. He forces Alastor to choose whom he wants to save and drops them both but Alastor manages to save both Charlie and the children. Adam refusing to let him win, sends Chazwick, and Travis to kill them all but though Angel and Moxxie arrive just in time to hold them off long enough for Alastor to get everyone to safety.

During this Vaggie finally creates a cure and sets out to use it. She finds Asmodeus and cures him just before his shot by the authorities then races to the bridge to cure the others. But things soon take a tragic turn. As Moxxie is curing Chazwick, Travis electrocutes him to the point that he can't move and throws Vaggie from the bridge. Angel catches her with his webbing but he finds her motionless and unresponsive. And Adam grabs Alastor and subjects him to a brutal beating him. However when Adam brags about how he will kill his mother, his cousins, his friends, and for last subject Charlie to a slow and painful death, Alastor becomes so enraged that he gains the upper hand, and nearly kills him. Adam reveals himself and begs for forgiveness while subtly getting his glider ready to impale Alastor from behind. Warned by his senses, he dodges the attack, and the glider mortally impales Adam instead. Adam dies with a torn piece of the Deer Demon's suit in his hand and when Blitzo later finds it on his father's body, he assumes the Deer Demon killed his father and swears revenge.

In the end Chazwick and Travis are cured and arrested for their crimes while Asmodeus is given proper treatment. Marie and Fizzarolli both recover but the incident at the bridge leaves Vaggie comatose and Moxxie paralyzed from the waste down, unknown if he'll ever walk again. Blaming himself for what happened to Vaggie, Angel gives up being the Spider Sinner and a protective Alastor forbids Moxxie from ever being the Incredible Imp again, choosing to take the burden on his own. Charlie confesses to Alastor that she loves him and they kiss, but he feels he must protect her from the attention of his enemies. So he hides his true feelings and tells Charlie that they can only be friends. She sadly accepts this but is left wondering if there's more to what he said due to the familiarity of their kiss. Alastor goes with Angel to visit Moxxie in the hospital all while recalling his late father's words and accepting his responsibility as the Deer Demon.

[eat-pray-cry]

All the Light We Cannot See: In Defense of the Netflix Adaptation (Part 7)

PART 7: THE CHANGES THAT I LOVED

WARNING: SPOILER ALERTS

And so we’ve come to this… The final rambling. The changes that I loved.

As I mentioned in another post, I acknowledge that there were many losses when the book was translated into film (or in this case, a mini-series). But this, ladies and gentlemen, is where I discuss the gains. This is where I tell you the parts where the show gave me what the book couldn’t give me. This is where I tell you why, in addition to the book, I loved the show as well.

Without further ado, and in order from what I loved, to what KILLED ME WITH WEEPING JOY:

Madame Manec is portrayed as Etienne’s sister rather than his housekeeper. I actually think this added to the story. For one, nothing is taken away by changing her from a housekeeper to a sister. Both are figures that would have known Etienne since he was a child. Both are figures who would have been present in his home and cared for him. The real game-changer here is how the show utilized the change: moments before Etienne steps back out into the world, Madame Manec delivers a powerful line. She utters, “He looks like my little brother.” (I almost cried.)

Verner’s running sequence through the wall. I find it VERY interesting that some people hated this, saying that it was cheesy and overdramatized. Here’s what I think: (1) Verner running through the city to get to Marie was also in the book, (2) it was necessary to give Verner a heroic sequence because he doesn’t get to have that when he gets to Marie, who saves herself from von Rumpel in the adaptation, and (3) it was riveting to watch! 

Marie listens to the professor too. I don’t see the harm in adding this change, but I definitely see the gain. Keep in mind that the book affords us many details to see the connection between Verner and Marie. They’re the only two characters who were shown to solve the puzzle of the model house. We also saw Verner reflecting on how wonderful the house in Number 4 rue Vauborel is - the radios, the books, etc. The show, with its limited platform, can’t afford to give viewers all those details. So what do they do instead? They establish that Marie also listens to the Professor, so much that she and Verner harmonize the same lines throughout the show. So when we finally see them together, we see flashbacks to their childhood where they both listen to the professor… It tells us as viewers of their connection.

Quote added: “The most important light in the world is all the light we cannot see.” Alright, fine, this quote wasn’t in the book and many have claimed that it was silly. Personally, however, I thought it was a lovely homage to the book. For one thing, it was literally a title-drop. More importantly, it echoed the running theme of the book - the beauty of the radio signals that connected Marie and Verner, the light we cannot see. Was the quote a little too on-the-nose? Perhaps. But in the same way that many aspects of the story had to be dramatized visually, so did this running theme have to be highlighted from the book.  

Jutta’s goodbye. My god. This scene was beautiful. I know that it was vastly different from the farewell in the book; it doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. As I’ve mentioned several times at this point, the book and the show have intentionally different tones. So, naturally, the goodbye in the book was hauntingly heartbreaking, whereas the goodbye in the show was tender and sad. That said, the biggest gift of this addition is this beautiful line: “Like one of your silly radio stations. Keep the frequency the same.” This was beautiful on so many levels. Beautiful because of the wordplay (radios, frequencies), but more beautiful because of how it reflects on the Verner we know and love, the Verner whose quiet goodness will be challenged.

Verner talks to Jutta through the radio. This was a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL addition because it was something that I, as a reader, couldn’t get from the book. As we all know, Verner and Jutta never reunite in the book. So to be blessed with this scene, to be blessed with the mere POSSIBILITY that they’re going to see each other again… It made my heart weep with joy.

Etienne and his brother are merged into one professor, Etienne and Verner actually meet, Etienne dies. As surprised as I was to find that Etienne dies in the adaptation, I overall thought this was a BEAUTIFUL change when considering Verner’s story arc. Let’s think about it. The show had limited time, they needed to show that Verner carried a lot of guilt, they needed to show that his connection to Etienne (and consequently Marie) was his beacon of hope. What better way to show that arc than to have him by a dying Etienne’s side, who turns to him and kindly says, “You’re a good boy, Verner Pfennig.” It was a big change and a small moment, but said so much. It was a beautiful way to show Verner being absolved.

All additions to Verner and Marie’s time together - the kiss, the dance, the promise to reunite. Listen. I don’t care if this wasn’t in the book. Let me repeat. I don’t care if this wasn’t in the book. One more time. I DON’T CARE IF THIS WASN’T IN THE BOOK. I love the book. I love the bittersweetness of the short time they spent together. I love the haunting heartbreak from the fact that they never got a chance to reunite. This, however, is also why I loved the changes that were made to the show. The show gave me EXACTLY what I didn’t get to have from the book. I spent 500 pages waiting for Marie and Verner to meet. The show gave me what I was waiting for in those 500 pages. The dance scene. The kiss scene. The way Marie twirls her fingers in his hair. The way she touches his eyelid, similar to the way she touched her father’s eyelids a few episodes ago. The promise to return, the line, “I will be listening”, the simple and powerful HOPE that they may see each other again. This is exactly what the show gives me, what the book intentionally (albeit beautifully) withheld from me: hope.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I loved both the book and the show.

The book broke my heart, the show made it flutter.

Thus concludes my defense of the All The LIght We Cannot See, Netflix version.