#and I try to not question that too hard

[laughinglynx]

.

[buddieinmybeddie]

LGBTQ+ folk what was your gender/sexuality pipeline?

[bluerosefox]

Dinner?

Feeling a bit Spirit Halloweenish.

Danny blinked, stared blankly, blinked again before slowly very slowly closed his front door.

A few seconds later Danny opened the door again and once again meet a certain tallish young man, around his age if maybe a few years older, in front of him...

Who was it?

Bruce Wayne....

Bruce freaking Wayne, someone according to what he heard from Sam telling him from what she heard from her parents had apparently just dropped out of med school and was 'in the wind' according to rich elite gossip talks, was at his front door.

........

Why?

Wait... Did he just ask Danny out on a date?

-x-x-

Bruce Wayne has just dropped out of med school and is beginning his training into becoming the person his city needs him to become. While looking into where he can he remembers how in his teen years the planet was almost destroyed but was saved by a ghost teen hero and looks into it. He digs deep to uncover what happened, uncovering impressive firewalls Amity Park has, etc and finds out about Danny Fenton/Phantom.

He decides to go visit the younger man, who is just about to start college himself, and ask a few questions.

He uhhh... Bruce just wasn't expecting to find Danny very cute (even though he was pretty certain Phantom had been his first male crush when he saw a photo of the teen years ago), and adorable with his owlish stare, and well the first words out of his mouth was

"Would you mind joining me for dinner?"

-x-x-

[nonasbirthday]

G1deon was really left to fight a whole resurrection beast on his own because everyone else decided to have their Real Housewives of the Mithraeum moment right then

[clementine-thedestroyer]

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming with college professors Ghost and Price x TA!reader

This is just my typical brand of shameless bullshit- you’ve been warned. There’s a wee bit of angst and a hint of smut at the end, but it should be safe besides that.

You were a graduate student, working on your masters degree while working part time as teaching assistant to try and make ends meet. And somehow, you’d managed to fall into bed with two of the best looking men on the entire campus.

The conflict of interest is minimal- the two of them work in a completely different department than you (probably history or math, if we’re being honest) and you know that they’re both mature enough men that if something did happen between the three of you, they’d be able to stay professional afterwards.

And even if did work in your department, christ- you may gone for it anyways.

John was tall and strong, always wearing some variation of the same slacks, dress shirt, and tie with a dark brown linen jacket on hand for colder days. The shirts he wore always seemed to fit him perfectly, tucking into his slacks with just the right amount of fabric left over to emphasize his figure without being too tight. There’d been a week where the A/C had been on the fritz- in the middle of a heat wave, naturally- and you were blessed with an entire week of watching John lecture from the chair behind his desk- rolled-up sleeves straining around his thick arms as he gradually gets more and more red in the face as class goes on.

And Simon- he was taller than John, but just barely- no more than a few inches. He was quiet at first, avoiding speaking directly to you until Price had made his interest clear.

You’d always been intrigued by the both of them, really. But with the mask Simon wore- both the figurative, and literal one- on a day to day basis, it made sense that you found John easier to approach.

Your first date with him had been nice- pleasant. It was everything you expected of a typical first date while still being the best one you’d ever had, by far. It wasn’t until a few days later that you learned about Simon’s place in the whole thing.

Of course, you’d known what an open relationship was before then, but you hadn’t really had much experience with them, and you certainly hadn’t been expecting to learn that John was in any sort of relationship at all.

It had been a point of uncertainty for you, at first. You’d be going into a situation where these two had been together for years- would it even be possible to be involved with them without being left feeling like an awkward 3rd wheel? There were so many possible points of contention- of conflict. You were just… worried.

John had told you that he’d understand if you decided you weren’t interested anymore- but he’d also told you that both he and Simon were interested in at least getting to know you.

So you’d agreed to give it a try.

At first, it was a bit difficult- you’d tried talking to Simon a few times- getting to know him, ect- but he’s always seemed so cold towards you. All of your attempts at small talk or asking questions about him were met with grunts or sharp, one word awnsers that sometimes didn’t even awnser your questions in the first place.

You’d taken the hint- slinking off back to John with your tail tucked between your legs like a scolded puppy.

John had laughed when you confided in him your suspicions that Simon did, in fact, hate you and everything you stood for. He’d laughed, patting you on the back as he told you that no, Simon didn’t hate you. In fact- he’d been the deciding factor in involving you with their relationship in the first place.

But try as you might, you just couldn’t reconcile the way Simon seemed to loath your very presence with the idea that he wanted anything at all to do with you.

So you’d started avoiding him. Nothing much- just not going out of your way to talk to him unless he noticed you.

In the mean time, your relationship with John progressed. After about a month or so, you’d had sex with him for the first time, and things were good between you- even if you felt a pang of guilt, feeling that you were keeping John from Simon whenever you were with him. That must be why Simon hates you, right? You’re keeping his partner away from him. Sure, you knew that he was okay with it, and that it was something they both agreed on, but there was no way he didn’t resent you the slightest bit for taking up John’s time.

It was for nearly three months that you believed that, at least until the first time the three of you had fallen into bed together all at once.

You’d been sitting with John in his office, waiting for him to finish up some work. At some point, your impatience and borderline bratting must’ve worn too hard on John’s nerves, because he’d given you a final warning: if you didn’t quit with the attitude, you wouldn’t like what happened.

Of course, with him saying that, you couldn’t just stop.

One more taunting line was what it took to make him snap. He’d stood up and grabbed you by the wrist, practically dragging you to his desk before bending you over his lap- yanking down your bottoms and shoving two thick fingers into your cunt.

He’d let you rut your clit desperately against the leg of his pants as he tried to get some work done, but every time you got close to cumming, he’d withdraw his fingers and force you to still with a heavy hand on your hip.

You’d been acting pathetic, really- whining and whimpering like a little bitch as you desperately tried to wiggle your hips enough to get off. You don’t remember how long you’d been doing that, but at some point, Simon had walked in.

Heat immediately flodded your face at your state of undress. You try to sit up, only for John’s free hand to catch you and push you back into place. Being effectively pinned in such an embarrassing position by John triggered a different kind of heat in you.

John had three fingers stretching you open by now, pistoning in and out of you at a lazy pace without a care in the world.

Simon is staring- standing in front of the door, teeth clenched and eyes fixed on where John’s hand is disappearing into you, transfixed on how your hole stretches and swallows the intrusion and by the shine and sheer amount of your slick on John’s fingers.

You try and call out for him- pleading for him to save you from your embarrassment- but it just comes out as a pitiful, garbled moan. Simon’s hand forms a fist, and you watch as he digs his nails into the skin of his palm. It was a reaction you’d easily mistake for anger, had you not just watched the rapidly growing bulge in his pants fill out further at your cry.

You’re sure you look absolutely pathetic right now- your cheek is smushed against John’s thigh, and your face is mess of smeared tears and drool.

But that doesn’t stop Simon from dropping to his knees and eating you out, keeping with John’s goal of edging you until the brattiness is well and good out of your system.

After that, Simon’s behavior towards you had completely changed.

He would touch you, for one, and seemed to enjoy when you would do the same to him. He spoke with you more too- cracking horrible jokes, poking fun at your quirks, ect.

Or maybe you’d just become better at interpreting his actions. After all, he was still often quiet- you’d just come to see it as him preferring to listen, rather than as a sign of dislike. Same with his responses, the curt, one word awnsers that you used to take as a sign of annoyance, you now see simply as how Simon speaks.

Either way, whether it was Simon’s attitude that had changed or your own, there’d been no more painfully awkward moments or feelings of guilt for you. The three of you got on together like you’d known them for years, and you couldn’t be happier.

[spghtrbry]

this and the brainrot again

yeah. don’t ask.

bonus: my ranking of saul’s suits. that orange shirt + green tie makes me feel things for some reason

[hplonesomeart]

‼️ART TRIGGER WARNING: Mild body horror/gore

Sooooo I kinda unexpectedly deviated from what I would consider my normal art preferences here. Mostly because I’ve seen a lot of talented artists drawing their own renditions of menacing Puzzles fanart where he goes fully insane and whatnot. I wanted to also contribute to that trend somehow…although it’s slightly out of my usual comfort zone << especially with his recent design change of loosing his whole lower body lol. Adapting that into my art was an interesting experimental challenge

Here is my own take on Puzzles falling apart! Quite literally! I still wanted to add a bit of empathy in here for him tho— because I’m going to be so distraught if WOTFI 2024 is his resignation from the spotlight for good. His final bow on stage if you will; the grand finale of his performance before he departs in death (MAN I SURE HOPE HE DOESN’T DIE BUT THE FANDOM SPECULATIONS AND PARANOIA ARE GETTING TO MY HEAD. And it just seems like the narrative progression is leaning that way). Well not matter what happens to him this upcoming Saturday…this tragic TV guy has impacted me in unexpected ways and I’m just so glad we got to spend and entire year with his character. And he’s sure not gonna disappear from my art anytime soon. Hopefully I won’t be maiming him ever again after this though jksjsksp he’s suffered enough angst for now <3

And here is just a black & white sketch version without the red overlay stuff!! Although it’s an older version so not everything is exact

[queenlucythevaliant]

Okay gang, here's a silly little game. I've assembled six teams of blended Narnia and Tolkien/LotR characters. Here they are:

For bonus points, tell me in the tags where you're going on your road trip, who has what role (driving, snacks, aux) on the road, and what you'll stop off and see along the way

[monstermoviedean]

so chuck's original ending was low-jeopardy, uninspired, lacking cas. but because becky "gave notes," chuck wrote a new, worse ending out of spite. "awful, horrible, hopeless." then he killed becky's family in front of her and then he killed her too.

i generally do not believe the people who worked on spn had active contempt for the fans. but it's hard not to take this personally, especially given 15x20.

[ardentpoop]

common problem i have w/ a lot of fanon is that people tend to heavily overestimate how attentive dean is to sam's issues/needs. dean is often fucking clueless abt what sam is going thru lol. outside of the immediate strain it places on their relationship and their ability to do their Job.

[mueritos]

its my bday today so heres a new meet the artist :3

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Is there a reason Marinette’s lying to Adrien about Gabriel doesn’t make sense to you from a character-standpoint? She’s lied a fair bit in the show for reasons other than keeping her identity or crush on Adrien a secret, and her love for Adrien has consistently created a blind spot for her in terms of her “general” morals/behavior.

Is there something more specific to Marinette’s pattern of behavior that indicates how her lying about Gabe would be OOC, or is the lie something you believe Canon!Marinette should recognize as too egregious to take part in?

(The closest alternative explanation I’ve seen thus far is that she shouldn’t have any reason to lie for Gabe because they share zero good will, but if we interpret it as lying for Adrien, then I’m not sure if that explanation fits.)

I have, admittedly, not gone through the show and tracked every lie that Marinette has ever told to see if I can weave together a pattern that backs Marinette's behavior at the end of season five. It's possible that there's a lie that I'm forgetting that would totally change my stance and, if you think that's the case, then feel free to respond to this with a comment or an ask on that topic! My "this is BS" stance is based on the overall story of the show and the ways that I've seen people try to justify the season five lies as those are the arguments that I've thought through and found lacking.

We'll start by discussing the two lies people use to try to back Marinette's behavior at the end of season five: the scarf and Chat Blanc. Then I'll talk about the story's lead up to the season five lies and why it makes for a horribly unsatisfying story in my eyes. If someone gave this to me, I'd be suggesting some major edits to make it work on a technical level.

The Scarf

For those who don't remember, the season one episode The Bubbler sees Marinette make Adrien a scarf for his birthday. She drops the scarf off at the Agreste mansion with a note for Adrien and the hope that this will get him to finally notice her. Nathalie then takes the scarf and uses it as a gift from Gabriel instead. Marinette learns about this during this exchange at the very end of the episode:

Alya: Yo, nice scarf, Adrien. Off the chain. Adrien: Yeah, can you believe my dad got this for me? (Marinette looks surprised) it's so awesome. He's been giving me the same lame pen for three years in a row.... Alya:(to Marinette) You gotta tell him you were the one who knitted the scarf. Marinette: But he seems so happy about his dad. I don't want to spoil it for him. Alya: Aw, Marinette. (they hug.) You're amazing, girl. You know that, right? And someday Adrien will figure it out too. Promise.

I can see why someone would look at this and call it a setup for the end of season five. There are some parallels here. The problem is that there are a lot of massive differences, too. Differences that make this a really crappy setup:

Marinette does not lie in this scene. She simply overhears a lie and doesn't correct it. Remove her and Alya from the scene and nothing changes. The lie still exists. Meanwhile, without Marinette, the season five lies would never have come to be.

Marinette knows about the scarf lie for about a minute on screen. She hears about it and tells Alya to let it go within the same scene. That's a gut reaction, not a carefully planned and considered deceit. Once again, wildly different from what season five gives us.

Adrien and Marinette aren't shown to be close friends in season one. They rarely talk to the point that I didn't even know that they were supposed to be friends until we got to Origins. That complicates correcting the scarf lie. How does Marinette approach a random classmate and explain a situation that she doesn't even fully understand herself? That's very different from Ladybug telling a lie to a civilian or Marinette lying to her boyfriend.

Season one Marinette has no idea how messed up Adrien's home life is. All she knows is that Adrien liked her gift, but that he thinks it came from a different person. She doesn't even know that a lie was involved in this confusion! As far as she's aware, this could just be a minor misunderstanding that she'd rather let go because does it really matter who the gift is from? This is extra true because the scarf never comes up again, meaning that this is not an ongoing or damaging lie as far as canon is concerned.

That last point and the issue of Marinette never actually telling the lie herself are probably the biggest points in Marinette's favor. If Adrien wore the scarf all the time and used it as a comfort when he was fighting with his dad, then you'd have a solid case for Marinette needing to say something because the lie is arguably doing actual harm. This is especially true if you let Adrien say things like, "I wear this to remember that my father loves me," to Marinette. But that's not what canon did.

As far as canon is concerned, the scarf lie exists for all of a minute. A minute in which Adrien expresses delight in the gift, but gives it very tepid weight in terms of what it means for his relationship with his father. (Adrien's room is full of nice gifts, I don't think a scarf was going to make-or-break their relationship.) After that, the scarf never comes up again, meaning that Marinette's gut reaction to not immediately destroy Adrien's happiness is all we get. That's hardly a great setup for her being the source of massive ongoing lies about Adrien's personhood and the truth of his father's abuse.

I'll also remind you that this all happened at the very start of the show. The Bubbler is one of the first episodes people see. If this is your best argument for Marinette's behavior five seasons later, then we have a major writing problem on our hands. You should not have to dig back to the very start of the show to justify a major character beat like this. There should be more relevant material. We'll circle back to that problem in a minute. First let's quickly touch on lie two and why it also falls flat.

Chat Blanc

Another thing people point to as foreshadowing for the season five lies is the fact that Ladybug kept Chat Blanc from Chat Noir and, if Chat Blanc was actually affecting her, then I would agree with this take. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. The official story is that Ladybug's actions in season four had nothing to do with Chat Blanc. It was just guardian stress! If that's true, then I don't think she should tell Chat Noir about Chat Blanc.

Why?

Since when do we tell people about all the awful things they did while they were akumatized? There's no point to that. It's cruel. Do you think that Ladybug also needs to walk him through everything he did while under the control of various akumas like Dark Cupid? If no, then how is Chat Blanc any different? What's the value in telling Chat Noir the gory details of what will happen if he ever has a moment of weakness and becomes akumatized? He already knows that it will be bad! Why tell him exactly how bad it will be? I can't come up with a single good canonical reason.

Ladybug has no idea what caused Chat Blanc, so she can't warn Chat Noir what he needs to avoid. You can't even use the "he should know about Bunnyx" argument because that wasn't Bunnyx's debut. Canonically speaking, the only reason that Ladybug should talk to Chat Noir about Chat Blanc or any other bad thing that he's done while under the power of an akuma is if it's effecting her or their partnership and it's apparently not! That's why Marinette never reacts to Chat Noir getting a white makeover (see: the Paris special & Jubilation) and why Chat Blanc is never discussed in the show outside of that one brief nightmare callback in Sentibubbler.

To be clear, I think that's an asinine choice as Chat Blanc's memory hurting Ladynoir would have been semi-decent foreshadowing for the season five lies, but the writers decided to go another route. They also let Chat Blanc haunt Adrien even though he doesn't know about it, which I don't even know how to dissect because it's such terrible writing! If you don't know what I'm talking about, this is the official explanation for why Adrien couldn't make it to the final fight. The reason for the white-and-blue Chat Noir that haunted his nightmares:

Mélanie says that he "could become Chat Blanc" and the others add that even though he does not remember and has never lived it, Chat Blanc still has an influence on his actions.

Quality writing here folks. Quality writing. At the very least have season five Adrien be freaked out about the fact that he cataclysmed a human! That would make this make at least a little sense, but we don't get that. Instead we get Adrien almost cataclysming several akumas like it's no big deal while having nightmares about a thing he's never even been told about (see: Derision and Jubilation and probably other's I'm forgetting.)

The Events of Season Four and Five

As you can hopefully see, we don't have a great, ongoing pre-end-of-season-five lie to point to as proof that Marinette would decide to tell the massive lies that she does. That's a pretty big writing flaw, but it's not a show stopper. A lie like this could still fit her character if the story sets it up right.

The problem is that the story doesn't do that. It actually sets Marinette up to be primed to want to tell the truth.

For all Miraculous' nonsensical and wacky writing, the season five lie still comes at the end of two seasons with relatively clear messages. Those messages were to trust others and avoid lies. Let me show you what I mean.

While season four's writing is an absolute disaster, we cannot ignore the fact that the stated lesson in Strikeback is that Marinette learned to trust others, give up control, and stop lying:

Ladybug: Why don't you just give up on me? I've lost ALL the Miraculous! I'm the worst Guardian EVER! I wanted to control everything, I didn't listen to you, I lied to you, I kept you at a distance! Every time you offered me a helping hand, I never took it! I really made a mess of EVERYTHING! (continues sobbing)

This is what Marinette says to Chat Noir directly after losing the Kwamis. This is the lesson that she supposedly learned. The end note of the season. The word of god meant to be internalized by children everywhere. The show even goes so far as to have Ladybug give Chat Noir more responsibility in the first episode of season five (Evolution):

Cat Noir: Catch, m'lady! (throws the Rabbit Miraculous at Ladybug and she catches it) Only the holder of the Rabbit Miraculous can open a time portal. Ladybug: (contemplates shortly then places the Rabbit Miraculous on his chest, smiling) You do it, kitty. Cat Noir: You want me to control time? Ladybug: It's you and me, remember?

Really driving home this idea that Ladybug is going to be more trusting and open with others moving forward.

The meat of season five sees Marinette and Adrien start dating. During this arc, Marinette learns to be more open with her feelings around Adrien while also being confronted with the reality of just how messed up Adrien's home life is. Marinette and Gabriel clash with each other over Adrien with Marinette fighting for Adrien's freedom and Gabriel trying to control everything:

Gabriel: I don't think you understand, child, so let me put things differently. Life is like fashion. You think you have a choice, but all you have is the illusion of choice. And I decide what choices are given to you. Marinette: You're wrong! (Shows Gabriel her sketchbook.) Fashion is about listening to people, it's about understanding who they are, what excites them and creating the clothes that will help them express their inner world. Help them connect with others and make their dreams come true.

This conflict means that Marinette and Gabriel do not have a single positive interaction in the entire season outside of maybe the final. We also see Adrien defy his father more than ever before. This is not the kind of setup you write if you want Marinette to tell Adrien that his father was a hero. Why in the world would she think that he'd want to be told that kind of lie? Why would he even buy it after all of the things that Gabriel has done? The final literally sees Adrien locked in a padded prison cell!!! Writers, what are you doing??? Why did you write this???

There's also the fact that season five has a major theme of lies = bad. It's the season where Lila's lies are finally outed, but only after they almost cost Marinette's friends their futures. For those who need a reminder: Lila tried to mess with the forms that stated where everyone wanted to go for lycée and would have succeeded in pulling off that harm and blaming it on Marinette were it not for the lies being outed.

On top of that, we also see Adrien keeping the plan to ship him off to London from Marinette, ending in this exchange:

Marinette: (on the video call) Adrien! Adrien: (voice breaking; in tears) Marinette, I should've told you sooner, but... up until the last minute, I thought I'd find a solution. I tried everything, I swear. Marinette: (on the video call) Adrien, what's... what's going on? Adrien: I have to leave Paris. (his voice breaks) I'm not worthy of your love. I feel terrible for hurting you.

Adrien kept the truth from Marinette to try to keep her from being hurt and ended up hurting her more than he otherwise would have because they don't even get a proper goodbye.

None of this is a solid setup for Marinette turning around and lying to Adrien about his father. Why would she do that after all of the harm lies and Gabriel caused in season five? Between this and season four, she has not been setup to want to lie to Adrien. Season five needs massive rewrites to make that choice work! (Note: I have yet to see the London special, but based on everything I've heard, I think it's just going to cement my annoyance at Marinette's wishy-washy writing by continuing to ignore the plot of the seasons leading up to the final and the special.)

Final Thoughts

I don't think that Marinette lying to Adrien about his dad is a terrible idea. It's a believable struggle! It just doesn't fit her character's journey. They've failed to have her tell that type of lie before and they had her tell this lie after two seasons where the main lessons were how much lies have hurt her and the people that she loves. If she hasn't gotten the message that you shouldn't lie by now, then when exactly is she going to learn it? It's incredibly hard for me to get invested in characters that aren't allowed to grow and learn from their mistakes and Miraculous has made it abundantly clear that it will not let these characters grow if growth messes with the plot that the writers want to tell.

I will openly admit that I think that Marinette's lie was a last minute retcon to make there be a cliffhanger to season six, but let's ignore that and give a quick three-point plan of how you could make this ending work:

Really lean into the negative consequences of people knowing the truth about things. Nino knowing Alya's identity outing Alya. Luka getting shipped off to Brazil. Make the truth hurt Marinette at every turn. Basically remove all lies = bad consequences and have Ladybug see losing the miraculous be the result of trusting others because she trusted "Adrien" and lost, leading her to keep pushing people away

Don't let Lila be outed. Have Lila be a good president and make that part of her big plan for the next season.

Have Gabriel and Marinette get along. Gabriel has said that Adrien is like Emilie, let Gabriel see himself in Marinette, leading Gabriel to trust Marinette to be Adrien's support should the worst happen. Let the final fight be a heartbreaking moment between two people who have an actual relationship built around loving Adrien. Have Adrien going to London be a "convenient" trip to get him out of the way on the day of the evil plot and not a prison sentence so that Gabriel doesn't look cartoonishly evil. Make it feel like he cares! Sell the redemption!

Do that and, yeah, I'd buy Marinette's choice even without setup lies because you don't need setup lies! Setup lies don't matter anywhere near as much as selling this lie and the writers simply didn't do that. I don't believe for a second that Marinette would lie for Gabriel or think that this was what Adrien wanted based on the relationship season five gave us for those three characters. It is so glaringly obvious that this is nothing more than a stalling tactic that has nothing to do with Marinette's character and everything to do with the show's rule that "there must always be a secret between Adrien and Marinette." I genuinely struggle to understand how anyone sees it as anything else.

[cream-and-tea]

oh pallas and agnes power dynamic you really are SO unbelievably fucked,,,,,

[front-facing-pokemon]

[mollyrolls]

i am being TESTEEEEEDDDDDDD

[sparring-spirals]

Its very important to me that the timing of Fearne's plea to the Wildmother and Orym's plea to the Wildmother are close to each other in the timeline. Partly for: the heartwrenching image of Orym, exhausted, voice sad and tired, fresh off of his friends, again, wondering if the gods are- worth the hassle. Pleading to the Wildmother, desperate and lost. Unaware that somewhere, sometime adjacent, Fearne, scared but whole, had wandered into the Wildmother temple. And prayed to a god she wasn't sure was alive, leaning on Orym's faith, thinking of him, channeling him, for his sake. Asking to- above all else, let him know they're alright? He'll be worrying. (And he was. And he is).

And partly for the image of the Wildmother, presumably very busy with some kind of apocalypse handling logistics, to either:

- Recieve Fearne's ask of "hey..... tell Orym we're okay (and maybe keep him okay too. if you can)" only to immediately recieve Orym's message and go "oh yeah hes absolutely NOT okay, oof"

OR

- Recieve Orym's wavering, heartfelt plea, followed immediately by "hey lady!! if you're still alive can you tell orym we're okay-" and thinking "oh yeah Orym your friends are fine-"

(i cant figure out which is funnier. in a tragic kind of way.)