#tw child exploitation mention

[sunset-peril]

Special Project Cykes - Athena Cykes/Venus Gyax Lore Sheet

Athena Cykes

Legal Name: Dr. Venus Gyax, Ph.D, Attorney-At-Law

~~~~

~ You treat me like an outcast

All you see are the years gone by that were unkind ~

The Child Inside, TryHardNinja

~~~~

- Basic Data -

Ethnicity: Undetermined

Age: 18

Hometown: Paris, France

Education: Frankfort University (Ph.D), University of Valencia (Master's and Bar Exam)

Known Aliases: Athena Cykes, Venus Gyax, Venus Blackquill

Nationality: French

Former Occupations: Dogfighter/"Pit Bull", Therapist, Death Row Convict

Current Occupation: Defense Attorney

Affiliations: European Union Asylum System (EUAS), European Union Dogfighting Pits (EUDPs), Wright Anything Agency (WAA), Hope Sanctuary for Abused & Exploited Children (Hope Sanctuary), Mercy Wolf Foundation/Advocates for the Children of the EUAS (MWF), Interpol's List of Exploited and Missing Children (Presumed Deceased Section)

- Inner Soul Information -

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Ribbon Coverage: Extensive

Color of Ribbons: Teal + Purple (Childhood Sexual Assault/Abuse), Black + Red (Loved ones lost to Murder), Black/Red/Bejeweled (Loved one lost to a murder/act of violence that the wearer survived), Light Blue (Human Trafficking), Dark Blue (Child Abuse), Yellow (Child Abduction/Missing Child), Light/Lime Green (Permanent Spinal Injury), White (Child Porn), Black + Blue (Loss of a son/Mourning a son), Pink + Blue (Loss of an infant)

Ribbons Crowning Head and Neck (aka "Crowning Traumas"): Four Black/Red/Bejeweled, One scarf-like Teal + Purple, One Light Blue intertwined with one White

Other notable ribbon locations: One thick pink + blue on right wrist, one thick black + blue on left wright. They look tight and heavy.

Inner Soul Behaviors: Hostile to Adult Males, Bleeding Heart to Children, Awkward around Adult Females

- Affiliate Information -

Personal Affiliates: Apollo Justice (Lover, Power of Attorney/Guardian), Simon Blackquill (Presumed Relative), Aura Blackquill (Presumed Relative, Disowned), Metis Cykes (Presumed Mother, Deceased), Daniel Boulet (Unspecified), Lazar Andrić (Son, Deceased)

Business Affiliates: Phoenix Wright (Employer), Trucy Wright (Employer's Daughter), Miles Edgeworth (Linked with her arrival from Europe), Kay Faraday-Edgeworth (Undetermined), Sebastian Debeste-Edgeworth (Undetermined), Klavier Gavin (Undisclosed), "Miss Mary" (Undisclosed)

(Ribbon colors snatched from here)

(The Bejeweled design is a mix of my own ideas and design and the red + black ribbon in the aforementioned link)

[rozengermain]

A "Father's" False "Love"

Forwarning: I am going to be talking about some heavy subject matter, if this upsets you, turn back.

A bit earlier, I reblogged some (really good) fanart of Genshin Impact, specifically, of the Fontaine Twins and Arlecchino, and in the tags I said this:

"There is no way Arlecchino sees [Lyney and Lynette] as anything BUT tools"

I also mentioned that Scaramouche/The Wanderer had not nice things to say regarding her, and this is what he has to say:

However, I forgot that Childe doesn't have nice things to say about here either:

I wanted to elaborate on what I said back there based on some research I did on child exploitation (The only form I knew of was grooming up till now) for a prediction regarding this bitch basically.

Initially, I assumed that she was guilty of some form of grooming, but then my research made it abundantly clear that she was not, and it was in fact a DIFFERENT form of child exploitation that she was guilty of: so let's talk about child criminal exploitation (CCE for short, I will be using that from now on).

Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) is when an individual manipulates an exploits someone (A minor in the case of CCE but anyone can be a victim of this) with the intent of using the individual for criminal activity. What are the Fatui guys even doing? Well they are basically war criminals: the army so I think you can see where this is going. Arlecchino is basically exploiting children and manipulating them with the intent of turning them into war criminals. Hell, in the Sumeru area, there is a questline that involves ANOTHER House of Hearth kid who was ordered by Dottore to kidnap children in order to capture an aranara to experiment on! Crimes that he (if I remember correctly) feels an obligation to do likely for "Father's" sake, despite the fact that he doesn't like it. I think it is safe to say that she is exploiting children for criminal purposes here.

But now to the "tool" thing. Does Arlecchino truly love the Hearth orphans, or does she just see then based on how she can use them? From what Scara and Childe had to say, I feel it is the latter. WHile we have yet to meet her, the fact that she is guilty of CCE and the fact that Scara calls her "a wolf in sheeps clothing" and implies she is controlling, doubled with Childe thinking of her as treacherous, I think it might be safe to say that her affectionate nature to the Heath orphans might just be an act. Considering how children are manipulated by people with malicious intent (which she definitely has) I think one reason she might be so sugary to them is because that makes them love her, and want to please her, thus making them easier to manipulate. The same goes to her taking Lyney and Lynette in specifically. They were victims of abuse before they ended up with her, and I think Arlecchino saw that she could exploit them because of it, love-bombing them and acting like she cares about them. Sad, no? This would mean that they thought they had escaped abuse, only to still end up in the clutches of an abuser....

[samijami]

A correctional officer enters a subway, cuts infront of me and my mum because his wife is ordering for her two kid sons and teenage daughter.

The wife hits one of the sons, and demands that he eats his subway when she buys it, though she is letting him eat an entire bag of chips right before she orders the damn subway.

When the daughter's subway is being made, she wants nothing more on the subway than just the cheese and meats, so she tells her mom that. Her mom tells the sandwich artist the same. Her father later asks her what she wanted on her subway, she walks up and says 'nothing..I already told mom', to which the father responds with 'Oh but you're a typical female, I figured you'd change your mind'.

Now this man is wearing his correctional officer uniform and everything, and even talks to the sandwich artist about it. Apparently the lady sandwich artist had a past boyfriend who was a correctional officer, so wowzers.

The kid sons tell the mom what they wanted on their subways, and when she gives it to them, she put something on both of them that they didn't want. She told them to shut up, and that 'they just automatically put that on there' when they said they didn't want that, when it was a mistake on her part because it was an add-on topping.

It took them a half an hour to order, then they ate inside. As me and my mum were ordering, and a guy was waiting in line, they carried on with their bullshit at their table.

[razzle-zazzle]

Whumptober Day 06: do or die, you'll never make me, because the world will never take my heart

Forced to Watch

2445 Words; Ouroboros AU

TW for violence, exploitation, injury, trauma

AO3 ver

The locker room seemed impossibly large when Mirtala first saw it; a bench in the center more than half her height and ten lockers each as tall as her in two rows on the wall.

Mirtala had only ever heard about the locker room in passing; never from Dion, who hated talking about the arena to her, but from the Wolves and sometimes from Aster and the other kids. Of those groups, only the Wolves had ever seen the locker room, but Aster and the rest just loved to boast about how well they’d do when they were finally old enough for the arena, loved to boast about how they knew so much about it already.

But it wasn’t Aster and the rest who were standing in the locker room, a Wolf’s hand on their shoulder. It was Mirtala, her braids twisted into two tight little buns.

“Your outfit’s in the middle locker on the bottom,” the Wolf said, gently nudging Mirtala forwards. “You won’t be going in right away, but better to try it on now.”

The locker in question was unlocked. Mirtala wasn’t entirely convinced that whatever was inside would fit her—it had only been a few days since Creed drafted a contract for her, only a few days since she’d leapt into the arena with an ill-fitting wolf mask. Surely, with everything that happened in Ouroboros, there hadn’t been time to create a new outfit—every competitor in the arena was an adult or close enough, after all, and none of them were very close to Mirtala in size or stature.

To her surprise, the outfit she pulled out fit her well enough. The pants and boots and black shirt was much like Dion’s, but sized down to fit her. The shirt had the number 054 embroidered on the back in shimmery white thread—did Dion’s outfit have the same, under his vest? Mirtala figured it must have.

Where Dion’s vest was red with gold accents, Mirtala’s was white with red accents. It reminded her of candy canes, almost, or playing cards—there was a red heart on the back. Red-dyed faux feathers lined the collar, soft around Mirtala’s neck. She turned back to the locker for the final piece.

A red and white chickadee mask greeted her, the carefully shaped beak seeming to gleam under the locker room lighting. The paint was bright, unfaded by time, free of chips. It looked brand new. It looked like it’d fit her perfectly.

Mirtala pushed the mask on, reaching back to tie it.

It felt like a damnation.

+=+=+=+=+

The brawl was well underway by the time Mirtala was guided to the arena. She took a moment to peer through the gate, watching. The Opossum was already lying face down in the dirt—was he down for good, or would he get back up later? The Rhino was charging after the Rabbit, ducking around and under the obstacles in her attempts to reach hare. The audience was loud, the resounding din of the cheers and jeers louder than the groan of the gate as it rose.

“Good luck.” The Wolf shoved her forwards, out of the shadow of the gate into the searing light of the arena.

The announcer’s voice blared over the loudspeakers. “What’s this? A new challenger appears!” The audience roared. “Introducing the Chickadee! You may know her from a few nights ago, but this is her official debut! Let’s give her a warrrrrrm welcome!”

Mirtala steeled herself. She tried to imagine the arena before her as one giant jungle gym. A giant game of tag—that’s what she was about to participate in. Just a game of tag.

The announcer continued, “The first challenger to catch the Chickadee wins! Can she evade her powerful opponents? Let’s find out!” The audience was too loud, the lights too bright.

The Rhino snorted. Mirtala wasted no time in somersaulting to the nearest set of painted metal bars and flinging herself up atop them, darting about a monkey bar-like structure that curved up and over and around. The Rhino couldn’t reach her up here, so Mirtala took a moment to breathe.

Thunk. Thunk.

…Nevermind. The bar shook again as the Rhino kicked at one of the supports, and Mirtala cartwheeled over to a maze-like arrangement of metal panels. The Rhino circled around the entire thing—Mirtala had hoped to lure her into the maze entirely. Phooey.

The Rabbit chose that moment to try attacking the Rhino, landing a kick right into her leg. But the Rhino was built like a tank and it showed—she simply whirled around to face the Rabbit, who was quick to dart off.

Keep things interesting.

It was Mirtala’s whole job, in this arena—if she failed to do that, then she might as well have lost. She walked along the top of the maze walls, leaping over to another set of metal bars.

The cage bars cast shadows across the arena. Mirtala’s mask pressed against her face. She put her hands on her hips and looked at the Rhino with all of the judgment she could muster. “Are you even trying? My Nona could move faster than you!”

That did the trick. “You—” The Rhino slammed her shoulder into the pole, making the whole thing wobble. Mirtala didn’t fall, though, holding on tight. She focused not on the woman attempting to tear the structure out of the ground, but on the Opossum on the structure behind her, slowly creeping forwards.

“My baby brother’s stronger than you! He’d have knocked this whole thing over by now!” Throwing all these insults didn’t sting as much as Mirtala expected—maybe it helped that they were (kind of) true?

(Or maybe the poison of Ouroboros was getting to her. Mirtala dreaded the possibility, but she couldn’t deny it.)

The Rhino bellowed a wordless cry of rage, stepping back to throw even more force into her next shove—

The Opossum leaped down onto her from behind, arms wrapped around her neck. Mirtala watched as the Rhino stumbled this way and that trying to dislodge him. She grasped at his arms, and even slammed him against the metal panel behind her, but he held fast. Within moments, she went down, the Opossum leaping to the side to avoid being pinned.

The Opossum had hardly a moment to bask in his victory before the Rabbit’s boot was driven into his side, slamming him into the metal panel he’d just leapt off of. The Opossum was quick to get back up, darting between two metal poles to avoid the next kick. Mirtala could see his hands shaking. The Rabbit charged him again, and he yelped.

Mirtala’s whole job was to “keep the fight interesting,” as Creed had put it. So she grabbed the bar she was standing on and swung down, her legs catching the Rabbit right in hare’s shoulder. She wished she could aim for hare’s face.

The Rabbit stumbled backwards. Mirtala swung back up, flipping once in the air before grabbing the bar and landing in a handstand. “Nyeh!” She taunted. There was no time to doubt, no time to stop and think—she had to keep moving no matter what. Mirtala couldn’t stop, couldn’t let herself be caught—

She slid down a pole and dashed across the ground. The Rabbit lunged, and Mirtala ducked under hare’s tackle. She rolled to the side to avoid the next tackle, leaping into the air and slamming directly into the small of hare’s back. Hare wheezed.

Mirtala moved to climb back up, out of reach— 

Her whole world tilted as she was lifted into the air by her ankle in one smooth motion. The Opossum held her up in front of himself. The audience cheered.

Mirtala crossed her arms. The fight was over.

+=+=+=+=+

Dion was going to be sick.

Anxiety was taking a hand mixer to his organs, dread trickling down his spine. He’d never been in Creed’s private box before. He never wanted to be in here again.

Creed’s King Cobra mask glittered in the light, covering the upper half of his face. His dark brown eyes still looked like deep pits ready to swallow Dion whole even with the fake scales. “She’s doing quite well for herself.” He commented, voice light.

Dion receded further into the plush seating. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to be here, sitting five feet away from this monster of a man, watching his baby sister hop about the arena like it was some kind of playground instead of the awful fighting pit it truly was—

But he wasn’t allowed to leave, either. Creed had insisted, and when Creed insisted on anything it was an incontrovertible order. When Creed insisted, someone else ended up suffering.

“You should be proud,” Creed purred, as Mirtala taunted a woman more than five times her size. “Your sister has more will to survive than half of the roster.” He took another delicate sip of wine, setting the glass down before turning to regard Dion directly. “You are proud, aren’t you?”

Pride was the last thing Dion was feeling. Complete and utter terror, sure, but—

How was he supposed to be proud of Mirtala dancing around the one place he never wanted her to go? How was he supposed to feel anything but a sense of abject failure at his ability to take care of her, to protect her from as much of Ouroboros’ ills as he could? She shouldn’t even be here, shouldn’t have ended up in Ouroboros with him—and yet his own idiocy had brought her down with him, and despite his every effort he could do nothing to protect her from his own fucking mistakes—

Dion’s hands clenched into fists. He wanted to tear his eyes away from the arena below them, wanted to tear his eyes away from his sister being chased around like something to be caught, like a goal to be grabbed—

But he couldn’t.

Hatred rose up Dion’s throat like bile. He turned his ire towards the monster beside him. Venom gathered on his tongue.

(He’d nearly yelled his throat out when he’d first found out about Mirtala’s shiny new contract. Partly at Mirtala, partly at the Wolf watching him on his next dayshift.

He hadn’t had the courage to do anything more than glare at Creed when he saw him. Had almost yelled, only for his words to lodge themselves in his throat and make it sting and tighten with unshed tears.)

“I hate you.” Dion snarled. “You’re awful. Mirtala doesn’t deserve this, nobody deserves this, and I hate you, you figlio di put—”

“Are you done?” Creed’s voice cut through Dion like a knife. All of his fight left him, his whole being coming to a halt under Creed’s gaze.

Creed grinned, the fangs of his mask gleaming. “So you can be smart sometimes.” He commented.

Dion hated him. Dion hated him so much. But he held his tongue, wary of the Wolf guarding the door, wary of the serpent sipping wine barely five feet away from him.

The audience roared. The sound grated against Dion’s ears. His throat tightened and his eyes stung, his view of Mirtala ducking under the Rabbit blurring—

He hated this. He hated Creed, he hated this place, he hated his inability to do anything to get himself or Mirtala out of this hellhole—

But he hated himself most of all.

+=+=+=+=+

Mirtala cleaned herself up in the locker room, trading her arena outfit for nightclothes. Her hands shook, her heart racing in her chest.

She wasn’t sure what scared her worse—the fight, or the thrill that she had felt during it. Mirtala had felt unstoppable up until the point that she was finally grabbed, on top of the world as she leapt and tumbled around. She didn’t need to win fights, just to evade everyone long enough to make things interesting. But she had wanted to win so badly, wanted to push herself further like it really was just one giant game—

And that scared her more than anything. Would she let that competitiveness control her? Would she let that need to win take her over until the Mirtala in the chickadee mask was unrecognizable to her? She didn’t know. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

The exhaustion in her bones, the lingering adrenaline from throwing herself around the arena like it was one giant obstacle course—

It was satisfying. It was just like home, just like tiring herself out practicing her performance and pushing herself to go higher, farther, faster—

Uncertainty and fear swirled in her stomach. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream and kick and shout until the emotions swelling in her heart didn’t seem so impossibly big. She wanted to cry.

But no tears ever came.

+=+=+=+=+

Their room was bigger when Mirtala got back. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders, water dripping off onto her back.

Dion was waiting on his bedroll when she returned. His face scrunched through five different expressions in the span of a second at the sight of her, his hands fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

(He looked like he’d just cried. Mirtala still wanted to cry, herself.)

Wordlessly, Dion turned away, his expression stone.

Whatever. Mirtala grabbed Francis III and sat down on her own bedroll. Dion could stay mad for all she cared; she wasn’t going to stop. She had finally found something to do that could help, and she wasn’t going to let Dion talk her out of it.

(She wasn’t allowed to, besides.)

She clutched the plushie tighter. When Dion came back from the arena, he curled around her until their breathing matched. So why, when Mirtala came back from the arena, did Dion refuse to look at her? Was he really that mad at her?

(Probably. He’d yelled at her when he found out about the contract, his face twisted into a monstrous snarl of hurt and anger.)

Her eyes stung. Mirtala sniffed, begging herself not to cry. She was strong! She was brave! She had to be, to survive here in Ouroboros. And she was.

She heard Dion move behind her. Felt his hand ghost over her shoulder before withdrawing. “Tala—” He started, only to fall silent.

She didn’t turn around.

(Later that night, when Dion’s breathing had long evened out, she tucked herself against his side, pulling his arm around her and imagining that he’d put it there, that he’d pushed through his stupid doubt and held her himself instead of holding back like a coward—

Mirtala clutched Francis III closer. She hated this place. She hated it so much.

But she was still powerless to do anything about that.)

[the-great-donatello]

We have some evidence the head of the shelter also partakes in child labor and child abuse... so I'd say the best thing we can do is bankrupt his estate and THEN call the cops for his inhumane treatment of Leo and his own son

Sure.

[worst-mother-throwdown]

BRACKET 1

Round 2

TW: child neglect, exploitation, mention of vomiting

Mom Turner propaganda

Tiffany Meyer propaganda

[samijami]

My sister: *having bipolar depression*

Me: *having dpdr, adhd, anxiety/depression-*

Mother: *blaming my sister for getting raped, almost failing school, and her drug addiction*

Father: *blaming me for my lack of energy, constant forgetfulness, low grades, stress induced panic attacks/fits, lack of sleep/sleeping in and incompetence in algebra*

Huh that's so funny honestly

I hate my parents

[into-jupiter]

finally reported the dude who groomed and solicited me when i was 17 for my nudes to the fbi :~)

took me 8 years but finally feel like i should maybe at least report him

[goatlingsvent]

this isnt about the 2000s giveaway thing this is about 2000s drawing cp and getting a crush on a minor can any of you read.

👾

[bqstqnbruin]

okay so like prefacing this for a major trigger warning for ch*ld *xploitation/p*rnography and p*dophilia

idk if you have heard about what’s been happening with wr*n.*lanor on tiktok or if you know who she is. but basically it’s that mom who’s pretty popular i guess for posting the mom vs grandma outfits where it’s like she’ll dress her daughter in like outfits a teenager would wear i’d say while grandma dresses her like an actual toddler. i remember her videos and people criticized her because she would literally put her daughter in crop tops and how like it’s dangerous for little kids to have a lot of exposed skin. and i remember people would get mad at those comments because it’s “s*xualizing a toddler” when ppl really meant like if she were to fall and like scrape herself she would get hurt

anyways, i’ve been seeing tiktoks about over the past few weeks and like it’s been known by the mother that many p*dophiles really like her content and like will s*xualize it… and like she still posts her daughter in very compromising ways like using a tampon or pretending to shave private areas. and it’s like making me very sad because obviously her child doesn’t know any better and like she KNOWS what people are doing with her content. and like she’s not old enough to consent to be in those tiktoks. like apparently she’s made a video where she was acknowledging people were saying she’s a bad mom for exploiting her child yet like she keeps posting stuff with her daughter.

i've seen multiple people on tik tok talk about this how like as soon as an influencer's baby is born there are literally like 100s of fan accounts that get made as soon as the baby name is announced like it's insane that they don't even care that they are subjecting their children to stuff like this for the sake of money

[coco-loco-nut]

We Can’t Be Friends

Pairing: George Russel x Reader

Summary: George’s girlfriend, a former child actor, is not well liked by the public

TW: mentions of alcohol and drug abuse, implied child exploitation

A/n: going off of the more popular interpretation of the song (ari vs the public)

requests open!🫶 masterlist

———————

You just finished filming a short interview in a docuseries with some of your former colleagues, those who fell into the same trap and downfall as you did. You prefer not to air everything out, but you knew your statement would support the others.

The industry basically forced you into a drug and alcohol addiction, one that you thankfully beat, but you went from someone who was once loved to someone hated, just from how the media spun your name.

You met George at a hospital event -you now work as a biochemist and bioengineer- and he immediately recognized his childhood crush. You dated for a year before feeling strong enough to go public, but ever since he posted a very cute picture of you, the hate has started again.

“I’ll make a statement asking them to leave you alone,” George offers but you shake your head no. He hates seeing you upset, but both of you didn’t expect the backlash on you.

“They won’t understand, they could never even try. They will never know what it was like to grow up like that, even the docuseries won’t help,” you start to dismiss the thought.

“We can’t do nothing,” he tries to reason, wanting to protect you.

“I don’t want to tiptoe around the public, but I don’t want to hide, either way I’m feeding this fire,” you groan, running your hand through your hair as you pace the room. You had to call off of work today, the entrance to your townhome being blocked by paparazzi.

“The story is gonna die, and we’ll be alright,” George stands up and pulls you into a hug. In your mind you picture the public liking you again, waiting for their love again.

A few days later, George drags you out of the house for lunch, you had only been leaving for work. The two of you step out, a reporter immediately coming up to you. You ignore the first few, sitting in your silence.

“It’s just me and you, Baby girl,” George whispers to you, supporting you however you choose to respond.

“Y/n, is it true that you have been in and out of rehab for the past year? You are in and out of hospitals,” one reporter, who always hounds you, asks causing you to whirl around. You don’t want to argue, but you don’t want to bite, so you choose a confusing answer.

“You’ve got me misunderstood, but at least I look this good,” you smirk, watching their face scrunch in confusion, gripping their paper and pen, before continuing your walk.

The next day a clip of one of your short interviews drops, taken while you were in college, as a trailer for the docuseries release the following week.

~-~-~-

I don’t like how this industry painted me, but I’m still here hanging, just not what they made me. It’s almost like a daydream sometimes, finally leaving that world. I feel so seen, I am everything that I defined myself as, not all that the industry made me be. My truth and I may always sit in silence, but one day I hope I am brave enough to say it out loud. For now, it’s only me on the road after recovery, but maybe that’s all I need.

~-~-~-

buzzfeed.com/uk

A list of every child actor we need to apologize to after watching “Drugged: The Truth Behind the Lives of Child Actors”

1. Y/n Y/l/n

~-~-~-

“Are you sure you want to go out there?” George asks, looking at the crowds of journalists. You nod, tired of being silent and waiting for things to be better, not caring about feeding the fire anymore.

“Let’s go,” you release a shaky breath, stepping out behind your boyfriend as he walks you to work.

“Y/n! Anything to comment regarding the documentary that’s been released and the allegations made by your former colleagues?” A journalist asks, the rest hoarding, pens at the ready.

“Actually, I do. You owe us an apology. Villainizing children who needed someone like you to expose how awful our working conditions were, that’s sick and cruel. You wrote lies about us, and instead of apologizing, you want to ask us for statements and exploit our names more? You’re sick. We can’t be friends,” you chem them out before continuing on your way to work. A part of you will always wait for their love, but you are tired of waiting for them to like you.

“You’re a badass. I hope they will see you are the biochemist and bioengineer, not the child actor. You’ve come so far and I’m so proud,” George says once your breathing steadies from the adrenaline.

“Thank you, Georgie,” a small part of you wants to flip them off behind you, just like you would’ve done ten years ago, but you don’t, finally moving forward.

[chaotic-banana-fish]

THE CAMERA AND THE GUN

(tw: discussion/explicit mention of Ash Lynx's past)

I think that as a fandom, we don't appreciate the importance of Eiji being a photographer (or going to the US as one) enough.

Given Ash's past, cameras are something he's very vulnerable under. He's constantly been exploited for his body and image, and the child corn videos of him were still up for distribution until Max burned all of it. Even the sound of cameras can be a triggering memory, such as when he's confronting Kippard and he's transported back into a childhood memory with the incessant "click click click" of the camera.

Eiji, showing up to that bar, pulling up a camera with his job literally being to take pictures of him, embodied everything Ash should distrust. However Eiji asks is he can take the photos, and Ash replies "not the face", this obviously makes sense given he's a criminal, but with what we learn later it's obviously more than that.

Ash was carrying a gun, Eiji a camera, to both of them what the other person was carrying was the greater weapon. However, famously, Eiji asks for Ash's gun, takes it and gives it back and says "thank you for trusting me with it", which I think is really key. Ash has just seen that if he can trust Eiji with a gun, perhaps he can trust him with a camera.

Which he does. We never really see Eiji take pictures of Ash during the course of the show, but we know he did thanks to garden of light, where we actually see some of them. The fact that Eiji has a camera, giving him the power to make Ash feel vulnerable and observed, but doesn't at any moment, must've given Ash so much hope. In the same way he tells Eiji that it's the first time anyone has done something for him without "asking for something in return" this is probably the first time someone has had the power to hurt him and not used it.

The fact Ash can trust Eiji so fully with a camera, and feel comfortable and unguarded around him just speaks so so much to the nature of their relationship and just how deep and true it was. With Eiji, Ash really can just be himself "a boy of 17 years old" he's not afraid in the slightest, even if every single thing from his past should tell him to run. The trust Ash has in Eiji is just as great and moving as the trust Eiji has in Ash. Eiji tells Ash he was never scared of him, not for a moment, which is something that Ash finds great comfort in, but it's also true the other way around.

Eiji the one who trusted a boy with a gun and Ash , the one who trusted a boy with a camera. Gosh I love them.

🍌🐟

[starlightshadowsworld]

Tw for mentions of child abuse

I do wonder how much of Atsushi's treatment by the Headmaster and the Orphanage was influenced by the war.

We don't know how old Atsushi was when he came to the Orphanage, just that he was a child.

Atsushi would've been 4 years old during the Great War. So it's possible he came to the Orphanage during that time or shortly after.

As far as we know, Atsushi was the only gifted at the Orphanage. And that was the source of all the abuse he went through.

And I wonder if the war influenced that. If seeing the destructive potential in ability users turned the staff against Atsushi.

Ability users were known, and fighting in the war. Fukuchi and his exploits were famous, even back than.

Look at what they call Atsush. A monster, a beast of calamity etc. Bram's ability caused one of the 10 calamaties, that kind of language doesn't feel accidental.

I gotta wonder how much of the abuse, the murder attempts were made out of hatred. And how much were done so out of fear, or both.

While Atsushi's ability is dangerous and uncontrolled, prior to Shibusawa it's never hurt anyone as far far as we know.

Even when he goes on a rampage at 18, Atsushi only eats the crops and chickens. Which he only did because the Orphanage was starving him.

But those facts didn't matter to them. To them Atsushi was gifted, therefore he was dangerous.

The Headmaster grew up seeing the horrors of the war, it shaped him as a person and the life he led. He was the one who punished Atsushi, who put him in a cage and tried to kill him.

Only seeing a potential monster and not a child. And so he delivers him a painful message, that the world is cruel out there, to beings like you.

I thought of this because there's a line from Atsushi in I believe 55 minutes.

Where Wells is talking to him about the war and Atsushi says something along the lines of "that's the first time I've heard of there being gifted in the war."

Which implies Atsushi knows about the war, but this specific piece of information was kept from him.

Who would've told him that? Presumably the Orphanage. And what else did the Orphanage keep from him? That he had an ability in the first place.

Who knows maybe those things are connected.

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

tw: attempted self harm, mentioned bullying, self image issues

feel free to say no (i understand its a difficult topic) but how about the m6 finding themselves in this situation with their kid?

https://youtube.com/shorts/2KAIPkXNCWg?si=1NQjcZaxqZX8JYe2

The Arcana Mini-HCs: M6 when their kid has body image issues

~ for added context, feel free to watch the linked video. to keep this less triggery, though, I'll be writing for the headcanon title ~

Julian: he's not used to being self-conscious about his looks, but he knows plenty about poor self-esteem and defining his worth by the wrong traits. he'll set a whole day aside to spend with his kid and talk to them like a mini-adult, taking their fears seriously, helping them process out loud, and heaping them with comfort and special treats

Asra: heartbroken. they would never, ever, ever want their kid to feel less than precious. he also hates showing negative emotions in front of them because he doesn't want them to worry, so he cuddles them until he can keep a calm face. distracts their kid with lots of loving fun and then asks you to handle the hard conversation with them

Nadia: horrified. firmly tells her child that their body is exactly what it needs to be and that anyone claiming otherwise on appearance alone is facetious and vile. then she has to spend another ten minutes explaining the meaning of her vocabulary. then she treats them to a spa day with her and makes them repeat affirmations out loud

Muriel: oh. oh, that hurts him more than he expected it to. after spending his childhood hiding from the kids who wanted to exploit his size, the last thing he wants is for his kid to experience the same thing. hugs them very gently and finds something calming to do together while he tells them how perfect and cherished they are

Portia: immediately shows offense to the mean words her kid is repeating: "well if you having a tummy is bad, then what about me, huh?" this is extremely helpful because it models how rude and wrong those words are and the hurt her kid is allowed to feel. helps them vocalize their feelings and then teaches them some solid comebacks

Lucio: accidentally approaches this really well because he would have been the kid who said mean things like that. uses that to tell his kid those words say more about the person saying them than the person they're aimed at. then he tells his kid to punch them if they hear it again (this is the part where you hop in and suggest otherwise)

[rainbowsky]

I've been trying to learn a bit more about the climate around race in China in light of the difficult discussions that have arisen over the past few days.

Through my exploration I came across this gripping, extremely upsetting investigative report by Runako Celina and Henry Mhango for BBC AfricaEye that might be of interest to some of my readers. It documents an investigation into the origins of racist videos found on Chinese social media, and gives some perspective on just one tiny piece of the racism in China.

Also mentioned in the video is a Ghanaian vlogger on YouTube who has covered some of these topics.

[CW/TW: child abuse, child exploitation, severe racism]

While it does have a somewhat happy (or more like bittersweet) ending, it is definitely not suitable for some viewers. Please take care of yourselves.

[nico-esoterica]

Why these trendy gross men are predators (astro analysis)

tw: mentions of grooming!

Metroboomin, now exposed as an open and shameless child predator uncoincidentally has a whole Libra stellium that the SN is running through. And it's being activated via Drake's 3H that can be associated with inner-circle connections or (from an artist's perspective) having brief projects with. The SN in Libra during our current cycle is bringing issues of past harm done to victims to light. Another person this immediately affected months back is Jonathan Majors who has his Mercury and Venus in Libra.

Drake's placidus Sun crosses back into 3rd house. It also conjoins Pluto (in Scorpio) and is copresent with Venus. This combination on its own doesn't mean anything. But when you add context, with Scorpio as the lens, it has a sinister effect where those you're hanging out with casually for work are also people who have issues. Since he has a Mars that hovers between the 6th and 7th houses in the 'Venusian' decan of Aquarius, imo, it spells out work place misogyny that forms not only camaraderie, but due to Scorpio hiding things in the general 3H of 'early childhood development' is..1+1=2. Meaning.. sharing a hobby (3H) of underage girls being tossed between temporary coworkers or it just being something they all have in common separately.

Mars in the 7H can play out as antagonism towards women in the charts of terrible men. Usually has something to do with the mother. Drake has a 12H Cancer Moon (11H in placidus) which forms watery trines to his whole sign 8th and 4th houses. Water houses hold memory (water--it's absorbent nature) and can link to trauma because they play a role in the emotional parts of us we keep private and are processing or unaware of. In the charts of abusive people, water, imo, plays out as following the rhythmic cycles of trauma because they're motivated by deeply felt (water gets into things) emotional spite. And trines and sextiles allow for it to flow unimpeded. Since those are supportive aspects, it means that the behavior is aided and encouraged. Its occurrence in water houses gives me a visual of it happening, like rivers and motes below things, beneath larger systems or served as connective wave lengths between people like bodily tissue.

The Moon and Jupiter are also in domicile (in their respective homes) in Cancer and Pisces, so this behavior was downright encouraged and he was very at home doing it (could be literal). And they're forming the belly of their grand water trine to his Scorpio Venus. The middle decan of Scorpio is associated with the 6 of Cups and the 6oC relates to childhood or nostalgia in many tarot card pulls. It's what we're holding onto which we're afraid to let go of. You're following me here. In the middle decan between two cards that are associated with not having enough of something or too overwhelmed by choices (5 and 7 of cups), the 6 is where we're happy with what we have and can happily indulge. When you combine this with all of the 'positive' neutral astrological elements discussed, Drake, flat out, has 0 remorse, never thought it was a problem, and knew he could get away with his behavior safely and uninterrupted... until now.

However, as per my last 2 audios about the Drake/Kendrick beef on my Patreon, all of that Scorpio, IMO can lead to paranoia. And in the 4H, unless you are absolutely convinced nothing is out to get you, you will tend to be living like a wild person muttering to themselves off their meds in their house unless you transmute that control issue into something (that isn't a person).

I feel as if he chose to quell that, partially, in ruthlessly controlling and grooming the most unprotected and exploited group of people. Young girls.