#to use him as a puppet without him noticing that's what they're doing

[qstarhalo]

"But I don't think you're a puppet of the Federation"

[3hks]

Familial Trauma Prompts That Are Beyond "My Parents Died"

𖦹 Parent-sponsored Sibling Rivalry: the parents give the star child the most attention, creating unhealthy competition between their children that leads to a toxic household.

𖦹 Constantly Absent Parents: they're always somewhere, but just never at home. Before you know it, the kid is raising him/herself and any siblings.

𖦹 Emotionally Absent Parents: this time, they're there. But only physically. There never there when the child is stressed, confused, or breaking down. They're like a ghost who's present but useless.

𖦹 Overly Conservative, Outdated Parents: the parents who treat their kids like they're in the 1900s. Their expectations for their children are so out of touch and restricting that the kids don't know how to express themselves anymore.

𖦹 The Ignored Child: this is the child that the parents pay least attention to. They're not quite good enough to be applauded and not quite unique enough to get noticed.

𖦹 The Manipulative Guardians: they'll guilt-trip, gaslight--they'll do anything to make their child act as a puppet for them. They're not raising the kid; they're investing in them.

𖦹 The Vicariously-Lived-Through Child: what their parents failed to do will be what their child will succeed. They push their offspring towards their regrets without consideration of the children themselves and force them to fix their regrets by living vicariously through them.

𖦹 The Parents with High Expectations: they expect nothing but the best for their child. Their ideals are so unrealistic that they're simply impossible, but the kid must achieve them regardless. For a while, they're at the top before they break down and come crashing back to Earth.

𖦹 The Toxic Sibling Parents Are Unaware About: a child that appears perfectly responsible, sweet, and well-behaved in front of parents is actually a demon in disguise when alone with their sibling(s). They're manipulative, blackmailing, and toxic, but the parents refuse to believe it.

𖦹 The Constantly Blamed Kid: the child that's blamed for every mishap. Every time a mistake happens, every finger is pointed at them. When they grow up, they can't help but become excessively defensive because they're so used to someone shooting at them from the other side.

𖦹 Parents Who Never Listen: these are the parents that always jump to their own conclusions. They make assumptions and decisions without ever consulting the kid first, but on the off chance that they do, they simply don't listen. They always assume that they know best, even if their choice is related to their child, not them.

Happy Writing~

3hks :)

[ancientnapdragon]

I come to you with another scumcum scenario as I put off editing my fic ❤️

Putting it under a read thing cause it'll get long. Tldr: transmigrating + time travel + npc villain sy + changing destiny stuff

Okay so SY has his canon death and wakes up as a like 10 y/o who is this disciple to some evil rogue cultivator. He had a System and it helps him clock where/who he is - PIDW in the skin of some lesser villain who died to a wife plot. Absolutely nothing special about the guy except he had some special technique that allowed him to use qi to "puppet" other people. He ended as they all do and died and Bingge got the girl the guy was terrorizing. EZPZ!

The System gives him like a handful of quests to get him adjusted, wishes him luck, then sticks him into sandbox mode. He's so minor a character it doesn't even care. He ends up sticking with the evil rogue cultivator, his Shizun, until he learns all he can and then fucks off the first change he gets. Which includes learning that super cool puppet thing!

He then spends the next few decades fucking around, being a (good!) rogue cultivator, expanding his skills, and absolutely NOT touching the plot at all! If he doesn't harass anyone then Bingge will never need to kill him! So it all works out!

Then the Realms Merge, he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he fucking dies.

System wakes him up and is like "you can go again!" Then dumps him back into his 10 y/o body. Again. SY, since he has all the techniques now anyway, steals what he can as soon as he can and runs for away from his "Shizun" and starts cultivating on his own and mastering his Puppet technique again. And without having to help that evil guy!

Since he is not an Adult x2 in a kid's body, and has experience with PIDW' world, he ends up exploring around and doing what he cna to take care of himself. He's still determined to avoid the plot! But maybe he will avoid it in a new and exciting way!

After a few years, when he's about 13, he ends up in this city and is trading some herbs for some cash when this spoiled lord on a horse passes by. He's also got a pretty boy and girl his age with him, but the boy looks like maybe a slave. SY doesn't think too much of it until the slave boy happens to fall and drops some packages he was carrying. The lord gets angry at him and pulls out his horse wip and starts hitting the boy right there.

SY is still a modern man even after husband second lifetime and is really upset by this. Discreetly he uses his puppet ability to spooky the horse, tie the guy to it, and then have it RUN off. SY goes over to check on the boy. Through a series of the biy being scared but hin also refusing to leave the girl, SY ends up sorta kidnapping them both.

SJ is 14 and QHT is 12. I know that she crashed out HARD in svsss but I do feel bad for kid her. SJ kinda gets her to understand stuff so she stays with them- we won't think too hard about that right now!

So it ends up with them on the run from the Qiu/authorities but also SY teaching them both what he can about Cultivation! QHT he knows as a wife from the novel and SJ? No idea but he feels bad for him. He doesn't teach them the puppet technique but he does what he can for them! They end up as a trio of wandering Cultivators!

It's not glamorous but they do what they can! And since SY is pretty much cheating with 2 lifetimes of knowledge it makes it a lot easier for them. SY is 100% convinced that SJ and QHT are gunna get married when they're old enough. He sees the childhood friends to romance arc clearly in his mind. SY and QHT see each other more like siblings and QHT teases SJ about his crush on SY relentlessly. It is only because SY is oblivious he never notices.

(Meanwhile, YQY escapes from his cave hell and storms to the Qiu Manor. Only to find out that his precious SJ (and QHT but he doesn't care about her) were captured by some fiendish demonic cultivator and it's been so long they're presumed dead....)

When SY is like 16-ish they catch wind of the IAC being held and decide to go watch it. They're not aligned with a Sect so they can't participate but they can spectate! It ends up with Mr Depression Man himself winning with like LQG as 2nd or something. SJ gets Really Fucking Mad because that's Qi-ge and storms the winner's pulpit to punch the fuck out of him. In front of like the whole Cultivation World basically. (YQY does NOT get to escape his Guilt Torment Nexus THAT easily!!)

So SJ causes a big scene, LQG and probably few others try to stop/jump SJ, and SY and QHT do what they can to keep him from being jumped. It ends with the three of them basically getting kidnapped to CQMS. Due to some pleading from YQY and some scheming from the QJPL, they end up as QJP Disciples. SJ is eventually named head disciple. It is only then he realizes WHO his friend is and freaks out about it.

Through shenanigans they end up keeping TLJ from getting sealed, SYX from dying, and so future LBH grows up with his family in the demon realm as a prince. QHT takes down her brother and dad for being bad people and seduces QQQ. YQY is EVENTUALLY forgiven after he suffers some and finally talks about his sword.

SJ uses infant NYY to baby trap SY into marriage. Everyone lives happily ever after.

[thedexcat]

Caged Bluebirds with Broken Wings

A Deltarune Chapter 2 Retrospective

So I'm not one to watch theory videos and whatnot, but I do passively hear what people have to say. And I think that not enough people are going back to re-analyze the older chapters. So here's some thoughts I have on Chapter 2, but with the hindsight of Chapter 3/4 information. So while this post revolves around Chapter 2, there will be references to the events of Chapters 3 and 4. Be warned!

(I might add images later, if I can remember to. ADHD will probably have other plans.) Over time, I've begun to notice some thematic parallels between Kris and Berdly. In Chapters 3/4, it becomes increasingly evident that Kris has wavering loyalties. They're torn between helping their new friends and fulfilling some unknown obligation to The Voice on the Phone. They're working against the interests of their friends, yet can't stand to see them come to harm. Looking back on Chapter 2, Berdly seems... similarly flippant. Working with Queen to achieve some inscrutable end, his actual alliance constantly shifts throughout the chapter. An obstacle, but only occasionally so. A friend to the heroes, even if he's working against them. If we interpret Berdly's arc as being a parallel to Kris's... things get interesting.

Let's start with Queen. Much of the chapter revolves around the relationship between the overbearing and controlling Queen and Noelle. One interpretation I've heard several times back when Chapter 2 was new was that it's meant to be a parallel to the relationship between Carol and Noelle. So if Queen is meant to represent Carol, then what does that make Berdly...?

In Chapter 4, it's very heavily implied (but not outright confirmed, don't forget!) that Carol is The Voice on the Phone. Carol seems to want to use Kris and Noelle for some nebulous purpose, possibly to cover the world in Darkness like Queen intended to. This implication is a bit stronger in the Chapter 4 Weird Route ending. I'd guess that her motives are December-related. Controlling others to achieve an end that's satisfying to her. There's... a lot of meta-narrative to unpack there, but let's step back to Chapter 2 for now. In terms of Chapter 2 outcomes, most people are familiar with the Pacifist Ending and the Weird Ending. But I want to focus on a lesser-seen outcome: the one you get when you use violence to resolve the Queen&Berdly fight.

As we all know, in this fight Queen has taken control of Berdly, using his body to fight not unlike some unwanted puppet on a string. Trying to take down the 'puppeteer' without aiding the 'puppet' leads to a rather unfortunate outcome. Berdly tries to wrest Queen's hold over him on his own. Ripping the intrusive outside force from his body, he ends up seriously injured, losing the use of his hand. A result that would be absolutely miserable for a gamer... or a pianist. Cut to the latest chapters. Many people have noticed a troubling amount of references to lost hands, specifically Kris losing a hand. "You thought you saw through your hand." -Using 'Glass' in the Light World "You couldn't find your hand." -Ch. 3 Gatcha Maze "As long as Kris has a hand to help me up..." -Ch. 3 Knight Battle "The protagonist wakes up without a hand..." -Ch. 4 "Blood Crushers 2" ...and so on. So what does this mean? Let's review Berdly's possible fates. A: Because of the MERCY of his friends (Berdly seems to place a strange emphasis on this), Berdly is able to wrest control from Queen unharmed.

B: Neglected by his friends that are busy trying to strike down their foe, Berdly tries to free himself on his own and is permanently wounded. C: Fully succumbing to manipulative forces, Noelle is compelled to use lethal force on Berdly. "But wait!" I hear you say, "Didn't Chapter 4 reveal that Berdly survived Snowgrave?" Well... there's a certain detail that comes to mind. Let's go back further. To the True Lab of Undertale. ENTRY NUMBER 6 ASGORE asked everyone outside the city for monsters that had "fallen down." Their bodies came in today. They're still comatose... And soon, they'll all turn into dust.

In Chapter 4's Weird Route, Berdly is comatose and unresponsive. Now, consider the fates of the Amalgamates in the Deltarune timeline. In the absence of the Determination experiments, the comatose monsters all withered and died, their dust buried in the graveyard. While he wasn't immediately killed by the spell, Berdly is not long for this world. This leads me to believe that in the future chapters, three possible fates await Kris. I speculate that they'd look something like this: A: The compassionate actions of the player somehow cause Kris's friends to learn of Kris's "promise", and they help them break free of their binding obligation to The Voice (and/or control of the SOUL). B: Left to their own devices, Kris resorts to desperate measures to break free from the control of others, ultimately losing a hand in the process. C: The player commands Noelle to kill Kris, allowing for full control over a new vessel: Noelle, who is more powerful and more compliant than Kris.

...Of course, this is all just my personal interpretation, subject to being proven hilariously wrong in future chapters. But I had to get these thoughts out the moment I connected the "Kris loses a hand" implications to the Chapter 2 endings. Naturally, if Berdly is meant to be a parallel to Kris, then I'm sure that many of the scenes in Chapter 2 will have narrative implications beyond just the 'endings'. I'm interested to hear about other Chapter 1/2 content that may have been recontextualized by the latest chapters!

[yesimwriting]

Not related to the bestie verse (unless you want it to 🤭) but have you seen the way Armand is unwinding and destroying Daniels tapes using his mind gift in s2x05? 😭

What can't he do? He's able to manipulate memories, see inside your mind, use telekinesis, telepathy, commandeer you like a puppet with you fully aware and literally cast a spell on you? This dude is scary.

Where is the boundary with bestie and which of his gifts is he willing to use on reader for her or his benefit? And also, in what context? 😭

Now, me being me (my head is in the gutter), I headcanon this man would untie/unzip whatever available piece of clothing, his hands never leaving from their place, just because he's a menace (when he wants to be) 💀💀

A/N: i need to be wholesome to balance the scale: he'd do the opposite as well. bestie will never worry about untied shoelaces when he's around, no no. 🤭🤭

I read "unwinding" and immediately knew the exact thing you were talking about 😭. I love the way he pulled apart those tapes so bad.

You're so right, his potential is lowkey scary. Think about everything he was doing in that episode, mentally throwing around Daniel while also torturing/speaking to Louis. I think what really gets to me about the tape unwinding and a lot of other things that Armand does with his mind gift is how effortless/natural it is.

I have a lot of thoughts on this, so I'm putting a cut here (brief discussion of sexually suggestive concept below the cut):

Your head might be in the gutter, but your mind is so creative.

That scene where Daniel is like "I could be on my knees in a second" and then Armand immediately pushes him onto his knees. Yeah. He definitely has nothing against using his abilities in sexual situations.

I can definitely see him removing people's clothing that way. Depending on what mood he's in, I can also see him doing this while fixing a drink or doing something else that makes it seem like he's ignoring/almost uninterested in the person in front of him.

As far as him using the mind gift/other abilities on bestie, it's kind of complicated. I haven't been able to touch on this as much as I've wanted to, but Armand is holding onto the fact that he's never hurt bestie with all he has. Part of it is because of the way Louis views her, and the rest of it comes from what he can see in bestie's thoughts.

Even though they bicker and most of their relationship is rooted in what they've both convinced themselves is 'dislike', her thoughts about him are never cruel or even particularly mean. If anything they're trusting, and maybe even a little protective/caring. This person, that Louis has given an extraordinary amount of value to, sees him and has only never really feared him (despite his efforts), but has also decided to trust him.

The only thing Armand can look to as a way of proving himself that he might deserve to be seen as anything remotely close to the way that bestie sees him is that he's never hurt her. Because of this, I think using the mind gift (in ways she wouldn't consent to) is something he tries to avoid.

Less nobly, I think he secretly likes arguing with her and winning. Forcing her to do things would take some of the fun out of it for him. Kind of like a cat and mouse game.

However, I can definitely see him using his mind gift (and other abilities) for convenience. I can see it becoming a habit to mentally push things out of the way that bestie might trip on (especially when she's coming home from a night out). The shoe lace thing is so cutesy, but I think he'd try to do it without her ever noticing bc it can't look like he cares.

If bestie's in a lighthearted mood, she might randomly set a book (or something heavy-ish) between them and ask if he's capable of moving it with his mind. He pretends to be annoyed about being reduced to a parlor trick, but indulges her anyway.

There's also exceptions for everything. If bestie goes through/sees something traumatic, he'd probably choose to erase that memory for the greater good. I know Armand's use of his gifts on Louis's mind was mainly selfish, but there was also some rewriting of history to keep Louis a more content person overall.

I do have something in my drafts that focuses on Louis accidentally looses control in front of bestie, comes home freaking out, and Armand is like don't worry <3 she's not leaving us you, and just pulls that out of her memory all together.

[dark-lord-of-awesomeness]

Stan turns into a wood puppet

He can still move and talk and stuff but now he's wood with ball joints and a lever mouth thing(I don't remember what it's called)

He can't move in some ways he could before and can move in ways he shouldn't be able to

Ima go with full size puppet man here, he's the same size he was, just made of wood Pinocchio style.

Nothing much changes for him, he just hides his wooden body parts and doesn't have to spend money on food or shower as much, can save more money to go home! And never take off his many layers! Just gonna pretend he's a normal human man for the rest of his life!

Right up to the post card.

Stan rolls up, Ford opens the door, awkward hello with crossbow waved in his face, Ford pulls him in, and unlike cash Stan this Stan does not pass the eyeball inspection. He's got anywhere from painted to glass eyes, either way not a normal aye and immediate red flag for paranoid Ford. Sure its not a Bill eye, but they're also not human eyes.

Stan gets dropped and the crossbow comes up as Stan's limbs become a mess and he struggles to push himself back up. Very annoyed at the whole thing and trying to brush it off as totally normal that he had to tug his clothes out of his joints.

They fight, Ford about him not being the real Stan, Stan trying to prove he is without actually revealing his puppet status, and gets shot for his troubles. Thankfully he's made of wood, so it does nothing, but still! Ford freaks out that 'Stan' (Stan) is still standing and just tugged the bolt out, then freaks out because Stan finally drops his layers to reveal his puppet face.

Shenanigans, as Ford can't give his book to a puppet man (mega flammable, Stan weighs nothing, no muscles, he's a puppet?) but also doesn't have the time to figure out how to break Stan's curse (maybe he needs to act on his own needs instead of others? Be his own Stan?). Stan refuses to leave though as long as Ford needs help, but also can't do much when Ford fully picks him up and throws him out of the house and tells him to 'leave this place!' (Ford can't protect a puppet Stan? His brother has to leave so he's safe!)

Well, too bad. Stans sticking around to help if Ford wants it or not, and now he doesn't feel cold so he'll stand out here all day! Or just break in and hover over Ford until Ford notices and screams about it, just to repeat the process a few times until Ford relents or Stan hangs out in a room Fords not in long enough Ford thinks he left, only to turn and find Stan wearing rubber gloves doing the dishes.

Shenanigans as the eye stealer def shows up and, being a monster, tries to take one of Stan's puppet eyes and Ford bashes it over the head, Bill definitely shows up and uses the fact that Stan weighs nothing, has no muscles, and is a puppet to turn him into an actual puppet, putting string all over him and hooking him to the ceiling or something so he can have two puppets around here. Duck tapes Stan's mouth shut and video tapes him putting on a 'play' while puppeteering Stan's body.

Then Ford wakes up to find Stan hanging from the ceiling, very traumatized from the whole experience. Has to cut him down, then maybe Stan can stay so that Ford can turn him into a person again and strangle Bill with his real hands.

[midnight-in-town]

I'm glad Shiemi's mom was upfront with her, but the way she dropped everything on her like a stack of bricks in the flashback sequence 💀. When the subject of the reveal was mysteriously first implied (when it's raining and Amaimon's watching her from a distance), I think it's really interesting how Shiemi broke down soon after it and then she put a resolved, happy front on.

Hi Anon ! Sorry for the delay, I was away !

Well, I think Shiemi's mom suffered a lot, just like Shiemi's grandma, so she conveyed it as best she could considering the general circumstances of their bloodline, in my opinion.

I mean, these women don't even have proper first names : they're either Shemihaza or Saio Shiemi for every mom/daughter duo and I think this furthers the idea that the dehumanization of the Shemihaza family because of the Uzai family is meant to be targeted in the plot eventually.

I think Shiemi's mom also conveyed in the past that she wanted a way out of this system for her daughter...

...but she's also realistic about a free future for Moriyama women, all because of the iron grip that the Uzai family has over them.

As I said before though, I definitely think Shiemi is the Saio/Shemihaza who WILL put a stop to whatever the Uzai family is up to (and Amaimon will help). But before she can do that, she needs to address why she feels so useless and so much like a puppet.

It's exactly why she broke down, soon after that talk with her mom, in ch87...

Basically, I think Rin is right : Shiemi's wanting to help everyone is initially a good thing but, considering her current disregard for her own safety and happiness and how obsessive it gets, it's become a flaw. Shiemi's mom has noticed it too...

...and I can't help but think it all comes back to her dad's death.

Shiemi's mom explained that Shiemi witnessed her dad's murder and, no matter who the culprit was (since I believe it was probably Jeremiah), the fact she was unable to do anything to help her dad (because she was a kid) probably generated a subconscious trauma, which now makes her adamant about being helpful to others.

My evidence is Amaimon's aversion to Shiemi when she tamed him in that alternate timeline :

Because, like Shiemi's grandma said, familiars draw upon the exorcist's spirit and Shiemi's lack of confidence is what Amaimon can't stand at all, since he's supposed to be Shemihaza's familiar despite being one of the Baals.

So I'd say Shiemi wants so badly to be useful to others

because she lacks confidence,

because she witnessed her dad's murder and wasn't able to do anything to save him,

because she was too young

(and because the attacker was probably someone from the Uzai family and not simply "demons").

And I think she's very close to understanding why she feels like that, meaning close to remembering what exactly happened to her dad.

TL;DR Shiemi has so many reasons to want to break down about this unfair situation : she has no say in her future, deep down she feels useless because of how her dad died and she has to step into her mom's enormous shoes, without being able to mourn her death. That's fucked up.

I'm glad her friends are there with her !

Thanks for passing by Anon ! Have a good day.

[slashfic-daydreams]

I like to interpret that Jay making his own sandwich is a metaphor of Jay finally learning how to be independent.

We all know that Jay has heavy mommy issues and he was never given a choice. He is always told what to do, what to say, never developing to have a mind of his own. He is also heavily influenced and dependent on Carol during his days alive. This is possibly why interactions with him are very childlike.

But after Jay confronted his mother during his unmasking chapter, he realizes that he doesn't have to be used like a puppet. He realizes that he can make his own choices, say his own words, express his own opinions... all without being controlled by anybody else. Jay realizes that he can be free from it all. He can be his own person.

(This also applies to Jay finally removing his mask to reveal his face. That was his beginning of experiencing freedom, but we'll talk about that for some other time.)

So when Jay was hungry in the later chapters (ft. Krampus), he decides to make himself a sandwich. Although the scenes can be made for laughs, it can be interpreted in a deeper sense as well. It may mean that Jay is learning how to do things on his own.

I might be putting too much thought into this, but making a sandwich requires your own preferences. What kind of filling would you like? How would you like arrange it? Would you like to keep the crusts? They're simple questions, but for Jay, it's all about finally doing what he wants to do.

Not related to the sandwich part, but during their plan to kill Krampus, we noticed that Jay was acting more matured now. He kept his childlike personality, yes, but he learns to be more decisive and grownup during serious situations.

I'm so proud of my beloved Jay Shahey; I'd give all the sandwiches and kisses he'd want <3333

[silviakundera]

Does it feel like they're trying to redeem the dickless bore? idk if he's doing a con on her or they're showing he has real feelings for her wasn't the novel different?

One thing I'm really noticing in the Princess Royal (Grand Princess) adaption is that they will 'play it straight' with characters like Su Rongqing and the Emperor: giving the character similar dialogue and facial expressions as they would have in the novel -- except without PWX or LR's internal dialogue of 🙄 why u lying???

🙄 lol ok sure

😒 oh i see, back on your bullshit again

😤 the AUDACITY

😬 oh shit oh shit danger BE COOL

The consequence is that if you take everything at face value, the Emperor seems like a reasonable guy and not up for The Absolute Worst Dad award. Under the surface, the novel reader knows he is acting out a play and coldly calculating every interaction with Li Rong, the Crown Prince, and Consort Ruo. Every single scene with him, Li Rong is in peril and she knows it. She's pretending to be his sweet, obedient 19 year old daughter who believes in him and is following Pei Wenxuan's direction and acting as a puppet, making moves that he has already approved PWX to make. The Emperor's pretending that this play isn't supposed to end with LR and the Crown Prince taken down & the power transferred into Consort Ruo and the other prince's hands.

The viewer can just interpret all the words coming out of a character's mouth as facts & just believe everything they claim about their motives/real agenda as true. Or they recall the implied horrorshow of Life 1 and view all of these interactions with a cynical eye, questioning what else could be under the surface.

With SRQ, that guy is so fucking complicated. I think actually he's portrayed in character. Nothing we have seen isn't .... him. At least so far, as of ep 19 he aligns with the novel.

But 3 different factors: A) The music is romantizing him; B) The audience is given a couple internal-thought voice overs from him, which other antagonists don't get; C) With those voice-overs, the screenwriter has chosen to affirm his love for his brother and LR way earlier than the reader has it confirmed in the novel (where he is intentionally kept a total mystery for far longer, while the reader is the math lady meme, trying to piece together clues to figure him out).

And ultimately, when in SRQ's PoV in the drama, we have to deal with him being the hero of his own story. He is absolutely sincere about himself and, as has been revealed, in his own way he's sincere about wanting LR and his brother to have a good life this time around.

So does that mean the writer intends to do a swerve in the narrative arc and redeem him in the end? It's totally possible. Maybe?

However, not necessarily.

#1 There is a certain refrain from many of the great cnovel/drama villians: I had no choice! You all forced me to this!

We saw it from Shen Yurong in The Double, we saw it from Meng Yao/JGY in The Untamed, and in the novel (and I presume in the drama), we're gonna see it from Su Rongqing.

And it's the reason why they become villians who can't be saved. Because so many people suffer in life or experience unfairness. But they don't turn around and use this as an excuse to enact horrible cruelties on others.

Out of the billions of people in the world, few have no problems but so many of them actively chose to do good, or are willing at least to turn back and be better.

#2 imo the reason LR has historically been bad at reading people's hearts but has an exquisite read of SRQ, his flaws & darkness, is THAT'S HER FUCKING MOM. And I do think ep 16-18 put that out there in the text, if you're looking for it. He and the empress are the same sophisticated aristocrat who is clever & educated but with a narrow perspective limited by their privilege and desperate need to maintain the status quo. So sorry bro, but no wonder she might have settled for marrying you in the first life if you wanted to, but she was never gonna fall in love with you 💀.

PWX can see that SRQ loves her and he thinks that matters, so it scares him. LR has tender nostalgia for her empress mother and her former companion but she's all too aware that their love for her will not necessarily get in the way of stepping on her to protect the social structure of a powerful aristocracy class operating at a higher level above the peasants and restraining the throne. To them, this is safety and stability that guards the realm.

(ofc both those characters are complex and when it comes to LR's life & death we can't be confident on what they will always choose. that's part of what made all the palace drama aspects of the novel incredibly suspenseful. So many of the suppporting characters are layered and tho everything they do makes sense when it happens, you can't often predict people's hard choices when their back is up against the wall)

Story of Kunning Palace and The Grand Princess say that caring about people and trying your best to understand them, wanting what's best for them by listening to what's best for them, can make a huge difference. But not everyone is willing to change.

[amybizarre]

🎄𝓐𝓭𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓢𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓝𝓻. 𝓣𝔀𝓮𝓷𝓽𝔂✨🎄

𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓽: Setting Up The Tree

𝓐𝓵𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓮: RF, Gray, Original, Royal

𝓣𝔂𝓹𝓮: Short Story (No warnings)

𝓞𝓹𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓸𝓭𝓪𝔂'𝓼 𝓭𝓸𝓸𝓻!

It was one of your favorite times of the Christmas season: Tree decorating time! A few Wallies have joined you, also eager to set up the tree with you. Namely Royall, RF, Original and Gray.

Original was currently busy admiring the different ornaments for the tree, especially the red ones enchanted him. Probably because they looked a little bit like apples.

Gray curiously eyed the ornaments as well. But then he saw the box with the star for the top and his pupils widened excitedly. He sat down and pulled the box into his lap. Removing the lid, Gray took his time to admire the three different tree toppers you owned.

He brushed his fingertips across them very gently, following the swirls of colors on them.

You made a mental note to let him choose one and put it onto the tree.

Meanwhile, Royal had discovered your LED-candles, that were all wired together and could easily be clipped to the branches.

"What strange candles...", he mumbled, examining the decoration and tapping his chin, "They're not made of wax at all... And why are they all tied together?"

You chuckled and grabbed one end of the candle-chain. "You remember when I told you about electricity?"

"The little lightnings that run through the copper wires in most of your machines? Yes."

"Well, these candles need it too. And so that we don't have to supply each candle by itself, they're connected to one another." You explained, following the wiring between the individual candles with your pointer finger.

Royal's eyes lit up with understanding. "I see. But why not use real candles?"

"To reduce the fire hazard." You said simply. You then showed him how to clip the candles onto the branches and the both of you got busy applying all of them all around the tree.

Original had adorned the lower branches with the other ornaments in the meantime. To reach the higher branches, he needed help though.

He gently tugged on your sleeve, quietly asking for ups. With a soft smile you complied, picking the small puppet up and resting him on your hip.

Royal chuckled and held the boxes with ornaments for you two. Together, you decorated the rest of the tree. While doing so, you couldn't help but wonder what RF was doing. He'd been so quiet all the time.

That's when you discovered he had - much like a cat - started a hopeless fight with the tinsel. He was cowering on the carpet, covered in the rustling stuff all over. You snorted. Seems like he just wanted to open the packet and spread the tinsel across the branches of the tree, but ultimately got overpowered by his leftover cat instincts.

And now he was quietly cussing and fighting his battle with the tinsel without victory in sight.

Feeling mischievous, you shifted Original, holding him with one arm only. With your free hand you fished your phone out of your pocket and snapped a single picture of RF without him noticing. You'd send it to him later.

For now it was time to finish to tree.

Original wanted to be let down, so you set him back down and turn to Gray.

"Gray sweetie, do you want to put the star on top?", you asked him.

He nodded quickly. "Yes please! I already picked one!"

Gray held up the star he had chosen. You nodded approvingly and helped him climb onto your shoulders. You did your best to support him and help him reach the top of the tree.

With additional help of Royal he managed just fine.

The tree was done!

[morgana-artt]

Silent Words (P x Deaf!GN!Reader)

Note: Just a little thank you to those that commented on my previous post, y'all were so sweet in encouraging me to write, I'm not great at writing but I really hope you enjoy it! My requests are open if anyone has any ideas and I'm also open for criticism especially with things such as deafness, I want to be as respectful as I can be when writing things like that.

Note #2: The reader in this wasn't born deaf but eventually lost their hearing as a child. And pinning, LOTS of pinning because I'm a sucker for that stuff lol

________________________________________

Finally getting back to the hotel, P made his way into the main lobby and greeted Sophia with a nod and she with a wave. "Hello Gepettos puppet, I'm glad you are back safe. Did you manage to get to the factory?", she asked as P nodded in reply, "That's good. Please take a rest you deserve it" she smiled as P nodded and made his way to Eugenie, his legion arm wasn't doing good and needed an upgrade.

Upon walking to that section of the room, he caught a glimpse of a new face- or the back of the head of someone he had never seen before. Remembering how Sophia said to introduce himself to new people as a way to be polite (of course when doing this outside of the hotel he had to be careful and wary), he walked towards the piano room and saw you with your back turned reading a book of some sort. He walked closer and mimicked a cough to get your attention- you didn't react. He tried again and still no reaction making him tilt his head, his eyebrows twitched, were you ignoring him on purpose? He walked a little closer before feeling a gentle pull on his arm making him turn around and see Sophia, she smiled, "They are deaf" she stated making P raise an eyebrow causing Sophia to soften her gaze. "They can't hear you which is known as being deaf, there is different types of deafness some people can still hear although poorly and some can't hear at all. They arrived here not too long ago, still... introduce yourself they're nice" she said with a smile as P turned around and faced you, so you couldn't hear? P had yet to learn about disabilites and yet it intrigued him, while he did say a few words he was rather silent for the most part which he preferred. One reason was that his voice sounded flat and the second reason was that he saw no point in being talkitive for the sake of being talkitive.

He stood up straight and walked towards you before gently tapping your shoulder causing you to turn around, your (E/C) eyes stared at him before giving him a smile. "Hello" you said quietly, P nodded his own way of a hello. "Are you also staying at this hotel?" your voice soft and a little scratchy as if you didn't want to disturb the silence of the library. P nodded, he pointed to your ears making you blinked in confusion before realising what he meant, "Ah, yes. I can't hear, haven't been able to since I was 8" you explained to the puppet who watched you intently. "Are you...P? I've been told there was a special puppet around and I'm assuming you're him?" you asked, P as usual gave a silent nod, still looking at your ears. A voice called out for P, it was Eugenies. P bowed to you before making his way to his legion arm upgrader, you smiled as you faced back to the book in your hand.

Sometime passed and P made his way to the piano room again but found you with Miss Antonia, he watched as you were moving your hands in certain ways without opening your mouth and speaking while Antonia was chatting with you.

This interested P, you were moving your hands and fingers in certain ways towards your face and outwards. He walked towards you making you turn your head, you waved and noticed him staring at your hands, "I'm using sign language, it helps me communicate more easily without having to speak" you said, your voice hoarse which indicated that you didn't speak very often yet made the effort to explain it to him which stirred something in him. You, forcing yourself to use your voice in order for him to understand your movements made him feel a bit bad (though how is that possible? He was just a puppet after all). His eyebrows furrowed as he scooted closer to you and pointed to your hands then at him to then you, you blinked as Antonia chuckled "I think he wants to learn from you" she stated as you let out a small 'oh!'.

You smiled at him and excused yourself from Antonia and sat on the couch and waving your hand for P to come sit with you which he did. "I'll teach you some simple conversations" you said as you began to teach him things like 'Hello', 'How are you?', 'I'm feeling...', etc... It took him a while to move his hands in certain ways (especially his legion arm) he made a few mistakes but that only made you smile before correcting him. 'There you go! You did really well!' you signed and clapped, he hung his head a little as if getting embarrased and also feeling something stir in him more. 'Thank you...' he signed back, he enjoyed this and wanted to learn more but he saw the time and pointed at the clock making you turn your head, 'ah...probably should go to bed. Thank you for taking the time to learn with me P, stuff like this...means a lot' you signed and stood up along with P, 'Goodnight P' you signed before gently touching his arm making the cogs in his chest turn even more. With that, you walked off to bed. P watched you before putting his head down, he felt determined to learn more as he enjoyed speaking that way and with you no doubt.

He walked to Antonia on anything about sign language, she located him to a section of books that would help him and he set off to learn. At times through the days you would catch him reading intently, "P? What are you reading?" you said as he then quickly hid the book at his side and signed 'Nothing important. Also you don't need to talk, it's okay', you blinked 'oh? Have you been practising?' you chuckled as he stared at you, he WAS practising and he was doing it for you so you didn't feel obliged to use your voice and hurt your throat more.

As the days passed, you were still staying at the hotel and was sitting next to the fire with the hotels cat in your arms. During the days, you would converse with P via sign language and you noticed him getting better and better which made you have a sense of pride as you thought it was really sweet of him trying. Staring into the orange wisps of the fire you heard footsteps approach, turning your head you saw your puppet friend approach you as he sat next to you. 'Busy day?' you signed, 'Yes, many puppets, I can smell the oil...it stinks' he said, his face scrunching up. You could see him changing more and more every time he came back and with the biggest change of them all- was his hair. You really liked it like that and wanted to play with it, would P be okay with that? 'Hey, P...' he tilted his head at you, 'can I...play with your hair?' you signed to him making him sit up straight- he nodded a bit too enthusiastically for his liking but he liked all the little touches from you, despite not being able to hear you, you would sit next to him as he tried to play the piano with your hand on top of the instrument and feeling the vibrations with your eyes closed and your shoulder touching his. He loved moments like that.

You smiled and sat in front of him, his legs opened with you between them with your own legs at the side of his waist as you ran your fingers through his silky brown/blackish hair. His eyes immediatly closed as he felt his ergo stir inside him, he leaned closer to you pulling you closer by your waist making you blush, his head now into the crook your neck as you played with his hair. With becoming more human he could now smell so him being able to smell a soft almost flowery scent from you made him move closer into you, he pulled back after a few minutes and looked directly into your eyes for signing, 'You smell nice', ah... bless this puppet he was so direct that he forgot humans get a bit flustered at stuff like that- you included. Your face heated up more, 'Antonia was kind enough to lend me a perfume-', 'It suits you' he replied back as he went back to the position you two were in previously. You had a feeling he knew what he was doing sometimes. Cheeky thing.

With more days passing you and P would have fully fledged conversation in sign language, the only person who really understood was Antonia but she didn't take notice of your private conversations...sort of. She would catch phrases here and there. She smiled as she glanced at the two of you sitting on the floor signing away with a smile while P would stare, his gaze looking more lovingly as the more you delved into your story. P would glance at your hands and at the one that was closest to him, the more time he spent with you the more he wanted to be close to you and with this language you were speaking with just the two of you he felt so close to you. It was just him and you, conversing in your own little world and he enjoyed that.

Later one night you were looking out the window, getting to the Krat hotel was dangerous you remember almost being hit as you didn't hear puppets and it frustrated you. You can fight but you're no where near as good as P or even a stalker. You sighed but any feeling of despair was quickly washed away as you felt a familiar presence next you and knowing who it was you didn't bother to turn around and smiled as you felt a head on your shoulders. 'Hello you' you signed as P leaned closer to you, 'You aren't asleep yet? Are you okay?' he asked and you shook your head 'I'm...doing okay. The city has become so...isolating and depressing it's hard not to think about it how many lives have been lost and how lucky- or unlucky- I am to have to surived for so long.' You faced P, 'P...I know it's only been a few days but...I really care for you. I'd even call you a dear friend and even a...ahem, well, You've done a lot for the people of Krat and I just hope you know that you have my support no matter what. P, I...' you couldn't say it. The three words you wanted to say, they wouldn't come out, as if your fingers were frozen and refused to budge. You sighed, 'I should probably head to bed now...would you like to join me?' you asked shyly as P nodded not a moment after.

You were already in pj's and watched as P took his coat and shoes off now only in a plain shirt and pants (which were thankfully clean) and headed into the bed with you, laying next to you he gently moved his legion hand towards your face the cold finger tips grazing your ear making you shiver slightly as you close your eyes and lean closer into him, you could feel...beating? You could feel his heart beat making you smile as if it was like music to your touch. It wasn't long before you drifted off to sleep knowing P would alert you if anything were to happen.

Without your knowledge, P signed you something that you wouldn't be able to see but he meant every word of it. The three words that wouldn't come out of you either.

'I love you'

And with that he pulled you close, hoping one day he'll get to express those words to you but for now he enjoyed all the little moments with you and that was good enough for him right now.

[onlyvinegar]

have an essay I wrote for /r in response to the assertion that there's nothing dehumanising about the existence of human sentimonsters

I know what the show and the writer on twitter are saying. I also know that it has consistently been showing the exact opposite, and that is why whatever they're tring to do with this storyline is not working.

Some degree of my reception is coloured by the corners of the fandom going "the sentihuman plotline is such a great metaphor for queer people/disabled people/neurodivergent people/abused children/[insert oppressed group X here]", which only works with the assumption that human sentimonsters and non-human sentimonsters have an equal right of life. But most of this is about the unfortunate implications of the show's lore, and the obvious disinterest the show has in pursuing the obvious philosophical questions it inevitably had to dig up with when they went with this storyline.

After introducing sentimonsters, the show spent a full two seasons killing them without the audience ever being asked to consider this upsetting. The bad guys killed them when they'd served their purpose. The good guys killed them with the same animation used for purifying akumas. Their destruction was a non-issue; the only time anyone ever reacted to a sentimonster's death on screen (Felix notwithstanding), it was sentibug and sentinino, both indistinguishable from beloved people to the ones witnessing it. You'll notice that neither death was ever brought up again after it happened, not even in the same episode. They died, Our Heroes Look Shocked For Five Seconds, the show must go on. Compare it, if you will, with Aeon's death in the NYC special, which involved tears and a trauma so heavy that it temporarily broke Our Heroes apart.

If sentimonsters aren't "monsters", why are we consistently treating them as less than human anyway? Surely, they could've been allowed a bit of the same emotional gravitas if they were meant to be considered individuals with the same value as human beings.

Sentimonsters are a product of a supposedly benevolent power (the miraculous are, after all, meant for the purpose of good), and if sentimonsters are meant to be in any capacity more than golems, then one of those essentially good powers is the power to create slaves. And that is undeniable: The peacock's special move didn't have to include absolute control over the mind and actions of the sentimonster. Nooroo's doesn't, so the slavery isn't incidental - it is an essential part of Duusuu's powers. If sentimonsters are supposed to be something more than meat puppets, that is a horrifying.

Even more so when that power is used to make custom-made slaves who are supposed to live and interact as normal members of human society. Particularly Adrien's designer baby aspect is repeatedly highlighted by his father. Where the rest of us can at least rely on the accident of genetic combos at the moment of conception to explain a good amount of our flaws and features, Adrien was engineered to be his parents' idea of perfection. Moreoever: we have no idea how often the amok was used to control him prior to "Mega Leech". How much of Adrien's life was at all lived at his own will? Finally: sentimonsters are living embodiments of emotions, and Adrien was created to have no deeper wish than to be "whatever his parents wanted him to be". Having the amok himself won't change the programming.

And then there is Felix, our resident hypocrite who is initially out to shed light on everything that is wrong with how heroes and villains both are approaching sentimonsters, but ends up drinking the kool-aid and agreeing that yeah, some sentimonsters are more worthy of life than others, actually. Instead of either containing or destroying that which let him, Adrien and Kagami be abused, he ends up embracing it and starts taking part in the genocide.

And that's not even going into the fact that per the show's own, on-screen insistence, using an amok against a sentimonster is in fact a good thing if you love them, because agency? self-determination? not using the instrument of enslavement on someone who has suffered on its hands? Yeah we don't need principles to show that we totally consider them the same as human beings whose minds and opinions we couldn't have changed by ominously rubbing a ring.

[sam-blackbird]

An analyse of Umbrella Academy s4's posters (beware of s3 spoilers, ofc)

Hi! Today, the official Umbrella Academy Instagram account published season 4 posters, and since I'm very excited about this, I'm gonna try to analyse the posters, or what I can tell about them.

It's going to be long so grab a snack if you want / can, put on a cool playlist, and let's dive down! I'm going to do it poster by poster, in the order it was posted, from the oldest post to the newest (so not in numeral order).

We can notice that the characters are cut in two, the Portal way.

Anyway. First of all: Viktor !

Ngl, I had a moment when I saw he had the masculine uniform.

But past my joyful moment, my mind went racing so fast I couldn't keep it down, I had to share my thoughts (even if there may be only one person reading me, but whatever).

First thing first, it's interesting that the first one isn't Luther but Viktor, who is, the main character of the show (or at least, that's how I see it). Or a least the most important one. (if the last scene is Viktor ending his reading of his new book, about his siblings, not only would it be a fucking good epanadiplosis but it would make me cry the hell out of me)

After all, the show open with him, following him. And nothing would happen if it wasn't for him. He's the one trying to get the family stick together, and (unwillingly) starting apocalypse (twice or thrice, shit happens).

Let's focus on the poster now. On the left, we have a clothing reminding us of the Umbrella Academy days, or rather the "how it was before the show", except they are adult, and Viktor is here shown post-transition (and not pre-, as he was in the first two seasons). What does that mean? Fuck if I know. That being said, I think it have its importance (if they wanted to put children instead, they would have, wouldn't they?). However, we can note that he is not wearing neither the boy shorts (nor girl's skirt, for obvious reasons), but some secretly third option, aka a grey pant (is it the sport pant?). He is standing out himself, as a trans man (not wearing a skirt, yet not wearing the boy uniform either, as if he wasn't fully in that category somehow? idk).

Viktor's posture is straight (lol), and I associate it with being calm, obedient (he listen to everything Reginald says (ex: take these pills), and since Reginald is perceived as a father figure, it makes sense that Viktor wants to obey him, maybe hoping he (Viktor) will be loved and recognized as valuable). And also with being like a puppet. Or a muppet. The point is: He's not free of his movement, he doesn't have free will.

His face doesn't look happy. Nor sad. Just... neutral. He's just... there.

On the right, we can't see his face, yet his posture seems way more relaxed! He's wearing casual clothes, more modern ones, adapted to the world without powers they're now seems to live at the end of season 3.

His looks reminds me of the one of Tyler Ronan from Tell Me Why, a game by the studio Don't Nod (I fucking love that game). Both characters are trans man.

(These are pictures of Tyler)

Anyway. Casual clothes. Blue, like the uniform. I won't analyse that, this post is already long enough.

Tbh, I haven't saw again the last episode of season 3, so I don't remember if it was the clothes they were wearing or new ones.

Also, Viktor is holding an umbrella in his right hand, probably a reference to the Umbrella days. Like, it's a part of him, he can't leave it behind, he physically have it with him (even if he doesn't have the power).

And the Umbrella is closed, unlike the ones from the previous seasons's posters.

Like, season 2's were opened (and full), and season 3's were opened and damaged (and they were hiding the protagonists' faces, showing implicitly the influence of the academy on them).

Next one, Luther !

We almost can see his face on the right!

But anyway, let's start by the left. Luther is walking, straight, in what could be either a military walk or a relaxed one (? don't quote me on this please, I can't explain). His posture screams "confidence" and "I'm number one, I'm a leader, follow me!". Or something like that, I'm no posture reader, just someone who watched way too much police and detective shows. He's wearing the Umbrella uniform (and it's so fucking weird to see it on a grown ass man!). His hair are cut short.

On the right, he's wearing a more casual look. There's something going one with his arm muscles, but I can't be bother to search what. His hair are longer than on the left. He is wearing gloves and an umbrella, and walking shoes. His umbrella is cutting his name (does it have some symbolism? Maybe.)

He's still wearing blue (like Viktor), even if it's a different kind of blue (and it kinda fit him).

Nothing more to add. (yes, I have my favorites, and despite liking Luther, I won't kill my eyesight anymore than necessary for details).

Next! Diego!

Let me preface this by saying that it's so fucking weird to see him in that uniform. On the left, he's walking like a good little soldier, following the leader.

On the right, he's the embodiment of a relax guy who can (and will) definitely yeet you out of the picture if needed. He's not wearing anything casual. It's more like a killer / soldier clothes, with his precious knifes.

DOES HE HAVE A MUSTACHE????

He's holding the Umbrella on the shoulder, as if he can't be bothered with it (and/ or he's gonna use it as a weapon).

Next! Not number 3, but the one who's linked to Diego! Lila!

Love that she's officially "Lila Hargreeves".

The left outfit is like the one she had in season 2 when she was with the Handler and stuff about her past was revealed (so interesting and meaningful choice of outfit). Her heels are thin, as if she wasn't stable (with her life situation and all).

Yet, on the right, her heels are thicker, more stable to move (she's more free to go).

Her clothes are modern and the flowers fit her really well, I might say. Her hair are put up, like the active badass woman she is. They're brown again, and not white/ blond anymore, it's more natural.

She overall looks like a business woman, with a casual chic.

She too, is holding an umbrella, which make her fully part of the family. She hold it casually.

Next, another girl: Allison.

Ngl, I'm no big fan of hers, so this will be short.

On the left, she's confidently wearing her UA (Umbrella Academy) uniform. Her hand move don't really feel natural (saying this as someone who sometimes draws human beings). Her hair are like the one from season 1.

On the right, she looks like a business woman and a mom. Her posture looks aslo determined, while relaxed. She have business to do, and no one will stop/ prevent her from doing so!

Girl power and all that.

(I'm trying, I really can't stand how her character was wrote during season 3)

Neeeeext! Let's go with one of my fav, Klaus!

I have to say, it is criminal that a) his hair are short on th right side (loved his long hair) and b) where's the skirt?! He slayed in it! Anyway.

On the left, his walking looks very mechanical, as if he was a machine, a robot (lol) (I won't do any joke about Grace). Yet, his posture his not natural (no one walks naturally torso in one way and legs in another, if that makes some sense).

His eyes are closed. Why are his eyes closed? Idk. Maybe he closing his eyes on what happened during the UA days. Maybe it’s symbolizing his absence of choice. His face is still, resigned, accepting his fate. Maybe to show he’s kinda dead inside?

Klaus had always been closed to death, more or less metaphorically speaking, as he can see ghosts (= dead people, or what remains of them).

His hair is all over the place, reminding the crazy days he had to get fucking blasted to avoid said ghosts.

Right side is colorful. He's beauty, he's grace, WHERE ARE HIS HAIR?! No but more seriously, cutting one's own hair symbolise change in many culture, and more specifically letting go of the past, embracing new beginnings, and/ or undergoing spiritual or personal transformations. I have no idea how to interpret that.

He seems to float, to ascend (plz don't kill him). He is bare foot (bare feet? idk) (fun fact: in the comics, he could only use his power when sober and with bare feet) (I won't go down the rabbit hole of barefoot symbolism and its link with death, I'm not mentally well enough to do that).

He his wearing a yellow coat with flowers (flowers, like Lila!). Yellow is associated with joy, fest, sun (and Klaus is a comic relief, a feel good sunshine character), and flower, life. (again, plz don't kill him)

What reinforce that idea of tragedy is that the umbrella he's wearing is the only one who isn't black: it's the umbrella he was holding during Reggie's funeral in s1. Plus, he's holding it with three fingers out. What's the meaning of three? Idk. Maybe it’s for Allison? Maybe it has a link with God (the Christian one)? Yk, Holy Trinity and all that. After all, doesn't Klaus met God (the little girl in the afterlife) regularly?

Does that look good or bad for Klaus? No idea.

Speaking about looking good, Ben is back, alive. I won' t go far enough to say "well", but he's alive.

On the left, he's standing straight, walking in a unnatural posture. Following only.

On the right, he is bend (idk why tho) forward (his hips are forward his shoulders, curbing like a closing bracket). His clothes are casual (and looking alike the one Viktor had been wearing during s3). His umbrella also cut his name (like Luther's). He's a Vans' boy!

(please, no mustache for him)

We can't see if he's wearing glasses or not.

Last of the Hargreeves kids (if you count Lila as one, and if not, last one of the power-gifted Hargreeves): Five.

On the left, his posture is haughty. His hands are in his pants pockets. He know what he wants, he is very sure of himself, maybe because he thinks he is better than everyone (he can think that, given what happened) (some might even say he have a bratty attitude, but I'll answer, well have you seen him during season 1???)

(my personal theory is that he is bend forward to be smaller on the left than on the right, because he appears to be)

On the right, he left the UA uniform for a more formal suit (some call it 'the grandpa / old man suit'). His hair are longer.

He's walking down like he had no shit to give anymore (he doesn't) and he's ready to throw hands (he totally his).

HOLY (S)HIT HE'S HOLDING THE UMBRELLA IN HIS RIGHT HAND! Why? Why is he te only one wearing the umbrella on the other hand? Is it to accentuate his difference with his siblings (+ Lila)? Is it to show how differently he see his time at the UA an how differenlty he uses his powers? I mean, given he didn't spend as much time in the UA as the rest of them, ofc his vision and perception of the UA is different. Even his vision of time is different.

Or he’s just left-handed.

And now, BEWARE! THE REGINALD JUMPSCARE! (or is it scare jump? Anyway, I've been working on this post for more than an hour and a half, plz be indulgent, it's late and the day had been long)

On the left, we see the whole umbrella for the firs time on these posters. Said umbrella is closed but not entirely (it could be open anytime).

Reggie is wearing a lilac/ purple suit, which is a color hard to dye (so it costed a lot and was reserved for royalty / rich ppl before industrialization and the use of chemical products for clothes dye; and we know Reggie arrived/ was on Earth on 19th c., so during the industrialization). He is “young” looking (like he was in the 60s), and seems well assorted (who tf have two jacket pockets on the same side tho?)

On the right, he's old and wearing a brown suit. Brown can symbolize the Earth, which can provide: ppl are depend on it to eat and therefore survive. In a way, he was a Earth for his children, as they were dependent on him (does that makes him a good father? Absolutely not!). (that thought, of Reggie being a Earth, is funny given he is an alien / an extraterrestrial being)

And if you put them all in order, you get :

(notice how Klaus's picture / posture melt greatly in Five's?)

And that's it! Damn, that was long. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think about all of that in the comment!

[generalluxun]

Hi, anon who made that ask about Gabriel's and Nathalie's lovechild (the recent one). To be honest, I just thought of it a while ago. But maybe mid-late season 3 will work or early season 4. I really want to explore the messy relationships between the Agreste and the Bourgeois families, including Nathalie. Because how can you cut off someone who was basically there for your whole life? What do you mean when you basically see Nathalie as another parental figure amongst the many failed parents around you? How come that the coldest (exaggerating) and emotionally constipated person, who is your cousin and semi-childhood friend, gets to have a loving mother while both of your parents are assholes? (It's the abandonment issues for me, Adrien and Chloe have them and they'll suffering from the same issues as me).

I keep imagining where Adrien finally gets to discover some things about his family and himself while taking care of Nathalie and his half baby sibling. Where he doesn't have to mask his personality (personalities, he has identity issues, my god) around this baby. He can act silly, he can act serious, he can cry, he can get angry, he can feel like himself without anyone judging him for it (the baby will have a judgemental look though, all babies have that, only a few weeks/months in this world and they think they can judge people). And it'll make him feel more free than with Chat Noir. Chat Noir is focused on saving the world and his beloved lady, that's his number one priority (self sacrificial ass). Even when there are times when he disagrees with Ladybug or leaves, he'll always come back because Chat Noir is his escape, and Ladybug has his heart (no matter how many others may be his girlfriend, LB will always have the softest and constant place in his heart). And it hurts because he can't do anything that he can proudly call his own. He's too used to others ordering him around that he'll malfunction without them (a puppet who was made into flesh). And his baby sibling may just be the catalyst to make him take the first step to prioritizing himself, and he'll start by officially recognizing his half-sibling despite his father's demands and protests.

And with Chloe, I think she'll be able to separate herself from Audrey. I think she'll experiment with different clothes and accompany Adrien with his silly antics (she likes them, she grew up with him, they're both divas and have that default sassiness ingrained in them). Maybe she'll finally allow herself to be unexceptional, where she'll just be Chloe. Not the daughter of the Mayor of Paris or The Style Queen. But just Chloe, Adrien's and Sabrina's friend, Felix's childhood frenemy, a person who is proud but also hides herself from so many others, who is desperate for validation that she'll take it from anyone (even to those who'll break her to pieces). Because (to me) she's still that same little girl who kept trailing after her mother who will never notice her, nor give her the dignity to call Chloe by her name (and Audrey even calls Zoe by her name. She really hates Chloe so much). She has a lot of bad experiences with adults who let her down and didn't love her enough. Chloe knows that Nathalie has a heart (despite her last name) but she's also heartbroken and depressed due to these events (add in the fact that she might even be dying, that's one more parent that Adrien will lose). So, Chloe steps up, helps Adrien give this kid the love she didn't and can't have(she won't refer to the baby as her sister but she also doesn't deny it when others proclaim that they are).

Adrien and Chloe are blorbos, gremlins in my head, they can't leave it. Everytime I try to come back to Lukanette or Adrienette or Marigami, these two always pull me back in. It's been years, I just returned and they're never letting me out of their grasp.

Wow anon, that is quite a narrative journey you have going on. You should write it down and share it with people on AO3.

Is it Chloadrien siblings or a sort of childhood friends to eventual lovers sort of deal?

I will admit I do like Chloadrien whenever I explore up-aged later in life fics.

[puppetmaster13u]

Meat Marionette #11?

Thinkin about the rogues in this Au, and like, the difference between their relationship with the bats vs this Au. 

 For example, Selina. I’ll admit I take a bit of inspiration from the 2022 movie and mix it with comic depictions along with the different cartoons, which honestly isn’t too different from each other by too much. Now, I don’t think that Catwoman would flirt with this version of Batman, what with his body being a meat puppet that is visibly not human and off putting. There’s also the fact that she would have been an early-ish rogue of his, at least in order of encounters. Which means that she probably encounters the Bat for the first time while Bruce was still getting used to said gifted body, which in turn was probably terrifying. So there’s still a cat and mouse game happening, but it’s more akin to Selina doing her darn best to avoid the Bat no matter what, because to her it isn’t above trying to kill. It’s like seeing a lion where you figure you’re safe at this distance, until it starts moving and you realize that you are definitely not far enough away. 

 Another rogue that I am thinking of is Harvey and Two-Face (Which DC, give Two-Face a proper name :/ he’s his own dude even if they share a body). Harvey was best friends with Bruce, hell they were practically high-school sweethearts in some cases! And Bruce still visits him in Arkham, canonically still talks and interacts with both his friend and TF. Now if anyone is going to notice the changes to Bruce, it’s going to be Harvey. He’s going to be the first to notice how Bruce’s movements are now dangerous and downright predatory, with too much grace even for a dancer or martial artist. There’s something familiar about that movement, and Harvey isn’t an idiot, TF isn’t one either. They know there’s something wrong with Bruce even if he insists he’s fine. In canon Harvey straight up broke down and cried when he found out Bruce was Batman, so I’m wondering what their reaction to this version of the bat would be…

 There’s also rogues like the Riddler and the Joker who are downright obsessed with Batman, but would they still be with this one? I could see Joker slowly becoming obsessed as the creatures continue to thwart him over and over again, but I’m still rotating Riddler. 

 But y’know who would definitely be obsessed with the batclan?

Scarecrow. The man is obsessed with studying fear, with the effects it has and how to cause it. So the bats, who bring terror wherever they go, with something about them continuously tingling at the back of ones’ more instinctive mind that this is something to fear? He would be utterly enthralled, he’d need to know more, he’d need to know Everything. Especially if his fear toxin doesn’t work right on them. After all, how would a gas effect something without lungs? How can you inject something that doesn’t have blood, that’s not quite alive, not in the way that we as humans understand? How can you cause fear of something that has stared into the Tunnels’ heart and lived? Or something like that lol. 

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AU is a combo of my cryptid batfam and @phoenixcatch7 's Possessed Doll au, go check them out, they're amazing

[intimidating-fettuccine]

10:32, so

Puppeteer slowly realizing that the reader is falling into depression? But it's not too obvious; a lack of appetite (always insisting they aren't hungry, not realizing they are hungry but eating ravenously when forced to eat), they're setting timers for everything because they keep forgetting/needing extra motivation to do things, they're withdrawn, and--- most of all--- puppeteer just feels a little more energized when he's around them (absorbing depression haha). Maybe they aren't aware they're depressed, just saying that they "feel tired, not sad" and that it'll go away soon. The reader is a huge germaphobe so they still obsess over hygiene, and take that as a sign that they're fine (even though they keep postponing their showers and then waking up in the middle of the night feeling gross, forcing themselves to take care of themselves to avoid attention). It just feels like they're forcing themselves to continue going about their day in order to avoid worrying or disappointing anyone.

It doesn't truly take long for him to put the pieces together. You used to pride yourself on your schedule and efficiency, and now here you are without one at all, scattered and barely getting through your days. He notices immediately when you stop eating properly, and your late-night showers are also quite out of the ordinary. He wants to convince himself that you're still okay, that you aren't slipping into depression, but the more he looks at you and the habits you're taking on, the more he sees himself inside of you, and it gives him one thought he'd never wanted to consider...

Could he be the reason you're getting depressed? He's so used to being the cause of depression for his victims that he worries that you could be falling into depression with him around as well, which terrifies him and upsets him greatly. Although, the two of you have been together for so long that he tries to optimistically reason that hopefully, he isn't the cause. He doesn't want to confront you head-on and force you into a corner, as he knows that's not likely to work at all, so he tries to be more subtle about it. "How has work/school been lately? Has it been getting harder recently? Is there any way I can help?" "Have you been sleeping well, my dear? I always worry about your resting habits." "Have you been having any problems with your friendships or your family? You haven't been as social recently." He starts to subtly, over the weeks, question you about any life changes that could have been causing your sadness, and with his higher amounts of energy from being around you so often, he starts to help alleviate any stress he can pick up on.

He handles all of the chores in the house for you, and he takes over cooking as well so you don't have to worry about that. If you have any schoolwork or any work relating to your job you need to get done, he provides assistance and reassurance that you're doing a fantastic job. He tries to get you more regulated by having you shower with him so he can get you back on a schedule and he helps you clean yourself so you don't have to feel quite as gross, and he always compliments your looks, saying you look wonderful (as you always do to him no matter what), and that you smell lovely (because he can't get enough of your scent). He'll also try getting you some new shower products as well, testing them out with you and when they work well he lays on even more compliments so he can try and boost your mood. He also gets you back on an eating schedule. He cooks you breakfast, lunch, and dinner and presents them all at the same time every day, eating with you so you don't feel as pressured, and consistent food and hydration (as he's constantly bringing you glasses of water/your favorite drinks), definitely helps you out. He's not convinced himself that this will perfectly help you as there's no guarantee, but if he can do even just one small thing to try and help you, he's going to do it. You have looked happier in the last few days, and you seem to be enjoying his cooking and your new soaps, even if you're still tired, and even if some mornings you wake up extra early for another shower, there's an improvement, and that's enough for him. He'll do whatever he can for you, as long as he has to.