#Nadja has a tumblr account? well who else

[anney-baker]

[thewolfruns]

get to know the author!

name : lucia

pronouns :  she/her

preference of communication : i like a tumblr im at first, but then it's discord once we know one another/are mutuals. i'm super adhd/working/a mom, so it's easy for me to lose track thinking i've responded to messages that really i just read and then replied in my head to. so don't be afraid to double message me.

most active muse :  hmmm, i'm not sure who is most active? maybe blanca, since she's a newer one and i'm trying to figure her out.

experience / how many years : oh, gosh. well, i've sort of rped earlier than tumblr, but it was a long time ago. i'd say i started on tumblr in maybe 2013? 2012? i ran a game of thrones fashion blog lmao and an rp hit me up for a promo. i was like, this seems cool and joined. then i joined hellstate in 2015, which was a zombie rp and where i met velouria! we've been writing together ever since both in groups and indie.

best experience : i miss group rp a lot sometimes, because of the shared universe and like community there. i think hellstate was my best experience and like 2015 hellstate was peak. there's so much like shared lore and it's really fun when a group works. velouria has had quite a few amazing brainchildren we've built together, so maybe another fave would be southboundhq, which deserved so much more time! now we work on verses and that's p great. aside from that, i've really been enjoying this account since i started fresh. i've got quite a few people to write with who seem both interested in worldbuilding/their own muses and in mine as well. so thank you all!

rp pet peeves : oh, gosh. weird vocabulary fads? like eyes being called hues. there's nothing really wrong with it, but it makes me laugh at how things like that really catch on in the rpc. when folks don't have much to add in plotting conversations and it feels sort of like you're the only one keeping the conversation going. i feel too awkward! i can't do it!

fluff, angst, or smut : oh, gosh, angst. i don't write smut and i'm not really super into fluff either? unless it's like a little meme answer or drabble, which can be a nice refresher. but i'm here for the horror and drama okay.

plots or memes : i like a loose plot, but i'm very go with the flow. it's more exciting though to have an idea where we're going with something. i think that's why my open starters are so long lmao because i need to paint a clear picture of where it's going.

long or short replies : i like a short reply for when i'm trying to break out of a writer's block or, like right now, dusting off my writing cap. they almost always turn into much longer replies though. i can't stop myself. i want like 87 paragraphs and i have no chill.

time to write : has to be nighttime, babies. i have a pretty great couple hours like 8 nights a month where i can really get to writing. it's always after my kiddo goes to sleep and my spouse is working (unless we're like parallel playing and he's gaming or cooking or something, then i get a little more time).

are you like your muses : oh, there's definitely aspects of myself in most of my muses. or people i know. or i write muses to work through certain things (i.e. neve has a lot of job similarities/family history for working through some trauma, nadja has some old punk rock memories and sort of an amalgamation of old friends and my mom, miguel has sort of similar personality to my partner, etc.) i sort of just steal elements from myself or people i know and mold them together into someone new. but i don't think i share like an overall personality with any of them.

tagged by: @missmvrder

tagging: @someotherdog , @wynterlanding , @mutatedangels , @peachyuus , @mctionsick , @aliasmultimuse , and anybody else! tagging folks gives me anxiety lmao. i hate leaving people out.

[galahadwilder]

Okay I’m a bit curious now. If you had the opportunity to rewrite the ML show, how would you do it and what would you do?

So I got this ask a little over a month ago, right before I had my mental breakdown when Loveater/Hearthunter came out. Given how angry I was at the time, and how irrational I was acting, I didn’t trust myself to answer this question objectively. I think I do now.

The hardest moment in this show for me to reconcile is the moment in Reverser where Nathaniel tore Marc’s notebook in half, and then was never shown apologizing for it. That moment is, I believe, indicative of a larger problem with the writing of this show. If I were to write it, here are some of the things I would change.

1: Hire Female Writers. And also more Chinese and Biracial ones.

This is a show with a female biracial main character of Chinese descent, and all of their female writers vanished after Season 1. Which is exactly when a significant chunk of the old fandom began to have complaints about the show. As far as I can tell, they never even had any Chinese writers to begin with. Honestly this should be a no-brainer.

2: Stop visiting disproportionate retribution on Marinette, and stop punishing her for doing the right thing.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is fairly unambiguously implied throughout the show to have some kind of anxiety disorder, which is, I think, a brilliant piece of writing. It nearly explains her primary character flaws—those being her impulsivety and her tendency to overthink, while also being shown in positive aspects as her quick-thinking and resolve. However, whenever Marinette makes a mistake, the narrative goes out of its way to treat her like a monster, and even when it’s someone else’s mistake, she is the one expected to apologize and “be the bigger person.” (In fact, she’s expected to be the “biggest person” in the show, which, given that there are adults around, is kind of a horrifying message to send.) Whenever anyone attacks her, even if that person is Lila, or worse, her own friends, she is expected to just roll over and is punished for standing up for herself. That may be how the real world works sometimes, but as Astruc is so fond of reiterating, this is a kids’ show. This is not a good message to send.

Additionally, the show continually treats Marinette’s anxiety as a subject of derision instead of treating it with sympathy. Marinette is continually mocked by the narrative for maladaptive thinking that is out of her control. The writing is, in a roundabout way, mocking a significant fraction of its own fanbase.

So step two is to stop punishing Marinette for doing the right thing, and let her occasionally be shown to be in the right.

3: Let Adrien grow.

Adrien is a good and kind person in an extremely shitty situation, and as a result has ended up picking up a number of unintentionally abusive behaviors from literally every other person in his life, as well as some extremely harmful coping mechanisms. This is, once again, a brilliant premise for a character that I feel has been entirely wasted. Adrien’s character is static; he never gets called out on his harmful behavior, and thus doesn’t realize it’s harming anyone simply because he doesn’t know how to tell. The narrative refuses to confront him with the consequences of his actions; in fact, it continually rewards him for being the perfect victim, the perfect abuse target. Giving Adrien someone in his life who can teach him better behaviors and coping mechanisms would go a long way to resolving my issues with this show, especially because it would make him more supportive toward Marinette.

4: Let Fu be wrong.

In a twist of the typical “wise old master” trope, Wang Fu is presented as a traumatized and paranoid orphan/war veteran, whose decisions aren’t necessarily based on rational forethought, but on paranoia. Many of his decisions are not the best ones available, simply the best that he knows how to make. The problem is that most of this is subtext: in the text, Fu is presented as a man of endless wisdom and his rules inviolate, even when they do more harm than good. The narrative frequently shows how wrong he is, but I’m not completely sure the writers are actually aware of that, because once again that’s only in subtext. If he’d been shown learning lessons or being like “I misjudged the situation” and changing his mind or even just changing his reasoning but keeping the same decisions, that might make a huge difference. Make his fear a key point in some of his dumber decisions, and now instead of an out-of-touch old man who makes terrible decisions just because, you’ve got a rounded character who can actually be part of the story.

5: Caline Bustier.

Most of the adults in this show are not particularly competent, and in most cases—André Bourgeois, Principal Damocles, Roger Raincomprix—they’re explicitly STATED to be incompetent, or just… generally not entirely there. The only competent non-evil adults in the show are Marinette’s parents and Nadja Chamack.

Which brings us to Caline Bustier. She’s supposed to be—and unlike the others, is presented as—a kind, warm, nurturing, and supportive presence in Marinette’s life; instead she punishes Marinette (and, in Origins, Ivan) for being bullied and lets the bullies get away scot free. She reinforces Adrien’s worst behavior, punishes Marinette for standing up for herself and her classmates, and rewards bullies, and is always presented as being in the right, almost saintly… in fact, she’s presented as the Madonna in a Madonna-Wh*re complex.*

Yes, I went there.

If we look at the writing of the non-evil adults, it’s got all the hallmarks of sexism. All of the men except Tom are dumb and/or under the thumb of powerful, “shrewish” female figures. Meanwhile, among the non-evil adult women (of which there are few) we have Sabine (excellent), the harsh and unforgiving spinster-archetype Madame Mendeleiev, and the kind and saintly Caline Bustier. Both of them are dehumanized and treated more like props than like people.

So my thing there would be: make at least one competent male authority figure, and—since Madame Bustier is such an important figure in Adrien and Marinette’s lives—stop letting her reward bullying and instead have her be the person who helps both of them grow and be comfortable in themselves. Have her teach Adrien to stand up for himself, have her show Marinette it’s okay to be angry, to be emotional, to make mistakes. And, most importantly, round her out a little. Show her making mistakes occasionally too—but if she leads by example, she could admit to them and correct them.

6: Better friend interactions

Let’s face it: the friendship we see in the show isn’t particularly healthy, while the friendship in the Instagram accounts is quite a bit better. Let’s see some Alya and Nino being more supportive of their friends instead of pushing them into things they’re not ready for.

* Censored because tumblr, not because I think it’s a bad word. This website is stupid.