#she is you. she also is not you and never will be again. retroactively you were never her

[writ-in-violant]

They call her the Tempestuous Urchin, on account of her temper, and on account of the way you find her outside when the wind picks up and the clouds roll in over the Zee to herald a storm of the Neath. Nobody knows where she came from, people say, but as ol'Slivvy grows more tired someone has to speak to Storm. A child of simmering anger and stormy eyes, she stalks the rooftops of London; if you loose Aeolian Screams or Storm-Threnodies, they say, she'll come to listen. If you're lucky, she'll sing along. If you're not lucky, and the old zee-god Storm's taken umbrage to you or you've acted against the Urchins of London...well, watch for falling objects. Like boulders, or chimneys, or stalactites. The Tempestuous Urchin prides herself on her accuracy and her tenaciousness.

Vivi Storm, Vivian Levy's sundered-away childhood made real. During Vivian's experience in the ES The Tempest (which differed from the story as written), a lightning-strike from Storm split Vivian in two, their adult half -- with all the regrets, morals, and knowledge of an adult -- remaining Vivian Levy, while their childhood -- the parts that Storm could and wanted to interact with and use -- forming another person. She goes by Vivi, or Vivi Storm, on account of the fact that your last name's usually that of one of the people that made you.

Vivian offered to let Vivi live with them, but Vivi chose instead a deeper connection to Storm, easing the burden on Ol'Slivvy but also giving her an outlet for her anger and vindictiveness. I like the idea that if you have high stormy-eyed or can pay in wild words, she's another assassin you can hire in London to take out your enemies -- but she also goes after those who hurt her people, the Urchins of the Neath. Like Slivvy, she doesn't age due to her connection to Storm; in theory, even when Vivian is long-dead, their severed childhood will haunt the rooftops of the Neath, agent of a dead god.

Vivian has grown kinder, or less prone to vicious retaliation, since Vivi left them. Separations like this are...uncertain. Vivian lost all memories of their life before ten years of age; all of the memories they had of their mother, all of the things they enjoyed, all of the things they despised. Who's to say Vivi didn't also take their anger, their desire for violent, desperate change, their petty grievances with her? Vivian's not sure. Vivi is certainly angrier than Vivian ever remembers being...but there's the problem, isn't it?

Anyway despite all that they get along great Vivi breaks into Vivian's apartment via windows and calls Vivian a nerd and Vivian makes sure she's actually like eating food and taking care of herself.

[sage-nebula]

3-5 should have ended with that incredible moment of Dahlia being exorcised from Maya's body. The fact that it drags on for so fucking long after that because Godot can't just give it up for bad-man-sad-man reasons (that the game uses Phoenix and Maya to try to convince you are so noble even though the alternative to him confessing is an indictment for Maya) drags the entire case down by a significant degree.

[jesncin]

I hope Superman fandom as a whole will one day understand that if you truly want to commit to the immigrant allegory, scenes like Lois shooting Clark with a gun or her jumping off a building to prove he's Superman pair really badly with that allegory.

I know some fans like to say "Superman was always an immigrant allegory" and while I get the sentiment of retroactively looking at how the lives of his creators inform the character they made, we also have to acknowledge that the allegory was never consistent to begin with. The original Superman comics were fun gags and shenanigans. Superman Smashes the Klan wouldn't stand out so much if his immigrant identity was consistently integral to his character.

And if you're going to commit to Superman being an immigrant, then you've got to be open to changes on staple Superman lore. So much of this fandom is dedicated to nostalgia, references, canon events, "but Lois does that in the comics! It's not Lois Lane if she doesn't do crazy things to prove who Superman is!" without considering how that is contextualized in the allegory.

I still get so many comments on my Clois comics but especially the Private Interview comic saying "I've never seen Superman this way before" from even longtime fans of the character. Honestly, I never saw him that way until I read Smashes the Klan. Since then I want people to have that recognition of themselves in him too. But that means being brave with changes! Maybe it's okay for this version of Lois to respect Superman's boundaries. Maybe an Asian Lois can be more than an aesthetic shallow retread of white Lois.

These characters are more than callbacks and references. The reason they persist throughout many versions is because they hold themes. Lois isn't just "stunt girl reporter obsessed with Superman and THE TRUTH", she's also a jaded reporter hardened by life who finds hope again in Superman. Superman isn't just "save cats from trees" guy. He's an alien immigrant, and you can make a ton of new stories from that lens alone.

[this-is-a-name-dont-worry]

things that seemed reoccurring this update:

- Meat

- peas

- jelly

- Hibernation

- Eddie's absence

- Acting out a script (Sally mumbling asking if it's her cue and Howdy changing the script of the narrator in Homewarming storybook, characters general interactions with the narrator, different moments in the video, like the Sally and Frank ad break or the song a barely silent night, where the two literally fight over who get to sing, Sally mentions she wrote the lyrics, and Frank says she already has a song. yeah all of these are easy to see as meta goofs in the original material, but it's the fact there's so much of it this update) (of course all this wrap up with the end of the video where Eddie and Frank are obviously acting off script)

- Being alone (Eddie not having any news of anyone and not even seeing anyone outside (which is interesting as the story says that Sally was up in a tree near his home and saw him fret over having nothing to do), Wally saying it's so quiet during Homewarming and it's just he and Home for a while (potentially the show putting out a christmas special and then being on break? can a show do that?), and in the normal website material, the end of "An ode to hibernation", Frank saying "Where all that's left is me", the "me" being a "...me?")

- Welcome Home being used to sell stuff (cigarettes, medicine, eggnog, cereals, and the cookbook lists ingredients that are a specific brand)

(I'm putting under read more my rambling thoughts so you can just reblog the list without having to see them)

so I can't really make sense yet of all the food stuff. Maybe there are cultural elements/expressions I don't know that explains it? But I still find it very interesting how fucking unhinged that cookbook is yet the commercial and the website treat it normally. The cookbook is overall extremely interesting, because some of the recipes seem to actually be written by the characters; Barnaby who only presents you weird hot dog dressings with pictures but no recipe (and all jokes), Frank who lists not just the ingredients but also the material, and overexplain each steps (at least overexplain compared to the other recipes. it's actually interesting to know why you do x or y), and Julie who turns her recipe into a game at the end, and felt a bit harder to follow? anyway.

The cookbook, the Homewarming tradition of hanging a ham in the tree, Santy Claus being said sometimes instead of Santa, the ham for Santa? Once again, the christmas commercials being so casual about some of the weird stuff it says and presents? This almost feels like an alien who only has a blurry grasp of Christmas and what humans enjoy made the cookbook and the live commercial.

Sometimes, Welcome Home feels like it never actually aired and produced things, but we're making it retroactively exist. Something is making it exist. Like a retcon of the universe, "What do you mean you never heard of Welcome Home? No, of course it always existed and was very popular, look at all this old material we find!"

So maybe whatever is making it exist doesn't fully get humans and accidentally creates things that are weird to prove its existence. Like a cookbook that tells you a single pea in a buttered plate is a classic meal, or that of course you give Santa ham on Homewarming! (tbh almost getting an AI weirdness feel)

But in total contrary, in its story, Welcome Home also feels like it always existed, but got somehow completely wiped from people's mind, as something caused its sudden stop, and its characters gained consciousness of what they are and their world. As an existential dread fell on them one after the other, slowly realizing something isn't right. As Eddie felt anxiety and nervousness over no one being there or contacting him, to then having the story acts lightheartedly about it, the narrator saying things have been solved but he doesn't feel it, and suddenly Home is staring at him.

Both "It never existed but the universe is being retcon into it existing" and "it existed but something terrible happened that erased it from peoples mind" seem plausible. If two theories contradict each other, that means there's a third one that needs to be found.

Maybe it existed. Maybe it truly was popular, but something corrupted it, leading to its disappearance. A disappearance so big it stopped to exist. And now the thing that corrupted it is trying to crawl back, make it exist again, but it's making it come back completely off.

Anyway.

Also, I think the show may have been on hold during the Holiday season, "hibernating", and the character who got some self awareness realized that something was off. They're alone because there's nothing new, so no one is there bringing life to the neighborhood.

[destinysbounty]

Ever since Crystalized came out, there's been this theory circulating that the reason the Overlord somehow managed to manifest crystal power seemingly out of nowhere and with no explanation (at least, none that I can find/remember), is because his fight with Zane affected his power in some way.

The main evidence for this is that:

Zane was the last person to fight the Overlord

Ice is technically a crystalline structure, depending on how it's formed, and Zane is the master of ice

When Harumi was first resurrected, she found the Overlord's spirit imbued into a purple crystal

As evidenced by past seasons, the Overlord's power seems to be influenced by his circumstances and environment in the wake of his last defeat. During Rebooted, a tech center was built over his resting place, and he ended up taking on the abilities and limitations of a computer virus. And in this case, the theory suggests that the Overlord's power was then influenced again by all the ice surrounding him as Zane destroyed both of their physical forms.

This does, to some extent, seem to fall in line with everything else we know about the Overlord. The Overlord is a being of shadow and darkness, and the shape of a shadow will always be influenced by the light around it. (And if we want to get into the theory that the Overlord was created as a result of the FSM trying to purge the oni blood from his veins, then you could even bring up the fact that the oni are shapeshifters sooo).

Now, I'll be the first to admit that this theory is ultimately pretty circumstantial, and there's nothing in canon to point to it being explicitly true. BUT, the cool thing about this theory is that it does also retroactively solve another big fandom mystery: that is, it explains how Zane survived his fight with the Overlord.

Let me explain.

When Zane came back to life after his fight with the Digital Overlord, while it was never outright explained how he did so, it was implied that he came back the same way the Overlord had: by spiritually manifesting within the systems at Borg Tower - specifically, the Digiverse. But that doesn't really answer the question, does it?

Like, the Overlord coming back as a spiritual manifestation makes sense. He's a regenerative being, an immortal abstraction of all the evil in the world. And Zane, as far as we know, is very much not that. So what could have happened to cause Zane, a nindroid, to end up being resurrected in the same way as the god of darkness? Why did he come back to life, instead of passing onto the afterlife? Even Lloyd, the special-est boy in all Ninjago, made a quick visit to the Departed Realm and only came back because the FSM said he could.

And true, it's certainly possible that Zane had a similar encounter with the FSM. Or that his power source is responsible for his resurrection, and just as we may never know how his power source works he may also never know how it brought him back to life. Those are all very possible solutions, and you're welcome to just accept those ideas and move one.

But if you're like me and you don't find those answers particularly satisfying, here's another possibility:

Just as Zane's power has influenced the Overlord, the Overlord's power has influenced Zane. In the explosion of Golden Power that caused both of them to be destroyed in unison, their souls became intertwined. So yes, Zane was meant to die. And judging by his account of the situation in Decoded, he did die. And maybe a peaceful afterlife was well within arm's reach, maybe he was just about to grab the FSM's hand...but then something pulled him back. His soul, chained to the Overlord's dark power, dragged him to the land of the living once more.

And if you really want to get into it, then you could even theorize that this connection ended up influencing Zane's power as well. During the Ice Chapter he was capable of turning people into ice samurai zombie-things kept under his control, as well as creating ice constructs like Boreal. These are not abilities that have been established in the ice power-set, nor are they logical powers for an ice elemental to have. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but the Forbidden Scroll doesn't give you new powers, it just enhances and turbo-boosts what you already have. Which is why it did nothing when Kai held it, as his power had been stolen from him at the time.

(Now before you ask why Pixal could use the Scroll despite seeminlgy not having any powers, there are very subtle implications that she had developed a very, very minor sixth sense due to her inheriting some of Zane's power. If anyone wants me to explain that in greater detail, I'd be more than happy to.)

And yes, Aspheera is also capable of creating elemental zombie/mummy things and other such constructs, but she did all that before she found the Scroll. This is a power-set she had by virtue of her being a powerful sorcerer, not something granted by wielding the Scroll.

And yet somehow, the Scroll did seem to give Zane these powers. Powers that so far have only been exhibited by two people in the series: Aspheera, and the Overlord. So if we submit to the theory that Zane and the Overlord's fight have caused their powers to mix a little, and the Scroll magnifies your power....well, it suddenly becomes very possible that the Scroll amplified some of the dark energy he inherited from the Overlord and awakened some of the Ice Emperor's more unique abilities.

And if that's true, then that really just kinda makes the whole Ice Emperor sting that much more. All of the good things Zane has done, all of his biggest sacrifices, all led to this moment. To him becoming the Ice Emperor.

I dunno. It's just something to think about.

[zoe-oneesama]

On a serious note, why do you not like Derision? I mean, I can guess why, but I’m genuinely curious to hear your thoughts (if you want to).

What have they done to my boy?!

I guess we'll start with the whole "trauma" thing since that's how the episode starts - with Marinette going on a date with Adrien at the pool but constantly getting heart palpitations at the very idea of it. And not good lovey-dovey crush ones like Sabine thinks. The Actual Panic Attack kind.

This just feels unnecessary AND too late. Unnecessary because there are plenty of pre-established reasons why Marinette could be hesitant to go all in with Adrien (Being Ladybug, the 354th other times going for Adrien has failed or left her humiliated, Being Ladybug). So I don't know why they invented a trauma for her in the final hour and didn't think it was worth talking about before now?

They really came up with this whole scheme to explain why Marinette does Marinette things, like learning Adrien's schedule, planning out everything before she tries to make a move, needing to know everything about him, as if the show hasn't been mocking her for these exact traits and allowing them to blow up in her face over and over again. But NOW it's due to her TRAUMA. So...retroactively when her friends laughed at her or slapped their foreheads in frustration or the show framed her failures as a joke...we know it's actually from a tragic place and can't laugh anymore.

I mean, I was never laughing, but you get what I mean. They framed it like it was part of the comedy and now they're pulling the rug out from under themselves. How are you supposed to laugh when Adrien brings Marinette constipation medicine, or when her pictures of him are blasted all over Paris Television, or the *ugh* Statue Scene plays out and now you know that this is just adding to her pre-existing trauma? They have shot the show's rewatch value.

I never thought Marinette needed a "reason" act the way she was because those were always just kinda The Things Teenage Girls Do when they have a crush. I've admitted in the past to learning my crush's class schedule just to orchestrate running into each other in the hallways more often, and if their crush had public interviews and magazine pictures, I'm pretty sure most kids would also cut out their pictures to keep and would read and remember the interviews. I never really saw her behavior as that weird for a girl her age with a crush and recognize some cartoon exaggeration.

...Stealing his phone was a little weird, though, I'll give them that though Alya is the one who suggested it first...

SO, we enter a long flashback to One Year Ago (with Marinette now on her third Almost-Akumatization, good lord) and learn what life was like for Marinette pre-Origins, and oh boy. It's hell. She's making up illnesses to avoid school, avoiding all contact with anyone in the courtyard, having cockroaches put in her locker, having the Principal catch her "late" for class (after she had to clean herself up from a water prank), gets yelled at by the teacher for being late, sits in paint, mocked in class and then yelled at again by the teacher for pointing out the person mocking her probably planted it, and gets Saturday detention. All in one day. And when anyone tries to talk to her or even glares at the person responsible, they get threatened too.

The main reason this is hell is because Marinette is being let down by every single adult in her life. Sabine just laughs and tells Marinette that she only has a few weeks left with Chloe and it's not like she'll be in the same class as her next year.🙃 Well, why don't you make SURE she doesn't?! Maybe this is just an American vs French school thing, but where I come from, it's totally within your rights to request that your child not be put in the same class as someone else, they could at least put in a throw away line about her parents TRYING to move her, but Chloe's not allowing it JUST to keep Marinette close to her. And maybe take this a little more seriously, Sabine- your daughter is faking illness to avoid One. Girl. That should be concerning, not "lol my daughter is so silly for trying to get out of class."

Damocles finds Marinette and yells at her for being "constantly late" and praising the "anonymous notes" (signed by Chloe -_-) for always alerting him when she's behind, and then later gives her Saturday detention for...someone clearly planting paint on her desk chair? He sees a victim of bullying and punishes her for it. At the end of the episode he even suspends Socqueline for something that happened outside of school, yet in "Jubilation" she's pumping him up as The Best Principal?! Does this show thinks we're stupid or something?!

Mendeleiev also yells at Marinette for being late. She allows Chloe to make fun of Marinette for looking depressed when she comes in and allows Chloe to mock Marinette for sitting in paint, but when Marinette doesn't even stand up for herself but just accuses Chloe of putting the paint there, THEN Mendeleiev has something to say, and it's to Marinette? For "groundlessly" accusing the only person in the room laughing at Marinette, the one who was just making fun of her, the one who kept her eyes on Marinette so she could watch her sit in the paint?

Marinette tells Socqueline that all the adults are scared of Chloe, but that's not what I saw. Sure, at the end of the episode Damocles is afraid when Chloe pulls a "Lady Wifi" to force him to punish Socqueline for smashing Sabrina's phone, but the sequence of events played out more like the adults participating in the bullying. It wasn't like Damocles was sympathetic to Marinette and then Chloe cleared her throat, so he straightened up nervously and started berating Marinette. It wasn't like Marinette accused Chloe and then Chloe glared at Mendeleiev, forcing her to finally intervene. All the adults see what's going on and are either completely oblivious or don't care.

Also, Chloe totally unprompted says this:

GET A LIFE, what is your PROBLEM?! Like, why have a flashback episode and not have it explain what Chloe's fixation on Marinette even is?! It doesn't have to be big or anything! Like, have Marinette trip and spill something on Chloe in art class! Just do something!

And like, I totally get that irl bullies just choose their targets for no real reason and this is just another example of that, but to this level?! Just...get a hobby!

And then there's the big thing they did in this stupid episode. The unforgivable. The reprehensible.

This fucking guy.

It's been so long since we've seen Bully Kim that I was pretty sure he was left behind entirely on the draft floor. Sure, Kim is still capable of being insensitive or not thinking long-term, but he was a good kid. He roots for his friends and wants everyone to have a good time.

Hell, I could even buy that Kim was dumb enough to believe Chloe when she claims what he did was a funny practical joke that they'd all laugh about later...until Socqueline came up and yelled at him that he should be ashamed of himself.

And Ondine yelled at him in the present that he should be ashamed of himself.

And it's a year later and he should have realized by now that he should be ashamed of himself.

Kim is dumb, that's just a fact, but the way he doubles down and is so sure of himself that NO it's everyone ELSE who has a problem because they can't take a JOKE? Like...why?! Why did they co-sign on this character assassination?!

Just make him become akumatized because he's A S H A M E D of what he did now that he's finally sitting down and thinking about it a year later! He can keep the same look and motif, just have Monarch stroke the part of him that doesn't want him to be the jerk, the old Kim! It's totally normal, especially for a kid, to want to believe that they're not the bad guy even with all the evidence pointing to it, so I could even see the akuma being exactly the same.

But naur, it's KIM who talks like a right-wing podcast douche bag, complaining that you can't just speak your mind these days and everyone needs to get a sense of humor, they just don't GET it man, this is just how he IS brah, take it or leave it! His akuma's even named "Dark Humor", like edgy losers on reddit who make racist/sexist jokes and then get mad when he's downvoted and boo'd out of a forum. God, we just CAN'T TAKE A JOKE I guess.

I'm glad this is resolved by Ladybug gluing a toilet to his head.

I just...I feel like this could've worked in Season 1, or Season 2. Like...put it before Dark Cupid or before Syren or something. That way, Kim being a total douche is the starting point of his character arc, not the Season 5 Post-Hero Run point, ugh.

It'd also make this stupid line make more sense:

I'm sorry, the girl who got you akumatized after she humiliated you in nearly the same way you humiliated Marinette? I guess that was "just a prank bro" too, right?

Establish Marinette's problems with romance early, so she can overcome them or at least give them the proper context. It'd at least make the show look better if they hadn't made fun of her for 4 Seasons only to drop this bombshell on us at the end. You know...the thing that they just did.

This episode just isn't fun. I hated "Illusion" because all you get to see is the bad guys winning and outsmarting the heroes, but "Derision" is a marathon of seeing the absolute misery Marinette was put through, just to jump forward to the present to destroy a character that I really liked.

Would a kid even like this episode?

[raayllum]

Do you think Callum will do dark magic again?

Oh yeah, not a doubt in my mind. This is for 3 main reasons:

1) You don't have a character say "But beware, if you ever do dark magic again, the darkness will overwhelm and corrupt you" and escalate the stakes of usage unless you're going to go there. It's kind of like how I know Callum is going to be possessed Again at one point (s7 dark my beloved) precisely because he's worried about it and more than that, that he's brought another character (Rayla) into the fold with a decision to make. No reason to have setup and then no payoff

2) Unless Callum does dark magic again, Aaravos can't possess him again. And as previously mentioned, Callum has to get possessed unless they want to throw away multiple episodes (4x04, 4x05, 4x07, 5x04, 5x08, all S6 + orb shots, 6x03) out the window. Ergo, he has to do dark magic again. Setup like this (i.e. Rayla as Callum's light being hinted at in framing in s2 and then much more overtly in s4 before being brought mostly home in s6) always comes back around in some manner, just gotta look for it

3) Viren parallels. Viren and Callum have always had oppositional (arc 1) and then mirrored (switching) foil arcs throughout the show (think Callum with wings vs Viren falling to his death in 3x09, or Viren swearing dark magic off in 5x09 and Callum having opened that door back up again an episode prior, etc). Viren, as stated, had sworn off dark magic saying he would never ever do it again, nor did he want to do it in 6x08 for a multitude of reasons.

However, someone he loved (Soren) as well as the extenuating circumstances caused him to use dark magic as a full on sacrifice that likewise only sacrificed himself. A couple episodes we had Callum 'fix' the hole dark magic had made inside him, but if he's following Viren's path, there's two likely angles: the first is that he, like Viren, will use dark magic even after trying so hard to rid himself of it (the mirrored arc). The second, overlapping angle is that Callum will refuse to sacrifice his heart (switching) because his heart is Rayla.

'I will think of you under every full moon. Please don’t let this hurt too much. But, if it does—if you feel that soft aching—know that that piece of your heart isn’t missing. It’s not missing at all, Callum: I’m carrying it with me! Always.' —Dear Callum

Kinda like how Aaravos demanded that Viren should make the sacrifice in 5x09, and Viren refused vs Rayla demanding that Callum should make the sacrifice in 6x03 (and Finnegrin a bit honestly) and Callum inevitably refusing cause Rayla can't permanently die lmao.

Other:

There's also the unsavoury implication that "restores bodies to spirits" spell Callum did in 5x09 has unique associations with the dark ritual spell Claudia did in killing Sir Sparklepuff that was undeniably dark magic usage.

The coin has been seemingly wiped clean now that Runaan is out (though maybe there's the symbol still on the other side?) but it does make me wonder of a potential plotline where Callum knew ahead of time, or belatedly, that this spell would require something adjacent to dark magic and he's done it, but the corruption Kosmo spoke of is gradual, making him more irritated, paranoid, etc. like the King of a 1000 Eyes that Amaya talked about. I think that'd be really interesting

The indirectness / the fact we'd only know it'd Happened retroactively makes me lean that we'll outright see another blatant usage in S7 since that's more Dramatic (which I've always been in favour of Callum viewing "I get possessed again bc I make a 'bad' choice and hand myself over to Aaravos" as a sacrifice of himself into "i'm already dead so kill me" territory). And if he breaks his promise to Rayla that he won't pick her over the greater good, then she can break her promise to him that she'll kill him (this is exactly beat for beat what I've wanted since s4 dropped and even before tbh)

TLDR; Absolutely Yes. S7 being Book Seven: Dark only adds to this and the stakes / set up are all there. I'm pumped

[britts-galaxy-brain]

I find it icky how Lily characterized you in her video. I am paraphrasing but it was something like “britanny retroactively removing consent of our conversations” in the outro also like… GIRL ARE YOU SAYING THEN THE CONVOS ARE TRUE? HOW WOULD BRITANNY BE “takesie backsies consent teehee” ON CONVOS YOU SAID DIDNT HAPPEN AND KEPT USING TEXT TO IMPLY THIS WAS SOMEONE ELSE YOU KNEW AND OR FAKED?

So she admitted they were real and she's been lying her ass off.

I didn't "revoke consent". That's the same bullshit she tried to pull with Lizzy. I never gave explicit consent. I was clear I didn't want it and was uncomfortable. She constantly pushed, badgered, guilt tripped, catfished, and did everything else in her ability to force her way through those boundaries.

COERCION IS NOT CONSENT, LILY! DON'T ACT LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW THAT.

And I'd once again like to reiterate that LILY WAS IN MASC MODE FULLY IDING AS A CIS MAN AND I'M A LESBIAN. By her admitting those conversations were real and they did get sexual, SHE IS ADMITTING TO COERCION.

[welcometogrouchland]

I feel like for the first few years of guardianship Darius and Hunter really struggle to figure out how to refer to each other.

Like it's easier for Hunter, he pretty quickly settles on "guardian" for explaining their relationship to other people and just referring to Darius by name when talking to the man himself. Overtime the phrasing gradually warms, becoming "foster parent" and eventually, once Hunter's already an adult old enough to move out, "Dad".

(Sidenote: he doesn't move out til he's in his mid to late twenties, bc he's under no obligation too, Darius low-key doesn't want him too, and the two of them want to make up for lost time in a sense, since Hunter only had 2 years of legal dependency on Darius before aging out of the system. Darius adopts Hunter retroactively as an adult)

Darius on the other hand has a real conundrum on his hands for those first few years. He has a lot of options! But "ward" is too formal and makes it sound like Darius picked him up off the street like after his parents were murdered, "apprentice/student" isn't really accurate considering the focus of Darius and Hunter's relationship has less to do with Hunter learning magic and more to do with Hunter being housed and fed. "Kid" and "foster son" are there...but...

Look, Darius isn't going to refer to Hunter more familiarly than Hunter refers to him! He's not gonna make it WEIRD. He's not a dad, because Hunter doesn't want/need him to be (and also parenthood is scary <3). Darius doesn't know the first thing about being a dad, despite how his friend group teases him.

Eda and Eberwolf are the two who are worst about it. They torture him with how 'fatherly' he's allegedly being (allegations Darius will DENY til his GRAVE!!!) And Eda specifically compares his journey to hers, saying it always starts off with you referring to them as your apprentice (again, Darius doesn't plan on doing that), as your roommate (...kinda weird in Darius' opinion? But okay Eda), or even your pet (????HELLO???). But eventually, they always become your dumb kid when you least expect it.

She's had a couple cups of appleblood by this point, but Darius knows on some level she's right and he's steadfastly ignoring that fact, even as Eber continues to refer to Hunter as his "cub" (kinda cute but Darius doesn't know how Hunter would feel being compared to an animal). The only people who are even remotely reasonable about all this (besides Lilith who's a bit disinterested in kid talk) is Raine and Alador, who both sort of neutrally, a bit awkwardly refer to Hunter as Darius' Boy.

Darius referring to Hunter as "my boy" is funnily enough what sticks the longest before it evolves to son boy. Hunter's crushing it at a derby match? Darius is whooping and cheering, yelling "THAT'S MY BOY!!!" At the other parents in the stands. Hunter is doing something dangerous or inadvisable where others can see him? "Darius, your boy-" "AHH! MY BOY". Hunter, a year into his stay with Darius finally comes clean about everything to do with him being a grimwalker, and is afraid that he's going to go back to seeing him as just an inferior replacement for Darius' beloved mentor? Darius (who has just had to process some of the most bonkers, emotionally heavy information in his life) gently, hesitantly puts a hand on his shoulder (the 'good' one Hunter doesn't mind people touching), and says that Hunter's much more than that. He's Darius' Boy and he's not going to kick him out or get angry or love him any less for things out of his control. It's good. They're good.

Like I said, it evolves over time and 'boy' becomes somewhat obsolete as the two get caught up in the joy of finally feeling able to explicitly refer to each other as family. But unlike "guardian" or "ward" the word never gets fully retired. Even when Hunter is 30 and is arguing that he's more of a man than a boy now, he is still getting referred to by Darius as "his boy", the way some parents never really stop calling their adult kids baby or kiddo (Camila and Eda respectively btw).

Hunter makes one of those corny matching shirt sets at some point for a father's Day gift when he's 17/18, where the two shirts say "if lost, return Boy to me" (Darius) and "I'm Boy" (Hunter). Hunter mostly did it so he could own a funny shirt that says "I'm boy". Darius openly weeps upon seeing them. Like Oh my Titan he's boy. He's my boy. Oh wow

[genericpuff]

Just saw your response to someone asking about plot points you hate. Can I ask why you don't like Athena/Hestia? From what I remember (take this with a grain of salt because while I've read the whole comic it's more in a junk food, read and forget til next time kind of thing)

From what I remember it's not a huge plot point? Like its just kinda.. there? It doesn't really impact much of the story at large.

Also I agree with the hades/thanatos thing, that's kinda odd and it doesn't make hades any better or more sympathetic of a protagonist. If I remember right, doesn't he abandon thanatos or push him away?

I have issues with the Hestia x Athena plotline the same way I have issues with the Hera x Echo plotline. It all feels shoehorned in for the sake of seeming 'inclusive' towards gay relationships, but gets next to no actual development or screentime aside from the odd lip service meant to benefit Rachel.

Especially when Hestia and Athena were already embraced as LGBTQ+ icons to begin with and didn't need to be shipped together to make it possible. Rachel has a really hard time comprehending aroace identities and this is present even back in her Tumblr days-

If Hestia and Athena are still supposed to be at least ace in LO then we haven't seen any indication of that. So it just makes them look hypocritical as fuck for running the "virgins only club" that is TGOEM (and even going so far as to punish Persephone for being around Hades by confiscating his gift to her) and that unfortunately makes them look like really terrible people which isn't a great look for the only lesbian couple in the story (at least until Eros and Hera were established but whether or not they're an actual couple now or if that was just a one time kiss scene remains to be seen). Like even the reveal that they're together is Artemis figuring it out and then being pissed that she's the "only one following the rules", not them coming out about it on their own terms.

Also no, the Hestia x Athena plotline wasn't as big as the other plotlines, but it was one of the ones that felt so out of left field and forced when it was first established. Plus I'd just love for them to be aroace rep again, there are characters who are legitimate gay icons that got erased so that Rachel could retroactively shove it into other characters without any reasoning or relevance to the plot.

I honestly wouldn't have been so salty about the Hestia x Athena plotline if it were just written better (and if it didn't reek of aroace erasure) and that goes for a lot of the queer relationships in LO, because so many of them are only given the tiniest ounces of screentime, enough for Rachel to take credit for being "inclusive" but not enough for her to actually have a diverse cast. Morpheus is the most consistently present character we've gotten for LGBTQ+ rep and now even she's been fridged :/

Anyways, as for Hades and Thanatos, yeah, the retcon that Hades was a 'father figure' to Thanatos the whole time seems like it was purely written in to make Thanatos look like a hypocrite for having very reasonable concerns regarding the special treatment being given to Persephone at work. But then Rachel had to actually resolve that plotline so in S3 she had Hades approach Thanatos in search of his brother just for them to have a weak 'heart to heart' where Thanatos took the blame for being a 'handful' and Hades trauma dumped and never really took accountability for everything. The fact that we're supposed to believe they have a father-son dynamic really makes the first season gross to read because the whole time Hades is legitimately treating Thanatos like scum. It absolutely does NOT make Hades more likeable, even with the attempt to 'redeem' him which really just made him look like an even bigger asshole u.u

[just-prime]

Tales of Squandered Potential

Oh hello again everyone who follows me for my Star Wars ranting!

So! Tales of the Empire. The Hat Man is at it again.

Episodes 1-3 : The Path of Boredom

As expected, all of the Morgan stuff was not my thing. She was boring in Ahsoka, she was boring here. The entirety of the three episodes just hammered home "this lady is angry" in a way that felt overdone because there is no arc. There's no growth, no interest, no nothing. It all just feels like Filoni trying to retroactively make his one dimensional character that gets killed off in the stupidest way possible feel super badass. However because we know that she gets killed in the stupidest way possible, everything falls flat and none of it feels earned. It also doesn't actually answer any of the many many questions that Ahsoka raised about her. She's just there, standing in front of a fire. That's all she does.

Thrawn is there for all of about two seconds, and every moment of it is painful, because here's the thing. WE KNOW WHAT THRAWN WAS UP TO AT THIS TIME!!! We have the book that explains all of Thrawn's many exploits as an admiral. This is only more evidence for the idea that Filoni has never actually picked up any of the canon Thrawn books. Which we kinda already knew, but this is all but confirmation. As I've previously said, and will continue saying, Filoni needs to contextualize Thrawn as a 100% big bad otherwise his Heir to the Empire fanfilm won't actually feel earned, so he is systematically destroying any and all nuance that Thrawn has had to make sure that new viewers only ever see him as an unredeemable evil.

And I know that there are a lot of you out there who are holding out for the possibility that this is all a misdirect by Thrawn! That this is all part of his grand plan to go back and help the Ascendency, and that he's lying to everyone about his intentions. But the sad truth is that Filoni doesn't give a rats ass about anything other than cartoonishly evil Thrawn which means we're never getting Eli, or Karyn, or Hammerly or any of the characters from the six fantastic canon books that Timothy Zahn so lovingly created. That was made very clear with Filoni's prioritization of Admiral Pellaeon, who for those who don't know is actually in the new canon Thrawn books too! He wasn't just left behind in Legends, Zahn brought him back into canon too! But again, being the Legends fanboy that he is, Filoni doesn't care about where Pellaeon should be canonically, so instead he's just shoehorned into the episode for no other reason then Filoni likes him.

Episodes 4-6 : The Barriss Content

Soooooo, why didn't Barriss get a full fucking season to herself??? I get the idea behind the 15 minute episodes, but it really makes it hard to tell any sort of cohesive story. It works far better as a snapshot of a couple of days in someone's life. So unfortunately, while I did enjoy them, Barriss's episodes felt really rushed and I found it really hard to tell when things took place. How long was she at the Inquisitor training center? Was it a day? Was it a month? Really would have been interested in actually seeing the inner workings but it all has to get brushed over in favor of her becoming an Inquisitor. A seemingly intentionally not named Inquisitor which makes me feel like they've run out of early Inquisitor names. Unless there's a trial period before you get a proper number? I don't know it was just one of those things that niggled at me. Another thing that niggled at me (which was also mentioned by the wonderful artist @stealingpotatoes, go give her art some love) is that her design is kinda boring as fuck? Like, you have Birdy-Mc-Skullface right there with such a neat design and yet all Barriss gets is a motorcycle helmet with very slight voice modulation.

But I digress. The fact that Barriss commits herself to the Inquisitorium via a ritualized fight to the death, and then goes "wait, the red light saber wielding, all black wearing, Darth Vader serving inquisitors aren't here to help people?" before immediately bailing is so funny to me. This girl cannot for the life of her commit herself to an organization without becoming disillusioned within 1-3 business days.

I'm not sure how I feel about it all being about Lyn? I was very much rooting for her to totally die in the ice shafts instead of what felt like a very last minute redemption arc?

Though speaking of the last episode...HOLY SHIT OLD BARRISS IS FUCKING HOT. *coughs* Excuse me. Anyway. I would have loved to see more of what happened in between eps 5 and 6. Seeing how she and the jedi kid escaped the planet, and where the two of them did after than in the very hostile Empire would have been a facinating story watch play out. Also, who is this female friend that Barriss is referring to when she sends the child away? Is it Ahsoka??? If it is...WHY WOULD YOU NOT SHOW US THAT REUNION??? Like I get the whole point of this is to set up Barriss to make the jump to live action like every single other Filoni character is curseddestined to do, but also you've had people waiting years to find out what happened to Barriss and it feels like they burned their biggest story possibility on a throwaway reference. Did she find Ahsoka? Did Ahsoka find her? When did they find each other? Was it pre-Rebellion? Was it after Ahsoka was already functioning as Fulcrum? Given that we now know the Fulcrum name originated from Anakin, did Barriss recognize the name and seek this mystery person out? I don't know it just feels again like more wasted potential.

Final Thoughts

Fuck this animation is good now! Can we get a new writer?

Like, even for the shit I was annoyed by, the entire show just looks fabulous. It makes me really really wish that ANYONE other than Filoni could make content in this style. Let the writers of Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor do a Merrin episode or a baby Cal episode. Or the people doing The Acolyte, let them do Tales of the High Republic! Let anyone other than Filoni have a chance to create within the world of Star Wars animated content.

[wolfscarr]

Helluva Broken Narrative 2. The Wasted Family.

Alright here I am with...I guess Part 2 of this Broken Narrative thing...for part 1, see the link below.

I again didn't really wanna post, but it's just been nagging at the back of my head for some time now.

DISCLAIMER: Not saying you can't enjoy the show. Enjoy it all you want, this again is just a rant about a lack of cohesive narrative.

So much like Season 2 retroactively making the whole deal between Blitz and Stolas pointless, it also has made a whole Family completely wasted to the show.

It not only made Stolas a retroactively useless character, but it has also made both Stella and Octavia wasted characters. They are now just characters....who are there, to make Stolas either look good(Octavia) or make you feel 'sorry' for(Stella) and that's...basically it.

It also ruined and yes I'm saying ruined, Stolas and Stella's relationship and what it was hinted to be at. Now you might be wondering...

"Wait...what do you mean?"

Well here it is. It seems that the episode Loo Loo Land, the one fans seem to give all this praise for and most notably the song that Stolas sings to Octavia when she had a nightmare. Except at the same time....people miss the lyrics, that basically confirm that Stolas and Stella had some sort of relationship and they are as follow.

"I use to think that I was bold. I used to think love would be fun."

There is zero way he is meaning anything or anyone else other than his relationship with Stella, but let us break down this set of lyrics.

"I used to think that I was bold."

What is the definition of Bold?

Bold= Showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous. Courageous, confident, and fearless.

This right here, basically says that Stolas was the one to approach Stella, that he was the one to take this risk of marrying her, that he was the one who wanted to be with her, that he held no fear of being married.

Next set of Lyrics..

"I used to think love would be fun."

This right here, basically says that Stolas and Stella had some kind of relationship with getting married, he wanted to see if they could be together, to have a family, to see how things would go.

Stolas took a bold risk, by popping the question to Stella, diving right on in with his confidence and marrying her to see if it all would work out.

IT WAS STOLAS who got married.

IT WAS STOLAS who wanted Stella.

There was no 3rd Party involved at all, nor even hinted as being there with regards to their marriage. Stolas was the one, he was using

I...

I!

It was all HIM!

Then Season 2 happens and shows.....the complete opposite of what these lyrics just flat out told us in that song.

Season 2 shows Stolas as a scared, crying and sniveling child who....has no desire to get married and doesn't want to get married. That the marriage between him and Stella was FORCED UPON THEM and not something by their own volition. So according to Season 2, Stolas couldn't have been bold, nor could he have even wanted to find out if love would be fun...because it was NEVER his choice to begin with and he never liked Stella from the start!

It was his Father, who FORCED him to be married so that they could produce a cautionary heir. Even though I feel that's also pretty pointless when you think about it, but that's another discussion entirely.

Oh but people might say "Well she was throwing stuff at him and screaming at him, yada, yada!"

....No shit? She just found out she got cheated on, what reaction was she suppose to have? Was she just suppose to brush it off? Smile and be happy? NO.

Was it extreme to be throwing things? Obviously, but you know...when someone's pissed enough, they will throw things around and throw a bitch fit because something huge just happened to them.

Also tell me something, if the whole cheating thing didn't imply hurt as per Stolas' words in Season 2....then why was Stella even throwing a bitch fit to begin with? Why did she say...

"I can't stand another moment, looking at your imp sucking face!"

"I want that cheating prick, dead!"

...But then in S2, we find out that they never got along, they never even liked eachother....so what is the dialogue even for? This dialogue means absolutely nothing. Also you can't argue for something as status or whatever, because Stella doesn't even seem to care about that, she just wants Stolas dead now.

She specifically used the words "Cheating Prick"....this suggests that...yes, she was hurt by what had happened.

Also before saying anything with regards to Stolas' words to Octavia at Loo Loo Land?

None of those statements were conclusive

2. Even if they were, this wouldn't negate that potentially Stolas and Stella didn't have good times together, that they couldn't have made fond memories. Just that in the end....Stolas realized, he didn't love her.

None of what he said, would have to point to = An arranged/loveless marriage. This is just boring by a narrative standpoint, when you could do a WHOLE LOT BETTER. Especially when the song that Stolas sings, implies there was SOME KIND of relationship that they had.

Oh but here's the real kicker in all of this folks. I'm not the only one who thought the pair had something more to them than what we got in Season 2, because as it turns out BOTH VAs for Stolas and Stella....were thinking the same damn thing.

Oh look at that, Stella's VA liking the fact that Stella may not have been evil, that she's just broken hearted and doesn't think straight as per S1. Oh and it adds up to what's above!

Oh but it gets better, because the VAs for the characters did an Insta Reel sometime back, discussing their characters.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWR2i9oLCyI/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

The video is unfortunately gone(probably taken down because of S2...), but I just put up the link to show I'm not fibbing, though if it's somehow able to be recovered, be appreciated!

But in it, Stolas' VA says "There's a lot of pain inside of her." << Regarding Stella.

It says something that their VAs put more time and thought in thinking about their characters and what their relationship was, how it affected them than the actual writers.

So it seems to me, that both of their VAs were expecting something deeper to their characters relationship, than what we got. Because what we got now is bland and boring, frankly all of what's going on now in this 'plotline' is incredibly boring, why do people even like this?

Stolas already kicked her out, Stolas already stood up to her. The only thing left is....what? Oh the divorce trial? The trial that is no doubt going to be similar to the Johnny and Amber one, because...topical and then what? Nothing, this whole thing is just not needed.

Oh and then there's Octavia, I won't go too much on this seeing as everyone else is already doing so. But girl? I'm sorry that the show seems to have made you blind and apparently unable to put 2 and 2 together, that your parents never got along.....even though straight from the horse's mouth, an eye witness being YOURSELF says that they weren't always fighting.

==

So there it is folks, this show has completely wasted Octavia and Stella, turning them nothing more into Good and Bad props for Stolas, so that the audience 'feels' something for him. This in turn has completely wasted any potential interesting Family interaction, regarding with what happened and thus made S1 even more pointless than it already is.

^ For part 3.

[loudmound]

ok, well... what was shown of sh2r was certainly a mixed back for me.

(thoughts under the readmore)

- angela's... alright. i don't mind the changes to her face or her deeper voice but i'm not keen on them making her sweater tighter as well as fucking giving her eyeliner??? she's also looking appropriately 19-20 yrs old which is... fine. but i appreciated how she looked older than she was, similarly to james in the original. trauma tends to age, esp if you've been through what she has.

- (also, in classic bloober fashion, the "tell him i'll be good" quote from her was a red flag. it looked like it was said in the mirror scene... BLOOBER. WHAT ARE YOU DOING.)

- james is. jim. jim unitedair. sighthound disposition. very neurotic. he doesn't read as james to me and probably never will. he's simply too different.

- laura also sounds waaaay too old. that's not an 8 yr old kid's voice. thorry.

- maria's new fit is cute; butterfly tattoo's in a new spot now, but she's missing that edge. no more leopard print, as if that wasn't an iconic element of her original design. grumble grumble. a lot less skin showing, too... everything about this game seems very sanitized and dialed back, honestly. simultaneously heavy-handed yet afraid to be provocative, almost. a very dizzying dichotomy. a bloober-esque dichotomy.

- (a friend of mine pointed out how meek maria seemed to be acting in the footage of her and yeah... god she seemed really unsure in a concerning way.)

- another glaring red flag: NO FUCKING SIGN OF EDDIE. LIKE, AT ALL. NONE. ZERO. WHERE THE FUCK IS HE? PLEEK

- the environments are much more intensive, which makes sense. feels lived in, i'm liking it. getting the radio is. new. full jim unitedair ass shot whilst crawling on the ground, so thanks for that, bloober. expecting more crawling sections if that's the case.

- the voice acting direction issssss not great. they're trying too hard to sound off, retroactively sounding off but in the wrong way. sigh.

- ALL AND ALL, not the worst, but it's nothing i haven't already seen before done in games that are undoubtedly much better than what the sh2r is shaping out to be. again, it's very clinical and sanitized. like... a really good re4r mod, but that's really all it is to me. i'm not impressed. try harder ✌️

[riddledeep]

Hadley's Full Character Profile

🌸 Dimmsdale's black market and hunting enthusiast (Unrelated)

🌸 That one godkid Timmy was always cleaning up after

🌸 Remy's best friend

🌸 Ed Leadly's middle daughter (and the only one who didn't fight him about being betrothed)

🌸 Dale Dimmadome's Japan-loving influencer wife... Also, Dev's chronically absent (yet doting) mom

Slight Riddleverse ‘fic spoilers. Your mileage may vary.

Two AUs

Hadley's profile aligns with both Cloudlands AU and City Lights AU. While the AUs are not canon-compliant with each other, it was always the plan for her to marry Dale Dimmadome... a character I never expected to see in official media again when I set them up in 2018.

As of September 2024, Hadley's fate in Cloudlands AU has been tweaked to reflect the Dale and Dev lore we got from A New Wish Season 1. The original plan was for her and Dale to be betrothed and married without having romantic feelings for one another, but they'd grow closer as they raised their son (Dave) and took him around the world on adventures. And, well... At least the "got married without feelings" part stayed! 😂💦

As far as Cloudlands and City Lights canons are concerned, Hadley is Dale's wife and Dev's mom- Dave's been retconned, Hadley's hair is a few shades redder, and I gave her a triple hair tuft. The info below reads correct for both AUs!

OVERVIEW

Full Name: Hadley Arianell Harrington (née Leadly)

Preferred Form of Address: Hadley Alternate Forms of Address: "Ms. Leadly" (Past) / "Mrs. Dimmadome" (After marriage) / Dale's wife (Dismissively) / Mom (Yay!) Prefers Ms. or Mrs. Harrington; she likes feeling like she's built up an image without relying on more famous names to carry her (even if that's not entirely true). Only her dad is allowed to call her goofy nicknames (though "angel" and "hon" are more common) Aspiration: Build up an online platform with her influencer work without falling too heavily on either her dad's or husband's wealth... and be there to support Dale through his stress. Fingers crossed Dev goes the influencer route so they can be a cool mother-son pair, please and thank you.

Born: Autumn of the Crushed Rose

Zodiac: Love Birthday: December 15th, 1989 Hometown: Dimmsdale -> Dimmadelphia, California; USA Age During Frozen Timestream: 13 - Turned this in both 2002 and every year for the 50 years retroactively condensed into 2003. Turned 14 in 2004. Age When Married: 21 Age at Dev's Birth: 23 Age During A New Wish Season 1: 33 (34 in December)

Species: Human

Ethnicity: English & Spanish on her father's side (Descended from Dimmsdale's English settlers as well as Spanish settlers from surrounding areas); English & Irish on her mother's side. Nationality: American

Mindset: Immature and goofy, but she can take care of herself. Tends to jump from one thing to the next without cleaning up. Rarely plans ahead. Doesn't share much about herself with others, even with those close to her.

Hoarding OCD - Struggles to let go of things; doesn't like undoing wishes. Both her childhood bedrooms are full of stuff to this day, and were nightmares to navigate in her youth. There are still rooms in the Dimmadome home brimming with her things. Plagued by worries that if she discards an item, she won't have it when she need-wants it. Even after parting ways with her fairy godfather, she drove Timmy nuts growing up by living just close enough that her life as a hoarder was inescapable. ADHD - Has a lot of thoughts at once and sometimes struggles to get them across, easily agitated, angered or excited, struggles to sleep, loves to multitask, gets impatient with waiting periods, can be a bit perfectionist, seeks thrills, impulse buys, has too many project ideas and switches between them, struggles to prioritize, often disorganized [Combined with hoarding], struggles to get back into flow if interrupted. Sometimes has maladaptive daydreams (mostly about aliens). Sensitive to the feel of stray hairs on her neck, so she wears headbands to keep her hair back. Despite struggling to prioritize, she works well with deadlines (mostly) and liked school. She likes to feel she's good with stress, but she certainly has her limits (usually followed by splurges, treating herself, and starting new projects to procrastinate). Multitasking has its pros and cons- Things generally get done, but she may stress over them not being "perfect" (Picking up and putting them down, juggling many videos at a time). Her instinct is to post lots of videos at once and then none for a while, but that's regulated by the team she works with. Notably, both Dale and Dev fidget, misplace items, and lose interest in things more quickly than Hadley; they fall back on things they "always like." Hadley jumps between new interests more than they do (though she also has fallback hobbies she enjoys). Her style of misplacing things tends to be "it's the most recent item on the hoard, so it's not that hard to find."

Stats:

Power:  Above Average Endurance:  Average Wisdom:  Below Average Adaptability:  Above Average Charisma: Average Openness:  Below Average Conscientiousness:  Below Average Neuroticism:  Average

Residence: 1 Dimmadome Way

Occupation: Influencer, business owner (Clothing, make-up, fitness products, must-haves for travel, hunting gear- You name it), Dale's partner / assistant in Dimmadome business affairs

Previous Employment: Pencil Nexus Intern

BACKGROUND

Self-Perception: A bit of a Daddy's Girl, but also kind, adventurous, successful, fun-loving, hard worker who believes in making her own way and standing up for herself.

Unafraid to experiment with new things and likes spending time with her family. Loves to travel and "tell it like it is." She can be a bit all over the place, but at least she's authentic!

Alignment: Neutral Evil MBTI: ESTJ Deadly Sin: Gluttony Heavenly Virtue: Charity Love Language: Acts of Service Reinforcers: Peaceful creativity (i.e. opportunities for creative playtime, like brainstorming ideas, writing stories, and drawing)

History: Hadley grew up in Ed Leadly's mansion (S9's "Dog Gone") until her parents divorced when she was 9. She bounced back and forth between her mom's and dad's places for a bit and finally committed to moving in with her mom (and taking her mom's name).

She's on okay terms with his dad and stays with him now and then, but she likes her mom and step-families. She's on good terms with all her siblings except her older sister (Harper), who's very judgmental of Hadley agreeing to her betrothal instead of pushing against it like Harper did with hers. Harper has "love" or whatever, but Hadley's living a cushy life, so who's the real winner, huh?

Despite the divorce (and moving in with her mom), Hadley thinks fondly of her dad- Namely, the way he took her hunting with his friends every year after she turned 10. Doug Dimmadome also hunts and after a couple years, Dale joined in.

During the time the original FOP series takes place (Namely 2002), Hadley attended middle school and had a fairy godfather named Eryx. She wasn't a jerk rich kid to the degree Remy was, but she rubbed Timmy the wrong way due to her lack of thinking through consequences.

Ex: She ran a black market in school by taking requests for random things her peers wanted and then showing up with them the next way, selling wishes for cash. She never unwished them even if they caused trouble, so Timmy had to take care of her messes. He warned her several times not to be this blatant (and oblivious), but Hadley brushed him off. Eryx didn't love any of this, but generally told his supervisor (Emery Ranen) that Hadley was "a sweet and clever kid."

She did well in school and was a child of divorce shifting between two homes. She did a lot of creative projects with her mom and a lot of business things with her dad. She loves her step-siblings and crossed paths with Anti-Fairies often. She finds her dad embarrassing, but is very obedient when he tells her to do things.

Hadley participated in the Last Grand Hurrah during the Purple Train story arc (130 Prompts), meaning she helped raid the Fairy World Archives building. Not much is known beyond Crocker's comment in "Looking Back" that her communicator cut off when she screamed.

She was Remy's main support (besides Juandissimo) after he lost his arm during that event

Throughout her teens, Hadley continued her friendship with Remy, made time for both her parents, befriended Dale, and even bonded with Timmy once he and Sparky got into hunting.

Hadley married in January 2012 right after turning 21 (After her first semester of Junior year). The next year was 1 on 1 with Dale as they figured things out, searching for the right balance of intimacy and personal space. Turns out, they both like their space and not so many touchy-feely aspects, so they lucked out!

Despite Dale's reservations, Hadley always wanted kids and used to pester and woo him about it on the regular. To her delight, she conceived a year and a half after marriage (the summer she was 22) and shifted to being a mommy vlogger documenting her pregnancy, postpartum experience, and Dev's infancy- Young, feisty, and ready to take on the world.

Hadley spent more time in Dimmadelphia when Dev was a baby. From age 6 on, she moved to a schedule of visiting home less frequently. Mostly, she filled her time traveling the world.

She still posted a lot of content with Dev, but Dev moved towards the au pairs looking after him while Hadley got her wanderlust out by traveling- something she was very excited to do after almost 10 years of staying near Dimmadelphia. Hadley loves her son... she just also likes her "Me Time."

Personality: Hadley is best described as "straightforward, oblivious, snotty, and not necessarily charming despite her efforts."

She tries to buy friends with gifts and is a hard worker who puts honest effort into her studies. She's mostly chill and friendly, but has a temper- She doesn't like being told what to do. Unless you're her parents. She isn't openly spiteful, but she'll write or draw mean things about you if she's annoyed (and she'll huff or snap at you directly).

As an adult, Hadley mellows somewhat due to developing a (slightly) thicker skin against hate comments (and moving to a "Meh, I have more important concerns" attitude in general). She definitely gets annoyed with Dale or her assistants sometimes (and occasionally Dev), but is generally content with her life.

She was very stay-at-home as a kid with a love for reading and crafts. Due to her influencer career, she's taken up traveling. She reviews hotels, restaurants, and vacation spots with a focus on expensive tastes. She's pretty entitled, which grew from obliviousness and growing up in two wealthy families. Like her dad, she gets frustrated when people deny her things she wants. She's less openly petty, but very petty in private.

She's known for shockingly short turnaround times when she gets an idea. Due to wealth (and her husband's connection to Dimmazon), she can get products delivered fast. She also flies out to locations whenever she wants. Editing is the slowest part of her video process (especially with her ADHD).

As a mom, Hadley is more involved with Dev's day-to-day life than Dale, but not necessarily there for him. Ever since her pregnancy, Hadley's been using her son as clickbait for her vlogs. It's not emotionally fulfilling for him, but she has a blast, and what else are kids for?

She and Dale get along fine, though they may be better described as business partners than loving husband and wife. They work well as a team as they have the same motive: impress people and make money. They barely critique each other's parenting style or how they run the home since they don't make Dev top priority and the au pairs handle a lot of cleaning and cooking.

She and Dev have a mildly better relationship than Dev does with Dale. Hadley considers herself a good and mostly involved mother, seeing as she's the one who keeps better tabs on Dev's schooling, but mostly... he's helpful to her content. She's not great with involvement when the camera's down. She likes doing crafts with him just like her mom did with her, but the fact that she's recording all the time leaves Dev feeling a bit ignored.

Hadley is the type to respond to critiques about her content or how she mothers Dev while she does her make-up or a craft- She can be a bit sassy and petty. Same old temper, just less explosive than it was in middle school. She has a hard time leaving hate comments alone.

Hadley gets EXTREMELY jealous when anyone flirts with Dale, comments on her husband's looks, or if Dale talks to people (particularly well-off women she thinks are pretty) for too long. She can brush admiring comments off with a "Haha, yeah, I'm so lucky," but has very low tolerance for anyone hitting on him directly.

Despises Amanda Killman with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. In Hadley's opinion, Dale is way too tolerant of her. Mikey Munroe - who is also an energetic redhead with the added bonus of being raised around drones and growing up to become a security expert like his parents - is on thin flippin' ice.

Get your own hot money-covered husband- She's been betrothed to this man since she was 16 and she put a lot of time into telling him he's cute. She's seen him work through his trauma; she was there as he built up his courage for holding hands and public speaking. Find your own man. He's not the most affectionate and he's not great at remembering special occasions, but he's hers.

Worries of divorce flicker in her mind (Especially when she's been away for a while), but she and Dale have made it this long and weren't lovey-dovey when they started out, so they don't talk about splitting. She hates imagining he'd ever leave her.

She brings Dale and Dev (especially Dev) expensive souvenirs from every place she visits. Her brand image is themed around body positivity, women supporting women, being self-indulgent while showcasing luxury things, being a mommy vlogger, and having fun in general. Her boys don't love having trinkets lying around, but they express due gratitude at the time.

She aims to be shameless, but gets a bit embarrassed and giggly if reviewing vaguely scandalous items. She likes them, she just has a hard time evaluating them in a serious way- Relatively common items like bras, bidets, and swimsuits can make her tongue-tied even if she uses and wears them. It's the social anxiety...

Even if she's not at home with Dev, she'll talk about life with her husband and son, which Dev likes when he watches her videos. Hadley doesn't always compliment her son directly, but she speaks highly of him when he does come up in conversation. She often cites past item review videos she's done with him, which encourages Dev to keep doing them with her.

Dev is clickbait for her videos, but he's HER clickbait <3

Education: Very knowledgeable about the middle school curriculum due to spending the frozen timestream there. Knows many students and teachers- As a rule, she's more familiar with them than Remy is.

Elementary School: Attended a private elementary school in Dimmsdale. Never had Crocker as a teacher, but became aware of him as he became more bold about fairy-hunting openly in later years. Remy attended the same school, but they didn't know each other.

Hadley's parents divorced when she was 9. She gradually became saddened as it weighed on her.

Middle School: Continued private education in Dimmsdale. She became more familiar with Remy and they grew to be friends. She was assigned Eryx as a fairy godparent and caused wish-related chaos.

Remy was transferred to the F.U.N. Academy for a while

Hoarding OCD had always been there, but intensified during these years. Also, she and Timmy crossed paths several times- They were on friendly terms, but irritated each other due to Timmy cleaning up Hadley's wish-related messes.

Hadley attended a lot of Cupid's parties in addition to special events like Fairy Con and the Fairy World Games. She was in middle school while time was frozen and established herself as someone people know.

High School: Further private schooling in Dimmsdale. Hadley's popularity from middle school carried over, with people still fawning over her due to "buying friends" (in combination with the friendly attitude she projected and her general vibes of being smart and successful- People enjoyed being her partner).

She parted ways with Eryx early on as she made new friends and grew closer to Remy and Dale.

Further Education: Went to a nice university in Dimmadelphia, had a private room, married Dale, and graduated with a dual major in marketing and communications.

She and Dale lived in the same city, actively courting (Expensive dinner dates, holding hands at festivals, walking through fancy gardens... Y'know). They married when Hadley was 21 (January of Junior year at university).

Favorite School Subject: Math... and History, and Home Ec. You gotta count the money, you gotta know the places you visit, and you gotta be good with cooking and crafts!

Least Favorite Subject: Chemistry

Clubs: Sounds geeky. No thanks! That said, she did play saxophone in band as a kid.

Friend Group: Upper class folks such as Remy, Trixie, Tad, Chad, Veronica, and Dale

Notable Likes:

- Winning people over with cool stuff she can afford. As she ages, this translates into flaunting her wealth. - School (Classes, dances, socializing) - Birds! Her fairy (Eryx) usually took budgie form; she has a budgie tattoo with white wings on her thigh - Living with her mom... No offense to her dad, but he's... not fun to be around. She and Mom garden and paint together - Creative projects (Writing, painting, filming, crafting, baking, chocolate-making, pottery... You name it!) - Often with Eryx or her mom in her youth and later with Dev - Bizarre or "ugly" animals (including Eldritch horrors) - Posting videos... and showing off her son (For views) - Making money - Reading by the window when it's raining - Trixie's annual costume parties - Nature documentaries - Cedar and pine scent... Reminds her of her dad - Anime (and learning Japanese). Never really cared for manga or comic books, though she's read some comics. - Aesthetic photos, moodboards, gardens, and food (like latte art, cupcakes, cookies, and colorful boba) - Mystery boxes (Bonus points for art supplies) - Shooting guns (One of the only activities she did with her dad instead of mom) - Showcasing beauty products and clothes - Being addressed as Mrs. Harrington... When she's with her family, she introduces them as "My husband Dale and my son Dev," leaving off the Dimmadome name. Since Dale's a billionaire, many people recognize them, but some people (especially young audiences or those less affected by Dimmadome influence) just know Dev as Hadley's son. - Bothering Dale. Just in general, by poking or flirting with him. She loves the thrill of them both being successful on a project, so they spin around in excitement and high-five - Living it up as the other half of the Dimmadome power couple - Saxophone! She plays and taught Dev how as well - Family vacations that let her film (Her thing) and show off her cute family (in a reasonable, somewhat clickbait-y way without relying on them for the meat of her video) - Buying way too many things for Dev. When they're out together, she buys him pretty much any treat to catch her eye (Especially if she can make a vlog out of it). Her content is a lot of her holding up her phone and talking at Dev (towards the camera) while he eats treats and responds to her questions (usually while playing mobile games) - LOVES doing food reviews with Dev, who's a notoriously sensitive (picky) eater. Dev tends to get involved with her videos and talks a lot more when he's participating in stuff like this than he does on the average day, which skews Hadley's view of him towards "Smart and social kid; I'm a great parent." - Houseplants... she collects them, but has been cutting back since she began traveling more often. Supposedly. Don't fact-check this. Oh no. - Cherry blossom aesthetic. She has blossom tattoos over her stretch marks <3 She travels widely, but has a special love for Japan (Probably from growing up on anime and pretty art). - Hot springs and onsen. Tattoos don't go great with that, but... y'know

Had Fairy Godparent: June 14th, 2002 (Age 12) - June 18th, 2005 (Age 14) - Plus some frozen timestream years

Favorite Wish: Paint manipulation (Ex: Paint leaving her fingertips and never running out)

Goals:

- Visit interesting places and try lots of foods. - Maintain joy in content creation. - Coax Dev into the influencer lifestyle so they can be a cool mother-son pair. - Keep Dale on track (and comfort him when he's anxious) - Start her own clothing line that outsells Trixie Tang's. No, she's not bitter.

Beliefs:

- Hard work pays off - Learning languages young is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Dev doesn't need supervision- Hadley watched anime in her younger years and she turned out fine! - Make-up, cute clothes, and tattoos are worth the effort. Live for yourself that way! - True love is a fantasy, so make the most of what you've got - Kids don't know as much as adults; they have unique perspectives and think differently, so their views can be interesting (if naïve) - Deadlines are a great way to keep on track. panik. - Things don't have to be sustainable or ethical as long as you're having fun!

Fears:

- Dale cheating on her (and/or divorce)... but if Dale ever did cheat and begged forgiveness, promising it wouldn't happen as long as she stayed, she'd forgive him as many times as he asked. This man is spooked by mildly annoying noises and jumps at footsteps in his house. - Still a bit socially anxious as an adult, but definitely improved with experience. - Getting mugged (or robbed/threatened). Can be paranoid when settling into a hotel. Feels a lot safer with the au pairs around. - Getting caught in a scandal involving a friend, herself, or Dale. Very paranoid her happy nice life could come crashing down. - Paranoia that she failed to censor or edit videos properly and everyone will catch her mistakes and poke fun. - Dev getting kidnapped (and held for ransom and/or forced into work like Dale was). - Dying, but specifically in ways that boil down to her being a dumb tourist or unfamiliar with the area (Ex: Getting caught in a riptide or tsunami due to failure to read the signs; sinking in quicksand; attacked by animals). - She'll fall in love with someone else and feel conflicted over what to do. - Cancer or other illnesses that would affect her breasts or uterus, leading to necessary removal. While more kids are likely not in the cards for her or Dale, she'd take the loss of those parts pretty hard, as she felt very connected to her pregnancy and came from a large family. She likes her body and would probably be self-conscious for the rest of her life, especially since she's on camera and has videos of her body online forever.

Upsets:

- Not getting what she wants, especially if she's offering high amounts of money for it. - People moving her stuff (particularly if they give it away). - Being argued with or bossed around. Timmy Turner should let her live her life; he can clean up her wishes if he hates them that much. - Being told she's annoying. - People (especially women she perceives as wealthy) flirting with her husband. - Someone mocking or breaking her artwork. - Riff-raff tromping through her garden (or filming space). - People who show up to potlucks or gift exchanges without bringing an item. - People handing food to Dev without asking about allergies (especially as a toddler). His parents may struggle to be there emotionally, but he's got an allergy card and they both know it. Don't feed their son. - Sometimes life is hard when you want to go to a nice restaurant and your son is super picky and slow to eat, so he pokes his food and squirms around forever. Don't judge. - When Dale dips out of vacation plans (or other film plans / collab videos / Dimmadome building tours) to work. - Dev talking back to her. Does he not realize she carried and birthed and fed and changed him? :( Look at these adorable vlogs of him in the bathtub! Look how many likes they get when they're reposted next to pictures of how big he's grown! Rude... - Dale leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor. - Suitcases won't zip shut (or break) mid-trip. - Dale not wearing his wedding ring (He forgets!!) - Dev standing on food preparation surfaces. Why does he do that. - Hadley likes board games and travel, but she lives with two boys whose idea of a fun vacation is staying inside the hotel playing with electronics. Devastating. - Why do her husband and son keep hanging up on her when she video calls them at 3:39 AM?

Comforts: Wishing up lots of things... especially plush blankets, silky pajamas, movies, snacks, and stuffed animals

Indulgences: Hadley's deadly sin is gluttony. She overindulges in everything she likes.

This can mean eating lots of sweets, buying 10 identical pairs of pants when she already has tons of clothes at home, projects she's working on, or wishing up a bunch of things that she quickly grows bored of but doesn't bother wishing away.

Owns WAY too many pencils (courtesy of her dad's work).

EXTERNAL

Verbal Notes: Hadley uses a lot of qualifiers like "Um," "I think," "Kind of," "Maybe," and "You know?" You can really hear it when she reviews products. She's a bit more comfortable speaking to Dev directly, but she does this when she's on camera with him and is speaking more to an invisible audience than to her son.

Huge habit of saying "Um," briefly averting eye contact, and snapping her fingers when she tries to find a word or what to say next. Her thoughts often run faster than her mouth and it can take a moment to get her sentences together. Many of her statements are said like questions.

Though she's more confident as an adult than a child, she tends to glance at Dale if Dev asks her a question directly (if Dale is in the room). She'll also glance around at other adults before making decisions (Ex: She'll try to judge if it's the right time to leave a party when Dale or Dev would just leave).

All this said, she tends to speak up more than other "background characters" (owing to the fact that she's a specific OC with a personality, not just random filler). As in, she'll throw in commentary even if not addressed directly.

Language: Speaks English fluently, alongside decent Japanese. Knows some Spanish and French. Can squeak by with bare-bone basics in additional languages like German and Mandarin.

Raised in an upper class family, her husband does business overseas, and she travels widely. She watched a lot of anime growing up and enjoyed studying Japanese

Physical Notes: Shorter than pretty much everyone in the main human cast due to her dad's genetics. A bit rounder and heavier than the others, again mirroring Leadly's body.

Like her son and husband, Hadley is lactose intolerant.

Handedness: Right Body Language: Shy and holding back in her youth (Ex: tucking hands behind her back, folding her arms with hands tucked under pits), but more confident and outspoken with age. Tends to make rolling motions with her hands. Often pauses and snaps her fingers when trying to remember a word. Tucks a bit of hair behind her ear often, especially while rambling. Hair: Takes good care of it. Owns oodles of hair care products, scrunchies, and headbands. Uses a lot of them, but tends to hoard the empty bottles. Teeth: Good hygiene; has used a lot of teeth-whitening products. Growing closer with Dale during their courtship definitely prompted her to be more grateful and thoughtful about her dental care, though she'd never tell him that. Scars: Very mild burn mark on her hand from a hot glue incident. Minor scars from hunting and past surgeries (Ex: Beauty industry-related). Hadley does like her natural body as she considers body positivity part of her brand, but she's done a couple touch-ups. Sometimes scars cause minor sensory issues, but they're fine. Tattoos: Has a tiny budgie with white wings tattooed on her left thigh- A reference to her godfather Eryx Whitewing (though she didn't remember he was a fairy when she got that tattoo). She has a pastel rainbow elk on her left forearm (underside just above wrist)- Her way of tying her love for hunting with her dad to her love of painting with her mom. She has cherry blossom tattoos over her stretch marks and likes showing them off. Somewhere beneath her body positivity brand image, she's got self-doubt; she likes being able to point to them in her swimsuit videos and say she's beautiful and/or that she "birthed a Dimmadome." She loves playing up the "mommy vlogger" angle even if she's not always home to do so. Also, anyone gossiping that she's not Dev's real mom can jump off an iceberg, actually <3 She tends to flash these tattoos at Dev when playing the "I'm your mother; I carried you 9 months and nursed you" card and he's just used to it at this point. She's done "getting my tattoo" videos and hopes Dev does one with her someday.

Style: Aims for eye-catching, unique, and fun with bits of cozy and professional sprinkled on top. Something that makes you pause and maybe compliment her, but reserved enough that her dad won't object to it (Particularly in her youth).

Regular Clothing: A blue sweater with a dark half vaguely resembling a paint splotch. Brown-black pants with white hems and shoes (so she looks partly erased). She also wears a white bowtie (Aiming for "Take me seriously; I'm doing business" vibes). -> She's designed after paintbrushes and erasers: the perfect blend of her artistic mom and pencil-pushing dad. Casual Clothing: Blue short-sleeved shirts, dresses, or tank tops aren't unheard of, but she'd sooner wish for cooler weather... because why not? As an adult who's gotten into influencer culture, she loves picking out cute tops to wear in front of the camera. Crop tops have become a bigger part of her wardrobe since she can't wish the weather cool anymore. Blues, rainbows, and pastels are among her favorites. She also likes overalls, especially for art or cleaning projects. Nightwear: Likes cute and frilly (Think silky, long-sleeved shirts and short shirts for pajama sets). Black with white spots are her favorite. Not a fan of nightgowns. Formal Clothing: When presenting herself, Hadley prefers not to associate with the Leadly brand more than she must (as she'd rather the name Harrington become recognizable); however, she'll wear pink and yellow pencil-themed clothes if her dad requests it for special events. Other: Likes flaunting swimsuits. Dev's seen his mom in crop tops and bikinis ever since he was very little; he's not easily embarrassed by his parents showing skin. Or by anyone else's skin, for that matter. Lemon-themed clothing is a huge no-no. We don't tell her husband about That Swimsuit...

Adult Height: 4′10″

Hygiene: Surprisingly intense, though not consistent. Hadley likes buying products and trying them, but she also leaves them strewn across her en suite bathroom (in all her homes). She and Dale have separate ones because he does not like dealing with her stuff on the counters and Hadley doesn't like him moving it. Also, Dev will always use his dad's bathroom over his mom's if those are his two options. Too much stuff...

Morning Schedule: 

Travel: Often scrambling to keep up with her plans. Needs to look cute! Needs to go out! Needs to say her script right! It's a lot. At least all the hair care and make-up practice from her youth came through- She's speedy at getting ready. Home: Wakes up after Dale, so sometimes he's in bed (on his phone or tablet) and sometimes not. Neither's prone to snuggling, but Hadley often wakes up with his elbow on her head. The fact that he sometimes loiters is a win in her book. He lingers more often when it's Sunday: the day he's most likely to take a break. When Dev was young, Hadley prepared breakfast for him more often. Nowadays, he's often gone to school by the time she's up. Sometimes Dev doesn't know his mom came home last night and hears her voice (or smells waffles), so he'll scramble downstairs to see her and give a big hug.

Typical Day Schedule: 

Travel: Sightseeing, travel between locations, and vlogging. Trips are often planned in advance, meaning she doesn't have to decide in the moment where to go. Sometimes Hadley will be spontaneous, but she tries to stick to her plans. The au pairs help. Home: Returning home usually means a lot of video editing- Hadley does some of it herself and has a team to help with other aspects. Sometimes she's tired and needs to rest - Usually Dev's at school on Mondays, so that gives her recovery time until he's home - but in the summer, he's often all over her, wanting attention. Unless he's not... Who knows. Dev tends to be wiggly and excited to join his mom in filming when she's home. Hadley needs her share of rest (Often lying on the couch and mumbling "20 more minutes," but she's as happy to see Dev as he is to see her. Hadley's home life is a balancing act of getting her work done and seeing her baby boy, who's getting so goshdarn big. Hadley's home visits allow her to record the mommy vlogger content she dearly enjoys. For Dev, Mom coming home usually equates to her taking him places (like restaurants or plays) to rate food or other things with her. Sometimes they stay home to rate clothes, snacks, art supplies, or movies. Hadley loves doing these activities with Dev (especially crafts) since it reminds her of doing things with her mom; she's taught Dev a lot of cooking hacks. Against all odds, he can cook for himself and knows very well what he can and can't eat. Dev gets a lot of his "relaxed & smiling" default attitude from his mom; he's more likely to take his shades off around her than anyone else (barring Hazel). Dev's excitement cools off the longer his mom's home (leading him to slide back into his usual schedule and be grumpier when Hadley wants to film with him), but the early days are exciting, especially if she's been on a long trip. Sometimes they do an activity that plays into both their OCD, like coming home with a load of stuff (books, art supplies, groceries) and meticulously organizing the pantry, library, or craft room. The au pairs can put things away where THEY think it goes, but it's a big night in the Dimmadome house when Hadley and Dev dump a shelf over and arrange things by color or size instead of alphabetically. High-fives all around! Dev does not like stray items in his room due to paranoia that any mess will spiral out of control and he'll end up like his hoarder mom... Sometimes it's hard for him to organize the dedicated storage area set aside for him in another room because he's a child, so that's fun for Hadley. Dev's anxiety spikes any time he finds his mom in his room(s) unsupervised, because she'll just bring in bags of stuff and leave it in a heap, and he HATES that... It needs to be put away...

Evening Schedule: 

Travel: Evening may be filled with fine dining, museum tours, or landmark visits- whatever the day's event is. Mostly, Hadley unwinds after a busy day. Depending on her energy levels, she browses social media or calls home- usually Dev (so as not to interrupt Dale working). Sometimes she gives her au pairs a check-up. Home: Hadley tries to do most of her editing during 9 to 5- Sticking to a schedule helps her not procrastinate (Sometimes). That gives her time in the evenings to handle things related to Dev's life, like parent-teacher conferences. Hadley cooks dinners, but only if she's making a video out of it- often with titles like "Cooking X for My Lactose-Intolerant Son" or "Recreating [Notable Restaurant's] Meals From Scratch." Cooking is one of her skills since she did a lot of that and baking with her mom. She's taught Dev how to cook and bake some foods. Since her mom's still alive, sometimes they bring her in too, so Dev gets to have family moments... even if his dad isn't there. Dale is not good at being complimentary of food, but he'll clean his plate no matter what Hadley puts on it, so it's all good. -> Unfortunate running gag in Hadley's videos: Dev is super picky and doesn't like a lot of food, but Dale has no opinions because after living in abuse for 7 years, there's nothing besides lemons and lactose products he won't eat. Sometimes when the cameras aren't on them, Dev just gives his food to Dale who will eat it as fast as possible before the cameras are on them again. Hadley is better at engaging directly with Dev than Dale is. She can't always get his focus on board games, but sometimes she can get him to follow her on a brief walk... even if he walks slow because he's still glued to his tablet. He tends to whine if he wants his devices or manga, but they do okay. Besides recording videos, their most common evening activity is anime. It's not always the 1 on 1 engagement Dev needs, but it's something. If Dev's in bed when Hadley's feeling restless, she might bother and/or watch Dale. Works great if he's up working on a project- just grab a chair and scoot next to him. Sometimes she considers projects for the next day- She can get sucked into browsing online and impulse buying, but doesn't usually start brand new things late at night.

Sleep Schedule: Inconsistent. Tends to have more energy and racing thoughts at night; struggles to sleep. Falls asleep late and wakes up late too.

Travel: Tends to toss and turn in bed. Paranoid about her videos and watches them with a critical eye. Calls home, forgetting to check time zones. Pretty poor sleep schedule, but luckily she can start recording whenever she wants to the next day. Often feels exhausted, but she's used to it. Home: Hadley fidgets and thrashes a lot in her sleep, which Dale doesn't love, but he puts up with it for the times she's occasionally home. She can't sleep in "her" room because... hoarding OCD. The au pairs once cleaned her room and she immediately came home and dumped loads of stuff in it and came to Dale's bed anyway, so he's given up.

PERSONAL

Hadley's Family Tree: HERE

Relationship Status: Married to Dale Dimmadome. She prefers acknowledging him as "My husband" and avoids dropping his name as much as possible, but if she's asked directly "Dale Dimmadome?" she'll laugh and say "Yeah, we've known each other since we were kids" and change the subject.

Nothing against Dale as a person- She just wants people to take interest in HER stuff and not ask questions about him. If Dale is with her, he'll introduce himself big and loud and sometimes talk over her because he is not self-aware enough to not.

Dale and Hadley tend to discuss their relationship in business terms rather than lovey-dovey ones. They don't have pet names for each other and they're none too physically affectionate, but they share a bed because Dale can't make Hadley not and while they do annoy each other, they get along fine.

Nothing more intimate than deep talks and holding hands before marriage... Affectionate, but not infatuated (and certainly not in love). Not much changed after marriage. But despite their low-affection home life, they fall into confident, smug, almost lovey-dovey power couple personas when the cameras are on.

Hadley's amazing love life is definitely exaggerated for the audience and sometimes it hurts when people fawn over or compliment them for being such a sweet couple.

They actually do have some risqué things going on behind closed doors, so... some of the innuendos they drop when flirting are exactly what you think they are. Sometimes they flirt over Dev's head and he'll just look up from his tablet and stare into the camera (or make loud commentary about how they're gross).

They're certainly not divorced and probably will never be... but there's still married life tension between them. Generally, they get along great (Having been arranged; both worked hard to make their relationship work and have known each other for a long time), but there's some wobbly commitment due to lack of deep affection.

Some weeks Dale and Hadley are on extremely good terms and can be a little gooey lovey-dovey, others they drive each other up the wall because ADHD, OCD, hoarding, owning many businesses, being frequently absent, misophonia, recording videos, and still being young parents (Early to mid 30s when Dev is 9) are a rough combination.

Betrothed to Dale: At age 16. They'd run in the same social circle all their life, so they were certainly aware of each other despite not being romantic. Well, Dale missed 7 years, but other than that...

Specifically, their dads worked this out as an option in their youth, pitched it to them individually, and they both accepted. I mean... Neither of them was ever gonna say "No" to Daddy.

Clarifying note: They weren't married until Hadley was 21 and doing great in college - Her dropping the ball wasn't gonna fly - but the betrothal was offered at age 16 since Dale is 3 ½ years older and it was time for him and Doug to finalize a plan. Since the Leadlys are multimillionaires rich enough for Leadly to drop 17 million on a spontaneous purchase ("Dog Gone"), one of his daughters was the ideal place to start asking.

Simple courtship. Mostly, Dale and Hadley continued seeing each other at the usual social gatherings, but as they got older, they slowly moved towards deeper talks about their future. Lots of showy gifts exchanged in the way you'd expect upper class kids to flirt.

Dale definitely took his time working up to, y'know... talking to people. Neither Dale nor Hadley trusts easily, both having come from families that raised them to be wary of someone taking advantage of them for wealth. However, their shared backgrounds and planned betrothal helped grow their trust in each other, leading to them both feeling very safe in the other's presence.

Married Dale: January 21st, 2012 - One month after she turned 21

Ideal Relationship: In her middle school days, Hadley used to date people she thought were fun and interesting. She wishes her relationship with Dale was more adventurous (as Dale is very big on staying in his safe zone and doing things the way HE likes), but she really likes when he comes on holiday trips with her.

She'd love to be a travel blogger alongside her husband, but recognizes that's not in the cards because he's too tied up in Dimmadome businesses.

Sometimes Dale skips vacations so he can work, which Hadley grumps at him about (Reminding him that she can make money via filming, especially if he and Dev show up for views, tends to coax him along unless he's working on a big project).

She's not necessarily chasing fiery passion, but emotional closeness- She had a positive relationship with her mom (who was very engaged in her kids' lives) but wasn't close with her dad or step-dad. She craves adult male affection along the lines of a deep voice telling her good job or greeting her with "Hi, Honey."

In other words, Hadley tends to seek validation from men and doesn't often get it. She's completely faithful to her husband, but there's a gap in her wants that Dale doesn't fill with his general struggles to be attentive and affectionate. Except for when he does.

Hadley would've liked more kids (Clickbait gold! ... I mean, she loved her big family growing up), but that doesn't seem to be in the cards at this point. She'd never scheme to trick Dale into more kids, but if he brought up the idea, she'd be instantly on board- she loves her hot(?) husband and misses her pregnancy and nursing years a lot.

She is not looking forward to menopause and will definitely be very needy for Dale's attention (and not subtle that she wants more kids) in the years leading up to it. Dale doesn't have a strong history of saying "No" even when he has misgivings, so... Preemptive congratulations on big brotherhood, Dev! Have fun with that.

Sexuality: Never looked into it. Does it matter? Her married life was set out before her when she was still in high school.

Can confirm she's allosexual and has a history of liking boys, but anything beyond that is a blur...

Intimate History: Sexually intimate with only one partner (Her husband, Dale).

Cherry lemon ship masterpost

Turn-Ons: Shiny muscles... And quirky gimmicks. Amused by novelty date ideas (like spas that let fish eat dead skin from your toes) and likes dragging Dale along. Planning dates is plenty fun- She tends to go down the rabbit hole researching. Sometimes that's more fun than the date itself, though it's devastating when she gives a plan to Dale and he looks at it, then her, and says "I'm busy that day."

She gets around this by planning things like picnics so he can be on his tablet and Hadley can at least pretend he's there emotionally

The mural of Dale covered in money was all his idea, but she supports it in full. She has one too, but it's in a room her hoarding took over; Dev's seen the room clogged with stuff, but hasn't seen the mural behind the clutter. She and Dale have a lot of photos and videos in the undressed-and-covered-in-money genre.

For better or worse, Hadley's just as into ranch-themed cosplay as Dale is. Hey, Pencil Nexus has a branch in Texas- It's in her blood! She likes rhinestones, boots, and hats. She keeps misplacing them in her hoard, but Dale will throw himself into digging them out if he must... He likes his hot wife in denim and cowgirl fringes.

She considers "Big and Loud" from Cats Don't Dance to be romantic and has probably sung it to Dale at least once while dressed like that. Did he like it? I don't know.

Videos are... definitely their thing, but those are for Hadley's Me Time (Lying bleary-eyed on a hotel bed with her phone glowing in her face like "Why is my husband so hot? When will he call me back?" and then she'll just watch a bunch of TooYube or play a mobile game and be fine). Are the au pairs scarred by the things they've seen? Eh, probably.

Hadley doesn't love divulging too much about her private life, so she'll make up random things Dale's into for video purposes ("My husband loves this body gel / clothing item / getaway location"), but Dale doesn't watch her videos, so it's fine. Don't ask Dev what he knows about his parents' love life, because it's more than he should and largely untrue.

Children: Dev Dimmadome

When I draw Dale and Dev, I draw them both with puffs of hair below their ears. Dale's are small and point out or down. Dev's are larger and point up, which he gets from Hadley.

In 2024, I reddened Hadley's hair by a few shades and added three hair spikes to connect her design more with Dev's. Dev is on the shorter side like his mom and shares more of her roundness than his dad's scrawniness.

Dev grew up watching a lot of his mom's videos and has appeared in a lot of them. They video call sometimes when she's not around.

Hadley longs to have more children, but Dale's not likely to go for it any time soon. That's okay... She's willing to wait. Hadley is the type of person who wants to name her kids Bill or Buck (after money). She definitely pitched these names to Dale, but gave her puns away by cracking up.

Notable Grandchildren: Practically confirmed she'll have some... What's Dev gonna do? Say no? ( 🦗 ♪ 🦗 ♪ )

Father: Edmund "Ed" Leadly

Hadley gets the shine and front point in her hair from her dad. She has his pale green eyes. Although I don't draw her in Leadly's on-model style, she shares his bigger build (roundness and weight) and is one of the shorter kids in the cast, drawing from Leadly's height.

Leadly is lactose intolerant, hailing from the Spanish side of his family; he passed the gene to Hadley.

Grandfather: Rufus Leadly

Grandmother: Eugenie Leadly (née Rivers)

Notable Ancestors: Robert Penn (Early settler of Dimmsdale)

Mother: Dolly Harrington

Hadley gets her reddish brown hair from her mom. Hadley's skin is a bit lighter than Leadly's, which comes from her mom's side. While not lactose intolerant, she's a carrier and passed the gene to Hadley.

Her mom is the widow of Wylie Kirkwood, whom she had two sons with before marrying Leadly.

Grandfather: Sterling Harrington

Grandmother: Mavis Harrington (née Campagna)

Fairy Godfather: Eryx Whitewing

Met June 14th, 2002

Friend and caretaker. They got along fine, though Eryx was nervous and Hadley never believed his insistence he had a girlfriend.

Full-Blooded Siblings: Harper Harrington & Leo Leadly

Also opted to move in with her mom. Wants nothing to do with her dad, which Leadly finds annoying. She threw a fit when her parents tried to engage her, so Hadley was next. Leo is 3 years younger than Hadley, but also lives with his mom growing up. Not out of malice- It's just the best option since she's a very involved stay-at-home mom and Leadly works all the time. Leo likes his dad and his dad likes him a lot in return. Leo's married to Ruby Cashulott (Another rich family in Dimmsdale; surname dropped in S9's "Country Clubbed," but spelling is my own for all I know. Ruby's mother Crystal appeared in my one-shot, "Whatever" and Ruby was namedropped as a friend of Hadley's in "Trying Too Hard."

Step-Brothers: Noah & Charles Kirkwood

Noah and Charles lost their dad and live with their mom; they are not biologically related to Leadly. Both are older than Hadley and come from her mom's previous marriage.

Half-Sister: Olivia Leadly

Younger than Hadley; comes from Leadly's marriage after the divorce from Hadley's mom. She's an infant during the frozen timestream.

Birth Order for Hadley Siblings: Noah, Charles, Harper, Hadley, Leo, Olivia

Exes: None known; she stopped dating other people after her betrothal was confirmed (if she even dated at all).

She attended the Dimmsdale-Retroville crossover dance in the 130 Prompt "Back In Action." Her date for that dance was Bolbi (Jimmy Neutron), but she lost track of him. Presumably didn't see him again after that dance.

Husband: Dale Dimmadome

Met in childhood (Technically crossed paths when she was an infant). Doesn't remember him well since she was young when he went missing, but she's seen the photos of them together as kids- Those photos were on display at parties even when he was absent. After his return from 7 years of child labor, Hadley and Dale went hunting together with their dads every year. They still make time for hunting... sometimes.

Celebrity Crushes: Finds some influencers attractive (Especially those with a focus on travel and fitness), but she'd never tell you that.

Current Love Interest: Dale...? Eh, close enough.

Other Important Relationships: As an adult, Hadley's built up a following who enjoy(?) her content... which mostly boils down to "I may have an affluent life, but I'm just like you guys! I'm down to earth and I do projects! Look at my cute son!!"

She has assistants, drivers, contacts, and online friends. Three au pairs accompany her when she films- 23, 95, and 88.

- While he was alive, Hadley was on good terms with her father-in-law (Doug Dimmadome), who always considered her bright and innovative... even if he thought it was foolish to try pursuing her own fame and career when she came from a wealthy family and had married into a second one.

He never really got the influencer thing and in all honesty... He was glad when he heard Dale and Hadley were trying for kids (and relieved when it happened).

Generally, Hadley found Doug's opinions sexist and out of touch as he'd comment that she didn't need to work and should think about kids, but they got along okay. He liked her and they went hunting together for several years- Doug and Ed and Dale and Hadley, and that's probably what won Doug over when extending the betrothal offer.

- Hadley and Remy are as close as you can get when you're both rich kids who put up walls. They lived near each other as kids and were both in middle school during the 50 years of frozen time (apart from Remy returning to elementary briefly to mess with Timmy and Remy's military school experience from "Operation F.U.N.")

They tend to pair up for group projects and school events (like dances). They were never a couple, but plenty of people thought they were. Hadley is familiar with Remy's parents (and the parents of all the upper class kids) due to attending social events her whole life.

Juandissimo (who likes Wanda) and Eryx (who likes Blonda) are friends. They love gossiping about the Fairywinkles and giving each other general love life advice. Eryx doesn't pursue Blonda; he just thinks she's neat. He has a girlfriend (Allegedly).

Hadley is close with Remy and gave him a lot of support after he lost his arm. Also, she thinks it's funny to claim she would've married Remy if his parents had set them up (despite Remy's deadpan replies that he doesn't like her like that).

- Hadley and Timmy are aware of each other. Timmy finds her annoying because she wishes up a ton of things and sells them to other kids, but doesn't care if her wishes cause chaos. Since Timmy can't unwish her wishes directly, Timmy has to get creative about it. They occasionally cross paths at special events like Fairy Con, the Zappys, or Cupid's parties.

Hadley's fairy, Eryx, is a huge fan of Blonda. He sometimes bothers Cosmo or Wanda for her autograph. Also, Cosmo is friends with Eryx; they use Leadly's hot tub together ("Dog Gone") sometimes when they're free from godparent work. They unwind with chat and games.

Timmy got into hunting during his teens (with Sparky at his side). Hadley, who'd been hunting with her dad since she was 9, has gone on several trips with Timmy and her dad (and Timmy's Pappy). While they've never been close and don't go out of their way to see each other, they consider each other friends.

Hadley really wants to bring Dev on a hunting trip when he's 10 and up. Timmy's daughter (Tammy) is eager to join in, though younger Tommy has more reservations and would rather play mobile games with Dev.

- Supposedly, Eryx has a steady girlfriend. However, it's a running gag that Hadley has never seen this girlfriend and doesn't believe she's real, no matter how many people actually DO see her and beg Hadley to believe Eryx is telling the truth.

Hadley is thoroughly convinced Eryx's love life is pretty sad and that he gives himself gifts, or that every time he tells her he has date night, he's just visiting friends in Fairy World.

- Excluding godparents, Cupid is Hadley's main contact in Fairy World (Compared to Jorgen for Timmy or H.P. for Remy). Since her father's love life involves a string of divorces and broken-off courtship attempts - and since Eryx is clearly lonely - Hadley regularly seeks Cupid's help for this and that.

She outright bribes him, so he likes her a lot and invites her to all his parties. Unclear if Cupid is screwing her dad's life up on purpose to keep the money coming in. He always did think she and Dale were a cute couple, but it's unknown if he and Hadley ever spoke about it.

- Hadley participated in the Last Grand Hurrah (Purple Train story arc). In other words, she's mildly familiar with Molly, Dwight, Denzel Crocker, and Happy Peppy Gary. Hadley keeps her feelings close to the vest and didn't really bond with them, but she enjoyed meeting new people.

-> Although she never had Crocker for her teacher, she's very aware of him due to the vague threat he is towards Eryx. She lets Timmy deal with that, only crossing Crocker's path when he snoops around or they're at city events.

- Hadley knows random people from Eryx's friend group... or at least, the buddies he gambles with and sometimes ends up in debt to. He's been in debt to Big Daddy Fairywinkle multiple times. Hadley thinks Big Daddy is interesting, but he definitely spooks her. She'd totally go hunting with him too if given the option.

- Hilariously, Hadley tends to run into Anti-Fairies while Remy rubs shoulders with Pixies. Hadley tends to forget Pixies exist and Remy doesn't have a good concept of what an Anti-Fairy even is... However, this changes once they start attending the Fairy World Games. Then they might remember.

-> Hadley is very familiar with Anti-Cosmo, Anti-Wanda, Foop, and a list of Anti-Fairies Timmy's never even heard of. Anti-Cosmo has tried to make her his godchild several times (Usually by taking advantage of Eryx's skittish nature or Hadley's hoarding OCD by offering her cursed items), but in true FOP fashion, Hadley evades that fate every time.

-> Hadley sees Foop as an equal threat to Anti-Cosmo (e.g. she doesn't coddle him for his youth). They're not affectionate towards each other- When it comes to humans, Foop is only sweet on Chloe and the Crockers. Foop enjoys messing with Hadley because she tends to be explosive back at him. He often flies off cackling while she yells at him from her window.

-> Hadley calls Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda by name (Compared to Chloe, who refers to them as "Mr. Foop's dad" and "Mrs. Foop's mom"). If you asked him, Anti-Cosmo would begrudgingly admit he's fond of Hadley (and/or boast about what he'll do when she's his godkid someday).

TRIVIA

- She was my first FOP OC (created December 2015). Her purpose was to be in the background and I never expected her husband to become a major character in FOP media, so I'm genuinely excited to write more for her with City Lights AU. It couldn't have happened to a better OC of mine than the very first!

- Top picture is her adult self; the one in her History section is her 12-year-old self.

- Her hair curl flips sides depending on which way she's facing.

- Hadley's MBTI is ESTJ while Dale's is ISTJ. They're very similar people, though Hadley's definitely the more outgoing.

- In her godkid days, Hadley was very proud of putting her own effort into her studies rather than zapping knowledge into her brain. Many of her wishes were about beauty products and cool clothes, but she enjoyed the process of doing her hair and make-up as well as reading books.

- Generally oblivious in social settings. Tends to be loud and blatant, but she's generally polite in face-to-face encounters... especially as she gets older. She had a hot temper as a kid.

- Her mom (who also comes from wealth) is a professional painter and gardener: Two hobbies Hadley did with her all the time as a kid.

- Her mom has a blood blossom garden; Leadly makes Hadley give flowers to people he's trying to sus out as witches (Ex: Happy Peppy Gary in "Trying Too Hard").

- Often visits Pennsylvania and Texas; Pencil Nexus has its head office and a branch there, respectively - (S7's "The Boss of Me").

- She's very good at shooting rifles- She's been hunting with her dad ever since she was 9 (Both in Texas and California). She and Timmy have gone on hunting trips with Sparky.

- She hums the Pencil Nexus theme a lot, especially if she's waiting in a line or doing chores. She's bad at sneaking around- she forgets she shouldn't hum. It's also her ringtone.

- Tends to pull the "I was pregnant & gave birth to you and this is what I get?" card on Dev. She thinks it's cute and funny and doesn't mean it in a guilt-trippy way... though Dev doesn't love it.

- She liveblogged her full pregnancy (in addition to things like decorating the nursery or shopping for baby clothes). She was absolutely exhausted after Dev's birth, but tried to put on the image that she wasn't- She strives to be authentic in her videos, but hid some pregnancy and postpartum details she was self-conscious about. It's not lying if you just fudge the truth a little, right?

Bought Dev WAY too many clothes and toys when he was a newborn. Used to do "My baby ranks the most popular toys" and "My baby ranks the top baby foods" videos when he could barely crawl. Dev was clickbait for a ton of her videos back then, with Hadley holding him up to the camera while she talked and he sucked his fist and babbled.

- She's strongly considered vlogging about life in a house of three people who all have ADHD and OCD, but it's pretty much been agreed she shouldn't put her family on blast like that. She scrolls ADHD and OCD forums and sometimes comments without letting on who she is, though. Sometimes she records the videos anyway, even if she doesn't post them publicly.

- Pretty much never takes 1 on 1 vacations with Dale- It's "whole family or bust" for her. Dale gets time to work while Hadley entertains Dev, Dev gets to enjoy time with his parents, and Hadley gets her family nearby- Everyone wins! ... Dale is not always present in the moment, but close enough!

- Like Dale, she forbids Dev from drinking lemonade in the house and/or around Dale, but doesn't talk about Dale's past with Dev. It's also a line she won't cross with her vlogs; she'd never do a "Tricking my husband into drinking lemonade" video- The public doesn't know Dale has issues with lemonade and Hadley doesn't put that on blast.

Dev watches every video she puts out. They're comforting for him, even if they sometimes make him feel sad or lonely. He lacked privacy in childhood and has been very exploited by his mom. Although neither of his parents is there for him emotionally, he tends to excuse his mom's absence due to her work travels more than his dad, who's home all the time.

- She and Dale signed a prenup, but Hadley definitely brought up the "Uh... If we're not in love now, what would cause us to get divorced?" question. No real answer for that.

- High-fives have always been her thing- It's one of the first things Dale was comfortable with (before sustained hand holding) and she raised Dev on high-fives ever since he was a baby (especially on camera, because it's cute). Until Hazel, Dev always saw high-fives as his mom's thing, so it took some getting used to.

- Like Dale and Dev, Hadley sometimes refers to people with the wrong name. Funnily enough, she doesn't get this from hanging around them- She gets it from her dad ("The Boss of Me")

- She can pick up and carry her husband. Doesn't do it much because he'll make honky, squeaky sounds and try to squirm away, but sometimes Dale and Dev climb on her to reach something.

- She and Dale both like wearing cowboy hats and boots, especially when they visit Texas. A lot of their promotional images (and Hadley's phone wallpaper) depict them in such clothes.

- Sometimes Dev joins Hadley on her travels (especially during school breaks). In City Lights AU, Peri thinks she's okay, but he mistrusts her and thinks she neglects Dev's true needs. He once got buried in a pile of stuff when she was flinging things over her shoulder.

- When she's lonely on her travels (especially at a hotel late at night, or watching kids play in a park nearby while she eats or waits in a line), she'll video chat with Dev; this is frustrating for him if she's in a different time zone. Sometimes he's in school and hangs up on her and then she guilt-trips him a little by sending him a sad emoticon (and the obligatory "Why won't you say hi to your mother who carried and birthed you?" message).

- She does a fantastic job of Not Being The Worst while also Not Being Great, but that's par for the course in the Fairly OddParents world. I love her, actually.

- I live in fear that one day, I'll mistype and say Hazel is Dale's wife (or Hadley is Dev's wife). Please tell me if I do... I've already had to correct so many misspellings of calling Dale her child. Did some evade me? Who knows...

APPEARANCES

Main Blog Tag - #Hadley and Eryx

Sideblog Tag - #RD Hadley

AO3 Tag - #Hadley Harrington

At the time of posting this, her two speaking appearances are in the 130 Prompts "Back In Action," where she's at the Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour dance chasing squirrels, and "Trying Too Hard," where Ed Leadly brings her along when he tries shaking Gary and Betty down for the Learnatorium (again); Hadley's very embarrassed.

Although offscreen, she was heavily referenced in "End of the World" when Timmy led Remy to her house so she could help with the cure for Juandissimo's fairy flu.

She was briefly mentioned in "Opportunity" when her dad put the pieces together and realized his daughter has a fairy godparent.

Her surname was dropped in "Entire World," "Solo," and "Looking Back," confirming her as on the Pixies' radar & as a member of Gary and Crocker's Fairy World invasion team. She'll appear in "You Deserve It" very soon, reuniting with Dale for the first time since he disappeared.

When she was created, the intention was to populate Dimmsdale for namedrop purposes (such as when Timmy or Jorgen are looking for godkids, or Pixies are doing paperwork). So... she gets namedropped a lot! She often plays comedic straight man for her dad as Leadly is... a piece of work.

In City Lights AU, Hadley's thus far appeared in "50 Words of Dev and Hazel." She'll play a major role in "50 Words of The Dimmadomes" and Dale's backstory 'fic, Lemonade and Papercuts.

She's also due to appear in Along the Cherry Lane in Cloudlands AU once 130 Reasons Why I'm Fairy Trash is complete; Hadley makes minor appearances in the latter project and so does her dad.

Sideblog Masterpost

[all-pacas]

can you imagine what it would be like if cameron and chase had children on the show?

hilarious. liver lesbians two point oh

no okay! ok. SERIOUS ANSWER.

First of all, I don't think they'd be bad parents. It also seems to have been something they discussed off screen and decided they were going to do. In a way, it makes sense for them both, yeah? A lot of their relationship seems to have been… both of them sort of cosplaying "an adult relationship," ignoring the looming issues and hitting those Milestones. That's not to say I think they were like… faking it, but. I think both Cameron and Chase liked being people who were in a successful relationship, proving they could do it and sustain it. And that kind of "ignore the problems" attitude got them through a few years!

I'm gonna do a quick tangent! IDK if you know Elementary (if you don't, it's incredible, please watch it). But a major thread for Joan's character on the show is that she feels like she should pursue romance and date and have Serious Relationships, because that's just what you do, and she's very good at following society's rules. Except she doesn't actually like romance. She enjoys sex. She enjoys friendship and companionship. But she's pretty damn aromantic, and her development essentially is her coming to terms with that fact about herself: that wanting to want relationships isn't the same and it's actually fine. A lot of Joan's development is her embracing the idea that she can be whatever and whoever she wants to be, she can be a consulting detective, instead of fitting into a little box.

I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say Cameron is aromantic, but it's very, very true that she wants love. She defines herself as someone who loves, someone who would love a dying man, someone who can love and fix House, and a lot of her relationship with Chase actually sort of tiptoes around the idea that maybe she's not correct about her self perception. She is almost always presented as "in the wrong" where Chase is concerned, subtly and less so. (She is told to compromise and let him move in. She is told to destroy the sperm. She is told to stop passive-aggressively ghosting him and get engaged.) I'm not sure that Cameron really learned anything about herself in all of this, but I do think that a) Cameron absolutely has a five year plan for herself that involves Marriage and 2.5 Kids and a House, because it's what you do and because she defines herself as a person who wants all that, and b) she probably does not want all that, because time and time again she struggles with the gap between how she wants the world and her life to be, and how it actually is, and never quite seems to be entirely happy with who she is and where she is in life.

So of course she wants kids. And I think she'd be a good mom, to be clear. But I think she'd like being a mom a lot less than she expects. She absolutely imagines some sort of… wearing a long dress and everything is perfect and floaty and soft focus, you know?

Obviously, Chase gets along great with kids. He bonds with them, he's good at talking to them. The S8 sister retcon makes perfect retroactive sense: of course he basically raised his younger sister, because he knows how to talk to kids too well for a spoiled rich kid only child. I actually don't know — he alludes to Cameron that they're planning on having kids, but I can go either way on how much he'd actually, personally want them, you know? Getting along with kids is different from having them, and he has so many issues with his own parents it's easy to imagine he'd be pretty wary of the idea. And while he comes off as more committed than Cameron when they're together, he doesn't have any serious relationships or desires to settle down before or after her. But when they're together, he is totally all in on the relationship, and what do you do when you get married? You have kids, obviously.

So I think they absolutely were planning to have kids, and had the divorce not happened, they definitely would have had one or two, and I think it would have majorly freaked them both out (Cameron, who has a history of picking up and moving cross-country in the face of trauma, can't leave once she has a baby; Chase, who has all the parental issues in the world, probably terrified of letting his kid down like his parents did). And I think they wouldn't be able to talk about it with one another, because that would be admitting doubts. And I think they'd probably both double down on being good parents, because if you admit this isn't what you want you have failed as a person. I think it's quite possible they might have both (to circle back to Joan and Elementary) been happier and lasted longer if they never got engaged, if they could just… be together with no expectations or pressure or kids. I think there's no way either of them would ever consider it. Cameron idealizes marriage too much. Chase is too incapable of admitting his insecurities.

I think I've joked before: AU where they don't divorce still ends in divorce. I think their best case scenario is they split up when the kids are older. They manage to be pretty amicable about it, they actually do remain friends and decent co-parents. They're both deeply, deeply relieved to call it quits.

Also, their kids would be really pretty.

[atamascolily]

Going back to the imagery and symbolism of the doppelganger and Gothic Double, I was reminded that not only does PMMM already has a name for a magical girl's shadow self (witch), it also has one specifically for Homura's as well. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that Homulilly's name hasn't come up more often in the speculation of who the "other" Homura might be, given their established connection.

This might seem like a stretch because the last time we saw Homulilly, she was a giant suicidal skeleton, but hear me out.

Rebellion gives us two examples of magical girls who are also witches: Sayaka and Nagisa. As a general rule, Sayaka and Oktavia appear as two separate entities, allowing Sayaka to fight on her own and have emotional moments with Kyouko while Oktavia clashes directly with Homulilly.

Meanwhile, Nagisa does the complete opposite: she embodies her witch Charlotte (both doll and worm forms), appearing as one or the other instead of both at the same time. In a scene that lives rent-free in my brain, she pulls the witch's clown mask over her face while in magical girl form, thus becoming both at once--but I don't think we ever see her split in the same way that Sayaka does with Oktavia.

Taken together, these examples imply that there are different ways magical girls and their witches can relate to each other. Though we have not yet seen a witch split from the original magical girl and take on her form at the same time, Homura, being the Devil, might have other abilities that Nagisa and Sayaka lack, or might be an exception to the general rule. (There is also the weirdness that Homulilly has dramatically different forms, depending on whether we're talking about the PSP game/Magia Records vs. Rebellion, which is unusual in and of itself.)

Homura may be the Devil, but she is also unquestionably still a witch. Not only does she still have her Clara Doll familiars, but her earcuff--her equivalent to a soul gem--says "HOMULILLY" now.

Well, actually, it says HOMUL, but you get the point. Props to the animators for hiding an important detail from the ending in the opening credits.

Rebellion makes a big deal of the fact that soul gems in ring form are marked with the magical girl's name in witch runes--and that magical girls ARE their soul gems--so the fact that Devil!Homura appears to identify on some level as "Homulilly" is fascinating. It's unclear if Devil!Homura has the same relationship to her "Dark Orb" (a name I cannot say with a straight face) that a magical girl has to her soul gem, or if it's merely a device or a tool she created to channel for her powers, but either way, Homulilly is still around.

All this could potentially explain why Homulilly would take on Homura's form in Walpurgis no Kaiten--because on some level, they are the same. Homulilly-as-Homura's double/shadow self would also help retroactively explain why their names are so similar--unusually so for a magical girl and witch pair.

And if Homulilly is the doppelganger, then her motive for messing with Homura (whether that entails infiltrating her life, manipulating Madoka and/or destroying the world) is obvious. Because nobody hates Homura as much as Homura hates herself. Nobody would understand how best to get under Homura's skin than she would. Nobody would be able to anticipate and counter everything Homura does than her own reflection. And it would take all of the suicidal imagery from Rebellion and dial it up to eleven.

Because Homulilly is never directly mentioned by name in Rebellion (only getting a brief title card in witch runes), even if I'm right and this other Homura is Homulilly, I'm not sure that any of the characters in Walpurgis no Kaiten would ever refer to her by this name directly. She herself, if pressed, might say some variation on "I'm you" to Homura, where her identity becomes clear in context. Alternately, that name might appear again in runes (anything in runes is for the audience's benefit, not the characters).

But I'd be very surprised if Homulilly didn't turn up in some fashion in Walpurgis no Kaiten--and this other Homura seems like an obvious candidate given what we know thus far.