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phantom-of-the-ruckus · 3 years ago

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In Defense of Abuela Alma

It will be a bit surprising to say that one of my favorite characters from Encanto, was Alma Madrigal. As far as I see, the majority of the fandom doesn’t really seem to like her as a character or as a protagonist in general. It appears that the fandom seem her as villainous rather than antagonistic (which is her actual role.) After talking with a fellow Tumblr pal, I decided to give Alma a small the defense in regarding her role as a character.

Disclaimer: I am not going to justify Alma’s actions as she’s clearly in the wrong in the movie, but I will defend her as a broken woman with good intentions but who never really saw the way for her mistakes instead of a cruel figure who gets “redeemed” because of power of love. Still, I am going to adress her flaws as a character, and give my perspective on the roots. Still, there will be not justificiations, and this is just for entretainment :)

She’s a very complex character and an amazing example of how grief and trauma can affect us.

I’ll break my defense through parts and also take my family experience and my perspective as an actual Colombian woman from a similar family structured as Los Madrigals in Encanto (and maybe go over the reasons about why I never really dislike or hate Abuela.)

I am not here to change minds, but just rather present my perspective on Abuela in this very long post. I’m also doing this for fun and talking it as a fun writing exercise :D

Part 1. Alma is an antagonist, not a villain

Before y’all come to bash me with the whole “Aren’t those the same thing?” Let me tell you that an antagonist and the villain are not the same thing. This honestly is one of my biggest pet peeves in storytelling.

Yes. A villain can be an antagonist (which is mostly the roles), but an antagonist isn’t necessarily a villain. Let’s get through the basic definitions.

A villain is an evil doer who purposely harms people and will directly oppose the hero or protagonist with the intent of harm.

An antagonist, is someone who opposes the view of the hero but doesn’t necessarily mean that they have bad intentions.

Abuela Alma never had bad intentions throughout the movie, but she opposed Mirabel’s view on how the magic could be saved and what is really tearing this family apart. She never really tells Mirabel off with bad intentions, she just has a different perspective that opposes her which creates conflict.

The reason of why we Alma is seen in a bad light is because we are seeing Mirabel’s point of view in the entire situation. We know how Mirabel feels and how she feels, but we don’t really see the full Alma Madrigal in the film but rather glances of her that make her seen as the “bad guy” of Mirabel’s story.

Still, that does NOT justify Abuela’s terrible actions. I’m just stating that we don’t get to really see how Alma perceive things which can explain (NOT justify) the way she acts.

One of the things I find interesting when analyzing characters (still, taking from the previous point) is how the story can actually shifts perspectives, roles, and overall who is the actual good guy of the story. Encanto doesn’t have villains, it just have complex antagonist that challenge Mirabel’s POV (like the town talking terribly about Bruno, or her difficult relationship with Alma.) Just like the town’s perspective of Bruno, Alma’s perpective on what’s right is meant to clash with Mirabel’s perspective on the things, which creates conflict and advances the story but doesn’t necessarily make anyone from the sort the antagonist.

Of course that many people were wrong about Bruno and what was really causing the conflicts, but there are not really strong reasons to make them villains. Not to mention that the movie is not about who is wrong or who is right, it was about a dysfunctional family accepting themselves, which really highlights Alma’s role to oppose Mirabel’s view but also represent the other side of the argument.

Alma’s antagonical role, in structure wise, represents the argumentative side in oposition to the role Mirabel plays in “Encanto.” She, as a character, perfectly balances out Mirabel better than the town or any of the family members like Isabela (who also seems to have conflict with Mirabel in the story), and her interaction with Mirabel throughout the movie is more intense because they are kind of the two sides of the same conflict:

What is really best for the Madrigal family and how can we preserve the magic?

Still, everyone’s entitled to their own perspective and opinions and portray the character as they want. I just disagree with the way some people portray Alma, which is fine not everyone is going to like her, but I feel that she is a great character to analyze over rather than just say she’s a bad person.

Part 2. Abuela does love and cares for Mirabel and her family, She’s just taking her role as the matriarch of the family.

Alma can be seen as quite cold and strict for being an abuela and placing a lot of pressure under her family, which can make believe she only cares about their gifts. Let me tell you that my Abuela was certainly like Alma when growing up with her. Just as Alma, my Nana lost her husband at a pretty young age and had to take care of six children all by herself. Based from stories my mom and my aunts told me about my Abuela, she was quite stern and could be quite mean at times, but that was the way she was raised as and she had a lot to carry (plus grieving over her death husband.)

They never justify her actions, but they mentioned that my abuela had to make a lot of sacrifices just like Alma had to make. She made a lot of mistakes, but did what she thought was best for the family and as the matriarch. Abuela is very respected in our family as a woman who rose from poverty and raised my amazing family by herself, and now gets to travel a lot + she’s a very sweet woman with a gentle soul who makes mistakes as a human being.

So, I could see a lot of my abuela in Alma Madrigal. Both had to be stern because she needed to keep order around the house as a matriarch. At first glance you could believe my Abuela didn’t care about us just like people believe that Alma doesn’t, but in reality both always thought about their family in the actions they took. I’m not going to say that they were the right actions, but both have good intentions.

Now, let me talk about the important role Alma has as the family’s matriarch and abuela. Maybe my Hispanic culture is a lot different from other cultures (I’m taking the American perspective, since I live in the U.S.), but Hispanic abuelas aren’t your sweet old ladies that bake cookies. They are quite stern, strict, and will not hesitate to correct you, or hit you with a chancla for misbehaving. Still, they show how much they love you in their own though way just as Alma does with her family. After watching once against the breakfast scene. Let me tell you that is Alma is acting just as a Hispanic abuela and a matriarch would. My abuela was quite stern and strict with me, but she only wanted to see me grow into the best version of myself just as Abuela wants for her family.

I’ll go on to talk about the probably reasons of her “cold demeanor” and the pressure she places in the next section because I noticed something important about her role in the story and story building of the movie that I don’t know if it is addressed in here, but I’ll address it anyways because it is very important about understanding Abuela Alma in Encanto.

Anyways, I was rewatching as many scenes with Alma interacting with the other family members, and I was trying to look upon her expressions and her tone of voice. I found myself chuckling at how cute her positive interactions were or how soft her tone was when she spoke (when she was not upset.) I honestly love the way she speaks with Mirabel in most of her scenes. Her tone is not cold or distant, she speaks with noticeable love and affection. Of course that she scolds her, but she still sounds caring. She just acts as a mother correcting her child with Mirabel in most of the misunderstandings prior to the whole climax of the scene.

I also loved the fact that, even though she didn’t really appreciate having animals on her seat, she thank Antonio for his consideration instead of scolding him for his actions. I know that some of you would say that she didn’t do that because he was a child, or that her parents were around, but in that same scene she scolds Mirabel. As I mentioned before, Hispanic abuelas will not hesitate to correct you if you did something wrong or scold you. That means that they don’t care if your parents are around, you’re never save from the chancla. I guarantee that fac based on experience.

Anyways, Alma in majority of the film treats her family with respect but is quite strict and a bit pushy, since she’s the leader of the Madrigals and the martriarch. Still, she genuienly showed cared for the family and never really was that mean to them. When she was angry or scolding them, for me (since my Abuela is like that) she was just taking her role and the duty to mantain things in order. She was correcting them when she felt whenever it was needed, but she does show love and appriciation for them in her tone of voice. Still, she made serval mistakes with her family, and that is not excuse to how they negatively affect it.

Before y’all come with the whole “She was blaming Mirabel for the magic being lost.” I think it was something she said in the heat of the momment, I’m NOT saying that what she said was okay, but I’m only saying that she never really meant that. In that scene Alma was probably upset over Mirabel for “misbehaving” (more on that in another section), and Casita being a mess. It also didn’t help that Mirabel was rambling about the magic, and Alma was having none of that. It had happened to me and many loved ones that we scream things that we never meant to say. We are just not thinking clearly. I do believe that is what happened with Alma in that scene as later in the film she tells Mirabel that was never her fault.

Note: I like of the cracks of Casita really represents how the family is really falling appart, and I just find quite heartbreaking the final cracks are dividing Mirabel and Alma after she tells her Abuela about why she is wrong.

This reinforces that Alma never really meant to put the blame on Mirabel, but she was super upset to her to think properly about what she was saying. I often find quite adorable that Alma actually got to think and reflect onn what Mirabel told her, and she does take full responsiblity about her failling to her family but also deciding on explaining the reason she acted the way she is.

Regarding the argument that Alma only cared about the gifts, I am not really sure that she did prioritize them as that’s what she cared mostly in the family. Thinking over how she says that she held her second change too tight, I think her pushing about the family and the desesperation of lossing the family rooted from the traumatic experience over loosing her husband and recieving a miracle that pretty much kept her remaining love ones safe.

Regarding her behaviors and how negatively she affected her family, there is not a real excuse or justification of her actions. Just like Alma said, the family is quite broken because of the mistakes she had made.

Part 3. The surface pressure of being a martriach, a town leader, and a immigrant woman

As I thought more about what other reasons Alma was behaving the way she was, I started to think more about her role not only in the family but rather in the town. I decided to look back over how she got the miracle and first song of the movie. We know that the candle is the source of magic within the Madrigals and gave her Castia (one of the best characters in the movie.) I was like ok, so Casita and the magic was that keep safe everyone from the dangers of outside. Then, I decided to look back and think about Abuela’s verse in “Family Madrigal”

I then realized that everyone in town looks up to Alma as the martriarch of the Madrigals and some sort of town leader.

Taking that fact, I started to understand a bit more about why Alma didn’t really discuss about the magic fadding, and made empatize with Alma more as a character. She may well not have any powers like Mirabel does, and she pushes her family for the town, but we have to remember one thing:

Alma has to look for an entire town herself, and she’s responsible for making sure everyone is safe and keep order around. That is a lot of preassure for one woman alone, not to mention she also has a family to take care of.

It does make sense that everyone will look upon Alma as some sort of leader becasue she was the one who recieved the miracle and her family has magical abilities. This is pretty much confirmed after Alma has to go to town to reassure the magic is undercontrol (before Isabela’s “What Else can I do.”) Which also explained a lot why she chose to lie when Mirabel told her that the magic was dying. She in fact believed Mirabel, but Alma had also to balance her duty and bring reassurance that she got everything under control. Still, that was pretty wrong

I think that part of Alma’s demeanor can also be taken that she was to act strong not only for her family and for the town. @learningisfun2021 and I talked about Alma and Encanto (because we both loved the movie) and I talked to them about making this post and whether they had suggestions about it. A big shout out to them for suggesting Alma’s struggles and how she lived in a new place as an immigrant. I think it does humanize more Alma as a character, and gives more layers to this wonderfuly composed character.

As a Colombian immigrant myself, I can understand a lot the rough path Alma had to go through. Just like many immigrants, Alma and her family were forced to leave and find a new place to leave. Alma got one of the worst cases, which was living during a violent time, let alone seeing her husband sacrifice himself in order to protect his family leaving a young woman to raise three children all by herself. Not to mention than she ended up becoming the martriach of the Madrigals, which is quite a large family. As an immigrant woman responsible for her family, Alma had to look the best for her family and making strong sacrifices to keep them and with the intentions for them to grow although is not always what they need.

For example, trying to keep Pepa from causing storms (not with the malicious intention to refrain Pepa from expressing herself, but because the weather could be “dangerous.”

Or, trying to arrange a marriage for Isabela believing that it was probably the best for her. Which is another mistake she made as a grandmother as a parent, but also reflect on the way she percieve things and probably it’s was something to be expected in the year this movie is set in.

Anyways, over years of experience and trying to keep not only her family safe but an entire town, Alma had a lot to endure all by herself and probably more things (+ living with her traumatic experience), which can be assimilated with the immigrant experience Things like sending your children to a better place, not fully knowing if they would see them again, work a lot of hours with little pay just to mantain their families, breaking their backs to bring at least bread to eat.

We don’t know much about what other sacrifices Alma had to make since everything is on Mirabel’s story, and I do think this is reflected through Mira telling Alma that she endured and went through so much for the ones she loved. I honestly love the escene where they reconcile and I think what really makes the butterflies flying around something more beautiful it’s probably correlated at the last point of this post before the conclusion.

Anyways, talking back about immigrants, we have to admit that they are quite brave and have to endure a lot. I always tear when I hear many immigrants stories about how they had to face poverty, death, and strong difficulties to become happier and successful in life. Although sadly this is not always the entire case of the situation. Still, I do believe that Encanto did made great connections with Alma’s back story with some immigrants.

I also wanted to mention that I found adorable Mirabel crediting Alma for her bravery and taking care of an entire family and rasing three kids all by herself after experiencing a traumatic experience. It does show that Mirabel still somewhat looks up to Alma not only as the martriach but as a model woman just like many other immigrant single mothers are.

Part 4: Abuela and Mirabel: Understanding one’s history and learning from the other.

I was rewatching some of Abuela’s interactions with Mirabel. I saw the scene when Mirabel mentions that she was making surprise decorations for the family, but Abuela kindly tells her that maybe she should step aside. At first, I thought that was a pretty douchey thing to do until I remember the conversation Mirabel had with her father earlier. In that scene he tries to comfort his daughter about being the one with not really having a gift, but Mirabel tells her that she’s totally fine.

As far was we know, Mirabel already grew over the fact that she doesn’t have a gift (but does feel left out about being the “less special one”), but I believe that perhaps the others don’t realize that fact. If Agustin believes that Mirabel just feels bad that she doesn’t have a gift, what if Abuela does see it the same way or rather differently. The more I thought about it, the more I started to realize that Abuela never really degraded Mirabel for being the only one without a gift (or an important role), but rather she just saw thought that Mirabel acted this way for not having a gift.

This is reinforced later in the film when Abuela tells Mirabel “Having no gift is not an excuse to misbehave.” In her perspective, Mirabel is trying so hard to be as helpful as she can because she feels bad for not being the one with a gift. Abuela Alma probably just feels guilty that Mirabel is getting in the way because she feels the need to do so. Changing my overall feelings over Alma’s real intentions in the scene where Mirabel tells her about that gift. Alma told Mirabel that maybe she should let the decorations to another person not because Mirabel didn’t have a gift to help, but rather that she felt guilty that Mirabel feel the need to bother to place decorations since she believes Mirabel’s actions root on the fact that she feel bad for not having a gift.

This is just a theory. There wasn’t any moment in the film where Alma blames Mirabel for not having a gift, she actually doesn’t really blame anyone for the manner. She probably believes is the magic, and probably carries the guilt of the fact she gave Mirabel the hope that she could get a gift.

Thinking more about it, I realize that this is showing how pretty much Alma and Mirabel don’t really understand each other. Mira not really understanding why Alma acts this way until she actually opens up about why she does, and Alma never fully understanding Mirabel until she expresses how she and everyone else feels under Alma’s pressure.

I think this is highlighted on each of their interactions, and perhaps the main reason about why they often seem to clash until the big argument on the climax of the movie. Throughout the entire film, Mira seems to see her grandmother as an authorative figure who just doesn’t seem satisfy with everyone’s effort, and Alma pretty much sees Mira as a young girl desperate to get her attention because she’s just not like the rest of the family.

This made think that Encanto does actually have a villain, but its a very common and well known villain which is:

Not communication.

One of the major themes in Encanto is communication. From the first interaction with Mirabel with her family to the last, the importance of communication was always present. The best examples where in the mayor songs where we got to find out what a character really felt like ( “Waiting on a Miracle”, “Surface pressure,” and “What else can I do?”)

But then, we have the villain song “We don’t talk about Bruno.” I know that Bruno is not the villain, but I’m calling this the villain song because majority of the stories being told highlight the real “villain” which is not communicating to actually get the full story.

Besides being the chachiest tune out all the songs, this song really reflects the issue around the Family of not communicating with each other properly.

From Pepa telling how Bruno made her “ruin” her own wedding due to a misunderstanding.

Dolores telling Mirabel that Bruno was not really understood very well and often got everyone confused.

Camillo most likely singing about the rumors he heard from his uncle

The town talking about how they were affected “due” to Bruno’s profecies.

Regarding, Isabela and Dolores verses at this point, I can’t see anything that really correlates to the main issue, so I’ll skip them, but the point is there. There was a clear miscomunication and things taken the in a way that is quite far off from reality or not exactly true. This actually does show between the final confrontation during the climax of the movie, and the reconciliation where Alma finally opens her eyes about the whole situation and decides to take the first step and finally talk things through which leads to both a beautifully done emotional and visually stunning scene through imagery (more on that) and music.

I keep thinking on what Mirabel and Alma tell to each other as their made up for a tremendous fight they have, and I’ll give my best take. I think its somewhat of a situation where Mirabel and Isabella learn from each other during “What else can I do” but its more on the emotional level. Mirabel pretty much told how she and the family over Alma’s constant pressure, so it was Alma’s turn to lament on the mistakes she made due to her blindness over the past and wanting to keep what made her family safe alive that she lost her way.

I think Mirabel telling Alma that she endured a lot in a way that shows admiration, is Mirabel not really saying that she forgives Alma for everything she done but rather it’s her way of telling her that she still loves and admires her for trying her best for looking out of the family (which I believe she original though Alma didn’t) This dialogue is a shift on Mirabel’s opinion over Alma and how she learned so much from talking to her and understanding her better.

Then, here comes one of the best moments of the movie, where Alma tells with love and genuiniety how much she loves Mirabel, and stops seeing her as the girl desperate because she has no gift, but just like Bruno stated, the real gift that the family could have:

The character brave enough to break the cycle of miscommunication and silence, to actually talk thing through with other for the best of the family.

Mirabel was the one who took the first step and started to encourage the others to do the same, and I think Alma decided to take the “first big step” as the martriach of the family when she sings this particular verse on the movie:

“The miracle is not the magic that you got.

The miracle is you.

Not some gift, just you.”

I don’t think she was appologizing over prioritizing the gift more than they because there was never a scene or discussion about it. It was all about the pressure and expectations but not really about having gifts or not because Felix, Agustin, and Alma don’t have gifts just as Mira. I think this relates to the family stepping foward and accepting themselves and communicate more.

Alma, in my humble opinion, was taken away the idea that the family was never enough for her as she appoligizes and tells them that regardless of her past mistakes and pressuring for their gifts, they were the real gift she had and the real reason why she held so tight and push foward. She’s reassuring them that she loves them.

Note: I was trying to think about what point I could make about Alma and Bruno. I still not really defend her actions, but I think she thought Bruno left because he just stopped caring or it was the most plausible reason she could think. Bruno never really mentions that he gave the phrophecy to Alma before leaving, and the scene shows that he left that same day he created it. Based on Dolores’ information during “We don’t talk about Bruno” we know that the family didn’t really understand Bruno’s prophecies, but what if they didn’t really understand him as well as he is an adorable quircky fun uncle.

I don’t think Alma really believed that Bruno didn’t cared for the family, but it was probably the best explanation she got. Her tone was harsh, but it reminded me of an authorative figure trying to impose...well their authority. Anyways, I do think that it was tough for Alma dealing with her missing son (another traumatic experience to the list) and it really shows when she reunites with him when he comes to defend Mirabel.

Her expression and the fact that he first thing she does is embrace him, just shows that Alma was just as heartbroken as her daughter’s where for Bruno’s dissapearance.

Part 5: The uggly side of trauma, the mistakes of parenthood, and the flaws of the human being.

This is going to be one of the hardest things to do and talk about as it’s a pretty delicate subject. The climax of the movie shattered me because I kind of related a lot to Mirabel but also it reminded me of many situations I shared with a family member I don’t exactly have the best relationship with. I understood the raw emotion and the anger, which I did relate a lot, but it was after the reconciliation that made me love and appriciate Alma as a character.

Dos Oruguitas is one of the most shattering scenes and hardest to watch because I just cried over the emotionally powerful song and the visuals which represented Alma’s pain pretty well. I felt moved and I related a lot my nana and my mom with her character. Loosing your husband at a pretty young age and in a horrific way it’s a very traumatizing thing to live day to day, not to mention that you now have to fend for yourself and three defenless babies.

After knowing this information, Alma’s character becomes much more simpathetic because we now understand why she’s pressuring herself and the family so much, and why she keeps mumbling about the magic being strong and keeping the miracle alive. It was never about being the most important thing for her but:

It was the thing that keep her family safe for 50 years, and lossing it kick in Alma’s trauma into loosing those who she loves and care the most.

I mentioned that Alma has a lot the pressure over being the martriach of the Madrigals and having an entire town looking up to her, but I never really mentioned the actual pressure she placed on herself. Although she was suffering, Alma put the pressure on herself to be the strong woman, mother, and eventually grandmother that her family needed. To her perspective, any sign of weakness could impact those around her negatively so she ought to herself to be strong and brave even though that meant almost looking as cruel and careless.

This sense of feeling weak is bad stems from her trauma. I never been in a situation like Alma was, but I did live a traumatic experience during a camp where I felt humiliated and weak. As I went through that situation, I was battling with myself because I didn’t want to be seen as helpless or weak. Trauma can affect us on a great impact, and for me feeling weak was just the worst feeling I ever wanted to feel and I think Alma felt that way too. Throughout the movie she never really show vunerabiltiy until she never opened about her trauma with Mirabel which was proably one of the hardest things to do for the strong head of the household.

As I read in different post about Alma, and something interesting that @tenapricots mentioned (shoutout to you <3) was that Alma was an interesting example of a realistic portrayal of trauma and the mistakes of parenthood, and I honestly couldn’t agree more. Alma is just an amazing example of a very human character dealing with difficult thing like trauma in a very real and realistic manner. Not to mention that the movie is also about parenthood and the mistakes parents made (note the short released along with this movie: Far from the Three) so I’ll give my take on this points.

1. The uggly side of trauma - Alma obsessively holding what’s protecting her family and trying to reassure that the magic is strong, and denying the reality, can be seen as Alma’s trauma speaking through her. We know that Casita and the magic from the candle were what kept Alma safe. She does mention that in the movie when she’s talking with Mira on the place her husband dies. She laments that she wasted her second chance holding what keep her safe too tigh out of that same fear that without it she was going to loose her family. Yes, it is far from the reality, but keep in mind that loosing her husband in a horrific way was quite scarring to Alma, and seeing her desperately wanting to hold together and protect those who she love is a perfect way of showing how trauma can affect us.

2. The mistakes of parenthood- Just like everyone, Alma made a lot of mitakes just as many parents does. One of her biggest mistakes was not really encouraging to let her children really express themselves because Alma never really expressed how she felt because her mind was all around being the strong figure her family needed. Her mistakes of parenthood can be seen through mostly Pepa and Bruno. Pepa having struggles with her emotions, and Bruno really feeling downgraded because his prophecies weren’t exactly what others wished to see.

3. The flaws of the human being.- One of the aspects that make love Alma are her imperfections. I personally believe that if you love a character, at least you have lo love the good and the bad and not just one side. Alma is never really represented as the villain of the story or the bad guy, but just an any human being who makes mistakes but it also willing to fix those mistakes at the end.

I also heard many other comments from the Hispanic community that Alma sharing her trauma with Mirabel was also something that it not very seen quite often. Sharing your traumatic past experiences is something really tough that could be both rewarding or a terrible mistake in the worst escenarios, but let’s focus on the positve. Alma sharing her trauma with Mirabel is one of the most important scenes to understand her character. It give us the real Alma, when she’s not trying to be strong, but someone who saw the error of her ways and decided to start over right and take the first step to heal.

That moment was her realization that she didn’t have to be always strong, but also she had to be true to herself and start seeing her imperfections in a postive light and something on how she can improve.

It gives hope and opens her eyes about how much she have been missing due to her fears blinding her way.

Now, let’s move to the part I am most eager to tak about:

Part 6: Cien Años de Soledad (One Hundred years of solitude) and the meaning of the yellow butterflies.

“Cien Años de Soledad” is by Gabriel Marquez Garcia (One of the most important author’s in Colombia) is a very important book to both Hispanic literature and one of Gabo’s most famous works. Since this work is certainly a must do reference in the movie, which they did through the yellow butterflies (one of the most remacable imagery used in Gabo’s novel.) I knew that the yellow butterfies were a reference to Gabo, but I started to wonder if there was another meaning to it other than referencing Gabo.

Sadly, I never read the Novel to give my full on perspective and a comparison to the it and the movie. I did try to make some research on what’s the book is about and wondered if perhaps Encanto drew some inspirations from it. The book and movie have some surface similiarities like having a magical town with fantasy elements, and focus the story about a family. Those are the things I could correlate, but the book had a much serious story with quite dark elements like incest, sex, and some aliterations to politics. So there isn’t much that I can say about “One Hundred years of solitude” and Encanto other than the butterflies.

Anyways, I wanted to see if the scene with the yellow butterflies in Encanto had a similarities in meaning over the yellow butterflies presented in the book by Gabo, so I started to investigate over what did the butterflies meant and represented. There were a lot of differenrt takes, which kind of told me that there wasn’t an exact meaning to them as it appeared it was up to the readers interpretation. I decided to look into the character who was chased by this butterlies.

Some context of the book:

Mauricio Babilionia and Meme (Renata Remedios) two lovers from different family statuses. Meme is one of the descendants from the family the book is focusing about, and Mauricio Babilonia was an attractive poor mechanic. . Anyways, Fernanda (Meme’s mother) discovers this relationship and sends Mauricio Babilinio to be kill for “thief.” According to the story and what I read, he was chased around by yellow butterflies that marked his strance in the story until he dies.

Many people have different takes on what the butterflies mean, but the most famous meaning is about the passion, solitidude, and impossible love between Meme and Mauricio. The butterflies are a representation on how Mauricio feels about Meme until his tragic dead which is marked by the last butterfly dying.

After thinking about the meaning, I do think Encanto didn’t just place the butterflies because reference but it also hold a meaning that ties Alma and Mira together. The butterflies represent the change for the family as they decided to transform into the better and most beautiful versions that they could be, but also I think I can see the emotional and imaginery value that the yellow butterlfies represent during Alma and Mira’s conversation.

When Mirabel sees a yellow butterfly, is not only part of Bruno’s vision, but a beautiful reprensentation of Alma’s love for her family and her late husband. The butterflies have been always around the entire movie, but since we are on Mira’s feet, we don’t see them until now, and it’s done in a powerful way that references the book and gives it a original twist for the story. So when Mirabel sees the yellow butterfly, she understands Alma’s love and solitude.

If you listened closely, one of the tunes of “Dos Oruguitas” is present during Alma’s verse in “Family Madrigal” which ties Alma’s past with the family, but also is a subtle representation of the butterflies that follow Alma. I do think that there are more butterflies hidden, but you get the gist.

What made the scene more impactful to me, still talking about the butterflies and Gabo’s story, is how more and more butterflies start to surround Mirabel and Alma as their embrace is marking the change in the family as the verse from “Dos Oruguitas” is talking about breaking from their cocoons and moving to their future which is what the madrigal will be doing as they start to see in amazement the butterflies surrounding them simbolizing the end of the family solitude but also celebrating their strong love for each other.

It can also be a methaphor for all those years in pain and solitude the first yellow butterfly marks the start of hope and a new chapter for the Madrigal’s lives.

Abre los ojos, it’s the big conclusion

Overall, Alma is honestly one of my favorite charactes from Encanto. I just love that she has so much levels and quite an empathethic history that I can relate to my family. I understand why many may not be lean to like Alma as a character which is understandable. Everyone’s is entitled to their own opinion, and I am insterested to hear your thoughts and takes on Alma.

Feel free to coment and be respectful. Thank you so much for reading and I wish you a great day :D

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noodyl-blasstal · 2 years ago

Text

Scamming me, scamming you chapter 2

Kravitz is just trying to save the world and google his way through interpersonal interactions.

Read here or on A03.

Chapter one here

___________________

Kravitz had wondered if the email was too heavy handed, but a small part of him hoped he could shame the scammer into quitting. They weren’t as awful as some of the other ones he’d encountered, or, at least, they were much less skilled. To be honest, they usually tried a bit harder. Maybe this person was already working a few different marks? Kravitz made a mental note to step it up, there wasn’t much point in replying if he wasn’t distracting the scammer. He should probably mention being incredibly wealthy and emotionally vulnerable at some point… in a totally natural way.

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: RE: YOU’VE BAGGED YOURSELF A PRIZE! Body: Ooooh, so you’re basically just perfect then? Hottie who loves to help people. I’m not sure a simple idiot chef can match up, thank goodness I’m so gorgeous. I do love my job though, it’s nice to make people happy with cooking. I’m hoping to get my own food truck soon and stop having to work for other people. No one else has the vision for the full T-Experience!

So what else do you do aside from defending people from evil doers and being super smart?

That was more like what Kravitz expected. Here was the flirting, and the food truck? He was sure that there’d be an emergency with that soon which required some emergency money. Thank goodness T’s devoted boyfriend would be there to help fund his dream. Kravitz shook his head, and glared as he hit reply. Time to play this scammer like he should be playing his cello right now.

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: RE: YOU’VE BAGGED YOURSELF A PRIZE! Body: You’re very flattering, T! Thank you so much for your kind words - I appreciate it very much, although I’m not convinced I’m quite the person you paint such a beautiful portrait of.

I also get the feeling you’re not an “idiot” as you profess, it certainly takes a lot of intelligence to cook - I’m convinced I could burn cereal. The food truck sounds like a really interesting idea. What kind of food would you make?

I have to admit that I do spend a lot of time working, it makes it hard to meet people, but thankfully my colleagues are lovely. It’s not great for dating though! I never know where to meet people… My colleagues are exceedingly married even if they aren’t officially dating. On the upside, working all the time means I don’t have time to spend any money! Great news for retirement. How about you? What do you like doing when you’re not cooking?

Kravitz.

There, that would do it. It told T he was single, didn’t have any prospects, was isolated from people, and had money. It may also have been a little bit true, but that didn’t matter.

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: RE: YOU’VE BAGGED YOURSELF A PRIZE! Body: Hey, don’t doubt me. I know what I’m talking about. You’re a catch!

Burning cereal sounds like a specialist skill, my guy. I’d love to see you in action. If it’s as impressive as I’m imagining, I might fully pivot from the Mexican food I had planned into the flaming cereal market! Bet it’d go down well on instagram.

Working all of the time is definitely tempting when you’re committed to something. I can only imagine I’ll be working all the hours soon. I'm a baller chef so things will pick up fast once I get going! Hopefully the money will happen after that. Right now I’m working every shift I can get my hands on in the hope of escape. I usually love to fish, but I haven’t done that in a long time. It’d be nice to go again sometime.

Sounds like we both need to find some free time!

Kravitz was pleased, the emails were much more substantial than the first one and the replies were quick. He had the scammer on the hook! The replies kept coming. This guy was good, (Kravitz was fairly sure it was a guy), he really could choose to believe that T liked him. Thankfully Kravitz was too smart for that.

It wasn’t until three months in that he realised he knew T’s schedule. T hadn’t emailed yet and that meant he was working through his break again. Kravitz sent a conciliatory message telling him to look after himself before he even thought about it. T worked too hard and he didn’t get paid enough, he basically ran that place and Jenkins got to take all the credit? It wasn’t right. T deserved better… But, T wasn’t real. He was a dream manufactured to pull Kravitz’s walls down and take advantage of him, he was a reflection of things Kravitz said, things they thought he’d like. It was okay though, he was strong enough to do this, he just had to remember that it wasn’t real. He kind of wanted it to be real.

______________________________________________________________

Taako washed his hands as fast as possible and grabbed for his phone, his hair felt ready to crawl off his head and he definitely had flour streaked across his face after the mixer-incident, but priorities. Now that it was finally happening, he had no idea why he had put off speaking to Krav (it was only fair that Taako got to give him a nickname too) for so long. It was just, well, nice? Talking about stuff was easier if you didn’t have to look at anyone while you did it.

Obviously Lup and Barry told him lots about Kravitz, Taako knew that he was working with them on an extended project doing something good for humanity which involved computers. Taako knew that he bought his lunch every day because he was a terrible cook (not because he specifically asked Lup about that or anything, he wasn’t planning on cooking for the guy). Taako knew that Krav asked about Taako too, but probably just in the polite ‘asking questions about your colleagues’ family to show I was okay after that time I got skeeved out when they hit on me because I thought they were you’ kind of way. But now, they could just ask each other stuff? Maybe, maybe now that Kravitz knew he wasn’t Lup, and knew he was still interested (Taako was laying it on thick, okay?), they’d actually be able to try going for a date or something? Taako was pretty convinced he could sit across a table from this guy and hold a conversation without panicking or staring too hard at him.

Taako’s face warmed when he saw there were two emails waiting for him - one continuing the conversation that had been running for months, and another sweet one hoping that he got a break soon. Krav was such a dork, he’d learned his schedule? Taako was not used to anyone outside of the family caring so much. He quickly ducked out of his apron, wrestled it into the bag he grabbed from his cubby, and wormed into his jacket as he finally escaped out the back door.

Before he replied, he took a moment to lean against the miserable grey wall outside the restaurant. Today’s shift had been hellish. Between shitty customers, missing ingredients, and the mixer refusing to do its one job, Taako just needed a minute to feel human again. He let his head thunk back against the brick and let the cool sensation seep into his skin. He was off the clock now and he had a whole day and a half to himself. Maybe tomorrow he could just casually drop by and surprise Lup and Barry with lunch? It would just be a happy coincidence if he saw anyone else while he was there and maybe just possibly happened to have something spare for them… Taako always over catered.

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Take a break Body: Hey Krav, chaboy really appreciates you, you know? No breaks for me, only mixer wrestling, cleaning up the resulting flour explosion, trying very hard not to fight the customers, and working out how to make our signature dish without three of the ingredients (I did it because I’m amazing, natch.)

Did you have a good day?

I’ll reply to the other message later, but right now chaboy’s going home for the world’s longest bath.

T xxx

So, maybe the kisses had crept back in after Lup’s first disaster message, and maybe they’d increased slightly over time. But Krav was nice and he had reciprocated too. Reply sent, Taako couldn’t wait to go submerge himself, it was probably the only way he was going to feel remotely human again. There was no chance the shitty shower would hold out long enough for that to happen, and he had to look his best tomorrow… for no reason.

_______________________________________________________

Kravitz kept waiting for the request for money to come. Surely T would have had a terrible accident or needed some money for his best friend’s sick chinchilla or something? He hadn’t even gotten a massive inheritance he wanted to share but just needed a little bit of money to help him with the court costs to release it. It never came. Bad things happened to him, it had been months, of course some bad things happened, but mostly he just shared them, joked about them, and moved on. Like today, the mixer had been giving them trouble for weeks and the manager refused to release funds to replace it. That was the perfect time to ask, Kravitz probably would have paid for one too if he didn’t know what was going on. Kitchen stuff didn’t cost that much, right? Plus, T deserved it. He was great at what he did and he should have the right equipment to use. It was strange that he hadn't used the opportunity to grift Kravitz.

The timeline didn’t really fit with anything that Kravitz had read about romance scams either. T should be declaring his love by now, but aside from adding a few kisses into his messages here and there, he hadn’t done that either. Crafty bastard was clearly pioneering some new technique. Kravitz wasn’t sure what to do, it was important to know how the scams developed over time, and T was easy to talk to so it wasn’t even remotely taxing to keep up the distraction. Plus, selfishly, it was nice to speak to someone. Kravitz enjoyed his job, he was good at it, but it was hard to work out how to meet people around his schedule. Yes, he could definitely work less hours, and okay, he could take less work home, but how did you even make friends as an adult anyway? It was basically just dating and he’d always sucked at dating. Regardless of the type of relationship you were trying to form with someone you had to get to know each other and navigate the awkward stages. You did small talk, and then tried to make it big talk, or going for a coffee, and it was hard to know where to go from there. In college, sleepovers just happened because he lived in the city, taxis were expensive, and the bus service was terrible. You could just cuddle your friends and it was platonic and fine. But when you got older it was harder to navigate those boundaries and know when and how to even try asking. Did adults still have sleepovers and sleep together if it wasn’t about sleeping together? No one really talked about it. Maybe he should ask T…

Kravitz did have friends, Lup and Barry were his friends, but that certainly hadn’t been simple. He worked with them, so they were always around, a captive audience worked best for his social skills. They started by talking about work, and okay, he absolutely came off as a pompous prick, but they kept ignoring University policy. After a particularly tense meeting which led to a scolding by senior management, Barry, looking exhausted, suggested they go and get pizza. Barry was a smart man. By the time they’d demolished pizzas, garlic knots, and scolded Barry for ‘forgetting’ to order the dairy free cheese, they couldn’t exactly remember what their issue was. From that point on, Kravitz had friends. They chatted in work, they went out for coffee, and grabbed dinner together. Barry went to gigs with him; he and Lup told Barry they were watching incomprehensibly artsy movies and then trashed terrible rom coms on Netflix. But Lup and Barry were busy people, and Kravitz didn’t want to solely rely on them for company, so a lot of the time he just did things by himself, or at a distance with Sloane back in Goldcliff. Lup and Barry asked him to group events regularly, but he was so terrible with people that he never went. They had to learn to get on with him, the others had a choice in the matter.

Perhaps this situation with T was highlighting that what he had right now wasn’t enough, that he was more lonely than he realised? Maybe he should take Barry and Lup up on the next invitation? If he liked them then it made sense he’d also like the people they liked. It would be nice to meet Taako again if nothing else. He loved hearing stories about him and Lup always had plenty. In fact, he was a chef too… Bollocks. Was he just projecting with T? Was that the real reason he was so interested in talking to him? A chef whose name began with T who (said he) was beautiful, basically the same man. Yeah, definitely more of a reason to accept an invite. Seeing Taako again would be good, it would be nice to have a do-over after the Candlenights party situation. To be fair to Kravitz, Lup hadn’t mentioned that she had a brother, let alone that they were identical twins and shared a wardrobe. He definitely wished she’d clarified in advance… although was it weird to have a crush on the identical twin of his colleague? Another good reason to never interact with people ever again. Interacting with T was safe, that was just keeping him preoccupied so he couldn’t do crime. Interacting with T was a public service, it didn’t matter what T thought of him because he was just trying to scam him! T wouldn’t care if he looked the same as his sister and Kravitz still fancied him, because T wasn’t real.

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Question Body: T, do adults still have sleepovers? Krav xxx

May as well get some answers to his questions in the process.

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Question Body: Well good morning to you, Krav. Buy me dinner and we’ll see what we can do. T xxx

Oh... That wasn't... Fuck.

That also shouldn’t be such an interesting offer. Sure they'd chatted about sex a bit, but that was just part of the scam. So were the photos. Kravitz wrestled the flutter of excitement about seeing T down. This wasn't about anything but doing a good deed. Yes, he definitely should have clarified platonic sleepovers, but he couldn’t do that now, it was too awkward. Although... he asked for dinner, maybe this was T asking him for money? Was it finally happening? Maybe at dinner Kravitz could confront him and make him stop doing crimes? Yeah. This was important for public safety. The only sensible and logical option here was to play along.

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Question Body: I could be persuaded to do that, Krav xxx

He turned his phone over so he couldn’t see the screen. Glanced nervously at it. Turned it back over. Thought better of it, and lobbed it into his desk drawer. He didn’t need to think about that right now. He had actual research to get on with.

Kravitz was fully absorbed in a case study, reams of notes next to him with different concepts highlighted and research topics which might give him further context. He’d barely noticed that he’d missed coffee break and almost lunch until Lup knocked and poked her head round the door. “Hey Kravitz, just need a quick word.” She walked in and closed the door behind her. That wasn’t a good sign, that meant it was serious.

“Is everything okay?” Kravitz asked, nervously. Usually Lup would just invite him to lunch or offer a drink from the doorway, any serious meetings happened in the Bluejeans-Taaco office because it was bigger.

“Absolutely, we just need to have a quick chat about the massive crush you have on my brother because he’s on his way in.” Lup kicked her legs up onto the table and didn’t look even the slightest bit phased by the topic of conversation. Kravitz debated exactly how mortified he’d have to be to expire on the spot. He didn’t think he was far away from it.

“I.. You… I don’t… It’s…” Kravitz replied, eloquently.

“Uh huh, great point.” Lup replied. “Anyway, so he’s on his way and I wanted to warn you so you could get used to that idea because I know surprises aren’t a thing you do well with.” Lup didn’t say it with malice, and she was absolutely right. Kravitz did not do well with surprises.

“I don’t have… I’m… He’s coming here?” Kravitz was definitely thinking in whole sentences. They just didn’t seem to be making it out of his face right. “Am I that obvious?” Of course, of course that would be the sentence he could do. The one admitting he fancied her brother.

“Oh, my guy.” Lup shook her head. “You’ve been asking for stories about him every day for at least six months.” She still didn’t look angry. Kravitz was relieved, but still not entirely ready to go down without a fight.

“It’s just polite to ask about your friends’ family!” Kravitz said, he knew he was right. It was absolutely fine to do that, he’d considered it a lot because he knew he asked about Taako a lot. It was definitely okay though, because it was his friend’s sibling and you were allowed to do that - he’d Googled it and it said it was polite and showed an interest in their lives.

“Uh huh, what’s Barry’s sister’s name?” Lup’s grin was evil, with good reason. Did Barry have a sister? Kravitz didn’t think he had a sister… Wait, no, he’d got it!

“Jean!” Kravitz replied triumphantly. Lup stared at him wide eyed for a long moment before she howled with laughter. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the right answer. Lup was gasping for breath and Kravitz was fairly sure he saw a tear rolling down her cheek.

“Just… Just to clarify, Professor Kravitz. Multiple PhDs, many publications, foremost expert in his field.” Lup began, pausing occasionally to choke back a laugh. This definitely couldn’t be good news for him. “Just so we’re on the same page. I’m going to repeat this back to you.”

Kravitz nodded quickly hoping this would be over soon. Maybe it wouldn’t become a story? It would be nice if it didn’t become a story.

“You think the sister of the esteemed Professor Barry Bluejeans is called Jean Bluejeans?” Lup let the silence hang a second. “Jean Bluejeans.” She repeated.

“I… was joking?” Kravitz tried.

“Swing and a miss, my guy. There’s absolutely no escape from this one. You’re on your own with my brother, I have to tell Barold about his new sibling.” Lup leapt up, still laughing as she fled the room.

Kravitz sighed. Okay, so Barry didn’t have a sibling. Well, at least he didn’t have to feel guilty for forgetting her name… just for being the least subtle man in the universe. Wait… Had Lup told Taako? Did he know? Oh goddess, maybe Kravitz could just hide under his desk until they went away? Maybe there was a Wiki How for this situation?

Kravitz checked, there was not a Wiki How for the situation.

#Sometimes you just need a very specific wiki how #Look everything is completely fine and no one is bad at communication and I'm sure nothing will go wrong #TAZ Fic #taako #Kravitz #Noodyl Writes #lup tacco #TAZ Balance #Making friends as an adult is just the absolute worst and I love it when it happens but it's so complex

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tazwren · 4 years ago

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My two cents on the devolution of fandom spaces...

As a former mod of a fandom space and a woman of colour, I do not feel safe.

Seeing what has been done to so many in this fandom, by a particular group of white American women, in the name of moral policing is both abhorrent and demoralising. As it also is to repeatedly see the same narrative being shoved at everyone as the gospel truth.

A narrative that very conveniently either becomes about fic or has nothing to do with fic, depending on how people want to swing things. A narrative that will accuse a person of Jewish heritage of anti-Semitism, a person of colour of racism, a practising Muslim of being an Islamaphobe. A narrative that will define for you and me and all of us comprising this myriad of multitudes in the world what generational or personal trauma includes and what induces the same.

Those of you who know me, know what I’ve been dealing with the past few days & why I haven’t spoken up before now. Before I logged out a couple days ago, I saw what looked like more of the usual nonsense by the same group of people I’ve kept my distance from once their true colours were revealed. What I didn’t expect is that they would think themselves so above the norms of human decency and accountability that they would go after not one but two women of colour this time around in their rabidity. And many others who spoke up, as it turns out.

It hurts to see what these women, that I know of, have had to endure and to see the passivity of the community, save for a few voices, in sitting back and letting the circus rampage through town. It hurt when I was at the receiving end of it and it hurts now.

Why? Because it shows me a microcosm of the world that I don’t really relate to, that makes no sense to me with the values I was brought up with, and which reduces basic human decency to a commodity to be trampled upon and for you to be seen as weak for having. Because people who willingly laud you for your art / writing / wit, meet you with effusive claims of love and affection and friendship, who have no qualms in taking your help when it suits them, will throw you under the bus and let the wolves ravage you when it doesn't.

Before I get into that, let me talk a little bit about what has transpired over the past few days to a week, and what has been systemically taking place over perhaps the past year in this fandom.

One thing is that everyone who makes a statement about anything suddenly has people in their mentions demanding they show what gives them the right to hold that particular opinion. A critical thing people forget about fandom is that it is a place where people hide their identity for a variety of reasons, all valid, and this approach to fiction and conversations where everyone has to reveal every part of their past and identity as a means of establishing their "credentials" in order to present their views comes in direct contradiction with how fandoms operate. It violates people's rights to privacy.

The other is that there has been an increase in the voices that purportedly stand up to “speak for” the marginalised, the abused, those discriminated against and those who belong to minorities who “need to be protected / kept safe”. An admirable sentiment, to be sure. If it weren’t for the fact that none of these groups of people needed saving, speaking for or the protection of this particular group of voices.

Voices who only want to define and use these people as "model victims" to hurt other white women and establish their supremacy over both them and other POC. Voices that will present their "truth" as they see fit and sans context or present you with screenshots of snippets of conversations held in supposedly secure spaces that they have no qualms in violating in the interest of the "greater good" and claim offense / silencing if the misdemeanour is pointed out or action is taken against them, Voices that will conveniently categorize you as a "token POC" or "white adjacent" when you do not support or align with their narrative. Voices that belong to a predominantly white American group of women, whose real agenda, as is evidenced by their modus operandi, has nothing to do with real altruism or a drive for justice or indeed to right wrongs.

No, their agenda is purely power.

To hold sway over groups of followers, to shepherd them as though they are sheep who cannot think for themselves, and to set themselves up as white saviours who call out those who step out of line, or are deemed to be problematic and toxic and unsafe. To be the owners of the only "safe spaces" in fandom and to drive other groups and spaces to be boycotted or worse.

Now, I've long wondered, who indeed are these women to decide that for anyone? In a world comprising multiple cultures, religions, groups, subgroups, genders and which contains multitudes, who are these women and what gives them the right to foist their puritanical standards on everyone, very conveniently disguised as concern for the moral well being of everyone and the consumption, of all things, of fiction?

Certainly, there are many things in this world that people regard with justifiably equal dislike / horror / sadness. At the same time, there is much that is not shared, that is particular to a culture and to a person’s background. There is a multitude of perspectives that make the whole. And the white women of the United States of America have not cornered the market on what those are, or indeed even own any curatorship or censorship of the same. They cannot, because each person’s culture and background and joy and trauma is their own, as are their ways of dealing with it all.

That being said, let’s talk about their pack behaviour and the devolution I’ve witnessed on social media as basic human decency is bartered for clout.

I’m all for standing up for someone who doesn’t have a voice or a platform, or maybe afraid of repercussions to voice dissent. I’m all for being there for our fellow human beings as they face struggles of often unconscionable and unfathomable proportions. I’m all for holding people accountable for their negative behaviours as they impact the larger community.

What I am unequivocally NOT for is treating such situations as an opportunity to preach, to virtue-signal, to shame and to put on blast the alleged wrong-doers. I say alleged because that’s what most accusations are on these platforms—allegations to do with things that disturb our sense of balance or make us wrinkle our noses or that we deem bad, and therefore make the accused deserving of the full force of the community’s misbehaviour and censure.

I ask you if you were found guilty of a crime in real life—you know, the one away from your phones and keyboards—would you not have an opportunity to retain a lawyer, to plead your case in a court of law, to acquit yourself? Or, if found guilty, would you not have the opportunity for correction and rehabilitation? Yes, you say? (If you say no, then that explains the spate of state-perpetuated injustices across the USA, but that is a different matter).

Why then are people treated so abhorrently in this court of public opinion? What gives you, me, any one of us the right to judge people so vilely and with a metaphorical gun to their heads? What gives anyone the right to say you better agree with everything I say, retract everything you said and grovel for it or we will eviscerate you in public, shame you, force you to change or delete the content that offends us and still ostracise you and in some cases even threaten you with bodily harm or death, or doxx you?

Why is there no grace in how people are approached or dealt with? Whatever happened to allowing people to learn from their mistakes, where applicable, or hearing them out and giving them a chance to explain their side of something we may not fully understand?

Why is there no accountability for such behaviour on the part of the accusers?

What makes the rest of you sit back and allow this to happen? What makes you think this is in any shape or form okay to watch? Today, it is a virtual stranger at the receiving end, one you can distance yourself from quite conveniently saying Oh, she just mods a group I am in, or I only read their fics a couple times or I only followed them for their art or jokes or whatever flavour of excuse you choose. Tomorrow, it will be one of your own - or it may very well be you. And you'd better hope there's someone left to speak up for you.

The irony is you will have allowed it to happen by letting the wolf in the fold. By letting these white women manipulate you, and the community you claim to be a part of, so unapologetically, so maliciously and so unashamedly that before you can do anything about it the cancer has taken hold.

If this was happening in the world outside of social media, they would have to follow due process, to present real evidence based on facts (not based on emotions, rumours or perceptions) and would have to allow the person they are accusing to present a counter-argument, to defend themselves or be defended. Failure to do so is a miscarriage of justice and, depending on whether this is a professional or legal proceeding, they would either seriously risk their jobs or have the case thrown out of court. If not face action themselves for attempting to derail the process of justice.

Why then are they permitted to range so freely through the landscape of fandom, snarling and biting at who they please, or who displeases them?

I have no shame in saying I was at the receiving end of their behaviour for defending a friend they put on blast and I will tell you right here and now, I am a woman of colour who feels unsafe and attacked by these so-called self-appointed white saviours of your social media experience, these so-called upholders of the common morality—whatever that means—who will fight for you the evils of problematic and toxic writers who dare to have an opinion not aligned with theirs and who do not bow to their clout. Not that they care, so long as they can ignore this fact since it doesn’t fit their narrative. So long as they can ignore what has just been done to so many people in the name of cleansing the fandom.

If any one of these women were truly interested in alleviating the troubles and pains of the discriminated, the marginalized, the trauma-affected, I invite them to please come roll their sleeves up and help in the multitudes of troubles that wrack this world, not just in the backyards of their minds. My country is amidst a struggle for the basics of human life in this horrific pandemic and, prior to that, for basic constitutional rights for religious minorities. Do not patronize me and lecture me on trauma and racism and discrimination. Do not marginalise me in your attempt to pontificate and set your pearl-clutching puritanical selves above the rest, or assuage your white guilt.

A largely American audience or fanbase in this fandom is purely a function of access and interest—other cultures have vast followings for things you couldn't begin to fathom—and it doesn't mean you are entitled in any shape or form to be spokespeople for the rest of the world. We have no interest in being colonized again by white oppressors.

If you disagree with what I have said, I congratulate you on being a part of their coterie and wish you much joy in being the sheep in their fold. Kindly unfollow or block me on the way off of this post.

#fandom #fandom culture #bullying #gaslighting #gatekeeping #minorities #people of colour #real talk #toxic people #problematic behaviour #problematic authors #problematic fiction #fanfic #reylo #reylo fanfic book club #reylo fic recs #trauma #safety #accountability

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lady-divine-writes · 4 years ago

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Good Omens one-shot “At the End” (Rated PG)

Summary: When the angels and demons finally succeed in having their war, there's only one thing that Aziraphale and Crowley can do with the time Earth has left...

Say goodbye to their home. (1408 words)

Notes: I wrote this hoping I would be accepted into a zine that ended up being canceled. The theme was basically what happens after Armageddon.

Read on AO3.

"Wot do you think you'll miss most about Earth?"

"Really, my dear?" Aziraphale clicks his tongue in disgust, but he can't bring himself to look away from the chaos ensuing below them to berate his companion properly. "What a question to ask at a time like this!"

"I think this is the perfect time to ask that question," Crowley says, but without his teasing edge. He offers it sympathetically. They both have a similar connection to this planet, had an investment in it thriving, but Crowley feels Aziraphale's heart breaking more than his. "When you lose something, you mourn it."

"It's not entirely lost! N-not yet." Aziraphale chokes around the words. Even though they leave his mouth passionately, he knows he has sinned by saying them.

Not lost yet may be the biggest lie he's ever told.

The first few hours had been soul-crushing.

The moment Holy rays broke through the clouds and shone down from above, ethereal voices announcing the arrival of God's angelic army, a flock of the faithful came out in droves to greet them. They prayed, sang joyously, raised their voices to the Heavens, invoked every one of God's Holy monickers. It should have been a huge stroke to Her ego... if She had been paying attention.

From Aziraphale and Crowley's perch atop St. Paul's Cathedral, that doesn't appear to be the case.

Those God-fearing mortals were the first to get trodden underfoot as angels barreled over them to confront their enemy - an extremely vulgar and unnecessary display when one considers that angelic footsoldiers can fly.

Hordes of evil-doers emerged from hiding as well, in lesser, but equally exuberant, numbers. They seemed suspiciously more eager for the fight, proving that those who call themselves 'Christian' might outnumber worshippers of Lucifer, but demons had their zealots better prepared for what the end of times would actually entail.

Either way, it didn't matter.

Those humans willing to spill blood at the drop of a hat, even their own, were used as cannon fodder against a foe they couldn't possibly hope to defeat. Within seconds, thousands lay dead on the streets of London and, Aziraphale suspected, all over the world.

For their part, Aziraphale and Crowley refused to join the battle, but no one paid them a lick of attention. An angel cavorting with a demon was no longer an issue. They could finally do as they pleased without fear of retribution, albeit on a planet whose hours were numbered.

"I would have to say I'm going to miss my car," Crowley continues, provoking conversation in an effort to allay his angel's anxiety. "And my flat. And alcohol. Hell's bells am I going to miss alcohol."

"Pity we don't have some now. I think a hull full would find itself useful," Aziraphale adds in a weak attempt at humor.

"Wot about you? Will you miss the food? Your bookshop?"

Aziraphale sighs. "Humanity."

Crowley raises a brow. "Humanity?"

"Yes. Without humanity, the rest of it wouldn't have been possible." Aziraphale scans the carnage below, trying not to focus for too long on any one thing... or any one person. He's already seen too many faces he recognizes, twisted from agony. "Without humanity, it wouldn't have meant anything."

"I suppose."

A tortured voice rings out, but it's snuffed out quickly. Aziraphale doesn't know which side does it, but he shakes his head in shame all the same. “I thought She’d show them mercy. I thought that, in the end, She’d come through. Spare them. That She wouldn't allow them to suffer as bystanders in all of this.”

“I hate to be the one to say I told you so, but… ”

“Then don’t, my dear.” Aziraphale reaches out and takes Crowley's hand, pleading wordlessly for him to stop, but also needing him for comfort. “Where is She? Where has She gone? Why has She abandoned them?”

"You've been asking that question for generations. I would think, by now, you'd know the answer."

"But I don't. Perhaps I should... " Aziraphale swallows heavily, his attention pulled to the skies by a streak of gold, then one of violet, passing overhead. "They know," he spits bitterly. Crowley follows his angel's gaze to the trails above them, one which he assumes must be Gabriel's. "She's obviously told them."

"Perhaps not," Crowley says, not in an attempt to defend Her, but to soothe his angel. "Just like last time, they're doing wot they think is right. Following wot they believe."

"And what do they believe? I don't know! They've never told me!"

"You'd think you'd all be on the same page. I mean, there's a book about it and all."

Aziraphale scoffs at that. "I think you and I both know that the archangels, Gabriel in particular, have never held any stock in books. Books are primitive, human things. They have nothing to do with angels. Not even the Bible... " A host more gold streaks zip by, and Aziraphale's words trail off into nothingness. Of all the books in Aziraphale's collection, his Bibles have always been his favorites. And not just the misprinted ones. The words inside gave him comfort, especially during those long stretches when he didn't hear from God at all. Though written by man, they were imparted by Her (if he overlooked the dodgy editing).

But they're gone. Not a single one remains, not even in the church where they stand, its insides crackling, burning beneath their feet.

Earth had become Aziraphale's Eden. Now, so many things he held dear are disappearing before his eyes.

Crowley squeezes the hand holding his. "Come, my love. It’s time to leave the garden.”

Aziraphale's eyes snap his way. They linger on his face for a moment, then drop to their clasped hands. “6000 years on this planet and you choose today of all days to call me your love?”

“I'm sorry." Crowley inches closer, lifts Aziraphale's hand to his mouth and kisses it. "I really am. I should have said it sooner. But I’m going to take you to a place where I’ll say it every day. I promise.” He wraps an arm around his angel's shoulders, gently urging Aziraphale to leave before the battle brewing, showing no sign of slowing down until it has consumed every last brick, every last breath of air, swallows them, too.

But Aziraphale hesitates. "C-can't we take them with us?" He gestures down to a tattered group of frightened survivors - a shivering young woman, no older than twenty-five if she's a day, and three children, all under the age of ten - huddled in a narrow crevice created by a metal door off its hinges, sheltering them among the rubble of the church's ruined stairs.

They've found themselves a decent hideaway, Aziraphale thinks. But he knows they're simply delaying the inevitable. They'll be found out before too long, become collateral damage.

Like everyone else.

"We can't just leave them to die, Crowley."

"We have no other choice." Crowley's need to escape intensifies as he watches the poor humans, tastes their fear rise with the heat of the flames. "Besides, perhaps they'll pull through. You never know. Humans have always been resourceful. They might find a way."

"Do you honestly think so?"

"Yes," Crowley lies. He would give his angel anything in the universe, anything within his power. He's trying to give him faith.

Because he can't give him this.

They can't save anyone but themselves.

Crowley turns Aziraphale away, blocks his view by unfurling his dark wings, ready to lift his angel into the air on his own if Aziraphale refuses. "I'm sorry, my love. We must leave them behind."

Aziraphale relents, unfurling his own white wings and heading for the upper atmosphere, watery eyes focused on the where in front of him and not the destruction behind him, with Crowley's shard of hope keeping his heart pinned in place.

Crowley should do the same. Ignorance is bliss, after all. But like Lot's wife, Crowley peeks behind him one last time to say goodbye to this place that has been his home for most of his existence.

It was a wonderful existence, but mostly because he had Aziraphale there to muddle through with him.

At least Crowley will still have him when all is said and done.

The last thing Crowley sees before they breach the clouds is St. Paul's Cathedral crumble in on itself, leaving behind a mound of ash.

And nothing more.

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #ineffable husbands #crowley x aziraphale #aziraphale x crowley #aziraphale #Crowley

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daisymayjohnson · 4 years ago

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Prompt: Skimmons + dubious

From: @sad-tunes

Word count: 632

(Can be read as either platonic or romantic Skimmons)

“Hmm.”

“What?”

“It looks off,” Skye said with a frown.

Jemma blinked. “It looks fine to me.”

Skye shook her head slowly. “Nope, it’s off,” she said decidedly. “He’ll notice.”

Jemma bit her lip. “Okay. What do we do?”

“Hold on.” Skye grabbed the drying paint brush from Jemma’s hands and dipped it into their bottle of bright blue paint.

“What are you-”

“Hold on,” Skye repeated before squinting and adding a small dab below the toe on the figurine.

Jemma winced. “That’s such a small detail, are you sure you want to risk messing up the rest of the paint-”

“He’ll notice, I promise,” Skye said. “One time I very slightly bent one of his precious trading cards on accident- it took a boatload of promises to do inventory to get him to let me near his office again.” Skye pulled back and away from the figurine of Captain America, eyeing its fresh paint job. “That looks better. Almost like nothing happened.”

Jemma looked at the figure doubtfully. “This is a ridiculous plan.”

“It’s the best one we have. Unless you want to tell him that we spilled whiteout all over his favorite-“

“Hey guys, what are-”

Skye whirled around with a squeak, tucking the paintbrush and paint bottle behind her back.

Jemma stammered out a quick, “Hmm, oh uh- sponges?”

“Sponges?” Skye hissed at her with wide eyes.

“Sorry,” she cringed.

Coulson blinked at the both of them standing tensely in front of his bookshelf. “Is everything… okay?”

“Yep!” Skye replied with a suspicious grin.

He looked at them both closely and obviously knew something was up, but decided not to press the issue. “Have you seen Hunter?” he asked.

“Probably, um,” Jemma blanked. “Buying blankets.”

Coulson blinked at her. “Okay, thanks, Simmons,” he said, before leaving his office, shaking his head.

“Your lying skills have somehow gotten worse!” Skye exclaimed, moving over to the trash can and disposing of the paint supplies.

“I got better after being undercover in hydra,” Jemma defended.

Skye laughed. “Really. So randomly saying ‘sponges’ is an improvement?”

“It’s much harder to lie to Director Coulson than some evil-doers,” Jemma frowned.

Skye paused, seeing that Jemma looked genuinely upset.

“Oh, hey, I was kidding,” Skye said apologetically. “You did great at hydra. I couldn’t have done it, staying undercover with all of that pressure.”

“No, it’s fine,” Jemma smiled. “I’m still rather awful at lying. I mean, sponges?”

Skye grinned, glad that Jemma wasn’t too upset about Skye teasing her. “I’m not much better. One time May asked me to do extra training but I didn’t want to, and my on-the-spot excuse was that I had to babysit my brother.”

Jemma blinked at Skye. “You… don’t have a brother, Skye.”

“Exactly!”

They both dissolved into a fit of laughs, doubling over.

“May looked at me like I was insane,” Skye wheezed.

“I would’ve too!” Jemma replied.

Their laughs slowly tapered off into giggles as they remembered the situation.

“Coulson’s gonna murder us if he finds out,” Skye groaned. “We just have to pray he doesn’t.”

“Maybe we should tell May,” Jemma suggested. “She helped with Sitwell.”

“Yeah. But also this is Coulson, not Sitwell. Since I’m 80% sure they’re doing the horizontal hokey pokey together-“

“Skye!”

“-she will tell him we screwed up his figurine immediately.”

“They are not doing it together,” Jemma said with wide eyes.

“Sure,” Skye smirked. “Have you seen them look at each other in meetings? May and Coulson look at each other like they want to-“

“Skye?”

Jemma and Skye turned around to see May in the doorway of Coulson’s office, looking at them strangely.

“What-“

“SPONGES!” they both squealed at the same time, before bolting out of the office in fits of nervous giggles as May hid a smile.

#el: fic #agents of shield #aos #daisy johnson #agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.#melinda may #agents of shield fanfic #phil coulson #philinda #aosedit #jemma simmons #skimmons #bioquake #Jemma x daisy #fitzskimmons #aos drabble #aos fic #sad-tunes #fluff

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worstloki · 4 years ago

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Part 3

Fury: I cannot believe the Avengers No. 1 unattainable criminal right now is a seventeen-year-old twink Clint: I can’t believe you’re calling Loki a twink Tony: I can’t believe he's been the legal godparent of kids his own age for months and I didn't realise Steve: You didn’t get him removed? I thought you made Rhodey their legal godparents instead?? Tony: nah I removed Thor Natasha: ?? why would anyone do that ?? Fury, having a breakdown: we nearly lost New York and the entire world to a 16-year-old twink with daddy issues Clint: yoU just did it aGAIN- Tony, the only actual Avenger who knows Loki isn’t actually evil™: heY! Daddy issues are a serious thing! Don’t make fun of the guy for having a crisis and finding out his life was a lie and he’d faced over a millennium of abusive environment for nothing! Avengers: are you… defending Loki… the megalomaniac WAR CRIMINAL who turned every SHIELD facility into ice cream earlier today…? Tony, hands up in surrender: I’m saying maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to judge the guy. I wouldn't be able to guess what but maybe he had an ulterior reason for the New York fiasco? His normal stuff is usually harmless. Avengers: ... Tony: What? It could’ve been much worse. Strange, rolling his eyes: Yes, at least it wasn’t Stark Raving Hazelnuts Loki, who has been standing at the back listening to the entire conversation: That flavour is way too chalky to suit SHIELD anyways [everyone turns to Loki with their weapons ready, except Tony of course] Loki, raising his hands in surrender: what? A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge is way better, and its green, and for some reason they didn’t have a Loki flavour so that was the next best option-

---

Loki: hey Morgan what would you say if i offered you an officially evil part-time job with decent pay and extremely good evil workplace benefits? Morgan: do you offer evil dental? Loki: of course?? we also have A-Grade coffee 24/7 because top class extremely good evil deserves only the best Morgan: Excellent! I look forward to working with your evil team and being a part of your nefarious schemes and plots in future Loki: Thank you. Tomorrow we replace all Tony's vehicles with incredibly realistic wax models. Morgan: ...including the jets? Loki, scoffing: what kind of amateur villains would we be if we left his jets, boats, bikes and single vintage helicopter untouched Tony: its 4am can you maybe not have this conversation right next to me in my own workshop?!

---

Tony: I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WOULD REPLACE THEM WITH WAX MODELS Morgan: What kind of low-grade predictable villainous evil doers would we be if we did what we said we would Tony: oh $#!^ now you're speaking like him too Loki, cutting his shoulder to reveal cake: Just so you know, it wasn’t JUST the vehicles ;)

---

Peter: *following loki around with a notepad* Loki: Terribly sorry if you mind but he's MY intern now. Tony: You don’t think there’s anything wrong with what you’re doing, do you? Loki: I don’t think anything I’ve ever done is wrong Peter: *avidly taking notes and nodding along*

---

T’challa: I cant believe you filed an application for ‘time off’ Shuri: I NEED at least 3 hours a week reserved specifically for training if I want to keep my part-time job T’challa: you don’t NEED a job! You make up 90% of Wakanda’s research and development departments! Your technology work IS a job! Shuri: yeah well my ACTUAL job is fun and has proper work benefits and I simply must empty the time blocks I specified for it! You wouldn’t stop me from meeting with Peter and Morgan would you? They ARE, legally and spiritually speaking, my siblings, brother :) T’challa: what job could you have that would need you reminding me that a mischief deity adopted you before telling me what the job actually is Shuri: The official position is called Secretary of Evil but that’s only for the probationary 2 week period and I’m allowed to request a name change if I think of anything better T’challa: T’challa: you are working as a SECRETARY?! Shuri: The job pays well, Brother, T'challa: T'challa: mother will be so disappointed

---

Scott: I can’t believe you did that Maggie: I didn’t know he was a supervillain! OBVIOUSLY! Scott: how would you noT KNOW! He wears nothing buT LEATHER and BELTS and GREEN BOOTS AND- Maggie: I needed someone to watch her and she showed up in pink sweatpants and a black tank top and was charging a decent rate Scott: Scott: are you sure their name was loki

---

Clint: you told me it was a ‘family gathering’! Tony: yeah, it is, and the avengers are family Clint, pointing at Loki: so what’s the twink doing here and why are MY kids along with every other person here who is under drinking age clinging to him like a frickin’ koala bear Tony: morgan wanted to get her ‘the floor is lava’ badge and loki was the only one immune to the lava so they jumped him - and he enjoyed walking around covered in them way more than he should have - and also loki is legally peter and morgan and harley and shuri’s godparent so he’s allowed to be here on more of a basis than anyone else here at this point Clint: There was LAVA near MY KIDS?! Tony: no of course not – it was FAKE lava that just looked and functioned like real lava Clint: im taking them all home Tony: good luck convincing them not to want another playdate Clint: this isn’t a joke Tony Tony: I’m serious. Good luck. The kids love him, and you’ll need all the luck you can get if you want them to ever root for the side of good instead of wherever-loki-is-at instead.

---

Pepper: *watching the news* Pepper: oh hey the Avengers are on Peter, running into the room: woW NICE Pepper: wtf why is Hulk wearing giant boxing gloves Peter: Language! Pepper: is Steve's shield padded?! Peter: i don’t remember that being normal Pepper: did most of the Avengers just ditch Steve? Why’re they leaving Peter: I guess the danger must be over? Pepper: WHAT is going ON out there today Peter: I think Loki had planned an attack today so maybe he did it as a joke Pepper: oh they're facing Loki yeah okay that explains it Peter: Loki always does the funniest things of course he baby-proofed all the Avenger's gear! Classic Loki! :D

-meanwhile-

Captain America, tears streaming down his face: pl,,ease, loki,, stop,t his, I cant hit ,,a child Loki: Look at you, the American icon, unable to save all these innocent people from having their skin turn into primary colours, all because you are TOO AFRAID to fight me! Captain America: I’m a national icon, not a good soldier but a good man, I will do whatever it takes to keep innocents safe, but I can NOT beat up someone who isn’t even legal enough to vote Loki: I was around causing chaos before this ‘voting’ was even invented! And I’ll NEVER legally vote even if I could!! mwahahAHAHA- Falcon, to Bucky in the background: How did we not realise he was a teen, all his comebacks are ‘no u’ and ‘uno reverse card’ and ‘look over there!’ Bucky, to Falcon: I don’t know but I really really want to know where he gets his outfits from Falcon: if it means I’ll be seeing you geared up in leather again then I want to know where he gets his outfits from too ;‘) Thor: I think my brother makes his own outfits Loki, still tormenting Captain America: *SISTER Thor: ah, my bad Captain America, crying x2: wait does this mean I’ve been lobbing my shield at not just a child, but I’ve been misgendering them while doing it?! Loki: only occasionally and I don’t blame you that was on me for monologuing too long, really— Captain America, taking off the helmet: nope I’m done Loki: what are you doing Steve, handing Sam the shield: It’s yours. Enjoy. Sam: woah woah woah what’re you doing you cant retire just like that Steve, unzipping his suit to reveal American flag boxers: watch me Bucky to Sam: hello new best friend Sam, realising that Cap and Bucky are a duo: oh no no no STEVE is your best friend Bucky: he hasn’t been my ‘best friend’ since I saw him with the American flag splayed over his butt Loki, holding his hand out for Sam to shake: Hello there new Captain America its nice to meet you formally, my name is Loki and yes I’m a child but I’m actually 1075 but that is irrelevant if I’m causing trouble and looking for a fight, I’m also genderfluid so yes sometimes my pronouns will be different but I’ll be sure to inform you if it happens Sam: what are you doing Loki: I’m… formally introducing myself Sam: Sam: why?? Loki, blinking to hide that he’s getting teary eyed: well, the last national icon I didn’t do this with ditched me because I didn’t Bucky, a trained assassin, who isn’t a fool: *hugs loki* that wasn’t your fault steve just likes to carry the stupid with him Loki: thanks Bucky: is this a bad time to ask where you get your clothes from…? Loki: I make them Bucky: oh. Well $#!^. Loki, sniffing: if you join the dark side I’ll make you some too Bucky, immediately: done. Sam: JAmES Bucky deadpan: Yes, Samuel, what is it that troubles you, my new arch nemesis?

---

Sam: HE TOOK BUCKY Natasha: What do you mean ‘he took bucky’ he’s standing right next to you Sam: He’s “infiltrating the enemy” Natasha: *lifts an eyebrow and looks to Bucky* Bucky: It’s true. My loyalties lie elsewhere now. Natasha: ??? Bucky: note to self – unexpected outcomes confuse the black widow. Natasha: how did this happen?? Sam: he SOLD himself out to the ENEMY Natasha: well when you say it like THAT ;) — Bucky: I think friendship is a decent price to pay for decent clothing Natasha: ??? Sam: oh also I’m Captain America now because Steve broke down and quit Natasha: ?!?!?!

---

Peter, entering the room and high-fiving Loki: I heard you got Mr. Bucky to switch teams! Loki: well, my fashion skills ARE legendary Tony, under his breath: he’s not even trying and he’s gotten every kid and the freaking winter soldier on his side and I am so so grateful he isn’t actually TRYING to make everyone go bad

---

Bucky: we’ve been over this Steve, Loki is young but he’s also over a thousand years old Steve: I was beating up a KID, Bucky, a kid who was SMALLER and WEAKER than everyone else where he lived but wouldn’t EVER turn down a FIGHT for what he BELIEVES IN and he was probably BULLIED and I wanted the guy DEAD, Bucky– Bucky: don’t forget the genderfluidity thing Steve: he said it wasn’t my fault but I should’ve asked Thor after he referred to Loki as ‘she’ instead of thinking he’d made a mistake and I just can’t – he isn’t even old enough to DRIVE or VOTE or DRINK or BUY A KNIFE or -- Bucky, holding Steve and patting his back: hey now, there, there, it’ll be okay, Bucky: *gives Loki a thumbs up as he sits on the couch with popcorn and watches Steve be miserable*

---

Loki: We need to get through this locked door. Tony, quick, give me your card! Tony, handing the card over: Take it! Loki, pocketing it: Thanks! Morgan, fire at the door Morgan: *pulls out an iron man gauntlet painted green and gold* Tony: hOW COULD you deface YOUR BIRTHDAY PRESENT with GREEN Morgan: MINE is still being used as a paperweight. This is one of YOUR gauntlets. Tony, under his breath: maybe it’s not too late to burn the physical evidence and hack Loki’s name off the digital copies of the adoption forms Loki, whispering back: oh its definitely too late. I’m already on your christmas card and everything.

#LokiAdoptsAU #where all the kids can enjoy loki tormenting the world because its funny and no one actually ends up seriously injured ever #loki is about mischief and chaos not death and destruction #the avengers don't know why the kids are attached #tony knows that loki isn't evil but so far Shuri and Peter and MJ and Ned and Cassie are the only ones who know about the torture #because everyone else is an *d*ot #watch as loki cajoles the avengers to his side 1-by-1 with the promise of good coffee decent prankster material and custom leather outfits #ThisPostIsLongerThanMyLifeSpan #TPILTMLS

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beetlemancy · 4 years ago

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Okay I am going to try my best not to make this a rambling mess. Also, but as always, all the love to Taliesin and to Caduceus himself; this is in NO way a commentary on how I feel about either of them. It was a gorgeous speech and people should absolutely celebrate it. These are only my personal thoughts.

However I do need to talk about Cad’s “burn” as the fandom is referring to it as. First, I am confused about it being a diss. I’ve reread it many times now and I’m not sure if its truly possible to take the concept of such intrinsic love and turn it into a “burn” without it losing either its edge or its profundity. I’m not sure if this is a fandom thing entirely, though it very well could be, because Caduceus is known for ‘dunking’ on people with his wit and wisdom and with what he views as the Ultimate Answer (with a side of Sibling Fuckery). Either way, I have a hard time knowing how to take the speech to heart. Is it a burn? Is it a commentary on loss of love and opportunity? Or is it both? CAN it be both and still maintain its power? Honestly I feel like it can’t - unless the diss is for Trent and the Love is for Caleb (or Astrid and Wulf). So, if Cad was aiming that speech at the Traumatised instead of the Traumatiser, I have some Thoughts. First, its beautiful. It’s pristine and Answered and Hopeful. All things we need, right? And yet,, maybe its just because I am still working through my own bullshit, but I can’t help but feel a little bit like the speech (not necessarily Cad himself) is one of those people who offer advice to just simply change your diet when you’re depressed. Will it help? Probably. Will it fix it? Probably not on its own. Does it make you feel like the person on the other end Gets It? Definitely not.

But if Cad was aiming this at Trent... I just don’t know how to feel. I suppose... Yeah! Fuck that guy! Use whatever you can to try and put him in his place! Defend your friend, maybe try to encourage the others there to not reach Trent’s point of no return. I’m all for that but at the end of the day I’m still left with this like.... so, if Trent somehow turned to love now, would that then be okay? Would he then be strong and not weak? What do we know of his life? Does he have a lover? Did he have a family? Did he know love and still turn out this way? Why does the absence of love make a person quote “evil?” Why is the ‘blame’ for lack of a better term on who surrounds the evil-doer? What if the evil-doer DOES love? What happens if he has a person who he devotes all his love to so that he can justify his lack of it towards everyone else?

I suppose I just think that Love is a lesson in the story of Exandria for sure, but this arc for me speaks more of Forgiveness.

Caleb doesn’t need Trent to be dissed, he doesn’t even need Trent to be killed. Trent is only of consequence in the sense of practicality of information and the part he plays as the Overseer of Trauma. He doesn’t even deserve a speech about love. He’s nothing. As someone who can point to a person and a specific institution that endorsed, enacted, and encouraged trauma against myself and others like me, the last thing I would want is for someone to tell me that my enemy was weak because they did not have love around them. I can point to so many ways that they did. They did have love, and they were not weak. They kicked my ass. They kick other kids’ asses. If they are weak, then what are we?

Astrid, Wulf, the girl in the prison, the students under Trent’s wings, and the future children of the Empire lining up to subject themselves to this way of thinking - THEY deserve Forgiveness, and by way of that they will find and know love.

#cr spoilers #cr meta #i just think the focus here is on Trent #when it should still be on Caleb and Astrid and Wulf #and all the children in their care #Forgiveness is so much harder and so much more powerful than love #you have no idea how healing it can be

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waritawrites · 4 years ago

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A Secret: Watch Out for the Evil Eye Symbol!

https://followerofthewayforever.wordpress.com/2021/02/22/a-secret-watch-out-for-the-evil-eye-symbol/

The Evil Eye has made a reappearance into popular culture, particularly in fashion, jewelry and accessories, and alleged "art." It is a hateful stare that is used to place curses on others. In John H. Elliot's Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World: -Volume 1 Introduction, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, He tells the truth about the evil eye by sharing Jesus' sermon on the mount:

"Beware the Evil Eye: The Evil Eye in the Bible and the Ancient World: -Volume 1 Introduction, Mesopotamia, and Egypt

In his celebrated 'Sermon on the Mount,' Jesus of Nazareth makes reference to one of the oldest beliefs in the ancient world the malignity of an Evil Eye (Matt 6:22-23): 'If, however, your Eye is Evil, your entire body will be full of darkness.' Another of Jesus's references to the Evil Eye appears in his parable concerning workers in a vineyard and an eruption of Evil-Eyed envy (Matt 20:1-16). At the parable’s conclusion, a generous vineyard owner chides disgruntled workers envious of their fellow laborers: 'Is your Eye Evil because I am good?' (Matt 20:15)."

According to Britannica.com

"Evil eye, glance believed to have the ability to cause injury or death to those on whom it falls; pregnant women, children, and animals are thought to be particularly susceptible. Belief in the evil eye is ancient and ubiquitous; it occurred in ancient Greece and Rome, in Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions, and in indigenous, peasant, and other folk societies, and it has persisted throughout the world into modern times. Those most often accused of casting the evil eye include strangers, malformed individuals, childless women, and old women."

Personally, I have noticed when certain acquaintances and relatives come around catastrophe strikes not long after, especially after they have acted condescending and hateful. Once my grandmother wanted to know why I didn't want to go the wedding of one my cousins. I told her that it was because certain of our other relatives were going to the wedding and I noticed that every time there was a new encounter that would cause more frequent contact with them, catastrophes would strike. I told her that I suspected that they were practicing witchcraft. My grandmother didn't defend them - if it weren't true she would have. My grandmother said nothing. She is a woman who went out of town to the casino with her sister when I had gotten seriously ill in high school. She picked me up from school, took me home, then she and my great aunt told me that they couldn't stay - they left town told no one that I was at home sick. I almost died.

Be careful of the company that you keep - no matter who it is. Everyone who seems to treat you nice doesn't have good intentions towards you. Witches often offer gifts and favors as a way of cursing people. Do not accepts gifts if you can avoid it. Don't keep them because those may be cursed objects - THROW THEM AWAY!

!!PAY ATTENTION!! When people who you hardly ever see come around and weird things happen, pray to GOD for help and put those people in GOD's hands.

The Evil Eye is Witchcraft

Deuteronomy 18:9 - 13

9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

Rhonda Byrne's The Secret and The Law of Attraction: It is the manifestation of an evil eye

Witches often use the evil eye in various ways. They practice its use in The Law of Attraction, which is a metaphysical principle which purports that by positive thinking you can control your world and the world around you. Kerby Anderson's The False Teaching of “The Secret” – A Christian Evaluation states:

“The Law of Attraction.”{6} You can summarize the law with three words: “Thoughts become things.” In other words, if you think hard enough about something, it will take place. Think good thoughts, and you will reap good things. Think bad thoughts, and bad things will happen to you. You create your own circumstances, and you can change those circumstances with your thoughts.

A central teaching of “The Law of Attraction” is that nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts. Thus, everything that surrounds you right now (both good and bad) has been attracted to you. As you focus on what you want, you are changing the vibration of atoms of that thing so that they begin to vibrate to you.{7} Ultimately, you determine the frequency or vibration so that you can best acquire wealth, health, and fulfillment."

Vision boards are forms of evil eye law of attraction witchcraft as well. Do not use the practices of witchcraftvto manifest the things that you want. Galatians 5:16 - 26:

Galatians 5:16 - 26:

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Pray and Trust in GOD for what you want according to HIS Will. James 4:2 - 17 states:

James 4:2 - 17

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

In pure Christianity, we recognize that witchcraft is an attempt at usurping GOD's Authority by trying to become your own god. GOD's understanding is infinite. Man's understanding is limited and finite - we don't see the whole picture - we don't know the whole situation. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says:

1 Corinthians 13:12

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

GOD sees clearly therefore leaning unto our understanding via witchcraft will bring about unholy, selfish, unrighteous results. Proverbs 3:5 - 8 says:

Proverbs 3:5 - 8

5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

#GOD #Jesus #HolySpirit #TheBible

#TheSecret #TheLawOfAttraction #RhondaByrne #Oprah #NewAge #Witches #Witchcraft #EvilEye

#GOD #Jesus #Holy Spirit #evil eye #witchcraft #wicca #christian wicca #curse #hex #spell #witch #The Secret #Rhonda Byrne #law of attraction

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 4 years ago

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Blood Red Heat prt 32

For a moment, Keith found the world black, before the sound of party poppers hit his ears and his sense of sight returned. Confetti and streamers falling from above were the least of his worries. All his emotions pushed to the extreme at the scene in front of him.

He was in Bob’s fucking stupid game show studio. Around him, the black shadows of the audience were cheering. In front of him Bob was in his ridiculous floating chair... Keith wanting nothing more to fly into a rage and punch the green bastard squarely in the jaw, because, seriously, what the fuck was this.

Behind Bob stood the pack, Lance dressed in his blue armour, with Pike now placed in what looked like one of the castles healing pods. Despite the presence of their team, the light behind their eyes was black and vacant, as if in a state of sleep walking. And behind them stood two giant gameshow wheels, one with the character names on it, the other with different scenarios. Keith staggered on the spot. All of this... all of this was some kind... some kind of fucking game?! This was their lives... the games show... he’d broken Lance’s heart to pieces... and now, Bob?

“What the fuck?”

Moved by some invisible force, Keith was pulled to the front of the stage to stand by Bob, he wanted so bad to punch him, but his body didn’t move

“Welcome back! Who would have thought after their last disastrous performance, we’d see such an overwhelming display of friendship. Let’s give it up for everybody’s favourite Paladins!”

The audience cheered. The lights of the studio blinded Keith, unable to see anything past the edge of the stage. Maybe it was a good thing he couldn’t speak or move now...

“Yes, our favourite Paladin are back! After our last episode, we were inundated with your messages. We heard you! I heard you! Now let’s talk to the man of the hour, Black Paladin Keith!”

Cheering again for him, Keith blinked, then blinked again in surprise that he’d been able to blink

“Keith, you’ve been through a lot. How do you feel this affected your relationship with Lance... Any chance we’ll be expecting baaaaaaby Paladins any time soon?”

Bob winked at him. Keith saw red all over again

“What the fuck?!”

Chuckling, Bob’s chair floated backwards from him

“I think the shock must have gotten the better of him!”

Keith went to move to grab Bob, his body didn’t listen... the wanker had only given him enough use of his body to reply and blink?!

“Seriously, what the fuck is all of this?!”

Bob chuckled, the audience laughing along

“Isn’t he a riot? We’ve never had such ratings before, and with poor Lance feeling so outcast, we all felt it was our need to bring your feelings to light!”

“How is that any of your business?!”

“It becomes my business when the fate of the universe is at stake! Voltron could never hope to defeat all those evil doers out there without being a united front!”

“So you tried to kill Lance?! We should kill you!”

“Whoops, folks! I think I’ve made him mad! Let’s look back at what happened the last time we had the Paladins grace us with their presence!”

The two gameshow wheels dropped into the floor, a screen coming down. The first few seconds counted in the movie, like the really old movies back on Earth. Under the influence of Bob, Keith was turned on the spot, watching that “scene”. That scene when Keith had crushed any ounce of confidence left within Lance. “I just don’t wanna be stuck here for eternity with Lance”. He deserved the booing that the audience gave him. With his not so finest hour broadcast to... wherever this shit was televised, Keith’s cheeks burned with shame. He’d been so cruel to the man who’d always had his back. Who’d supported him when Shiro had gone missing. Some team leader he was.

“Yes, yes! Our young Red Paladin was crushed! But I knew better! I could see inside their minds”

Bob wriggled his fingers, like they did on Earth when talking of vaguely spooky things. Keith cutting in

“I know I fucked up! I would have taken those words back if I could have!”

And Bob ignoring him

“This episode stuck with me. I found myself saying “Bob. Bob, my man, can we really leave the universe to such a divided team? A Red Paladin who was falling apart. A Black Paladin who broke his heart. Of course we couldn’t!”

Keith had already hit near apocalyptic rage

“Do I not get a chance to defend myself here?!”

With a click of his fingers, Keith found a dummy in his mouth and the inability to spit the thing out

“The only thing for it was a dashing love story where our two heroes finally revealed what they meant to each other! Let’s bring him around, please give a big round of applause for Laaaaaance!”

God, no. This was too cruel. Lance slowly raised his head, showing him those blue eyes he’d missed so much. The crowd cheered for Lance as Lance looked terrified beneath the burning lights.

“Hush, hush! I know you’re all as excited as I am! Our two star crossed lovers, finally reunited on screen! No one could have written a better love story, except for I!”

Bob laughed obnoxiously. Keith shook. Lance wanted to move, but all Bob had done was awaken him to this freakfest. Catching the Red Paladin’s eye, Lance’s pretty blue eyes welled with tears of guilt. Shit. Fuck. It felt like a thousand poisoned thorns were being shoved down Keith’s throat. The guilt choking him alive. Lance had never asked for his cruelness

“Awww, I think he missed him!”

The audience letting out a long “aw”. Bob might be a god, and sure, killing Zarkon then pissing off Lotor had been hard enough, but Keith wasn’t about trying to slay a god.

“I said to myself, Bob, when was the last time our Lance was truly happy? Was it when Keith returned?! No! Keith ignored him! Was it on the game show?! No! Then it hit me. Monster and Mana. Monsters and Mana where no one noticed the pain he hid so plainly with his vanishing character! What a perfect setting! What if Pike was cast into a world? What if Lance was cast as Pike, the dorky thief that felt outcast?! What if we watched as Lance found his way out of that doom and gloom, and I must say, the results speak for themselves! We’ve been treated to a feast of angst. And that twist with the pearl?! Lance’s experiences gathering into something tangible?! The more he found his way back, the more he struggled to keep his head high as show the depths of his forgiveness, with his dashing boyfriend there to show him what true love feels like... Marvellous! We’ve seen good times and we’ve seen bad times! It’s been a rating bonanza!”

Keith wanted to vomit. The game was punishment for all of them. They’d all fucked up. They’d all let themselves fall prey to the delights of space

“With love and courage, we’ve watched these two fall in love, and wasn’t it glorious!?”

The crowd cheered wildly. Bob chuckled, before waving his hand to bring the cheering back down to silence

“I know! I know! I sat there and I listened. I listened to the things the Red Paladin said about himself. I watched as he died to save the Paladin who’d replaced him! And what did he get?! A broken heart! No! No I couldn’t accept that!”

Pressing a button on his remote, a dummy version of Lotor dropped from the ceiling. It’s eyes black crosses, clearly denoting a dead Lotor

“Why must he go through so much pain when the one he loved the most was too stupid to see him?! Then, the chance came! Our Red Paladin was on his last legs! A red heat setting in, threatening to claim his life. Now was the time!”

The crowd gasped, Keith tried to fight being held in place. He wanted to comfort Lance. None of this was right. Lance... he didn’t deserve this. Keith did. He’d been the narrow minded arsehole whole pushed Lance away rather than admitting he cared about him.

“None of us could have expected the adventure we’ve been on! Let’s give it up for our star couple!”

Lance and Keith both moved, forced to stand next to each other. They were so close. If Keith could just move his little finger he could loop it around Lance’s. What Lance must be thinking... Keith could almost hear the omega’s heart breaking in guilt

“Take a bow!”

They were forced to. Bob’s chuckling suddenly turned serious, kind as if when he spoke, they were the only ones to hear his words

“Without my intervention, all hope for the future would have been lost. You’re both profoundly young. Stupidity can only excuse so much. Don’t make me step in for a third time or you will not like the results...”

Bob’s tone snapped back to what it’d been before, smile back on his

“And with that, the Voltron Show comes to the end! I know! We’ve all been on the edge of our seats for so long! But these brave heroes must get back! They have a long journey before them. Give it up for Keith and Lance!”

As the crowd cheered wildly, and confetti fell from above again, Keith’s world swam. His stomach felt like he’d gone hurtling out of control as the world dropped away around him. Bob’s voice echoed in his ears, barely a whisper above the sound of his pounding heart “If you hadn’t followed, all would have been lost to you forever”

Bob could have been gentler with the awakening part. Keith felt smacked in the face as his alpha roared back to consciousness. Gripping his head, several long moments passed as everything sank in. He was back. They were out the game. He was back... Lance?!

“Careful there, number two! You’ve given us quite the scare”

Letting his hands drop, Keith blinked. The alpha’s eyes gritty from sleep. His hands felt... weird. As if this was him waking up in the game, rather than him waking up in the right reality

“Lance?!”

He had to know. His question coming out surprisingly loud for someone who’d been basically comatose

“He’s resting. His fever has broken and the bleeding stopped. Whatever happened to the pair of you? It’s been a full day since the others awoke”

A day? How could it have been a day. Turning in the direction of Coran’s voice, there was Lance. His blue eyes open...

“Lance... I...”

Lance silently tried to tell him something. The distance between them felt too much for him. He could have lost Lance. He’d let his hand slip from his and that could have been their last memory together. Keith finding his body awkward to move, reduced to crawling across the short distance to where his omega lay. Taking Lance’s hand in his hand, he was so fucking grateful to see those blue eyes open. His alpha so beyond relieved to see their mate was coming back to them. He’d been in a rut while he’d slept, Keith able to smell both he and Lance so thickly it was nearly suffocating. Lance now had the guilt of what had happened on top of being deathly ill. Thank god that the others had made themselves scarce

“Shhh, it’s okay. It’s okay... we’re awake again”

Weakly Lance tried to lift his arm, Keith taking his hand and raising it to his chest so Lance couldn’t let their hold go. He was going to have to be the cool and collected one. The one Lance could depend on, instead it being the other way around

“We’re here. We made it out”

“I’m... sorry... so... sorry”

Exhausted to the point of slurring, Lance’s scent took on hues of rotting citrus, Keith’s alpha interpreting it as like the worst scent ever. Even worse than Lance’s scent in red heat

“Shhh. I’ve got you. I’ve got you... your alpha’s got you”

Nothing outside of holding Lance close mattered, or really existed. Coran forgotten in the background already

“I... hurt...”

“Shhhh... I know you do, omega. Your alpha’s here. Your alpha’s got you... shhhh...”

The thrill of calling himself Lance’s alpha was dulled by his worry. Lance had grown so sickly while they’d been trapped in the game. As much as he hated that green fucking lump of snot, Bob must have worked some kind of godly magic to keep Lance from passing away. If they ever met again, it’d be far too soon for Keith’s liking. Lance needed rest. He needed love. More than his heart was broken, what he’d been through had devastated his body and mind.

“Number two...”

Snarling at Coran caused Lance to whimper, Keith trying to shift his scent to something more calming as he hushed Lance again. Stupid Coran. No. Not stupid Coran. Coran would have worked tirelessly to keep them all alive, especially the love of his life

“I’ve got him”

“If I may...”

He didn’t want to shut Coran out, but... but there was just so much in his head that he didn’t know which string of thought to follow, not when things were so knotted up

“Coran, I can’t... my alpha... my omega... He needs all of me right now”

Lance could still take a turn for the worst if he didn’t handle this right. Shiro had said only being knotted would save Lance from a red heat. Lance now so frail that he could not only give consent, but even if he did, Keith would never lay hands on him in this state

“What do you need, Keith?”

Accepting he was out of his depth, Coran told him so by using his name

“I need to focus on him. Please can you take care of the pack a little longer?”

“Keith, you’ve barely woken”

He should have been as limp and weak as Lance. This wasn’t a TV show where sleeping for weeks had no side effects. Shifting Lance to prepare to try lifting him, his alpha reassured him that moving Lance was the right step

“Let’s just say a green wanker seems to have helped... Lance, I’m so sorry for what I said. I was dumb. I am dumb. You’re the glue that holds the pack together”

Coran sniffled, missing what it meant for him to be calling Lance his omega

“What a beautiful display friendship!”

Nope. He wasn’t going to there. Coran sounded too much like Bob, any longer and he was going to start wondering if they really had made it back to their reality

“I’m going to help Lance clean up. Tell the team I’ll talk to them once things settle”

If they settled. No. He wasn’t going there either. They all knew they’d messed up, they’d all admitted their faults. Once Lance got over his embarrassment, they’d all sit down and have a good talk... especially over how Bob had nearly stolen Lance away from them and not the game malfunctioning.

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sparklyaxolotlstudent · 5 years ago

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Because I haven’t been able to make a fic introducing my concepts to the ML-verse, I decided to skip those and write stuff after the fact.

Long Story short: At least one of the Miraculous boxes was stolen and cursed. The cursed Miraculous were scattered and sealed, and Ladybug using the Miraculous cure for the first time managed to wake them up.

A guy in Mexico managed to heal one(Teamwork), while another one was healed by itself(Healing). When they tried to heal a third one(Movement), both Kwami and holder feel into a magical coma. They went to Paris, where they knew Ladybug was, and Master Fu managed to wake them up.

He tried to give the Miraculous to Master Fu, but he entrusted him to recover the rest of the cursed Miraculous (His test was that he didn’t hesitate to give them when Master Fu asked in exchange for waking the kwami and the holder (Who He didn’t personally know) He also taught them about Unifying the Kwamis of Teamwork and Healing would allow them to Heal the Curses without magical comas.

Without further ado:

NEW BEGINNINGS

It was a dark and stormy night… or rather, Ladybug wished it was. She had just had one of the worst days of her life and the night was calm and quiet. She almost wished something would happen just so she could stop thinking about Master Fu, about Hawk Moth about losing all the temporary heroes now that he knew who they were, and about what would happen if Chat Noir learned her identity.

She could feel the cold Parisian air as she used her magical yo-yo to swing from rooftop from rooftop, and for the first time in her life, she could understand how Elsa had wanted to flee from everything in her life. She had to help her parents at the bakery. She had to do well in school. She had to be the Class Representative. She had to design for Jagged Stone. She had to be Ladybug. She had to save Paris. And now, she also had to be the Guardian.

It’s not that she didn’t enjoyed each and everything she does, but at times, she just wanted to scream and take a breath. It was too much. It was too much.

She had latterly even enjoyed some of the akuma fights, as they allowed her to de-stress in the form of punching said Akuma. How wrong was that? She was supposed to focus and deal with them to minimize the damage. Sure, her “Miraculous Ladybug” trick undid all physical damage, but she wasn’t so sure it undid all psychological damage that being kidnapped, send to another dimension, transformed into an inanimate object… drowning…

She reached a rooftop and took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to just scream into the night. She had thought of using Kaalki to go far away and allow herself to scream, to cry and to openly weep the loss of her mentor, but knew that the power of the Miraculous shouldn’t be used for personal gain, and as the new guardian, she should never succumb to temptation.

She looked around and smiled bitterly. She had brought herself to Master Fu old house. She both hoped that Chat would show up, just to take her mind off those thoughts, and at the same time she hoped he wouldn’t show up, as he would probably just flirt with her and won’t understand a thing of what she had going on, despite being there when it happened.

She sighed, took a seat and decided to watch the stars.

And that’s when she noticed someone coming out of the house. She sighed again. Maybe the night won’t be uneventful after all.

She jumped out of the rooftop where she had been sitting and in a swift motion of her yo-yo she captured the evil doer. A young man, she analyzed. A bit on the shorter side, dark hair, brown eyes… he looks somewhat familiar. The guy looked at her and laughed.

“Hey there Little Lady! I was about to go looking for you”

Ladybug raised her eyebrow. She recognized the nickname, but it couldn’t be him… and then something came out of the backpack the guy was wearing.

“Hello Ladybug!” said the small creature “Long time no seeing you, how ‘you been?” The little brown and blue skunk-like thing said, ignoring the guy tied up in the yo-yo string behind them.

“Hey Izztli. Wait… then that is… Skunk?”

“Not the identity reveal I was looking for, but yeah. Hi”

Ladybug released him from her yo-yo, and helped him stand up. She looked at him with curiosity.

“I… what are you doing here? Not that I’m not glad of seeing you but… wait, have you been practicing your French?”

“Not at all. And that’s one of the reasons I’m here” The young man looked around. “We probably should talk in a more private place” he added, taking a key out of his pocket and opening Master Fu house with it. Ladybug’s eyes went wide. She hadn’t notice before that he had used a key.

“Where did you got that key?” Asked Ladybug once they were inside the main house.

Marinette couldn’t help but feel sad. The place was pretty much as she remembered. The same furniture, the same decoration… but there was nothing personal of Master Fu. Everything that meant something to him he had taken when he left. It made it seem emptier somehow. The guy took a seat and invited Ladybug to do the same.

“Well Little Lady, Master Fu called me a couple of weeks ago. I told him I had gotten a new Miraculous and was on my way over so he could check it out, but he insisted I should wait until this specific date to come. We ended up finding another one in the meantime.”

The boy showed Ladybug his new Miraculous and opened his backpack. “Come on guys, say ‘Hi’ to Ladybug”

Four kwamis came out of the backpack. Ladybug still wasn’t used to how this guy could have so many miraculous at once, but it was probably because he was technically an adult.

“Ladybug!” said a black and gold one, which Marinette knew was the Axolotl of healing. He hugged Ladybug’s head, as did the turquoise one, the Hummingbird of Movement.

“Hi Cuilli, hello Xihuu, how are you guys?”

“Awesome! We rescued two friends!”

The skunk kwami nudged the other two creatures towards Ladybug.

“Ladybug, is my honor to introduce you to Coattl, the Serpent of Communication, and the reason we are understanding each other right now”

“A pleasure my lady” said the grey serpent in a feminine and pleasant voice. “My power allows the holder of my Miraculous to understand and be understood by anyone they talk to”

“The pleasure is all mine, Coattl”

“And this is Mattli, the Ahuizotl of Wealth” The guy grinned. “He’s the reason I was able to come here via airplane now”

“’sup Ladybug” said the little Kwami, not really paying attention to Ladybug, but looking around the place.

“His power makes things into valuables. He transformed some stuff into gold, which I sold and then got the tickets to come here. Good thing Kwamis don’t show in x-rays”

“Wouldn’t it be much faster to use Xihuu?”

“Yes, but I needed to come here legally. Master Fu was insistent on that. He also told me were I would be able to find this key, but I haven’t been able to contact him at all. Do you…”

The guy noticed Ladybug change of expression and immediately noticed something was wrong.

“Do you need to talk about it?”

Ladybug sighed. “I can’t, or I might lose control and…”

“Say no more! Xihuu, on the move!”

“What are you doing?” asked Ladybug alarmed, after the guy had transformed into Colibri, or how he called himself when he used the Hummingbird Miraculous.

“You need this” He took his hula hoop, “Ollin!” the hula hoop reduced in size until it became a bracelet in his arm. He grabbed his backpack, and the other Kwamis got inside it. He then offered his hand to Ladybug. “Trust me” she took his hand, and then both were teleported in turquoise sparks.

The first thing she noticed was that the sun it was still up wherever Colibri had teleported them.

“Xihuu, let’s stay!” Colibri said, transforming again into the same guy as before. He opened his backpack, freeing the other kwamis and taking some candies for Xihuu.

“Welcome to my home Little Lady!” He announced, while closing the curtains. “My name is Mateo Torres. We’re in Mexico now, so you can relax and… well, let it go.” He flourished with his hand. To Ladybug’s surprise, he had a poster of Frozen. “Hawk Moth won’t notice us here”

Ladybug sighed, and told Mateo everything. About how Hawk Moth had discovered the guardian due to Feast (Which Mateo deduced was the reason Master Fu had called him), about Chat Blanc, about Mayura, about Chloe Bourgeois betrayal, about how she couldn’t call the temporal heroes anymore for help… and about how Master Fu had to sacrifice his memories, his whole self...

And since she was able to rant out safely, and felt like she could trust Mateo, she also told him about Lila and about how she had to leave Adrien, how Chat Noir wasn’t an option for her anymore, and how she was now the New Guardian at 14 and how dare he use a Miraculous for personal gain.

“That’s rough buddy… wait… you’re fourteen?”

“Tikki, spots off” she said, becoming Marinette again. “My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And I’m tired” Tikki looked at her holder and just hugged her face. The other Kwamis present did the same.

“I’m 20, and I’m suddenly not very comfortable.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Relax, you’re not even in my radar”

“What? No, gross, you’re like a sister to me,I knew you were younger than me, but I thought you were at least 18 and on the petite side. I’m uncomfortable because you have been defending Paris for longer than I have had a Miraculous, and you’re way younger than me to boost!”

“Does that mean that the Little Lady is our Guardian now?” asked Coattl. The other kwamis looked at both humans with wide eyes.

“NO!” said Marinette, a little louder than she intended to be. “Master Fu trusted you like he trusted me. He probably wanted you to be the Guardian of the Life and Death Miraculous like he wanted me to be…” Marinette stopped and sobbed.

“It’s ok Little Lady” he said, placing a hand over Marinette’s shoulder. Marinette pulled him into a hug and started to cry. “It’s ok. I now know why he gave me that key. I’m moving to Paris to help you against Hawk Moth”

“WHAT? NO WAY!” Marinette pulled him away. “Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have someone to talk to about this stuff, but you need to be able to lift the curses on the Aztec kwamis as soon as they appear!”

“And I will; it’s not like Xihuu can’t help me move to where we are needed”

“And what about school? You said you were in university”

“I actually dropped out a while back”

“WHAT? NO! You shouldn’t put your life on hold just for the miraculous!”

“And you should?” asked Mateo raising an eyebrow

Marinette looked away.

“I wasn’t getting the best of grades just being the Hooded Skunk, the whole mess with the rest of the cursed Miraculous just made them worse. But now thanks to Mattli I can totally concentrate on finding the rest of the Miraculous”

Marinette crossed her arms. “You shouldn’t use the Miraculous for personal gain” Tikki nodded in agreement. The other kwamis looked like they wanted to agree, but didn’t want to go against to their master wishes.

“I agree, but it’s not like I’m living a millionaire’s life” he gestured to the rest of his house. Marinette had to agree her house was a lot better. “And Master Fu gave me his old house. I’m guessing he wanted to give it to you, but couldn’t risk Hawk Moth putting two and two together”

“And he wouldn’t with you?”

“As far as everyone in Paris will know, I’m a crazy foreigner who bought that old house… Darn, I will need to get a job to justify expenses.”

“Well, there should be a spot at my school for…”

“Yeah, no, school work would probably be full time. I’ll just probably just ‘import’ Mexican sweets”

“… You’re going to abuse Xihuu’s power for candy?”

“Hey, you guardian you way, I’ll guardian my way. Plus, I only need a front, not a get-rich-quick scheme”

Marinette sighed and closed her eyes, thinking about it.

“Wait, I just realized that technically speaking, you have more experience than me, so you’ll be my mentor”

Marinette opened her eyes, and laughed.

“We would only see each other as heroes… and please only help when I ask you to.”

“I agree. It would be weird to hang out with you… well, like this... But still, don’t hesitate to ask me to abuse my powers when you need some stress release” He smiled smugly. Marinette hit him playfully on the arm.

“Deal!” Marinette cleaned her face, wiping away the tears, feeling much better. “Hawk Moth won’t know what hit him. Tikki, Spots on!”

“Xihuu, On the Move!”

I’ll probably continue this in a non-linear way, like, there will be more parts, but I’ll maybe skip some parts or return to them... I dunno honestly.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #ml au #ml oc #kwami oc #aztec kwami #Aztec Box #Hummingbird Kwami #Skunk Kwami #Ahuizotl Kwami #Axolotl Kwami #Serpent Kwami #Marinette Deserves Better

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