#or just isnt perfect and says everything exactly right and knows exactly how to treat you without you ever telling them

[eniruok]

Id also like to point out the story we are told about WHY she left is made up entirely by Marcille, she's just guessing, and SURE it could be a 99% accurate guess, it could just be the way Ryoko Kui decided to fill us in on what happened since Chilchuck is oblivious to it himself and there was no other way to include it in the narrative. But like, the only concrete fact we know is: she left. She isnt given a chance to explain herself, we never see her side, we just know that she left.

The only thing we get is Chilchuck alluding that Marcille's intuition is eerily accurate, but shes still making assumptions about WifeChuck's feelings and reasons- something we cant even be entirely sure of without her input.

People on here love to think relationships are super cut and dry, that if things go wrong that means there was a Bad Guy and a Victim, theres no room to speculate that maybe his wife showed a lack of initiative or empathy, or maybe she never even voiced that their lifestyle was bothering her. Chilchuck clearly lacks emotional intelligence but that doesnt make him a monster, so why isnt she equally condemned for not being more patient or understanding with the man she agreed to marry? Relationships are more than just an exchange, its about working together as a unit to overcome obstacles, share in triumphs and grow together.

It is completely counter productive to shift blame from one side to another, if there is no shared responsibility there is no relationship, it just isnt going to end well if you see every conflict as "their fault", it causes you to dehumanize and resent your partner and its just... a useless way of thinking, theres no room for that train of thought if you want a healthy relationship.

So yeah.. at the end of the day I dont see a point in being like "Chilchuck was a bad husband" or "Wifechuck was a bad wife", it doesnt matter, they both failed at doing whatever was necessary to make the relationship work. You either win together or you lose together, no healthy relationship is just one person being like "yep, i won, the relationship is good because i made it good, no input from this other person, they're just along for the epic ride i solve all the problems and resolve all the conflicts!! Go me!!" It would completely defeat the purpose of being on a "team" if only one person reaped all the benefits, so why isnt the blame shared when the team also loses? Why we always gotta assign a bad guy and a victim?

He spent a long time without having seen his wife, that is by definition being a bad husband, even if he lied about the infidelity.

she left him

like she left. they are separated. you can argue him being emotionally distant enough for her to leave is bad, and you can be upset with him for not chasing after her, but she walked out first. him not following after her was not a moral failing on his part. it was a choice he made, and her leaving so definitively implied she wasn't anticipating him coming after her anyway.

like. ultimately though i think trying to shoehorn him into "good" or "bad" is missing the point? and equally missing the point of dunmeshi on the whole. no one is "good" or "bad". chilchuck made mistakes, he clearly made his wife feel unloved enough to leave, but we know from the things he says that it was never his intent.

you can criticize him for causing this relationship to fail without claiming he was just 100% bad, and i would encourage you to read dunmeshi with your mind open to nuance, friend. if you wanna hate chilchuck that's your right but you are arguing with the wrong person

[ganondoodle]

okay, bc i have seen this argument alot now (and it also seems to be the view point of aonuma himself..) is that "zelda cant do everything link does bc whats the point then"

and i take personal offense on that bc its a stupid argument (in. my. very. personal. opinion.- not judging people for liking it. its a ME thing)

whats the point? its that its her. its still a different character, different in story, background, personality, but i WANT to play zelda and she can do everything link does, why does she have to be so restricted and be bend over backwards to find some new way to make her 'useful' when link gets to do basically everything no questions asked (the only thing thats hers is like .. sealing power and sacrificial maiden, which i find a little underwhelming to say the least), if theres no point to it why are there always modders that model swap link with someone else, and in that case it has even less impact bc its an artificial model swap with no changes to the story (which can and should still be different when its the vanilla game with a different protagonist... its still a different character), clearly theres joy in just the model being a different one- and that isnt even to mention the story possibilities, since, again, its stil a different character

if we ever (never ... i know who we are talking about here) get to play as ganondorf i want to him to be just as versatile and active as link is, if we got a point and click adventure game for him instead bc 'whats the point' id be disappointed too- you can find any sort of excuse/explanation for zelda to be singled out but the fact remains it tracks with how female characters are often treated, and that hits a very sore spot for me

i guess i am unfortunately one of those annoying people that want to see female characters be treated exactly the same as male characters, possibly bc i am myself afab but identify as agender and have a deeply personal dislike for anything 'traditional' feminine bc i cannot and never will be able to truly live as myself in real life, it influences all of my work, my work is as just as much as my opinion on this, very personal

and in line with my point about modding, i see theres joy in just beign able to play as her even if its like this, i get that, i also get it for the creative aspect (though that mechanic worries me even more for the future bc it really seems to be the path now that -freedom = good, linear anything = bad-) it is a different idea and its not like i cant see that value- im not trying be "right" either, just bc i have that opinion doesnt mean i need everyone to agree, its a very personal thing, if you like it good for you! not for me though, and i think both of that is equally valid

i just personally wish she was allowed to be just like link, fight just like him but be different bc its still her and not him in the end- to be physically/playstyle like jsut like him, but you know ... as her, i dont think shed stop being zelda if she could wield a sword just like him

i dont really know how to get my point/feelings across, i dont want to step too much into personal stuff nor spam people with something that ultimately doesnt interest me alot, im just saddened by it really

(EDIT: bc i forgot to add this on here again; this isnt as much of a problem as it might sound like here, just the main topic i wanted to talk about; why im so uninterested in it is MAINLY bc i dont trust them to write anything interesting/care about lore anymore after totk, im always on the more pessimistic side that thinks its most likely worse than id hope and i know even the past games arent perfect or super interestingly written, but now its much more just a general distrust, together with everything like the price ... im just much less hopeful and cant get excited until i see more of it, like im waiting for the game to get out and reveal that its just as much of a mess and money i regret spending- kind of fear)

[jpitha]

You can have a little lye as a treat

“I want to make Maya her favorite food, can you help?” Limmie looks over the table in the canteen at Peggy, the only other human she knows here.

“Uh, maybe Lim, what’s her favorite food? Also, you know that most human foods…”’

“Are toxic to me, yes I know. This one doesn’t seem to bad though? It’s mostly wheat. I can eat wheat, though I shouldn’t eat too much. It’s just wheat and water, some sugar, yeast and salt.”

Peggy thinks a moment. “Some kind of bread?”

Limmie’s nod is so vigorous her ears flutter. “Yeah, something called a pretzel”

“So… that’s not all that’s involved in pretzels.” Peggy stands. “But, I think we can work something out. Come on, let’s sign out a kitchenette.”

A few days later, Limmie comes to the kitchenette that Peggy signed out. They get it for a whole day, which surprised Limmie. “It’s just bread right? Why do we need it for a whole day?”

“Well, we have to give time for the yeast to work.” Peggy is wearing an apron that says “Let’s Get Baked!” And has a cartoon of a bread loaf with bloodshot eyes. She’s getting bowls out and arranging things on the steel table in front of her. “Her favorite is German pretzels?”

“That’s right. She said that she misses them because only her Grandmother makes them right. She sounded so wistful.” Limmie washes her hands, and as she dries them, Peggy hands her a smaller apron. On the front is written “Made from Scratch!” And has a cartoon K’laxi showing their claws. Limmie looks at Peggy who is trying very hard not to laugh. She puts the apron on and flicks her ears in a grin.

Peggy spend the time showing Limmie what to do to make the dough, but she doesn’t do it. It’s for Limmie’s girlfriend, so she does the work. She mixes the flour and the water and the yeast and while is proofs, Peggy explains how the yeast works and what it’s doing. Limmie leans in close and smells the yeasty smell and is amazed that human foods can get this… complicated.

Soon enough the bread has risen and been punched down and shaped and… Peggy is putting on a large rubber apron, heavy gloves and a face shield. Limmie stands back “Uh, Peggy, what are you doing?”

“Oh, the pretzels aren’t done yet, they need a Lye bath.”

“What’s that?”

Peggy’s voice is slightly muffled from the shield. “Oh, Lye is a human word for Sodium Hydroxide, a very strong alkaline chemical. It is quite caustic to organic tissue.”

Limmie takes an unconscious step back. “But, what are you doing then? You’re going to ruin our bread!”

“No no, this is an important step. The pretzels won’t look or smell or taste right unless we dip them in lye.”

“You’re going to DIP the pretzels into a strong alkaline solution?”

Peggy turns, holding another rubber apron, gloves, and face shield. “No. You’re going to.”

“This isnt’ a joke? You’re not trying to make fun of me for not understanding human cookery? You really have to dip the pretzels in that caustic chemical?”

Peggy lifts up her face shield. Her eyes are kind. “Limmie, I would never do that to you. I promise, this will make the pretzels just like how Maya remembers them.”

Tail flicking, Limmie takes the PPE from Peggy. “How do I put this on?”

“I’ll show you, come here.”

****

“Oh gosh Limmie, these are perfect! Where did you get them?” Maya’s eyes are squeezed shut in bliss as she chews the warm pretzels. “They taste just like the ones Nana made!”

“Peggy helped me make them. She showed me exactly what to do, but I did the work.”

Maya swallows and looks at Limmie, eyes wide. “You made these? You made German Pretzels with the lye bath and everything?”

Limmie falls into Maya’s arms and snuggles down into her chest. “Of course I did. I had to wear some personal protective equipment, but Peggy showed me how to be careful and she explained we needed the lye to get it just right. I wanted to make something just for you that I knew you’d love.”

Maya squeezes Limmie and strokes her ears. “They’re wonderful hon. Thank you.”

[mellohiizz]

im more complex about the episode then everyone else seems to be apparently. imo they all sucked this episode.

for one, i am actually a dean sympathizer. lets be real parrot and wifies both treated him badly. i wouldnt have told parrot either when he was there constantly repeating the exact same things ash said to blackmail dean; and wifies isnt much better for affirming the shit ash told dean either, infact i would argue wifies was even worse then about it. if i was there hearing "ash was right. youre a burden, but thats ok." and "ash was right. your a burden, we should be leaving you for dead." i wouldnt want to risk jeopardizing my one source of safety either.

before the reveal that dean was actually involved in the leaking of their location wifies just came of as a semi-controlling dick. there were a million better ways all of them could have done things this episode. i dont really like the wifies glazing as if he was perfect this episode and didnt treat a fellow victim who lodgically didnt have a choice like shit. wifies is smart enough to figure out dean didnt want to sell them out. imo he had no actual reason to reason to treat dean with as little empathy as he did, especially when wifies knows exactly what its like to have his existance used to get to parrot in the exact chain of events parrot referenced after the compass was burnt.

both sides of odessy were being hypocritical and hurtful as hell and thats been a theme of uu the whole time. theyre all flawed, they are make mistakes and are selfish and hurt others doing what they think is righteous or best or safest. uu is the dichotomy of perspective, about how everyone does what they think is best and how more often then not that best hurts atleast someone. and guess what? thats life. thats actually pretty normal, especially if youve been through your own shit or are traumatized like the characters of uu are.

they all suck and hurt people, thats the moral of the story. the moral that feels very lost on most of the fandom...

-🔍🏰(f:▶️🥊)

honestly, good take. kind of made me rethink some things that happened in the episode as well.

to be fair, yes, obviously dean was treated badly the whole episode. even i noted that wifies was a bit too harsh with how he approached things the whole video. he knew that dean was leaking information, didn't tell parrot, and still tried to put basically the whole blame of it on dean. "you could argue i hid it from you" yes, wifies, you did keep it from parrot, knowing that parrot would've tried to look for a different solution.

parrot was obviously not any better. he brushed off wifies despite the other very clearly showing signs of concern and he did also openly called dean a burden. which is, yes, he was slowing them down, but i feel like there was a nicer was to go about it.

and yes, i do sympathize with dean, but he did hide a piece of pretty crucial information from them, keeping a leverage in the compass, and then ran away after being confronted. it's fair, i'm not saying he was entirely wrong for that too, but i feel like it wouldn't be fair to say anyone was fully in right/wrong.

and yeah, you're are right, the morality of characters is a pretty obvious focus on the whole uu, and obviously all of them are very flawed. taking wifies's words, we just need to try and look at things from all of their perspectives. they're all understandable, and in some ways even reasonable, but there were much better ways to go about the whole situation, but the problem was exactly that. perspective. they were all focused on their individual goals and didn't try to see everything from the perspective of others. and that's what separated all of them.

[transmascaraa]

HAAIII ME AGAIN had a new idea all of a sudden

OK SO HEAR ME OUT RIGHT. hcs with gaming, scara and uhhhmm. Blade hsr with autistic gn reader!?!2?1!2??! basically like reader tells them theyre autistic, how would the charas react? would they treat the reader any different? would their view of their s/o change???

IT LOOKS RLLY CUTE IN MY HEAD OK TRUDT

+ if it isnt too much im asking here, how theyd interact w reader when they go nonverbal bc theyre upset :3

THANK U MOOTIE ALSO HOPE UR SOING WELL!!!!

multiple characters headcannons!

you tell him that you're autistic.

characters: gaming, wanderer, blade x autistic!gn!reader

author's note: alright this one and might do one more tonight it's fucking 20 minutes till 1am lmao might do a few tmrw i hope i do lol ANYWAYSSS I'M DOING GOOD THANKS I HOPE YOU'RE DOING WELL TOO<33 LOVE THE REQQ

✧ Gaming

-so accepting fr. sweetheart. perfect bf. everything good.

-when you tell him he'd be so sweet and understanding frfr

-will literally sacrifice his whole being for you

-"you're autistic? that doesn't change anything, my dear!" he will love you eternally no joke.

-and when you get upset, you go nonverbal.

-so he spends hours trying to learn exactly what you mean by the gestures you use so thag he can help. he'll take it slow.

-he'll be patient with you.

-i promise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

✷ Wanderer

-nobody knows if it's sass or sarcasm at this point.

-HE WOULD LOOK AT YOU AS IF YOU TOLD HIM THAT YOU LIKE SLEEPING WITH YOUR PILLOW ON THE WARM SIDE.

-but he'd definitely be understanding. don't trust his physical expressions.

-you'd tell him and he would say some shit like:

-"you're acoustic?" before you playfully hit him and scold him.

-throughout the whole thing, his smirk never leaves his face. fuck that idiot, sometimes, honestly.

-when you're upset tho, he's really fucking nice. it's a rare case that he ever acts nice but at times like these he knows the limit.

-nahida will teach him more about autism after you told him

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

๑ Blade

-eughhh he's a complicated guy

-not like he would show any type of much reaction if you told him he'd be like "okay and?"

-sitting down beside him and telling him.

-he'll listen, sure. he'll be understanding, i guess. but his face remains neutral

-"and how am i supposed to help?" maybe he hurts your feelings js like that sometimes he will apologize with night cuddles

-but overall, he would help you. even tho he'll say he wasn't being all that nice at all but you know that deep down you keep that little bit of happiness in him

-if you're upset and go nonverbal, he will try his best to understand you and help you calm down, taking it seriously. he's really good at it

-he just wants to make sure that you're okay, nothing else matters to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i like this one

it's really good imo

i laughed my ass off while writing wanderer's one lmfaoo i hope you like it @chezsxapcake <3

[bridgyrose]

More of the Messy Affair AU?

(Been a while for this one)

Ruby felt her heart skip a beat as she was led into Blake’s apartment in Mantle, suddenly not sure how she ended up here. Dinner had gone well and she had learned more about Blake than she thought she would’ve. She was a drifter of sorts, not really claiming anywhere to be home. She was also a huntress, one that tended to take more of the legally gray kind of missions, but a skilled huntress nonetheless. 

Blake closed the door and motioned for Ruby to sit down. “I think you’ll be perfect for the job.” 

“Perfect?” Ruby asked as she sat down. “And what makes you think that?” 

“You’re a huntress that’s been recommended to me, you already know Atlas and Mantle well enough for someone who doesnt live here, and you’re close to Weiss Schnee. In my book, that makes you perfect for what I need you to do.” 

“And what, exactly, do you need me to do that you cant? From the sound of it, you’re more skilled than I am for whatever this is.” 

Blake frowned a bit, then let out a sigh and pulled out her scroll with the details of the mission. “We need someone who’s close to Weiss in order to get some information. Names of the faunus that were working a few mines that collapsed, which mines are going to be next to reclaim from the grimm, things like that.” 

Ruby took the scroll and read over the mission details. Names of faunus, the next mines to be reclaimed, equipment that would be used, how many people would be employed… all of it normal enough. “You could ask Weiss all of this. She’d be more than happy to answer-” 

“Thats… not the full mission.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I’m working with a group to shut down the SDC due to its practices.” 

“I cant help with that.” 

“We’re willing to pay you the same Weiss is for your services.” 

“Its not about the money-” 

“Its about your morals, isnt it?” Blake asked as she leaned over next to Ruby. “About what’s right. About not betraying someone you trust. But tell me, Miss Rose, where do you draw the line between trust and betrayal? Especially when the one you trust would be willing to betray you in a heartbeat.” 

Ruby blushed a bit as she stared into Blake’s eyes, seeing how her pupils almost looked catlike with her contacts. “I’m… I’m not sure what you mean.” 

“I know you’re on her payroll, but that doesnt make you safe from her or how the SDC treats their employees. Weiss will throw you away just as easily as she has everyone else. Do you really want to spend time worrying about that?” 

“I-I… I couldnt…” 

“And I can give you everything that she gives you.” 

Ruby felt her cheeks heat up as Blake kissed her. She didnt know when her heart nearly stopped beating from the surprise, nor did she know when she pressed into the kiss. But she did know she enjoyed it as she was pushed to her back. She panted as she stared up at Blake, her blush reddening as she felt her wrists pinned to the couch. “I-I couldnt… she’s my… I’m her…” She slowly lost the words she wanted to say, once again faced with not being sure what she was to her. 

“You know she’s only using you,” Blake said as she pressed against Ruby. “Its only a matter of time until she tosses you away like she does everyone else that works for her. Help me now, and I’ll make sure you’re never tossed away.” 

Ruby looked away for a moment as Blake kissed her cheek, catching a small tattoo on her shoulder. With a heavy sigh, she gave a nod and kissed Blake’s neck. “Let me think about it.” 

“How long will you need?” 

“Twenty four hours. I need twenty four hours.” 

“And then you’ll let me know?” 

“Yeah. Then I’ll let you know if I accept.” 

[safetycar-restart]

literally kicking my feet and giggling anytime you answer my asks~

also max in the teammate d/s au? please elaborate, i'm on my knees

🍄

I'm so glad you like when I answer your asks!! I love all your ideas so much. And I'm really vibing with AUs at the moment so this ask is perfect.

I think that red bull tend to try and keep max's submissive on the down low. They dont hide it, because they legally can't lie about max's designation. But they certainly dont focus on it.

You've heard about max's designation VERY few times. It was mentioned in your contract with red bull not to speak about max's designation, so you realise pretty quickly that red bull isnt exactly open to it. They give you a team sanctioned submissive, but they certainly dont check in your scenes or that aspect of your life besides the occasional question from the team doctor during checkups.

So you are beyond confused when a red bull higher up comes up to you and informs that you will have to do a scene with max and max's dom, to better your relationship with max and the team unity.

You thought the team unity was absolutely great, so you really dont get this.

What you dont know, however, is that max made this request and his bullshit reason was to better team unity, saying that he heard other teams make their drivers scene together and they seem much closer and better on track. So red bull agrees, because honestly red bull will agree to just about anything max asks for.

That's not the real reason max asks, of course. He asks because he walked past your room a few weeks ago and overheard your doing a scene with your team assigned sub? You were so sweet, checking in your sub constantly and praising them and just doing everything that max wishes he could get.

And that's how max realises that his team assigned dom isnt right, that there are other ways of doing it. He has had this assigned dom every since he joined formula one, and they were chosen by his dad.

The dom treats him harsh, makes him feel like it's an embarrassment to be submissive and never listens to anything he asks for. He gets into subspace through pain and pain alone, and he just... it used to be okay. He used to be fine with this, because he was so focused on racing that nothing else mattered and he just wanted scenes to over as quickly as possible, to get into subspace and then get out of it as quickly as possible.

But now he's honestly getting tired? He finishes a race and he so badly wants to be able to kneel at someone's feet and be allowed to suck their fingers and receive praise for driving as best he could.

His request to red bull to scene with you as much a request for something different as it a cry for help. He's certain you'll help him, has seen the way you dom your subs and care for them. Even outside of scenes, you always check in your submissive and he knows that this is a submissive you dont even have feelings for.

So he's sure you'd help him, so sure.

You enter the room to scene with max and dom being very uncertain about the whole thing. You tried to speak to max's dom beforehand to see what his dom is planning and to go over limits and such, but they refused. They just told you to go along with it and to do whatever you wanted to max. It was an instant red flag.

So you go into the scene on guard, fully expecting something bad, but you underestimated it. Max is kneeling naked on the floor, not even a pillow under his knees. He looks up at you when you enter, so clearly distressed that you ask for his colour immediately.

His dom laughs and tells him not to answer.

You end up safe wording when you see max choking on a dildo, having already made his dom cum with zero praise and then immediately having a dildo shoved down his throat. You can see that max isn't into it at all, his cock completely soft.

The Dom scoffs when you safe word, but doesnt fight it because they seem to know better. They just tell you that they hoped you had fun and then leave.

Poor maxy is crying when you get to him, thanking you and leaning against you, clinging to your shoulders and refusing to let go.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Analysis of the Family Agreste Portrait

Quarantine strikes again and since the Agreste family portrait has fascinated me for a loooong while now I decided to put my thoughts into words and write another essay x3

The amount of informations we get out if it is amazing and its not only highlighting the absolute TRAGEDY it is that this family is about to face such a horrible fall out, it also hints at the former family dynamic before everything went to hell.

So make yourself comfortable and get something to drink, because we will be here for a while.

Here we go: My analysis of this beauty of a fictional portrait

Let's start with the most obvious one: Hawkmoth.

Its commen knowledge by now that the background makes it seem like Hawkmoth is standing behind the Agreste family like a bad omen waiting for fate to take its course and cause their doom. The portrait is brilliantly designed so the illusion is created that Gabriels body (here in a blue suit closer to Hawkmoths normals dark purple one) overlaps with Hawkmoths and a darker line is connecting the two faces as well, which rest on the same height right beside each other. The very same line grows bigger as it goes further behind Emilie - coloring her entire background - showing us that EMILIE is all Gabriel sees when he becomes Hawkmoth. But notice that Adrien on the other hand can hardly be concidered part of Gabriels “sight” at all.

Its forshadowing 101 and damn beautiful if I may say so. But this isnt what I want to focus on in this post.

I want to elaborate on two other key factors that tell us about the former dynamic of the Agrestes instead and what they tell us about the present and future.

The heart:

This is hitting me on another level because look at the heart these three form with Adrien right in the middle! He was so LOVED. This family may have never been anywhere close to ideal but still, there was LOVE and now he's gonna loose it all.

Adrien already lost his mother which led to his father getting even more distant and cold and now his father is becoming increasingly more abusive as he falls deeper and deeper into villainy. Gabriel was never a good father, the show has already made this clear with episodes like "the bubbler", “the collector” or "Gigantitan" for example but gosh there was hope for their little family! The end scene in "Jackady" portrayed it perfectly and I wrote a whole other post just covering the sigificants of Adriens and Gabriels hug in that episode. Check it out here if you want, it goes hand in hand with this one.

Miraculous is all about love and the completely different ways it can affect us, our behavior and actions. Because love isnt just wonderful, pure and empowering, it also can be twisted, destructive and cause the darkst nightmares. And with this family the writers know how to portray the complex love in an abusive houshold thats destined to go up in flames and they also know how to hint at their troubled past with the family portrait.

But this heart visual tells us even more in connection with the positions of their hands. And with these two key factors, lets start with Gabriel:

His hands convey it so strongly. He loves/d Emilie and Adrien so much and no doubt this love for them was certainly the reason why he started his quest as Hawkmoth. But he is now losing himself more and more in the pleasure of his villainy to the point where he forgets why he's doing it in the first place and becomes a complete monster (of a father). But this turn and spiraling into villainy didn't came out of nowhere - this root already had to be in him to grow like that. And this is also something the portrait indeed hints at as well.

Because Gabriel is the only one of the three who:

1. We see so completely open and without hesitation reach out and hold BOTH his family members.

2. Is visually “cut off” from them as well.

But this doesn't mean he was excluded and the only one who truly cared and loved, it just shows that things were more... complicated...as usual.

This is best explained with Adriens hand placements:

One hand is holding his mothers but the other one is visibly not reaching out for his father. But as we all know, that's not because Adrien doesn't love him. In season 1-3 it is made more than clear that Adrien does not hate his father - he loves him alot and tries to be there for him and be patient because he knows that the loss of his mother brought his father terribly down.

Sure, Adrien gets frustrated and angry with him, literally how could he not?? But Adrien tries his best to reach out to Gabriel so they can bond and come out of this tragedy stronger.

But this loving willingness to forgive his father for the chance of growing a father-son bond with him doesn't change the fact that these two didn't had a bond prior to this. And let's be honest here, does anybody actually think this distance between them was caused by Adrien? I don't think so.

So notice how Adriens hand - not reaching out for his fathers - is the only one in the portrait NOT inside or forming the heart.

When the connection of the hands between the family members symbolise their connection to another, then Adrien keeping the hand for his father away from the display of love is VERY telling. It tells us very directly what this distance did to Adriens side of the relationship. Despite Gabriels hand being right there, Adrien does not meet the gesture. And I cannot believe that he did it out of resentment, nothing in the show indicated such strong negative emotions from past Adrien.

It's much more likely that Adrien not reaching for his fathers hand is meant to show us that Adrien felt that he either CAN'T return the gesture because he fears that it'll end in an unpleasant reaction from Gabriel - that it isn't Adriens "place" to reach out to his busy and distant father like that, like it's demanding something - or Adrien simply didn't took Gabriel laying his hand on his shoulder, in the context of posing for a portrait, as a gesture of love and affection.

The way I interpret the portrait is that prior to Emilies dissappearence Adrien did not exactly try to reach out to his father the same way he did from s1-s3, which, I mean, of course wasn't the case. Not only is it NOT the 13 years olds (or younger) job to form an emotional connection to their absent parent - when that’s the PARENTS job - it also wouldn't be necessarily "needed" for Adrien to do so.

Because Emilie at this point was still in the picture so and she was the complete opposite. She was a (or maybe the ONLY) safe, reliable and loving constant of parental attention, affection and care in his life and because of these two HARSH contrasts Adrien learned from very early on to focus mostly completely on her in that regard while kinda blocking his father out.

That most likely wasn't even an active choice whatsoever - Gabriel proofed to be an unreliable resource so Adrien learned to subconciously treat him that way out of self protection. That doesn't mean he had any kind of dislike or malice against his father it just means that he wasn't able or allowed to connect with Gabriel the way he needed. Several episodes show that Gabriel deadass only parented like 15 minutes tops in his life with one of the worst offenders kinda being “Gigantitan” ngl.

So yeah, when I see that the portrait wants to tell me that prior to Emilies loss, Adrien - a 12-13 year old at most - is THIS used to rely solely on the strong bond he has with his mother and not even really reaching out for his fathers love, then I can't help but interpret it in the way that... Well... Gabriel was so distant and emotionally unreliable to Adrien for all his life, that Gabriel simply... wasn't needed by his son. Not at that point of time at least.

And while this may seem weird, because obviously Adrien only now starts to stop craving for his fathers affection and approval (which is btw a horrible, HORRIBLE thing and not something good. A half orphan losing the last remaining hope he had left of having the chance to finally get to form a bond with the only other parent he has left, just to be crushed by disappointment and abandonment all over again until he let's go, is REALLY NOT as much of a good thing people will make it out to be. This is... plain awful) it's actually quite logical.

Adriens hand outside the heart doesn't mean that his father meant nothing to him and therefore refuses to meet and accept his affection (that's literally the complete opposite of what the show shows us), it means that Adriens and Gabriels father-son relationship suffers from a fatal emotional disconnection caused by miscommunication/ a lack of communication.

And this was caused by Gabriel. How? Let me elaborate on that by going a bit far afield (cuz lbh we all have time for this. I’m writing this in quarantine and youre reading this is quarantine, so lets gooooooooooooo).

In "The bubbler" Adrien says that his father "always forgot his birthday", but I cannot agree with this in true honesty. Gabriel is controlling his sons entire life, calls him "the epitome of perfection" and temporarily truly gave up being Hawkmoth for him, he definitely never forgot Adriens birthday.

"The bubbler" even SHOWS us that Adriens perspective of the situation is actually not the truth:

This is Adriens first birthday after Emilies dissappearence and it's incredibly telling how Gabriel handles the planning.

What this entire little sequence tells me is that Gabriel is completely and UTTERLY used to NOT be the one to take care of anything related to Adriens birthday. So Emilie was always the one who did it but somehow - now without her - Gabriel apparently still hasn't even considered changing anything about that nasty non-involvement and just expected Natalie to pick everything up where Emilie left it.

Because let's be real here, knowing Natalie she would NOT have forgotten to get a present if Gabriel truly had told her to. Natalie is never presented to do mistakes like that but Gabriel on the other hand IS definitely presented to us claiming things about himself as ultimate, blameless and true when they simply do not reflect reality. A great example: Gorizilla

You didn’t even speared a minutes of your time for Adrien and he DID try to! Asshat… It's a problem guys. The lack of self awareness Gabriel displays in moments like this is legitimately concerning when you think about how deeply this man is falling right now.

But back to the topic:

Because even if Gabriel didn't even consider doing anything himself for Adriens birthday - not even taking the time to SEE his son (who just recently lost his mother, come on Gabe, really?) - one thing one cannot hold against him: he sure as hell remembered Adriens birthday like any decent parent would and it wasnt portrayed as a this-year-for-the-first-time thing.

And yet Adriens statement still makes complete sense. Because a big, BIG problem with Gabriel is just how much he takes things for granted. He EXPECTS things to be universally known and to never be doubted, just because that's how HE sees them. I will write 10 essays if it's needed to make people understand that Gabriel DOES truly love Adrien, it's just that Gabriel HIMSELF is such a rotten, twisted and toxic person that he cannot see how much his (oppressing) behavior and the way he (doesn't) express his love hurts Adrien and that HE is the one at fault. (for more, once again, read this)

Gabriel LOVES Adrien but he takes the love he feels as such a matter-of-fact that he just completely... forgets to show it.

And when we take Adriens words and look at the Family portrait it unfortunately seems that...

…. Gabriel ALWAYS forgot to show it.

Adriens hand - that should at least be reaching out to his father - is outside of the heart in accepting certainty. Because that's what Gabriels non-presence was for Adrien while growing up: an unreliable and unreachable certainty he had to accept early on as safer to not try to emotionally depend on too much or else he will get hurt.

So yeah, Adrien is the one in the portrait who is very openly not reaching out but only because Gabriel never gave him the needed affection and stability to be able to create that bond.

But let me correct what I said a little earlier: Adrien ALWAYS needed his father. Every kid, especially one in a bad situation like Adrien, does need their parents/friends etc as support system to become independent and confident in a healthy way. And if they don’t have that they WILL crave and look for it!

What Adrien has been doing up to now IS normal for a teenager - humans NEED affection, belonging and safety. What ISNT/SHOULDN’T be normal is Adriens disconnection towards his father in the portrait and just how much Gabriel fails to take care and BE THERE for his son in BOTH TIMES!

Collector:

Bother Christmas:

One thing I like about the show is that it portrays their young main cast with one very important truth: The psyche of a child/teenager of their age will react and adapt so it SURVIVES, even if it results in unfortunate consequences in other relationships and places. Thats the psyches main concern and it'll try to cope with the limited experience and development it has in whatever way necessary to get itself to the next day. A coping mechanism is not there to make you a better person, it ensures your SURVIVAL, everything else is a secondary concern.

So seeing pre-show Adrien not react to Gabriels touch and even feel completely unloved and disconnected from him is no surprise to me. Kids are incredibly observant. They may lack the needed experience and knowledge to truly understand that they deserve better and to stand up for themselves but they are masters in picking up red flags in people and can put this danger into perspective while comparing the different danger levels of their options of people and places to adjust their behavior.

Feast:

Stormy Weather 2:

So the broken connection between father and son we see in the portrait (that Gabriel doesn't even notice but Adrien fully internalized) isn’t there because Adrien “didnt needed” or wanted his father, its because Adrien NEEDED Gabriel so much in his isolated upbringing but Gabriel didn’t LET him need him - so Adrien had to adjust to that accordingly. Big, huge, ENORMOUS difference.

Honestly the most miraculous thing about Miraculous is that Adrien was able to bring up the strength to stay positive and friendly and to forgive Gabriel in hope for a better future. That boys situation is 7 kinds of depressing and traumatizing...

It's just flabbergasting to me how well this portrait shows how basically non-existent their relationship was at that point. And it's horrible to know that this estranged and unformed bond is all Adrien had left after Emilie dissappeared, just alot worse because after Emilie incident Adrien states that his father changed alot for the worse as well.

So to think that all Adrien had left wasn't even this former basically non-existent relationship with his aloof father - who would only barely show his true affection for his son because he's either not around enough to do so or he thinks it "unnecessary to proof his affection" for/to Adrien because he already thinks it so obvious and undoubtable.

Well he thought wrong. And GOSH, it breaks my heart!

So now comparing the "Gabriel" hand from Adrien with the one representing his connections with his mother conveys a pretty harsh contrast.

Because last but not least, let's take a look at Emilies hand placements:

But here is now an interesting difference to Adrien. Whereas we openly see that Adriens side of the Adrien-Gabriel relationship is completely disconnected from the heart/love - showcasing just how badly Adrien has always been neglected by his father - we don't see Emilies hand in her Emilie-Gabriel relationship AT ALL.

Once again just like with Adrien, this doesn't mean she didn't love her husband and that Gabriel was used and fooled by the woman he so utterly adored. It just means that from Emilies point of view things were a bit more complicated. What exactly this is, the portrait is keeping secret from us. We have no way of knowing if and how Emilie is returning her husbands gesture. All we can say is that if she does she is definitely not doing it in such an open and unconflicted way as she does with Adrien.

But since when has anything with this family been this easy?

One thing the portrait makes very clear, Adrien and Emilie had a strong and good bond. Definitely the healthiest because the Adrien-Emilie connection is the only one depicted without any kind of disruption from both sides. Both mother and son are reaching out for the other ones hand creating a whole half of the heart, showcasing their affection for another openly and without any of the implied doubts the other connections display. And honestly? Comparing all the hand placements, the one connecting Adrien and Emilie just comes across as strikingly pure and true (which makes it even worse that it was HER Adrien lost…)

As I said it's a HARSH contrast to the one Adrien shears with Gabriel. This contrast is highlighted even further by the way these three face on another.

Emilie and Adrien are positioned facing another and so are Emilie and Gabriel. Telling us that Emilie was "face-to-face" aka involved with both her husband and son. It is Adrien and Gabriel were this looks wildly different. These two have no way of seeing each other in the eyes the way they stand now/then, further displaying their deeply rooted disconnection. It's portrays perfectly how important Emilie was in this family dynamic, because even though Adrien and Gabriel bearly had a connection at all they at least had Emilie as a link between them, keeping the family together. But then they lost her and where this left both father and son off we know oh too well...

So to collect all the informations we get out if this portrait:

-Adriens and Emilies relationship was the strongest and purest. Both of their hands connect and reach out for another in the heart, showcasing that they had a loving and positive bond.

-Adriens and Gabriels relationship is heavily scarred by a deeply rooted disconnection leaving Adrien feeling unloved and unwanted by his father to the point where Adriens side of their dynamic is outside the heart altogether. Gabriel may love and adore his son just like he loves his wife and never thought he displayed his love for him in a lacking way, but fact is: this love never reached Adrien the way it should have and Adrien is the one in their dynamic who got severely hurt and damaged by it.

-Gabriel was the only one completely unconflicted and happily at peace with the former Family situation. He's reaching out to both his family members with open love and affection in blissful oblivion that neither his wife nor son could return them the same way (to different degrees for different reasons). Gabriel was the ONLY ONE in the Agreste family who didn't saw problems in their lives and thought them all happy, hence why he's so obsessed with changing the past and bringing THIS state of their family back. He was happy and he had everything he needed and loved right with him, of course he wants THIS back. He's not aware that Emilie and ESPECIALLY Adrien did not feel the same about their former situation and that bringing all of them back to this is not the perfect happy ending for their entire family as he thinks.

-Emilie may not have been as unconflicted with Gabriel as he was with her but she is NOT feeling the same disconnection her son feels and isn't depicted with negative feelings towards Gabriel. Her side in the Emilie-Gabriel relationship is neither shown outright positive as with her son or outright bad as Adrien with Gabriel. Her side of their bond is depicted through her unseen hand placement in the unknown area in between.

-Despite their not so unconflicted feelings towards Gabriel - and Gabriel himself being aloof - neither Emilie nor Adrien are actively trying to cut Gabriel out. They aren't flinching away from his touch or exclude him from the heart whatsoever. He's happily included, obviously feeling loved. They may not be 100% happy and Gabriel doesn't notice it, but they aren't denying him his happiness and make him unhappy. Again, he's the only one truly happy here. Something neither Emilie nor Adrien tried to take away from him.

-Emilie and Adrien are facing each other as do Emilie and Gabriel, implying the presence of communication and a bond. Adrien and Gabriel do not face each other, showing their disconnected bond. If they could see each others face Adrien would have been able to see that Gabriels hand is a gesture of genuine affection and Gabriel could see that Adriens expression does not exactly display pure happiness the way he thinks. This also goes for Emilie. Emilie just like her husband is placed BEHIND her son, so even if she is facing him she would not be able to really see just how much Adrien is not satisfied and truly happy with his life at that point (meaning how unhappy being looked up, friendless and at distance with his father actually makes him).

- This fascinating family makes me sad and I like it lol

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. im pretty sure the exact reason persephone now randomly has long hair in episodes and merch despite the short hair being her one unique trait for so long is because rachel knows even her fans can connect the dots persephone is supposed to be and look exactly like rachel's idealized version of herself and its not very subtle about it. lets play is obvs a self insert fantasy too but even mongie had the good sense to make sure sam didnt look like her.

2. do you think lo is ever going to cover herakles? bc i want to know how rachel will try and hashtag girlboss her way out of hera trying to kill his mom during childbirth, try to murder him as a baby, and then driving him mad so he murders his wife and children. like she already is trying (and failing) to girlboss persephone being a selfish mass murderer, why not hera too

3. I hate that the trial literally mentions NOTHING about the humans Persephone killed. I get that it's centered around clearing her name, but this whole thing barely even mentions them or what happened! It's just the gods airing out each other's dirty laundry. We get little to no input from the mortals side nor do we get anybody advocating for them. Did no one think maybe we should maybe get a relative of one of the mortals she murdered to testify? Get a nymph who lived in the area maybe? No? Why not!? This involves them doesn't it!?!?! I'm not saying that Persephone shouldn't get to share her side of the story, I'm just saying that that's all we've seen. We haven't heard about the damage she did.

4. ok first off the fact we didnt even know if persephone was over 18 when she stumbled nearly naked onto a drunk hades is already bad enough and points clearly why her being so borderline young is a bad idea, but if persephone was 19 when they met ?? how bad is her memory?? she only met him months before but completely forgot by the time of the first few episodes?? is she just playing dumb or is she just stupid? like these retcons only make everything more confusing??

5. i hate how hades and persephone's relationship is justified by lo fans because it's "legal". like legality is not morality, and hades is still a massive creep.....and demeter is right for trying to keep the two apart

6. did you make the post saying "hades and persephone isnt a love story, it's a story about a mother losing her daughter"? it stuck with me and it's something i wish LO fans would acknowledge

From OP: No, I tried to find it but I can’t remember who made it. I’ll reblog if I do find it or if someone else does.

7. the reason the male characters in lo arent as talked about is because theres nothing to them? like hades easily gets critiqued a lot bc wow he sucks, but apollo is nothing? zeus is nothing, poseidon, hermes, ares, hephaestus, thanatos, etc etc are just not characters. they just exist and are boring.

From OP: Exactly! If I could talk about the other male characters, I would but there honestly isn’t much to them.

8. tbh i just cant even buy these characters as gods? like how as goofy or more human as they can be in disney or percy jackson you can still sense theyre otherworldy and powerful, but these lo versions are just weird colored people who get away with murder and think its normal to enslave people and who randomly fly. i dont fear them or view them in awe, they just seem like another gossip girl knock off with simpson coloring.

9. im sorry but demeter is so justified in why she doesnt trust hades or olympus as a whole, but hades especially. shes known him far longer than persephone has and knows what a cruel, entitled prick he is and how hes treated other women, and yet because hades shows bare minimum of "respect" to her persephone thinks hes perfect and demeter doesnt know what shes talking about? take the names off and everyone would call persephone is an entitled brat, but demeter is supposed to be in the wrong here.

10. i feel like at the very least characters like zeus and apollo or w/e need some OP power over hxp and/or a large group of supporters (maybe theyre the muscle instead) bc like?? theyre so unliked and weak compared to hxp that its like what stakes are there? according to rachel persephone could just grow big and murder all of them because shes that OP and got too horny looking at hades' can opener nose and wouldnt get a scratch on her, so what tension is there? what conflict? theres nothing there.

[herbgerblin]

[ID: A series of Tweet threads:

@galacticjonah​: Okay so, not naming names bcs I like my 'job' but if someone asks you to do a full illustration for an issue of a NYT Bestseller GN and offers you a measly $100 and doesn't allow you to post the work for THREE years? Tell them to f*ck off. This is predatory!11:09 AM · Aug 31, 2020·

 @GalacticJonah: And let me be frank here. This behaviour targets exactly one demographic: young, talented fan-artists who look up to these creators and likely don't have published work yet. This preys on their love for the IP and eagerness to hold a print product with your work.

@GalacticJonah: Let's look at the specs: $100 for a full illustration. Let's say you're fast and take 12h for it. That's a little over $8/h. That is atrocious. Not allowed to post image for 3 years = You cannot use it in your portfolio to get more work OR post it online for exposure!!!

@GalacticJonah: In case this wasn't clear, I am furious. If you are ever unsure about a deal, my DMs are open to you. I may not have a ton of experience myself but what little I have I will share. I'm always down to help my peers. 

@themiserabledog: Out of curiosity, if you did know about the amount you’d be paid and the terms for posting the artwork, why did you say yes? I get being a fan of a project but in the end $100 isnt going to pay many bills and theres no benefits to you as the artist so why agree to it?

@GalacticJonah: First of all I was very poor at the time so $100 wasn't entirely nothing. Second,you highly underestimate the drug that is being 'officially part of a big thing' as a fan. Which this 100% was. Combine that with being inexperienced + first publishing opportunity Perfect storm.

@IoanaMuresanArt: I’m spilling the beans The ADVENTURE ZONE, THE FREAKING MC ELROY BROTHERS, can't be bothered to pay more than 100 dollars for an illustration of their IP, A NYC best seller, i can't stress this enough, how upsetting this is when it comes to fair pay for art

@CCyranoj2265: (1) The publisher doesn't consult with the author about all aspects of and contracts pertaining to a book. The author has control over the writing, in partnership with the editor. It's the publisher who controls things like design, promotion, distribution. 

@CCyranoj2265: (2) And no, you can't just call up the publisher and demand control over everything. Doesn't matter if you're the McElroy Brothers or Margaret Atwood. The publishing house employs people for certain specific things. They're not going to turn those jobs over to the author. 

@CCyranoj2265: (3) If the McElroy Brothers learn about this and are horrified about it, they presumably have an option to go the self-publishing route instead, or threaten to do so. (You can't really replace the marketing and distribution connections of a publishing house, but still.)

@CCyranoj2265 (4): That's about the only leverage they really have, though. That and complaining to their publicist (who isn't likely the person making the calls about paying artists). It's the publisher who is the direct villain here, and needs to be assailed if anyone's going to be. end ID]

Link to original threads here: link link link

This isn’t to attack the McElroys or to put down the artists who made work for the previous graphic novels. But $100 is not a livable wage to be paid for a full commercial spread on a widely publicized series. It is insidious as hell and First Second should be treating artists with greater respect especially right fucking now and they need to be confronted on it

[irkenheretic]

do u have any favorite iz writers or fanfics ?

i do!!

first fav is @reptile-ruler , their febuwhump stuff is amazing and mishaps is REALLY good, tbh mishaps has a lot of tropes i usually dont like but reptile-ruler does them so well that the stuff i dont like about those tropes isnt really.... there

(for instance i hate zim assimilating into human culture because he just kinda ignores everything about him being irken and the authors tend to treat irk as some kind of Monolithic Badplace... but in mishaps while zim has assimilated he still feels a struggle and still has irken values... the ending of the unwanted visitors (which i wont spoil) is the culmination of that and its amazing)

also the drifters au fucks hard and its one of my fav aus

very close second is @depressed-zimothy! training days is, and i am not exaggerating, exactly what ive always wanted in a fanfic. the red and zim stuff is fucking stellar and there are so many nuances about the characters if u examine the text a little more... i should leave comments on it tbh

also catalyst is amazing and u can see my two essay comments explaining why right there on the fic so i wont repeat myself here (but read the fic first obvi)

firewall is part of @reynaruina‘s ponytail dib AU and it is honestly fucking stellar. i recommend this thing to everyone i know and in my opinion it is THE computer fic. genuinely everyone should read this, even if you dont want to read the rest of the au or even zadr at all. please computer is so good in it. 

in the beginning note there’s a paragraph explaining the basics of the au so you can read with no prior knowledge of PT dib but ill do you one better: the immediate context for firewall is that there was a blackout at zim’s house, and zim and dib were finally starting to get it on with each other during it. computer fixed the lights and turned them back on, and dib saw his reflection in the (off) TV. he gets upset seeing himself and leaves, so zim is angry at computer. and that’s right where firewall starts

please read firewall. im on my knees begging. computer in firewall is fucking sublime and the perfect blend of irritated and dad. literally no other computer portrayal compares. firewall was, is, and always will be The Standard.

read it.

ersatz is another amazing one, the zim angst is sublime and hes never like, a fuckin uwu sadbaby. but you still feel so, so sorry for him and what he’s going through. the author really knows how to pack a punch without exhausting the reader and as someone who specializes in angst i can respect that. (fun facts: i love this fic so much that mirforn, an irken painkiller featured in it, is in ANX as A Loving Reference that i will absolutely credit and also shill for ersatz in the author’s notes)

300 days of zim is really good if you like self-inserts! it’s gender-neutral and in second-person so its really immersive, and zim is just so good in it, he retains all his zimmy goodness but there’s a certain softness (in a way) that makes you fall in love with him

speaking of self inserts, @majentaffy‘s tallest magenta series is a fucking stellar series! red and purple are amazing and its honestly one of the most in-character portrayals of them ive ever seen! though i like both of them, im personally more a fan of the invader red series (also a self-insert series) where red takes zim’s place on earth, basically. both series are gender-neutral and in second-person just like 300 days up there

hit me is a rapr classic. thats really all i have to say about it, most of my tallest-loving friends have read it at some point. i reread it on occasion; its an elite-era fic, and a slight au in this is where they meet. its lovely

begin is a human au i personally really like because it has a lot of hyperspecific headcanons of mine in it but it could be a personal taste thing. try it out tho!

there was also this other human au where purple was a drifter and red worked at a diner and sizz-lorr was his boss. it legit felt like an original short story and this made me go out and fucking find it again. its called hand in unlovable hand give it a try

i read canvas years ago and the ending still sticks to me today. it’s a oneshot songfic where the gist is that red’s hooked on drugs. it sounds like its gonna be bad and melodramatic but i actually really like it, it surprises you. it surprised me, too. it’s first person but it really does sound like red is talking. i’m extremely picky with first person (i never read it outside of this) but canvas does it right. please, please i implore you, give canvas a chance. you won’t regret it, i promise

why didn’t we just shoot him? is an amazing exploration on the tallests’ defectiveness and that’s all im going to say on that

all 4 works by this author are part of the same series, but they’re not in a series tag. i just call the series mudroom, after the first one i read. it’s an acquired taste and PLEASE heed the warnings, but i like it so its here

and last but certainly not least, when the time comes is unique in that when the plot changes i dont groan and go “aww, but i like the old stuff!” it goes to a lot of places but personally it feels like each event is a natural consequence of the previous one. dib’s a bit of a dick in it lmfao and zim so far is going thru a trauma conga line but i respect that it doesnt pretend to be anything its not. its a porn-with-plot with angst and sometimes thats just what you fucken need sometimes

[jesters-gambit]

i made this account just for this- anyways @howaboutalittlehelpneos heres my 1k word yuya n yuri final duel analysis!

okay, so while they’re very different characters with different personalities, yuri and yuya are actually very similar, in that they share the same core desire: to be loved. however, due to each of their upbringings, this ends up manifesting and developing in different ways.

yuya learns from his dad that love and attention come from making people smile and be happy. yusho is his own bundle of issues, but he teaches yuya that to be loved you have to make others happy and want to love you. everyone loves him, so yuya assumes that if he’s the same, everyone will love him too. thats his issue throughout the series, he has no idea how to exist outside his father.

yuri on the other hand, learns that hes unlovable. he doesnt know HOW to make people love him. leo akaba never ‘loved’ yuri, he just used him, but his attention was the closest he got, so he followed him. the farther he spirals into his sadism, the more he becomes convinced hes unlovable, to the point where he decides, if he cant be loved, he’ll just kill everyone else so its only him. then he’ll be the strongest. because at academia, only the strongest are ‘loved’.

first, id like to say while yuya and yuris duel had a LOT of homoerotic tension, i doubt yuri was actually romantically attracted to yuya, more,,, jealous and confused i think? the same way he feels towards asuka just,,,,,, more, like, much more (doesnt help that hes fruity as shit istg). yuri and yuyas battle was them sort of… abandoning their previous ideals of how to be ‘loved’.

okay, rewind.

lets talk about zarc.

zarc is the EPITOME of the yu-boys desire to be loved in general. he becomes what he becomes because he wants nothing other than to be loved by the audience and the people. he then decides the love of his dragons is more important, and changes for THEIR love instead.

and how do the yu-boys treat zarc?

yuya is, of course, how zarc was at the beginning: naive and only wanting to entertain. he doesnt like who zarc becomes, and resists him, because he still believes in his own version of love. yuri, on the other hand, no longer believes he is lovable (please note that at this point he associates love with strength rather than happiness like yuya), so, when zarc gives him a way to be stronger, of course, he takes it.

however, there is… one thing ive always thought was odd about that.

if they become one… zarc has the power, not yuri. yuri probably knows this, as hes seen berserk yuya and can tell its not quite him. so, then, what was he after? back to the theme of it all, the answer is, of course, love. well, uh, kind of. zarc is giving yuri the chance to be loved, to be understood. its… twisted as shit, but to yuri, ‘being one’ is a chance to finally be loved and have friends. “be loved” and “have friends” are very solidly in quotation marks, because being forced to share a body with someone and become a literal dragon demon thing is probably not actual friendship or love, but, like i said before, yuris got a twisted idea of what that actually is. ‘becoming one’, to yuri, is the best way to get the two (one) things he wants most: love and power.

okay, now flash forward a bit. yuya and yusho are at academia, they now know yuya is part of zarc. i dont know exactly what it is, but something about yushos reaction always… irked me. (this part isnt fact, more vibes and feelings i got from the time, but the way a show makes you feel is as important as its text if you ask me) just, the way he seemed like he would abandon yuya (again) almost immediately is well,,,, uncomfortable to say the least. but yuya is still TRYING, he still loves his dad and wants him back and wants him to love him again.

and then he sees his dad lose, and he realizes maybe he… isnt infallible. and if his dad can lose, maybe… his ideals aren’t perfect.

yuyas duel with yuri, i think, is the first duel he really duels to win. despite how the anime tries to frame it, its clear all yuya wants is vengeance. the reason yuya is able to stay happy and motivated throughout arc-v, no matter how much weight is on his shoulders and everything that’s happening, is because he believed in his father, but, when that belief is broken, he’s just a kid. a tired, sad, angry kid with the weight of the fucking world on his shoulders. he duels yuri, the opposite of his ideals, in one last vain hope of proving his father is still right, but i think, deep down, he knew that maybe it was over. and when he wins, he finally wins, hes tired and afraid and just a kid and i think that maybe for a second, just a quick second, he wonders if ‘becoming one’ is what he might want. he doesnt have the energy or naive belief to hold zarc off anymore, and thats when he loses and zarc wins.

lets get back to my point of the duel really being them ‘abandoning’ their ideals of love against each other. yuri GAINS an idealized version of love through the idea of becoming one, and yuya LOSES an idealized version of love after he loses his dad. and even though yuri lost, i think he affected yuya enough that his ideals sunk in a bit, just enough for zarc to slip in through the cracks.

neither version of love for them was very… healthy. not the ones during their duel or their normal ones, but i just found the fact that they dueled for the same thing in the end was… kind of interesting. i dunno if this has a point or even makes that much sense, but ive been thinking about it a lot. that duel was a clash of ideals between two boys who have pretty unhealthy ideas of love and desperately need therapy, and in hindsight, its kind of sad? many thoughts head full

[mojwisungie]

imgn | Restart (enemy to lover! jisung)

req (from: anon) ➥ :  hi, i really like your writings and! if its ok, can i request a jisung x reader enemies to lovers headcannon? jisung is always teasing and trying to beat the reader at everything and one day he was teasing her and she had enough of it that shouted at him and cried infront of alot of students, and this shocks everybody since the reader is always calm and soft spoken:( the ending can be up to you!💚

☄︎ with: park jisung ☄︎ lou.note: omg. i did not intend to write so much for this like idk i got carried away and i think its too long 😶 added the bonus part for context lol enjoy !!

your life is pretty sweet

honestly, you dont think of changing any aspect of it

youre good in school too

you have decent grades, great friends

but there is one thing that bothers you often

actually, one person

and its park jisung

and its not that you arent nice or something, bc everyone practically treats you as a friend actually 

and you dont hate him, bc thats such a strong word

but you dont exactly like him either

he pushes all your buttons

and usually you’d laugh it off

youre used to joking around with people and youre not that sensitive

but jisung... man does that boy have the  a u d a c i t y

you havent talked to him even once before he teased you for having a lower grade than him

so when he did that, you only smiled since it really wasnt that much of an insult to you

but then it got more frequent 

he would often poke at you for doing the most basic things

you get a score a point lower than his again? you’ll hear his snarky remark about it the second he knows about it

you got elected as an officer in the class? of course he’ll say youre such a darling

you dropped a pen? there will be a quiet under-the-breath “clumsy” as soon as you pick it up

he also has this weird habit of scoffing whenever you outdo him

bc he scoffed when you perfected that presentation in dance class AND when you also got a higher grade than him on another

all these mockery is always rewarded by only an eye roll for you

since causing a scene isnt like you so you often

and somehow in some way, you hope he’ll back off

but one particular day, you were really having not such a good time

you were almost late bc you almost forgot your due project

which caused you to walk back to your house and also caused you to miss the bus so you had to walk

the moment you enter the class, jisung’s eyes is already on you

you actually prayed for him to shut it bc you’d usually hear something from him the moment you step in the class

you thought you were safe

but when you sat on your seat, he said, “you look worse today y/n, and thats not nice bc you look awful everyday, dont you thi-”

you startle him as you loudly tell him to shut up

followed with “i dont know what ive done for you to make fun of me everyday, cant you just leave me alone?!”

you didnt know you were crying until one tear fell on your cheek

some of your friends tried to help calm you down immediately and ask if you were okay, while some tried to confront jisung if he has any problem with you

he couldnt answer them he’s so shocked to see you cry

before he could apologize, your teacher enters the class prompting you to wipe the tears away and tell your friends that youre fine

from the way that you look, everyone knows you arent but lets you be as the class starts

the day goes by surprisingly well for you after that

what you didnt know was everyone was trying to not let jisung get close to you bc he might make you cry again

but jisung feels so guilty :( he wants to say sorry before this day ends

or else it might be too late for him to tell you the truth

so at dismissal, he waits for you by the gates bc he knows you stay in the library for a few before going home

on your way out, he tries to stop you and says

“hi y/n, uhm, i-im sorry for today, i didnt know you were going to cry.. actually i didnt know i was going too far with the teasi-”

you cut him off saying “oh uhm, its fine. dont worry about it. i know you dont like me so-”

“what? no, its not that i dont like you! i actually- uh- i mean-”

you dont really know whats he’s pointing so you wait for him to find the right words to tell you

a few more seconds pass and he goes

“i dont dont like you... i actually like you. its just someone told me that maybe if i tease you, we’d grow close and it was partially true because you'd only notice me when i do so.”

he continues with “i know it’s too much for me to ask since ive hurt you, and im really sorry for doing that but i hope you could give me a chance. i hope we could...restart?”

seeing the incomprehensible look (for jisung) on your face, he stutters with saying how its totally fine if you dont want to and he’d be okay to distance himself from you

but you answer him with

“sure. i’d love to restart with you.”

and from then on, it would only be love from him to you

bonus:

you know who actually told jisung to tease his crush?

chenle. he’s his bestfriend who told him to do it so he’ll have a chance with you

the moment he heads home, he doesnt go to his house, he goes marching to chenle’s

he greets his friend with a punch on the arm

chenle shouts in pain and asks “what the hell is that for?!”

so jisung answers him “your dumb plan made them cry! and i had to say sorry and tell them how i really feel about them all in one day”

and chenle bites back with “you mean my smart idea made you confess and have a chance with her? youre welcome”

they talk about what happened for a while until jisung asks him if knows what good gift he should give you

so expect to receive a cute (and kinda expensive) necklace the next day lol

also expect for more adorable gifts and heart-melting moments as you and jisung get together for the years that’ll come

[bridgyrose]

Alright fandom, it seems like a few people need to learn critical thinking from the last couple of episodes of RWBY. There will be spoilers from episode 4, so if you havent seen that one yet, feel free to ignore this post.

But, to get things started, we have a couple of concerns to address concerning May and Weiss. 

May was in no way being transphobic or annoyed with Penny while they were moving through the military compound. May gave Penny a nickname which she only used once and quit using after Penny corrected her. We have to keep in mind a few things as well since the characters do not have infinite knowledge of everything going on. May is basically watching a bunch of kids (yes, they’re 17-19 years old, but that’s still pretty much a kid to May), running off very little sleep, is worried about her own team, isn't sure what happened to Robyn, and is concerned about the storm up in the sky with who knows how many grimm are swimming around in it. To say she is stressed out would be an understatement. She’s going to make mistakes. She’s going to sound annoyed. This is what being human is about. 

Additionally, I think we also need to talk about Weiss since a few people are very much concerned that she’s treating Whitely the way she did. As someone who is very much in a similar position as Weiss family wise (not seeing eye to eye with siblings and not on great terms with parents) I understand exactly why she’d tell Whitley to go to his room and threaten at sword point to be let in and not wanting to deal with anything else. There is a time and a place for everything and right now, the time isnt right for a talk between Schneeblings just yet. But we also need to take into consideration that 1) she may not know how much Jacques hurt Whitley, 2) the last thing she wants to deal with is her family considering everything else going on in Atlas, and 3) Whitley is not her responsibility!  Yes, the two are siblings. Yes, at some point, the two need to talk about things, but overall, they are acting just like siblings who are at odds with each other due to how their family is. Winter did help Weiss get away from Jacques, but putting the blame on Weiss for everything that’s going on with Whitley isn't right. The two will need to figure out what’s going on between them and eventually Weiss will need to set things right with Whitley for leaving him alone with Jacques and Whitley, but what a lot of people dont understand is that sometimes you have to save yourself in order to save others. And especially with abusive households, sticking around until you can get everyone out that needs to get out isn’t always going to be an option. 

Overall, we need to stop putting blame on Weiss and we need to stop treating both of these characters like horrible people just because of simple mistakes they made because they are human. No one in RWBY is perfect, which honestly, means that the writing is great that we can get characters with real, human flaws. 

[vipertext]

girls gays and theys.

i welcome you to my shadow weaver twins au.

now you’re thinking - so sw and ls are going to be different people? no. they’re the same. but she has a twin SHE HAS AN IDENTICAL TWIN this is super self indulgent because I love this dynamic it reminds me of suyin & lin beifong from legend of korra and EVERYONE KNOWS that all kyalin shippers from lok migrated to she ra and started shipping castaweaver (that’s what I did anyway sheesh)

:)

right, so. light and daisy. yes this is based of the fact i have a hc where shadow weaver’s given name was actually daisy.

light is the shadow weaver we know and love, and daisy is her twin sister.

they grew up with only a mom and we are not even going to get into their home life oh my god guys the mommy issues really jumped out ANYWAYS light decided she wanted to pursue a future in magic so she studied & went to mystacor, while daisy stayed at home with their mom. no magic, no obtainment shenanigans. just living peacefully.

daisy is completely disconnected from society by the way, she knows of the war but that isn’t her problem, her problem is the fact that it’s getting harder to grow food for herself because the horde keeps polluting the land ugh. she’s mainly a true neutral in the fight, but she wouldn’t mind if the horde stopped ah, you know, ruining the entire ecosystem.

flash forward to season 3 episode 1, or what i like to call it, milf central, everything goes according to the original script.

angella & casta try to interrogate shadow weaver (with little success) and casta reveals that there was someone interested in seeing shadow weaver.

her capture was not public information. like no one knew but high ranking officials from bright moon and casta (not sure about officials from mystacor) so they’re confused on who the frick it is, and more importantly, how they found out they have shadow weaver in their custody and managed to send them a whole message saying that they’re coming to see her.

casta and angella are trying to ask shadow weaver who it is, but as you guys may remember, that bitch was DYING (BAHAHAHAHAHA I SHOULD NOT BE LAUGHING THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE SERIOUS i take nothing seriously) so her thinking is mixed and confused and she just wants to go get drunk and call it a night but nooooo she has to be in the frickin. Bright Moon Spare Room. So coveted.

and they’re trying to shake an answer out of her because the message didn’t seem like it was from the horde but it could still be from a dangerous party and

BOOM

daisy bursts through the overly elegant doors to the “prison” and squeals when she sees the three of them.

castaspella is the first to recognize her - not because they knew eachother personally (they didn’t) but because daisy just so happened to sound almost exactly like shadow weaver, just higher pitched. her face is identical to the one she saw growing up in mystacor, and she’s just at a freaking loss for words as daisy walks through the barrier and tears the mask off of shadow weaver’s face.

angella is just watching like. (0 . 0) because the only recollection of shadow weaver’s face is from stories micah used to tell her, it took her a little longer to get it.

daisy is freaking out, the first time she’d seen her sister in so long . she completely ignores the scars on her face and litters her with kisses.

“no way.”

castaspella is just watching in awe. she never knew shadow weaver had any relatives - that were alive, anyway - so seeing almost a perfect copy of the woman is FREAKING HER OUT !! i would be freaking out too don’t worry .

and daisy starts asking how mystacor had been treating her because she had no idea of what happened in s2 ep6 (light spinner) and no one is stopping her because angella and casta are doing the thing where they point at the both of them with their jaws unhinged and dropping to the floor because they are in such shock.

“i missed you light”

“this isnt the time.”

after the whole shock factor wears off, castaspella kindly (not so kindly) removes daisy from the spell circle and drags her to another room with angella in tow. shadow weaver is just sitting there like :/

“are you two friends with light? my sister may be rough, sorry about that, but i assure you she has a heart of gold!”

they pull up the merged information file between bright moon & mystacor, detailing every single thing they knew about shadow weaver/light spinner including everything on the spell of obtainment. they show her the file and for some reason daisy is reading it as if it’s some sort of fictional story - like a comic book.

she’s never been involved with the war - she has no side in it - she would support her sister whether she was with the rebellion or the horde, because she valued family over beliefs.

she never bothered to “learn all that magic crap” so she’s just. a blank slate. that just so happens to have the same face as their biggest liability.

you all must know that im a sucker for long lost siblings, and i am literally on the verge of writing out the ROUGHEST draft for a story where shadow weaver genuinely doesn’t want catra to believe she defected to the rebellion, so she SENDS HER SISTER OUT to try and impersonate her as she works with bright moon to try and end the war.

yeah i don’t think daisy would do a very good job of impersonating her. if I actually get to writing it then... we’ll see. until then I will daydream about getting kissed by shadow weaver as we good people do

[1994sunflower]

I know that you’ve talked about what happened when Michael met y/n’s parents for the first time I was curious what happened when y/n met Michael’s parents?

I mean honestly, with them, meeting parents isnt ever going to be a smooth ride lol

so hty!Michael isn’t really close with his family

like at all

so you really were the one that kept pestering him about introducing you to his parents

because while you knew they had problems, you wanted to meet the people that gave birth to the most important person in your life

wanted them to know how special he was, at least to you

and michael was pretty hesitant about it

straight up saying no a lot of the times you brought it up

just because he didn’t think they deserved to meet you

wanted to keep the person he loved the most away from them and whatever they could tell you about him and what he used to be like before you met

but you kept asking

because it was important to you

he had met your parents

and you thought that in order to take that one last step to having a more serious relationship, you had to meet his

so he finally relented

which didnt seem like a big deal

but the fact was that he had to contact his parents for the first time in a long time to set up a time and place

and he wasn’t exactly ecstatic about it

tbh part of him was surprised they even agreed

you on the otherhand were over the moon, wanting to make a good impression so you tittered nervously about it in the weeks leading up to meeting them

you fussed over what to wear, how you should act, imagined what they were like

i mean you didn’t exactly have a great perception of them since michael never talked to them and part of you did wonder just how they treated him to make him be so….emotionally closed off

but still you wanted them to like you because you were in michael’s life and didn’t have any plans on leaving

so it would hurt if they thought that you weren’t a good fit or see you as too different to be someone michael should be with like everyone else thought

michael on the other hand thought that if anything, they should be the ones groveling to make a good impression on you

tbh they should feel honored you wanted to and were giving them the time of day

and he told you as much

but that didnt stop you from wearing your prettiest dress and asking him questions about how you should talk, how you should address them, if you should bring a present or something

he on the other hand didnt dress up special at all and nearly laughed at your nerves

“i barely even call them mom and dad, call them whatever the fuck you want. i won’t be offended."

but he softened his tone when you scowled at him

it was just so wholesome that you thought his family deserved your kindness and your optimism at a nice family reunion which would not happen

he told you that his parents would love you

and he was fairly certain they would

if anything, they’d be wondering how the hell he managed to snatch you

not that he could blame them

and he was right, of course

when you finally met his parents, the grin on your face and little peppy way you stood on your tippy toes when you shook their hands because you were so excited and they were taller than you

made them look so caught off guard michael almost laughed

whatever they had been expecting, it had not been the sweet petite girl in front of them in the baby blue dress

but it wasnt a joke, even as they continued to wonder when they shook your hand hesitantly and looked between each other

because right after you had introduced yourself and told them how amazing it was to meet them and how much you had been wanting to meet mikey’s parents like the polite girl you were raised to be

their son took you in his arms, your back hitting his chest, his tattoos almost seeming like graffitied wall protecting you from them

and you melted into him like you belonged there, in his arms

plus they werent sure when the last time their son looked anything but angry and resentful in their presence

but now he looked tense still but with a certain level of calmness they didn’t think he was capable of

their silence maybe worried you a bit, thinking it was due to you, maybe you were being too much, maybe they were offended by you calling them mr. and mrs. clifford

you hadnt meant to make them feel old or anything

but michael’s mother was the first to break out of her shock

and her smile was weak, almost like she was used to walking around eggshells, but her words were welcoming

michael’s father was a bit more aloof but you assumed that was where michael got his personality from

you were just glad they were so open and kind with you

asking you questions about yourself, about you and michael

they warmed up to you quick and obviously liked talking to you

and you were so grateful that they liked you right from the get go with you just being yourself - even though they were different from you, just like michael was  

definitely paying attention at each affectionate, intimate gesture between you

that michael allowed

gestures like that with their son ended a long time ago and they couldnt believe how different he seemed from the last time they saw him

not that different though because he was still as unmannerly as possible which seemed to be highlighted when next to you who were trying extra hard to be as polite and well mannered as possible

it came to a rear when you started mentioning about michael when he was younger

honestly just wanting cute baby stories or what he was like in high school because you always wondered how different life would be if you had met years before

but that just caused some snarky remarks from michael’s father

which made it very obvious where the strain between michael and his parents laid

indifference and lack of belief in him, almost lack of care and his resentment and determination to show all their bad assumptions about him true

it lead to a very tense conversation between michael and his father just short of screaming with his mother doing nothing to come to his defense

so you did

and it took a lot of guts

especially because you wanted them to like you so much yet here you were standing against them, denying and defending michael with your last breath, basically serving as a shield between you and michael

even with how small and fragile you looked

and the silence that followed was deafening

michael because he was so in love and grateful and his parents because they really were surprised at what they were hearing and this new side of their son

but part of what made you radiate so much goodness was your ability to make others feel that

so eventually things de-escalated

michael was still as snappy as always and didnt really talk to his parents except to grumble and glare but you served as a buffer

so it didnt end in complete disaster

and his parents did end up liking you, told michael that at the end of the day

not that michael cared if they liked you or not

their opinion wouldnt have changed anything

the only reason he even let them meet you was because you wanted it

otherwise, michael would never have let his perfect girlfriend waste her time with them

plus of course they would like you, how could someone not especially when they were never expecting him to have someone  they saw to be out of his league

you were a keeper

even told you that you could call them mom and dad

please michael would actually recoil and tell you not to because they did not deserve that

to which you glared at him to be nice because you thought it was a sweet gesture and made you think of eventually getting married to him which obviously made you very happy

and you were still glad you had met them, despite everything

because you got to show them how important and special michael was

they definitely saw that in the way you loved him