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hopeymchope · 11 months

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re: toxic fanbases. I'm not good at telling what fanbases are toxic. I'm both a doormat ("that rando who started yelling at me all of a sudden probably has a good reason and I'm dumb for not seeing it 👍") and a weirdo who tends to stay within very small circles. With Danganronpa, I feel like there's *something* that makes it a little jarring compared to other communities, although it's by far not the worst community I've personally interacted with.

Its popularity definitely plays a massive role; it's actually impressive to see how active Danganronpa circles remain after all this time, but the downside is that there's a lot of brainrot, distant memories, and most importantly people who've been involved with it for WAY too long. I myself have definitely grown horribly bored of having the same tired debates be brought up time and time again - I can imagine people with a different personality from mine getting very upset over that.

Though I don't feel a connection to that aspect at this time, the prevalent young fanbase also comes with its qualities and flaws.

I could go on, because this community is so large and so old that it's genuinely, like I already mentioned, jarring at times. I'll turn my back from being told DRAE is irredeemable media because it uses dark humour to see someone draw a Komaru with giant tits requesting coitus. There are times when interacting with Danganronpa fans has made me wish I'd just never known about Danganronpa at all, so all things considered, even if I can't put words on it, there's a strong negative aspect to it.

At the same time, I don't know how it being Danganronpa specifically relates to some negative experiences I had - was some of the abuse I endured as a Wiki admin related to the way the DR fandom is? Or did it have to do with Wikis more than it did with DR, with French users more than it did DR? Maybe the problem is that this series has given so many of us such intense brainrot and we can't stop getting involved with it.

Sorry if this long ask is annoying in any way - I figured you might be interested in exploring the conversation around how the DR fandom might come across as toxic, objectively or subjectively OTL

One thing I remember for sure is that when I posted Akudama Drive LGBTQ headcanons, I felt perfectly fine and happy about it - but when I decided to post my Danganronpa headcanons too, I had a strong feeling that I was taking a risk, however small. That's not a very nice feeling to get as an adult who's just trying to be a little happy and silly with PNGs.

Oh, I don't mind a long ask at all! I'm grateful for the detailed thought you put into this, honestly. :) I'm a pretty wordy person myself — you may have noticed.

I think a lot of what you're describing as negatives within the DR community are unfortunate constants with fandoms of ANY popular media these days. Not ALL of it, but....

Every piece of media is gonna be declared irredeemable/offensive/problematic by some parties now if it delves into any kind of darkness or deals with any kind of major crimes, it seems like I've seen more than one person online state — with a straight face, mind you — stuff like "Danganronpa is toxic AF, many of those characters are LITERALLY murderers" and I'm just over here thinking are you fucking serious? I don't remember seeing people say stuff like this in my fandom circles before 2019 or so, but I see it everywhere now. It seems to have grown more prevalent since the 2020s hit? There are people who just can't stand to deal with any moral grayness, any dark theming, etc — and they don't think anyone else should allowed to enjoy that stuff either. (Now I'm wondering whether there are people similarly dismissing Akudama Drive. Much smaller fandom, so maybe you don't see that. But I can imagine someone grumbling "These characters are LITERALLY criminals, wtf." LOL)

We all know Internet Rule 34, but I feel like there are certain built-in multipliers to it that increase how widespread it is. Animated media? That's a multiplier that will cause even MORE porn to exist. Japanese media? That's another multiplier. Which means there's tons of porn of DR characters — even for the teen characters that're underage in most countries like Komaru. At least I've never stumbled across porn of the small children like the Warriors of Hope, THANK FUCKING GOD. I sadly don't doubt that it exists, but I hope to god it remains in a dark corner, out of my goddamn sight.

And I definitely feel much, MUCH more afraid to say anything about LGBTQ headcanons for popular media than I do for relatively small fandoms. Maybe that's partly symptomatic of being American in an era where tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQ people is sliding horiffically backwards? At least I think I'm safter to share such things on Tumblr than I would be on Reddit. I'd be afraid to talk about my personal DR LGBTQ headcanons, too. I've even drafted a post about that once and then been like "You know what? No. I'm not opening myself up to abuse for this," leading me to delete it. I've done similarly for the Madoka Magica fandom as well... too active, too big = too likely to result in blowback. I believe Akudama Drive is a pretty small fandom, though, so it makes sense to me why that'd feel like a more comfortable place to talk LGBTQ concepts.

But with all of that said, I can't claim that the infighting over interpretations of characters and events that I see on the DR Wiki is something that every fandom deals with. Maybe some of them do; honestly, Fandom Wikis weren't really so huge a thing before I got deep into DR in the back half of the 2010s, and I haven't really gotten involved with any of the Fandom Wikis I've come across afterwards either. So I don't know for sure! But it seems like that could be uniquely unpleasant about the DR fandom — the way people define "canon" as a matter of personal interpretation.

Since I'm stuck on the English side of the DR Wiki, I'm not certain whether you deal with the same stuff in the French incarnation. Characters like Komaeda and Ouma are especially difficult to police — they have so many fans who think they are pure of heart, and so many fans who find them loathesomely manipulate, and you can't necessarily be certain what about them is true or false. Put all that together, and it's hard to keep things to "Just The Facts" when people fundamentally disagree on what the facts ARE, which can lead to a lot of infighting among the people editing the thing! God... even deciphering the truth about what's going on in V3 and determining how we should or shouldn't explain that haziness is an awfully sticky wicket all by itself.

#asks #fandom #fandoms #danganronpa fandom #fandom wikis #fandom wiki #toxic #toxic fandoms #danganronpa

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lily-orchard-gossip-blog · 2 years

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Can I share a story somewhat simillar to Lilly's abuse record and Mikayla situation? It's not LO related and abuse hints are more explicit, but it keeps bugging me with disturbing parallels at nights.

I won't provide links, names, etc. 'cause I have reasons to keep them anon.

So, there are two queer ppl living in homophobic state, not much is known about them. Mx R, a skilled artist who draws ordinary stuff. And Mx L, R's manager and lover. There are debates among fans whether this pair is fake or real. One thing is undeniable - they made a spectacular perfomance out of their relationship which draws way more attention then just drawings (and it worries them to the point they regularly ask audience for money they believe should earn through art). How R&L present their pair seems loving and open-minded, both practice poliamory and teach fans how important it is to discuss their feelings and preferences. A little paradice in the middle of homphobic hell - it seemed.

First bellring for me was L's humilating and strait up devaluating public(!) comments about R, which R would defend as "family inside jokes" and L would always rage out on fans who dare to say "why are u so rude toward ur loved one?" - only to then complain why fans won't interact much with R&L content. Later a thought stroke me that poliamory was more an L's thing while R is more focused on art work. I mean, when they were close to break up, R made an entire comic as an apology! It felt like R had no one to turn to if they were really to part ways. And yes, there was a honeymoon 'til another "you're worthless without me" comment came from L. One more disturbing thing is that L uses their mental problems as an excuse to both their behaviour ( a.k.a. "I'm afraid R would turn away from me like others before, but R should improve on communication, not me") and their rage towards fans (a.k.a. "don't you dare poke an ill person that I am!").

It's such a shame R got stuck with L - I really like their artwork, but their relationship as a brand blends into drawings to the point I can't enjoy them knowing how L behaves and that R defends them. I really hope L doesn't controll R's finances (there was a hint, yikes) and I shamefully admit I want them to break up despite whatever problems L had in their life. It's not an excuse to be so shitty, it never is.

Even that it's happening in homophobic state isn't an excuse not to break up! (L won't shut up how they fears die alone if R leaves and that both will get in trouble looking for another partner. Excuse me, how da f*ck u found poliamoric partners then!?) I'm not queer myself, but even I'm aware how to find a close queer society to try and meet someone else. Gosh.

P.S. Speaking of Mikayla and her rushed art for Mummy video - I believe a couple more vids like this and she'll start suspecting same thing that Lilly's former partners came up with. It's the hard way, but effecient. Unfortunately, I'm not expecting same progress in R&L relationship for reasons -_-

Part of me can't help but wonder if the online world makes it harder for some victims to leave, especially the public ones.

You spend time building a "brand" together. The abuser leverages your public image to their "fans", making you the "good" one, or the one™. Everyone is just going on about how perfect you guys are, adding another level of pressure to stay together.

And then you see people saying that the relationship is toxic, and that the partner seems to be abusive, and I feel like that can cause victims to want to double down. They don't want to prove the "haters" right. Everything is fine.

Sometimes I worry that Mikaila will refuse to leave just to spite a bunch of random internet users, and discussions like this just add fuel to the fire.

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scribbleanddoodle · 2 years

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a/n: it'd probably suck getting your period in the zombie apocalypse, so I made it happen to one of my characters. just a brief drabble just to write something!

When Tee pulled down her pants, blood was dotting her underwear. She slumped and sighed, head tilting up in resignation as her eyes fluttered shut. It made sense; her irritability, the bloating, the stomach cramps, and not to mention, the almost unignorable craving for a greasy cheeseburger. Her period was always on time, and it was frankly ridiculous how it continued to surprise her, but she supposed she had other things to think about. There were zombies outside, after all, but that, honestly, should have made her more careful. They loved the smell of blood, and every month, without fail, her vagina bled. It wasn't like she had regular access to birth control anymore, but on the bright side, a regular period meant she was still healthy, right?

She tugged her backpack closer and rooted around, sending a silent prayer into the ether of this broken world that she had an old tampon buried somewhere. Back in the day, she would have preferred a pad. Girls from high school had made fun of her for that once.

Why would you want to sit around in a diaper? One girl, Hannah Connelly, had loudly announced to her whole Spanish class after discreetly asking if she had one, That's gross! Its blood!

Toxic shock syndrome was gross too, Hannah Connelly. And also, tampons were uncomfortable. And also also, it wasn't like she was sitting around in a pad all day. She changed them, and she cleaned herself off. Pads were perfectly sanitary, thank you.

"Stupid fucking, Hannah," She growled, throwing items out of her pack until she gave up and kicked the useless thing away.

Tee fell back onto the toilet, no longer patient enough to pretend to squat over it. She was already on her period; what was a little gonorrhea on top?

Sitting on the can, Tee took a moment to collect her thoughts. She hadn't come across any new boxes of tampons in a while, or pads, for that matter. Tampons were preferable, but only because they kept the blood and, it seemed, the smell inside. She had done a few experiments, and zombies smelt pads before they smelt tampons; point one for Hannah. Unfortunately (a real shame for all the Hannah Connellys out there), it looked like everyone was now shit out of luck, pad users and tampon users alike, because there wasn't any more of both products left for pilfering.

It looked like it was finally time for her to revert back to the old-old days when ladies had special pieces of reusable fabrics that they washed the blood out every other night. At least, that's what she assumed they had done. It was what her mom had told her anyway when she had asked once after her first period. There were plenty of spare fabrics around, and instead of keeping them, she could toss the things out, maybe even use them as decoys. Hey, weaponizing her monthly "gift" that was resourceful, right? It could be eco-friendly.

She laughed loudly, her voice bouncing off the empty truck stop bathroom.

"Eco-friendly," She snorted, thinking about oil fracking, carbon footprints, and nuclear waste like those problems mattered anymore.

Tee relaxed on the toilet, deciding then that if she was stuck thinking her way out of this problem, she might as well take a shit while doing it. She took her time, stripping a chunk of fabric from her coat lining and wrapping it around her underwear. It was summer now, and she figured she'd come across another coat before it started getting cold, and it wasn't like she was going to use toilet paper. She wasn't in middle school.

She'd also be on a more diligent lookout for a box of tampons, making sure to only use them on her heaviest days. Then, nodding to herself, she reached for the toilet paper but was only met with an empty plastic roll.

"Oh, come on!" She cried, hitting the empty dispenser as if it'd magically produce paper, "Fuck!"

Eight years into this bullshit, you'd think she'd learn by now to check if toilet paper was in the stall before dropping a fat one. It was frankly ridiculous how this also continued to surprise her.

"Well..." She sighed again. It looked like it really was sayonara to her coat.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ey, didja fall in, Tee-bird?" Javi smiled, leaning against a car.

Tee yanked the zipper closed and slung it over her shoulder, "You don't even want to know."

"Something dead?" He hummed, tossing the keys up and down.

"Dying, in the process of. Me." She huffed, staring at the car, "Does this thing actually have gas?"

"Nah, but she's pretty, right? Don't look in the back seat, though. That's not pretty." He tsked, "Poor lady."

She adverted her eyes away from the car and back to him, "Well, lo siento, but we gotta get moving. This chica started her period."

"Ahhh," Javi's smile spread, "that explains a lot, actually."

The budding dread in her chest spread quickly, and she bit her lip in thought, "You're telling me. Where are we gonna find a place to hide for a week? Here? In the middle of nowhere?"

"Hey, come on, it'll be okay, no need to worry," Javi pulled her into a one-arm hug as they started down the road, "we always find a place."

Except for the one time they hadn't, she wanted to argue, except they didn't talk about that. They never talked about that. She couldn't talk about that. It still hurt. Too much.

"Yeah," She said before tacking on, "and, by the way, I need a new coat. Do. Not. Ask."

"Noted," he nodded, ruffling her hair. "Now, come on, there's a town around here somewhere," He flapped the map in her direction, "and a town means houses!"

"And zombies."

"And zombies! Good job! But also food! And I need food."

A cramp rolled through her lower gut, and she groaned, "So do the zombies.

#my writing #writing practice #original story #zombie mention #zombie apocalypse #wip

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toyhouse-dramas-archived · 4 years

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seventeen76 and arcsanity are the primary reasons I have begun to think that toyhouse might actually be better as 18+

A fair thought but you need to remember, KizunaYui and MMF are both grown ass, married adults.

#toxic users go both ways unfortunately

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imatiredtheme · 2 years

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First Tumblr story post let's go.

Some context: This can be seen as an x reader fic, or a stand-alone. Sleepy-chan refers to both the reader and a vtubersona, so you can read it as you like! Background lore for Sleepy-chan; they were a small vtuber, but then was falsely accused of something which lead to their graduation, as well as some disorders like insomnia. They also had to physically move to get away from the toxicity, which is when they met Yugo. He hadn't debuted yet, then they got together and he debuted. Now they sometimes come into his stream if they're having trouble sleeping because Yugo helps a lot with their insomnia.

Set during the Luxiem v. Noctyx collab. Yugo had to step away for a moment, but Sleepy-chan didn't want anything to happen so they took over and proceeded to kick everyone's ass.

Chaos ensued, which leads into this!

*----*

Join one call.

Sleepy-chan typed to the world chat as Yugo pulled up a second chair to sit by them. Both sides would most definitely want an explanation of how Yugo went from a relatively new player to an absolute pro in the span of a few seconds. Noctyx likely already had figured it out, but they'd tried to stay out of the spotlight, for the most part, this was Yugo's channel, they didn't want to take focus away from that. Thus why almost none of the other Nijisanji members hadn't met them yet.

"I didn't know you played Valorant." Yugo commented once he sat down. Sleepy-chan stiffened a little, shrugging casually to hide their growing anxiety.

"I have experience." They simply said, not wanting to dive any further. Games like Valorant were their way of releasing all the pent-up stress from... Back then.

Why r u still here? Hurry up and graduate.

They spotted the comment in their chat, freezing for a moment.

It's okay. They don't know what they're talking about. They don't know. They thought while taking a calming breath. Moving to ban the user to prevent the pit in their stomach from growing. It's fine. Everything is fine.

They lightly shook their head, focusing on the present and not the comments from back then. Different place, different time, different person. Yugo took notice of their slightly bitter expression, before leaning over a softly kissing their cheek.

"They'll love you, I'm sure of it." He reassured, one arm hugging them gently. Sleepy-chan hummed, snuggling into his neck to chase off the sudden negative thoughts. All at once, the growing anxiety vanished, and they let out a pleasant sigh. At the beginning of their relationship, Yugo always flinched when they made physical contact, a side effect of growing up in a world controlled by androids. He did have someone there for him, unfortunately, that person left when he was still a young teen. Leaving him to figure out the rest on his own, with more and more restrictions coming each day.

Not that they were any better. But with enough time, patience, and affection, the both of them grew to welcome physical affection. Now, it was common for Yugo to suddenly hug them from behind, or for them to plop on his lab when they need a rest.

They let out a small smile as the others came onto the call.

"Somebody please explain what just happened." Ike was the first to speak up, sounding very tired.

"We got our asses kicked. That's what." Uki grunted a tad upset that he kept dying early on each round after the sudden shift in "Yugo's" behavior.

"Did Yugo hold back on us earlier? Or did he have an ace?" Sonny theorized thinking back to how easily they were beaten.

"OR he's been secretly practicing off-stream." Alban pouted, still a bit salty that he was the first to go.

"Or he has a secret roommate who's an absolute gamer?" Mysta offered, seeing as Yugo wasn't exactly the quiet type. They didn't speak a word while demolishing the mixed team.

"Don't look at me, I've got no clue either." Shu defended as Yugo went to unmute them.

"Yeah, I was just as surprised as you guys! I kept going "what the fuck"!" Vox exclaimed shortly after, one minute Yugo said he'd step away for a second, and when he comes back suddenly they were winning!

"It was pog," Luca chimed in. "But the no talking part was unpog."

"I have an idea..." Fulgur spoke up, being one of the few who had met them during the Getting Over It stream. Sonny interacted very briefly during one of Yugo's technical difficulties, but he must've thought they were just a friend.

"So..." Yugo started awkwardly and immediately a roar of voices sounded.

"Yugo, what the fuck was that?"

"Yo, did you pay someone?"

"Why did you always target me?!"

"POG!"

"I'm gonna get you back for this."

"Do you have a secret roommate?"

"Man's bamboozled all of us!"

"Yugo carried."

A small whine escaped Sleepy-chan's lips at the buzz of noise. Yugo quickly squeezed their hand for comfort just as Fulgur's voice shouted over all the others.

"Can everyone please shut the fuck up?!"

"You okay?" Yugo whispered as the cyborg spoke.

"I'm okay." They nodded as the other quieted down Fulgur let out a loud sigh.

"Okay," He began as Sleepy-chan looked over at the chat. Blue hearts and crescent moons flooded in, numerous messages of support causing a smile to form. How very different from their own chat way back when. "Yugo, I have a theory, but if you don't want to explain, you don't have to." A few voiced their displeasure at the suggestion, although understandable. They really hadn't planned on revealing themselves at all, but when the nightmares became too much, and they started losing hours of sleep, they had to do something. Yugo was the only one they felt safe with, the only one they truly trusted. While they did their best to not interrupt the stream itself, only trying to appear at the end, some night were worse than others. They still worried about derailing the stream each time they knocked on his office door.

They still remembered the backlash from the beginning, memories buried deep burned, they had feared Yugo could face the same treatment as they did. Forced to quit due to someone else. Or kicked out of Nijisanji for breaking contract, something that came far too close to happening. Yet, after he explained their situation, the exact opposite happened. Support came pouring in, people made assets for the two, even creating a model to use. The staff became aware of their insomnia and disorders and permitted them to appear due to the unique circumstance. Ironic that the fallout of their darker days now became part of the reason for their brighter ones.

They wondered when the lights were off, and Yugo had long gone to sleep, if this had been the reaction back then, would they still be streaming? Would they have listened?

"Well, if you're still okay with it." Yugo suddenly asked, bringing the fatigued individual out of their thoughts. Their eyes flickered to the screen, seeing the waiting members, the overwhelming support, and the encouraging smile.

If they'd had all this back then, how different would things be?

"Yeah, it's fine with me." They spoke up, loud enough for the discord to pick up, and with much more confidence than they had.

"Ayo, who was that?!" Alban shouted undoubtedly shocked at hearing their deeper voice.

"Who the fuck?" Uki blinked, trying to place a gender to the ambiguous voice.

"This is so pog!" Luca cheered, always ready to welcome someone new.

"Woah! Did that come from Yugo??" Vox exclaimed as his chat went wild with another deep-voiced member appearing.

"Holy shit..." Mysta muttered when they chuckled at the reactions. Their smooth, deep, and enchanting voice caused familiar reactions to the fox and his chat.

"Wait, is that the same one from back then?!" Sonny asked as he finally remembered the deep voice that had helped Yugo before.

"Okay, that explains a lot." Shu chuckled as he quickly pieced it all together. Ike only sighed at the revaluation, of course, Yugo had a pro gamer just laying around, because why not?

"I knew it!" Fulgur slightly cheered at his theory being correct. "That was Sleepy-chan, wasn't it?!" He quickly questioned as many of their chats also remembered the time when Yugo was revealed to have a significant other that often slept during his streams. A lot of people feared he'd be kicked off so early on but were both thankful and confused when he remained.

"Correct!" The one and only Sleepy-chan laughed once more as Yugo watched with a proud smile. "I've been waiting to meet you guys!"

"Introductions! Finally!" He cheered, bringing them close even though the others couldn't see. "This is my darlin', who we call Sleepy-Chan!" The Dj introduced while hugging them tightly, they giggled at his antics, nuzzling his head.

"Hi everyone!" They greeted, to which many returned. Yugo's smile only grew at the positive reception they received, the small part of him that worried the others wouldn't be so supportive vanished as they all laughed and complimented Sleepy-chan's skills.

"Yugo's in heat! He's in heat!" Alban cried as soon as he saw the chance to get some payback. "Someone google what to do!"

"Hey, I am not!" Yugo quickly denied in Japanese as the others burst out laughing.

"Oh, how the tables turn." Vox commented as the Phantom Thief and the Dj began to bicker.

"I didn't sign up for this..." Ike quietly lamented as the two energetic members went at each other while the others laughed.

Sleepy-chan looked at the discord server, seeing all the 10 names lighting up as the groups playfully bantered while chat egged them one. Then turning their gaze toward Yugo, watching as his slightly annoyed expression became tinted with amusement and joy. Taking a moment to bask in the pure bliss they felt when watching the interactions, they couldn't help but smile wide and laugh along.

If they had this kind of support back then, it was obvious that things would've been different. But, what had happened led them to meet Yugo, which lead to supporting him. Support grew to admiration, admiration grew to love, and love grew mutual. If someone had told Sleepy-Chan they would have all this during those times, they would've laughed at the irony of it all before blocking them. Now though, as they thought back to those times, it felt like a bad dream that lingered for too long.

A bad dream that vanished the moment they woke, embracing the new day in the arms of the man they loved.

*----*

All of them feel so OOC ;-;

Constructive criticism is welcome! This if a my first time posting something like this on Tumblr!!

How do I add read more-

*Bonus*

"When Yugo said he needed a bathroom break, I thought he'd be gone for longer," Vox commented as he remembered how the character faced down for a few seconds before the camera went back up. "Should've known something was up when he came back a few seconds later." The demon chuckled, the sleepy one had gotten them all good.

"I didn't want anything to happen while he was AFK so I kinda took over?" They admitted while shifted nervously, still feeling a bit guilty at taking over his stream for a short period. "Thankfully, I have some experience with the game."

"Some?!" Mysta echoed loudly as others laughed at the obvious understatement. "You kicked our asses!"

"To be fair, I did try to nerf myself with a no ult rule." They defended as Yugo laughed loudly at the indignant squeak that came after.

"That's my Sleepy-Chan!" He cheered loudly, pride clearly spilling into his voice.

#nijisanji en #yugo asuma #noctyx #fulgur ovid #sonny brisko #alban knox #uki violeta #vox akuma #shu yammio #ike eveland #mysta rias #luca kaneshiro #Sleepy-chan #yugo asuma x reader #nijisanji x reader #nijianji en x reader

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writingwithcolor · 3 years

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What Does Our "Motivations” PSA Mean?

@luminalalumini said:

I've been on your blog a lot and it has a lot of really insightful information, but I notice a theme with some of your answers where you ask the writer reaching out what their 'motivation for making a character a certain [race/religion/ethnicity/nationality] is' and it's discouraging to see, because it seems like you're automatically assigning the writer some sort of ulterior motive that must be sniffed out and identified before the writer can get any tips or guidance for their question. Can't the 'motive' simply be having/wanting to have diversity in one's work? Must there be an 'ulterior motive'? I can understand that there's a lot of stigma and stereotypes and bad influence that might lead to someone trynna add marginalized groups into their stories for wrong reasons, but people that have those bad intentions certainly won't be asking for advice on how to write good representation in the first place. Idk its just been something that seemed really discouraging to me to reach out myself, knowing i'll automatically be assigned ulterior motives that i don't have and will probably have to justify why i want to add diversity to my story as if i'm comitting some sort of crime. I don't expect you guys to change your blog or respond to this or even care all that much, I'm probably just ranting into a void. I'm just curious if theres any reason to this that I haven't realized exists I suppose. I don't want y'all to take this the wrong way because I do actually love and enjoy your blog's advice in spite of my dumb griping. Cheers :))

We assume this is in reference to the following PSA:

PSA to all of our users - Motivation Matters: This lack of clarity w/r to intent has been a general issue with many recent questions. Please remember that if you don’t explain your motivations and what you intend to communicate to your audience with your plot choices, character attributes, world-building etc., we cannot effectively advise you beyond the information you provide. We Are Not Mind Readers. If, when drafting these questions, you realize you can’t explain your motivations, that is likely a hint that you need to think more on the rationales for your narrative decisions. My recommendation is to read our archives and articles on similar topics for inspiration while you think. I will be attaching this PSA to all asks with similar issues until the volume of such questions declines.

We have answered this in three parts.

1. Of Paved Roads and Good Intentions

Allow me to give you a personal story, in solidarity towards your feelings:

When I began writing in South Asia as an outsider, specifically in the Kashmir and Lahore areas, I was doing it out of respect for the cultures I had grown up around. I did kathak dance, I grew up on immigrant-cooked North Indian food, my babysitters were Indian. I loved Mughal society, and every detail of learning about it just made me want more. The minute you told me fantasy could be outside of Europe, I hopped into the Mughal world with two feet. I was 13. I am now 28.

And had you asked me, as a teenager, what my motives were in giving my characters’ love interests blue or green eyes, one of them blond hair, my MC having red-tinted brown hair that was very emphasized, and a whole bunch of paler skinned people, I would have told you my motives were “to represent the diversity of the region.”

I’m sure readers of the blog will spot the really, really toxic and colourist tropes present in my choices. If you’re new here, then the summary is: giving brown people “unique” coloured eyes and hair that lines up with Eurocentric beauty standards is an orientalist trope that needs to be interrogated in your writing. And favouring pale skinned people is colourist, full stop.

Did that make me a bad person with super sneaky ulterior motives who wanted to write bad representation? No.

It made me an ignorant kid from the mostly-white suburbs who grew up with media that said brown people had to “look unique” (read: look as European as possible) to be considered valuable.

And this is where it is important to remember that motives can be pure as you want, but you were still taught all of the terrible stuff that is present in society. Which means you’re going to perpetuate it unless you stop and actually question what is under your conscious motive, and work to unlearn it. Work that will never be complete.

I know it sounds scary and judgemental (and it’s one of the reasons we allow people to ask to be anonymous, for people who are afraid). Honestly, I would’ve reacted much the same as a younger writer, had you told me I was perpetuating bad things. I was trying to do good and my motives were pure, after all! But after a few years, I realized that I had fallen short, and I had a lot more to learn in order for my motives to match my impact. Part of our job at WWC is to attempt to close that gap.

We aren’t giving judgement, when we ask questions about why you want to do certain things. We are asking you to look at the structural underpinnings of your mind and question why those traits felt natural together, and, more specifically, why those traits felt natural to give to a protagonist or other major character.

I still have blond, blue-eyed characters with sandy coloured skin. I still have green-eyed characters. Because teenage me was right, that is part of the region. But by interrogating my motive, I was able to devalue those traits within the narrative, and I stopped making those traits shorthand for “this is the person you should root for.”

It opened up room for me to be messier with my characters of colour, even the ones who my teenage self would have deemed “extra special.” Because the European-associated traits (pale hair, not-brown-eyes) stopped being special. After years of questioning, they started lining up with my motive of just being part of the diversity of the region.

Motive is important, both in the conscious and the subconscious. It’s not a judgement and it’s not assumed to be evil. It’s simply assumed to be unquestioned, so we ask that you question it and really examine your own biases.

~Mod Lesya

2. Motivations Aren't Always "Ulterior"

You can have a positive motivation or a neutral one or a negative one. Just wanting to have diversity only means your characters aren't all white and straight and cis and able-bodied -- it doesn't explain why you decided to make this specific character specifically bi and specifically Jewish (it me). Yes, sometimes it might be completely random! But it also might be "well, my crush is Costa Rican, so I gave the love interest the same background", or "I set it in X City where the predominant marginalized ethnicity is Y, so they are Y". Neither of these count as ulterior motives. But let's say for a second that you did accidentally catch yourself doing an "ulterior." Isn't that the point of the blog, to help you find those spots and clean them up?

Try thinking of it as “finding things that need adjusting” rather than “things that are bad” and it might get less scary to realize that we all do them, subconsciously. Representation that could use some work is often the product of subconscious bias, not deliberate misrepresentation, so there's every possibility that someone who wants to improve and do better didn't do it perfectly the first time.

--Shira

3. Dress-Making as a Metaphor

I want to echo Lesya’s sentiments here but also provide a more logistical perspective. If you check the rubber stamp guide here and the “Motivation matters” PSA above, you’ll notice that concerns with respect to asker motivation are for the purposes of providing the most relevant answer possible.

It is a lot like if someone walks into a dressmaker’s shop and asks for a blue dress/ suit (Back when getting custom-made clothes was more of a thing) . The seamstress/ tailor is likely to ask a wide variety of questions:

What material do you want the outfit to be made of?

Where do you plan to wear it?

What do you want to highlight?

How do you want to feel when you wear it?

Let’s say our theoretical customer is in England during the 1920s. A tartan walking dress/ flannel suit for the winter is not the same as a periwinkle, beaded, organza ensemble/ navy pinstripe for formal dress in the summer. When we ask for motivations, we are often asking for exactly that: the specific reasons for your inquiry so we may pinpoint the most pertinent information.

The consistent problem for many of the askers who receive the PSA is they haven’t even done the level of research necessary to know what they want to ask of us. It would be like if our English customer in the 1920s responded, “IDK, some kind of blue thing.” Even worse, WWC doesn’t have the luxury of the back-and-forth between a dressmaker and their clientele. If our asker doesn’t communicate all the information they need in mind at the time of submission, we can only say, “Well, I’m not sure if this is right, but here’s something. I hope it works, but if you had told us more, we could have done a more thorough job.”

Answering questions without context is hard, and asking for motivations, by which I mean the narratives, themes, character arcs and other literary devices that you are looking to incorporate, is the best way for us to help you, while also helping you to determine if your understanding of the problem will benefit from outside input. Because these asks are published with the goal of helping individuals with similar questions, the PSA also serves to prompt other users.

I note that asking questions is a skill, and we all start by asking the most basic questions (Not stupid questions, because to quote a dear professor, “There are no stupid questions.”). Unfortunately, WWC is not suited for the most basic questions. To this effect, we have a very helpful FAQ and archive as a starting point. Once you have used our website to answer the more basic questions, you are more ready to approach writing with diversity and decide when we can actually be of service. This is why we are so adamant that people read the FAQ. Yes, it helps us, but it also is there to save you time and spare you the ambiguity of not even knowing where to start.

The anxiety in your ask conveys to me a fear of being judged for asking questions. That fear is not something we can help you with, other than to wholeheartedly reassure you that we do not spend our unpaid, free time answering these questions in order to assume motives we can’t confirm or sit in judgment of our users who, as you say, are just trying to do better.

Yes, I am often frustrated when an asker’s question makes it clear they haven’t read the FAQ or archives. I’ve also been upset when uncivil commenters have indicated that my efforts and contributions are not worth their consideration. However, even the most tactless question has never made me think, “Ooh this person is such a naughty racist. Let me laugh at them for being a naughty racist. Let me shame them for being a naughty racist. Mwahaha.”

What kind of sad person has time for that?*

Racism is structural. It takes time to unlearn, especially if you’re in an environment that doesn’t facilitate that process to begin with. Our first priority is to help while also preserving our own boundaries and well-being. Though I am well aware of the levels of toxic gas-lighting and virtue signaling that can be found in various corners of online writing communities in the name of “progressivism*”, WWC is not that kind of space. This space is for discussions held in good faith: for us to understand each other better, rather than for one of us to “win” and another to “lose.”

Just as we have good faith that you are doing your best, we ask that you have faith that we are trying to do our best by you and the BIPOC communities we represent.

- Marika.

*If you are in any writing or social media circles that feed these anxieties or demonstrate these behaviors, I advise you to curtail your time with them and focus on your own growth. You will find, over time, that it is easier to think clearly when you are worrying less about trying to appease people who set the bar of approval so high just for the enjoyment of watching you jump. “Internet hygiene”, as I like to call it, begins with you and the boundaries you set with those you interact with online.

#PSAs #asker concerns #diversity #motivations in writing #writing with diversity #blog housekeeping #internet hygeine #asks #WWC

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hotdamnmadison · 2 years

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How NOT To Get The Girl

I know, I know. I said I would wait to dive back in until tomorrow. But I'm being overpowered by 1.) an overwhelming bout of horniness and 2.) the overwhelming desire to do something artistic. What can I say - the trip up North must've inspired me to put on my writing cap (and a pair of panties) and get back to work.

I wish that this post was as peppy as that introduction. But honestly it's going to go pretty far downhill from here. Don't worry - I'm not going anywhere!

I'm posting this because...

A. If you're reading this and you fit the description of the following people - you should probably navigate off my page - because I'm not interested.

B. I want to see what you (the internet) have to say about these people and if their non-unique style of... well we will call it "pick up lines" or "DM first impressions" - can ACTUALLY ever get them laid.

I should include email addresses. I should include user names. I should include every possible detail that I can... But I am above that. And honestly, exposing these people may just cause more harm than good for me in the long run.

At this point, I find the following laughable. And I've had a great weekend and a nice evening (may have been a little naughty with a toy earlier lol.) So yeah - I'm in a good mood, and I won't let some desperate, pathetically horny man ruin that....

I'm rambling. Here is the shit I am talking about... (NOTE: the following messages are REAL - the email addresses have been replaced by your truly. Don't attempt to email these addresses lol.)

You really have to love when a man has a way with words <3

Or how about this one...

Or maybe this one is the best! (so tempted to put his real email lol.)

Pathetic aren't they? Do you want to know what is even more pathetic? I have hundreds, if not thousands of these sitting in my inbox. I could block them - but it's fun to watch them try. These inquiries (as romantic as they are) are obviously the product of entitlement followed by rejection. And it isn't just rejection from a gender fluid bomb shell like myself. It's rejection from CIS women, trans women, and basically anything they feel entitled to sticking their dicks into.

What's even funnier - I haven't even rejected these fools - they're just automatically out for blood because they've already botched MULTIPLE attempts at talking people of the opposite gender.

But hey - these guys are "alpha males" 😏

Truly laughable... How about a little context though, eh?

Back when I first started my journey into cross dressing, long before I knew about my fluidity, I was eager to meet like minded people. I don't remember where or when - but I was introduced to Double List. Now I've had some great experiences that came directly from my DL ads - so I can't bash the site and write it completely off as being toxic and borderline useless. But for every okay experience that I had while posting personal ads (think craigslist) I had about 100 plus TERRIBLE dead end conversations to show for it.

i.e. the examples above lol.

It's crazy. How something such as sexual frustration can lead to such hurtful words and sentences. That last one for example - was any of that necessary? No. But because this "alpha" keeps falling short in the pussy department - he decides to take it out on someone who didn't do anything to him directly.

I have had to constantly cover my face and other body parts to get by or "pass". It's not ideal, and I've talked a bit about that in my earlier posts as well. Unfortunately, that is the nature of my situation - and it will remain that way until further notice. So rather than lead people astray with things like photoshop and Face App - both of which I have used VERY early in my journey (see the next pic) - I decided to be upfront with my ads and let potential suitors know what they'd be getting into.

Here is what I determined...

Men can't fucking read (some guys can... but most... nope)

Men don't WANT to read

Some men that read can't comprehend what they're reading

The men who successfully read an entire ad don't give a shit about what you (or in this case me) want.

Check this out....

Here are two guys who "successfully" read one of my advertisements (I use successfully very lightly here.) They can tell that they aren't what I am looking for - and so that means that what I want is WRONG. How sad is that? I don't tell them that their desires, ads, etc. are invalid... So why are mine? The best part is the amount of time that these people are spending to harass me (and many like me.)

---

This isn't a pity party. And I'm not looking for sympathy. Quite the opposite actually. I am trying to help you. Yes you! The one guy who does the same shit up above who also somehow read this far (gold star sticker for you!)

Look, this type of behavior isn't going to get you anywhere. Even the people who love dominance still want to be heard. They still want to know you read the post, the ad, the listing, etc. It shows you give a shit about safety, safe words, what TO do and what NOT to do. The world of kinks and BDSM revolves around trust. And when you do the things that these guys do - you're proving that you're a loose cannon, and that you're a high risk individual to partner with.

I actually APPRECIATE when men send these emails. Because I add their email address to a spread sheet and I make a mental note that this person is UNPREDICTABLE and more importantly - unsafe.

I'm sure as my journey continues I will have many more entries that revolve around this same topic - so lets consider this "How NOT To Get The Girl Pt. 1"... And please, try not to make it into my next batch of screen shots ;) I may "forget" to blur the names

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

---------------

My apologies for coming back with such a negative post. I should've started with something a little more soft and positive after returning from the trip. I swear - tomorrow I will get back to the peppy sexy content ;)

Sleep Well Everyone!

#gender fluid #cute crossdreser #dating nightmare #crossdressgirls #cross dressing #my writing

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by-kilian · 3 years

Note

(if this ask makes u uncomfortable in any way, feel free to ignore it, delete it, whatever u need to do. ur happiness matters more to me than anything else. however, i am specifically sending this not on anon, despite my incessant urge to do so as i barely ever send off anon, to give u the chance to reply to this privately if u want to. but that is if u want to! i don’t need, or want, anything from u. ur comfort outweighs any sort of recognition or interaction. i am also extremely unsure if this is gonna send properly bc i am on the tumblr app n the character limit seems to be nonexistent now? when did this happen HAHA…)

i went looking for u (scrolled thru the keyword of ur old user on tumblr, found an older ask that includes it) bc That App is talking abt That Story again. it always troubled me how things went down - i’ve experienced writers taking down their works before but never like that. orphaning works, sure. deleting ao3s, yep. but NEVER thru what u went thru. i don’t even generally go here (here being x readers), but That Story got pushed my way when the whole situation was in its hayday n i never properly paid attention to things until i caught wind of what u had to do. i had no idea it was that bad until maybe a week after the situation had been over n done with by ur actions. n i don’t blame u in the slighest. fandom culture is both extremely fun n extremely damaging - the fact u got the shortest end of the stick that i’ve ever seen is truly smth awful.

all of that aside, i am so extremely overjoyed to see ur still writing. truth be told, i hadn’t known of u before That Story, since again, my aversion to x readers. but ur writing is clearly smth special - n maybe this is extremely crude to say, i’m extremely sorry if it is - considering the way ppl acted over it. above it all, i am just happy to see that ur ok. everything is fine, as much as it can be. that fact alone leaves me content. i am SO glad u were able to push past it.

tldr, since i know this is a lot. i am so happy to see ur still kicking it, despite it all. content creation in any form is deeply personal if u put ur heart into it, n it seems like u do. i am so sorry for the way ppl treated u over That Story. i am doubly sorry if this made u feel upset in any way, shape, or form. that was not my intent, feel free to do whatever it is u need to do with this silly ask if this is the case. n maybe this is corny, but i hope more things fall in ur favor, instead of otherwise. have a nice day!

This is actually a really kind and considerate ask. I'll answer it under a cut since my response is pretty long though!

Firstly, I just want to say thank you for being thoughtful enough to consider my feelings in all of this. It's really kind of you and I'm not saying that just to say it. ❤️

Secondly, yeah. It all was a bit of a hell fire. While I wish it never happened, it obviously did but I'm happier now than I was then. Even before ThatStory blew up, my old writing blog was getting out of control and people were feeling super entitled to me, my works, what I did, and who/what I wrote about so in a way, I'm not surprised it headed that way although I never expected it to go THAT way lol. And yes, it was pretty bad but luckily it is done and over with. Fandom culture can be super fun and that's initially what it was for me--just fun before it unfortunately tipped over to the other extreme side of fandom which is toxic. It is what it is.

But to touch on your main point, thank you and it's not crude at all. I don't see your comment that way. In a way, I've come to think of it as much as well (that it must have resonated with people in some weird way) but not just with that particular story but other stories, too so it is really sweet that someone who doesn't read these kinds of stories thinks that of them as well. It also means a lot to me that someone cared enough to think about how I was doing after all this because that really hasn't been the case apart from loyal readers. Most ppl never think about me in this situation 😂 which is probably why what happened, happened. So thank you for the kind words. I'm fine. Like I said, happier now than I was in my previous blog. I've come to think that it's all meant to be. I get a lot more freedom here, I have the sweetest, most loyal readers, and no one feels entitled to my works, my time, or what I do.

Also you didn't upset me at all. While it's admittedly irritating to see people still talking about that shit a literal year and three months or so later, that has nothing to do with you so no worries. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to check up on me, and thank you for being so kind. Content creation is super personal and I do put my heart into it, so it means a lot to me that you see that 🥺! Truly.

I'm touched that there are still kind, good, decent people out there because for you to take the time to look for me and send me something lovely truly means a lot, especially considering you weren't necessarily a reader of mine--just clearly a kind, thoughtful human being. I can't express how much I appreciate it. Honestly. Thank you so so much for the lovely sentiments, and I hope all is well for you in the future as well. ❤️❤️❤️

#asks

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elidelochans · 3 years

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Just went to the elriel tag to look at their art because I genuinely love them but now I feel somehow. I am fairly new to the fandom and don’t know how things work and that people go all out for shipwars I didn’t know if you don’t ship a certain ship you should stay away from their content they made me feel so icky for shipping elucien they didn’t use the exact words of calling him a creep but there was so many insinuations I legit saw one say that if you ship elain and lucien your weird because why would you ship people that are uncomfortable around each other. Neglecting the fact that there is a reason and deeper meaning to why they have this reaction towards each other and it’s not because elain thinks Lucien is a creep he is literally one of the most respectful males in this series , honestly I didn’t know the fandom was a cutthroat place like this and I do love the contents but it’s a lot for me. I didn’t know who to tell since your practically one of the first eluciens I followed and looking at your page it’s feels like safe space so hope this ask is okay.

First sorry I'm late to the response (my little one was sick and I've been offline 90% of the day). And this is always okay! Anything on your mind Fandom or not send me an ask. I'm happy you think of me as a safe space ❤ ❤

E/riels are a special brand of wild and moronic behavior. Not all but majority of them are some of the biggest immature cyberbullies I've ever witnessed. I'm so sorry you had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with them.

Elucien is endgame. They can accept it and keep E/riel as fanon or leave the Fandom.

This is what I don't understand. Obviously not every ship in every book, movie, TV, etc will be Canon. We all have tropes we favor and characters we think would be good together. They won't be endgame. They might not even have a relationship. But that doesn't stop fanon. With fics, edits, art, head canons, whatever. Your ship can exist in Ganon. You can have this happy little slice of fanon heaven. I've done it time and time again.

You know what I didn't do? Change narratives in the Canon text to claim them for a fanon ship. I didn't provoke others online for shipping the Canon ship(now if they came for me or my friends it's on but I didn't go into random posts or ask boxes spewing negative. Calling them worthless or far worse because of it.) Anyway, I don't understand why E/riels can't just be satisfied in their own little fanon world. And leave everyone alone.

Lucien isn't a creep. He is kind and very respectful towards Elain. Three. He's given her three years and will continue to give her whatever time she needs to come to terms with bond. He'd never resort to some dumbass duel, cry like a selfish toddler that he's left out, or please himself to a fucking bottle of headache pills. Thats because he values. She means something to him. Even if they broke the bond, he would always be there for Elain. Unlike a certain bat boy who only wants her as a forbidden booty call.

Now that, that's out of the way. Let's talk about this Fandom. I'll be the first to say babes. Alot of this Fandom is toxic. And not just the E/riels. I've seen it from anti sjm, to anti/pro certain ships and characters. Tbh, if I wasn't apart of Star Wars or the HP Fandom. Shipping both Reylo and Dramione....I probably would have left this one.

I understand if you decide to leave this Fandom or take a step back (sometimes it's a good thing!).

However lovely anon. There's alot of us who do love acotar and although we know there's flaws in the characters and the books. We love it dearly. It's a special place in our hearts. You're Fandom experience is what you make of it. What I mean by that is simply if you wanna stay in the Fandom because the series itself do four things as often as you need too:

1. Block the tags

2. Block users

3. Unfollow those that make this experience negative.

4. Don't listen to E/riels (they've twisted so many narratives, have been consistently rude to artists and I believe well known bookstagram accounts too. Might add Vassa X Lucien shippers too. A few of them twist the narrative too in saying Lucien wants Vassa. When we were given those Jurian x Vassa moments. However, I've never had a bad experience with them personally)

Fandom should be fun, not stressful ❤

If you'd like a list of blogs in the Fandom who don't contribute to the negativity let me know. I'll try and get one for you. I hope if you choose to stay that your experience gets better. At the very least you'll have me ❤

#anti e/riel #Fandom wank #ask #answered #anon

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feralphoenix · 4 years

Text

SONGS OF RESISTANCE: The View Myla Grants Us Of Hallownest’s Moths

hello again hollow knight fandom, i am back with my picante takes and ready to discuss two things i love: myla hollowknight and the moth tribe! Let Us Be Sad About Them Together.

as with my previous essay i’m going to be putting this fellow up on dreamwidth later for accessibility purposes since my layout text may be too small for high-res pc users. this time i’ll be attaching that in a reblog to avoid this post getting eaten by the dread tungle algorithms.

CONTENT WARNINGS FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay discusses colonialism and genocide both in real life and the fictional depictions in Hollow Knight, as well as racism in the zombie horror genre and in fandom.

ALSO: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay

SONGS OF RESISTANCE: THE VIEW MYLA GRANTS US OF HALLOWNEST’S MOTHS

In this house we are all love Myla.

Well, in all fairness, there are probably plenty of Hollow Knight fans who aren’t interested in her character, since which fictional characters one attaches to is always a matter of personal preference. But she’s still well-loved for a minor NPC and inspires a high level of devotion in her fans. There’s nothing that whips folks into a frenzy like a cute character you can’t do anything to help, and unlike some other characters in Hollow Knight Myla’s fate leaves no room for ambiguity. Once you pick up the Crystal Heart you’re left with only two choices: Avoid her, or kill her.

A lot of Hollow Knight’s world is designed to make you care about it so that it will hurt more when Ghost’s violent skillset proves too limited to save something or someone. The consequences of Hallownest’s founding and policies have directly or indirectly caused a great deal of damage to everything, and chief among those consequences with massive damage and a wide splash range is the Infection. Much has been said elsewhere by other people about Hollow Knight’s predominating mood being a struggle against futility, with Ghost arriving at the eleventh hour and every new tragedy designed to make the player more desperate to find something actionable, only finding out by trial and error what’s beyond your personal ability to save.

Myla, in that sense, is a typical example of that worldbuilding. She’s a particular kind of stock character in the zombie horror genre, the innocent who falls victim to the plague and cannot be saved, wrenching audience hearts and demonstrating the stakes.

But Hollow Knight plays with the trappings of zombie horror in a very unusual way, one I find thematically fascinating.

For a quick overview, the “zombie” as we know it in popular culture is an appropriation of a voudou (the Black American spiritual practice) concept that deals with the fear of slavery killing one’s spirit. (People more versed in/with roots in voudou culture can give a much more comprehensive overview than this simplistic one.)

The zombie horror genre, especially in Western media, is part of the great white fragility stock plot trifecta (the other two being alien invasions and robot uprisings). Zombie horror in particular expresses white fears that marginalized ethnic groups will rise up violently in revenge for their mistreatment and destroy white society. The fear of “that which is human, which ‘humanity’ is not” (to borrow mecha visual novel Heaven Will Be Mine’s pithy term) and the extreme levels of violence towards human-but-not bodies typical of zombie horror are often an expression of such bigotries. This is, again, a subject that’s been discussed in greater depth and with more nuance elsewhere.

But what Hollow Knight does is take the ugly metaphors and it makes them literal, makes it harder to ignore the toxic subtext of the genre. The Infection is literally a native god’s revenge on the settlers who committed genocide* against her people. How the Pale King’s colonization of the crater negatively affected the preexisting groups of bugs underpins every level of the worldbuilding, as does Hallownest’s cruelty towards its neighbors.

Hollow Knight is a game that is about the tragedy of Western imperialism. It is one of the work’s central themes. There are a lot of conversations that need to be had about the ways these themes manifest and, on a real-world level, about fandom’s predisposition to avoid the subject.

But, for now, let’s get back to Myla. If she fits such a stock zombie horror archetype, and Hollow Knight uses zombie horror tropes to underline the conversation it attempts to have about colonialism, then what has Myla got to teach us about the overall worldbuilding?

There's two topics I’d like to broach here: First we’ll get into how the circumstances of Myla’s infection fit in to the implied role of Crystal Peak in pre-Hallownest society. Then let’s take a long look at the lyrics of Myla’s song and what it implies.

MYLA, THE CRYSTALS, AND THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

If you think about it, Myla is an interesting outlier compared to the other NPCs we encounter on the verge of succumbing to the Infection. Both Bretta and Sly are unhappy: Bretta is a lonely, anxious bundle of abandonment issues yearning for someone to sweep her off her feet; Sly misses his pupils and loved ones who’ve left him in death (we never learn who Esmy is or what they were to Sly, but we sure can tell they’re not around anymore). The temptation to dream away those sadnesses seems to play a part in their vulnerability to the Infection, and also why Ghost’s interruption brings them back to reality.

Not so Myla. She appears to be blissfully unaware of her fellow miners’ fate, and most of her dialogue prior to her infection (besides the song - we’ll get to that later) is about how much fun she’s having at her job and how much she enjoys Ghost’s occasional company.

Yet she still winds up infected when Ghost’s back is turned. Why?

Not to discard the possibility that Myla’s got her own issues too, but in her case there seems to be another likely cause at hand: The crystals. If hit with the Dream Nail before infected, she mentions that she can hear them “singing” and “whispering”.

Under the The Hunter’s Hot Takes section of the Hunter’s Journal entries on various Crystal Peak enemies, we can learn more about the crystals - particularly in the entries for the Husk Miner and Crystallized Husk.

Crystal Peak’s crystals were thought of as particularly precious in Hallownest and harvested en masse for use in luxury items and the like. To do so, the mining operation was set up throughout most of the mountain, though the area around its peak still remains largely untouched. However, there’s more to the crystals than just that. Like Myla, the Hunter notes that the crystals can be heard to sing very very softly if one listens closely enough.

Perhaps of even more interest than that is this particular comment he gives us, from the Crystallized Husk journal entry: “There is some strange power hidden in the crystals that grow up there in the peaks. They gleam and glow in the darkness, a bright point of searing heat in each one.”

I don’t think it’s a particularly revolutionary idea to point out that there’s some connection between the crystals and Radiance’s power; this is something many players have intuited just based on Myla’s dialogue. But, in order to understand what Myla is demonstrating about the game’s world I think it’s important to think about what that connection is.

Speaking of which, the local Whispering Root has two important clues for us: The phrases “light refracted” and “energy contained”.

The very top of Crystal Peak is one of the only places in the crater where the moths’ architecture has escaped Hallownest destroying it, and is the only place in the entire game setting where their religious iconography remains fully intact. There are stone monuments covered in their language (which has been destroyed with the rest of their culture) and the statue of the Radiance - this is easier to see in the Wanderer’s Journal tie-in book, but the huge stone arches upon the Crown represent Radi’s halo and its rays and encircle her when viewed head-on or from a distance instead of the side view we get in the game.

The crystals grown here were used by the moths to store and cultivate Radiance’s light. It’s impossible to know what sort of architecture/infrastructure existed inside the mountain before Hallownest stole it from the moths. But between the massive scope of her statue and all the texts at the Crown, and the fact that the moths were working with their literal actual god’s freely given power here, it can be safely asserted that Crystal Peak was a holy ground to them.

Hallownest didn’t care about the mind-boggling level of spiritual significance Crystal Peak must have had to the natives, though. To the Pale King and his people, the crystals are just a natural resource to be harvested for personal profit.

This is unfortunately a conflict that still plays out in colonized countries today. If you’re American, #NoDAPL probably comes to mind; Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are filled with these sorts of horror stories too. Settler disrespect for indigenous sacred grounds is a huge problem that needs addressing. If you’re looking at the story of Crystal Peak and thinking it’s very on-the-nose... maybe it needs to be.

Anyway, Myla is nowhere near as miserable as Bretta or Sly, but she still notices that something’s up with these crystals. She hears the voice coming from inside, and she’s curious, and she tries very very hard to listen to it... so she DOES end up hearing Radiance’s voice. Radiance’s real voice, not the songs and whispers inside the crystals: The voice of a frightened, angry, grieving god who knows there’s a new vessel running around in Hallownest, and doesn’t want any part of that. A voice that’s pleading for someone, anyone to kill this dangerous creature, and save her from the threat Ghost poses.

Between how freaked out Radi is to know Ghost is poking around, the tendency we see in her boss battles for her to panic and kneejerk blast things at full volume/vibrance when she’s panicking, and the way her dream broadcast seems to be only a one-way communication line while she’s in the Black Egg... naturally this spells disaster for poor Myla.

Similar to the Moss Prophet, this small tragedy is a demonstration of the eleventh-hour state the conflict is in: The Pale King has escalated this situation so far, and Radiance is so traumatized and isolated, that bystanders who might in a kinder timeline have become Radi’s allies instead get caught up in her AOE. Myla’s definitely not as aware of the overall situation as the Moss Prophet, since she’s a Hallownest bug and not an indigenous one the way they are. But she noticed things were not as they seemed, and she was curious. Who knows what new possibilities could have opened up, if Radiance was able to truly communicate with bugs in the outside world?

Small side note before we move on, but I’ve noticed a tendency among some folks who notice the missed connections to come down extra hard on Radiance and chalk Myla’s infection/Moss Prophet’s death down to deliberate cruelty on her part. I’d like to gently push back against this.

Living in a post-colonial world we all absorb some level of prejudice from our surroundings, and it’s important to take a look at our first assumptions about people (or, in this case, fictional characters lol) to examine whether these prejudices we’ve inherited have influenced those assumptions.

So, if your first instinct is to look at this situation and say the problem is that Radiance is being too harsh and too angry where she should have stepped back and softened her emotions for others’ benefit to gently persuade them to her side... Please think about how when people of color and non-Christians express anger or hurt at our treatment, or even so much as calmly assert our boundaries, white/Christian viewers often view us as much more aggressive and threatening than we actually are. The “angry black woman” trope is a good example of this stereotype. You may want to look up the HuffPost article “Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism” and its discussion of white fragility to further understand this phenomenon.

It is absolutely essential to remember the complex power dynamics in play in Hollow Knight and that the Pale King deliberately imprisoned Radiance (who had at this point already gone through an extreme amount of trauma) in a way that would compromise her ability to communicate with others. If you can extend compassion to characters like Ghost or the Pale King and empathize with their motives/feelings when their actions cause harm, but you are not willing to do the same with Radiance... it’s important to sit down with yourself and examine why that is.

THE MEANING BEHIND MYLA’S SONG

Okay, let’s switch gears and take a look at the lyrics to the song Myla sings, since it’s got some interesting things to tell us too.

The first verse, which you can hear from Myla the first time you meet her/before you acquire Vengeful Spirit, goes:

Bury my mother, pale and slight Bury my father with his eyes shut tight Bury my sisters, two by two, And then when you’re done, let's bury me too

There’s not much particularly story-related going on here except foreshadowing that Myla may in fact wind up dying. Most of what we get here is that a) this is a song about burying the dead and b) it’s morbid as fuck.

Curious, a new player might think of the mention of burying the dead; there are a lot of corpses just lyin’ around all over the ground - something that might lead one to believe Hallownest didn’t have such a custom. Later players will discover the Resting Grounds, confirming Hallownest did bury its dead... and that the gravekeepers are all dead too.

Let’s look at the second verse, which Myla remembers and will sing after you pick up Vengeful Spirit:

Bury the knight with her broken nail, Bury the lady, lovely and pale Bury the priest in his tattered gown, Then bury the beggar with his shining crown

This right here is where it gets interesting. The first verse describes the singer’s family as dead or dying, but the people we’re burying now sure do have some parallels to Hallownest's ruling body, don’t they?

Among Hallownest’s Great Knights, three of them - Dryya, Isma, and Ze’mer - were women. They are also very dead or might as well be: Dryya was killed by Traitor Lord’s resistance, Isma is a tree spreading acid through the kingdom’s waters to cut off access to the City of Tears, and Ze’mer hung up her nail after her mantis girlfriend’s death and only lingers on as a revenant.

While there aren’t any characters who are described in-text as “priests” in Hallownest, the idea of a tattered gown might bring Lurien the Watcher to mind, or perhaps the Soul Sanctum’s magicians before they went rogue.

The lovely, pale lady in the song can only refer to the White Lady, Hallownest’s queen. And there’s only one man in the game who has a shining crown: The Pale King. The lyrics are particularly derisive towards him in a way they aren’t to any of the other figures listed, too.

So, it seems like whoever came up with this song didn’t think much of Hallownest. With that in mind it’s hard to think that it originated from any sort of faction loyal to the king.

We’re missing a line from the third verse, which Myla sings after you’ve beaten Soul Master and she’s beginning to become infected. But what we do see of it is Huge in terms of lore:

Bury my body and cover my shell, [...] What meaning in darkness? Yet here I remain I’ll wait here forever ‘til light blooms again

So. The “protagonist” of this song’s family has died, and they expect to die as well, but even unto death they're waiting for Hallownest to fall and the light to return.

The moths became Hallownest’s gravekeepers after the Pale King forcibly assimilated them. Under the Pale King’s light, the moths forgot Radiance and most of their original culture, but Seer tells us in her final monologue that a few individuals remembered just enough to pass bits and pieces down through the generations. This secret resistance among the moths was what kept Radiance alive and prevented her from being sealed away entirely.

This song Myla sings comes from that moth resistance.

Code songs amongst oppressed ethnic groups are very much a real thing, especially when groups have to communicate or signal each other within hostile parties’ hearing. Since I’m American (and had a big ol crush on Harriet Tubman as a little kid lmao!) the first thing that came to mind for me when I made this connection was the working songs escaped Black slaves used in the Underground Railroad.

These have another point in common with the moth gravedigger song Myla sings, in that they enter the general cultural consciousness through out-group people who don’t know the true context. If you ever pick up a book of American baby songs, you’ll probably find some Underground Railroad code songs in there - often because generations ago white kids heard these songs from Black slaves or servants, and went on to sing the same songs to their children with zero awareness of what the songs were really for.

So some Hallownest bug somewhere probably heard the moths’ song and liked it and sang it in a context totally divorced from its original one, and it got spread around and passed down to become one of Myla’s old favorites, with her seemingly not realizing the meaning behind the lyrics. The moths’ song of devotion to their lost god survived them as a people.

This is some VERY realistic and layered worldbuilding. There is so much to glean from just one NPC’s dialogue when put together with other clues. Of course all of it is SAD and DEPRESSING, but Hollow Knight is a tragedy with a super unsubtle point to make about the unsustainability of Western imperialism.

What happens to Myla is awful, and upsetting, and unfair. So was what happened to the moths and their sacred ground, and to Radiance too. It’s important to understand the scope of the conflict that led to all this happening, trace it to its roots, and lay it at the feet of the ones responsible for engendering all this tragedy in the first place: Hallownest and the Pale King.

*A NOTE ABOUT MY USE OF THE TERM “GENOCIDE”

This is a tangent, but since there’s some debate about whether it’s appropriate to define the Pale King’s actions towards indigenous bug nations as genocide, allow me to cite the official definition of genocide here.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention for short) defines genocide like this:

Genocide is any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, religious, or racial group, as such:

A) Killing members of the group

B) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group

C) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part

D) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group

E) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

Among the abovelisted, Hallownest is guilty of A (Deepnest and the moths), B (Deepnest physically/the moths vis a vis brainwashing), C (the mantis tribe and the hive), and E (the moths, which we know from Marmu, and possibly the mosskin also - Isma is mosskin).

Then there is cultural genocide, i.e. acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, religious, or racial group's way of life. Let’s look at the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) and how it defines cultural genocide:

A) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities

B) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources

C) Any form of population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights

D) Any form of assimilation or integration by other cultures or ways of life imposed on them by legislative, administrative or other measures

E) Any form of propaganda directed against them

Hallownest is guilty of every item on this list. A: The moths, attempted with Deepnest. B: The moths, the mantises, the flukes, the mosskin; also attempted with Deepnest. C: The moths, the mantises, the flukes. D: The moths; attempted with the mantises and Deepnest. E: The mantises and Deepnest.

Any sort of discussion of the wide-reaching harm Radiance caused MUST include the context that the Infection is her response to multiple levels of genocide. Discussion that does not include this context loses nuance and simplifies the conflict and power dynamics portrayed in the game in ways that reflect real-life racism and Christian supersessionism.

Now, this is NOT some sort of holier than thou Fandom Purity dunk to say that it’s Bad or Wrong to care about Hallownest’s nobility. Like, one of my favorite characters in this dang game is the White Lady, who spent a long ass time enabling her husband’s actions before she finally walked out on him over the mass infanticide thing. You can, and it is okay to, love TPK and want rehabilitation for him while acknowledging that the dude has done objectively bad things.

I just feel that it’s important to keep things in perspective so that we don’t wind up stirring a bunch of real-world bigotry into our fandom funtimes. A lot of us don’t have the luxury of turning our brains off and simply Not Seeing It, because these same sorts of dynamics are behind a lot of the hardships that threaten our everyday stability.

It’s pretty hard to have conversations about those things in real life if one can’t even recognize them in fiction. So, this might be a good opportunity to start practicing anti-racism so we can better utilize that ideology in real life, where the stakes are much higher.

#hollow knight #hollow knight spoilers #hollow knight meta #myla hollow knight #the radiance #hk myla #hk radiance #essay #long post under cut -

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threewaysdivided · 3 years

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How do you feel about the trans Danny headcanon? Not in terms of Deathly Weapons, just in general.

As a headcanon itself? I don’t personally go for it but I can see where it comes from, and I’m glad it brings people joy.

Like I mentioned in my DP & Asexuality meta-post, Danny’s half-ghost status can read as broad allegory for a bunch of potential experiences including various flavours of LGBT+ and neurodiversity. Add to that DP/FOP’s somewhat iffy tendency to use male femininity and emasculation as both punchline and source of character embarrassment for “comedy” such as it is and it’s not really surprising that both shows sometimes go tripping tail-over-teakettle right across the line into accidental-queer-coding.

That’s about as much as I can say on this one, since it isn’t a headcanon I tend to actively seek out. Baby 3WD had the misfortune to stumble into the Phandom at a time when some of the most popular circulating posts on the topic were people insisting that the interpretation “is canon” (with a very loud subtext that anyone who disagreed even slightly was an evil terrible transphobe), heavily cherry-picking the show to “prove” it, and seemingly taking glee in the idea that the headcanon would “ruin cis people’s childhoods” or make them uncomfortable, which just… seemed like a vaguely gatekeep-y, kind of mean, sort of disingenuous attitude towards fandom that I didn’t and still don’t particularly vibe with.

But, as it turns out, that's not representative of the headcanon at all! I’ve since met some really lovely users, seen some great meta-analysis about trans/queer readings of canon, and there some fantastic stories exploring the trans experience and the way being trans would alter Danny’s character and relationships. It’s kind of a universal law of the internet that even the most chill and non-toxic fandoms must be at least 5% tyre-fire by volume... and it’s just unfortunate that I happened to land right in the middle of a tyre-fire whose first impression has left me leery of wading too deep into that particular pool.

As for my own writing… I’m an asexual cis-woman whose interests lean more towards character psychology, self-esteem/self-love, platonic relationships and dealing with loss. I almost never have strong feelings or headcanons about the sexuality or gender identity (or even shipping) of characters - I kind of prefer to just take them at their word based on what they say/ show us in the story. (The only time it gets my back up is when I feel like a paid official creator is being exploitative/ dishonest/ disrespectful with their representation.)

In canon Danny identifies as male and is identified by the rest of the cast as male (even if sometimes he seems to struggle with feeling like he doesn’t live up to the “ideal of manliness” which honestly is a load of toxic bunk anyway) so I write him as a cis-guy.

Would I personally write a trans-headcanon story? Probably not. Like I said, I’m cis and - while I can listen to and sympathise with the experiences of trans people - I don’t feel like that would be my story to tell and (while I would do my best to research and be respectful if handed a canonically trans character) I wouldn’t feel confident enough in my ability to respectfully handle it to voluntarily take on that task. Especially since - when it comes to these kinds of transformative headcanons - I would personally want a story to explore how that change changes the character(s).

If someone else wants to write fic/ meta or otherwise make the case that a particular relationship or a specific queer/ cultural/ religious interpretation or reading of the text would be narratively compelling or offer interesting insights then I’m happy to hear them out. But honestly it’s just not something that I actively go looking for.

Basically, so long as people are being kind and respectful to others and doing what makes them happy then go forth and prosper with my blessing.

#Danny Phantom #Headcanons #3WD Answers #sorry if that's not a satisfying answer #But yeah #So long as you're being kind and constructive with it any headcanon is fine #Do not let me or any other fan be the arbiter of whether your thoughts/ feelings on something are valid #this is basically just a remix of the PinkAstronaut question I suppose #I'm really unhelpful when it comes to these kind of shipping and identity headcanons #here's my take as a white cis-person:#It's NOT about me #whatever my feelings are they are a Me Problem that I am responsible for dealing with #whether that's checking myself/ remembering to shut up and Listen/ working to unpack my uncomfortable sh*t IRL #Or responsibly using the back/ block/ filter buttons to curate my personal experiences in fandom #I am allowed to have personal opinions on the handling of these topics in media #but mine should not be the loudest voice in those conversations #and - frankly - no-one really has a right to gatekeep fandom for other people #least of all me #The thing that historically put me off this headcanon (and why I still tread lightly) was running into fans who used it in a gatekeepy way #Gatekeeping and trying to enforce a 'one true reading' are fandom behaviours I Categorically Dislike even when attached to progressive ideas #That's not to say that communities shouldn't self-moderate actual bad behaviour (bigotry/ harassment / plagiarism/ general toxicity)#But gainsaying another person's intentions to exclude/ shame them over a different interpretation of a fictional text is... unproductive #I tend to call that behaviour 'spite-canon-ing': where people seem to enjoy a thing more because it angers/offends/upsets someone else #than they do spending time talking about why that thing is something they like/ find valuable/ find resonant/ find important #And again: that's not on the headcanon itself - it's on the small minority of fans who chose to engage with fandom that way #So yeah #Headcanon? Fine. Canonicty? Deeply unlikely. Valid reading anyway? 100% if it brings you joy. Personal feelings on it? *Eh*#queer #anonymous

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thebooki3h · 4 years

Text

I can't stop thinking about a Lukadamianette fic that starts with

“She looked at the carnage around her, and knew one thing, she will NEVER let herself be that weak EVER again”

This is after years of fighting Hawkmoth and getting no where. Hawkmoth progressively got to be as bad as Joker or Scarecrow. The lasting psychological damage that he left on Paris’s citizens would be a permanent scar in France’s history. Marinette has been isolated from her class for years. Lila’s reign of terror completely destroyed her self worth as Marinette and all of the pressure she has been under from all aspects of her life have taken a SERIOUS toll on her.

Her parents don’t trust her anymore after Lila’s lies got to them. At first they didn’t believe them, but Marinette lied to them because of her ladybug duties and they couldn’t trust her anymore. They basically don’t let Marinette do anything outside of school activities and working at home (somehow , thank Kwami, she convinced them to let her keep her online boutique as MDC). Jagged has been dn always will be a major supporter of her MDC brand. He truly becomes uncle jagged and he and penny are the only adults that Marinette trusts completely. They are always there to support her even if they are not always physically there. Uncle J has introduced her to many other big names so she can design for them for big events. She has even designed for the avengers. (it started out as designing for Tony and Pepper for a red carpet event and Tony liked it so much he had her design the avengers suits especially Peter’s because Peter is a huge fan of hers.) She now talks to Tony about once a month, because she and Peter grew to be close friends and talk regularly. She even thought about giving him he spider miraculous, but she deduced that he was Spiderman from his measurements and knew he didn’t need it.

Luka, Kagami and Chloe are Marinette's only friends in Paris . They all have their corresponding miraculous. They all know their identities as part of team miraculous. Marinette is known to them as the user of the mouse miraculous, because after Chat Noir’s advances and eventual defection to Hawkmoth’s side she can’t trust anyone with Ladybug’s identity. Team miraculous have all become apart of the Order and are Guardians in training. Ladybug being Grand Guardian ofc. Any other miraculous users are no longer a part of the team because if Marinette can’t trust them as a civilian she can’t trust them as heroes.

Chat Noir defected to Hawkbitches side because he was suffering from an imbalance in the miraculous. Ladybug is a true holder for her miraculous, but Chat Noir was not a true holder. He was in fact supposed to be a temporary solution, but Fu didn’t think that Hawkmoth’s reign of terror would last as long as it did. (he also lost his memory pretty early on). The imbalance lead to increasing madness which fueled the delusion that Ladybug and Chat are soulmates because of the balance of their miraculous.

Hawkmoth gets defeated the summer before Marinette's senior year of high school. The battle lasts for days and most of Paris is rubble by the time the battle is over. Marinette has suffered years of mental abuse at the hands of her classmates, and with everything she has had to deal with she forced herself to stay positive. Once hawkmoth and Mayura(who has been largely inactive bc of the damage to the peacock miraculous) and Chat were defeated she allowed herself to feel the betrayal, anger and hurt that she kept locked away. This is where she makes herself a promise to never let herself be weak again. Vulnerable, sure, but never weak.

She then casts the cure, which revives dead Parisians and fixes Paris. Unfortunately bc Adrien’s mom had been in the coma for so long Ladybug can’t heal her with magic alone. Amelile goes to a hospital and ladybug visits her regularly to heal her slowly. Adrien runs off without the cat miraculous (he will be seen again) because Mari took it away using her guardian powers.

Without all of the pressure of fighting Hawkmoth Marinette final tells Luka how she feels and how she kept that inside for years and why. They both need healing from the whole ordeal, but they agree to take it REALLY slow and see where things go. (Marinette confirms that Luka means that they will be exclusive, and he says he has also loved her for years and he could never do that to her)

Without the looming presence of Hawkmoth Marinette can final be the person she has become since becoming ladybug. She spends the rest of the summer getting thearpy outside of Paris and working on herself. She remakes herself to be the person that ladybug and the toxic class have made her be. She still believes in being kind and helping others, but her outlook on life is much darker than it was before Lila destroyed her reputation. No one sees her except for Luka Kagami and Chloe and sometimes penny and Uncle J over Ft. Not even her parents.

She adopts a darker, more punk rock look (thanks to Luka and uncle jagged). Her once bright a bubbly personality is no longer reflected in her clothing. With help from Luka and UJ she designed a leather jacket that replaces her siginiture cherry blossom blazer. It is reinforced with all of the protective spells she has learned over the years. (she even learned how to sew dimensional pockets and now she has magic pocket that function like her yoyo. She also made gear for the rest of her team bc she wants to protect them) she starts riding the bike her Nona got her because it matches the aesthetic and she can’t just walk to school like she could in middle school.

Marinette now takes no BS and is fully prepared to put people in their place. When her senior year starts people are shocked to see bubbly Marinette turned to quiet, bully Marinette has become (visually) the bad influence that they all thought she was. Busiter’s class has been together since the Hawkmoth Sitch started because they were known as the Akuma class and it was just easier to keep track of them. Kagami was allowed to transfer to this class. (her mother thought it would help strengthen her emotional resolve after she got Akumatized) Thus toxic habits from bustier were enforced. Marinette was forced to remain class president bc bustier thought it would help Lila mature (which obviously didn’t happen). Marinette now has more time so she apples to the Wayne scholarship program to see if they can get a sponsored trip. (they do bc Marinette is awesome. she really applies to have a class trip to Gotham because she wants to uphold that promise to herself and training under the bats would do that and she wants to check Gotham out before she commits)

By the time they go on the trip Luka and Marinette are official but have discovered that they feel like something is missing in their relationship. (they have tried different forms of polyamory, but haven't found anything that fit them yet) Luka has been working with Jagged for almost a year at that point bc Jagged is his dad and its a good way to reconnect. So he flies to Gotham before the class bc he can take that time off so he can spend time with his girlfriend uninterrupted by jagged or her parents. He also planned a bunch of dates bc most everywhere in Paris holds a dramatic memory.

I am going to make a part 2 bc this is long and they haven’t even met Damian yet

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