villanelle and autism
side notes before i begin:
some of these traits could also be explained by cluster b disorders, as she’s heavily bpd coded and canonically aspd, but i see her as both cluster b AND autistic.
also, please don’t say things like “YES she’s not a psychopath, she’s autistic instead” because she’s still very much aspd and i don’t want to take that away. i’ve seen a lot of people with aspd really identify with villanelle and say she portrays it well.
just scroll if you don’t agree, this is a harmless headcanon and i’m simply explaining why i have this headcanon, as well as why a lot of autistic people seem to relate to her (people get SO mad if you even insinuate a popular character might be autistic lol)
masking/mirroring
masking is a strategy used to hide neurodivergent traits in order to blend in with neurotypicals. this can include mirroring (mimicking others expressions/behaviors), or even entire persona changes.
in the very first scene villanelle carefully observes a man smiling then mimics his smile (1x01)
villanelle hears a woman laugh on the radio then mimics her laugh, later she reuses that same laugh with sebastian (1x02)
liked copying the statue people in the street (2x05)
often mimics konstantin and predicts what he’s going to say
can quickly switch personas, adopts different accents and dialects quickly, and reuses phrases that are said to her
taking things literally
when talking about villanelle anna says “she was quite literal” and goes on to describe how villanelle misinterpreted a joke so confidently that she killed someone because of it (1x07)
interprets the bible extremely literally in season 4
“i have children” “i don’t want your children” (1x05)
“sheep are happier than wolves” “you spend your time off surveying sheep?” (3x08)
took konstantin saying “do something normal” literally (1x02)
“you are not a pumpkin, you a beautiful” (1x04)
kills gabriel because she thought he was genuinely asking to die when he was expressing how sad he was about his situation (2x01)
sensory seeking (& sensitivities)
touches and focuses on the texture of the liliana rizzari duvet, goes out of her way to ask the man she’s killing for the name of the duvet, later purchases it for herself and carefully feels the texture of it again (1x01)
generally touches and smells everything
“i want to smell her skin” (4x03) as well as her describing her ideal perfume in detail then asking eve and konstantin to smell her (3x03)
hates wearing crocs and other “non-nice” things, is very fixated on “nice” things like high quality clothes and food
makes people stroke her hair when she’s feeling upset (2x05 and 4x01)
bold fashion with a lot of colors/patterns/textures
seems to dislike most people hugging her
more up to interpretation, but she wore headphones in 3x04 and 3x05, once while she was having a meltdown on a train
struggles with social cues
includes coming off as blunt/rude, trouble navigating groups, and not interpreting situations correctly
how awkward and blunt she was at her wedding (3x01)
interacting with the church, especially in 4x02
doesn’t know how to react to displays of emotion (gabriel crying, benita crying, was confused and froze when her brother was being affectionate)
doesn’t understand why some people are upset with her (konstantin in s2, may in s4, eve at multiple points)
doesn’t understand that certain things will make people upset (being very blunt with gabriel then being put off when he starts crying)
struggles with understanding boundaries
doesn’t see authority figures as an authority (teasing and flirting with the prison guards, threatening konstantin, casually killing anton, doesn’t seem to understand consequences)
does not follow rules that don’t make sense to her
breaks into eve’s house expecting a normal dinner, doesn’t know how to calm eve down and ends up making her panic more (1x05)
didn’t understand why eve’s coworkers were acting scared of her (3x08)
is confused as to why sebastian laughs when she says she likes national anthems (1x02)
not understanding why her mom was laughing at her and that it was mocking “you always laugh at things that aren’t funny” “like you?” “yes” (3x05)
stimming
the repetitive performance of certain physical movements or vocalizations in order to self soothe or express emotion
big jumpy happy dance (3x04)
during cup game (3x05)
jumping and spinning on the heels of her boots by the train with rhian (3x08)
her copying noises she hears could be a type of vocal stim, echolalia
on the train ride at the end of 3x05
there are more examples but i can’t list them all since she generally bounces around a lot and has a lot of big movements
inappropriate/bizarre responses
yelling “this is so BORINGGG” while in an art museum (2x04)
“i mean i masturbate about you a lot” (1x08)
yelling “JUST DUNK ME” while getting baptized (4x01)
soooo many instances that again i can’t list them all…
alexithymia
alexithymia is the difficulty feeling or identifying emotions (or physical stressors like pain)
her whole aa meeting speech in 2x06 about how she feels nothing and the distress it causes (is extremely bored, hurts herself and it doesn’t hurt, just wants to feel something)
doesn’t know if she’s telling the truth or not (2x07), this could also be because of masking as too much masking can cause identity confusion, not knowing what you’re faking and what’s authentic
weakened sense of danger, even says “i don’t get scared” (2x08)
says she’s fine then immediately collapses (2x01)
other traits
meltdowns, especially at the end of 3x05 where she was wearing headphones and had increased stimming while crying
low empathy
attaches to and fixates on a specific person, obsession prone
REJECTION SENSITIVE DYSPHORIA
has always felt estranged and inherently different from others, “i’m not normal you know” (2x01)
detail oriented, notices things others don’t
bad at dancing/rhythm
exaggerated facial expressions
exaggerated speech
poor impulse control
differences in expressing emotions and communication
only comfortable with select people
perfectionism, hates working with a team and wants to do jobs alone (1x04, 3x02)
feels threatened when irina knows more languages than her, as languages are something villanelle is very interested in (1x08)
black and white thinking
136 notes
·
View notes
we've all seen the jokes about Raphael and clonefucking but what if we talk about Raphael and Clone. welcome to my TED talk, here's how Raphael can still win-
(don't take it TOO seriously, i'm just offering some info/lore/mechanics and whatnot from d&d that could be interesting to consider, for fics or headcanons or whatever else this might be useful for lol)
anyway onto the post. so while idk if 5e has anything particularly specific or definitive about this (knowing 5e probably not, though I haven't read descent into avernus so idk if they have more fiend lore in there) going off 3.5e cambions are just defined as another name for half-fiends, which the MM says are typically outsiders with the native subtype - meaning they can be "raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be". huzzah, this means they have souls (imo). presuming the same holds true for cambions in 5e, since 5e also just defines them as the offspring of a fiend and a humanoid, i don't see why Clone wouldn't be an option for Raphael. it's only 8th level (surely there's a few 15th level wizards out there), the material component cost is only 3000gp (for a diamond and a container for the clone), and once the clone matures it "endures indefinitely" as long as the container does; when the creature dies its soul transfers to the clone with all its memories, abilities, and personality (but none of its gear, so we still snatch his diary) + the body's physical remains don't disappear if they aren't destroyed, so the orb vision we got about Meph munchies still tracks
the only potential issue is that in order to transfer to the clone, the soul of the creature must be "free and willing to return", but idk why anyone would have a claim on Raphael's soul to prevent it from returning. since he clearly deals in other people's souls a lot, he would probably be pretty careful about not letting anyone else get their hands on his! (plus he makes a point of saying he's a devil not a cambion when talking about himself, he wants to act like he doesn't have one at least 😂)
Clone lets you make the clone look like a younger version of the creature as well (nooo dont make your clone look like a younger version of yourself Raphael you're so sexy ahah)
59 notes
·
View notes
codebreakers is unstoppable force vs immovable object when it comes to resting cause it's just 'person who needs to hug / cling something while sleeping' meeting 'person who needs to feel weighted down to actually sleep' T-T they hug Once while sitting down and they're out for the count for the day good luck getting rid of etoiles weighted bird blanket and getting rid of phils star pillow 🙏 - 💿
JAJAJA SO TRUE
Okay I‘ll get into a bit of headcanon stuff because RAAAAH THEMM
But I headcanon that besides instincts, Phil is also used to holding and clinging to things in his sleep in case he needs to use it right after waking up, as it was very common to be attacked when he slept in his past ( this man has been through so many assassination attempts probably, good and bad ones ). Usually he clings most often to weapons, shields, potions - however with his stay on the island, he has attempted at stopping this habit because. well, he doesn‘t want to instinctively attack anyone who accidentally wakes him JAHS
This does however lead to Phil still clinging in his sleep because of how used to it he is - just that he clings to people instead.
I also headcanon for Etoiles to be a pretty light sleeper and he moves around quite a bit when he‘s asleep. Something weighting him down makes him feel more calm, as well as helps him not move too much or entirely give up on trying to sleep because it eases his temptation of getting back up.
And this works perfectly for the Codebreakers :D
Even if Etoiles were to wake up, he‘d probably fall asleep again because Phil still weighing him down = everything’s safe and well, he can let down his guard.
Phil waking up ready to pounce on someone but noticing that Etoiles is asleep ( and probably also clinging whenever Phil moves a bit, so that Phil stays put ) = all good, all safe, he can go back to sleeping if possible
THE SILLIES BUT NAPPING!!!!
17 notes
·
View notes
Um. Uh. TAZ: Balance + Paranatural AU. Gotta do it. Gotta have it.
Lucretia as Boss Leader! Don't even know her entire deal yet, but this has gotta be a thing, right. Leading a secret organization that characters can be made to forget about, taking everything on her shoulders, wanting to do the right thing but not necessarily agreeing with others on how to go about it...
Lup's probably in the Agent Summers position, or, since we don't know how that storyline's going to resolve exactly, she might be a more active ghost. (Or spirit? Don't think they overlap, but if there's any way a ghost can become a spirit, then she's probably hanging out in an umbrella tool. It's slowly getting cool flame patterns.)
Barry's either in a Spender position (Contains The Horrors) or he's a monster (are any Mayview vampires, like, chill? I guess they gotta follow their sire's orders. Maybe a werewolf, then, or something else. Might also be a ghost/spirit for matchsies with Lup.)
Alternately, Merle unknowingly contains the Horrors, and John is the Horrors.
THB are probably in a similar "some have a foot in the dream organization, some are trying to figure it out" dynamic to the Mayview Middle kids...?
Kravitz... probably a monster/ghost hunter of some sort, right. I can't remember if anyone explicitly does that in the comic, but the world for sure has room for it.
(You KNOW the Raven Queen is some ancient spirit he's following the guidance of. Maybe they occupy the Doorman-Angel corner, now that I think of it.)
37 notes
·
View notes