#i literally cannot explain this with or without context. why did she do that

[fangedjester]

absolutely DESTROYING THEM with pop pussy power

[the-final-sif]

Dream's Response Summary

Dream posted a response to various accusations, covering just about everything ever because he was done with this shit. I've done my best to summarize it here, but I recommend going and watching his whole video. This is going to be extremely summarized for readability and I'm only going to cover stuff I consider serious so anything about speedrunning is getting skipped.

The tl:dr is: Dream never groomed anyone or had inappropriate contact with anyone underage, he provided proof that one accuser flat out lied, and the other ""accusation"" was from a third party who was never involved. The actual supposed victim released a statement that they were never groomed, nor a victim in any way, never was asked about someone sharing information about them, and wants everyone to shut the fuck up.

Police were never actually contacted, both twitter accounts were lying about doing so to make their claims seem real. Also the supposed snapchat video shown is a very obvious fake.

He covers Manatreed, the run down is the guy was a childhood best friend he grew up with and who was struggling with homelessness. Dream helped him, and never knew about the battery charge (Manatreed had lied to him about it). When Dream spoke to Manatreed's ex girlfriend, she was very clear she never wanted any of this publicly out there, that she was happy that Dream had been helping Manatreed and she wanted the best for him.

Dream still doesn't know exactly what happened with that situation, he has since lost contract with Manatreed, all he knows is he was trying to help a childhood friend and got lied to.

The first allegation from Oxy/Anastasia, he's extremely clear they only ever messaged in twitter dms and he disproves the claim about the texts/tik tok. He has a google voice number hooked up to his tik tok account for obvious reasons, and she was showing imessage texts. This is not possible, which means she was lying.

As part of this, Dream scrolls through his twitter dms and shows he responds to fans all the time and talks to people in his community from all over. He also shows how he's friends with and has hired people that were fans of his, including people like Foolish.

He discusses Amanda, the two of them messaged on instagram back when he was a much smaller creator. He showed/posted the transcript of the two of them talking about normal stuff. They had been messaging since 2020. He did attempt to post a complete transcript of those messages, but she had deleted some of her messages and he doesn't have a way to recover them.

Dream explains that Instagram has a "feature" where if you ever reply to someone, then you literally cannot remove their ability to message you without blocking them. Something I did not know about instagram and which is fucking wild.

Since he replied to her in 2020, that meant she could message him forever and her notifications would be constantly showing up for him. He attempted to delete her messages/her ability to message him back in 2021 and showed proof of this, but realized he couldn't. Dream also in doing so accidentally deleted the context to her messages that she was a fan and basically everything prior to 2021.

Since he didn't remember her (what with the prior messages deleted), she was dmnig him from her personal account without fan content on it and was talking about being a streamer, he assumed she was a smaller streamer he knew and was talking to her as such.

They were talking about music so he gave her his personal snapchat to talk and because he wanted to get some feedback on a new song he was working on. He wanted to send the song via snapchat so he could be reasonably sure it'd stay private.

Dream categorically denies any sexting with Amanda or sexual messaging at all, he goes through why she most likely did this (he had been ignoring her messages and made a new snapchat with only close friends). He also downloaded his own data (something Amanda refused to/failed to do), went through the snapchat logs and did see some messages, but never saw either of his supposed compliments to her.

Amanda claimed Dream deleted her dms and that's why she couldn't provide any of the evidence she claimed she had, but Dream showed those same DMs very clearly undeleted. The dms were never deleted and she lied as an excuse.

Amanda lied about going to the police. Dream had his lawyers file a bunch of requests, and track down the police station that she went to based on the photo. They filed every request possible for any information with this police station, and there was no record of Amanda visiting the station or any records relating to Dream whatsoever. So either she lied about filing anything, or she told a story such that the police filed literally no paperwork whatsoever about the situation. Not even a report.

Dream sent the police station a copy of his own drivers license and Amanda's information so they could contact him if anything did come up, and nothing ever did. Nothing was filed, nobody cared.

Dream got swatted several times as a result of online harassment, including his family, and the harassment was overwhelming and awful for him.

He addresses the gumball situation, he showed up to a birthday party for a friend, gumball's VA was there and kept getting aggressive with him. While on facetime with some friends, Cantu ended up hitting Dream to impress them. Dream was obviously put off by this, but at the end of the night people ended up ubering together and Dream ended up in an uber with Cantu. He thought it'd be fine since other people were involved.

Cantu dropped his phone out the window made the uber driver pull over to look for it and got in trouble with the police. The uber driver tried to talk to Cantu about handling the police in the future, and Cantu started calling the uber driver slurs and claiming the uber driver had "down syndrome".

Dream got involved, trying to defend the uber driver, and Cantu threatened to kill him and called him slurs. Later Cantu apologized and Dream wanted to forgive him. Only later, Cantu started spreading lies about him and calling him a pedophile, so Dream realized the apology wasn't sincere and called him out for his behavior.

The third party who had been filming all of this saw what Cantu was doing lying about Dream and trying to claim none of this happened. They reached out to Dream and gave him the actual video as proof of what happened. Cantu tried to threaten them out of sending Dream the video of what happened, but they ignored him and sent them anyways. Dream also had the uber driver in his video backing up what he said.

Finally, the Jamie Allegations

Jamie is a mutual friend of several people that Dream knew, she did not post the allegations, she was never contacted about any of this she made an explicit statement that she was never groomed or a victim in any way.

Dream and Jamie meet prior to Dream being a youtuber on bbh's minecraft server, they were both fans of Skeppy. Which is why Jamie was followed by Dream, Skeppy, Vurb and some other youtubers in their friend group.

Jamie is still active online and put out her own statement, the person in the screenshots never gave permission for any of this to be put out, and they are very clear that the messages were taken out of context and that the claims made are false. The person in the screens is clear Dream is not a groomer, they never accused him of that, and that the twitter account is lying.

The snapchat video shown is very obviously fake, because snapchat just magically opens itself, there's no finger or button use interacting with the screen.

The burner account never actually contacted the police, Dream records him calling to the department they claimed to contact, and the person answering is very clear they have no contact from this person.

The supposed recent document posted is a fake convo of someone using a fake twitter account to talk to "Jamie", Jamie did not talk to them and it's just fake.

All of this was incredibly damaging for Jamie, who had no idea what was going on, and was getting harassed/stalked/having her irls contact.

Dream has also faced waves of harassment over obviously fake allegations, people have just been taking them at face value. He also shows how easy it is to fake these things as I have done.

He's been swatted, harassed, his family has been swatted and harassed, he's been scared for his own safety several times. It's been awful for him, and all based on fake shit. He's not stepping back from minecraft, but he is stepping back from twitter and no longer engaging with people behaving this way.

Also his ping pong record was undefeated.

[webslingerofthegalaxy]

RANT TIME

Okay, unpopular opinion that no one asked for but I have nowhere else to vent it so you're stuck with it time. I HATE the animated trolls shows, The Beat Goes On and Trollstopia. With a burning passion. I will admit, TBGO wasn't as bad as Trollstopia imo, but it was still bad. Why, you may ask?

Allow me to explain.

First off, let's start with TBGO. Now, since this comes after the first movie and we don't have a lot of context beyond it, I let a lot slide. But the main transgression I have is that this show brought Creek back. CREEK. Of all the MISERABLE LOUSY PATHETIC COWARDS to resurrect, they picked CREEK. WHY. Why was this necessary???? He adds nothing to the story beyond an annoying presence that makes me want to hurl my device like Captain America's shield. AND THEN, they make Branch the bad guy for not trusting him immediately. OF COURSE HE DIDN'T TRUST CREEK, THE SLIMY POS SOLD EVERYONE OUT TO SAVE HIS OWN SKIN. DID EVERYONE FORGET THAT!?!?! And then this leads to Branch having to APOLOGIZE to Creek and then eventually to them sort of becoming friends. THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN. Every episode he was in I could feel myself losing braincells.

If you thought that was alot, stick around for my rant on Trollstopia because holy shit, where do I begin?

Now, the idea behind Trollstopia is actually a good one. Like hey, everyone is so spread out, how about a group from every tribe comes to live in the middle which happens to be Pop Village? Genius! And I will admit, in the beginning it seemed promising! And then, they fucked it up.

How, you may ask?

Simple. My point can be simplified to 2 main subjects:

They put WAAAYYYY too much effort into Poppy's relationships with literally EVERYONE ELSE and nowhere near enough into her relationship with Branch, HER BOYFRIEND.

They absolutely, totally, 110,000% DESTROYED Branch's character.

I shall now explain my stance. First off, we have point #1. Now, don't get me wrong. Poppy should absolutely have relationships with other trolls! She's the queen, for hair's sake! And I really did enjoy the fact that she made new friends and got really close with them. As someone who has eternally struggled with making and maintaining friendships, I loved seeing her do what I usually cannot. HOWEVER, this is no excuse to neglect her relationship with her actual fucking BOYFRIEND. Trollstopia takes place after TWT, after Branch and Poppy confessed and entered a relationship (if you wanna argue with me, look at the official Trolls Wiki, it'll back me up). But if you watch the show, you can barely tell they LIKE each other, let alone that they're dating. The show ran for 7 seasons and, out of those seasons, can anyone tell me a single episode where they were the focus? I won't even ask about them as a couple, just them interacting together being the focus! Poppy and her friends repeatedly bulldozed over Branch, his feelings, and his boundaries, constantly mocked him, and shit on anything he wanted to do. I swear at times it was like watching Trolls 1 Branch and Poppy interact.

Finally, my second point: Branch's character. They absolutely fucking took all of Branch's hard earned character development from 2 movies and a holiday special and went:

Wanna know how I know? What does Branch actually DO in Trollstopia? About every 10th episode, he shows up to offer a crappy sarcastic remark that pales in comparison to his usual ones and does one of 3 things:

Gets hurt

Gets made fun of

Acts like a total moron, and not in a cute way.

He's basically turned into Jay from the later seasons of Ninjago (my apologies Jay, I love you but you know it's true). I mean, in one episode he got his ass absolutely HANDED to him when he tried the rodeo! COME ON. The dude who caught a stick fired at him without looking and jumped in front of a death bolt to save Poppy got served by a fucking bull thing? Bullshit (no pun intended). To add onto this, when he's not being trampled and beaten for no fucking reason, he's being used for the most CRINGEWORTHY comedic relief. I mean really, there was a whole episode about how he wanted to be called a "cool nickname" by Lownote. Really? We really think that's in character? And to top it off, he gets stuck with "Skippy Two-Shoes". WHAT. THE. FUCK??? I almost had an aneurysm when I heard that. And everyone was fine with it!!!! Which leads into my last point, NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT HIM DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE SAVED POPPY AND IS HER FUCKING BOYFRIEND. There was a whole fucking episode about him getting all pissed off at the Techno Trolls for taking over his lagoon in his bunker (which I have to say I'm jealous he has) to have "raves" at like 4am. WHO WOULDN'T BE PISSED OFF??? My upstairs neighbors bang around at all fucking hours of the day and it drives me insane so I get why Branch is mad! BUT WHY DOES NO ONE ELSE? Why is it when he complains he gets told that he's being "unfair" and has to "share"? Fuck that, he was there first! It's not like Trollstopia isn't huge, they can find somewhere else to infest at 4am!

In conclusion, I hate the animated shows because they destroy the relationship between Branch and Poppy and demolish all of Branch's character development, reducing him to the annoying sidekick that always gets cheered at when they get hurt or die tragically.

End of rant. Thank you for sticking with me, I needed to get that off my shoulders. Branch is my favorite character and it infuriates me that he gets the short end of the stick all the time. Enjoy this as a reward:

[time-is-restored]

im seeing so many people say that sophietexas said shit she unequivocably Did Not Say so like. just for my own peace of mind.

when dream asked what she'd said about him/george, she explained that she had tweeted a friend's misogynistic experience with george (without details), which she took down because it 'caused more harm than good' and 'it was becoming more about me [than the victim]'.

they shared a screenshot of the tweet with him

dream, assuming there was more to the story (apparently he'd been told she was talking shit about him?) asked what else she'd said. he also asked why he/george wouldn't know what incident she was referring to if it was 'that bad'

sophie clarified they only tweeted about george, and said the interaction in question was not assault, and they wasn't accusing george of that

dream asked for more details, accusing them of not wanting to 'hear another perspective'. basically saying it wasn't fair that they'd say this shit when it could be a 'miscommunication' or not true

sophie said again she wasn't going to say anything else because it wasn't her story to tell

dream said that was ridiculous, and asked why they'd had positive interactions in the past if she was so negative towards them now

sophie explained george had ignored them + therefore been rude, didn't mention the context, and DREAM said it 'probably happened' in an among us lobby. made a comment about how he'll 'never know' why they don't like him

sophie said she didn't like his attitude. dream said it was hard to have a nice attitude when he was getting texts from people asking why everyone on twitter thinks he's a 'serial rapist'

sophie said that the conversation was getting unproductive, and that she wasn't going to expose her friend. she said she doesn't wish for dreams downfall, and she just wants the creator space to be safer

now, about what she DIDN'T say/do:

she did not accuse george of 'being a misogynist because he ignored her in an among us lobby'. she mentioned that they had been in among us lobbies when dream said he didn't remember her. separately to that, she said that george had ignored her when they'd spoken. seperately to that, the misogynistic behaviour accusation was her sharing a friend's personal experience. all she ever said was that george was rude to her.

they did not accuse george of assaulting anyone (aside from expressing support for caiti), and they clarified that their friend's negative experience was Specifically Not Assault before they deleted all related tweets.

she did not accuse dream of literally anything. i cannot emphasise this enough. dream clearly thought/was told that she said something abt him, and kept asking what 'else' she said apart from the tweet (which she willingly showed). again, all she said about dream was that she thought he was nice, and now thinks he has a bad attitude.

sophie did not share her friend's story in detail because that wasn't what the friend wanted. if you think that's shady, please consider that dream went public in order to accuse connor + sophie of saying shit about him/george without having proof. if sophie had named her friend, or given details, that knowledge would've become public too. then please consider the reaction that caiti has received these past few weeks, after accusing george of something george admitted to. consider the ways people are still calling her a liar, or a clout chaser, or of exaggerating/changing her mind and calling it assault after the fact, after george has agreed that what she said happened happened. would you, knowing that context, want to expose your friend (who already didn't want to come forward personally!) to that level of scrutiny and judgement?

leave sophie the fuck alone come on guys. their 'crime' is not liking george or dream and expressing that to dream's face. they made a tweet on behalf of a friend which they took down bc they felt it was detracting from caiti's story. that's literally it.

[saintadeline]

Hey there. I've been doing a lot more lore diving lately and there's one question I have regarding Adella. Do you think she ever learns that the Hunter is not part of the Healing Church? When you meet her, you have to have church clothing to get her to trust you, but it never occurred to me until now that she might think you're a member through out the entire game. I think that assumption changes the context of her feelings towards you getting Arianna's blood, so I was curious of your feelings on it.

You know you're so right I never really thought about it extensively either so now's the time. A while ago I used to assume she'd just figure it out on her own but if you think about it theres actually nothing that could indicate so and if anything, all that happens kind of reinforces that idea anyway? She might see you walking around with another garb yeah but you have brought her to a chapel of all places, and the chapel dweller doesn't really know you either it's not like they'd say anything about you that could signify otherwise. That and she's not really talking to them anyway. I think in her mind authority and hunters are inherently linked to the church so even without definite proof or without you wearing church attire constantly she would've assumed so. She's a Yharnamite, she's not expecting any random person and Especially not an outsider to help her, the church is the face of bravery and kindness in adversity. I think the way I'd see it is that she immediately took you for a higher standing member of the church but figured out you were a church hunter, so still a church member and still "above her" but not as much as she seemed to think in that very first dialogue, which would explain why she never really brings up the church again. Mostly what's worth looking at here is this line: "Oh, brave hunter. You’re alive. Thank you very much. The town is in disarray, but there are still people here. Together, we await the help of the Healing Church. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to you. The only thing that I can offer… Is my own lowly blood. If it would suffice?" It's the only time she ever mentions the church and you at the same time again but it's easy to interprete in several different ways due to the way it's phrased so vaguely. I looked up the literal translation of the japanese text, "together" denotes specifically her and the other people waiting in the chapel and doesnt seem to include the hunter (you) in the "us". Thus it's possible to take the way she says "(we await the help of) the healing church" as encompassing you and being almost a direct question. But i think it's a subtility that's impossible to figure out for sure so that really depends how you want to take it. Unfortunately I'm running into an issue here which is the "you" in "my gratitude to you". I don't know enough about japanese to figure it out myself but I know for sure it is different from the way we have a separate and yet undistinguishable plural and singular You in this scenario. So not being able to look at the grammatical building of the original sentence I can't bring light on anything wrt how this sentence is supposed to be taken, singular and plural You in english are only differenciated with their context but here both would work and bring a different meaning to what we're researching, so I'm a bit stuck. If anyone knows more about it and would like to help me dissect "貴方には、感謝の言葉もありません" you're more than welcome to LOL. So this did not help a whole lot or bring many definite answers but I think it's more easily interpretable as her still viewing you as part of the church although not exactly all-powerful like her superiors are. But then again she's kind of the bottom of the ladder anyway so Anything would be "above" her.

Anyhow, yeah this absolutely ties into her aversion for Arianna, I wouldnt go as far as to say it Changes the context entirely, it just adds some that was, in my opinion, already in the same direction; I do think the church is a prejudiced organization but her distrust of Arianna was always more strongly about bloodline than sex work. Yharnam has such vitriol towards Cainhurst that I think it would be near impossible to have lineage from it and not have it be known by everyone, especially since Arianna just straight up uses a dress from ye olde Cainhurst. So not only is Adella wary of her, and jealous of the attention she has, and considers her existence blasphemy, she also directly sees a church member, higher up than her, interact with her and even partake of her blood which would be Extra forbidden. I think she's too far brainwashed to ever even think about the fact that people in the church might be corrupt, she's too busy looking up to people as saviors and the epitomy of good (as well as herself as lowly and insignificant in their wake) to consider that. So seeing what she would (wrongly) assume as exactly that will be a shock to her and something she just cannot understand no matter how much she thinks about it. And confusion and a lack of understanding make you much more likely to act irrationally especially when you're unknowingly being influenced by something greater than you.

[radical69rose]

The not-so-longly awaited Jeremy Heere & family analysis:

Disclaimer before I get into this! I’m basing these observations on what’s canon and what can be predicted based on canon. I’ll be refraining from anything HC oriented! I will not be making up new scenarios that don’t at least have SOME actual context in the given plot. Also, please understand that these are MY interpretations that may be based on personal experiences/other sources of media I’ve seen.

ALRIGHTY! So, to begin, Jeremy is a character who is canonically seen to suffer from some sort of social anxiety disorder and possibly depression. It’s obvious BMC is meant to be heavily based on mental health, and Jeremy is our prime, classic mc example of that. He struggles with his self image and clearly can’t talk to people without resorting to typical awkward tendencies. He doesn’t understand his popular peers and can’t communicate with them. He’s unpopular, but wishes for a better future, dreaming about his own popularity. He was most likely born shy!

But that’s easily deduced. What I want to focus on is his parents' role in his upbringing.

From what we know from canon, Jeremy’s mom has recently left and his father was clearly not dealing with the divorce well. It’s implied that his mom recently got this divorce based on the conversation Jeremy and Michael have at the beginning of “Two-Player Game.” Michael is seen asking Jeremy how his mom is doing and whether or not he’s heard from her. Jeremy’s response is that his mom hasn’t talked to him, seemingly not caring (we’ll get into that later). The only reason Michael would open up a conversation this way is if this was a recent event. Michael, being the good friend he is, asks about it to check in with his friend.

Jeremy’s mom not speaking to him is a clear sign of one of two things. Either she literally doesn’t care for him, or she’s too dysfunctional to care for him. Thing is, Jeremy doesn’t seemingly have any trauma relating to an abusive mother… so that leaves me to believe she was an absent one. Many predictions can be made about her character. I’ve seen her portrayed as disorganized and overly anxious and possibly even bipolar. This would explain some of Jeremy’s own tendencies (such as his anxiety). This would also explain Jeremy’s reaction to her leaving. He does love her (and she probably loved him), but probably struggles to show this. Whatever you believe, it’s easily assumed that Jeremy’s mom was not the best parent.

In addition, with this divorce, you can also conclude that Jeremy’s parents did not have a good relationship (of course), in which his mom might have treated his dad with this offhanded attitude as well. There might’ve been explicit fighting, there might not have been. That’s unknown to me. I will mention that if there was, that might explain Jeremy’s indignation towards his father and mother. He treats his father poorly even before he gets the Squip.

Now left without his mom and with a deadbeat dad, Jeremy has to now deal with the stress and anxiety of school all on his own without parental supervision or advision (not that his parents were great before, but regardless, that’s not the point). He’s completely alone now, dealing with the feelings of social loneliness and self hatred. I’d also like to briefly mention that he can’t turn to Michael because Michael doesn’t relate, and therefore, cannot sympathize with his problems/insecurities (I can write a rant abt that later). Jeremy’s also gotta deal with the bullies that have tormented him for years. To him, he probably felt there was no one to love/guide him, and that if he wanted to fix his issues, he’d have to do so on his own. That’s why he buys the Squip. A desperate attempt to fix his life with his own hands. An attempt to keep himself from his dad’s fate.

The Squip was the perfect and easiest ‘out’ for him, because his self esteem was already too diminished to believe he could open up to others on his own by being himself. He felt he was a lost cause, so when he was presented with this easy solution that could guide and fix him, of course he took that opportunity!

That’s the gist of it ig. Lemme know if there’s anything else you guys want me to dive deep into ^^ I could do Mike and Jer’s friendship or smth

[fictionfixations]

Out of Context TWST

imgs are from:

Prologue Book 1 Fan translation of Cater's ceremonial robes vignette Rook's ceremonial robes vignette Book 5 Book 6 Book 7 Spectral Soiree Tsumderland 2 A Firelit Sky Jade's Halloween Groovification Message

and then i gave up (was gonna go in order after laughing at the first img. now its a mishmash of me randomly remembering some bits i wanted to add, and removing the ones that didnt mesh too well)

recently finished book 6 and starting book 7 so there's a bunch of book 6 imgs in here

--------------

(note: I can't find the lashing of love line when we encounter Crowley for the first time?? I swear it was there before but now its just not??)

[Lilia: What's this? You'd really turn down my juice?!]

[Vil: WAAAH!]

you get no context whatsoever except that he's sobbing (for three long hours.. its funny i swear). i refuse to show you the visual if you haven't seen it yet.

["I shall even spare it from being served as dinner."]

[Crowley: If you're not satisfied with my offer, I can arrange to have you thrown out again.]

[Grim: Not more lashings of love! We gotta get outta here! Ace: OW!]

[Deuce: Because I'm going to launch you.]

[Epel: You're...hurting me. Please, let go?]

*proceeds to beat everyone up* /hj

[> Then it's kill or be killed!]

[Grim: I'd recognize that collar anywhere. It's the same one that psycho stuck on me at orientation!]

[Cater: Aww yeah, I am getting my paint on!]

[Cater: Even so, he'll have a mom.]

Context because I can't share more imgs: In his Ceremonial Robes vignette, he's basically guessing what people's dorm will be with Trey. When they get to Epel, he goes,

[Cater: He's by far the cutest~! If he had an older sister, don't you think she would be a total stunner?

[Insert Trey's response]

Cater: Even so, he'll have a mom.]

He clarifies that he's joking but still LOL

(this was changed in the eng localization to a comment about washing dishes)

[Vargas: Great sorcery begins with a great physique! Behold the muscles you can build with a diet of raw eggs!]

[> Muscly dog man, sure why not.]

[Ace: A painting? Hard pass! I don't care how cute she is if she's two-dimensional!]

[Riddle: It's not absurd! It's literally the law!]

[Leona: Hey, I'm into it.]

[???: *sniff* *sniff*]

[Floyd: Whaaat? Sorry, can't hear you, man! Hair dryer go brrrr!]

[Deuce: You don't get to call my eggs stupid. You don't get to call ANY eggs stupid!]

[Grim: So you were only a little more annoying than you are now? > I did notice you had that vibe...]

[(Jade) "Oooh, I love it when you flee in terror. It makes me want to chase you!"]

SS from:

But I found what card it's actually from by the wiki

[Malleus: Oh, now I have to clean up your waste? You little scamp.]

[Deuce: For sixteen years, I was so sure...]

[Cater: Ooh, it's almost time! Okay, all you sexy body doubles, that's a wrap!]

[Deuce: I fell and got a boo-boo. Ouchies. *sob*]

[Jade: Oh dear, how did I get into this mess? Don't tell me you planned for me to get caught this whole time...!]

[Jamil: So I made wet burgers.]

[Grim: What if there's an assassin out for our blood?!]

[Lilia: "Lilia. When I woke up this morning, Drago was gone. Now there's this egg in his place. What should I do?"]

[Vil: EEEEE HEE HEE! YEEESSS!]

i cannot explain the utter joy contained within that one voice line. It's just pure exhilaration.

this lives rent free in my brain (along with the kiss. you get no more context besides that)

(it looks funny without the voice attached tho LMFAO. it's like a "Kyaa~! Yatta!" as in like a scream/yell and then 'hurrah/I did it/yes/sweet'! ehh, basically joy when things go well)

there's a limit to how many images you can put in one post. oops.

[coldflasher]

my favourite legends of tomorrow memory will forever be from mid 2020, a few months into the first lockdown. i’d just finished my last semester of uni online, locked in the crappy student house that i shared with one of my best friends, doing all my final lectures and seminars on zoom and not getting to say goodbye to anyone because obviously we couldn’t leave the house. we’d handed our dissertations in and we had a few weeks left before we were due to move out, and we couldn’t go anywhere, so my friend and i sat down and rewatched all of legends in the space of about a week. 

so on this particular day, we were sat in our living room, which was also the kitchen. (this was a VERY SMALL HOUSE.) we’d been watching the show for probably four or five solid hours, squished up together on the world’s most HORRIBLE couch. you could barely fit two people on it and i swear it was made of rock. that couch destroyed both spines and butts. we didn’t have a tv, so we were pirating the show on my laptop using these shit speakers i bought SPECIFICALLY so we could watch legends every week. just so you get the impression of the kind of stir-crazy vibes that we had going on. 

i can’t even remember exactly what episode we were watching, or whether it was in s4 or s5, or the context. but in this episode, nora is arguing with damien and she’s getting super frustrated because he isn’t taking her seriously. they have this whole argument and eventually she snaps and yells “because i’m annoyed!” and damien, without missing a beat, goes “hey, annoyed! i’m dad!”

it was quite literally a dad joke. and a very weak dad joke at that. 

and when i tell you we CRIED

i cannot explain what exactly was so funny about that one particular throwaway line in an episode that both of us had already seen before, probably more than once, but we genuinely lost our shit to the point that we were literally both crying in pain because we’d laughed so much that it hurt. and it did NOT stop. we kept breaking down laughing for the rest of the day every time we thought of it. 

the thing is, i’ve seen this ep since and i cannot emphasize enough that it wasn’t that funny. it wasn’t even worthy of that air you blow through your nose, let alone the full-blown hysterics it got from us. to this day i have no idea what it was about that particular joke in that particular moment and why i almost cracked a rib laughing. whether it was pandemic brain or having just finished my degree or the fact i’d been cooped up in this tiny house inhaling dorito dust and watching the world’s most batshit insane tv show for a week straight, i don’t know. but that’s what legends gave me, you know? those moments, where it was all just so ridiculous and it made me forget about all the other bizarre crap going on in the world because a reformed magical assassin with a fairy godmother for a daughter made a terrible dad joke. that’s the kind of shit that made this show what it was. it was just so brilliantly stupid. and i love it so much.

[pbpsbff]

3, 20, 22~

hiiiii thank u for the ask

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

ok so this is less a scene and more an entire fic concept but i literally cannot figure out a context to put it into and it hurts because i really like it

there’s a family living there now, from what he’s heard. a mom and a dad, and two daughters. maybe he should tell them about the money. but what would he even say? hey, there’s a twenty dollar bill somewhere in your walls. also, a part of me died here and i’m afraid his ghost might be wandering the halls. is he overstaying his welcome? i’m sorry if he is, by the way. i’d recommend you a nice priest for an exorcism, but he’ll probably just leave if you tell him to go.

peter thinks maybe he’ll slip a note under the door instead, but there’s too many words to fit on a page to describe the way his bones ache when he passes by the building, how he still wakes up in the morning expecting to smell burnt toast and hear may singing along to some garbage song from the 80’s she claims is the best thing she’s ever heard, or all the different creaks and moans of the apartment, all its quirks and flaws that he once knew like the back of his hand.

he could explain it all away; that faucet leaks because i was an overachieving nine year old who thought he could take it apart and put it back together without a problem, or that weird brown-ish stain on the ceiling is from when may accidentally flung spaghetti across the room, or why are you trying to rid this apartment of all the evidence of it being a home?

maybe i make it into something post nwh?? idk. this isn’t even all of it

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

i wish i could say that all my writing is really deep and there's clues everywhere but most foreshadowing in my fics is something i did on accident and then went holy shit i can use this. i'm a genius.

i will say though, the way tony rhodey and peter's dynamic changes throughout everything i have posted for r&r (and everything in my drafts oop) is probably my favorite thing ever like idk i'm a huge fan of the walking dead and the way relationships shift with each new experience and that is exactly what i wanted to do when i started the series

i was gonna look through a couple of my fics to see if i could find specific references but ao3 is fucking. DOWN and i'm too lazy to pull up my google docs. god bless

22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

i reread them all the TIME omfg. a lot of the times i'm cringing at spelling or grammatical errors (and then i fix them) but idk there's something so fun about being able to go back to a fic and think wow i would've done that differently if i wrote it today. it's also fun to read through a fic i don't remember writing at ALL and being like holy shit............ banger.............. it's an ego boost i guess

[seumascowan]

Few Thoughts on a Few Things • XIX

TV Party: We've (b/c of me, I don't watch many shows at all) finally gotten around to watching The Mandalorian s3. A couple things: 1) idgaf how old I am or whatever, I fuckin' love Grogu, and I am thankful the entire series hasn't been just making me stress by putting baby Grogu in constant peril. If anything happens to him, I swear to fucking christ... 2) Watched up to the last episode, and I can certainly do without the goofy military tactical lingo and actions. It's way too forced and obvious. Just stop it.

Finished watching Letterkenny, which, ostensibly was the final episode ever. Overall, loved the show and will miss it. I did not, however, dig that last final shot w/ Wayne and that annoying Mexico woman. Why tf not have Rosie in that shot?! Unacceptable! Other than that small detail, it was a great finale.

We're also sloggin thru a few other shows start-to-finish, right now one of them is SVU, now in season 11 I think, so a shitton left. Can only watch so much of it at once though, for obvious reasons. Purpose of mentioning it is that we just saw the ep.'s with Sharon Stone as the ADA, and holy shit she is bad. Like really fucking bad. Poor lines, dialog, delivery, all of it. Gonna give her the benefit of the doubt and hope it's just the writers... and also hope ta fuck that's all we see of her on that show! Seems like I'm not on an island here.

Wanna talk politics? No? Okay, let's talk politics: I'm gonna say it — Joe Biden needs to drop the fuck out. The fact that the Democratic party, the official party, is fucked in the head if they don't see what's coming. I'm honestly baffled by it all. Either hubris or just complete ineptitude. It's just incredible head-in-the-sand shit. The simple reality that there's even a remote, even astronomically remote, possibility that Trump even has a chance should be beyond a wake-up call. Relying on a corrupt, stacked Supreme Court is beyond absurd. Dems have got to clean the shit from their ears and get with the fucking program. Relatively few in any sort of generally mainstream media have had the balls to say anything other than, "he's the guy; get over it!" That sorta shit from libs drives me up the fucking wall. One got close at least. How's about address one fucking legitimate concern people have... that people are fucking screaming about! Also, if Trump is the legit threat people say he is — I, for one, believe that to be the case with good cause — like an existential fucking threat, then why aren't Dems taking this more seriously. Look at how we've dealt with even perceived threats in the past, perhaps. Not making any sort of suggestions here, but goddammit, we're literally just kicking this old bag o' bones down the street towards straight-up dictatorship. It's really something to witness.

I saw this headline a few days ago and knew exactly what 'slur' it was referencing — firsthand knowledge from over 20 fucking years ago! In my previous life I was passing through El Paso, or maybe it was Del Rio, and had to liaise with some different feds in the area, including a few Border Patrol agents. I cannot recall the context where he brought it up, but can picture the asshole laughing as he explained to us what a "tonk" was. Yes, his exact words were, "it's the sound your maglite makes when you smack 'em on the head." Sadly, I was not in position at the time to challenge this guy. Regardless, it's FUBAR.

Old man yells at cloud: All of the two or three people who know me well knows how much I fucking hate insurance. Like, I'm startin ta get pissed even typing this! Anyhow, the insurance tv commercials are outta fucking control. And you know what chaps my ass even more about it, is that these goddamned ads are just dumbass schtick, not actually selling a product. It's the fucking emu or Flo or the goddamned cartoon lizard. It's just so fucking insulting man.

Watched 'Signs' again last week. I know, Mel Gibson is a turd, but you could honestly say the same for about 83% of "Hollywood" eh? Anyhow, remember the bookstore where the two kids pick up the book on aliens, the dude yelling about it all being a conspiracy to sell pop... yeah that's me now.

ICYMI: I made a new playlist on the youtube channel for my current training program, not entirely unlike previous programs I've written, but new nonetheless. If you're into this sorta thing, check it out. I will try to keep up posting clips from my sessions.

Thanks for reading this.

hugs & crap

[internetanomaly]

September 8th, Day 4/365

Counting down to September 5th 2024.

Two days back – on this blog, I talked about how I've been defining myself by my interests and the media I consume, but weirdly, I haven't actually shared what I'm into. That was pretty much why I started writing the Day 2 entry, but I got clearly sidetracked by other thoughts.

I want to say that I've taken up this digital niche because I lack someone in the real world to talk to about what I enjoy, but that's not true really. There are people, friends in my life who'd gladly listen to me babble about my newfound favorite song. But even though I've been reassured about this before, there's always this nagging fear that they're just listening to me out of pity. I believe enjoyment is personal, and even if someone likes the same stuff as me, even when our interests align, the way they experience it will always be different from mine.

A great example of a personal experience of mine would be the videogame 'Disco Elysium.' I introduced it to a friend, knowing they'd connect with the main character, and so they did. Yet, every time we talk about the game, it's clear that we took pleasure in completely different aspects. The way we decide to elaborate on the messaging and development of the story is vastly different, and it couldn't be any other way.

This will sound like some spiritual, new-age mumbo jumbo, but what i'm really trying to say is that the vibes and sensations we created and experienced during the game are fundamentally different and they never had a chance to be the same. The same movie viewed through someone else's eyes becomes an entirely different experience. By existing in a context our experiences are necessarily subjective and tainted. In this context empathy is limited, it is fundamentally impossible to find someone who truly enjoys something for the same reasons you do. Isn't that sad?

I think this is why I'm so reticent about the things I enjoy with those close to me. Words often fall short in conveying emotion, and the moment you try to explain or show something, the essence inevitably gets diluted.

A few days ago I've started watching 'Dekalog' (1989) by Kiéslowski. It's got quite the reputation for its depth and profound thematic exploration, but if I may voice my skepticism, I'm not entirely sold on the hype. I already spilled my guts in a few Letterboxd reviews, so I won't go into detail here. Overall, I just feel that the stories are surprisingly surface level for how universally acclaimed this is. Maybe that's the very reason it brings enjoyment to so many – there's not much deep thinking required but it's great at hinting at a deepness and nuance that is just not there. This way people can still feel the rush of philosophy without having to put any effort in; Kiéslowski serves his messages up clear and loud, leaving the viewer with the single responsibility of getting exposed to it. I truly do feel like I'm being too harsh with this series of films but my expectations were too high to justify what I saw.

On the polar opposite end of the spectrum, Matsumoto's 'Funeral Parade of Roses' (1969) completely blew me off. I went into it blind and I was so completely took by surprise right at the beginning – when *spoiler* Eddie's shower scene showed that she didn't have breasts I audibly gasped out loud; I literally had an involuntary physical reaction to an image on my laptop screen, I cannot stress enough how impressive that is. From that moment I was completely hooked, I knew this film was going to be a journey of self-exploration for me and it unequivocally delivered. Maybe it's not for everyone, but I would dare to say that it's a masterpiece. Apart from all the technical praise I could give it, what truly stuck with me is that it just made me feel seen. I guess that's simple enough, but it really means a lot to me. Maybe that's why people enjoyed 'Dekalog' too, there's a lot of family themes that I'm sure resonate with people. Once again: by existing in a context our experiences are necessarily subjective and tainted, my empathy is also limited so who am I to judge? What's probably happening is that I just don't get it, I'm certain there has to be beauty in the simplicity of it, I'm just not the person it speaks to.

[viscountessevie]

I love the racism and sexism shown towards Edwina and Kate, esp. by white book fans:

They are mad that Edwina isn't simply a cheerleader for Anthony and Kate and instead is allowed to be angry. They also complain that she was too soft or naïve and they really don't like brown girls outside of stereotypes.

Also, there is a clear misunderstanding of Kate's role, especially in the context of her being the eldest in an Indian family (I'm black but similar dynamics) and mad that she isn't as 'gentle' as she is in the books.

FACTS ALL AROUND!! Honestly racist and sexist fans need to get the fuck out of here. There is NO place for your bigotry here especially not on this blog and if I ever get a hint of it in my DMs or Asks I will block you anons, just a warning for anyone wants to throw hate at me or my fave characters for having unpopular opinions about Daphne being a r*pist and me disliking Penelope as a character and her arc direction.

[It gets long more under the cut:]

Also those Kathony 'fans' who are being horrible about Edwina, I do not claim them, you cannot be a TVWLM fan without loving Eddie as much as Kate loves her. And yes the writers fucked up the Sharmas sister's relationship and bond but I still love and adore my Sharma girls and I hate hate that the writers pitted them against each other. Honestly Eddie cannot catch a break with the fans; if she's too soft or naive, she is a doormat and not her own character but if she's brash and loud, oh no go back you cannot be allowed to be angry and mean to Kate, you're a bitch Edwina. It's a double edged sword if she shows ANY type of emotion. It fucking sucks and it's exhausting and a real world issue a lot of brown girls like me face. Everything we do is criticised but Penelope can commit hate crimes and Daphne can literally r*pe someone and part of the fandom still celebrates them, I see you racist side of the fandom I see you.

Also about Kate's role: OHMYGOD TELL ME ABOUT IT and partially I will fault the writers for not explicitly explaining why Kate has this sort of an armour of a personality when it comes to the image she projects to the world, but rather its implied and to picked up on by POC fans who have had that experience of being the eldest child in a POC household. While white fans are ignorant to this very specific experience that we all go through.

So since the writers did a SHIT job of explaining it, I'll do it myself: Basically Kate is VERY similar to Anthony in the sense that she was parentified. If Mary had been more present like she was in the books, I don't think Kate would have been as badly parentified as in the show. I feel like in a way Kate took it upon herself to fill her father's role and parent Eddie alongside Mary and Show!Mary just never noticed because she just saw it as Kate being a good older sister. But like come on Mary, Kate gave Eddie her whole education - where were you?? Of course their show versions now have a parent-daughter relationship than sisters.

And it's fucking awful because they took away Mary's role within the Sharma family unit by adding on to Kate's eldest daughter burden to be a surrogate mom to Eddie. I am once again asking what the fuck was wrong with her storms and parent deaths being her trauma?? But nooo, Kate had to become the head of the household as if Mary isn't right there!!

Anyways I digress, and as a blanket statement I need people to know for this next section, I'm drawing from my own experience as a parentified eldest Indian daughter and so if you had a different experience as the eldest Indian daughter feel free to add on!! I just want yall to know I'm NOT speaking for ALL eldest Indian daughters.

Okay so basically Indian eldest daughters are way more parentified than Anthony ever was (not to compare but the shit we went through is so much more intense than Ant's story because mans was never whacked by Violet when he messed up) because in some cases like mine, our parents are always working and we'd end up babysitting and spending most of our time with our younger siblings more than our actual parents do. So automatically and unconsciously we end up parenting and raising our siblings. This shit starts young too, it didn't matter we had a helper to help with chores as a kid because she was helping keep the house clean while I had to mind my brothers.

It's just such a heavy burden to bear. And I would say for Kate its even heavier because she had to self-teach or at least sneak into the royal family classrooms to learn about all the things she taught Edwina. Even if she didn't teach Eddie all the 5 languages she speaks, she had to find a way to get Eddie those language books and practice with her - so on top of teaching herself all of these skills to depart to Eddie eventually to train to be the perfect debutante. On top of all of this - god knows where Show!Mary was - she had to raise Edwina because it is implied that like Violet, Mary was grieving and absent. WHICH IS THE WORST COS KATE HAD TO PUT ASIDE HER GRIEF AND MOVE ONTO MAKE SURE EDDIE WAS THE BEST and of good marriageable standards for the Marriage Mart.

Katharine Sharma (no I refuse to use her show government name - it's not real and it shows the writers didn't put an ounce of research into it) had roles upon roles and duties stack upon her (yes most of it she took upon herself but that's not the point I'm trying to make rn) with no one to share the burden with and she never really seemed to have grieved her father properly. She seemed like the type who threw herself into helping and raising Edwina instead of taking the time to grieve with Mary.

I don't know who needs to hear this, so due to all of this, OF COURSE she's not "gentle", she's traumatised and mentally ill! And this asshole who is not in love with her sister - who wants a love match - is trying to marry her, duh she's gonna be mean to him and protective over Eddie. People who criticise and villianised Kate for not fitting into their pliable white self-insert image of themselves, can fuck right off!! She is not responsible for the version of Kate you had in your head. She is her own person and very much Indian and this is gonna be hard for some of yall to hear but she's not for you and doesn't always need to be relatable to you.

That being said if you do see yourself in Kate, I love that for you!! But those of you who complain she's not nice or 'Kate from the books' anymore, of course she's not Kate Sheffield, she's Kate Sharma now and I still love her. I'm sorry you don't love both versions, it must be a sad existence not liking the new and amazing Kate Sharma that Simone Ashley brought to life.

Anyways, if yall read til the end, thank you so much for reading and @minim236 babes thanks for sending this ask!! Sorry I went off for a bit ahahah I just needed people to know this blog will not tolerate any Kate hate or slander.

[phoenixyfriend]

Anakin and the Jedi Babies: Where There’s a Whill, There’s a Windu

Context: original post, chrono

(Summary of the AU: Disaster lineage got tossed back in time. Anakin stayed 21-ish, but Obi-Wan and Ahsoka got deaged, took new names for time-travel reasons (Ylliben and Sokanth, or Ben and Soka) and have been officially adopted by Anakin.)

----------------------

“You’re attached.”

“You’re just now noticing?”

Master Windu eyes him for a few long moments, and then joins him on the ground. Anakin can’t help but smirk. There’s something gratifying about having respect from the man, in this life.

“The other members of the council are concerned.”

“And you aren’t?”

“I am, but for other reasons,” Windu says.

Anakin doesn’t meet his eyes, doesn’t even respond for a long minute. He just looks out over the Room of a Thousand Fountains, spread out below them like hundreds of jungles pieced together in a jigsaw of flora. It’s been his favorite room in the Temple since he was a child, and it’s always overwhelming.

“Most of them have accepted that you adopted them because of Mandalorian customs, and that you stayed where you were due to the will of the Force,” Windu continues. “But they are… uncomfortable with how blatantly your attachments show.”

“Mandalorians are loud and refuse shame. It rubbed off.”

“You said you would kill for these children.”

“I’m their father. That’s kind of expected.”

Windu’s expression is tired. A little tired of stress, but mostly tired of Anakin’s shit. “You know what I’m trying to get at.”

“Do I?”

“Skywalker.”

“No, I’m serious. I need you to spell this out. I’ve had a million slightly-contradicting lectures on this topic, and I’ve been told pretty clearly that I misinterpreted a solid half of them. If you want a constructive conversation, you can’t be vague. I’m thirty-three years old and a father of two, Master Windu, so yes, I’m attached. What you mean by that word is going to change where this conversation goes.”

It’s gratifying to see the Master actually think it over.

“Ylliben’s tattoos have been causing the most recent stir,” Windu finally says. “They nearly all relate to family, whether new or old, and the symbolism is concerning to those who are already upset about the Mandalorian upbringing. They worry that he’ll remain too tied to people he grew up with, and unable to maintain neutrality in future diplomatic ventures, or at risk of a fall if one of the people he’s seen fit to memorialize is injured or killed. The assume a similar state of mind may be applicable to your daughter and yourself, especially given the off-color jokes about how possessive your children are about each other.”

“They’re worried about emotional immaturity,” Anakin summarizes. He offers a wan, unimpressed grin. “They do realize he’s fourteen, right? Nobody’s emotionally stable at fourteen. The hormones are out of whack.”

“I’m aware,” Windu grinds out. “And I’m aware that your histories, of war and all such things, make your ties much stronger, but you can see why the Council worries, especially those who are wary of the memories your children carry but won’t explain. I’m the only one you’ve told, Skywalker.”

“Plo and Depa know.”

“Plo and Depa aren’t on the council.”

“Yet.”

“Skywalker.”

He relents. “It’s not about Mandalore, Master Windu. It’s about Tatooine.”

Windu lets that sit for a few moments, and then sighs. “I don’t know enough about Tatooine to parse that.”

“Shmi and I are former slaves,” Anakin says, as bluntly as he can. “I was freed at nine, she at eleven, and for all that we are free, we’re not freeborn. We were born slaves, and raised slaves, and we were freed too late to forget that life. The way we think is always going to be affected by the way we grew up. That applies to all sentients, more or less, but it’s… the slave mentality is completely at odds with Jedi teachings, because Jedi teachings can only be taught in a safe environment.”

Windu nods slowly, and says, “That does make sense, but it’s… forgive me, but that’s why we don’t normally take children older than four.”

“From the perspective of teaching cultural values, that makes sense,” Anakin allows. “Teaching a Jedi child that’s cared for with communal resources that they do not need material things to be happy is fine; trying to convince a slave child of the same, someone who grew up being told they do not deserve material things, and that their owner can take anything at any time, including family? I lived that life, trying to adjust to ascetic Jedi values that coincided poorly with slave rules. I know exactly how poorly that transition can go when the person caring for the child doesn’t know how to handle the points of conflict.”

“Do you regret joining the Jedi?” Windu asks.

Anakin shakes his head. “My Jedi master, bless him, cared, and tried very hard, but he wasn’t ready to handle a kid like me and in hindsight, I know that. He needed grief counseling, and I needed therapy, and neither of us was getting it. I don’t… I don’t believe anyone in the Temple would have known how to handle a kid like me.”

“But you don’t regret it.”

“I was meant to be a Jedi,” Anakin says, as firmly as he can without getting unnecessarily bitchy about it. “My struggles with the Code aside, I was meant to be here. But the Temple doesn’t have any resources for children who come older, and I think… I think you do need that.”

“You just outlined why a child can’t follow the Code if they come from a different enough background,” Windu says.

Anakin shakes his head. “No, that’s not—I think a kid like me can learn to be a Jedi, if a little unconventional, if they’re taught correctly. The desperation to cling to anyone and anything you have can be unlearned. It takes time and effort, but it’s possible. Soka and Ben are good at balancing Tatooine care with Jedi control. If you talk to Ben, you get an entire philosophical breakdown about it, but I’m more concerned with the child psychology, because that’s what could have broken me.”

Windu frowns. “You’re building up to something.”

“I think the Jedi need programs for children found older who can’t become full Jedi,” Anakin asserts. “Even those who cannot reconcile what they absorbed growing up with the Code and Jedi tradition… they, we, need guidance. The Council tried to reject me for being too old, and now that I’m grown I understand why, but… Master Windu, what do you think would have happened to me if I hadn’t had my Master to fight for me, and had been turned away?”

“We’d have looked into placing you back with your mother and, upon finding out that she was still enslaved, secured her freedom,” Master Windu says. “Qui-Gon Jinn had taken responsibility for you, and thus you were a ward of the Temple until such a time as you were safe again. It would have been cruel to keep you from your mother if we were not to raise you a Jedi, and crueler still to allow you to return to slavery.”

“And you think I’d have been safe with her?” Anakin asks. He needs Master Windu to understand this. “You think that would have ended well?”

“You don’t?”

“Ventress,” Anakin says. “Maul. Aurra Sing, even.”

Windu considers that. He looks across the grand, green room of the garden, and finally speaks. “You think you’d have been found and corrupted by a Sith.”

“I’d already helped Naboo win a battle. I was a powerful child with no support system in this respect, eager to please,” Anakin says. “Ventress and Maul both got twisted into Sith Apprentices. Aurra Sing was just a bounty hunter, but… even if the Jedi had never found me, and the Sith remained unaware, do you think I’d have ended up better than Sing? Or would the pressures of slavery have led to my Fall anyway, eventually slaughtering my owner, the Hutts, the entire system of Tatooine’s hells?”

Windu rubs a hand over his forehead. “I understand what you’re getting at.”

“It’s not just me,” Anakin says, as carefully as he can. “Even without the Sith, there are plenty of Force-Sensitive children in terrible situations that are liable to Fall just because of how power is wielded by those at the bottom. Refusing to take on students who are already at risk… the Jedi are meant to monitor Force users to prevent Sith and other dark-aligned people from harming the galaxy. It’s one of our primary duties. If the Jedi are allowing darksiders to rise just because of an age limit…”

“I get it,” Windu says, just a little aggressive. “I understand. Give me a minute.”

Anakin tries to wait. He’s older now, he can do that. He can be patient.

He tries to convince himself that it’s true.

“You have a point,” Master Windu finally allows. “And with the knowledge that the Sith are out there, still, it’s a more salient point than most would think. The EduCorps already has a subdivision for teaching meditative techniques to low-level force users who need to learn shielding but aren’t sensitive enough to be Jedi, or are just too old, but I see your point about encouraging a program for powerful Force-Sensitives that aren’t discovered early enough to integrate into the community in full.”

“And a more comprehensive Search pattern for the Outer Rim?” Anakin suggests. He shrugs at the look he gets. “What? You’ve seen my midicount. I was on Tatooine for almost a decade, and the only reason anyone found me was that Qui-Gon had to crash a ship in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure the Force led him to me, given all the coincidences, but that’s still a solid nine years that nobody did, despite how I apparently ‘shine like the sun’ or whatever.”

“Humble.”

“The last time I took a midichlorian test on a portable counter, it literally broke the device. That’s not arrogance, that’s just absurd.”

Windu looks exhausted by the comment. Anakin can’t bring himself to feel too bad about it.

“What about Jedha?” Anakin suggests instead. “Jedi find the kids, but if they’re too old to be Jedi, we could coordinate with one of the temples at Jedha to see about having them raised in the traditions of the Whills? They’re a little less orthodox, aren’t they?”

“In some respects,” Master Windu says. “More constrained in others, but… it’s a possibility. Most of the overlooked children, yourself included, are from parts of the Outer Rim that aren’t part of the Republic, Skywalker.”

Anakin shrugs. “And many of them would have been happy to be found and collected by a Jedi, even if they couldn’t become Jedi. Not the Dathomiri, since they’ve got their own thing going on, but… from what I know about Ventress, she actually did have a Jedi Master before the situation on Rattatak became… what’s the word… untenable? He died and she was left alone, and she’d been a slave already and it just… did not end well for her. But that was a planet overrun by pirates and warlords, and would have been approved as a planet the Jedi could help without it being a weird colonialism thing… if the Senate weren’t made up of cheapskates, at least.”

“Skywalker.”

“My name isn’t actually a reprimand, you know.”

“You’re not supposed to just say that,” Windu groans, running a hand over his face. “The Senate’s choice in funding is not optimal, but insulting them in that way, even in private—”

“They’re assholes,” Anakin says, and doesn’t let his humor show. “Except my late wife, but she’s not part of the Senate in this time, so I feel no shame in accusing the entire shitshow of being cheapskates.”

Windu looks about ready to push him off the ledge.

“You’re never allowed to go on diplomatic missions, are you?” Windu mutters.

“Unless it’s to Mandalore,” Anakin clarifies. “Also, never send me to Tatooine. Ever. Please. I kriffing hate that planet.”

“I’m going to assume you have plans to kill a Hutt if we ever send you to—”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” Windu sighs. “I’ll discuss this with the Council, see how they feel about reaching out to Jedha for your suggestion regarding the Whills.”

“And you’ll tell them not to worry about my kids?”

“Skywalker, they are never going to stop worrying about your family,” Windu tells him.

“That’s fair.”

[scarlettriot]

For All The Uterus Owners

What the MHA boys do to make you feel better during that time of the month when you are in absolute PAIN!

Warning: 18+ content below the cut. Mentions of sexy times. And period things, obviously. Mild cursing. 18 and under DNI

A/N: Yes, I am projecting. No, I don't care a single bit.

Midoriya

. This man knows your cycle better than you do!

. It might seem annoying but Midoriya just uses all the knowledge he's gathered to make it this time as comfortable as it possibly can be.

. During the days leading up to your period, he will stock up on all your favorite snacks, make sure the heating pad is easily accessible and he buys pain meds in bulk!

. Throughout your period, Midoriya will do little things to make your day easier.

. He'll always make sure you have a glass of water because hydration is important.

. He will throw your towel in the dryer while you shower so it's warm when you're done.

. Absent minded massages for your shoulders, feet, legs, chest. Things like that.

. "I just want you to be as comfortable as you can, doll."

. He knows when your worst days are and will do whatever he can to make them less painful. If you're irritable and want him to fuck off, he will. If you want cuddled until you're sick of him, he'll do that too!

. Hero work will come up but he does his best to check in with you in case you need him to bring anything home.

. The one thing he hasn't ever been too comfortable with is sex during this time. He's tried, poor man really has but he just cannot.

. But, he knows how much it can help SO! Whatever toys you want, he'll get them. You want dirty talk or phone sex, he'll be at the top of his game! Anything to help you, during this time, he doesn't give a single crap about his own pleasure.

. He will pounce on you the moment it's over though and I hope you didn't plan on walking anywhere in the days that follow.

Bakugo

. He might seem like he doesn't pay attention to these things but the man knows.

. He doesn't think about picking up pain meds or putting new batteries in the heating pad but without fail, you can find your favorite snack well stocked just before you're due to start.

. It might have taken him some getting used to but Bakugo has come to the decision (begrudgingly) that while you're on your period YOU are the one who gets to be full of sass and attitude.

. He does try his best to temper his anger around you during this time. He has his slip-ups but he's trying to not make you more irritable than you already are.

. That doesn't mean he lets you get away with shit though.

. You're still drinking that water he's brought you.

. You have to eat something other than sweats and salty treats.

. You're also are not allowed to miss that meeting for work.

. If you're cuddling, he will pop off tiny little explosions to heat his palms and rest them over your lower abdomen, your back, or your chest. Whatever is aching.

. If you suggest a little sexy time might help relieve a certain ache he'll be more than happy to aid you. But, HE will only suggest it if you're being particularly sassy, complaining too much.

. "Cramps bothering you? Bet I can make you forget about 'em."

. Bakugo will take it as a personal challenge to make you forget about the pain your damn uterus is causing you. The only one allowed to make you feel sore is him, damn it!

Todoroki

. This poor guy...

. Todoroki obviously knew what periods were, he has a sister but he didn't KNOW about them until he lived in the dorms of UA. (I headcanon that Ochaco had very, very bad cramps one day and missed training and when he asked Midoriya why she didn't go to Recovery Girl to fix it they decided it was time for an educational meeting).

. They're still a mystery to him for the most part. He knows they hurt you, make you double over in pain sometimes and it's not the kind of pain that can be healed through a quirk.

. He knows you like certain foods and that snuggling against his warm side makes you feel better.

. With his father's credit card, he will buy you whatever food you like. Tell you to book a day at the spa or whatever it is that will make you feel better.

. He's shocked you don't usually accept his offer and would rather just stay in, cuddling against him instead. Not that he minds after a long day of hero work.

. Todoroki will regulate his heat until you are comfortable, you practically pulling his leg across you and using him as your personal heating pad.

. "This can't be comfortable for you. Please, let me just get you something that's meant to help you."

. He has a hard time understanding that he is your favorite and that this actually is comfortable.

. You'll have to explain to him there are other things only he could do to help you too...you'll really have to explain it to him too.

. He's willing to give you what you need though as long as it gets rid of some of your pain.

. He is going to suggest doing it in the shower though, hoping to avoid making too much of a mess.

Kaminari

. Yeah, I think Kaminari is too scatterbrained to actually remember when your time of the month is. He picks up on the subtle changes in your mood quickly though when it's coming.

. When he does realize though, he's at the store that very day throwing literally EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in the cart that even has the possibility of making you feel better.

. From food to medication, to stuffed animals, to video games, to board games... it's all going in the cart.

. This is how you ended up with the life-sized teddy bear that now sits in the corner of your room...

. Take-out happens every single night. He'd try and cook if you asked him but you know that's probably safer to just let him be generous and order in.

. Big time promoter of snuggles!

. Big time promoter of period sex!

. "It helps! Or, that's what I've been told... I'm just sayin' we could give it a shot!"

. And it did help. Because of that, it is now one of the first things he suggests doing when you are even just a smidge irritable.

. You can chuck the life-sized bear at him. He won't take it personally.

. It might come off as annoying but, he does everything he can to get you feeling wonderful again. Expending all his efforts on you. Doing everything he can to be a buzzy distraction and get you to smile.

Kirishima

. Not nearly as detailed as Midoriya is but also not as aloof as Bakugo. Kirishima cares about you and your health and he sure as hell isn't afraid to show it.

. He'll take a peak where he knows you store your feminine products a few days before you're due to start and then go out to the store to pick up anything you might be running low on. You seriously haven't had to buy anything for yourself. He learned after like two months of dating.

. While there, he will also make sure you have plenty of snacks as well as actual food for meals because keeping your energy up is just as important as making sure you're comfortable.

. When he isn't off being the sturdy hero he is, he's your comfort hero at home.

. Wrapping you both up in the heated blanket, he has to stick a leg out so he doesn't overheat but he'll be damned if he gives up cuddles just because he's a little warm.

. During this time, Kirishima will do everything he can to make sure you aren't lifting a finger! He's had cramps before, in his legs and arms from working out and his several growth spurts, he can't imagine how you deal with them month after month!

. He'll offer to do just about anything for you normally but that goes double when it's your time of the month.

. Massages are his favorite way to help you though. They usually always turn into something more not that either of you complains.

. He will let you take the lead every single time.

. "Just tell me what I can do to help. Whatever you need, pebble, just tell me."

. That statement is always said multiple times over the course of your period but with different contexts.

. Going to the store, running you a bath, getting medicine from the pantry, dicking you down until you're speechless... you know, whatever you need.

[yoisakanade]

i do have like one thought on the controversial talk between shingo + kensuke vs mami and her friends because as someone who has experienced this exact situation + coming from a conservative asian society, this part hit too close to home.

so when i was in tenth grade, i had this younger cishet friend (around eighth grade) who openly admitted that she can’t understand why being gay is okay and that men should be for women and all that talk. and for context, our friend group is full of gay people with this particular friend being the only token cishet. so for the seven of us who were gay (note that one of the people who got roped into this conversation was an lgbt sixth grader so yeah it was THAT messy), of course that shit hurt. and it spawned into talks that mirrored what happened between shingo + kensuke vs mami and co. (except no trauma dumping actually happened; it was just that this friend was unfortunately raised in a very conservative, religious, and homophobic household). the talk took almost two hours (we had different dismissal times on that day so i was only able to get into the conversation an hour later). by the end of it however, the friend completely shut us down and said that she just couldn’t understand and that “it was a difference in mindset so you should respect it”. and seeing that we can’t deliver our thoughts as part of the lgbtq community, we left it at that

this entire talk reminded me of that event for two major reasons:

1. the fact that what my cishet friend said mirrored so much of what shingo and kensuke said. she was too absorbed into the idea that homophobia is correct (kensuke) and was too detached from the reality around her to really look into what exactly is wrong with it (shingo); and

2. being in the position mami’s friends were in once upon a time, i...get it. and them exiting the room, being unable to convince shingo and kensuke that homophobia is bad, is literally realistic to not just the fact that the homophobic mindset cannot be eradicated overnight in just a single chapter because there were multiple books of that person’s life that have led them to that mindset but also as teenagers with immature mindsets during that time, did we really have the wisdom and mindset to enter into such a heavy dialogue with someone’s who just as immature as us, let alone convince them in one night that what they’re thinking of is wrong?

and i think that’s exactly the point of the chapter. while kensuke’s trauma is not an excuse to be homophobic (and if it were me now, i would’ve socked this person hard) and that he really needed a reality check, i don’t think that part was meant to have any persuasive agency in how we are to think of homophobia (i think the persuasive agency lies in the latter chapters, in the brave decision to make taichi get together with touma offscreen). it just shows that much as we (specifically referring to the mami and co side in both of these stories) have good intentions and we understand why this and that is wrong, the fact of the matter is that they were teenagers. and we were teenagers. we’re byproducts of the differing environments that we are forced into without having realised fully that this is the effect they’ve had on us. so rather than persuasion, it shows immaturity + lack of understanding on the world around us and how it plays out when they tackle into conversations that they haven’t fully understood especially. sure, girls can like girls and boys can like boys. but what made mami and co (and us gay people in that friend group) falter and almost unable to deliver their point is that they looked at their reasons for being against homophobia as just that and never delved into a middle ground that could be understood by shingo and kensuke. (this can also be explained by the fact that, in their case, mami and co are presumably written to be cishet which can bring up the idea of privilege and issues that have never affected them personally. but again, what i want to focus here is how teenage immaturity is such a bastard when we talk about heavy issues like homophobia). the lack of it, combined with their immaturity, makes their walking out a realistic response, because generally teenagers do not have the patience to walk through someone’s bigotry as compared to an understanding adult who would look at the situation from a bigger picture.

and even if they did find a middle ground though, shingo’s and kensuke’s mindsets will not change overnight because they, too, are byproducts of their own respective environments with differing unfleshed but solid (and immature) views on things. in kensuke’s case, it’s driven by his feelings towards the social construct and his trauma. in shingo’s case, it’s driven by his total detachment or ignorance of the issue which is why he acted like that. it takes years for people to finally get out of agreeing with homophobia in a way that makes sense for them. even if mami and co did a good job at explaining it, they were going to lose anyways because they were attacking from an end that shook shingo’s and kensuke’s beliefs. again, it goes back to immaturity and their lack of understanding of the world. maybe in time, shingo and kensuke will understand why homophobia is wrong and they will regret their actions. but during that particular timeframe when the idea that homophobia is wrong is something new to them, the way they reacted is understandable (but still not excusable). and the way mami and co acted is understandable but still, at the end of the day, coming from the teenage motivation of expecting someone to change overnight the moment they see that someone is wrong. (and yes, this is a reality that happens in conservative asian societies, one that is less talked about in fear that we’ll get trapped into That conversation again + it hurts all of us who are lgbt living in that society)

personally, i still think this scene could’ve been executed or written way better (or just...could’ve not been written at all ffs). but i think undermining the importance of that part is leaving out a huge point about how growing up while taking these issues into account AND mingling with people who have differing mindsets on top of that at the same time is a huge struggle in itself. i don’t think it’s meant to be written as a persuasive agent. it’s just meant to show you that this is how it is in reality. and us lgbt people especially in societies like the one in anf, unfortunately, have to suck it up and deal with it

[familyagrestefanblog]

Analysis of the Family Agreste Portrait

Quarantine strikes again and since the Agreste family portrait has fascinated me for a loooong while now I decided to put my thoughts into words and write another essay x3

The amount of informations we get out if it is amazing and its not only highlighting the absolute TRAGEDY it is that this family is about to face such a horrible fall out, it also hints at the former family dynamic before everything went to hell.

So make yourself comfortable and get something to drink, because we will be here for a while.

Here we go: My analysis of this beauty of a fictional portrait

Let's start with the most obvious one: Hawkmoth.

Its commen knowledge by now that the background makes it seem like Hawkmoth is standing behind the Agreste family like a bad omen waiting for fate to take its course and cause their doom. The portrait is brilliantly designed so the illusion is created that Gabriels body (here in a blue suit closer to Hawkmoths normals dark purple one) overlaps with Hawkmoths and a darker line is connecting the two faces as well, which rest on the same height right beside each other. The very same line grows bigger as it goes further behind Emilie - coloring her entire background - showing us that EMILIE is all Gabriel sees when he becomes Hawkmoth. But notice that Adrien on the other hand can hardly be concidered part of Gabriels “sight” at all.

Its forshadowing 101 and damn beautiful if I may say so. But this isnt what I want to focus on in this post.

I want to elaborate on two other key factors that tell us about the former dynamic of the Agrestes instead and what they tell us about the present and future.

The heart:

This is hitting me on another level because look at the heart these three form with Adrien right in the middle! He was so LOVED. This family may have never been anywhere close to ideal but still, there was LOVE and now he's gonna loose it all.

Adrien already lost his mother which led to his father getting even more distant and cold and now his father is becoming increasingly more abusive as he falls deeper and deeper into villainy. Gabriel was never a good father, the show has already made this clear with episodes like "the bubbler", “the collector” or "Gigantitan" for example but gosh there was hope for their little family! The end scene in "Jackady" portrayed it perfectly and I wrote a whole other post just covering the sigificants of Adriens and Gabriels hug in that episode. Check it out here if you want, it goes hand in hand with this one.

Miraculous is all about love and the completely different ways it can affect us, our behavior and actions. Because love isnt just wonderful, pure and empowering, it also can be twisted, destructive and cause the darkst nightmares. And with this family the writers know how to portray the complex love in an abusive houshold thats destined to go up in flames and they also know how to hint at their troubled past with the family portrait.

But this heart visual tells us even more in connection with the positions of their hands. And with these two key factors, lets start with Gabriel:

His hands convey it so strongly. He loves/d Emilie and Adrien so much and no doubt this love for them was certainly the reason why he started his quest as Hawkmoth. But he is now losing himself more and more in the pleasure of his villainy to the point where he forgets why he's doing it in the first place and becomes a complete monster (of a father). But this turn and spiraling into villainy didn't came out of nowhere - this root already had to be in him to grow like that. And this is also something the portrait indeed hints at as well.

Because Gabriel is the only one of the three who:

1. We see so completely open and without hesitation reach out and hold BOTH his family members.

2. Is visually “cut off” from them as well.

But this doesn't mean he was excluded and the only one who truly cared and loved, it just shows that things were more... complicated...as usual.

This is best explained with Adriens hand placements:

One hand is holding his mothers but the other one is visibly not reaching out for his father. But as we all know, that's not because Adrien doesn't love him. In season 1-3 it is made more than clear that Adrien does not hate his father - he loves him alot and tries to be there for him and be patient because he knows that the loss of his mother brought his father terribly down.

Sure, Adrien gets frustrated and angry with him, literally how could he not?? But Adrien tries his best to reach out to Gabriel so they can bond and come out of this tragedy stronger.

But this loving willingness to forgive his father for the chance of growing a father-son bond with him doesn't change the fact that these two didn't had a bond prior to this. And let's be honest here, does anybody actually think this distance between them was caused by Adrien? I don't think so.

So notice how Adriens hand - not reaching out for his fathers - is the only one in the portrait NOT inside or forming the heart.

When the connection of the hands between the family members symbolise their connection to another, then Adrien keeping the hand for his father away from the display of love is VERY telling. It tells us very directly what this distance did to Adriens side of the relationship. Despite Gabriels hand being right there, Adrien does not meet the gesture. And I cannot believe that he did it out of resentment, nothing in the show indicated such strong negative emotions from past Adrien.

It's much more likely that Adrien not reaching for his fathers hand is meant to show us that Adrien felt that he either CAN'T return the gesture because he fears that it'll end in an unpleasant reaction from Gabriel - that it isn't Adriens "place" to reach out to his busy and distant father like that, like it's demanding something - or Adrien simply didn't took Gabriel laying his hand on his shoulder, in the context of posing for a portrait, as a gesture of love and affection.

The way I interpret the portrait is that prior to Emilies dissappearence Adrien did not exactly try to reach out to his father the same way he did from s1-s3, which, I mean, of course wasn't the case. Not only is it NOT the 13 years olds (or younger) job to form an emotional connection to their absent parent - when that’s the PARENTS job - it also wouldn't be necessarily "needed" for Adrien to do so.

Because Emilie at this point was still in the picture so and she was the complete opposite. She was a (or maybe the ONLY) safe, reliable and loving constant of parental attention, affection and care in his life and because of these two HARSH contrasts Adrien learned from very early on to focus mostly completely on her in that regard while kinda blocking his father out.

That most likely wasn't even an active choice whatsoever - Gabriel proofed to be an unreliable resource so Adrien learned to subconciously treat him that way out of self protection. That doesn't mean he had any kind of dislike or malice against his father it just means that he wasn't able or allowed to connect with Gabriel the way he needed. Several episodes show that Gabriel deadass only parented like 15 minutes tops in his life with one of the worst offenders kinda being “Gigantitan” ngl.

So yeah, when I see that the portrait wants to tell me that prior to Emilies loss, Adrien - a 12-13 year old at most - is THIS used to rely solely on the strong bond he has with his mother and not even really reaching out for his fathers love, then I can't help but interpret it in the way that... Well... Gabriel was so distant and emotionally unreliable to Adrien for all his life, that Gabriel simply... wasn't needed by his son. Not at that point of time at least.

And while this may seem weird, because obviously Adrien only now starts to stop craving for his fathers affection and approval (which is btw a horrible, HORRIBLE thing and not something good. A half orphan losing the last remaining hope he had left of having the chance to finally get to form a bond with the only other parent he has left, just to be crushed by disappointment and abandonment all over again until he let's go, is REALLY NOT as much of a good thing people will make it out to be. This is... plain awful) it's actually quite logical.

Adriens hand outside the heart doesn't mean that his father meant nothing to him and therefore refuses to meet and accept his affection (that's literally the complete opposite of what the show shows us), it means that Adriens and Gabriels father-son relationship suffers from a fatal emotional disconnection caused by miscommunication/ a lack of communication.

And this was caused by Gabriel. How? Let me elaborate on that by going a bit far afield (cuz lbh we all have time for this. I’m writing this in quarantine and youre reading this is quarantine, so lets gooooooooooooo).

In "The bubbler" Adrien says that his father "always forgot his birthday", but I cannot agree with this in true honesty. Gabriel is controlling his sons entire life, calls him "the epitome of perfection" and temporarily truly gave up being Hawkmoth for him, he definitely never forgot Adriens birthday.

"The bubbler" even SHOWS us that Adriens perspective of the situation is actually not the truth:

This is Adriens first birthday after Emilies dissappearence and it's incredibly telling how Gabriel handles the planning.

What this entire little sequence tells me is that Gabriel is completely and UTTERLY used to NOT be the one to take care of anything related to Adriens birthday. So Emilie was always the one who did it but somehow - now without her - Gabriel apparently still hasn't even considered changing anything about that nasty non-involvement and just expected Natalie to pick everything up where Emilie left it.

Because let's be real here, knowing Natalie she would NOT have forgotten to get a present if Gabriel truly had told her to. Natalie is never presented to do mistakes like that but Gabriel on the other hand IS definitely presented to us claiming things about himself as ultimate, blameless and true when they simply do not reflect reality. A great example: Gorizilla

You didn’t even speared a minutes of your time for Adrien and he DID try to! Asshat… It's a problem guys. The lack of self awareness Gabriel displays in moments like this is legitimately concerning when you think about how deeply this man is falling right now.

But back to the topic:

Because even if Gabriel didn't even consider doing anything himself for Adriens birthday - not even taking the time to SEE his son (who just recently lost his mother, come on Gabe, really?) - one thing one cannot hold against him: he sure as hell remembered Adriens birthday like any decent parent would and it wasnt portrayed as a this-year-for-the-first-time thing.

And yet Adriens statement still makes complete sense. Because a big, BIG problem with Gabriel is just how much he takes things for granted. He EXPECTS things to be universally known and to never be doubted, just because that's how HE sees them. I will write 10 essays if it's needed to make people understand that Gabriel DOES truly love Adrien, it's just that Gabriel HIMSELF is such a rotten, twisted and toxic person that he cannot see how much his (oppressing) behavior and the way he (doesn't) express his love hurts Adrien and that HE is the one at fault. (for more, once again, read this)

Gabriel LOVES Adrien but he takes the love he feels as such a matter-of-fact that he just completely... forgets to show it.

And when we take Adriens words and look at the Family portrait it unfortunately seems that...

…. Gabriel ALWAYS forgot to show it.

Adriens hand - that should at least be reaching out to his father - is outside of the heart in accepting certainty. Because that's what Gabriels non-presence was for Adrien while growing up: an unreliable and unreachable certainty he had to accept early on as safer to not try to emotionally depend on too much or else he will get hurt.

So yeah, Adrien is the one in the portrait who is very openly not reaching out but only because Gabriel never gave him the needed affection and stability to be able to create that bond.

But let me correct what I said a little earlier: Adrien ALWAYS needed his father. Every kid, especially one in a bad situation like Adrien, does need their parents/friends etc as support system to become independent and confident in a healthy way. And if they don’t have that they WILL crave and look for it!

What Adrien has been doing up to now IS normal for a teenager - humans NEED affection, belonging and safety. What ISNT/SHOULDN’T be normal is Adriens disconnection towards his father in the portrait and just how much Gabriel fails to take care and BE THERE for his son in BOTH TIMES!

Collector:

Bother Christmas:

One thing I like about the show is that it portrays their young main cast with one very important truth: The psyche of a child/teenager of their age will react and adapt so it SURVIVES, even if it results in unfortunate consequences in other relationships and places. Thats the psyches main concern and it'll try to cope with the limited experience and development it has in whatever way necessary to get itself to the next day. A coping mechanism is not there to make you a better person, it ensures your SURVIVAL, everything else is a secondary concern.

So seeing pre-show Adrien not react to Gabriels touch and even feel completely unloved and disconnected from him is no surprise to me. Kids are incredibly observant. They may lack the needed experience and knowledge to truly understand that they deserve better and to stand up for themselves but they are masters in picking up red flags in people and can put this danger into perspective while comparing the different danger levels of their options of people and places to adjust their behavior.

Feast:

Stormy Weather 2:

So the broken connection between father and son we see in the portrait (that Gabriel doesn't even notice but Adrien fully internalized) isn’t there because Adrien “didnt needed” or wanted his father, its because Adrien NEEDED Gabriel so much in his isolated upbringing but Gabriel didn’t LET him need him - so Adrien had to adjust to that accordingly. Big, huge, ENORMOUS difference.

Honestly the most miraculous thing about Miraculous is that Adrien was able to bring up the strength to stay positive and friendly and to forgive Gabriel in hope for a better future. That boys situation is 7 kinds of depressing and traumatizing...

It's just flabbergasting to me how well this portrait shows how basically non-existent their relationship was at that point. And it's horrible to know that this estranged and unformed bond is all Adrien had left after Emilie dissappeared, just alot worse because after Emilie incident Adrien states that his father changed alot for the worse as well.

So to think that all Adrien had left wasn't even this former basically non-existent relationship with his aloof father - who would only barely show his true affection for his son because he's either not around enough to do so or he thinks it "unnecessary to proof his affection" for/to Adrien because he already thinks it so obvious and undoubtable.

Well he thought wrong. And GOSH, it breaks my heart!

So now comparing the "Gabriel" hand from Adrien with the one representing his connections with his mother conveys a pretty harsh contrast.

Because last but not least, let's take a look at Emilies hand placements:

But here is now an interesting difference to Adrien. Whereas we openly see that Adriens side of the Adrien-Gabriel relationship is completely disconnected from the heart/love - showcasing just how badly Adrien has always been neglected by his father - we don't see Emilies hand in her Emilie-Gabriel relationship AT ALL.

Once again just like with Adrien, this doesn't mean she didn't love her husband and that Gabriel was used and fooled by the woman he so utterly adored. It just means that from Emilies point of view things were a bit more complicated. What exactly this is, the portrait is keeping secret from us. We have no way of knowing if and how Emilie is returning her husbands gesture. All we can say is that if she does she is definitely not doing it in such an open and unconflicted way as she does with Adrien.

But since when has anything with this family been this easy?

One thing the portrait makes very clear, Adrien and Emilie had a strong and good bond. Definitely the healthiest because the Adrien-Emilie connection is the only one depicted without any kind of disruption from both sides. Both mother and son are reaching out for the other ones hand creating a whole half of the heart, showcasing their affection for another openly and without any of the implied doubts the other connections display. And honestly? Comparing all the hand placements, the one connecting Adrien and Emilie just comes across as strikingly pure and true (which makes it even worse that it was HER Adrien lost…)

As I said it's a HARSH contrast to the one Adrien shears with Gabriel. This contrast is highlighted even further by the way these three face on another.

Emilie and Adrien are positioned facing another and so are Emilie and Gabriel. Telling us that Emilie was "face-to-face" aka involved with both her husband and son. It is Adrien and Gabriel were this looks wildly different. These two have no way of seeing each other in the eyes the way they stand now/then, further displaying their deeply rooted disconnection. It's portrays perfectly how important Emilie was in this family dynamic, because even though Adrien and Gabriel bearly had a connection at all they at least had Emilie as a link between them, keeping the family together. But then they lost her and where this left both father and son off we know oh too well...

So to collect all the informations we get out if this portrait:

-Adriens and Emilies relationship was the strongest and purest. Both of their hands connect and reach out for another in the heart, showcasing that they had a loving and positive bond.

-Adriens and Gabriels relationship is heavily scarred by a deeply rooted disconnection leaving Adrien feeling unloved and unwanted by his father to the point where Adriens side of their dynamic is outside the heart altogether. Gabriel may love and adore his son just like he loves his wife and never thought he displayed his love for him in a lacking way, but fact is: this love never reached Adrien the way it should have and Adrien is the one in their dynamic who got severely hurt and damaged by it.

-Gabriel was the only one completely unconflicted and happily at peace with the former Family situation. He's reaching out to both his family members with open love and affection in blissful oblivion that neither his wife nor son could return them the same way (to different degrees for different reasons). Gabriel was the ONLY ONE in the Agreste family who didn't saw problems in their lives and thought them all happy, hence why he's so obsessed with changing the past and bringing THIS state of their family back. He was happy and he had everything he needed and loved right with him, of course he wants THIS back. He's not aware that Emilie and ESPECIALLY Adrien did not feel the same about their former situation and that bringing all of them back to this is not the perfect happy ending for their entire family as he thinks.

-Emilie may not have been as unconflicted with Gabriel as he was with her but she is NOT feeling the same disconnection her son feels and isn't depicted with negative feelings towards Gabriel. Her side in the Emilie-Gabriel relationship is neither shown outright positive as with her son or outright bad as Adrien with Gabriel. Her side of their bond is depicted through her unseen hand placement in the unknown area in between.

-Despite their not so unconflicted feelings towards Gabriel - and Gabriel himself being aloof - neither Emilie nor Adrien are actively trying to cut Gabriel out. They aren't flinching away from his touch or exclude him from the heart whatsoever. He's happily included, obviously feeling loved. They may not be 100% happy and Gabriel doesn't notice it, but they aren't denying him his happiness and make him unhappy. Again, he's the only one truly happy here. Something neither Emilie nor Adrien tried to take away from him.

-Emilie and Adrien are facing each other as do Emilie and Gabriel, implying the presence of communication and a bond. Adrien and Gabriel do not face each other, showing their disconnected bond. If they could see each others face Adrien would have been able to see that Gabriels hand is a gesture of genuine affection and Gabriel could see that Adriens expression does not exactly display pure happiness the way he thinks. This also goes for Emilie. Emilie just like her husband is placed BEHIND her son, so even if she is facing him she would not be able to really see just how much Adrien is not satisfied and truly happy with his life at that point (meaning how unhappy being looked up, friendless and at distance with his father actually makes him).

- This fascinating family makes me sad and I like it lol