#if Gabe can do shenanigans so can I

[sillysiluriforme]

If you’re up for it, could you talk a bit more about Felix in the la terreur au? I saw that comic of Colt shooting him in the head (and not dying bc senti shenanigans), and that makes me want to know more about how he grew up and what else Colt did with him (and what Amelie’s role has been in all of that). Love what you do, thanks! 💙🦚

Oh boy !! I think Felix is one of my favorite characters from canon.

He's extremely competent, right ? He has all these grand plans that he does go through with, unfortunately the plans all have stupid goals. Not only that, but he can't seem to think long term. (confronting Gabe during the same episode he learns he's keeping his aunt's body in the basement, the diamond ball episode, his whole relationship with Kagami...) He has this childish recklessness I find really endearing.

We're pushing all those things a little further in LT !

Felix grows up isolated in a big, big house, he learns quickly that no one that can will help him. Amelie's in the same boat. His grandparents are fully aware of Colt's behavior and refuse to step in. Emilie's oblivious. Gabriel is Gabriel.

So he learns to rely on himself.

Colt is not a good person. He's selfish, and he's jealous, and he's set in his ways, and he's a war profiteer. And now he has a magic baby of dubious origins.

He can't get past the fact Felix is not a normal baby. The first few years go smoothly enough. The baby is fussy but manageable. Something for Amelie to do. Then Colts starts gets sick. It's like a cold initially, but he never gets better.

He tries to raise a real man. Drills and old fashion discipline. His mom whines about it, but it's what he needs. He's "beating the devil out of him." Colt keeps getting worse. Amelie's head is everywhere but here. She's calmer. She's stealing his Codamol, but he doesn't bring it up. Anything to get her to shut up.

He's dying ! He's dying, and he's scared, and he's a profoundly religious man, he's sure this fucking thing he created is siphoning his life forces. That's what he gets for messing with the devil. He blames everyone but himself. He mostly takes it out on Felix. From that point on, it's constant orders. Do this, don't do that, do it this way or that way. He's using that ring like his life depends on it. Does it ?

This thing cannot die. He tries to get rid of it 3 times and no matter what it gets back up.

He's dying, and his mind is going with it. This thing is a monster. His brother-in-law is a monster. His wife is a monster. Everyone is a monster. He's dying and it's their fault.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Throwing this in asks instead of a reblog so you can not have it hanging off your post if you don't want it.

Re:Curse on Marinette

It's only a curse because of Marinette's own flaws(which, if acknowledged is excellent for a narrative) See, it's only a curse because just like Gabe she sees Adrien as a special porcelain object, to be handled and admired, but still an object.

Marinette is very *different* from Gabe in execution at the moment, but with the narrative claiming Gabriel really loved him... The parallels grow. Gabriel is just Marinette further down the same path. Yes she gave Adrien back control of himself, but she's got plenty of time to change her mind if she continues down the Gabriel road. 'Adrien needs to be protected' is denying autonomy in silk-wrapped terms.

Will knowing the truth hurt Adrien? Yeah, of course. The healthy thing to do is tell him and then *be there to support him* as he works through his reactions to it.

This is the same Adrien who with care, patience, and kindness supported Marinette through her trauma-recovery in season 5. This guy, this is the one who is 'too fragile'? What does that make her?

This isn't directed at you personally, just addressing the narrative setup broadly and the reads that doesn't seem to quite fathom what they are suggesting.

I understand where you are coming from… but I disagree.

I think it’s less about Marinette viewing Adrien as porcelain and more like

“What person would not have a complete mental break after learning all of this?” Not to mention the potential magical shenanigans that comes into play here.

Marinette, a 14 year old girl is forced into a situation that any individual would find IMMENSELY FUCKED UP. There is no easy way of telling a person that everything they know is a lie and that their existence resulted in the deaths of his parents. Flaws or not.

Not to mention, there are other people that could tell Adrien these facts but don’t have this level of emotional trauma and blackmail to deal with. Such as Nathalie.

Marinette is a victim here. And WILL be receiving all of the blame for s*** completely out of her control.

Now don’t misunderstand. I ABSOLUTELY HATE everything about this. Gabriel is a monster for this. It’s TERRIBLE Writing. (It can be saved if handled correctly, but I have reasonable doubt).

But the one thing I can’t do is blame Marinette. Because there are others that could better handle this, but because she is Ladybug it’s all on her.

[ilikekidsshows]

Okay, perhaps you can clarify something for me. My main takeaway for why Adrien supposedly couldn't be there for season 5 finale was because Gabe would discover his secret identity and use his amok to control him (and because the writers don't want to give up their love-square-secret-identity-cash-cow shenanigans, of course, but that's another topic). I figured it's less about Adrien having intense emotions/potentially being akumatized and more a consequence of....Gabe being willing to mind control his senti-son, as we've blatantly seen in Ephemeral and arguably Chat Blanc.

So why do so many takes about the finale seem to ignore Monarch's ability and willingness to mind control him and instead complain about how Adrien was being "weak" or "emotional" or even "a wimp left crying". Like?

I'm not trying to defend the finale or writing decisions that lead to him sitting it out, the writers could have worked around it if they really wanted to (which, we obviously know they didn't), but I interpreted Astruc's statements on how 'Chat Blanc and Ephemeral explain why Adrien couldn't be there' (I'm paraphrasing from memory, correct me please if Astruc didn't more or less say this), to be about his senti status?

So why is victim blaming Adrien for being the 'problem' because he's "too emotional" seem to be the norm, rather than, oh I don't know, blaming the man manipulating the situation and taking advantage of the fact that he can mind control his son?

For instance. I interpreted Hawmoth's "Obey!" in Chat Blanc to be a senti command, but I can see how that might be a bit ambiguous/debatable. But then we have Ephemeral, which is -blatantly- due to the control Gabe has over Adrien as the holder of his amok. Sure Adrien is emotionally compromised, but it's only -after- we get our visual cue of Gabe twisting the amok (aka using mind control) that he gives in. Astruc seems to be arguing that this would have necessarily, inevitably happened again in the season 5 finale (ignoring for now that theoretically a confrontation -could- happen in which Gabe doesn't find out, but I digress).

And I'm not even talking about Adrien salters; positive or negative opinions on him, the finale, and/or sentimonster status aside, the consensus seems to be that the writers screwed Adrien over by making him "too emotional" to be there at the finale, when the message I got was that it was never actually his fault at all? AKA "Whoever possesses this controls the sentimonster, [Sentibug] couldn't help but follow orders."

There are issues with the finale, yes. But regarding the senti aspect specifically. Am I missing something? Misinterpreting Chat Blanc, maybe even Ephemeral, or something?

This got a bit long, apologies, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts, if you're willing! Thanks either way in advance!

---

Well, to start off, we need to look at framing. Framing refers to how the different things that happen and are said in a story frame, aka, contextualize each other. You can't just look at bits of a story in isolation if you want to discuss how a story frames a particular event. In this case, we’re discussing the scene where Adrien gives up the ring in the season 5 finale. We can't jump back two entire seasons or go to Twitter to get the framing of this scene, because the framing immediately around the scene, the rest of the episode itself, and the episode right after it, its "Part 2", are the primary framing and should take precedence when we discuss how this scene comes across to the audience.

This is especially true because Miraculous is still being written as primarily an episodic show. Astruc himself said this in the commentary, and the episode ‘Conformation’ has no mention of Sentimonsters anywhere. In fact, most of the finale ignores the fact that Adrien is a Sentimonster, outside of the scene where Marinette gives him his Amok objects while not telling him what they are. Adrien doesn’t know he’s a Sentimonster; one of the reasons the fandom is ragging on Marinette is that she endangered Adrien by giving him the rings while not telling him what they are, because he doesn’t know. That’s a pretty big aspect in this.

Within the episode itself, Adrien doesn’t give up his ring because he’s a Sentimonster, he can’t, because he doesn’t know. He gives up his ring because he's 100% convinced he’s a liability because he is “not in his right mind”, he could get Akumatized and his identity could get discovered. These are the things Adrien himself lists as his motives, this is how the episode itself frames Adrien not going to fight Hawk Moth. Adrien doesn't know he's a Sentimonster, so that has no influence on his decision to sit out. He was having an emotional downward spiral and he knew he couldn't rely on his partner and leader Ladybug to help him through it, so he decided to try to deal with it alone while trying to minimize the damage if he failed to do so. The entire Ladynoir conflict arc in season 4 culminated in Adrien coming to the conclusion that he can never ask Ladybug for anything in ‘Kuro Neko’, and here we see him instantly retire when he needs support. Our greatest Ladybug ever will only use him for emotional support while never offering any in return, and Adrien knows this.

By all accounts, this total breakdown of the partnership of our main leads, who are also the main romantic couple of this series, should be treated as the darkest hour of the entire franchise so far. Instead we’re expected to forget about it in moments and celebrate Marinette's girlboss moment of wearing both the main Miraculouses and getting a yet another Unification Form. In episodes where Marinette breaks down, the action pauses so that the rest of the cast can line up to comfort and prop her up. When Adrien breaks down, it leads to Marinette getting a cool powerup. That's why the writers “planned from the start” that Adrien wouldn't get to help take down his father, because the writers had decided to give his superpowers to Marinette to “symbolize her growth”, but all they ended up symbolizing was Adrien stripping himself of what little power and agency he has to prop up Marinette, who will pay him back by lying to him. This is the difference in how Miraculous frames Marinette and Adrien’s emotional breakdown moments.

This is why the discourse is about Adrien being overly emotional, about the writers presenting Adrien’s emotions as a weakness and liability. Adrien is literally on screen, saying he considers his emotions a burden to others. Adrien gives up his ring and, unknowingly, his last chance to face his father, because he is too emotional. Adrien is made to feel guilty for his emotions in a way Marinette never is, in a way no other character ever is. That would already be a disgusting way to treat an abuse victim, but then the show continues to frame this writing decision first with Marinette directly benefiting from him breaking down and giving up and then with having Marinette lie to him after the fact about it all, because she wants to “protect him”. From what? With all this other stuff, I’m just gonna have to assume his emotional response to the truth. We can't forget the nightmare where Marinette is scared Adrien will be upset at her for beating his dad. Because he can't be Marinette's perfect RealDoll reward if he's justifiably hurt or, god forbid, not 100% pleased with her.

It's about the abuse apologia, because most of the shittiest things about the retool come down to the abuse apologia.

[princess-of-the-corner]

So, I haven’t seen the London Special, just seen the reactions, but it is really hammering home to me how much of the plot could be … not “fixed”, but at least “untangled” if Mari had literally ANY CONNECTION to Gabriel that didn’t involve Adrien. Like, her mentor, an old family friend, her godfather, her dad’s old college buddy, just … ANYTHING that made Marinette connected to Gabe on a personal level. It still wouldn’t make her lying to Adrien ok, but it at least would make it more sympathetic. Cause then she isn’t just lying to Adrien, she’s lying to HERSELF, because if she tells Adrien, then she has to acknowledge that actually, Gabe kind of sucked. Like, “cool motive, still murder” - yeah, you tried to revive your wife, and you loved your kid, but you were a dick, man. Marinette having ANY connection to Gabriel that is more personal than “my crush’s dad” would make the entire thing at least a little easier to understand. As it is, it comes across as Marinette, I’m not sure this is the right word, but almost “infantilizing” Adrien. She’s making decisions for him, denying him agency in his own life, because she’s decided she knows what’s best for him.

And like, Mari’s a kid who had a hell of a lot heaped on her shoulders, I get where the mindset probably came from, but Marinette’s only major connection to Gabriel in canon is that he’s Hawk Moth and she’s Ladybug. And while yes, that is a big connection, it also isn’t personal? Like. Gabe’s relationship with Marinette is basically nothing, if you take out the Miraculous stuff. Marinette is just some girl who goes to the same school as his son, is a rather promising designer, and … that’s kind of the extent of their interaction. Without the Miraculous, they barely qualify as acquaintances. If Marinette isn’t Ladybug, or Gabriel wasn’t Hawk Moth, there would be basically nothing there. And while I can make an argument that Ladybug absolutely has a say in what to tell the PUBLIC, that keeping up the ruse with them MIGHT be … not GOOD, but the lesser of two evils, I don’t think Ladybug/Marinette has any right in denying that info to Adrien. It’s his damn dad, he has a right to know what happened. Hell, even just about his mom! He has a right to know what happened to her!

And on a quick swerve, it actually annoys me that Ladybug hasn’t told Chat Noir. Like, the guy is your partner, you’ve been fighting this thing since day one together, on the superhero side of things, he ALSO deserves to know who the hell the pair of them have been duking it out with. Like, I’m aware identity shenanigans are afoot, but if Ladybug has the right to make this kind of call, then Chat should also get that right, which means LADYBUG SHOULD TELL HIM.

(… I will admit, this might all be bothering me less if my dad hadn’t been playing Hallmark movies all day, and I hadn’t been forced to sit through at least 12 separate scenarios where literally TALKING TO A PERSON would solve all the problems. But like … 8 times out of 10, when someone says, “don’t tell anyone I did this thing”, it is A) something you should PROBABLY tell someone, or B) something that is going to blow up later if you keep it a secret.)

-

Yeah no like!

On top of wanting some acknowledgement that this is well-intentioned but fucked up to do

the whole thing about Mari having no investment in the identity reveal past ‘ah that’s my bf’s dad’ has bothered me for a while because REALLY she should have some connection and they already set it up but never did anything with it.

But Marinette lying to herself and trying to convince herself that her mentor/friend is a Good Person despite the fucked up things he did would be a lot better than ‘uwu I don’t want to tell Adrien that his father fucking sucked despite the fact that Adrien is already VERY aware that his father fucking sucks’.

[moronkyne]

Like ok I know this is like basically listener core or whatever but I would do anything for like interactions OUTSIDE of the listeners. Like for example what Damien and Gavin had. That was so cute and it was so nice to just see them be them without the awkward silence that is like the listener. Y'know? Like maybe I just want a hang out day with David, Asher, and Milo.

Or maybe I want like an early Xavier and Huxley chat.

Like I don't think it has to be primarily WITH the listeners every waking moment like hang out with your friends please I beg of you 😭

I really just want David and Asher shenanigans.

Also??? Can we get more about the Shaw pack family ?? Hello Gabe flashback?? That would be so swagilicious 😭 like GIVE ME MORE I need a flashback of them just being a fuckin family pls Erik I'm on my knees.

Ok that's it love you bye bye 😊

SPEAK YOUR TRUTH MY SWAGGER MCJAGGER!!!

Lasko and Gavin having a serious talk about boundaries WHEN? :3 we need a fanfic ASAP

[gabessquishytum]

Hey, Gabe. I’m so happy you're doing better and taking time for yourself.

I've had this thought percolating in the back of my brain for a little while, for Dream and Hob, and their darling wives, Calliope and Eleanor to have a lovely poly/qpr style thing happening, because, as much as I love all the romantic, sexy, and unhinged shenanigans on here, I would like to see something similar to my own situation floating about.

Dream and Hob have been attached at the hip since childhood, when Hob punched another kid for trying to kick them out of the sand pit. They love each other fiercely and have been through all the ups and downs of adolescence: the conflict of who they were as individuals, the struggle to stay together in a world that told them they were too close, exploring sexual identities, mapping out their dreams of the future, and last, but not least, figuring out how to share with a dating partner.

It's surprisingly difficult to find someone that doesn't assume you're cheating on them with your best friend when you're so close. If they trust sex isn't happening, they tend to get angry about the casual intimacy. Feeling blocked by or jealous of the already established bond.

At one point, Dream and Hob's friends told them they were so close they should try dating each other. So they did. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. The sex was fun and engaging. They learned a lot about themselves, explored kinks and the kink community. There wasn't another person's feelings they had to navigate, but beyond the lust there was no spark of romance, no passionate love, no mystery. There was comfort, devotion, and the soft, mellow love of their friendship.

They amicably broke up with a new, physical dimension to their friendship that only made dating harder in the end. Still, they persisted.

Eventually, Hob met a wonderful, dark-haired woman named Eleanor. She was fiery and beautiful, willing to barge into Dream and Hob's life and demand they make room for her. She was a raging river, filling in the ravines and creating estuaries where Dream and Hob had long ago learned they didn't meet. She was new life and new paths, and Hob fell hard and fast.

There’s a certain point, early on, in a relationship where you have to explain the complex dynamic between you and your best friend. It's the breaking point for many people. It's hard, to share, to be unintentionally excluded, to learn secrets from a third party, but the people that stand their ground and thrive are breathtaking.

Eleanor, when she is told, demands space. She does research, talks to people in similar situations, takes the time to suss out her own feelings, tries to feel out the edges of compromise and expectation she requires. In the end, she flows back into their lives with a willingness to try and an adventurous gleam in her eye.

She proposes a new dynamic between the three of them. She wishes to pursue a romantic relationship with Hob, but wants to learn how comfortable she can be with Dream in the bedroom.

Hob's quick to assure her that he and Dream don't have physical relations when dating.

Eleanor, brave woman that she is, tries to explain why she thinks that's part of the problem they have with dating. They're so entwined in each other's life that removing them from one area only causes more stress. “You're practically married already,” she snorts. “You just need to find people who can live with that. I’m willing to try. Are you?”

It takes work and patience, respect and communication. They still hurt each other. Life gets in the way. People judge them and cause problems. They make it, in the end, to a place where they are content and no one is left out. Eleanor and Hob are happily married. Dream has a special place in their hearts and marriage bed whenever he needs or wants.

Years pass, Dream has proof now, that he can have romance and his best friend. That he doesn't have to sacrifice a portion of his heart for love. He has taken lovers, tried to bring them into the dance that is his relationship with Hob and Eleanor. Reluctance, timidity, and selfishness ended those relationships. At some point, Dream starts to give up, maybe Eleanor was special, a miracle.

This is, of course, when someone new enters the scene.

Calliope, stunning and witty, drifts on the edge of their existence, darting forward and back to a tune only she can hear. She flirts, flutters, and flees. She's looking for something and she won't be caught until she wishes it.

Dream watches her from the corner of his eye, intrigued and wary. He watches, in the hopes of learning what he can before approaching. He knows what to look for now, those early signs that will tell him if she wouldn't be a good fit. He isn't nearly as subtle as he wishes.

It doesn't take long for to Calliope notice. She glides closer, flitting back when others pursue.

There are clues to be found in who she lets close, and why. The outline of what she wants takes shape as partner after partner fails to meet certain criteria.

They start to circle each other at parties, a corkscrew winding tighter and tighter. He waits with hard learned patience. She slowly grows bolder.

Eleanor and Hob poke gentle fun at him, waiting on the sidelines, wishing him well. No matter how it ends, he'll always have them.

When Dream and Calliope finally crash together it's quiet, a gentle brush of fingers, a soft touch at the hip or arm. There are walks and dinners and music. They go to theaters and museums and libraries. She slots into Dream's life seamlessly, confidently.

There are the typical growing pains of partnerships and cohabitation, discovering how to be part of a couple separate from Hob and Eleanor, and learning where the four of them line-up and interlock.

People outside the relationship try to cause problems at times. They look at Dream and Eleanor or Calliope and Hob and notice how visually similar they are and accusations of cheating fly around. Sometimes someone close-minded will notice their closeness and try to enforce ridiculous religious views. Those that are covetous and jealous try to tear them apart.

They've worked too hard to let such things tear them apart.

Dream looks up one day to realize he’s curled against Hob's chest, in love and happy. Eleanor and Calliope are plotting something a few feet away, smiling. The future is unfolding before him, full of laughter and affection, understanding and belonging. The long journey and heartache was worth it.

���🏵

This is such a delightful and loving depiction of a beautiful poly/qpr relationship! I particularly love the way that Dream and Hob manage to work out their situation in the way you've described. Because not all friendships are meant to develop into romantic relationships, and platonic love certainly isn't worth less than romantic love. I genuinely enjoy the idea of them trying out romantic dating for a week and mutually deciding that it just isn't meant to be! The way they express love (romantically) is so different - Dream is all wild grand gestures and extremes, and Hob just. Isn't about that life. It just isn't going to work, and that's absolutely okay because the sex is still wonderful, and they're still best friends. They still want to grow old together, doing kinky things occasionally. They've both kind of accepted that they're lucky to have each other, and wanting more is probably a bit greedy.

But it's okay to be greedy.

With Eleanor and Calliope, life is never dull. In the large house where the four of them live, there is always music. Always laughter too, unless somebody is upset - then the other three will descend on them, and do everything they can to make it better. There is always a queue for the bathroom (even though they have more than one bathroom, all four of them tend to gravitate together into one space - you'll find Hob trying to shave while Calliope does her makeup and Dream tries to shower and Eleanor sits on the loo singing along to the radio). Somebody is always available for a cuddle (it's usually Dream who wants a cuddle, or some kind of physical touch, and it's great because he never has to worry about being too much. there are three people to take the load). Sex is just... easy. Even if somebody doesn't want to participate, they're always welcome to watch.

Hob loves silly jokes, loves it when Eleanor says "this is my husband Robert, and this is my husband's boyfriend, Dream". But he also secretly loves arguing with people who are rude about their relationship. He loves it even more when he's able to throw a punch. Dream and Eleanor might try to hold him back, but he can always rely on Calliope to join him for a scrap. She's taught him some wonderful Greek insults.

And life is basically very good. Turns out that more partners DOES equal more happiness, as Hob loves to say. Dream will never admit it but Hob is generally absolutely right.

[yoinkschief]

I remember watching this one movie called Us by Jordan Peele

What if the eddsworld lads were dropped in this universe lol

It's actually so funny that you ask that cause I just finished watching that movie after my friends recommended it to me !!!

The easy answer would be haha Spares ! And they just kill them all ofc, but I think thinking about it in the setting of Us is the best way to go about this,,,

To me I immediately go to character 1-to-1s, like who would be which character in the movie, yk ?

I think Edd would be Adelaide, I mean cause duh main characters, but also they just,,,, I dunno something about them fits, I think it's cause to me they both have that same instinct of wanting to protect everyone themselves but also holding all responsibility on their shoulders and not letting anyone else feel that weight if that makes sense (This is just a personal HC for Edd, but I think Adelaide might genuinely feel this way, at least in some regard, seeing as she hadn't told Gabe about her fears with Santa Cruz's beach until the movie, which sure could be for plot reasons but I don't see why she wouldn't have told him way sooner since they've been to the beach house before if it wasn't because she was scared to let him hear that cause he'd think she's crazy, yk, keeping all the "burden" to herself)

I think Tom would be Gabe, because I mean fucking look at them, goofy ass dads the both of them I mean it's perfect it fits something something TomEdd propaganda

Matt would be Zora in an odd sense,, I dunno him and Tord's character placements are a little flimsy to be fair,,, honestly I have Tord as Jason cause he's a little shit who loves fire

Also I'm mostly doing this because I would LOVE to see Eduardo and Jon as Kitty and Josh,,, I think Kitty would be Eduardo and Josh would be Jon, and I know a lot of people aren't going to agree with that but I see it with the times Kitty turns to Adelaide and is just like "I think about killing him sometimes" like as a joke obviously cause haha ball and chain, but also mostly because of the scene where Kitty's on the balcony and telling Josh to go and look outside since she heard something

and there's another reason why but it's cruel and would have minor spoilers for the movie

As for who's Becca and Lindsey I don't care I hate them bitches Mark can be both he's blonde enough for it

BUTTT thinking about this in a more "The boys but their next shenanigan is Us" it changes a bit

(WARNING: SPOILERS BEYOND THIS)

Leaning more into that whole "haha, Spares!" moment but mostly just for Bing and Larry cause they totally fucking would be the type to create soulless copies like that I mean they already fucking did and I will never forgive them from throwing Scribble Tom in the reject room he deserves to be free

But also imo if we're going down this route I think it would be better to have Tord as Adelaide with the whole leaving and coming back bit he did, I think it would be a great way to incorporate the twist if ykwim I don't wanna outright spoil anything yk but I think that would be the extent of like the one-to-one comparisons with the main cast versus eddsworld casting since everyone else has pretty different personalities

But they wouldn't hesitate to not give a damn and just kill every doppelganger they came across, I think the neighbors would still get killed but they'd show up in the next eddisode like nothing happened, and I think Edd would know about the whole twist at the end,,, kinda like how some people speculate Jason does :ppp

[narusakufantastic]

Okay so in timebreaker Jalil and Alim have a fight about the miraculous Jalil being furious at the fact that Alix was given the rabbit miraculous as a birthday gift. Given everything Mrs. Kubel went through and the fact that it got her killed. Alim largely unsympathetic to how his feels about the miraculous essentially telling him that Alix mature enough to handle the responsibilities. Also there's no proof their mother's death was connected at all to the rabbit miraculous. So Jalil storms out to find someone who can help him get the rabbit Miraculous the only problem is he's known in Paris for his conspiracies. So he turns to the only person who seems to really listen and that's Daphne who's kind of in the middle of showing off a house (She's a real estate agent). A bit of context I forgot to add earlier is before Jalil storming off he mentioned to his father the very least pretend to listen like Ms. Morrow (Daphne) does. Alim like my God son leave that poor woman alone you nearly sacrificed her (Pharaoh) she doesn't need to deal with all your crazy theories. Anyway, Daphne's like okay well I'll talk to you at when I'm done this listing. And afterwards he's like okay. Do you believe in time travel And she's basically like well I guess I never really thought of it before. And he then explains the rabbit Miraculous to her. And since she has the knowledge that Fu is actually missing three miraculous (Because what do you mean he has it but it's also Alix's pocket watch)

She realizes that what he just describes sounds just like The missing rabbit miraculous so she's okay I'll help. Now Alix becoming timebreaker plays out differently with Nathaniel being given The watch to hold on to as Alix races Kim with Chloe snatching it from him and saying that's probably a worthless hunk of junk (Oh sweetie, if only you knew) Adrien tells Chloe she can't just say stuff like that about his friends belongings Juliet tries to take the watch from Chloe and they fight over the watch This leads to the watch ending up on the race track with the keychain attached to the watch that Mrs. Kubel had put on it a picture of the family it got ruined by her skate. Alix is really upset about the whole thing because it belonged to her dead mom so it's like one of the last things she has of her and the fact she ended up damaging it breaking part of it.

Juliet and Nathaniel both felt really bad about the fact keychain attached to watch got broken so they tried to comfort her and Adrien argues that Chloe should apologize since she's partially responsible for the keychain breaking. Chloe for her credit does actually *feel bad* knowing the context of *why* the keychain breaking upset Alix. She says she'll only apologize if Adrikins comes with. That is around Daphne and Jalil arrive on the scene. Jalil is like do you guys have any idea where my sister is? And before anyone has time to do anything Alix is akumatized. Daphne is once again put in danger by akumatized Kudbel. Which I'm just realizing that it's just that doofenshmirtz meme.. lol

Juliet not wanting Nathaniel see her transformation pushes him into the bushes poor boy. Juliet transforms into Hawk Princess and has to get them out of danger. The time shenanigans play out mostly the same only with Jalil and Daphne being caught in it. Jalil even revealing that the akumatized item was a Miraculous the three all yell shocked. Which Jalil is shocked that they didn't know. Also Hawk Princess was the one that had her energy stolen instead of Chat Noir Oh yeah and Gabe isn't acting like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. Anyway the two Chat Noir's catacym the watches. The ladybugs purify the akumas and Hawk Princess hands Alix her now fixed Watch charm and everything Chat Noir Makes a joke that there should be two of them more often which Ladybug rightfully smacks him upside the head for. Jalil hugs Alix and The three Heroes split so they can de-transform. Poor Nathaniel got lucky and missed out on everything But also has twigs in his hair from being pushed into a bush. Daphne hugs Juliet tightly And rightfully so after seeing her fade away right before her eyes. Jalil thinking Alix already knows that the Watch is a miraculous ends up revealing it. When they are home Alim ends up scolding Jalil for once again, endangering Daphne's life Alix does try to take the fall since she was the one akumatized. Jalil argues that it was careless for their father not to disclose the truth about the watch being a Miraculous. Alim justifies his decision by saying he was going to tell her when the time was right and not in front of a bunch of people like Jalil accidentally did. Jalil argues he wouldn't have done that had he known that Alix didn't already know. Jalil once again brings up their mom and remembering the time she missed and the watch led to her death.

Alix still really doesn't want her older brother to leave Jalil laments how he wishes things were different. Alix asks where he'll go which he's like I might have place at least temporarily. We then cut over to Daphne making dinner for her and Juliet. With Daphne specifically making Juliet's favorite food. Juliet pleasantly surprised to see her favorite food and Juliet asking what's up? Daphne simply stating that after today she earned it much to Juliet's confusion. That's when we get a knock at the door. Daphne opens it and much to her shock it's Jalil asking if he can come in. Daphne lets him in and Juliet asks if everything's alright which he responds with no and then sits down. Alix texts Juliet asking if her brother is at her apartment.

[arthur-does-tingz]

Things I Rlly Like in WangXian Fanfic (A List)

LWJ and Jiang Cheng insane beef; fics where it’s these two hating each other and fighting over WWX. 😔👌

Angst: any kind of angst ever. Better if it’s hurt comfort

LWJ pov. I love that motherfucker’s inner dialogue.

WWX pov; it’s always chaotic, how can I not

Established relationships: wangxian miscommunication and slow burn? Hilarious. WangXian shenanigans AFTER being married? Literally the best

WangXian angst AFTER established relationship: oohhh yes.

Cloud recess and WWX beef: I need the Gusu Lan elders to be making WWX full of UNREST and LWJ continuing to defend his husband uh-huh uh-huh.

LQR and WWX insane beef: it’s giving Gabe Duncan and Mrs. Dabney a-la Good Luck Charlie. It’s perfect every time

LXC and WWX insane beef: In Lan Xichen’s eyes, LWJ’s life started going downhill ever since LWJ got down bad for WWX. Imagine doing everything a shovel talk is supposed to prevent before getting the shovel talk and then BEING SHOVELLED. It’s juicy.

Yu Ziyuan Nuance: is she badass? Yes. Did she abuse her children? Yes. Did she have valid points abt Jiang Fengmian’s favoritism? Also yeah. Did she try to love her children and bring them up despite her crippling narcissism? Who’s to say? The fic’s to say.

AU with WWX’s parents: I love imagining a world where WWX’s parents never die and he gets to have a childhood in a normal healthy home. I ESPECIALLY love seeing how in love CSSR and WCZ are. CSSR ultimate troublemaker and WCZ indulgent steadfast husband? MORE PLEASE!!

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian Beef: You know now that I love it when characters fight. I also love the doomed siblings trope, so these two better have the slowest of burn resolutions or else I won’t think it’s real. I haven’t talk to my sister in 2 years. These can last LONGER.

[livelaughlovecassie]

[sounds of Cas and Gabe shenanigans from a mile off]

Thank you to the incredible @lampyri for this work of art, and bringing my girl to life! I’m in absolute awe, she came out even more perfectly than I could imagine (yes the lip scar is significant™️)

Everyone please check out their pinned post, and consider donating if you can to one of the fundraisers linked. Any amount helps, and it truly only takes a few minutes

[onmyyan]

Currently trying to overcome writer's block for this writing trade I'm doing so I had to go back to the delmonts and boy howdy- hear me out. I had the perfect idea for a shared! darling

Free use kink. Like, it's probably a lot of work to divvy out the times and the days that the boys would get with you. It's made even more complicated since I'm sure the boys would all agree that darling's wishes come first. So while they each have their days where they spend time with the reader doing cute domestic things or just fluffy content in general- the nsfw is a little more chaotic

It's really a- if darling lets you do it you can go for it. And if the darling has been raised around these boys their whole life and is, by now, used to all their affections and shenanigans just takes it all in stride. After all, these are very affectionate boys we're dealing with here.

Just imagine it, waking up and then heading to the bathroom to shower and then Ricky's sliding on in to have some fun before he has to get to work and get everything ready for the day. He grabs a coffee and dips after a small bout of affection, leaving reader to clean themselves again.

It's a bit of a lazy morning so aside from Cas cooking in the kitchen, no one's there. You go to help make breakfast and suddenly shorts are being pulled down and he's taking his darlin over the counter. Or, even better, you get to go on the ride of your life while he feeds you breakfast.

Cas then heads off to tend to the gardens and grocery shop, leaving you to hang with Gabe who's returning from a morning workout/run. Probably doesn't actually have to show up at the shop until there's something to fix so he plays some video games while you watch. You tell him all about how your morning has been and now he's feeling very left out and really needy. Just hoists you up and bounces you while he's playing. If this is a regular thing there's no real hesitation, just a sudden tug and bam.

Groans when Ricky texts him, leaving you a mess in the living room before he heads off, though he's always certain to give you a smooch goodbye. Will carry you to your room if you ask.

The twins are probably the last to wake, stirring sometime in the afternoon due to whatever it is those two get up to late at night. Partying, murder, arson, idk. They don't even have to ask- they know just from looking at their darling about what's happened. Clearly, they've been cheated of a very happy morning.

But you certainly want to make it up to them right?? It's only fair!

Getting sandwiched between the twins for the next few hours might not have been what you had planned, but it's not unwelcome. The two of them take turns and behave if just to spare you the extra exhaustion of having to juggle between the two of them. Once they're finished they cuddle up to you and take care of your every need till they get called away to the shop or until their other plans come up.

I dunno how you feel about it, but I don't find the mental image of the reader being all surrounded in the conversation pit by the brothers to be an awful sight. Just imagine, it's a real real busy day. Cas has breakfast wrapped and on the table for you. Little snacks and treats from the twins scattered everywhere for you. A note from Ricky explaining and apologizing that the boys couldn't be there to wake you up. Gabe grumpy because he's too busy to even leave a message or thing behind like the rest of the brothers. Yeah, he's that busy.

You just chill in the house for the whole day, watching tv or reading or playing games. Whatever burns the time and keeps your attention. Then all the boys come home very apologetic and very needy. They want to make it up to you and before you know it every facet of you is being used one way or another. Barely any space or time to think, just, all you can do is focus on what they're giving you and taking it in all in stride- metaphorically and phyically.

God. And if darling really wanted to try their luck or maybe its been one too many days of this treatment and they've become very well trained they just go around bottomless. Makes it all easier that way. It also serves as the biggest "take me now" sign. Darling at that point WILL be grabbed and will be thoroughly ravished.

Thank you for listening to my TedTalk and now having finished this, my writer's block is over and I will disappear to try and finish this piece I'm working on lol no more procrastinating!!

the bark that left me at this was....something lmfao

but fr this is so tasty??? and also super likely in the shared darling universe, omfg there's nowhere in that house you haven't had your guts rearranged in.

[tlbodine]

Overthinking: Return of the Mummy

Phew. I got sick there for a little while and the world is a dumpster fire but I am BACK and like hell I am going to stop reading Goosebumps books at this hour of despair. Suck it, void.

Ahem. Anyway - Return of the Mummy is the second sequel we've encountered. It's #23, released in September of '94, and I don't recall having read this one as a kid. It's a good time, though, building on most of what was fun about the first Mummy book without feeling too much like a total rehash or the premise.

First, the Plot:

After the thrilling events of last year (which we allude to vaguely but never spell out), Gabe is back in Egypt to visit his Uncle Ben the archaeologist, who is on the cusp of another huge pyramid discovery. Also there is, of course, Gabe's cousin Sari, home from boarding school for the summer and as much of a competitive pain as ever.

New on the scene, though, is a reporter named Nila who thinks Ben is just the coolest, and he's definitely picking up what she's putting down. She trails along to witness their pyramid discovery and also hangs out around camp, flirting with Ben. Gabe still has his little mummy-hand summoner from last time, but he also has an amber pendant with a scarab in it that his uncle gave him. It looks just like a pendant Nila has that doesn't have a scarab, which surely will not come up again.

Ben's research partner is wary about opening up the tomb since there's a warning on it saying pretty clearly "Let me rest in peace" but Ben forges ahead anyway. They uncover a mummy and a ton of treasure, and research partner returns to the scene with local cops to secure the dig site even though Ben thinks that's unnecessary.

As they're celebrating, Nila casually asks if Ben knows about the secret words that are supposed to awaken the mummy if you recite them five times, and he recites them because he is a proper scientist who would never believe in superstitions and still has some plausible deniability from last year.

Gabe, who's been pranked repeatedly by Sari at this point, decides to get back at her by reciting the words five times. Right on time, they witness Ben's research partner seemingly man-handling him into the pyramid, and then leaving without him. Freaked out by this, they sneak into the pyramid and find Ben, unconscious and shoved into the mummy's sarcophagus. The mummy is shuffling around. EEK!

And lo and behold, who should show up on the scene but Nila, who -- we are all very shocked to learn this -- is actually a 3,000 year old priestess who has been spending her time as a scarab hiding in amber this whole time but now is here to hang out with her reanimated brother-mummy. Brother is pretty pissed about this turn of events (he TOLD HER to let him rest in peace!) and tries to kill her, but Gabe manages to intervene after retrieving his summoner from her (she stole it earlier). Shenanigans ensue, she turns back into a beetle and runs off, we put the mummy to bed and Ben wakes up in time to explain everything. Turns out he started to suspect Nila, but before he could actually confront her, she'd already awakened the mummy, and also his partner is a stand-up dude who went to get help. Happy endings all around and Gabe definitely did NOT feel the scarab moving around in his amber pendant that night, of course not....

Overthinking It:

This sequel doesn't hard ret-con anything like Monster Blood II, but it does skim past most of the first book's events, probably so that book isn't spoiled. It's a pretty clever way to handle a sequel in a series that can be read in any order.

Once again, I think Uncle Ben may be my favorite Goosebumps grown-up. He learned his lesson from last time and doesn't let these kids out of his sight or trust them with any assistants. He's a little love-blind, but he also hasn't had a woman in his life for over a decade so can you blame him? And when the time comes to do the right thing, he lets the evidence speak for itself and dumps Nila so...go Uncle Ben. Love that guy.

I also think Gabe and Sari have a great dynamic. They're almost as fun as Evan and Andy from the Monster Blood series. I really enjoy the competitive cousin angle, and the way they are frenemies. Sari is a particularly nuanced character for this series. She's confident and bossy and brags all the time but you can see straight through to the cracks in her self-esteem. Deep down Sari is absolutely desperate to connect with her dad and be good enough to soak up the attention he can offer.

The romance with Ben and Nila is understated but definitely there, and it's frankly a bigger villain in the story than the mummy. Deep down, this book is less about "what if mummy came alive" than it is "what if dad gets a new girlfriend but she sucks," and that is so intensely relatable.

If You Enjoyed This, THESE Will Really Give You Goosebumps:

Obviously go read The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb and enjoy all the film recommendations I gave for that one, because they're relevant here too.

I'd also like to suggest Candyman, both the original and its reboot, but a different take on the "vengeful dead guy who comes back if you say something five times" trope. That may sound like a stretch but I really did keep flipping back to that in my mind while reading this one.

By the way, I just recently discovered there's a new Egyptian-themed horror game called Amenti. I haven't played it, but I'm intrigued. Anybody have any experience with that one?

[notmoreflippingelves]

@saemi-the-dreamer asked: Esteban: 2, 7, 18, 19 and 21? :D

As I mentioned in my initial reply to the ask, I made a separate post for Esteban, since--as will surprise no one--I really rambled on A LOT about him. And it wasn't fair to shove all my EsteRamblings into the same, much shorter post with Gabe.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Honestly, pretty much everything about Esteban's character journey in S3 makes me absolutely INSANE (in the best way). But I think the thing that makes me most feral of all is the moment when he falls into the crystal well. His sparkly new outfit and stupid hairdo. The fact that the narrative has visibly and thematically linked him via this shared experience with Elena for the entire rest of the show. The symbolism of him being given the power to run away (literally and metaphorically) from the problems that he has caused. The fact that the show will ultimately end with him not running away but instead running towards something (Elena, specifically to save her from the problem Esteban himself caused). It's just... they did all this to me, an English major, and expected me to be normal about it. The audacity.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I like it when Esteban is *included* in things. While I wouldn't say he gets as much focus as the four amigos or Isabel, he still does get a good bit of art and a reasonable amount of fic. And its honestly nice to have a blorbo who isn't just shamelessly ignored (*cough Jean Innocent *cough) or vilified to the point of OOC-ness (*cough Kristoph Gavin cough*) , or used almost exclusively as a plot device to facilitate the fandom preferred ship of which they are not part of (both of the others).

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

"Admire" is a weird way to put it as it makes it sound as though the dynamic is or should be aspirational/healthy. And I'm honestly having trouble coming up with one that fits that particularly description. I guess either Isabel or Francisco would be closest to meeting that description. But I don't really have too much to say about them right now.

So I am just going to go ahead and treat this question as "relationship that I find interesting and enjoy watching." And honestly, there is a LOT of them. Obviously his relationship with Elena is arguably the building block of the entire show and naturally, I love and cherish it with my entire heart. But I already ramble too much about it so I won't do so here.

I also find his history and complicated relationship with Victor fascinating. The two are clear foils of each other and very shippable ones too, and so my little English major brain/rare pair loving self gets a lot of mileage over the little that we see of them together. But we really only get a single episode of the two of them interacting. (Apart from a few moments in "The Magic Within" and Esteban being mentioned a few times in "The Lightning Warrior") so there's really only so much that I can say about them. And a lot of what I love about them is really just head canons/parts of my fic, so it could be totally ooc.)

Similarly, I think his dynamic with Dona Paloma is fun to watch and has a lot of interesting potential, but we really only scratch the surface of it. The narrative lets them be temporary allies or business rivals for the sake of a given episode's plot, but its rarely done in a way that adds something new or interesting to their relationship. (When Esteban + Paloma political shenanigans happen, its rarely used to advance either of their character developments and when it is, it's usually just Paloma's..as Esteban gets most of his development in other episodes).

So, I feel like I have to say that the most-interesting-and engaging Esteban relationship (apart from Elena) has to be Naomi. The two of them have a really interesting dynamic to watch and their relationship specifically (as opposed to just the two of them as individual characters) gets a good amount of direct focus. Whether Esteban is sniping at Naomi from across the Grand Council table, begrudgingly accepting her as a capable colleague by the end of "Finders Leapers," teaching her to waltz (in order to show up Paloma) in "My Fair Naomi" or clinging to her when Valentina's carriage goes out of control, the two of them don't just steal the scene but positively abscond with it in the most delightful way. Plus, I love the parallels of Naomi ending the show in Esteban's former position as Chancellor. (I like to headcanon that she's gonna end up seeking a lot of advice from him for her new role and may even recruit him as her number two. He has 41 years of valuable experience that it would be shame to waste).

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

This is hardly a surprising answer, but...I do not particularly care for his relationship with Luisa. Esteban was orphaned when he was 9 at most, so he barely remembers his mother. The closest thing to a mother that he does remember is the grandmother who raised him. He needed lots of love and validation and attention, and based on what we see in canon, Luisa didn't give him nearly enough. It took years for her to realize they'd left him out of her "favorite" family painting, the flashbacks in "Dias de las Madres" suggest that she was unaware of just how lonely and vulnerable baby!Esteban was even knowing that he had just lost his parents, she gives a pretty clear impression of Elena being her favorite grandchild ( even before Esteban's secret comes out) which I am sure did *wonders* on baby!Esteban's already fragile self-esteem, and in "Coronation Day," even after she knows that Esteban helped save the kingdom (including both her and Elena), she still side-eyes Elena when Elena says that she has forgiven Esteban. tfw you sacrifice your life for your cousin's (who is also your grandma's fave) and risk it again to banish the evil time spirit, but it's still not enough to earn a long-overdue hug from your granny.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Give him very specific and sexual Shuriki-related trauma. I mean to be fair, it's not that I enjoy it so much. It's just there in my head and it happens even when I try to make fluffy and silly little plot bunnies. I would say my favorite thing that I actually enjoy doing and make an effort to do is just aggressively validate him and his feelings since he doesn't really get much of that in canon. I like having characters tell him how much he means to them, and I like for them to genuinely mean it. I like to tell him that he is capable of being loved (romantically and/or platonically ) and has the right to be loved. I like for people to recognize that he has been through so damn much and is still living with the scars that the Dark Times have left on his mind, heart, and soul. I like for other characters to come out and tell him that he's important to them, that he's fundamentally a good and worthy person even if a flawed one who lost his way for awhile, I like having characters tells him that they enjoy his company. And perhaps, most of all, I like having characters (especially Elena. but also Victor, Naomi, and probably anyone else) feel protective of him. To have them promise to take care of him and make sure that he never has to feel alone, forgotten, unloved, or helpless ever again. So basically, my favorite thing to do is aggressively project onto him and give him all the sorts of things I would want for myself as wish-fulfillment.

My least favorite thing that I sometimes see done in fic is when past (or present) Shuriki/Esteban is genuinely romanticized (as opposed to treated as inherently abusive/dubiously consensual). When their feelings are assumed to be mutual, genuine, healthy (if admittedly unconventional/unexpected), and redemptive. Particularly when Esteban tries to "save" Shuriki from Elena and/or "redeem" her from her prison cell, because he loves Shuriki/knows that she isn't really "all bad." Because no, in my view, Shuriki is far beyond any hope of redemption, and no one in Avalor would know that more than Esteban, who was forced to stay by her side and serve her for 41 years.

Now, I do think it's possible that Esteban may have developed a little bit of Stockholm syndrome towards Shuriki, based on the length of time they worked closely together, how utterly dependent on her that he had to be just in order to survive, and how desperate he's always been for just a little bit of attention/affection. But again this wouldn't be real, genuine love. At most, it would be physical attraction, and a conditioned learned dependency on her as a survival mechanism. And given the huge power imbalance between them, there's also this inevitable question of any physical and/or emotional relationship being built on a foundation of dubious consent and sexual harassment (at best).

Given that Shuriki does seem shocked and genuinely hurt when Esteban finally stands up to her in "Secret of Avalor," I think it's also possible that she did grow to care for him as much as she could possibly care for anyone. But I also think that the closest to "love" that it's possible for her to feel is casual affection (similar to what one might feel for a favorite toy) or possessive lust.

And um... so no, I do not think Shuriki is capable of love and even if she was, I don't think it would be possible for her to be rehabilitated by/through love. And even if she was, Esteban is the absolute last person I would want to do said rehabilitation work.

Shuriki personally murdered multiple members of Esteban's family, conquered and terrorized his country, and then made him do all the work of managing Avalor while giving him none of the credit. He was a stupid teenager when they met (and from what we can tell, she seems to have been at least 5-10 years older than him...possibly a lot more if she'd already started magically de-aging herself), . As such, she easily manipulated him by preying on his youth, insecurity, and naivety. (Honestly, they give me BIG "Edmund Pevensie and Jadis the White Witch" energy. Baby!Esteban was a bit older and presumably *a bit* smarter than Edmund, but still very naive and very vulnerable and therefore very susceptible to the corruptive powers of someone significantly older, crueler, and more powerful than he. )

So, it makes me super sad and uncomfy to think about Esteban wanting to be and being responsible for personally saving the life/ soul of the person who has corrupted and controlled every aspect of his life since he was 17-18. He deserves better than that. Even if I still like giving him extra trauma and having him wrestle with it.

[princess-of-the-corner]

So I was ranting to my mother about ML and how I hate Chat's lack of importance in the narrative and how he constantly gets sidelined, and after going into the details, she joked that Chat is Ladybug's sidekick.

Which got me thinking (always a dangerous affair). How WOULD things change if this wasn't pitched as an equal partnership? If Chat was purposefully given the sidekick label by the narrative and the characters? For argument's sake, let's say that Marinette had some more direct training from Fu before he sent her loose with the miraculous, but Adrien wasn't Discovered TM until after that time period, so Mari is more experienced and also still has more important powers.

I don't think Chat would feel as much resentment about being edged out and not trusted with secrets, because that's not his job anymore. He'd still be a bit salty about being lowkey replaced by the other temps, but nowhere near as much.

But I also think it might make him take more initiative to prove he can be trusted to do and know shit. Nobody, including him, holds the assumption that he's entitled to the same responsibilities and knowledge, so he might be more active and deliberate in showing Ladybug that she can lean on him. It'd encourage more open communication and responsibility from him, but I think it might also make him kind of reckless and desperate by constantly throwing himself at problems before anybody else gets a chance.

I feel like that may take pressure off Ladybug too. Whenever Chat starts to goof off, I don't think she'd feel as put out or upset about it, because it's not immaturity from someone who's supposed to be putting in as much legwork as her, it's someone she's supposed to be mentoring, so I think she'd treat it more like when Alya or Nino do something silly and dumb. Still "Not the Time or Place," but a lot less "You Should Know Better" happening.

It'd probably change the lovesquare up a little bit too. Not by much, since Chat is functionally her sidekick in canon, but it would add a few more parallels between Gabe and Nathalie, which could be fun. I also think that her being his outright teacher would take Chat's idolizing of Ladybug and crank it up to 10, which would kind of put him on par with how Marinette feels about Adrien in the earlier seasons (they both over-idealize each other in canon, but I think Marinette is probably worse about it).

In general, I think an acknowledgement of that dynamic between them might make their relationship less. . .tense, for lack of a better word. Just. A lot of miscommunication and shit might be cleared up if the two of them had different expectations for each other and themselves in the LadyNoir context.

I also think it might open avenues for Chat to do Fun 60s-Robin-Style Sidekick Shenanigans, which would be VERY entertaining, and it would DEFINITELY change up the tones of the New York special and how they interact with UV and Sparrow.

Idk, just interesting thoughts I had after subjecting my mother to my sleep deprived rambling.

So I do wanna address at first like.

This might just be how it's worded, but it makes it sound like Chat only feels /entitled/ to knowing secrets because he's there while doing nothing to prove himself, and also that him 'goofing off' is a constant problem.

Which is quite the opposite. Chat is putting in just as much effort as Ladybug, he's just given the short end of the stick because...... literally no in-universe reason. Like I've seen some people argue 'it's because Mari turned in the Grimoire to Fu while Adrien didn't', but Adrien took the book and was gonna bring it to Ladybug's attention, he didn't know about Fu. Hell, Mari didn't know about Fu at that point! Tikki told her! For some reason Plagg didn't tell Adrien.

He's even stepped up and asked 'hey please give me more responsibility, even if it's something 'minor'!'. Like offering to help Ladybug hand out and recover the Miraculous from the various temps he knows the identities of. He's just shut down and called a hindrance who would fuck it up.

Meanwhile Chat goofing around rarely causes problems. It /can/ of course, but it rarely does. Usually Chat is able to be both silly and effective, and when his silly nature does cause problems he typically backs off and reorients into focus mode.

But also this really highlights how it's so dissonant in the narrative. Chat is sidelined not because there's any in-universe reason for him to be sidelined, but because the writers want to sideline him

Anyway:

While I think some of Adrichat's frustration would be lessened if he was a 'sidekick' character in the first place, I think there'd be less changes and more just a re-contextualizing of the actions. Instead of 'Hey I'm supposed to be your partner but you're treating me like a sidekick(at best)', it's more 'I know I started as your sidekick but I think I've done enough that I should be respected as a long-term teammate who's been here for nearly every fight over the people who have been in less than i can count on one hand'.

[triflesandparsnips]

Off the back of your RPF post (which I wholeheartedly endorse, support, etc), why do critics totally forget the concept of public personas? We all have them (see any social media account, work!You versus friends!You, etc), so why are people being so precious about RPF being the Nice and Accurate Representation of someone?

note 1) Once upon a time, I [very stupidly, in retrospect, but fuelled entirely by morbid curiosity] dipped into some RPF about two people I had worked with and, naturally, it was in no way like the people involved. Of course it wasn't. Because the people in real life are sometimes pathologically shy or have a really terrible sense of humour or don't give a damn about the character they're playing, but get paid a lot to sound like they do. The exact opposite is also true.

You are 1000% right that the critics who spout awful nonsense about reading/writing RPF totally miss the part where the people in RPF do not exist because we as fans do not know strangers' personalities.

But also...

note 2) there's a reason famous people generally keep stuff like that at arm's length because, really, can you imagine someone shipping you with Jan from Accounts and then reading about it? No? Exactly.

Yikes. Sorry. This wasn't meant to come off as a rant, more a co-sign to what you wrote! Just wanted to reach out and agree. I've no need/desire for you to respond if you don't fancy it :)

(Also, sorry Jan from Accounts, I'm sure you're lovely, I just don't have the spoons for that kind of relationship)

Yes! ABSOLUTELY.

Regarding note 1: Anon, I KNOW THAT FEEL. There are Folks on tumblr here and also In Various Public Spaces that I definitely work with and/or exist alongside in the same work community, and what fans (or, in some cases, just people outside that work community) believe those Folks are like in Real Life is... deeply inaccurate. But what few things they do "know" are "facts" that have been specifically shared as part of the persona! And where there are gaps in the persona (similar to where there are gaps in a piece of media), fans will add their own emotional narrative logic to try and fill in the blanks-- and the folly comes (as anyone who goes ALL IN on a piece of fanon or personal heartcanon) from believing that the shit you made up is somehow actually true.

And regarding note 2: YES ALSO ABSOLUTELY. Like, let people make their own terrible decisions because they are goddamn adults and/or let them curate their experience with the help of their actual friends. We can't know what these Public People want to do! We can't know what they're okay with! STOP SHOWING UP IN THEIR LIVING ROOM, FFS.

John Oliver has a delightful story about reading Daily Show slash RPF that he got from a friend (or so he says, in the middle of a comedy show, which is also a crafted work that could be full of lies for the sake of the narrative). In his comedy narrative, he wasn't into it! But even assuming it's all true, it was his choice to continue reading, and his choice to turn it into a comedy routine. Because he is an adult who gets to make that choice.

2010s bandom, on the other hand, was a cornucopia of RPF because the bands publicly talked about or referenced reading fic about themselves (to the degree that a common fic warning was "Stop googling yourself, Gabe"). They also got to make that decision! Fans got kind of uncomfortable about it! Bandom looked into the void and the void looked back and said "That was hot."

(Meanwhile, if you continue to believe John Oliver's comedy routines, he also discusses the ramifications of googling yourself, but by god, it's still his choice to make.)

(...And because of these choices he and his writing team on Last Week Tonight have been able to do some truly fantastic shenanigans, including, for instance, collecting digital data from Congress using ads for "Ted Cruz erotic fan fiction". So like. Even personal tragedy can lead to Art, so jot that down.)

Finally, Zach Kornfeld from the Try Guys (which hey if we wanna talk about the difference between personas and reality, ahahaha) specifically discusses what it means to be reliant on the parasocial relationship between audience and creator:

You know, look, the parasocial relationship is the only reason I'm here. It's the people who watch me, I owe them everything and I wanna give them everything. But there has to be boundaries you create. It's a really tricky thing. I also don't want to abuse that relationship. I think it's really easy to look at your audience and go, like, "We're friends," and "Come on, you love me, support me." We're not friends. You don't know me. I'm lying to you all the time. I'm curating what I give you. I'm trying to make myself look as good as possible. The job of a creator is to be as broadly likable as possible all the time.

And like... yeah. YEAH.

RPF is fiction. From the top to the bottom, from the beginning to the end. And the moment you think any of it actually touches on the """truth""" of a real person, you are the one making things fucking weird.

[nagdabbit]

What season of Dimension 20 should a noob start with I want to understand what the FUCK you're talking about

oooooooo yes, welcome, come on in, were all fucking weird here!

get ready to have Extreme Feelings about one (1) loud, white man

but also, you can kinda start wherever you want? i haven't even watch every single season, anyway. here's the seasons, out of airing order, probably

fantasy high - the original, the og. teens in fantasy high school, having hijinks and saving the world. honestly, if there's like an established place to start, this is it. there's a second season, and a couple of live shows that are so fucking fun. griffin mcelroy's live ep is fucking WILD, i love ficus

pirates of leviathan - fantasy high adjacent, post fh season 2. i didn't actually finish this one. i dont remember why. i dont super have a strong attachment to fh season 2, so the setting for this one just didn't interest me, but it's pirates having hijinks on a floating pirate city

unsleeping city 1 & 2 - urban fantasy weirdness, urban fantasy fun times. the magical world that lives beneath and alongside the new york we all know. like fables, maybe, but more fantasy archetypes than folklore. really fun, really enjoyable, i have no memory of season two but i know i watched it

the seven - another fh spinoff, but a little more tied into the first season. a fantasy party of all the people they spent season one trying to save. it is SO FUCKING FUNNY, and SO FUCKING GAMEPLAY CRUNCHY, and I CRIED SO FUCKING HARD. need some emotional healing? exquisite. i miiiight suggest watching fh first, just to understand who they are, but also you don't *need* to

tiny heist - borrowers and fairies and thug bugs and living toys, trying to run a heist. so goddamn fun. highly, highly recommend. i love a fuckin heist. its the mcelroy family season, so if you like them you can look forward to that. just mcelroy is just. he's fucking batshit.

a crown of candy - game of thrones ass campaign, but the characters and kingdoms are all based on the different food groups. for real and honest, this season didn't hit me and i didn't finish it. but i do enjoy compilations of it on youtube

the ravening war - crown of candy spin off. i also didn't watch this at all, but it has cr's matt mercer as the guest gm, and im sure he's a great guy and all, but i just don't vibe with his dm style. deffo the least amount of levity of all the seasons, i think

mice & murder - a sherlock holmes, agatha christie ass murder mystery where everyone is in the house trying to solve the murder. also everyone is woodland creatures. another highly recommend if you're into murder mysteries like that

escape from the bloodkeep - what if lotr was told from the baddies pov. it's so stupid, so silly, so much fun. highly recommend

shriek week - monsters on their final week of college. despite my love of guest gm, gabe hicks, this season just Did Not Hit Me. not even ify nwadiwe could hold me

misfits and magic - hogwarts ass magic school for little wizards, but without the transphobia and racism. need some kids upsetting an unjust society based on classism? this for you. so, so good! guest gm aabria iyengar, she fucking knocks it out of the park. there's also a christmas episodes and a live show with a different cast

a starstruck odyssey - did you know that brennan lee mulligans mom elaine wrote the comic starstruck? this season is based on the comic and its very fucking fun! scifi shenanigans out the ass

neverafter - horror themed season, about macabre fairytale characters and the enduring nature of stories. it took me a bit to get into this season, but it's so good! you gotta like horror, tho. that's important to remember. it's a dark season

coffin run - draculas followers try to get an injured dracula back to the castle before his enemies catch up. sooooooo so so fucking funny, one of my favorite seasons. guest gm jasmine bhullar kills it. absolutely unfuckinghinged season

a court of fey and flowers - EASILY my favorite, second favorite season. aabria is back, the fey are having a party, someone is trying to do something terrible, they need to navigate jane austen era ass court politics to figure it out. so, so fucking stupid and fun

dungeons & drag queens - i havent finished this season, cuz i got Depressed As Shit earlier this year and just couldn't, but im about to jump back in. honestly, the plot doesn't matter, it's monet x change, alaska thunderfuck, jujubee and bob the drag queen. do you need to know anything else? no, you don't

mentopolis - the current season. a good place to start it you don't want to binge anything, as only one episode is out. it's a noir detective mystery taking place within the brain of a scientist and is already climbing the ranks of my favorite seasons

godspeed, you little nerd. go forth and have fun