#cw child neglect

[lesbiancassius]

Elektra in Mycenae, Casey J. King

[a-little-unsteddie]

cw: child abuse mentioned, child neglect

Steve, who was never allowed to play in the snow as a child because it was ‘too messy’. Steve, who stared longingly outside as he watched other kids play in the snow. Steve, wanting to build a snowman, or an igloo, or have a snowball fight, but was denied each and every time by his parents. “It’s uncouth, Steven.” “It’s dirty, Steven.” “You’ll just whine that you’re cold, Steven.” “No.” “No.” “No.” Until he stopped asking altogether, even as he stared out his bedroom window at the other kids playing. Steve who loves the snow but was never allowed to play. The one time he snuck out, he was brought inside being dragged by his ear and spanked until he cried.

And then some for crying at all.

Steve goes shopping with his mom and sees a snow globe and all but cries for her to get it for him. If he can’t have the snow outside, he wants to have a snow globe to have it inside. She lets him get it, but not without commenting ‘at least it’s not going outside’.

Thus starts a collection, of sorts. Whenever he sees a new snow globe, he makes his mom buy him it and because he never asks to go outside to play in the snow if she buys one, she keeps buying them for him.

He has around 10 or 15 snow globes by the time he’s a teenager and left alone more than he isn’t. He still doesn’t go out to play in the snow, even if he silently yearns to, because now he’s ‘too old’ to play out in the snow. Tommy doesn’t like being cold, so he never goes out, and Carol won’t do something if Tommy’s not there, so Steve doesn’t bother asking her to go outside.

Steve becomes friends with Dustin and the rest of the party, and he still doesn’t let himself play with them, even when Dustin begs him to. He passes on the same excuses to him as his mom told him, and the words feel like ash in his mouth, but he doesn’t just play in the snow like he’s aching to. It’s too cold, he’ll be wet and miserable later, he doesn’t want to get water all over the house.

Mostly, they’re excuses because he’s kind of worried he doesn’t know how to play in the snow. That somehow he’ll be bad at it.

Eventually, when he and Robin become friends and their first winter together happens, he tells her this secret fear. It’s right after the kids go out to play, and it’s just them, and he whispers to her.

“I don’t think I’ll be any good at it.”

Robin is confused, of course, because how can you be ‘bad’ at playing in the snow? He elaborates to her that he’s never played and she’s less confused but more angry at his parents, which he thinks is an over reaction and she insists he’s having an under reaction, whatever that means, and the moment passes. Steve is relieved to have revealed that much to her. He still doesn’t go outside, and Robin gets cold easily, so she doesn’t want to go outside, so they stay inside together.

He still collects snow globes, when he sees them. He buys one in front of the kids and brushes it off as a white elephant gift for a family thing, but displays it in the unused guest bedroom with the rest of the snow globes. It’s on the other side of the house from where every other guest bed is, so usually no one takes it, and so he knows his collection is safe.

Even if he keeps it secret, and plans to keep it secret forever, until the following winter, after the spring break from hell and after the grueling summer and cool fall brings the snow again and Eddie Munson is a menace in his life. He’s by far the most energetic person that he’s ever been friends with, all touches and open affection, it’s almost too easy to fall for him.

Eddie is nosy as hell and of course it’s him that finds the collection of snow globes.

“What’s this?” Eddie’s voice echoes from down the hall and it takes Steve a few seconds to process where his voice is coming from before he’s rushing down the hall and into the unused guest room.

Along the left wall, there’s a shelf that stretches from wall-to-wall filled with snow globes.

Embarrassment shoots through him, and he shrugs. “…snow globes.” he explains badly, wincing when Eddie turns towards him with an unimpressed look. It quickly morphs into concern because for some reason, Steve’s started tearing up and once the tears start they don’t stop.

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m sorry,” Eddie soothes, wrapping his arms around him tightly. “You don’t have to explain if you don’t want to, sweet thing.”

And the thing is, Steve does want to explain. Suddenly overcome with the urge to spill everything, in fact. So he does. He tells Eddie about his mom and dad refusing to let him play in the snow, the one time he got caught and got spanked for it, the snow globes, the fear of being bad at playing in the snow, still desperately wanting to despite it.

Through it all, Eddie holds him and listens. He hums occasionally to acknowledge what Steve is saying, but never interrupts him, for which Steve is glad because he doesn’t know if he’d be able to continue if he was stopped for any reason.

At the end of it, when Steve’s tears have dried, and they’re curled up in a pile of blankets on the couch, Eddie vows to teach him out to play in the snow. How to make a snow angel, a snowman, an igloo, a snowball — everything. He whispers these promises and plans into his ear, their hands intertwined where they lay on Steve’s lap.

And he follows through. With everything.

And the next time the kids beg him to play, he plays his part and says no, because he’s still anxious he’s going to do it wrong, Eddie throws a snowball at his back while he’s busy arguing with Dustin. And silence falls over everyone, waiting for Steve’s next move. Because he’s never given in, and no one’s ever pushed their luck like that.

Steve turns towards Eddie, narrowing his eyes at him.

“Oh, it’s on, Munson.”

The kids cheer and then it’s chaos of snowballs being lobbed at one another.

Later, when everyone is warming up with hot cocoa, and Steve is curled into Eddie’s side with a blanket tossed over their laps, Steve knows he’s never been happier to have met Eddie, who taught him how to play in the snow.

“Thank you,” Steve whispers to Eddie, who hums curiously, lazily looking at him from the corner of his eye. “For teaching me how to play in the snow.”

“Always, Stevie. I’ll always help you.”

And it sounds like a promise.

[pillowspace]

Thinking about how Charlotte Emily most likely regularly hung out with the Aftons.

William comes downstairs at 9 in the morning to see Charlie and Elizabeth with empty teacups and a teapot, and is just like, ah. Of course. Little girls love tea parties, but indulges them anyway like "what are you two up to?" Elizabeth immediately lights up. "Charlie said that we should play British People 'cause we're British!" William, now a bit more confused, "...ah. I see." Elizabeth, "oh won't you join us? Pretty please?" Charlie then pipes in that she had also asked Mike, but that he had very unfortunately said no, because "Liz plays too mean." Elizabeth, "I do not, you're just too scared to lose!" Michael, "I can't fucking lose at 'British People.'"

Charlie and Elizabeth do atrocious things to their dolls. Drama. Tragedy. They always clash on the endings though, as Charlie wants their dolls fo have a happy end while Elizabeth wants their dolls to have an even worse end

Michael doesn't know Charlie's staying over, and brings home his schoolmates one day. William Frowns TM like "I tried to tell you Henry was dropping off Charlotte today, but you were already halfway out the door." Michael later re-enters the room to find his schoolmates picking on Charlie and pulling at her hair. The closest Michael ever feels to peace is when he's with the Emilys, so he immediately spirals at the sight like, "oh god, if Uncle Henry finds out I brought people over who hurt his daughter, he might not bring her over anymore. What do I do then? What do I do if he stops liking me?" He quickly shoos off his friends, going "dude! She's a guest, leave her be" while Charlie recovers. Before he too can follow after them, Charlie asks Michael if he'll draw with her. He hesitates. The Emilys are the closest he ever gets to peace, so he agrees and sits down to draw. "What are you drawing, Char?" "Marionette!" "'S that the creepy thing that's always watching the guests come and go at Freddy's?" "He's not creepy, he's my friend. Dad made him for me :(" "ahh. You know, my father's been building something for Liz too." "You think that it'll protect her like Marionette protects me?" "Maybe."

Charlie notices how anxious CC always seems to be, and declares one day that she'll keep him safe. She makes him a drawing of them both holding hands, and gives it to him so that he may always look upon it and know that Charlie's rooting for him. He nearly bursts into tears at the kind gesture. The whole household tries to be nicer to each other whenever Charlie's around, but CC tells her about Michael's behaviour to him. Knowing how weak Michael is to her, Charlie gives Michael a look while he's grabbing cereal the next morning like "you should be nicer to your brother. He's just a little kid." Michael immediately pauses, then awkwardly closes the cupboard like "ummm. Okay." Not wanting to use Charlie as a means to make fun of CC, he just never brings the interaction up afterwards

The Emily and Afton families joining together are constantly filled with different forms of jealousy from the Aftons. William, he's jealous of Henry. Michael, he's jealous of Charlie's positive relationship with her father. CC, he's jealous of how Michael seems to like Charlie so much more than him. Elizabeth doesn't even notice her own jealousy, but deep down, Charlie's completely peaceful household... confuses her. She rationalizes the lack of favouritism or hostility as it only stemming from Charlie being an only child, rather than Henry's good parenting. Being so young as well as being the perfect golden child, Elizabeth doesn't know how to express doubt in her father. Clearly, it must be her siblings doing something wrong if Charlie and Uncle Henry are doing so well on their own!

After CC's death, the house is filled with an unbreakable tension. It's grief. It's guilt. Michael and his schoolmates completely cut ties after what happened. And as always, the Emilys feel so separate from the tension of his own home. Michael starts talking to Charlie more frequently, more often at Henry's house rather than his own. He tries not to, or at least usually tries to hide first, but he accidentally has a complete breakdown in the living room one time. Charlie hums a soothing lullaby to him until Henry eventually comes back, notices the state Michael's in, and takes over calming him down while sending Charlie off to do some other seemingly helpful task. After Elizabeth's death, Michael only really has the Emilys left. Charlie stops just being his source of peace, and becomes his best friend. His only friend. Then after Charlie's death...

It's rather lonely all of a sudden.

Later, years later, when Michael's flesh is rotting on his bones and everything is just about to finally be done with, he sits down on the edge of a cheap creaky stage he bought, and lightly knocks his knuckles against Lefty's calf. "Charlie? Can you hear me alright? It's Michael ... I'm sorry. I know I never acted like it, but... for what it's worth... you were my best friend back then. ...Whatever's beyond this, would you like to be friends again there too?"

[red-rover-au]

The tsundere parent era

[cowboythighs]

When Wayne took Eddie in, his biggest worry was that he was going to screw the poor kid up even more than his parents already had. After all, what did he know about taking care of a kid? How would he know what his nephew didn’t know- what Wayne needed to teach him? And how was he going to manage raising a whole little human and provide for them both? But to his surprise, Wayne soon found out that Eddie was shockingly self-sufficient. That he’d had to learn how to cook and clean and do laundry for himself, because his parents were too caught up in themselves and their own issues to take care of him.

Wayne’s momentary relief that he wasn’t starting from ground zero was soon replaced by a level of resentment towards Eddie’s parents. It wasn’t fair that Eddie had been forced to rely on himself so much. It hurt Wayne to see someone so young worrying the way he did about not using too much water; hurt watching Eddie silently going behind Wayne to turn off unused lights because he worried about the bills being too high to pay.

When he figured out Eddie's lemonade stand wasn’t set up to fund a new comic or toy, but rather to try and pay his share for room and board, Wayne took Eddie to the local thrift store and headed straight for the toys section. He was stern when he told Eddie to keep his money, and that they were not leaving until Eddie had an armful of his own toys because Wayne was determined to make sure Eddie had the chance to be a kid.

He watched as Eddie slowly pursued through the selection of toys- inspecting them carefully. When Wayne caught on that Eddie was looking at the price tags he gently admonished him; told him these are used toys; they’re cheap enough and that Eddie didn’t have to worry about money with him.

Eddie tried to argue, insisted that he knows how this goes and appreciates the thought, he really does think it’s nice that Uncle Wayne wants him to have fun stuff to play with, but he knew that just because they have money now it didn’t mean they won’t somehow come up short later, and how he’d much rather have heat than a GI Joe.

Wayne tried to be patient, to not to be as gruff as was his nature as he told Eddie “I may not be your daddy, but you're my boy and I’m gonna take care of you”. Wayne told him it was time to stop fussing and enjoy being a kid. Wayne allowed himself a smile when Eddie relented and picked out a handful of toys.

When they passed the book display as they walked towards the register Wayne stopped. “You like readin’?'' he asks. Eddie looks longingly at the books but only shrugs.

“Don’t know, never had any books to read”. Eddie says it like it doesn’t matter, but his face betrays him.

“They had books in school, didn’t they?” Wayne asked. Eddie just gave another shrug.

“Guess so. I didn't get to go to school very often. Mom and dad were almost always too tired or too sick in the mornings to take me. and we moved around a lot. When we lived close I could walk to school by myself as long as I had clean clothes. If you go to school dirty, teachers get too nosey," Eddie stated like it was common knowledge, “and then they call your parents and you get in trouble and have to move again. But mostly it was too far to walk so I couldn’t go anyways.”

Wayne’s heart felt like it was breaking anew with each detail of casual neglect his nephew had to endure. It wasn’t right for a kid so young to have gone through so much and be so nonchalant about it. Making up his mind he directed Eddie over to the books and told him he can have whatever he wants. There's a slim selection of children’s books to choose from, but it's a place to start.

Wayne watched Eddie's eyes as they kept wandering back to a boxed set with dragons and wizards on the spine. Wayne picked up the set of the Lord of the Rings books without a word and took the set up to the register with Eddie trailing behind. They were far too advanced for a kid his age, especially one as far behind as Eddie, but Wayne decided he would read to him every night. would read aloud the stories of Bilbo and Frodo and Middle Earth and watch Eddie's love for learning grow.

Wayne was proud when time passed and Eddie started leaving dirty dishes in the sink and letting his room get messy. He didn’t mind when Eddie took a long shower or stayed up late writing his own stories. Wasn’t disappointed when he got held back in school, or spent his free time playing games of make believe with his friends. Because he knew better than anyone that Eddie had a rough start in life and had been playing catch up for a long while. And besides, it gave him a chance to be a kid just a little longer, and there was nothing Wayne wanted more than that.

[yall-hate-kids-tourney]

Round 3: Maria Ushiromiya (Umineko: When They Cry) vs. Amane Momose (MILGRAM)

Propaganda below the cut

Maria Ushiromiya (9)

She's really obsessed with occult and witch stuff and acts inappropriately when her family gets murdered because she was told by the culprit that everyone was going to the Golden Land (a super special witch afterlife where you get whatever you want). She also has meltdowns like any autistic child. Because of this, some Umineko fans say that she deserves to get abused by her mother.

----

People really do be saying that this literal nine year old who's been abused and neglected by her mom for her whole life is evil

----

Some people in the Umineko fandom have decided that she's annoying because she's a 9 year old with autism. Personally I think she's based. She has a hard life but still tries her hardest to see the goodness in everything. She's kind, even feeling sorry for a wilting flower and hoping it'll get better. She's a very smart young girl who just isn't given the proper love a child needs from their parents to thrive. She deserved SO, SO much better than the cards life dealt her. I mustn't talk too much else I'll get emotional but Maria is peak.Best autistic witch girl.

Amane Momose (12):

Amane was voted guilty in the first trial so that she would acknowledge her guilt. It backfired, and now she’s considered a threat. Well, everyone is a threat, but nobody’s threat level has been as heavily discussed and debated as hers. Consider the next prisoner in line, Mikoto. He’s objectively more dangerous and cannot be restrained. He beat up the guard in trial 1, and he was able to hold his own when the other guilty prisoners were attacked. But a good incentive to forgive him is so that he will calm down. You know what? That’s a good incentive to forgive Amane too! But she *can* be restrained, so a good portion of the discussion went into how she should be voted guilty so she *will* be restrained and not a threat. Since her vote was a near 50/50, of course a good chunk of the voters expressed dissatisfaction with her forgiven verdict. Some are already planning to vote her guilty for trial 3, calling her a “lost cause”. She hasn’t even done any concrete harm yet. Hold the pitchforks until she actually causes harm, please? And what if she *was* voted guilty in trial 2? We’ve been warned that she will continue to deny our judgement. A second guilty verdict won’t make her better either, and then what? She’d be called a “lost cause” as well. There is no winning with her.

----

Where do I even start? So first of all she’s an cult child who was physically and mentally abused and tortured by her parents and then (presumably) murdered her mother after her mother killed a cat that she took care of.

Now everyone in Milgram is a murderer but when Amane came and her MV showed her murder and circumstance in an admittedly highly fictionalized depiction of it the audience decided to…repeat the cycle of abuse!

She was voted guilty for the main reason of “teaching her” and helping her “realize that she was abused.” I would like to note that this tough love approach is something her parents utilized against her. “We are only doing this to help you.”

So the audience replicates Amane’s abusers and repeats the cycle of abuse and that’s pretty shitty but it isn’t exactly “Fuck Em Kids” level.

And then Trial 2 happened. Cause Amane is bitter and angry and horrifically traumatized so she acts aggressive and hostile. Especially towards another prisoner.

Now, again, everyone here is a fucking murderer (of atleast could be constructed as one) These people being able to Harm is a core concept of this series.

Yet for some reason it feels like people treat Amane as a “delusional creepy kid who wants to kill people” which completly takes away the nuance of her character. She does have the capacity to harm! Everyone here does! She’s not Uniquly Dangerous! She just has a Reason to be Dangerous. A Reason we GAVE HER by REPEATING THE CYCLE OF ABUSE.

In short: In a series full of Murderers I’m honestly a bit pissed that the 12 year old abuse victim is the one who’s treated like the guy from American Pyscho.

----

TL;DR: "We metavoted this abused, indoctrinated child guilty in trial 1, but it didn't work. Now she is a threat to three grown adults: one who is fully free and two whom she has been shown to get along with. Please metavote her guilty again so she will be restrained and unable to attack them, even though that means subjecting her to further psychological torture." Amane Momose is the youngest of ten murderers, prisoners of Milgram who are to be judged innocent (forgiven) or guilty (unforgiven). In the first interrogation (voice drama), she said that what she did was in line with her religion's doctrines. If we judged her the "wrong way", she said she will just deny the verdict. Combining the voice drama and music video, you could piece together that she was raised in a cult and abused, even though she is cheerful and downplays her pain. She never shows *who* she killed, only *why* she did. After the first day of her vote, she was 81% innocent, but this wouldn't last the whole three months. Many people voted her guilty so she would "see her sins", part of the practice commonly known as "metavoting". Her innocent percentage rapidly decreased, and she hit guilty in the last 15 days, finishing at 51% guilty. At the end of the first trial, Jackalope (who is something like a host) went over all the prisoners' verdicts and commented on the general reasoning. When he got to Amane, he *laughed* at the audience for voting that way to make her realize her sins. Trial 2 rolled around, and it was revealed that Amane's victim was her abuser. On day one, she was at 74% innocent. Seems like a cut-and-dry case now, right? Well... in the intermission, two of the prisoners (Fuuta and Mahiru) were badly beaten up and became reliant on the care of Shidou, a doctor. Amane became hostile to Shidou because what he was doing was against her beliefs. She visited all three of them on their birthdays to convince them to change their ways. She seems to be especially close to Fuuta, who is now murmuring about salvation. Guilty prisoners are psychologically tortured, forced to listen to voices that reject their beliefs. Fuuta and Mahiru both say that the mental strain is worse than their physical injuries. But Amane, who also looks worse for wear, was thrown under the bus because she isn't injured and is considered a physical threat to them (never mind that she gets along with them). She's considered a threat to Shidou, a grown man who is twice her size and fully free, while she is partially restricted by the long sleeves in her trial 2 uniform. She might indoctrinate Fuuta even though, in a prison of ten people and one guard, she's the only voice of her cult. Fortunately, she got a break. Her vote was falling at a similar rate to the first trial. But this time, it stabilized at 51% innocent, 12 days before the end of her vote. But there's no way this is over.

[queen-of-weird-girl-nation]

Thalia: So our dad put you through so much, how often do you see him?

Jason: oh yeah, we have a system. I have to inform him that I would wish to meet with him, 3 months in advance, then I have to write a letter explaining why I am worthy of being in his presence then if the message is a failure then I could get struck with lightning or ignored. But if it isn’t I could still get ignored. But like every once in a while I do get a letter from my father. Sometimes they don’t even have words, but it’s the thought that counts right?

Thalia: what.

[meloriri]

i keep seeing oeople getting upset over the mafukasa parallel thingy and like. yeah their backstories arent parallel AT ALL but thats not what im talkinf about i just mean the masking 😭 they both do it in very different ways but the intention beneath it is the same and THATS where the parallel is!! but ppl acting like mafuyu and kasa have the same trauma r… odd. mafuyu is an abuse victim and kasa was subjected to unintentional child neglect that was done in such a way that his parents literally couldnt have done better because if they were there saki would be alone and hospitalized 😕 they both have very differenr problems but they cope in the same way, and i find that interesting ok sorry for ranting i still have sm more i could say RAHH

[lexezombie]

So Creek + the Chef Bergen,,, huh,,

yeah I gave em kids cus ofc I did,,

extra notes:

Tbh they were an accident

It was a fling! one night stand! they swear!

Creek n Chef didn't think they could reproduce given,,, ykno,,,

Oops quadruplets!

Chef named them (obviously)

Creeks an awful dad who plays favourites and rewards his kids for out-performing each other

Chef couldn't care if any of them exist or survive

She is kinda fond of Scallion though

Onion + Scallion are treated the best

Garlic does her own thing

Spud is barely noticed by either parent (usually fed by Onion)

Clothes r made from scraps (creek has new pants dw)

Spud is wearing part of a plastic bag yes

Spuds colours are in fact duller cus, like Branch, he's depressed : (

[kerstrel]

heacanon Jay and Tim (CW: Unhealthy eating habits and Child Neglect)

It made sense for Jason to hoard food in Dick's mind. He was a kid from the streets, never knowing when his next meal was. It made sense to Bruce and Alfred who let him keep a stash of snacks and instant meals in his closet.

It made sense to Jason, who was still wrapping his head around being adopted by a literal billionaire. He hoarded food. Even after death and resurrection, he hoarded food.

If Roy were hungry, Jason had a granola bar in his pocket. He could go to any safehouse (his or no) and find a stash of goodies to keep himself going.

It didn't make sense for Tim to hoard food in Dick's mind. He was the child of billionaires, able to get anything he wanted whenever. It didn't make sense in Bruce and Alfred's minds as they cleared out yet another stash from Tim's bedroom.

But.

It made sense to Jason who saw how skittish Tim was in the kitchen. It made sense to Jason who remembered a small kid following him and Bruce around, leaving a small trail of M&Ms in his wake. It made sense to Jason, who broke into the Drake Manor once and found an empty fridge and emptier pantry.

It made sense to Tim, who even with his parent's money, couldn't count on them to remember groceries or provide a next meal. It made sense to Tim, who'd eat himself silly whenever he could, and squirrel away whatever fit in a napkin.

Hoarding food was a survival instinct--one Jason honed on the streets and one Tim honed fancy dinner to fancy dinner.

When Jason saw what Tim did, how he behaved, Jason's heart broke a little. He talked loudly to himself about which utility belt pocket was best for what snack, and where he hid his own food stashes throughout Gotham. He went out of his way to watch cooking videos on the main TV and get (force) Tim to help him make them.

It made sense to Jason to help Tim feel safe because Dick, Alfred, and Bruce had done the same for him.

It just. Made. Sense.

[unkindhands]

Nijimura bros food headcanons

Okuyasu's preferred foods: As per implied in canon I'm pretty convinced that Okuyasu is a picky eater, both when it comes to texture but especially with flavors. Before he ate at Tonio's he didn't like any food that was too spicy, sour, bittery or even too savory. His palate expands a little after he starts eating at Tonio's place but he still mainly prefers foods that are either sweet or bland.

This of course drove Keicho crazy over the years and Okuyasu is used to eating a lot of processed/instant foods which has contributed to his also implied canon tummy troubles.

He drinks his coffee drowned in sweeteners.

Keicho's preferred foods: In the complete opposite vein, Keicho will eat just about anything, though he prefers things that are protein and nutritionally dense. He hates wasting food more than anything to the point that he will cut moldy/spoiled parts out of food and eat the rest, giving him his own unique history of tummy troubles.

He would probably frequently eat MREs recreationally if they weren't such a pain for him to acquire. He would also consider drinking Soylent type nutrient shakes.

He drinks his coffee black and considers adding anything to be making a fuss.

When it comes to cooking: Keicho of course has been the food provider for the family since he was nine years old, though it's likely he's had to prepare food for himself and Okuyasu even before that due to their father sometimes being too inebriated to prepare meals for them. While he's relied a lot on frozen and prepackaged foods growing up, he's fairly competent at cooking and knows how to make a decent variety of dishes. He's also used to mixing up recipes on the fly if he needs to make adjustments so Okuyasu will be more willing to eat his meals (such as his honey apple curry he learned to make for him.)

However, he takes no pleasure in making food, and if anything he's grown to find doing it pretty exhausting. Nevertheless, a lot of his identify is wrapped up in being a capable family provider and regardless of how precarious their situation was, Keicho always made sure Okuyasu never went hungry.

After meeting with Tonio and learning a lot from him, Okuyasu finds he has a passion for cooking and slowly ends up taking over the task for the household, much to Keicho's relief.

[acerdime]

Alfred Pennyworth is a Bystander

Feel free to present new evidence to me (politely) from DC media if I get stuff wrong, as I have limited information. All I ask is an open mind.

Considering how much writing there is confronting Bruce’s abuse of his many children, I am disappointed but not surprised to see an extreme lack of responsibility assigned to Alfred. Alfred’s emotional distance due to his employment and British culture did Bruce a disservice and likely contributed to his emotional ignorance. Yes, he’s very cool-headed, but that’s not always what a child needs. I have seen many comics in which this emotional distance is tempered with warmth but certainly not all. If Bruce (& Jason & Damian) is as abusive as he is in canon, has met little to no resistance, and few to none of the batkids have been parented more by Alfred in response then Alfred has failed in his duty as an adoptive grandfather, parent, caregiver, and responsible adult. Even if he was lacking the title of grand/parent, he has a responsibility as an adult to ensure the relative health, safety, & happiness of the children he cares for. I know people idolize him. He’s legendary, immortal (jokingly or not), badass, sassy, and a jack of all trades. I know he’s amazing. I also know he’s human and every human has flaws. Failure is also not a state of being. Failure is an event or response, what matters is how you react to it. I believe Alfred can learn to intervene in his foster son’s abuse and protect the children in his care.

[shinysparklesapphires]

I also hate that people don't realize the reason Riddle is so short is because he was malnourished as a kid

[yall-hate-kids-tourney]

Round 1B: Marcy Wu (Amphibia) vs. Maria Ushiromiya (Umineko: When They Cry)

Propaganda under the cut

Marcy Wu:

She is literally a 13 year old in a codependent relationship with her two childhood best friends and the entire fandom makes her out to be worse than the actual bad guy of the show (who canonically kills children, commits genocide, and invented frog racism) because she made a sub-optimal decision in an emotional state. She was terrified of losing her (only) friends and made a rash decision that had u forseen consequences because who would ACTUALLY believe the „magic box“ she found would actually be magic on an otherwise normal Earth. „She didnt make up for what she did“ SHE LITERALLY WAS STABBED TO DEATH BY SOMEONE SHE TRUSTED WITH A GIANT FLAMIG SWORD AND HAD HER BODY USES AS A PUPPET WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT

Maria Ushiromiya

She's really obsessed with occult and witch stuff and acts inappropriately when her family gets murdered because she was told by the culprit that everyone was going to the Golden Land (a super special witch afterlife where you get whatever you want). She also has meltdowns like any autistic child. Because of this, some Umineko fans say that she deserves to get abused by her mother.

----

People really do be saying that this literal nine year old who's been abused and neglected by her mom for her whole life is evil

----

Some people in the Umineko fandom have decided that she's annoying because she's a 9 year old with autism. Personally I think she's based. She has a hard life but still tries her hardest to see the goodness in everything. She's kind, even feeling sorry for a wilting flower and hoping it'll get better. She's a very smart young girl who just isn't given the proper love a child needs from their parents to thrive. She deserved SO, SO much better than the cards life dealt her. I mustn't talk too much else I'll get emotional but Maria is peak.Best autistic witch girl.

[agent-calivide]

Seraphina Enya "Phoenix" Ardeat full backstory

Content Warnings for: Mental and Emotional Abuse,Child Neglect, Alcoholism, Drug use, Eating Disorder, Car accidents, mental health struggles, inferiority complex, and feelings of expendability.

This story is not a happy one, you do not need my Phoenix's full backstory to appreciate her as a character, nor to follow the premise of any of my fanfics. This is just a little bit of bonus content for those curious, but if any of the above are triggering:

Do not feel like you have to read what's below to follow my fanfics or any of my other IEYTD work.

The information explains my Phoenix's mannerisms, but lacking the context does not make any of my other works unreadable.

So, it occurred to me recently that, while I talk and write a lot about my Phoenix, I've never sat down and given y'all her backstory about how she got to the EOD, especially seeing how she's rather young (something that becomes much more obvious in Glaring Gears once I actually start editing it)

Seraphina Enya Ardeat was born to Caine and Mary Ardeat, and they were the spitting image of a 1950's family... With an emotionally abusive father and a mother who was clocked out of life with a mixture of red wine and opioids.

Because of her mother's physical presence but otherwise complete absence in every other way, Seraphina was pushed to take up the mantle of homemaker very, very early in life. Growing up, she was expected to cook and clean for her father while also balancing schoolwork, leading to shaky grades and sub-par results at home. This was not good enough, which lead to many, many nights of Seraphina sobbing while her father berated her and her mother simply watched.

As the years went by, the treatment only grew worse, with her father speaking terrible things to her through middleschool and into highschool, making her feel like she couldn't do anything right.

"Not smart enough to go to college and not pretty enough to be a trophy wife" was a go-to insult that clung to her skin and carved itself into her mind. Especially as she grew a love for technology, loving flashing screens and spinning dials and the magic of radio waves and magnetism and how electricity travels, but feeling like she was never going to be smart enough to properly follow it in any significant manner. This road block leads to her idolization of Zoraxis tech and Dr Roxanna Prism, even if she'd never switch sides for it.

Of course, the other comment ate at her just as much, Seraphina starting to calorie count and manage her waist far too young to be worrying about such things. She's shorter than average because she stunted her growth greatly by not feeding herself properly in her youth. Handler started giving food after missions because she neglected herself so greatly in the early days of missions she'd usually be on the verge of passing out after most of them. She shrugs it off as exhaustion, but M knows what it is.

As Seraphina grew tired and burnt out, she desperately tried to find a way out, ending up finding herself at the bottom of one of her mother's wine bottles and being given the liquid courage to try and drive away in the middle of the night. The combination lead to a massive car wreck that, while it didn't kill her, did leave her rather bloodied and in a lot more trouble with her father.

She couldn't save up money from an actual job, but she pinched pennies wherever she could from dollar bills left lying around, stashing coins, and taking odd jobs like helping clean up other people's homes and other under the counter gigs all through highschool, and the second she graduated she was gone.

Took all of her life savings, sunk it into the only jalopy she could afford, grabbed a few sets of clothes and vanished. She drove for days on end until she was sure she was far enough away nobody would find her and spent all of her time filling out job request forms. She slept in her car and cleaned up in public bathrooms, it wasn't pleasant and at times she'd wondered if she made the right decision.

But, after ages of radio silence, someone finally reached out, the EOD.

While the EOD prided themselves on being a highly specialized division, they also were... incredibly desperate. Agents were dying at astronomical rates thanks to an up and coming enemy known as Dr Zor, and even their most professional of agents were dropping like flies. They needed hands, and fast. Even if they were simply canon-fodder placeholders while they learned this new foe's tendencies. Sure, they knew about combination locks, plastic explosives, how to unwire and rewire bombs, but this odd puzzle aspect was throwing them for a loop. They were desperate for someone, anyone to join their forces.

Desperate enough that when they got an application from a girl with no past, no place of residence, no paper trail, and nothing to be tracked, they simply counted their lucky stars that they finally found someone who wasn't gonna wake up to a poison powder in their air vents or a bomb in their mailbox.

Seraphina was put into training on an accelerated course that had her skip the position as cadet, and most positions frankly, and she quickly became the agent the EOD knows and loves today.

But, unfortunately, she has yet to get help for all of the trauma she underwent while growing up. Hell, she has yet to admit that there even was trauma there an that she wasn't just a deeply fucked up individual as a person and not as a result of her family.

She feels like she has to push through sickness, injury, exhaustion. She has to keep busting her ass and being her best, the best, or else she'll be discarded and left to fend for herself all over again. And the EOD has only exacerbated this issue with their revolving door of agents that they quickly replaced and nonchalant behavior to agent deaths.

Sure, it was because the others were failing missions in the "setting off a death trap to the face" way, but she could never chase the nagging feeling that if she, as an agent, didn't succeed every mission flawlessly with no evidence she was there and all of the intel, the day saved, what have you she'd be fired for failing. This has lead to extreme cases of self negligence and overworking often, but she hides it with a snarky, sassy attitude and a fake smile.

She's the best of the best and she has to stay that way... lest her family be proven right.