#i'm just dumb and apparently put this post in my drafts instead of

[silencedglaive]

hi it isn't done yet but @isaworks made me a new theme + carrd for hotaru, commissioned as a birthday gift for me from @blazingsourpuss & i am SO in love with it PLEASE LOOK HOW PRETTY IT IS but also don't judge me bc the carrd isn't finished yet

[ghirahimbo]

For the fanfic asks: E (pinesong)pinecone, I, M, and X?

💐 stay strong I hope the plague is of short duration :(

Thank you! It's not been too terrible yet, so here's hoping 🤞

I've done E and I already, so:

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Link, probably? Revali, definitely :')

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

Ohhh, I've had a revalink one waiting in the wings for years that I think I might have mentioned before? Champions return, Link goes full-on hermit mode after defeating Ganon until world events force him out of retirement, the Yiga have shenanigans, a worm is there. It's maybe a little bit similar in concept to Umbreonix's Finding Link, actually, though very different in execution, I promise ;)

In fact, since I'm sick and apparently in the mood to post writing snippets (again, very rough draft):

A ruby glinted against the Hylian's forehead, only a shade or two darker than his ruddy, windburned cheeks. His golden hair had grown longer since their last meeting on Medoh, and his blue eyes stared up with more glittering expression than every other time Revali had seen him put together—but it was, undeniably, Link.

"Revali." Link mouthed the name more than spoke it, staring at Revali in wide-eyed wonder as if… well, as if he'd seen a ghost. Reluctantly, Revali's anger slipped away, replaced with that same sense of awe. Link was here, alive, despite Revali's sullen insistence to the contrary. Somehow, his luck hadn't abandoned him after all.

Then Revali remembered the wild goose chase Link had led him on to get there.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, thrusting a forceful finger at Link’s chest. Link grunted, blinking quickly as if coming out of a trance. "All this time, you… and then you almost fell off the… What were you thinking?"

Revali didn't expect an answer, of course, and was floored when he got one anyway. 

"I was thinking you wouldn't think to look up," Link muttered, letting his head fall against the rock as he fingered a jagged tear in his woolen doublet that Revali's talon had left. "Thought you'd go back through the village instead."

While Revali stood in dumb silence attempting to process that answer, Link's eyes wandered. The wind-weathered gap in the pillar supporting Rito Village didn't look much like a heart from the inside, but Link seemed to know exactly where they were—and worse, what it meant.

"Meeting me at the heart… that's a bit forward, isn't it?" And to Revali's dismay, Link smirked up at him. "You here to make a true Rito out of me?"

Revali's beak hung open, his face heating up as his feathers puffed out ominously. 

"Of course," he said at last, his voice strained. "In fact, I'm two seconds away from throwing you off myself and teaching you how to fly!"

Link actually laughed, another sound Revali had never expected to hear.

"Well now you're just sending mixed signals." Worming out from beneath Revali's finger, he jumped nimbly to his feet, brushing himself off. "Looks like you changed your mind though, so I'll get out of your hair—feathers?—and be on my—"

"Link."

Whatever Link heard in Revali's voice stopped him short. The levity faded from his eyes, and he regarded Revali with a wary, wooden expression that more closely matched with the knight from Revali's memories.

[parismystere]

It doesn't matter that Adrien is a sentimonster. They're not gonna kill him off or anything like this doesn't mean that he's worth less because he's. one. of. the. main. characters. And also the audience's favourite!! So nah, all this meta abt how if he's a sentimonster then he's non-human is dumb. He's one of the main characters and him being a sentimonster doesn't make him less human or important at all! He's literally The most important character of the show (in a very unbalanced way w marinette btw who has only half a personality, sadly). And no, the fact that the other sentimonsters were treated like nothing doesn't mean Adrien will. Yes this is an inconsistency but also Astruc is a shitty af writer. He's ADRIEN they're not just gonna disappear him lmao. Imo I think people are projecting their own personal issues w their own parents on ML, something I understand but it's also good to take a look back and see the context. Sentimonster Adrien thing is nothing but a shitty metaphor for abuse in a way children can understand bc that's the audience. Sure, the show could be smarter and more serious but it is what it is.

anon, i know you mean well but i'm gonna be a bitch for a second and say that i obviously don't think the meta i reblogged is dumb, and if you think it is, you should go debate that with the writers of these metas instead of commenting on their posts like that in my askbox.

that being said: the issue isn't exactly adrien's future as a sentimonster main character, the issue is what are the implications of this writing choice, how does it fit into the whole narrative (hello, plot holes), and what message are the writers communicating.

you are very right that adrien being a sentimonster is, at the end of the day, irrelevant. implications for his worth aside, of course he isn't going to get killed. in fact, we might even get an arc in which adrien uses the wish to become a Real Boy. which begs the question: why even make him a sentimonster in the first case? for shock value (i guess for the little kids watching)? for the #drama? when it's possibly the least original and interesting thing to do with the agrestes?

what does adrien being a sentimonster add to his character? well, nothing but more angst and more trauma porn that goes unaddressed. i think s4 proved pretty quickly that adrien and the agrestes are nothing but a Mystery Factor to add an illusion of depth to the show, but at its core, the show isn't interested in helping adrien gain autonomy. the show isn't interested in adrien getting better. the show isn't interested in helping him find a way out of his inferiority complex. the show doesn't see him as a full-fledged character with a ton on his plate - he is a prop, he is the genderswapped love interest, he doesn't matter at the level we want him to matter.

that i was projecting really hard became clear to me when kuro neko aired. [thomas astruc to me: you have a very personal understanding of things] [funny because i described gabriel as abusive in my tweet to him] call me dumb, whatever. but the fact that this entire fandom got fooled for years is hilarious. apparently this show was so vague and wishy-washy that we were being sold one message and understanding something completely different.

i am going to end with something i found in my drafts (i think it's pre-kuro neko) but didn't want to post at the time:

overall, we can conclude that what is happening to adrien in s4 is to break him down until his anger explodes and he becomes more assertive, but a good question is if this the right way to portray an abuse victim gaining independence, as it's completely unrealistic (imo) for children at home, and it's a bizarre path to see, given astruc's insistence that the show works with psychiatrists and child psychologists. instead of adrien meeting people who build his self-worth with kindness and understanding, or instead of adrien being put in situations that ask of him to take a risk that pays off and that builds his confidence, adrien is consistently presented as unappealing to the people important to him when he's chat noir, he's repeatedly shut down for not being a little doll the few times he tries to open up as his civilian self, he never got the chance to build a relationship with the man who chose him to wield one of the two most important miraculouses, and he obviously can't be in situations that demand growth of him if he's struggling to get screentime against temp heroes and third-rate characters.

adrien becoming angry to the point when he snaps on his household members (or ladybug) in the end won't make his situation better in any way; even though he's angry at how he's treated, he's still willing to do what others want of him instead of standing up for his needs; and even if he stands up for himself, gabriel suddenly going "oh, you're right, adrien, you can do whatever you want now" would be laughable, ooc and an insult to the previous episodes that portrayed adrien's situation as abusive. adrien's problems can only be solved when gabriel is out of the picture.