#what does it allow to Change and what does it not allow to Change? much to think about...

[pastafossa]

Do you think Matt would make a good dad?

THIS IS AN INTERESTING THOUGHT.

Ok, so.

On the one hand, I think a baby would be a special kind of hell for Matt. The smells. The chaotic sleep schedule. The heavy care needs when Matt is already busy as fuck between the law firm and Deviling. The sounds, oh god, the sounds. Babies crying are designed to be impossible to ignore, to hit a specific pitch that sets off every alarm bell in your head. With Matt's senses, that'd be absolute nightmare. Even happy screams are going to hit those poor eardrums of his like a gunshot. And on the emotional side, Matt's got... a lot of self-loathing and trauma he'd struggle with, along with a heaping dose of fear that his very touch might taint his child with the same darkness he struggles with every night on the streets. As a result, I don't think he would think he'd be a good father.

However.

That last bit is why I think, if he did wind up with a kid, he really would be pretty good at it. Why? Because he'd try. He'd fucking try with everything in him, and he'd do whatever it took to make it work. He's not going to run and abandon you and his kid, he's not going to tap out when things get hard (and they will), and he's not going to be a dad that says he's 'babysitting' while you're gone. When he's able to be there, he's in, 100%. He's no stranger to walking laps around the apartment at night with his baby held against his chest, the child dozing as he sings hymns or practices his opening statements, because sometimes the low, rumbling sound of his voice beneath their head seems to be the only thing that allows his child to sleep. He never hesitates to change a diaper or do the feedings. He's the dad who reads all the books with you during the pregnancy, the dad who goes with you to the parenting classes, and seeks out advice from various folks in the Nelson clan (along with Foggy who, due to being born into a massive family encompassing no less than 628 family members at last count, can give a fairly thorough lecture on the mechanics of baby care. Foggy also ensures the child is inducted into the Clan upon their birth so that the Clan can give Matt and you a break when needed).

He'll move heaven and earth to avoid fucking things up, to avoid letting Stick's abusive voice and influence come slithering out of his mouth. There will be no cruel comments about 'the devil in you' when the child is angry, not like what Matt heard from his own grandma. That stops with him, even if he has to build the dam himself by hand. His child will have all the support Matt wishes he had.

Despite his best efforts, he does make mistakes. It's true, and unavoidable, which you'd have to remind him of regularly - 'Parents are mortal, Matt.' There are moments he would miss due to being so busy, moments - especially early on - where the noise or sensory input would become too much and he'd have to retreat just a little. He'd beat himself up for it every single time, and he'd have to work through that too, this reminder that no matter how hard he tries, he'll never be perfect.

But overall, just like with Jack, any child of Matt's would grow up knowing that they're loved from start to finish, and there'd be nothing they could do that would ever change that.

[theocddiaries]

Sonic: It feels good to help people. Shadow: Yes. Sonic: Look at us. Me with the dishes, you ironing, and Eggman… Eggman sitting on his butt doing nothing! That guy is taking advantage of us! Shadow: I know you two have bad blood, but after what happened with Professor Robotnik, it’s understandable that he’s a wreck. Things like that change people, take it from me-- Robotnik: Hey, Shadow, could you lend me twenty bucks for the movies? It’s just… [in a pitiful tone]: Since my grandfather disowned me, my only comfort is watching films… Sonic: Sure… Shadow: Don't mind him. Here, let me… [pulls out his wallet] Robotnik [glancing at it]: How much allowance does Stone give you???? He only gives me ten bucks a week! Shadow: I’ve been saving, I don’t go out much— Robotnik: Well, no point in letting those bills just sit there collecting dust. I’ll take the whole wallet and put it to good use. You’re such a great guy. Oh, and don’t forget to make me some mac and cheese; I’ll probably still be sad after the movies. [leaves] Shadow: … Sonic: See? This is where I draw the line! Shadow: Me, too. [keeps ironing] Sonic: What are you doing? Aren’t you going to do something? Shadow: Of course… As soon as I finish ironing this mountain of clothes… Sonic [crosses his arms and gives him a look] Shadow: …It’s just… I already started. Besides, you heard him; he’ll still be fake-sad after the movies. I’ve got time to do this. Sonic: Fine. Shadow: …And to wash the dishes too, because you’re not going to do it anymore, are you? Sonic: …

[oceanwithouthermoon]

What’s the best friendship ship in your opinion?

if you asked me this a year ago, i probably wouldve said toritsuka and saiki, and i still think theyre in at least the top five-

their development is very sweet, it takes toritsuka really fucking long to realize saiki isnt just some asshole stuck-up goody-two-shoes and actually cares about people and HIM on a personal level, but its really sweet when he finally does and it even allows him to start changing as a person.

-but after reading the manga twice and aggressively overanalyzing it, nendo and saiki are number one by far 😚

nendos sixth sense when it comes to saiki, the fact that nendo is the first person that broke down his walls and he warmed up to, the fact that saiki literally jumps up in shock/fear when people sneak up on him when he cant read their minds but he doesnt do that when nendo comes up to him, etc... theyre adorable. i know people tend to chalk nendo down to just the comically ugly and stupid guy with no character depth but hes more than that, trust me... i think hes a huge part of what started giving saiki hope in humanity itself, considering his pure shock when he realizes he can actually trust this guy even without reading his mind 😭

for honorable mentions i would probably say yumehara and teruhashi, we dont get directly shown a lot of depth from them but i think more than enough is implied, considering all of teruhashis resignations about being friends with girls and how a good chunk of that got pretty much thrown out after she and yumehara got close 😙 oh also aiura and saiki, they work really well together and ive talked a little bit before about how she probably helped give saiki a lot of faith in humanity since shes the first time he sees someone with power who isnt corrupt by it and is still a kind person (edit: neglected to mention akechi and saiki OR mera and saiki OR kuboyasu and kaido, im a failure/j)

[tarotmundomonde]

Winter 2024-2025 Love reading

pick a number 1-5 OR an emoji 🧡 🩶 🩵 ❤️ 🖤

(ps. this reading is for practice)

1.🧡 Pile 1, if you are single, you can be sure someone is or will fall in love with you this winter. Someone will want to date you. The cards show your wishes granted in love. However, there seems to be some old energy that needs to be released to make room for this love. You may not be ready to receive this love this winter, despite of its' presence in your life. Let's dive deeper now. Indeed, you need to recognize the need for change this winter in love. There are some patterns you need to break free from. It could be a type you need to break free from. Like the person who is for you might not be the type you are looking for. It looks like you might have bad judgment or you are just very, very judgmental. And it looks like you will be indecisive this winter. You might even have a fear of knowing someone's opinions about you, fearing getting judged, especially misjudged. Looking at the cards, you might not be ready for new beginnings in love. You also need to work on having healthy boundaries. Especially on an emotional level. Maybe you are too dependent to some extent. Maybe you care too much what something looks like or what others think. For example maybe this person will be the sweetest but your friends will disapprove. You seem to need to get back into your power. It looks like you will need to work on your self-esteem and willpower. Your solar plexus chakra needs some healing. This winter will be about ego shattering, retrieval of your soul fragments. It will be a time of emptying the old to make room for the new. Looking at the cards, it really looks like there is a thick layer of dust sitting on you. You really need to do this energetic cleansing to welcome in the good. Find the good and the sacred from within. Like attracts like. There is a need to reconnect with your own holy grail. You are asked to open up to receive the good. To be honest, it looks like this pile might end up having some hot times with someone. There will be tenderness and sensuality and the 18+ stuff. How much good can you handle? Remember boundaries. It does look like someone will be showing you a lot of kindness, they will show you their love through simple acts. For example acts of service or acts of kindness. Someone would love to be able to make you happy by being around you, by spending time with you. This person seems to be quite attractive. Like they cast a spell on you with their charms. You will definitely notice this person. Lastly, focus on love, look for the good in everyone, also in yourself.

2.🩶 Pile 2, it looks like a lot of things need to be made right. There is very strong imbalance, lack of peace. Things are not as they should be. You will need to learn to say no to many things this winter in love. You will need to be patient and there will be growth, you will grow. Someone here needs to become a more mature person, needs to grow up, to own their own bs, to apologize, to not allow people to use them and play around. The more you learn your lessons and heal, you will notice yourself starting to move on to still waters. Let's dive deeper now. You have grief and loss in the cards for you, so rejection and break-ups. If you know you are dealing with bad news, you need to learn to say no. You might find yourself struggling to accept it. If someone really cares about you, let them realize their own mistakes. Understand it is up to them, if they want to come make things right. But only if it was something minor, for example it's been a month, since they ghosted you, because of their friends and now they regret it. That's something minor. The cards are talking about honouring and respecting. If you don't feel cared for, what's the point? If they cared, would they take you for granted? Think about it. Instead of avoiding facts and questions, sit down and ask yourself those questions. Be honest with yourself. Look at the wrongs. This winter you are called to grow up through these situations. All of these events have a purpose in your love life, they are happening for a reason. The timing is right for you to go through this growth and a time of reflection. The perfect time for silence in your love life and to find peace and restore tranquility. But since all of you are dealing with different situations, know what is your work to do and what is not. Maybe the person you are dealing with needs to be met with silence for them to start reflecting on their own actions towards you. You also got solar plexus, throat chakra and third-eye chakra. This winter you can focus on them. Reflection can lead to clear seeing of your current situation. And speaking the truth. You can't make the other person be honest with you, but you can choose to be honest with yourself. And it's okay to express yourself. For example if you feel wronged and sad about something, it's okay to express it. Just don't expect anything from the other person. You also got lots of references to protecting and treasuring what you love. Remember what is truly important in love connections. Don't forget your own values. You have the right to love and to be loved. If someone really wants to be with you, they will tell you, they will show it to you. Now it has to be said, an ex could come back and really show up. Otherwise, it does look like the sun will come back. There will be a sense of a regeneration happening in your love life this winter. Success and a sprinkle of magic.

3.🩵 Pile 3, you've got veeery strong energies here, a very fated time for you in love. This winter your love life is not in your hands, it's not up to you. It's no mundane energy here, it's very powerful, fateful. Very strong winds blowing. But what can be said for sure, is that this is a time of transformation and the old and negative energy will be forced out of your love life. It's like the Universe is saying it's done with the bs and won't let the devil play with your love life anymore. Definitely, you've got a very strong message of victory here. I see that there will be people and situations trying to bring you down again and again, but you will each time get back up and be the ultimate winner of the war. Let's dive deeper now. First of all, shame, guilt and regrets, it's over now. Huge baggages will be completely removed from your energy field. I'm seeing this process could last all the way to the end of August or even to 3 years from now. This is a huge process. And it's not in your hands, no matter what it's happening. Huge purging and clearing of old karma and old baggages. Patterns, addictions, triggers will all be transmuted and released. All you can do is surrender, accept and love yourself the way you are. Because this is happening to make room for wonderful things to enter your love life. So be patient, allow things to unfold and trust the process. It looks like a lot will also happen online and there is the presence and influence of the community, friends, peer pressure. It's time to be free from that. It's time for you to retreat, to remember what truly matters for you in love. Like be honest about what you are looking for. Be honest about what you need in regards to your love life. The warrior within you is awakened in the process. Be in your power and have the courage to welcome in the gifts and blessings of love. To be honest, there could be quite some drama happening in your love life this winter. There will be many shocks, many surprises coming your way. It seems you will be dealing with people, who have a very strong sense of pride. Their image and status is very important to them and they could also choose their partner based on that. The outside influence could be in regards to that, like what you need to have and be, if you want to find a partner. But you are taught out of that. Key theme is acceptance and love. So you will have moments you need to retreat and that will make room for you to get recharged. Lots of important informations will be revealed to you this winter. And it feels like little by little you'll get back on the right path, you'll retrieve yourself. Your wounds will be healed. It feels like no words can really describe, what you are energetically going through. However, it's beautiful, it's a pure awe, pure wow. Incredible. It will be the time to land gracefully, your after glow is coming. You can't even imagine it, it's very beautiful. It's magical. Also, the cards are talking about soul contracts and love. It looks like someone might want to give you signs about them having feelings for you by expressing their love through little gifts, subtle hints. But I'm just getting this feeling to tell you that don't worry. If someone really likes you, they will take the lead as well, so just trust.

4.❤️ Pile 4, I can see strong "solo" cards in your spread, yet, at the same time it is very obvious there will be drama aka jealousy in your love life this winter and there is someone, who has the hots for you. Let's dive deeper now. First of all, some of you seem to be into manifestation rituals. But guess what. The person competing against you, the person, who wants the person, who is into you, does rituals as well. They are into that, into manifestation rituals. If you do not do manifestation rituals, well, now you know that they do. A lot of energy play here. If you are intuitive at all, you might be able to pick up on that, to feel or see signs that someone is doing some spells to get your person. Someone is very focused on you here and they do things with intent. But the person into you is also focused on you and this winter it looks like they want your attention. Some other key themes that came through for you as well are friendship, freedom, adversity and failure. This person, who is very much into you, they do want to have a proper level up in your connection. So they definitely do want to be friends with you. Not friends with benefits, but really they want to be friends with you. They want to get to know you, before you bring in all the lovey dovey stuff into your connection. Like yes they want to have it, but they will hold back, because they want to actually have a solid foundation with you first aka friendship. So your haters will fail to get the person, because this person only has eyes for you. It does seem that you are still going through some karmic lessons, as the cards imply that the karmic energy will not be cleared away this winter. So there are some lessons that still has to be learned. It seems to be related to authenticity, so you need to work on that. Especially in terms of speech. It also looks like you need to practice more compassion, to learn to be more open to love. Maybe you are the sceptical type of person? But if you really wish to experience love, you first need to be fully open to it and allow it to happen. Learn to believe and have faith in love. And to believe and have faith that someone can truly love you. Stop thinking so much and just breathe, just be present and enjoy the moment. It looks like you have a hard time to just let your heart move you forward and you'll need to work on that. You need to tear down the walls around your heart to give and receive love, warmth and security. This person is capable of giving you all that. Allow your heart to open and expand, so that you can experience and enjoy the esctasy of love. Just know that now the time for romance has come and it will not wait for you. If you want romance, then the moment is now. It's here now. The Divine is supporting it, you've got protection, too. It's now in aligment. It's now the moment for breakthrough. For the chance to heal as well, to clear the old karmic energy, to learn your lessons. And love. Now, this winter, the answer is yes. This person is the jackpot, he is great company. You need to understand that indeed love makes the difference and that's just how it is. This one is true love.

5.🖤 Pile 5, this winter is filled with lessons for you in love. It does seem you are starting to take your power back and detaching from the low vibrational, however there will be many stops, many detours, many tricks and traps. You will be challenged again and again to surrender and to see and do things differently. You might even think and feel like no progress is made. Your faith will be tested multiple times, and your standards. Cheating, ghosting is in the cards for you. Traps and deceptions, lies and a lack-mentality. The what ifs, the hidden truths and evil plans. Let's dive deeper now. First of all, if you are into manifestation rituals, this winter is not the right time for it. They will all fail. This winter you will be required patience and doing your healing work. It looks like you are stuck in some entanglements and you need to get them undone energetically. You need to take your personal power back. You need to work on letting go of anger and the past. Forgiveness. You will be really pushed against the wall to crack you open; this winter is a time of balancing karma and deep healing. It looks like you might struggle letting go of an ex, not wanting them to forget you and get over you. But like said before, even if you'd do some manifestation work to attract them back, the cards are saying it will not work and it will not happen. It looks like you are waiting for them to reach out, to send you a message. However, this is a time of deep healing, of karmic release. Of great lessons. There will be no doubts. This is a time to start rising above. It looks like you might have this mentality of lack. Like you are stuck on an ex, because you can't imagine finding someone new. So one of the lessons you need to learn is to have faith that there is new love coming for you, someone better for you. You need to let go of your obsessions and desires and have the courage to be free and single. Re-prioritize. Instead of wanting them back thinking about what you would do this time differently, how about thinking of a whole new love story. Think about the possibilities, think about what it would be like to be in a real love relationship. Consider the foundation. Are you sure you want the ex back? Or the friends with benefits? Are you sure you want back whatever the situation and person you are stuck on? When you meet someone new, same, consider the foundation. The cards talk about the importance of communication and honesty. Communicate and be honest. Lead the way, blaze. Don't forget that like attracts like. It looks like the physical aspect, the 18+ is on the table. They do sure offer you that. But the cards are talking about going beyond that. For love, there needs to be willingness to open up to love. To make room for emotions and feelings, to feel them, to express them, to awaken to it and to all your senses. To come together, to give and receive love equally. It could appear like a thin line, but it's clear. Let go and let glow and there will be resolutions. Because guess what. New love is coming.

[binniesunderworld]

How Gabriel Agreste Destroyed Adrien's Life: A 3 a.m. Analysis

From: ‘I enrolled in a school without my father's permission, I ran away from home to attend the first day of school and although I don't want my father to be angry with me, I'm not afraid of a punishment either because I KNOW there won't be one’.

To: ‘My girlfriend is alone with my father, with no one to protect her, completely defenceless. I NEED TO SAVE HER’.

One knows that his father is a good person who, no matter how angry he is, would never hurt him. The other doesn't, it's the opposite, he is no longer sure of anything, he fears for the safety of those he loves and is so terrified that he is about to have a panic attack.

But how did we get from the first to the second?

How Gabriel Agreste's abuse managed to completely change his son in a matter of days

People don't remember this because it happened a long time ago and has not been repeated, but Adrien used to be a NORMAL person, not as perfect as he is now. While he has always been kind and polite, there were also times when he allowed himself to be a bit hostile and not as perfect as we are used to seeing him (as Adrien, not as Chat Noir). Usually that ‘good boy’ facade was only used in front of his father and Nathalie, but in front of his friends he behaved like a normal teenager, even becoming a bit teasing, self-centred and rebellious. "The Bubbler", "Animan", "Kung Food" and "Evillustrator" being the clearest examples of these behaviours, in particular towards Nino, Chloé and Marinette.

In S1 it becomes clear that the only conflict Adrien has with his father is the fact that he does not give him as much freedom as Adrien would like. Apart from this, Adrien has no other problems with him and considers him to be a good father. There are several of Adrien's behaviours that suggest that Gabriel's overprotectiveness towards him was the only thing wrong with him, but that otherwise Gabriel was excellent. It is time for us to look at that.

1. Origins

Adrien literally enrolled in a school without his father's permission and when his father refused to approve Adrien's attendance, he ran away from home and went running to school. When Nathalie tries to convince him to come back Adrien simply says ‘this is what I want’ and turns around to continue up the stairs, not caring if she has anything else to say. He hears that someone needs help and immediately goes to their aid, and as soon as he finishes doing that he turns to Nathalie and the bodyguard with a charming smile expecting to see their proud faces, and when instead he sees that they are still angry he is immediately horrified and gives up.

This tells us a lot about Adrien: he is a spoilt child who has never been punished in his life, and when things get difficult his first reaction is to be adorable or do a good deed to be forgiven. Adrien intended to leave Nathalie talking to herself, and he wasn't worried about the idea of being punished when he got home from school because he knew it wasn't likely to happen. He then helps someone to ingratiate himself with Nathalie and the bodyguard so that they will stop being angry, and when he realises that it didn't work he is surprised. He is used to people forgiving his disobedience just because he is cute. He immediately gives up and asks Nathalie not to tell Gabriel. While he didn't want his father to be angry with him, he also didn't fear punishment because he knew he wouldn't get it.

Later, at the mansion, Adrien realises that Nathalie did tell Gabriel and he feels betrayed, as if he didn't expect her to do that. Basically, he is not used to people disobeying him. Gabriel again forbids Adrien from going to school but it's nothing he hasn't said before: Gabriel reprimands Adrien's behaviour with words, never with punishment, and there comes a point when words are no longer enough and Adrien is no longer afraid of them, hence he becomes ‘rebellious’. The next day Adrien runs away again and, surprise surprise, he is not punished, in fact he is rewarded. Despite having disobeyed his father again, he is rewarded and allowed to go to school, even Nathalie (whom he treated very badly) offers to help him. This reward is without explanation, just because. I'm not saying Adrien deserved to be locked up for life at home, at the end of the day he's just a teenager who wants to socialise with more people, but it's clear he was a spoilt child whose behaviours both good and bad were praised, just like Chloé and Felix, so if you ever wondered why he was such good friends with them, here's your answer.

2. The Bubbler

Here we get confirmation of how Adrien is a good boy only in front of his father and Nathalie, and how he is himself in front of his friends. At the beginning of the episode he together with Nino makes fun of his father because he does not agree to throw him a birthday party. Then, when Nino is akumatized, he at first refuses to be part of the party because he cares about Nino and wants to save him. Even when he realises that all the adults are trapped in bubbles, he never cares about his father, Nathalie or his bodyguard, only about saving Nino. And then he also gives up on this idea after a little chat with Plagg and says: "Okay, you're right. This might be the first day in my life that I actually get to do what I want for once", and Adrien joins the party without any show of consideration for the adults he knows.

Although all these behaviours were forgotten by the fandom, they are important to understand Adrien's character and how he changed due to his father's abuse. This is the normal behaviour of a teenager with a bit of a grudge: he's not a psychopath who wants something bad to happen to his father, he's a kid who knows that in the end he and his superhero partner will fix everything and he allows himself to have fun in the meantime. But it's something the current Adrien would never do, and there's where the difference lies.

3. Volpina & The Collector

This is the last episode in which we see Adrien acting like a normal teenager. He overhears Gabriel talking on the phone and decides to spy on him, then discovers that he has a safe behind his mother's portrait and out of curiosity goes to investigate. Adrien discovers the book and takes it with him, when he is discovered he quickly makes up a lie. RIP pre-lobotomised Adrien, you will always be missed.

This is the key point in the change of behaviour of both Adrien and Gabriel.

Gabriel confronts Adrien and he immediately gives an explanation in a tone of voice intended to generate sympathy:

—I just wanted to know what you were hiding behind that portrait that was so important.

This doesn't work so he resorts to blaming Gabriel himself:

—You.. you never told me about those things.

And this doesn't work either, so he decides to admit what he did but also looks for a way to justify himself:

—I was intending to give it back to you, I swear. But then I lost it.

Gabriel tells Adrien that he no longer trusts him, and what is Adrien's reaction? He just looks jaded and apologises to Gabriel, in an attitude that makes it clear that he is used to apologising to make things right, that he is not genuinely sorry, and also offers to buy him a new copy, confident that this will be enough for Gabriel to forgive him. This confirms the previous point: Adrien is used to getting out of his punishments just because he looks cute or does a good deed, and this became so repetitive that Adrien already knew how to get out of a punishment, and was not afraid of his father but simply tired of scolding that went nowhere. Again, there is no fear of consequences.

Everything changes completely when Gabriel tells him that this book is unique in the world, that there is no other copy. Apologies didn't work and the other form of redemption, buying him a copy, wasn't possible. Then is when Adrien's face changes completely to horror: he has just understood the magnitude of his mistake. His father punishes him by forbidding him to go back to school and Adrien is heartbroken, but does not try to reason with his father (as he had done, and many times, in past episodes). This is the birth of the Adrien we know now: from a normal boy to a submissive puppet. He knows that there is no way to redeem himself and that is why he decides not to fight, he finally realises that his actions have consequences, serious ones, taking away what is most precious to him: his freedom.

From here on we see a completely changed Adrien, from a rebellious teenager to a perfect doll with no thoughts of his own. Before, he pretended to be perfect only in front of his father, Nathalie and his bodyguard. Now he pretends to be perfect in front of everyone, regardless of whether he knows them or not. The trauma can be clearly seen: Adrien adopts this neat behaviour because he is afraid that his freedom will be taken away if his father finds out that he made another mistake. Now Adrien knows that he CAN be punished. He doesn't even allow himself to breathe in peace because of all the stress and fear he carries. And so it is that Adrien becomes a puppet unable to stop pretending even in front of his own friends: we go from an Adrien who was not afraid to react strangely to Marinette's odd behaviour, who was not afraid to tease Nino about his crush and who was not afraid to put Chloé in her place when the situation warranted it, to an Adrien who could not even keep his back bent for fear that his father would consider it inappropriate.

Gabriel Agreste being a shitty father and exploiting his son's weaknesses to profit from them

Despite being strict with Adrien, there were times when Gabriel let him spend time with his friends and have fun with them. In fact, in S1 there are several of these, most of them to be found there (before all the drama).

In ‘Animan’ he is in the zoo helping Nino with his date with Marinette.

In ‘Gamer’ he is playing video games for the school championship at Marinette's house.

In ‘Kung Food’ he comes to Marinette's house to help her with her uncle and even takes them to the hotel and stays for dinner with them, he spends practically the whole day away from home.

In ‘Horrificator’ he spends many hours filming the movie for the school.

In ‘The puppeteer’ he is going somewhere alone and relaxed.

In ‘Timebreaker’ he is present during the race between Alix and Kim.

As you can see, despite being strict, Gabriel sometimes let his son spend time with his friends. When did this change? After the book incident. After forbidding Adrien to attend school, Gabriel noticed how heartbroken he was and realised that school and his friends were not a whim for Adrien, but something he truly cherished. And Gabriel used these feelings to manipulate Adrien. In S1, before the incident, Adrien is more ‘rebellious’ and still has enough freedom to be with his friends. In S2, after the incident, Adrien behaves much better than in S1 and still doesn't have half as much freedom as before, and when he finally gets his father's permission to be with his friends, something happens at the last minute (Heroes Day Part 2, for example). This is because his father has discovered his Achilles' heel and uses it to benefit himself and manipulate Adrien.

The clearest proof of this is in the difference between ‘Horrificator’, where Gabriel let Adrien spend hours in the school filming the movie, and ‘Queen Banana’, where Gabriel let Adrien go for only a few minutes to the filming and right after he finished his part he literally left in a cage hanging from a helicopter. It is clear the pleasure that man developed in making his son miserable.

And we could talk about ‘Chat Blac’ and ‘Ephemeral’, but I won't touch those topics as they are not part of our timeline. I'll just say that they made it clear how far Gabriel is willing to go (literally traumatise Adrien) in order to get what he wants. What I think, is sick.

Adrien's Stockholm Syndrome: normalisation, justification and romanticisation, and how it makes him vulnerable to unhealthy relationships

1. Gabriel

We have already made it clear that Adrien became an uncritical puppet, and as a result he developed a terrible Stockholm syndrome. Adrien normalised all the manipulation, and by accepting it as something usual this caused him to start justifying it as well. Needless to name the episodes, in many of them there is always someone (usually Nino, Marinette or Plagg) who points out his father's problematic behaviour and Adrien immediately tries to justify it with ‘he does it because he loves me’ or ‘he just wants to protect me’. This shows us a big difference from the Adrien of S1 who was aware of his father's behaviour and even made fun of it, the current Adrien would never do that, on the contrary, he seems to live to justify Gabriel's actions. That's how serious the brainwashing is.

With Gabriel's behaviours now normalised and justified, they in turn begin to be romanticised. Despite being a shitty person, there are moments when Gabriel treats Adrien well: like when he hugs him (something Adrien is not used to), his worried words to Chat Noir about losing Adrien, or when he watches his mother's movie with him. These are all details that if they weren't accompanied by manipulation, anyone could call ‘cute’. And this makes Adrien unaware of the manipulation at first: his own denial and the kind details his father had for him confused his brain. Adrien did not think that his father could be so kind to him if he was a bad person, and that is why Adrien refused to consider him as such. This is a method of self-defence against dangerous situations, the feelings developed by this are not only romantic but any kind of feelings that are enough to make the victim feel safe in dangerous environments.

2. Kagami and Marinette

Let's start with Adrigami. Adrien didn't show a strong interest in Kagami until the chapter ‘Oni-Chan’ where he even rejects Ladybug's fist to make sure Kagami is okay, but what led to this? The romanticisation of obsession and control.

Kagami is simply Adrien's friend, but when she sees a photo of him with another girl, she gets so jealous that she is akumatized and starts chasing this other girl to get her away from Adrien. This is behaviour that is bad as a girlfriend, but even worse as a friend. Adrien doesn't take this seriously and even spends the whole fight making jokes instead of worrying that one of her friends is a jealous girl who is willing to kill for him even if they don't have any kind of commitment. Then, when he sees that Kagami still has the rose he gave her, his behaviour immediately changes and you could say that this is when he starts to feel a real attraction to her, even rejecting Ladybug's fist, whom he had long been in love with.

Here we see how dangerous the romanticisation of problematic behaviour is: Adrien is willing to let go of all the chaos Kagami caused and all her toxic behaviour just because she showed that she really ‘loved him’. And he reciprocates her feelings because he finds it cute that someone is in love with him enough to go crazy. The romanticisation of Gabriel's actions eventually led Adrien to romanticise other people's actions, even going so far as to feel honoured by all the questionable actions these people committed under the justification of loving him.

Something quite similar happens with Adrinette. In S5 Adrien mentions that he started to accept his feelings for Marinette from what happened in ‘The Puppeteer 2’, and there's no way this isn't weird. He had feelings for Marinette long before that, but it was that event that led him to accept them. Marinette literally assaults a ‘statue’ just because it looks like Adrien, starts fantasizing about a life together, steals one of his hair and many other weird things, and what's Adrien's response? To say that he fell in love. He literally saw how far Marinette was capable of going because of her obsession with him, and as much as that behaviour was justified with ‘it was a joke’, instead of caring, what he does is fall in love with her... because of her obsessive and bizarre behaviour towards him.

It is honestly quite disappointing to see how Gabriel's manipulation damaged Adrien to the point of leaving him craving only unhealthy relationships because that was his perception of love.

Both victim and perpetrator

Adrien developed a split personality and a taste for taking advantage of people when he is in situations of power. Gabriel turned Adrien into a victim and a perpetrator, the role depending on the situation. When Adrien is the one at a disadvantage, he displays submissive and manageable behaviour. When he has all the power, he has no problem using it selfishly and taking advantage of others. This was taught by Gabriel, from prudence to ruthlessness, are things Adrien learned from him. And in a way that's how Adrien differs from Chat Noir: the power they possess.

Adrien is always at a disadvantage: his life is in the public eye, everything he does is always monitored by his father or his fans, and if he makes a mistake it is very easy for his father to find out and punish him. This is why Adrien, always powerless, forces himself to act submissively. He does not possess the power in such situations, so he can only act as he is expected to act.

As Chat Noir things are quite different, he always has the power. Chat Noir is a superhero, he watches over Paris but no one watches over him, he has freedom, destructive power, a city that depends on him and a partner who needs him to defeat the supervillains. He has the power. And he uses this power to his advantage.

A clear example of this is his tendency to threaten. Adrien has several times been willing to give up his miraculous and even verbally threaten (in a passive-aggressive way) Ladybug just because it bothers him that she has secrets. All of S2 was Adrien threatening to give up his miraculous if Ladybug didn't tell him her secrets, and this behaviour wasn't like ‘we can't keep hiding things from each other anymore, this isn't healthy for me and if we're not going to be honest it's best to just give up’, no, this behaviour was like ‘if you don't tell me what you're hiding, I'll give this up and you see if you can do it all by yourself or if you find me a replacement’. I understand that he was tired of the situation, but manipulation is never justifiable behaviour. Evidence of this is found in episodes such as ‘Syren’, where Adrien even threatens Plagg with give up his Miraculous if he doesn't tell him what Ladybug is hiding.

Another example is ‘Glaciator’, where he invites Ladybug to a dinner and she makes it clear that she already has plans and is unlikely to go. And yet Adrien is self-illusioned, and when his fantasies are shattered by something Ladybug had already warned him would happen, he simply accuses her of mocking him, throws a tantrum, refuses to help with the akuma, and when Ladybug comes up with a good plan to defeat the villain he guilts her by saying: ‘Sorry, Ladybug, it's not cool to play with people's feelings’ when Ladybug never played with his feelings and in fact realised these only minutes ago.

There are many other episodes like these, too many to list. I guess the most notorious ones are ‘NY Special’ (where he has no problem being unfaithful to Kagami) and ‘Lies’ (where he also has no problem being unfaithful, lying to her, trying to provoke akumatizations and so on). His problematic behaviours are not only as Chat Noir, but also as Adrien when he finds himself in relationships where he has the power. In his courtship with Kagami he knows that she is completely in love with him and uses this to his advantage and does truly horrible things like the ones mentioned above without regard for her feelings because he knows or believes that she won't leave him. Something similar happens with his friendship with Chloé, he knows how much Chloé appreciated him and so every time she committed a bad deed he threatened to end their friendship. It's not wrong to want your friend to stop being a shitty person, and it's okay to let him/her know that if he/she continues this stupid behaviour you'll have no choice but to walk away, but the problem with this is that we go from Adrien's genuine concern for Chloé to empty threats just because, in the end, Chloé wouldn't change her behaviour and he wouldn't leave either.

Conclusions

This is not as well written as I would like it to be. I procrastinated for weeks and when I finally decided to write it I no longer had the series so fresh in my memory. I am a teenager with no professional knowledge of psychology who wrote this at 3 a.m. while I was not so sober.

This post is not salt against Adrien/Chat Noir, in all of ‘Miraculous’ there are only two or three characters I hate and none of those are Adrien, so this post is not hate towards him. While I did describe some of his behaviour in a not so nice way, that was not a personal opinion but an analysis. Like when you go to a psychologist and he doesn't give you his personal opinion but a diagnosis, the main difference being that I am not a professional nor do I claim to be one. Anyways, this is a direct attack on Gabriel Agreste for being a shitty person.

As you may have noticed, most of this analysis is based on S1 to S3. While I did mention some episodes from S4 and S5 they were not as relevant, this is because the first 3 seasons are the ones I've seen the most and ergo the ones I remember the most, maybe later (I don't think so) I'll do a part two on S4 and S5.

Finally: my personal opinion on Adrien. He is an amazing character whose development and build goes unnoticed by the fandom, this is probably because it wasn't done on purpose (if this character build was planned it wouldn't be half as good as it is, the writers aren't that talented). Adrien is just a boy, a victim of an abusive home that ingrained several of his father's behaviours within him and he has no ‘true personality’ as this depends on the situation he finds himself in. He acts this way as a method of survival and although it is not right, it is a psychological response and it is not as if he can help it. I'm really happy that the poor boy is free from his abusive father and I hope that in S6 he can be happy and get therapy.

[muffinsin]

hiii again! this is the nipple piercing anon. and yes, that felt so weird to type 😂 thank you for answering my ask!! I was wondering if you could let us all know how do you think the girls would react to their s/o having a tongue ring, as well? 🧐 much appreciated!

Haha yk what? I like that name, it’s fun XD absolutely, hon! I feel like if she could, Cassandra might be interested in having one herself, actually👀

Let’s get into it :)

Masterlists

Bela

She doesn't even notice you have your tongue pierced until well into the relationship, when you share your first kiss

Now, perhaps you should have warned her

Maybe, if you had considered that

It's just that it's a pretty well known fact among the staff by now. It's rare someone gets to have a piercing in the village, and as such, you are often asked to show yours off

As such, it has slipped your mind to warn her about this particular asset

And when she does kiss you, and boldly pushes her tongue against yours, she quickly draws back

You aren't even all that sure about what happened

In one moment she's moaning, humming, smiling against your lips

In the next already she draws back, gasping in surprise, her lower half a mere swarm of flies already, all which buzz loudly

Her golden eyes are so wide and if you weren't so confused, you might notice how utterly adorable the look of such confusion is on the headstrong Bela Dimitrescu

She opens her mouth a couple times, but no sound comes from her, as thuogh she can't quite form her sentence and is not even sure what she wants to ask you

Then, when she just opens her mouth again, you finally understand what must confuse her so

And when you yourself open your mouth and stick out your tongue, she immediately leans down a little, as though to inspect the piercing

At first, she looks shocked

Immediately after, she demands to know "who did this to you"

Again, piercings, especially this kind, are not horribly common in these areas. You really shouldn't be surprised she's this unused to seeing one and- of course- feeling one against her tongue

She's standing tall, demanding to know what happened as though the little piercing is something that's been done to you, as though it's similar to the torture her sister likes to inflict on the prisoners

You're sure, she would've eventually come to her and checked whether she did this, too

But, eventually, you do get her to realize you wear the piercing because you want to. No one hurt you, no one tortured you

And while it lessens her anger and protectiveness for the moment, it does have her feel more confused again

It takes a little while, and a lot of explaining

Eventually, she gets more curious than confused

She kisses you again, more hesitant, a little slower, but so overly curious

She wants to get a feel for it, explores eagerly

It feels odd for a little bit

Soon, she works on trying to figure out how certain things feel for you

She would never want to hurt you, and is at first a little concerned about accidentally ripping at the ring with her sharp teeth

You reassure her, it won’t happen, she’s careful, the ring is small, nothing will happen

And while it does take a while, she does get used to it

Bela isn't quite interested in piercings herself, but admires you for having one

She finds, it's bold, and quite brave in her eyes. Especially for a human. She's certain getting a piercing must be painful, even more so for a human

As if to support you, Bela likes to help you care for the piercing, even as this usually means reminding you to clean it when necessary or change it up at times

For this, she gets you a series of similar rings

Some, surprises

Others she has allowed you to choose yourself

And in time even, she comes to quite like your piercing

Cassandra

Given her fascination with things from the world and cultures outside that of the village, Cassandra would have gladly had a piercing herself already

She likes to experiment

And especially as it comes to these things, she can’t help but see the painful aspect of getting a piercing

How exciting!

Sadly, however, her biology doesn’t quite allow her to do so, her body healing up far too rapidly for her to get even a large piercing

Nonetheless she’s more than curious about them and even knows a thing or two

Really, if her sisters and mother weren’t so against the idea, claiming it’s a waste of materials, she might’ve just pierced some of her prisoners’ bodies

The time she finds out about your piercing is, unsurprisingly, your first kiss

And while it has her pause momentarily, it excites her, too

She’s almost feverish when she kisses you again, moaning and humming, growling even

Her flies, to this day, buzz so loud

Now, you know this is because the feel of the metal ring against her tongue, mingling with the taste and sensation of your tongue, has her feel far, far too excited and far too aroused for her own good

Then, back when you didn’t know, you simply gave into her

Into her moans, her wandering hands

She’s always been so forward, so eager, very touchy

A very physical person

You didn’t think anything of it

That is, until it was your turn to give, and the licks along her throat and privates were enough to have her cum far, far too fast

Though, her shocked expression and wide eyes were certainly worth it

How her chest heaved and legs shook, her flies buzzed…

So excited, so overly aroused

So sensitive whenever the metal even slightly brushed against her skin

Cassandra still is, of course, though she’s grown better at getting a hang of it and at least trying to draw things out

Still, she gets adorably embarrassed when she does end up cumming too fast because of it

A pierced tongue against her…a curious kink, though not entirely surprising for her

Of course, even aside from that, she loves your pierced tongue

She loves to feel it with her own, yes, of course

But, Cassandra also finds it’s quite bold, brave, even

She admires you for it

At times, she wants to copy you, and you usually get to spend the day with a very, very grumpy a little more so than usual Cassandra

Of course, she can’t sport any piercings. It doesn’t stop her from trying, though

At times, she will remind you to take care of hers, though by all means you should not rely on her to do so

At other times, she likes to ramble on about different and more piercings

Styles, spots, motifs, she just wants to see what else could take your pick

And she will always support you

Daniela

She’s overly curious about your piercing

She’s heard rumors of you having a tongue piercing before. You aren’t even sure how she’s come to hear them, really

You suppose, despite how scared most of the staff is of her, she does get around

Perhaps, a literal fly on the wall?

Still, she doesn’t quite speak up on it, even as you feel and hear her flies buzz with excitement

Then again- so they do whenever she’s around you, so there’s no clear way of telling, really

When she does kiss you for the first time, though, her tongue immediately pushes forward as she boldly explores your mouth

And, quite surprisingly to you, her tongue immediately slips across your piercing

She giggles against your lips, as though the sensation felt funny, comfortable, almost familiar

It isn’t, of course, but she’s spent plenty time imagining what kissing you might be like

When she does finally get to experience it, it’s even better than she dared dream

Of course, getting to see your piercing(-s) immediately has her want to get one, too

And, like her sisters, that unfortunately is not a possibility

Alas, her sadness and disappointment doesn’t ever last long

Instead, new offers and pleads come

She can’t help but whine, asking with wide, wide puppy eyes;

Please, let her give you your next piercing!

She promises, she will be so gentle!

She thinks it’s romantic. Or the thought of it, at least

To hold you close

To hear your heartbeat pick up a little

To hear your blood pump

To watch as your eyes widen a little or close

To hold you close

To pierce your body

She wonders; would your eyes slip shut, press shut when the pain comes?

She assures you; she’d be careful!

Should you actually allow her to do this, she’ll be not only incredibly excited, but also fuss about you to no end

She wants it all to go well, wants to have fun with you

She doesn’t want to hurt you, after all! Even as she likes biting at your throat occasionally

As such, she’ll make sure everything is perfect, likely even practice on some…not quite so willing prisoners or, if she feels particularly desperate, even the moroaica

When Bela asks why some of them have pierced ears, noses, lips, and so on, she acts innocent. You try to do the same

When it comes to you, though, she spares no expenses

She gets you the exact piercing you want

And given she could, you’re certain she’d get the same one to match you

Romantic

[a-most-beloved-fool]

If Spock and Jim merged into one being (no euphemism here lol) like Tuvix, what do you think the personality of the new being would be like? What impact do you think that would have had on the lives of both of them after they separated again? I love your headcanons, thanks for the answers!

thanks for the question!! <3

Hmmm... I think they would work pretty well as one being, actually. I'm thinking about all of those quotes from Roddenberry about how Kirk and Spock were supposed to represent two halves of a whole person, so I have to assume that they would be quite content. Though, disclaimer as I continue: I have not yet seen any of Voyager - there might be aspects of Tuvix's combination that I don't take into account because I don't know they exist. If so, uh, sorry. My bad.

For the sake of avoiding confusion, I'll call the merge Kirok (after the name Kirk chose when he lost his memories in The Paradise Syndrome). (Also, I fear that calling him "Kock" would have... deleterious effects on the readability of this post... for no reason at all...)

I do think that Kirok would, overall, have the best parts of Kirk and Spock. Combined, they are tactically fearsome. With Kirk's intuition and understanding of people and Spock's knowledge of statistics and science, Kirok is brilliant. However, I do think that Kirok would be a worse captain in practice than if Kirk and Spock simply had a mental bond. Part of the brilliance of Kirk and Spock as a command team is that, while they very much respect one another and take the other's opinion into account, they do also. regularly ignore each other's advice. And this is usually to their benefit! They each take risks that the other wouldn't, and, often, it saves them (in part because they always back each other up, even when doing things they don't agree with. Spock will be like "this is unwise" and Kirk will say "maybe, but I'm doing it anyways" and Spock will just... go with it.). But, if they were one person, I think that impulsiveness would be tempered. The Kirk part would have a brilliant idea, the Spock part would say "wait, there is too much risk, we can make a better plan," and then Kirok would lose his chance to act. When they're separate people Spock is ride-or-die for all of Kirk's decisions, but when they're one person, the Spock half won't always allow those decisions to be made at all (and also won't necessarily be able to tell when he does need to rein things in a bit). (Also Kirk and Spock both tend to be reckless, and then rely on the other to save them - as Kirok, who would back him up when he needed it? Bones would, but he's a medical officer. He simply can't do everything they would have. And, no matter how good of a first officer Kirok got (probably Sulu?), they couldn't be that good.)

I also think that Kirok wouldn't be quite as at ease with his position on the ship as Spock and Kirk individually were. The Spock part of him loves science far too much to just abandon it. He wants to spend time in the labs! He wants to make discoveries! Likewise the Kirk part of him can't truly be anything but a Captain. So, Kirok stays a captain, but he's less passionate about it (or, rather, more passionate about things that aren't it). This doesn't actually affect Kirok's satisfaction - it just affects his performance and relationships with others. He might spend off-duty time working on science experiments (which he can no longer do during shift, due to captaining) and neglect forming bonds with his crew, and he might place more focus than usual on scientific discovery missions.

As for the crew... Well, it's not as weird of a change as they expected. As expected, Kirok is less outwardly friendly than Kirk, and more outwardly friendly than Spock, but he's - cohesive. He still feels like their commanding officers. His humor tends to be a bit drier than Kirk's was, but he's a very compassionate and reasonable captain. (Tbh I tend to think that Kirk is actually more of a hardass than Spock (people just assume Spock is worse due to being Vulcan), so some crewmembers are surprised when Kirok is more lenient about certain things than Kirk would have been. Not lenient about cruelty or anything genuinely important to the safety of the ship, but about other things.) But, he's still not as good at making personal connections as Kirk was, and he's still inclined to spend too much time in the labs, so things aren't perfect.

Really, I think that the person having the worst time of things would be Bones, lmao. He'd have to deal with his Best Friend suddenly being the same person as The Guy He Affectionately Antagonizes (totally not a friend no how could you even think that). I think he'd be more lost than anyone else about how to address Kirok. Is this Kirk, his old friend, who he can be truly comfortable with, or is this Spock, who he snipes at and who snipes at him in turn? Who can he turn to, when the man he normally approaches for comfort is now the same being as one he doesn't want to seem too weak in front of? Does he turn to anyone else, in the meantime, or does he weather it alone?

Kirok himself, though, is actually pretty okay with the change. The different parts of himself simply - mesh well together. It's very satisfying for him, if not for his career and those around him. There's some minor bits of tension, especially regarding changes in biology and telepathic status, but, for the most part, he's doing well. The things you might expect to be major points of tension somehow... aren't. They compromise remarkably easily. (No meat, yes logic, no emotional suppression, yes casual touching, no casual relationships, yes meditation, etc.) And the Kirk and Spock parts of him both enjoy the closeness, the sense of knowing they now have for one another. They're one person, and know themself completely as they've always longed to know each other completely. (he does miss playing chess against someone who could beat him, though!)

Now, because I am Spirk-brained, I also think there's potential for Kirok to have Very Confused Feelings about discovering that the two parts of himself each had secret feelings for the other prior to the merge. There could be this odd sense of loss - like, yes, they are now technically one with one another, but they also completely missed out on their shot at a romantic relationship. They mourn what they could have had. The Spock part, especially, mourns the potentially for a telepathic bond (because with how smoothly they've integrated with one another, it surely would have been a strong one). So, as much as Kirok does enjoy existing as Kirok, I think he might be more willing to attempt separating back into two parts than I believe Tuvix was.

And, when they're two separate people again, they both feel like they're missing some part of themself, even once they've begun their new romantic relationship - but quickly discover that a mental link between them fills that hole. (And then, of course, because they are hopeless and in love, the "medicinal mental link" very quickly just becomes a marriage bond. They're like "well, we've already been one person and liked that well enough... a marriage bond is hardly anything different!" To Spock's endless pleasure, they are highly compatible and have a remarkably strong bond.) The mental link also allows them to have the same quick reaction times and combined brilliance of Kirok without the negative side effects of their own individual strengths being tempered. (they're also like. annoyingly codependent for a bit after Kirok's separation. oh boy are they always touching. "it gives them emotional security." bones looks at them in disgust (he loves it).)

Or, if we wanted to be McSpirk-brained... I'm enjoying the imagery of Kirok (who both had crushes on Bones as well as on one another) just directing all of that missed romantic potential onto Bones, who is... like, he's not not into it (Kirk was hot, Spock was hot, ergo Kirok is hot), but he also misses and loved his Original friends, and so he is very torn between accepting Kirok's advances and trying to find a way to split them apart again. (Flustered Bones, flustered Bones!! I do love flustered Bones!! He is blushing and stammering and having multiple ethical crises all at once. They never covered this in Starfleet Medical...) He also doesn't quite know whether Kirok's feelings truly belonged to both Kirk and Spock or not, and doesn't think that Kirk or Spock would truly act on it if they were in their normal state, so a small selfish part of him wonders if that's the only chance he has to be with them (even if it's not quite the same 'them' he fell in love with). And then, of course, there's the fear that trying to get back the original Kirk and Spock will actually just kill them! Yeah, poor Bones has a rough time of things. But, when everything is fixed, he does still wind up getting two boyfriends out of it. It all works out in the end?

[crystalmagpie447]

mmm, good good, excellent

*pulling up a chair and looking at you with my big ol eyes*

Tell me more about your boys! What's their personalities? How do they treat each other? How do they each interact with yn? Anything you have I will eat up, and no worries if there's certain things you're still waiting to reveal :)

THERE IT IS!!

Plotline (or soemthing): management decides to give the daycare attendant wings, after an accident that caused their zipline to break midair ☠️. (This isnt thatbig of an unusual change because every human type person has wings ((avians??idk i just like wings)

Somehow during maintenance, sun and moon get tha virus™ 

This makes them more irrated/closed off/nervous than usual, but they dont understand why (virus gets worse as the story progresses, y/n takes it upon themselves to figure out how to help)

Personalities!!

- Sun (pre-upgrade): joyous and silly!! For the kids at least 

Never really liked talking w/ human staff because they never talk to him

(Post upgrade and when reader starts working at the plex): joyous and silly still!!! But as time goes on you wonder how much of it is an act. His smile only really seems full when hes entertaining the children, and you figure its because thats what he was built for. 

Usually steers you away from topics and conversations he does not want to talk about, but if you pry too much hell probably snap and saysomething mean (OURGH i think itd be easier to draw or write interactions in order to explainthis better sorry☠️☠️)

Nicknames for reader: buttercup, busybee, sunshine

Moon (pre- upgrade)

Jestery and silly!! Ofc ofc but also a kind/ comforting presence, loved naptime, and the kids loved him!!! 

Never interacted with human staff tho, but if he ever caught  a worker (or any adult rlly)  staring at him, or saying mean things abt either attendants, hed probably stare creepily at them untill they got freaked out and ran away lol OR find someother way to spook them if that wasnt scary enough)

(post upgrade)

Alot less patient, alot more mean/intimidating (and off-putting)

Parents (and staff) complained abt him acting weird and most stopped taking their kids to the daycare 

Soo sun takes over naptime, and moon becomes security at night (yesyes the usual ☝️)

When y/n meets him hes mean and tricky, because he expects them to be just like all the other staff

But when he realises youre not, (and at times when hes more in control) his slightly ill-intended pranks lighten up to teasing and playfulness (huzzah!!)

Has a music box in his chest 

Nicknames for reader: dragonfly, nightengale, starlight

(THEY CAN BOTH FLY!! How?? Idk ☠️)

Reader: s ome guy (lol) (in their early 20’s orsomething ((ill probably never really mention this if i ever do choose to write stuff, so ‘tis up for interpretation!!) looking for a job 

Juggling college and hoping to earn some money on the side 

Has some kind of defect where their wings stopped growing at one point, and are too small to allow them to fly 

Personality: ourrgh i dont think ive thought too much abt their personality actually LOL

S t ubborn (will get irritated but cares too much to give up!!)

Jumps to conclusions but will wait until evidence is provided in order to believe said conclusions (doesnt want to be wrong or annoying) 

Nickname for sun: sunny

Nickname for moon: moon-man

@midnight-mourning

HAVE AT THEE!!!

[soniclozdplove]

Wukong came in shortly after the demon monkey left, confused at the utterly terrified expressions on his old friends' faces.

"What happened!?"

"Demon... shadows..." Was all a pale faced Tang could choke out, shaking as he cluched his shakujō tightly. Wukong blinked in confusion before realization struck, his eyes lighting up in recognition before shifting to annoyance.

"Oh! You met him, huh? Figures he wouldn't leave well enough alone."

"Who is that scary guy anyways!?" Baije asks, looking somewhere between pissed and terrified, "That freak just came in and threatened us, I thought you said this place would be safe!"

"Watch it!" Wukong growled at him, low and angry as he glared at Baije, "Macaque is many things, but I will not tolerate anyone but me insulting him!"

Tang Sanzang's most lazy disciple promptly shut his mouth with an audible click of teeth. Tang was quickly learning that this strange, mature version of Wukong was someone who is very protective of those he cares for, and will not allow any perceived threat or insult to them to exist. Considering the boastful nature of the monkey he knows, he has to wonder. Was this change caused by age and many centuries of change? Or was this something his own Wukong was capable of? It's something to consider for when they return to their own time. If they return.

How quickly he went from being annoyed at the presence of the other monkey to defending him speaks leagues about the two as well, especially considering the threats Macaque had spoken of before he'd left. The two had to have a close bond, to defend each other in the same breath they'd insult each other. Tang cleared his throat, prepared to mediate.

"I would like to know more about this Macaque, character. Zu Baije was not wrong when he said he spoke to up in a threatening manner in regards to how he sees us and your safety only to leave when he sensed your approach."

Wukong frowned, grumbling something to himself that almost sounded like "overprotective, jealous bastard" before heaving a heavy sigh and looking him in the eye,

"Macaque is just jealous. He's worried that your presence in our... in my life again will cause a rift."

"How would we cause some sort of rift between you!?" Ao Lie asked, wringing his hands worriedly, "When you, uh... the younger you, told me about him, you seemed like you were close!"

"It's... complicated." Wukong looked down, a conflicted expression on his face as he sank into the couch next to them, hands clenched together as he stared at them, "Not something I'd like to get into. Let's just say, me and Macaque had a falling out of sorts during the Journey, and Macaque has gotten it into his head that you are to blame. You appearing here and now, as you are, is very ill timing."

It occurred to Tang, as he watched his eldest student seem to go through a form of heartbreak as he spoke of his friend, that this is the first time he'd ever seen Sun Wukong be vulnerable and open about his feelings. He seemed... small. A strange thing to consider for him, when just a few days earlier he had seen a much younger Wukong bludgeoning several demons to death. Just as quickly the moment passed, Wukong perking up as he seemed to remember something.

"Oh! Right. MK wanted to do some training earlier. He wanted to know if you wanted to watch, it's just some small sparring between the two of us, maybe a bit of meditation, nothing special."

"Sparring?" Tang blinked, feeling apprehensive. Sparring implies violence. Does Wukong teach his student violent lessons?

"I mean, yeah." Wukong shrugged, "Mercy is a virtue, but one can not simply just go through life without learning to defend themselves. Especially when you're a demon! Even now, there are those who would attack a demon simply for existing in peace. Never mind back in the Tang era where they'd be forced to hide in caves, rivers, and forests to escape persecution. You all should know this!"

[inhuman-obey-me]

59 w/ Solomon!!

Solomon + 59: "Bloodbath" - Polyphia ft. Chino Moreno

He wakes suddenly, heart pounding, blood and greenery still stained across his vision. A back turned to him, leaving. That disdainful voice he hasn't heard in such a very long time, so full of disappointment, sending a long forgotten pain striking through his chest.

Solomon tries to clear his head as his mind slowly comes back to reality, registering his room again, bit by bit. The softness under his clutched fingers is the sheets of his bed, not the crumbling dirt of the garden. The dappling of orange lights across from him are only the bright Devildom streetlights gleaming through the Cocytus Hall window, not the fading sun through Eden's tangled foliage.

Most importantly, the twisting heat in his stomach is only the thick grip of fear. Not blood. It's not blood.

It's not real — anymore.

His lungs strain from his chest in hard, thin breaths as he shakes off the last of the dream. That person, who'd once been so close with him, is long gone. They'd made their choices, and he'd made his. And yes, those choices had left him forging this path alone for a long time.

But, you're with him now. For the first time since that gruesome incident, he has an apprentice again, and he allows himself to feel hope. You know what he's trying to do, and you've agreed to walk this path alongside him.

For now.

Maybe it's only because you haven't gotten involved with other sorcerers yet.

Maybe it's only a matter of time.

He smiles bitterly to himself, remembering how his former apprentice used to look at him — the enthusiastic smile, the admiration, that confident determination. He'd been so proud back then. They'd felt like an unstoppable pair, and for a few years there, Solomon had really believed that his lofty goals could even be in reach. Humanity would stand equally, finally, not between the other realms but amongst them.

The establishment of the Sorcerer's Society changed things.

He'd once called it a lack of focus, or perhaps a lack of vision. But that was unfair, wasn't it? Of course the other humans who joined didn't have the same goals as he did. They'd never seen the things he had. They didn't care about the same things he did.

He just hadn't expected his own apprentice to turn on him so hard alongside them.

"This isn't about the Three Realms! Why does it matter so much what they think of us? I'm sick of hearing about your angels and your demons. It's inside your head where you create your own war with them. Stop dragging the rest of us into it. We have real battles to fight."

And so, one of those battles became against Solomon himself, ending with blood and dragon fire and being abandoned by everything he'd held dear. They had left him there to die, knowing full well that he wouldn't.

The immortal sorcerer had been alone ever since — carrying on with that vacant, unholy determination in his chest, trudging on down this path that has earned him the ire and disdain of seemingly all sides, even his own.

Until you.

You, you've been all mixed up into the business of angels and demons all along, haven't you? You feel the weight of being subject to their desires and their pressures, just like him, don't you? You understand what he's trying to do, don't you?

And so, you won't turn on him — will you?

It scares him that he doesn't know.

Solomon reminds himself not to pin all his hopes on you. You love him, he knows, but you love all of them too — the demons, the angels, even the reaper Thirteen. If you ever chose to oppose him in favor of them, he doesn't think he could bear it. But he knows he would have to, just like every time he's had to before.

He's just so tired of being alone.

[pearlofthewoods]

Spuffy band-fic ramblings (long-post)

I think about this scene so frequently because…"Well, I sing.” 

Yes, of course he does. That man was a poet, he could write such gorgeous lyrics, and no one can tell me Spike wasn’t an active part of the rock scene in the 70s.

Honestly, a whole Spuffy band fic has been marinating in my brain for like a good 6 months now, (like seriously, it even has its own playlist, that’s when u know it’s getting real)… but since I’m only a baby writer I wanna get some writing practise in before I embark on the project, so that I can do it justice. 

However as I literally cannot keep these thoughts to myself, allow me to invite you into my brain for a while. 

(Be warned I'm basically spoiling half the plot of a future fic under the cut so scroll away if u only wanna read it when, or if, it gets written.)

So in my fic idea, there’s a huge underground vampire music scene (particularly in LA), since because vampires are immortal, they’ve lived through so many different eras of music that they have a really deep understanding of music history. They’ve seen so many famous bands live etc (which obviously is one of the few human experiences open to vampires, since so many gigs take place at night and are tied to nightlife culture). 

I’d also say that since vampires have no need to work, if they can get their hands on instruments they'd have plenty of time to practise/dedicate themselves to the craft. 

One head-canon that I have comes from the idea that Billy Idol “stole Spike’s look” from him. What if he stole something else too?

Bear with me here. 

Vampires don’t age, so they could never risk becoming famous in the human world, since people would very quickly notice that they weren’t human. Vampires need to keep a relatively low profile. They also can’t really make money easily from music by playing for other vamps, cause it’s quite unlikely the vampire scene has much money flowing around. Why would it? Everyone can just steal/mug to get what they need.

So in the vampire music world, they’d mostly just be playing for each other to stave off the boredom of eternal life, but with no worries about finances or putting food on the table. 

And dear God that music would be experimental, with none of the usual restraints of human life.

Like I think their music would be very interesting/ outside the mainstream. Perhaps they’d play stuff from entirely different decades which had completely gone out of style, but not amongst vampires who never aged/got uncool (unlike the humans who played it)….

Vampires would also have so many different first-hand musical influences that they’d create the most weird and wonderful sounds. Think Spike’s Victorian musical upbringing mixed with jazz mixed with rock, mixed with… well, you get the picture.

And tbh I think some people would try and capitalise on that, on that raw vitality. Perhaps there’s a demon who records demos secretly in the crowd or steals entire songs and sends them to someone in the know in the music industry. And since vampires don’t exactly have passports, social security numbers or any real documented presence at all, there’s nothing they can do about it. Like what if, in this fictional world, Billy Idol didn’t just steal Spike’s look, but his music too? Frankly, it'd explain the resentment.

Anyway, in my head Spike hasn’t played music for a while, he took a break to look after Drusilla and then got wrapped up in the scoobies and their shenanigans. 

But after Buffy dies? He needs somewhere to put all those emotions. He needs to write goddamn it, he hasn’t felt heartbreak like this for a long, long time. He’s not used to death, he doesn’t know how to deal with it. No vampire does.

So when he’s drinking away the pain in Willy’s one night, some demons he used to know are down from LA and offer him an open spot to sing with them at a new demon club. Spike’s about to turn it down, but they tell him things have changed. Like Wolfram and Hart, demons are all in business now, and this new club will pay.

Spike doesn’t need money… but Dawn does. Tara and Willow won’t tell him anything, (they don’t want to be put in the moral position of whether to accept mugging-proceeds from Spike), but he knows that finances are tight. And this is something he can do for Dawn, and in a way… for Buffy.

So Spike joins a band!

I think he’s probably pretty famous from his past in the 70s vamp rock scene, but this time he wants to change up the music genre. He wants a fresh start. It’s the nineties goddamn it, and he’s certainly not the same vampire he was twenty years ago. He’ll play, but he’ll play on his terms. 

I imagine his newer music to basically be Jeff Buckley’s (my fave 90s musician), which I know might seem a bit melancholy for Spike, but with his current grief, it feels quite appropriate.

Tbh since I basically know nothing about music and can’t even imagine lyrics for toffee, I'd probably even just give him Jeff’s discography and call it a day. It’s fanfic I can do what I like. Grace? Spike wrote it. Job done. 

For example, the lyrics to “Opened Once”?

"In the half-light where we both stand

In the half-light you saw me as I am

I am a railroad track abandoned

With the sunset forgetting I ever happened

That I ever happened"

Half-light = the twilight, the safest time of day for vampires (to quote Edward Cullen, sorry lol). also a metaphor for the place between the vamp world and the human world. A place where Buffy and Spike "both stand", as she’s the slayer and he’s a vampire that can’t hurt people.

‘You saw me as I am’ - After Buffy's resurrection, Spike’s the only person who truly understands what she’s been through, and the experience of crawling out of your own grave. They meet each other where they are.

‘Railroad track’ - ��railroad spike’. Railroad is a pretty unusual and archaic way of phrasing that word. At least where I’m from. ‘Railroad spike’ is too good of a coincidence. 

‘Sunset forgetting I ever happened’ - Spike doesn’t get to live in the daylight. the sun (and the sunset) are both out of reach for him without the danger of dusting. He doesn’t fully feel like a true vampire anymore, but the human world won’t accept him either. In fact, his human life was so long ago that even the sun itself has forgotten William Pratt.

I also think Spike/ Jeff Buckley is a fitting parallel  since, if I stick to major-canon events, Jeff’s unfortunate passing very early in his career would also fit roughly timewise with Spike’s death at the end of season 7. 

The last unfinished album that Jeff struggled so hard to write? The one Spike wrote when he was getting over his ensoulment and entirely reevaluating who he is, and what that means for his music.

Unfinished final album? Yes. Unpublished? No. 

Because when he accepted wearing that amulet, Spike had a pretty good idea he was going to die. So he did something a vampire never plans to do. He wrote a will. 

If he’s dead, there’s no more worries about fame exposing his immortality right? So his music is published posthumously in the human world (with some bullshit about his talent going undiscovered by the industry during life).

And combined, the proceeds pay for Dawn’s college bills, and lift all of Buffy’s financial worries from her shoulders. 

In the end, that’s Spike’s last gift to Buffy, his music, his poetry…and it finally allows her to rest. 

[oceanwithouthermoon]

ive seen you say terusai is implied a lot but i dont remember ever seeing you explain why you think that

yeah now that you say it, i dont think ive ever gone into depth about it 😭 its really hard to put my thoughts into words because its sooo much, i started writing a long analysis recently on their relationship, why i believe they have feelings for each other, and why they would work but itll probably sit unfinished in my drafts for a while

for now, i'll give you a few of my most noteworthy thoughts...

the mixer scene has teruhashi unknowingly proving to saiki that her feelings are true, and he accepts that and stops trying to get her to stop pursuing him. i dont believe he ever actually makes any REAL effort to try to stop her from liking him ever again after this. he genuinely hadnt acknowledged her feelings as true or at least not as deep yet, which is why he thinks hes succeeding at getting her to move on until she proves that not only is she still thinking of him, but shes NOT thinking of a fake version of him... shes thinking of HIM... she genuinely enjoys his company even when hes doing nothing but sitting there (which is factually and obviously what he wouldve been doing in this situation, people deny that for some odd reason but like. thats what he does. with ANYONE. even his own family and everyone else who knows of his powers.) and wants him around... i think some part of him stopped because he felt guilty for not believing her feelings were true and trying to control her heart despite her genuine intentions, and another part of him was realizing that he doesnt WANT her to stop having feelings for him... otherwise, why would he drag the other guys away WHILE acknowledging that she wouldnt have gone with them anyway??? after inserting himself into a rock paper scissors game for who gets to be the one to be with her???? HELLO?

and the offu, although i dont believe it was a direct declaration of him being in love with her or whatever, has obvious canon romantic connotations... teruhashis determination is something saiki has admired about her since the very beginning, but it isnt until THIS moment that he thinks in depth about what that entails... she makes him realize all at once that she truly IS the type of person he admires most... and his "offu" is exactly what teruhashi needs, she would have a straight up epiphany if she knew about it, because he DIDNT gasp at how beautiful she is, or anything she forced herself to do, or when she forced herself to CHANGE, he ONLY gasped when she let herself embrace a part of herself that was REAL and TRUE, her unwavering dedication and pride.

THIS chapter is where they both have huge realizations about themselves and each other, and they both prove that theyre more than willing to meet in the middle for the other...

saiki lives his life forcing himself to blend into the background, not because he genuinely wants to but because hes afraid to be SEEN.

teruhashi lives her life forcing herself to be perfect and the center of attention, not because she genuinely enjoys it but because she believes she wont get the validation she feels she needs if she doesnt give everyone exactly what they want from her.

and yet, here saiki is, allowing himself to jump into the spotlight and be seen catching teruhashi out of nowhere and carrying her to the nurse. and here teruhashi is, allowing herself to be seen being imperfect, forgetting something, and not caring about her conversation with these men. FOR EACH OTHER. they both let themselves break down a wall because they care more about the other than about the fake selves they dedicate their entire lives to, THEIR GENUINE CARE FOR EACH OTHER GIVES THEM THE COURAGE TO DO THAT.

and this is probably the number one reason why i think their feelings for each other are implied... this alternate timeline is quite clearly one where saiki is more open with his friends, and he and teruhashi ARE DATING in this universe. theres absolutely no other explanation for the author writing that. he spelled out "IF SAIKI WERE MORE OPEN WITH HIS FRIENDS, HE WOULD BE DATING TERUHASHI"

the saiki of that timeline isnt exactly the same as the saiki we know of course, and their relationship will not develop in the same way, but theres clearly intention behind this and it wouldnt be written and called attention to if there was no significance, youd have to jump through hoops to deny that 😭

overall, i think they both have a lot of work to do on themselves before they can be in a relationship, but not only do i believe they WILL eventually get there but also that they both need each other on their personal journey to get to that point, or at least that they are and will continue to be important in the others journey there, and their romantic feelings for each other are so clear... these two are so important to one another...

[alevolpe]

Hi, I hope you’ve been doing well!

I love your art and interpretations of the characters, especially in regard to your ideas about each senshi’s fuku design. I was wondering if you had any particular opinions on the official Classic, Super, and Eternal forms? Anything like design elements of the fuku to even the colors for each senshi? Apologies if you’ve been asked something like this, I just really enjoy your thoughtful responses you give in your asks.

Thank you so much! Means a lot.

I don’t have a lot of opinions on the forms past the Classic forms, I don’t hate them, but I just feel a bit.. indifferent. I know people like them, but I don’t tend to think about power-up forms very often, I just love the base forms too much.

Regarding if I have any problems with them, yeah. They do tend to fall a bit under the redesign upgrade problem a lot of shows and even games characters have. When trying to freshen up a design, a lot of them tend to trip over themselves and just take “redesign” as “over design” aka add more shit or overcomplicate shit.

Now Sailor moon does NOT have too much of that, overall the upgraded designs are not too bad. Not my favs, but not bad.

Let’s take a look at them shall we. (For the sake of brevity I’ll just keep this discussion on Sailor Moon’s design and not the other senshi. Mostly cause she gets changes the most and secondly cause their changes are not as prominent)

I LOOOVE Sailor Moon’s original design, her classic fuku is Classic for a reason. The deep navy blue and magenta red fit her so well and they help make the blonde of her hair, tiara and smalldecorative moons pop.

Her silhouette is very simple, it has a very nice flow with her hair being the only long element, allowing for fluidity but most importantly clarity. Her nice soft hair buns, bangs and lack of sharp angles in her uniform work amazingly through shape language (made a post about it here) to make a comforting and friendly appearance.

Also small note but I adore how her bangs and tiara come together to form a quite subtle but present heart shape. (She’s so cute)

Now her Super form is honestly.. pretty good! Doesn’t beat the original, but I like the direction. The stronger incorporation of white ties nicely to the element of her becoming queen in the future, adorning a white gown. The splashes of color on the skirt are also a nice touch, reminds on of bleeding soft watercolor runnning down a blank page, fits with her butterfly theme too (this part makes sense in my head, hopefully u get it).

Now to the not so good part, the shape.. she’s so sharp. It’s NOT a dealbreaker, I think it could work with the theme of her growing more into her role as Sailor Moon, gaining confidence and thus allowing herself to appear a lil more dangerous, but still soft. It’s important that the sharp angles present in her uniform do not interfere with the hair shape, the buns are still there, as soft as ever.

And now to her Eternal form. I don’t hate it, but I don’t like it either. Weirdly enough my main problem with it is not what seems to bother everyone else, the bubble sleeves, but the colors. I don’t like the colors. The blonde of her hair is now mixed in her skirt, the classic soft magenta red is turned into sharp deep red, the color of her bubble sleeves is really distracting cause it’s the only pink element present and the skirt triple layer ending up of the darkest color does not allow the eye to slide off it to the shoes easily (unlike say if it was darkest color to lightest from top to bottom, instead of the opposite).

The color reversal on the shoes is not a deal breaker either, again that “white taking over” theme is nice, but it’s like.. broken. Her skirt is back to being colored more than before so the thematic washing of the colors is undone in this form, instead taken over by a various assortment of bold colors.

I also think that the angel theme was slightly overdone, the 2 pairs wings on her back pair with the wings on her broach are just a bit too much for me and overcomplicate the simplicity of her broach. It’s like, do you get she’s an angel yet?! Here, have another pair of wings!

Lastly, it rlly bums me to see her nice simple silhouette being muddled by the wings, even though I don’t hate the wings themselves. Just what they do to her silhouette.

Overall I think I tend to have more problems with the uniforms than most people cause they do follow a theme that most people LIKE in sailor moon, which is a regular average girl becoming something larger than life, but idk.. the original uniform just gives off that vibe of the friendly down to earth girl who everyone knows in town. It brings a sense of unity and space in a way, cause it feels more urban, while the other uniforms start incorporating more and more abstract themes which, to me, take a bit away from the flawed but relatable comfort of this messy, imperfect, but trying her best Usagi Tsukino who’s wearing a uniform to help the people she loves around her.

[irisseireth]

Arafinwëan Week Day 3: Aegnor

Read below for headcanons and a general rant.

I would like to preface this by saying there is barely any amount of characterization for Aegnor, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Having said that, and even though I did start with the same feeling towards him, I think we need to reexamine the popular fanon of "Aegnor was a coward and an idiot for not marrying Andreth".

The most obvious reason to question this is that we never get to hear his perspective of the story. We only hear through Finrod, who apparently wishes to reassure Andreth that Aegnor left for duty, not because he didn't love her or because he considered her mortality beneath him. In fact, what we know about him says that he loved Andreth very much, if he was willing to stay in the Halls of Mandos until the end of time for her sake.

Now is when many of you will argue that if the end result was going to be the same, why did he not wed Andreth and allow her (and himself) a few years of happiness? Small favour he does her by staying in the Halls after his death, if he won't be with her in life. And yes, I see your point, and I agree to an extent. But I would like to argue that things weren't truly that simple.

Going back on the first point, we never get to hear what Aegnor did or said or what he thought of the issue, and that's a key component. His motives are explained only through Finrod. It is entirely possible Aegnor did not speak to Andreth directly on the matter, hoping to spare her any further suffering. He would know that humans can change affections with relative ease, and perhaps he hoped she would forget him and fall in love with someone else, given time. After all, she could do that, being one of the Second born. Aegnor did not have the option, but I don't think it's far fetched to say that he was acting on what he thought was her best interest, not pursuing a relationship with her. There's also the matter of the Doom of the Noldor, and the desire to spare her getting entwined in it.

Besides, not entering a relationship (or a marriage) with someone because one is about to go to the front lines is something that happens still to this day in contemporary human societies. And I believe Tolkien would be very familiar with stories of lovers separated by war, which I think is one of the themes of the Aegnor/Andreth doomed romance.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hello.

My mother had a lover. They decided on a baby. and during the first month of pregnancy they had fights. My biological father didn't like how my mother looked during pregnancy. Then some shitty things and my mother wanted a divorce. He beat her up. The baby (me) was still healthy, surprisingly. Mother decided he didn't want a boy. Because it would remind her of him. And she kinda developed slight fear towards men.

It's about 18-19 weeks of pregnancy, she learned she was having a baby girl. So she kept it. It was a girl or abortion, in her eyes. Because of trauma, I guess.

Then me. I born. I grew up. About 14-15 years later, I learned this story. Realized I was trans at age 17. Wanted to be a boy.

My mother didn't say anything.

But the look in her eyes. I felt hatred, disgust, fear, and disappointment.

She didn't say anything. Continued like nothing happened. I was expecting her to yell or throw me out. She didn't. She drop me to doctor and such, but she didn't comment on anything. She speaks less to me. She still does whatever she used to do, but she doesn't hug. Doesn't touch as much as before. She acts like I am gonna hurt her unintentionally. She still does her best as a mother. Still takes care of me. But not like we used to.

I am just a person that should have been aborted. But been kept for my gender. Now I am not a girl, I feel guilty.

I feel so bad.

I wish I was aborted, or I wish I loved being a girl. Like I was supposed to.

I hate that I can't find it in myself to fault her because she tries.

Jesus...

Okay please know that none of this is on you. You deserve to live as your authentic self.

This is on your mom.

I'm not trying to blame her at ALL for what happened. Domestic violence is awful. I have experienced it firsthand, and it leaves so many scars. But your mother as an adult, and she has a responsibility to you, her child, to not allow her past to affect her relationship with you. She should (1) be going to therapy and (2) NOT be telling you she was considering aborting you (what the FUCK?).

Sure, your mom tries, but you deserve more than halfhearted interest. You deserve love. And if your mom cannot love you like she should, she needs to do something to change that. SHE is the parent. And, as she so callously told you, she chose that.

Also please NEVER feel guilty for being who you are. Again, this is NOT your fault.

Naming you narwhal anon!

[soviet-supersoldier]

Alright, since the events of Raid on Greymalkin directly affects Arkady, let's talk about it and how terribly the X-men have all been written in this narrative for this story to work and what it likely means for Arkady’s future.

So, in the first issue of Sentinels, Omega Red was captured and brought to Greymalkin Prison by the new Sentinels that Larry Trask and Warden Ellis have created to hunt down "bad" mutants. Keep in mind, Omega Red did absolutely nothing to deserve being thrown into a place like this, as his arc in the From the Ashes Infinity Comic shows. In fact, no one imprisoned here deserves to face what goes on behind these closed doors:

Here, we are shown the state of this prison. It's flithy, rat-ridden, and disgusting. These characters have to live in this place. Blob is being tortured, and -- as we later come to learn in the events of Raid -- brainwashed KGB-style through this method of torture to become a "trustee." I'm going to focus on this a bit as it is important to not only show how this is going to affect the imprisoned characters moving forward from this storyline, but also how it paints the X-men in a very bad light for allowing this to continue.

So, the characters who are imprisoned in Greymalkin currently are all characters who have been villains at one point or another. Every one of these characters has faced judgment and hatred for being what they are and what they were made into. Omega Red is a prime example of this. As a child, he feared and hated his powers:

This is not a view of himself that has improved in adulthood. Arkady still views himself as a monster, that his abilities make him a bad person:

And this is a view he holds even after his time spent on Krakoa where he was able to start turning his life around. He doesn't have to kill to live anymore, and Sage had done a lot to help him improve himself while he lived there and worked as a member of X-Force. Even after all that and her encouragement, the doubt lingers. The self-loathing is still there. I know Arkady is not the only prisoner trapped in Greymalkin right now who struggles with such doubts. Who carries guilt like he does. It's a subconscious view that a lot of mutants have about themselves because society has pretty much told them for their entire lives that they're horrible people because of their powers. That they're all monsters and freaks of nature that need to be killed or locked up. And now, these characters have been put into a place where those fears and doubts about themselves and their place in the world are being indoctrinated into them to be the only thought they're allowed to have about themselves:

This creed that these trustees are forced to recite and believe in is just sickening. Any amount of self-worth that any of them started to get in their lives as of late is being stripped away again in the cruelest possible way. They're being told -- through torture mind you -- that they were born evil. That they're monsters. That they are lesser than humans and lesser than any other mutants because the genetic lottery gave them powers that were a burden and a curse rather than something that can easily be used to benefit others or that would allow them to pass as a normal human like so many of the X-men can.

Which brings this all around to the main point: the X-men. Before this new era even started, I want to point out a few things. The first is that the X-men worked with all of these current prisoners in one form or another while living on Krakoa. They (eventually) gave every one of these characters a chance. Blob was a bartender. Omega Red got cured of his need to kill and became a member of X-Force. Theresa was able to reconcile with Sean and Black Tom and bring their family together. The X-men were able to see these changes and progress made by all of these people. In Omega Red’s case, they even voted on the decision to give him a second chance, with Kurt being a voting member of the Quiet Council who decided to listen to Sage’s argument to have him brought back. They should know that these former villains have been making an effort to improve themelves. The last time they saw any of them, these former villains were all allies, which makes comments like this seem very out of character for someone like Kurt to make:

Kurt should know Arkady is an ally. But yet he's acting like Omega Red is a monster and that nothing he did on Krakoa to improve himself even mattered. Which, again, is something that all of these prisoners are being tortured into believing about themselves. Hearing the X-men hold the same view about you as these horrible guards do is not something that will make a person feel welcomed or loved or help them believe that they can be better than what the world made them into. The trust that Omega Red had started to build on Krakoa with the X-Men is going to start to crumble because of how they are continuing to view him and the plight that all these characters are in.

Which brings me to my next point: just what are the X-men doing? When Krakoa fell, Orchis had mutants under siege. They rounded up mutants in camps to strip them of their powers and torture them. The X-men and Avengers didn't stand for that and fought tooth and nail to get rid of Orchis. They went to war for their kind, for their right to exist. And they beat Orchis. But what did they really end up gaining at the end of it all? Well, if you're the X-men, you got some variation of peace or concessions, getting bases, time to relax and enjoy the world and your victory. Being able to pass for human really helps in that regard. If you weren’t able to pass, however?

You faced violence. Discrimination. Hatred. Society is not kind to mutants who look different. Who are unable to blend in. These were the mutants --villain or not -- who benefited the most from Krakoa. Because they all finally had a place where they could be safe and accepted no matter their looks or abilities. When the X-men finally beat Orchis, they seemed content to leave everything at that and didn't try to reclaim any piece of what they had lost for the sake of those mutant brothers and sisters who were bound to struggle the most without a mutant community to support them.

They unfortunately seemed to just accept that everything was still fine since they themselves weren't personally being bothered by the hatred. But all the while, mutants have started to slip through the cracks without support from the wider mutant community. A community that the X-men are supposed to protect. And this extends beyond characters like Omega Red and the other Greymalkin prisoners, although they are the ones currently being tortured the most. Lifeguard. Chamber. Firestar. These are all characters that have faced a world that hates and fears them without the X-men doing anything to help them. Why haven't the X-men done anything? Because so many of them just gave up and settled for what they have. They had the luxury to be able to do so because they look human. Their powers aren't horrendous abilities that they can't control or that kill people.

Even still, even if they want to take a break, they should all know the fight is not done. They are all well aware of what was done to their former home, the X-Mansion. They know it was turned into a prison. Jubilee scouted it out. Rogue and Scott had phone calls about it. And yet they did nothing. They let it continue to stand, this place which sullies the name of the X-men and their history. This place -- which treats mutants in a similar way to how Orchis treated mutants -- is allowed to continue to grow and thrive even after the X-men and Avengers had just put their foot down and said such places were not going to be tolerated. Now they're tolerating it? Why? There is absolutely no reason to wait. And yet they did. They did absolutely nothing to correct this injustice towards their fellow mutants until one of their own was impacted. Until they themselves finally started to face the same things characters like Omega Red had already been facing for months now. It was only when they were personally threatened that they decided to do anything. Which brings us to the Raid itself.

The Raid... was a mess. A disaster. A series of unfortunate events that didn't have to be. Instead of going into this place, seeing the atrocities committed on the grounds of their first home and feeling a strong urge to eliminate this threat, what did they do? They fought amongst themselves. They argued. They did absolutely nothing to help any of the prisoners. Kurt left Omega Red to rot in his cell. They did nothing to free the trustees nor made any sort of real threats of anger towards the warden for what she was doing to their fellow mutants. Rogue came the closest to saying this place was wrong, but all her concern was devoted to Charles Xavier, the only mutant willingly imprisoned in this place. No concern was given to any of the others at all until it was too late.

And yet, again, this whole thing just seems wrong and runs as an antithesis to what the X-men are, what they stand for, and what they would actually tolerate. A big laser gun should be something they should be able to take care of. The X-men shouldn't be this easily cowed into obedience after everything they recently faced with the fall of Krakoa and how they fought back against Orchis. Thry shouldn't be taking "no" for an answer. They shouldn't allow for this prison to stand. They NEVER should have. And yet, time and time again here, they have failed in their work to actually help their kind, to make the world a better place for mutants. This is not the X-men I fell in love with reading about. This is not the X-men that I know. The X-men should be doing so much better than this. But they're not. They've rolled over and accepted that this is the reality and that they are powerless against a podcaster and her satellite weapon.

This is something the X-men should have never allowed to happen. They should have never allowed things to get this far. And as a result, by doing nothing when they could and SHOULD have been doing something, their enemies were allowed to regroup and begin targeting the most vulnerable members of the mutant community. The X-men failed in their responsibilities and let a place full of cruel and unusual punishment to stand because they weren't the mutants being personally affected by what was happening. And now, so many more have to pay the price for their inaction.

Where does that leave the unfortunate prisoners of this place? At this point, beyond being torn down in mind and body, it's hard to say. Every single one of them does have the right to call the X-men out on their failure, though. They all would be very justified in their anger at being left behind, both after Krakoa fell and here at this prison. In Omega Red’s case, I could very easily see this whole experience souring him on the X-men again and making him very unwilling to trust them again. Because even after everything that these former villains have been trying to do, there's still some part of the X-men that seem to view these unfortunate souls as monsters that deserve to be treated like animals. That they deserve to get beaten, fed rotten food and forced to sleep in wretched cells.

The X-men have failed in their role to protect mutants. They have failed to stand for what is right and failed to help their fellow mutants from being condemned to one of the worst fates a mutant can face: to be weaponized and used like a tool to attack other mutants. The Raid on Greymalkin story arc is a blight on X-men comics and is an example of what not to do when doing a story like this. Characters and their histories cannot be ignored. Petty fights over arbitrary issues should not be taking place when there are SO many higher priorities that need to be taken care of. This story was nothing but disappointing and sours me on the direction Marvel is taking the X-men. There is nothing to look forward to. Like the mutant prisoners who were left behind to be further tortured and devalued, we the readers have been left to a similar fate, wondering when in the world we will finally be freed from this prison that Marvel's writers are putting us in and what we -- and the characters we love -- will even come out on the other side looking like.