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ofsappho · 10 months

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Magindara

When invaders threaten your home, life, and people, you, a sirena, strike a desperate bargain with Dream of the Endless to save them all.

Dream of the Endless x mermaid!reader, one shot (for now)

Tags: war, gore, torture, death/murder, mentions of SA, slavery, things that generally come with colonialism

Inspired by the episode “Jibaro” from the Netflix show Love Death + Robots. This one shot draws heavily from Filipino mythology, culture, and history. I ENCOURAGE and INVITE people who don’t come from a Filipino background to read this story and enjoy! There is so much beauty to be had in cultures of color, for everyone. Just as I have read many stories steeped in Greek, Celtic, Norse, medieval England, etc cultures, without coming from those backgrounds, I humbly ask you do the same and entertain this little fic. Thank you. I may write a follow up if there’s interest. Glossary at the end.

From the banks of your river, you can hear the horses.

Metal plate clangs and screeches against itself, swords jostle in their sheaths, and shields bump where they rest on armored backs so loud that you want to scratch your sensitive ears out, just to make the sounds stop.

Your ates and kuyas hide deep below in the caverns known only to your kind. When you close your black eyes, you feel them tugging at the edges of your mind like little lights in the deep darkness of the sea. They believe that will be enough to save them.

Only you have braved the surface, because only you know what these strange men upon their strange beasts want.

They want the gold in the dark, fertile earth. You don’t understand why - it’s just shiny metal. Only the dwarves under the hills covet it. But the men who ravage your lands and your kin like wildfires, grasping everything and destroying it in the same breath, care very much. They want the never-dying orchids that line the banks and the brilliant emerald green vitality bursting from every leaf and vine that could keep a mortal alive for a thousand years. They want to feed their glory on your broken bodies. They want to take the people you protect for slaves, the women shamed and disgraced and the men subservient and humiliated.

You’ve seen it for yourself.

You’ve tasted the water of streams running red with blood, the iron like acid on your blue tongue.

You’ve swam farther and seen enough to make you hate. Families torn apart, children with their hair cut off and given names in an ugly language, forbidden to speak their own - the same language you speak. Fathers dragged onto large ships, larger than a butandíng, never to return. Altars burned. The men put your red sisters who live in the balete trees, their hair tangled with vines and lovely, fierce, flickering yellow eyes, to the flame. You witnessed their dying howls and curses for vengeance.

Some of the white-haired annani have already begun to clip their pointed ears, tear the crowns of flowers from their hair, and even cut out their tongues so as to lock away the magic these men desire, never to be spoken again. “There is no place for us,” Those tall, graceful elves told you. “We will be gone in a generation, by sword or by starvation.”

They’re coming.

The jungle is quiet as it has never been in a thousand years.

You could no more hide your tail, glittering blue and turquoise, with long, sweeping fins like ferns, than you could hide the long sweep of hair that reaches your waist, or the ink-black lines embedded on your skin, painting your face, your neck, and your arms with the story of your people and your home.

The calls that echoed from the depths of the river have stopped. It seems that your family has accepted that you won’t come back.

You look at your webbed hands, test your claws against your flesh. What is one magindara to a hundred conquistadors?

When the men spear you, they won’t just be slaughtering a mermaid. They’ll be killing the stories you keep. Centuries of stories. Countless names. Each pearl around your neck is a tribe, full of the old songs of grandmothers and the new rhymes of babies. You’re draped in thousands of shimmering strands of pearls.

You may not be the cleverest, or the most beautiful, or the one with the sweetest voice…

But you can be the bravest.

“Lord Morpheus,” You intone, frowning as the syllables ripple wrong and harsh from your throat.

You’ve never spoken to any of the gods beyond your islands before. “Dream of the Endless.” All you can do is hope and pray this one listens and comes to you in time. Will they be kind? Will it be merciful? Will he, or she, save your home?

Perhaps such a god does not exist at all, and you are praying to wind and sunlight, and soon your guts will color the cerulean water purple and black. The strange men will defile your body, no doubt. A week ago, you crawled from your river to cut down the corpse of a long-gone ate from a stake, jagged holes ripped into the tail of her corpse that made you vomit and her dead eyes full of pain.

Once you’d laid her to rest in the water, she dissolved into nothing. “Prince of Stories,” You sing. That is what faces everything you’ve ever loved if you fail.

“I beg you, save us. Save our stories, our dreams. We call for your aid.”

The men bark at each other. Any moment now, they’ll see you, your hands raised and your face tipped towards the heavens, inky flowers blooming on your forehead and cheeks and crocodile teeth tattooed on the sharp line of your jaw.

A new quiet falls over the world. Like nighttime, when things are resting, not dead.

You have called, and I answer.

A being stands on the banks of your river in the shape of a man. His hair is blacker than Bakunawa’s maw and his eyes are filled with gold and silver stars brighter than any you’ve seen before. His pale skin carries no markings.

He is as grotesquely, menacingly beautiful as the razor’s edge of shark teeth, as a great python curling in a tree, as an eagle with its claws stuck in the beating, bleeding heart of a monkey.

You feel the weight of his gaze on your brow heavier and hotter than the sun on the longest day of summer, burning out the truth in your heart. “I would bargain with you, Dream Lord. For my people, and my land, and my home, which I love more than my own life.”

What would you have me do? When Lord Morpheus speaks, his voice pours through your mind ringing like the purest, clearest freshwater.

The many jewels around your throat, pearls, sapphires, rubies, diamonds, plates of beaten gold, click as you swallow nervously.

The dream king stands so tall that he could touch the sky if he reached up. And he doesn’t look away or blink. You can’t read the inhuman planes of his face whatsoever, you can’t find any familiar sign in his long limbs that might bring comfort. For all you know, you’ve spelled your doom.

“Keep them alive. Keep our names and spirits alive. Bring our stories into your kingdom so that we won’t be forgotten. That is what the men want. They want to raze us to the ground and rebuild the world in their image but we will not go.” You pause. “We will never, ever go,” You growl, fierce and deadly, around a mouth full of fangs. In your words you pour the horrors you’ve seen, combined with the beauty surrounding the two of you.

The hot, muggy air, the warm rain, the scent of night-blooming jasmines. Orange mangoes, bursting with sweetness, bamboo sticks clacking as joyful youths dance in and out of them, laughing gaily. Rolling drums. Bright feathers tucked into black hair. A toddling child reaching out to her grandmother with a chubby-cheeked smile, pressing the back of the withered, ancient hand against her little forehead. Love, so much love.

I have not walked these lands before.

You found traces of Lord Morpheus scribbled in the margins of paper and in the back alleys of lost dreams. Your last and only hope.

When you went to Diyan Masalanta, she wept and showed how the soldiers bound her hands. When you cried out to her brother, Apolaki, the sun god called back and said the invaders took his shield.

Bathala is gone. Mayari is gone. Lakapati is dead. The conquistadors stripped her naked, cut her ribs from her chest, and planted her bones in the fields they set their slaves, your people, to work.

“They say you are Endless. You preside over all beings in all places. Please, I beg you, preside over us. Are we not worthy of your favor? Do we not deserve to live in your dreams and nightmares?”

If Lord Morpheus refuses you, you’ll cut your throat before you let your enemies have you.

He tilts his head like he can hear your thoughts. One shining hand stretches out, almost as if to touch your face. You sing prettily, little siren. You draw back with a start. Why is there hunger in his voice? A hollow, all-consuming, terrifying hunger?

You know what it feels like to starve when the fish are scarce. This is leagues away, a typhoon to your trickle of rain. Shadows bloom under his hollowed cheeks. His pupils eclipse his brilliant aquamarine irises.

He’s-

He’s aching.

Morpheus flashes his bone-white teeth as he bends at the waist to examine you further. His gaze traces your tattoos, your large, frightened eyes, and your body beneath the necklaces and bracelets.

As scared as you are, as convinced that you’ll bleed the instant his fingers brush your blue-streaked skin, your numb lips move.

“I vow to you now, Lord Morpheus, before every god and being I know, that should you render us this aid, I will give you anything within my power to grant that you wish.”

Anything?

“Name it, my lord, and it shall be yours.” With that, your eyes flutter shut as you await his judgment.

You can’t hide from him, even in your mind. You don’t see him, but you feel a straining pressure build where he prods at you, pushing on the fragile edges of your being like he’s cracking a duck egg. He claws and scrapes until-

I will aid your people.

You open for him like a sampaguita flower. Dream of the Endless picks through your soul like he’s picking blossoms, you feel how much he wants with every brush, every long moment where he sticks his fingers in and relishes the feel of you. Nothing has ever touched you like this before.

He’s on his knees on the riverbank, the dark soil pressing into his clothes. His hands clench the rocky edge of the bank. Your wet hair sticks to your back as you rise up, close enough that you can count his night-black eyelashes. There’s a dizzying amount of them.

“Thank you. Thank you. Salamat-po. And your price, majesty?”

You’ll do whatever he wants. Does his thirst demand souls? You’ll harvest them by the dozen. You can picture Lord Morpheus unhinging his jaw, swallowing those soldiers whole. Their swords wouldn’t even scrape him going down. Riches? You have no use for them if you’re dead. He can take every speck of wealth to be had.

You. I want you.

Your sisters and brothers wail. They sense the foreign king tearing at the flesh binding you together. They feel him taking a knife to your indigo heart and cutting it loose from your body. Your head tilts back as you gasp for breath and see him hold the organ aloft. Dark blood trails in rivulets down his wrists.

“I-“

There are no creatures like you in my realm. So I shall have you, in every way that I wish, and you’ll obey. Those are my terms.

Your tail lashes in the water as if you fight hard enough, you can swim away. The cavity pulses with searing, unholy pain. You’ve made a mistake. You’ve summoned- He is an aswang, a devil, a soul-eater, you’ll never see your home again, you’ll never touch the water you’ve known since birth.

Lord Morpheus brings your heart to his mouth. His lips are beautifully-formed. You can’t find it in yourself to hate such a wondrous creature. Even your amethyst ichor looks more beguiling when he’s covered in it.

It was never a question. “Yes, my lord. I accept these terms.”

His white teeth stain purple when he sinks them into your heart.

Glossary:

Ate (ah-tey) - sister

Kuya (koo-yah) - brother

Butandíng - whale shark

Balete tree - very cool large tree native to Southeast Asia

Annani - elves from the stories of the Ibanag people, who look like humans with pointed ears. They are kind guardians of the forest and often share healing knowledge with humans if treated with respect.

Magindara - mermaids from the folklore of the Bicolano people. Beautiful half human, half fish guardians of rivers/streams/lakes/the oceans, who sing to lure fisherman and warriors to their death but leave children unharmed.

Bakunawa - a great mythic serpent and god/goddess of darkness. Various myths place Bakunawa responsible for eclipses.

Diyan Masalanta - Tagalog goddess of love, war, childbirth

Apolaki - Tagalog god of the sun and war, patron saint of warriors, soldiers, modern day patron saint of Filipino traditional martial arts (Kali/eskrima/arnis) practitioners

Bathala - the Tagalog supreme creator god

Mayari - the Tagalog goddess of the moon, war, revolution, and justice. She fought her brother Apolaki for dominion over the heavens.

Lakapati - the Tagalog goddess of fertility, food, bounty, balance, and prosperity. She represents both male and female and has both male and female genitalia. Patron saint of queer/trans people.

Sampaguita - the Filipino name for sambac jasmine, the national flower of the Philippines

Salamat-po (sah-lah-maht poh) - thank you (utmost respect) in Tagalog

Aswang - overall name for the malicious/demonic/monstrous beings in Filipino folklore. Vampires, zombies, ghouls, organ eaters, cannibals.

I hope you guys liked this! Let me know if you have any questions or want to read more from this.

#the sandman #magindara #sandman #the sandman comics #sandman comics #the sandman tv show #sandman tv show #dream of the endless x reader #dream of the endless x you #Dream of the endless #lord morpheus #lord morpheus x reader #lord morpheus x you #Morpheus #morpheus x you #morpheus x reader

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cod-dump · 6 months

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I feel like Moose is the type of friend that likes using his big stature to help them out.

Like yeah he's socially anxious as all hell but he's also so fiercely protective of his friends (mostly cause the Shadows are some of the first people in his life to show him such genuine appreciation/love)

Like, he knows he is the Scary Dog Privilege and so, even though they are more than capable of taking care of themselves, some of the Shadows that are women or just much smaller people love when Moose escorts them places when it's dark out and it's not a safer area. He'll suffer going out to bars and stuff during the Shadows' Girls' Nights because he'll sit to the side and just kinda stand up whenever some assholes are making them uncomfortable. He's designated drink holder, purse holder, etc.

Moose is known for standing there giving just the longest swallow-up-the-person-he's-hugging type hugs for a Shadow that really needs it. (this is projection. I want a big, kind man like Moose to just let me hide in his arms)

Also, Moose returns from his first long leave after becoming a Shadow and doesn't really expect the others to have missed him.

But the second he walks into the main room, Graves just "Looks like Moose is back on the menu, boys!" and then chaos. There's so much cheering and one brave soul even jumps on Moose's back.

He doesn't outwardly react very much, but once he's alone he's practically bawling.

*sobs* *SOBBING*

He’ll kill for his friends and have a panic attack immediately afterwards but it’s worth it! He’s scared shitless but he’ll do anything for them! He loves them and they love him! They love their Moose! he wants them safe! He cares more about them than his anxiety! He’ll panic afterwards, once they’re safe!

#MOOSE #*crying over the boy*#shadow company oc #cod oc #shadow company moose #shadow company #ask #thanks for the ask <3 #drabble

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jokingmisfit · 1 year

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Yandere ABC’s Archangel Gabriel

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Gabriel is hella clingy. He spent so long without his family, and though he’s had some romance he’s never loved anyone or thing as much as you. He’s so afraid he’s gonna lose you. He just wants to wrap you up in his wings and grace and never let go.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

He won’t hurt the people you love. Gabriel WILL however kill any and every threat that comes around. He isn’t willing to lose you it just won’t happen. If someone tries to take you from him they’re gone.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

He’s doting. He’ll try to comfort you. Make you laugh, make you comfortable, make you understand this had to happen. Gabriel won’t mock you though he may sound condescending that isn’t his goal. He tries really hard to act like everything is normal

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

Gabriel won’t hurt the people you love, but if they try to take you from him he will make them forget you ever existed at all. They aren’t hurt, but they have no idea who you are.

He’ll also force feed you if you starve yourself. He’ll be as gentle as possible, but you will eat.

Gabriel will make you go to sleep if you force yourself to stay awake. Along with this he IS going to hold you while you sleep

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

He bares everything to you. He shows you everything he has, at least once you both are together, or after he kidnaps you. Before you’re together/kidnapped he hides everything. After he lets you in on all of it. Gabriel loves you for you and he wants the same so he tries to give everything he is to you.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

It hurts his feelings. Gabriel just wants to love and protect you. He doesn’t enjoy seeing you upset, but he’ll do what he has to do. You’ll come around, right?

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

Gabriel hates it. He loves games, but love isn’t a game. All he wants is the pure-hearted love that he knows is there.

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

Your worst experience will be either him kidnapping you or him making your loved ones forget you.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

Gabriel just wants to live a loving, fun, carefree life with you. As long as he’s with you he’ll be happy.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

He won’t get too bad unless you actually peruse them. At least that goes for friends. A stranger will get zapped as soon as Gabriel knows you won’t notice. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t get jealous. He does, but he loves you enough not to kill your friends.

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

Every other sentence is a flirty remark towards you. If you’re a hunter he’ll make it known he only cares about your safety. When it’s just you two he’s only a little less flirty, and he’s way more cuddly. Gabriel will pull you against him, hug you, lean on you, and dote on you endlessly.

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

He’s obvious. He’s acted all flirty and loving since you’ve met so you just assume it’s his personality. In reality all his love and gifts is his way of getting you to love him. He will wait forever until he’s called out by you or you confess. He’s to scared to lose you so he’ll wait forever as long as he gets to keep you around.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Not all that much, He’s not all sarcastic and brave when he’s with you. He’s simply softer. It’s not a big jump. Gabriel will still be playful, flirty, (a fucking gremlin) etc. He’s just more human in a way, more willing to be honest with how he feels.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

He won’t. Gabriel wants you to see him as the best version of him, your version of him. He gives rewards or treats. He feels that it shows his love, and that punishing you will drive you away. If you try to escape too often he will move the home he made for you both to the middle of nowhere.

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

To leave him. You’re not allowed to leave him alone. Wherever you go he goes. After he kidnaps you you’re simply not allowed to leave the house, not until he knows you won’t leave him.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

Gabriel is the most patient. He understands that he’s uprooted your life. He knows it’’s hard to move on and live a new life. This isn’t going to stop him from coddling you though.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

This isn’t an option. If you escape, no matter what, he’ll find you. Same as if you leave. If you die, Heaven and Hell help everyone. Gabriel IS going to find a way to bring you back. Obviously you’ll go to Heaven, but he wants you alive and in the world. No matter what he has to do, in any of these situations, he will get you back.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

Gabriel feels terrible. He doesn’t want to see you cry or be angry with him. Despite this, he won’t let you go. He loves you too much and just can’t lose you.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

Loneliness. Gabriel left Heaven. He spent years before that not having friends and watching his family argue. All he wants is simple love that is all for him.

The reason he thinks you’re perfect for him and never thought any other partner was is up to you. 👍

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

He hates it more than anything (aside from you being hurt). He won’t let you isolate yourself and will try his best to comfort you.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

He wouldn’t hurt your friends or family. He knows how bad it feels to lose the ones you love most. Even if he wants all your time and attention he would never put you through that kinda pain.

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

It’s basic knowledge that Gabriel is overtly playful. If you try to escape and fail you can tell him you wanted to play a game like tag or hide n’ seek. This will only work a few times though, if you use it too much he will catch on (and like I said he will move the house to a place you will never be able to find the way back from).

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

No. Simply put he would never hurt you. Ever.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

He plays it cool. Gabriel acts like he likes you just a normal amount and he’s almost convinced himself a few times, but in truth he’s debated making you a church just for himself. He flirts constantly, he’ll give you gifts and basically just charm his way into your heart. He tries to not let you ever see him upset. He will do anything for you and it’s as simple as that.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

Gabriel makes it obvious from the beginning that he likes you more than anyone else. I mean he flirts with everyone but for you it’s turned to full blast. He can do this dance as long as he needs to. The only thing that will get him to “snap” is if you go looking for companionship in either form. If you ask if he likes you in that way he’ll tell you straight up he does, if you tell him you like him in that way that’s great. If none of those happen like I said he’s got (literally) all the time in the world.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

Not on purpose. As I’ve said he would never, ever, want you hurt. I think how well you can handle his love decides whether you’ll “break” or not. If this ever happened Gabriel would never forgive himself and do just about everything in the book to help you feel normal again.

#spn gabriel #supernatural gabriel #spn #supernatural #yandere supernatural #yandere gabriel #yandere archangel gabriel #yandere spn archangel gabriel #archangel gabriel #supernatural archangel x reader #supernatural gabriel x reader #yandere gabriel x reader #yandere archangel gabriel x reader #archangel gabriel x reader #yandere abcs #gabriel x reader #spn gabriel x reader

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once-upon-an-animation · 1 year

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If I could redo PJO and give each counselor and some minor characters an arc…

So one of the things a lot of PJO fans want to see done differently in the show is adding more depth to the side characters at Camp Half blood, particularly characters like the Stoll brothers, Silena Beauregard, Charles Beckendorf, etc. I’m not sure how much screen time these guys are really gonna get, but I keep fantasizing about each of them sort of having their own story, even if it would lead to a convoluted plot.

Therefore, in this post, I’m going to outline what kind of arc I would have given to each character/counselor in PJO if I had been the one writing the story. Some of these will be pretty close to what is already canon, some of these are a complete overhaul of the canon characterization, some will be inspired by canon but not obey it completely. I also can’t promise that they’re entirely original. Brace yourself, this is a VERY long post:

- Percy Jackson: Wouldn’t change much about his original arc. I would add the following things:

1) Make him more active in the resolution of the love triangle between him, Rachel, and Annabeth. Have him reflect more on what he likes about Annabeth over Rachel.

2) Have him hesitate more in his decision to give Luke that dagger. The hesitation can be caused by Percy remembering all the ways in which Luke has hurt people, including himself. Have him be angry and not want to give Luke the dagger; it would add more suspension to the choice and make it a more emotional one.

3) Have him train more.

4) The first thing that Percy told us in the book was that he didn’t want to be a half-blood. I think an awesome full-circle moment for him would be to have a moment where he fully accepts and embraces being a half-blood as a part of his identity, even if he doesn’t like it much. He doesn’t necessarily have to be proud of it, but I think it would be s cool character moment for him to make peace with it.

It could work best during his dip in the River Styx when he forgets who he is. When he initially grabs Annabeth’s hand, he not only remembers who he is just as a person, but he also remembers being a half-blood as a part of who he is. He accepts his fate and his life as a demigod for what it is, and makes a final decision to be brave and to take on the prophecy no matter how scared he is. In a way, he would also be accepting that Annabeth is also a demigod and can’t offer him an escape the way Rachel can, but that’s okay because he cares for Annabeth deeply, and they can work together to overcome their obstacles.

- Annabeth Chase: I’m going to be honest, I don’t think Annabeth had much of an arc l’in the original series. Her relationships with others definitely changed over time, but I personally feel that she didn’t change that much in terms of her core character traits or beliefs. She started the story as a prideful, aggressive, sentimental character and mostly ended the story that way (as evidenced by HoO). She ended up being right about Luke redeeming himself, so it’s not like she was forced to change her view on when to stop defending bad people. She’s also rarely called out on her flaws; Percy getting mad at her in BoTL is the closest we ever get.

So for Annabeth, I would enhance her arc by having her try to counter her hubris by actively working on her sense of humility. This can manifest in many ways:

1) Humility in the idea that she might be wrong about Luke and his ability to be redeemed. Humility in the idea that he is not a perfectly good person and that he’s hurt a lot of people.

2) Humility in the idea that she is not always right in general and she is capable of getting things wrong. More moments where someone other than Percy calls her out on her shortcomings could be a part of this.

3) Humility in the idea that she doesn’t own Percy and isn’t entitled to a relationship with him. If they’re going to end up together, she has to give him the room to choose that for himself just like she chose it for herself. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that Percy waffled around a bit and needed to be pushed/challenged a little. But like, he still has his own autonomy, you know? His relationships are still his choice. I just want to see Annabeth respect Percy’s autonomy more than she does in canon. It seems like when he doesn’t agree with her or do things her way, her usual move is to get mad at him or worse, hit him. I don’t like this and it doesn’t demonstrate a healthy relationship.

4) Humility in the idea that her plans don’t always work, and sometimes other people are better at things that she is weaker at. ie. Rachel knowing how to navigate the Labyrinth better than her.

- Grover Underwood: Wouldn’t really change anything, I would just reveal more of his quest to find Pan and what he sees/learns along the way, maybe by adding more interactions between Grover and nature deities that we haven’t seen yet. Grover’s arc and involvement with nature would also be a cool opportunity to involve Demeter in the story more and make her more than just a nagging mom character.

Perhaps she and Pan have a friendship of sorts, and Pan has asked her to help Grover subtly along his quest. Or maybe Demeter and Grover can connect over their sadness at the destruction of nature, and how Demeter sometimes worries if her own domain will fade someday as more and more human societies turn away from traditional farming and agriculture.

- Luke Castellan: Wouldn’t change anything about his core story. I would, however, change the way that Annabeth thinks of and responds to him in later parts of the story, and I would change the way that he and his sacrifice is viewed at the end of TLO. I would give the story a more balanced or nuanced view about Luke’s actions.

I would also make Luke’s motivations more cohesive and have his desire to help other demigods be the main motivation from the start. Lastly, I would remove that stuff about him developing a crush on Annabeth at the end of TLO *or* if we want to keep this, I would just age him down. I don’t think much would change if Luke was like, 2 years older than Annabeth as opposed to 6 or 7.

- Thalia Grace: The only thing I would add to Thalia’s arc is more emphasis on the transition between the end of SoM and the beginning of TTC. Thalia has been out of commission for 5 years and I’m sure a lot has changed in the world since. I would add moments where she feels behind with the way things have changed, aka her not being up to date with the latest tech, pop culture moments, slang, etc. that the other kids at her new school are using. On top of finding out that Luke is now a villain, this becomes a source of emotional stress for Thalia and Annabeth has to comfort her.

In addition, I feel like this gives Thalia an even stronger reason to join the Hunters. Not only does she want to write off love, but joining the Hunters allows her to withdraw from the modern world that she no longer feels a part of and stick with the type of life that she knows and feels comfortable with.

- Bianca Di Angelo: Wouldn’t change much; maybe add more nuance and hesitation to her decision to ditch Nico and join the Hunters.

- Nico Di Angelo: Wouldn’t change much within PJO, but I have a lot of thoughts on what happened with him in HoO. Let’s save that for another day.

- Clarisse LaRue: The inspiration for Clarisse’s arc comes from her deep fear of making Ares angry at her and not having the same respect he gives his sons, and her need for respect in TLO. In my mind, Clarisse’s arc would be about learning the right way to earn respect.

Picture this: she starts the series off as a daughter of Ares who feels disrespected by her father and is craving respect from elsewhere. She thinks about how Ares and the gods in general command respect by being intimidating and making people fear them, so she engages in bullying in an effort to make people respect her. However, throughout the course of the series, we learn that none of the campers really respect her or the other bullies in the Ares cabin, and Clarisse continues to struggle to feel respected.

Over the course of the series, Clarisse begins to realize that bullying does not inspire true respect, but she has a hard time unlearning this because it goes against what she’s always thought. She starts mellowing out a little, having some of her softer moments in SoM and BoTL, but she’s still struggling. In addition, every time she experiences disrespect, she reverts back to her old behavior.

This comes to a climax in TLO when the whole Ares/Apollo cabin beef happens and she initially sits the war out. The campers call her out for not being a good friend all these years and for not being able to put her grudge aside to help her fellow campers during their biggest challenge. They specifically tell her that the reason she and her cabin don’t get any respect is because they aren’t very nice. Clarisse tries to argue about Michael Yew and the chariot, but the Apollo campers inform her that Michael is dead. He died fighting beside his friends, making him someone worthy of respect…unlike Clarisse.

Clarisse is forced to think about what makes someone w worth respecting and what doesn’t, and realizes her most respectable moments was when she was being a good friend. She apologizes to the camp for all the bullying and for ditching them during the war, and fights fiercely by them for the remainder of it. Clarisse doesn’t necessarily become a sweetheart after this, but she certainly becomes a better friend and cools down on the bullying. She also encourages her siblings to do the same.

- The Stoll Brothers: The Stoll brothers are pranksters and thieves, always turning every moment into an opportunity to steal and loot…even during war. This implies to me that they’re not very good at taking important things seriously, so here is my arc for them.

We know that things in the Hermes cabin aren’t exactly the happiest. The cabin is overcrowded with unclaimed kids and minor god kids who are probably salty about not having a cabin. You also have the other Hermes kids who are witnessing all of this. I like to imagine that since CHB doesn’t have a therapist and Chiron is spread pretty thin, the campers usually turn to their counselors or older siblings for emotional support.

After Luke betrays everyone and leaves, a lot of the unclaimed kids and minor god kids start to think about joining Luke in overthrowing the gods as they feel he might be right. They turn to Connor and Travis for emotional support but since the Stoll brothers don’t take things seriously, they brush off their campers and prioritize their pranking and looting. This pisses of their campers, and after the battle of the Labyrinth occurs and they see a bunch of their friends die without much help from the gods, a bunch of them make the decision to leave CHB and fight for Kronos.

As they’re leaving, Connor and Travis question them and try to make them stay, but their campers aren’t convinced. They complain about the way things have been, and they call Connor and Travis out for being crappy counselors before they leave. Connor and Travis feel awful about this and vow to win back their campers.

During TLO, the Stoll brothers encounter their old campers on the battlefield and hesitate to fight them. They try over and over to apologize to them and convince them that fighting with Kronos is not the way. The old Hermes campers are not convinced that the Stoll brothers truly care about them. This changes when the monsters from Kronos’ army pull a trick that ends up endangering the demigods who are on Kronos’ side, and the demigods feel deceived. Connor and Travis risk their lives to save their old campers, which finally convinces them. The old campers defect from Kronos’ army and rejoin CHB.

After the war, Connor and Travis vow to be better counselors. They commit to cleaning up their cabin now that it’s less crowded, and doing a better job of listening to their campers concerns. They still prank and loot, but they make sure they take care of their campers first.

- Charles Beckendorf: Beckendorf’s arc is inspired by his sentiments in feeling that machines are easier to understand than people and him being the anchor for the entire camp.

Beckendorf starts the series out as a guy who is pretty introverted. He likes to stay in the forge with his inventions and stay away from all the drama and hullabaloo that goes on with other campers. As a result, no one really knows Beckendorf or how great of a guy he is. This changes in SoM. At some point prior or during the beginning of SoM, Silena and Beckendorf start interacting. I like to think it’s because Silena got her weapon damaged and Beckendorf is helping her fix it. Silena’s kind and charming personality leads to Beckendorf opening up to her a little, which helps her realize that Beckendorf is a really cool dude.

As the camp continues to struggle with monster attacks while Mr. D and Tantalus don’t help much, Silena asks Beckendorf to help her and the other counselors talk to Mr. D/Tantalus and help lead the camp defenses. Beckendorf hesitates because again, he doesn’t like dealing with other people and being at the front lines isn’t really his style. But he does care about his friends and knows he can make a difference. Silena convinces him to break out of his shell, and he sort of takes over while they wait on the Fleece to be brought back.

Through his leadership, the campers get to see what a great guy Beckendorf is and he becomes more popular around camp. This encourages Beckendorf to come out of the forge more often, and he begins making more friends and bonding with Silena a little bit more. Over time, he becomes the “anchor” for the camp: giving people advice, being a shoulder for people to lean on, making people laugh and smile, and just being a great guy all around. I like to imagine that he, Percy, the Stoll brothers, and a few other boys form a friend group where they regularly hang out together at camp.

- Silena Beaureguard: Silena’s arc would remain mostly same as her book arc. The only thing I would change are her motivations and the depth of Luke’s manipulations.

Silena’s arc would focus on courage to do the right thing. When Luke initially convinces Silena to help him, it’s less so because Silena thinks he’s cute and moreso because she genuinely thinks that Kronos cares about demigods more than the gods do. She lies to her friends and dances around them to keep up with her spying. However, over time, especially after the death of her friends and siblings in BoTL, Silena starts to realize that Kronos doesn’t care about demigods at all. She tries to quit spyings few times. Initially, Luke tries to convince her that she’s on the right side by telling her that the deaths can’t be helped; it’s the campers’ fault for fighting for the wrong side. Silena is not completely convinced, but after Luke threatens to tell, she becomes consumed by fear of how her friends would react, and moreso, what Charlie would think of her.

She becomes more and more anxious about getting caught, to the point where Charlie starts to suspect that something is going on. Silena also becomes more anxious about her friends dying, knowing that she might be contributing to it. When she tells Kronos about the stealth mission, she tries to beg for Percy and Charlie’s lives, but Kronos agrees to let only Charlie live. Silena feels bad about what might happen to Percy, and has a hard time facing Annabeth, Percy, and Charlie prior to the mission. Right before Charlie takes off for the mission, she expresses her fear of losing him and begs him to be safe. Charlie assumes that this is what has been bothering Silena and gives her some comforting affection before he leaves.

After Charlie’s death, Silena is angry as she was in the books. She’s also mad at herself. However, she continues to help Kronos not just because she’s mad, but because she is still terrified of being revealed as the spy. Many campers are still angry about Beckendorf’s death, and she knows they would never forgive her. However, the amount of injury and death she sees during the battle of Manhattan is too much for her (especially Annabeth). This inspires her to try and redeem herself secretly by getting the Ares cabin, and then she ends up dying after revealing her secret as she did in the books.

In the original books, everyone agreed to view Silena as a hero. But in my head, I find this unrealistic. Maybe not every camper was willing to say what they thought because they don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but in my mind, there are a lot of mixed feelings surrounding Silena after the war. Some campers think she was a hero and don’t blame her at all, some view her actions as heroic but believe that she messed up big time, and some actively refuse to see her as a hero. Notably, Beckendorf’s siblings and closest friends (think Jake Mason, Nyssa Barrera, etc.) have a particularly hard time viewing Silena as a hero, knowing that her actions cost Charlie his life. Drew also has a hard time with Silena’s betrayal, but I’ll discuss that later.

- Pollux/Castor: Pollux’s arc is inspired by his brother’s death in the books. His arc is about overcoming grief and desires for revenge.

Pollux and Castor don’t have much of a personality in the books, so here’s what I’m thinking. As sons of Dionysus, they are larger-than-life party boys. To them, life is one huge party and nothing can bring them down. They celebrate everything and find any excuse to throw a party. In addition, they have mixed feelings about their godly parent being present at camp. On one hand, it’s like being the children of the school principal; people don’t really like their dad and don’t want to get in trouble with him and Pollux snd Castor have to deal with all that weirdness. On the other hand, it’s cool having a godly parent who’s close by and not as absent as other godly parents.

As twins, Pollux and Castor are joined at the hip; they do EVERYTHING together (including quests!) and Pollux can’t imagine a world without his brother in it. However, Mr.D starts to wonder if they’re too dependent on each other. Mr. D makes this comment to Pollux but he brushes it off. It’s okay if they depend on each other because they’re brothers and Castor will always be there, right?

During BoTL, Pollux and Castor fight side by side. However, they get separated in the heat of battle and they have a hard time fighting enemy demigods because they’re not used to fighting without each other. Just as an enemy demigod is about to kill Pollux, Castor manages to find an push his brother out of the way, and takes the hit instead.

After Castor’s death, Pollux becomes consumed with grief and depression. He stops participating in camp activities and stays in his cabin most of the time; he also doesn’t throw parties anymore. Dionysus tries to talk to him, but Pollux doesn’t want to talk to him; his dad is a god who wouldn’t understand. Mr. D reminds Pollux that he was once a demigod who lost his mother, but while Pollux appreciates the comfort, he is still grieving. He also develops a deep hatred for enemy demigods, and doesn’t sympathize with them or act merciful towards them the way Percy does.

The year between BoTL and TLO, Pollux becomes more and more bitter, getting snappier with his friends.. He also becomes consumed with training, because he has struggled with fighting monsters without Castor at his side. His friends try to talk to him about his behavior and mental health, but he doesn’t want to hear it. All Pollux can think about is his anger and desire for revenge.

During TLO, Pollux is absolutely brutal towards the enemy demigods, despite the campers he is with reminding him that the enemy demigods deserve sympathy. Pollux brushes this off, as the enemy demigods had no sympathy for him or his brother. Pollux eventually runs into the enemy demigod that killed Castor. Pollux becomes consumed by revenge and actively tries to kill this demigod, even if it means not following the battle plan. As a result, he endangers both himself and his fellow campers. One of the campers, who is Pollux’s friends sacrifices themselves to save Pollux and the others, allowing Pollux to get away with just an injury.

As he’s escorted to Olympus to heal, Pollux feels so bad about the dead camper and how much he has let grief and revenge consume him. As he rests in Olympus, he thinks about how the camper and Castor sacrificed themselves for him because they wanted him to live. Grief and desire for revenge has stopped him from living, which he feels is not a great way to honor their memories. Pollux decides that it’s time for him to accept his brother’s death and move on.

Before the campers head back to CHB after the battle, Pollux finds out that the enemy demigod who killed his brother was killed in battle somehow. Pollux remembers the kid’s name and godly parent from when they fought, and ensures that he receives a shroud at the final funeral. Pollux also decides that he wants to move on from Camp Half Blood and enjoy the life that Castor and his camper friend sacrificed themselves for. This is why he disappears after TLO. But before he leaves, he decides to host one last CHB cabin party with the help of other campers to celebrate the camp’s victory over the titans.

- Katie Gardener: Katie’s arc is inspired by her maternal personality and Demeter’s distant nature from her children. In addition, it’s also inspired by the fact that Demeter kids are not seen as super combative or strong in the first series.

Like Pollux and Castor, Katie barely shows up in the book and has no known personality traits except for the fact that she is stern/maternal. So along with her maternal personality, I like to think that she is stern but kind and caring towards her friends, especially her siblings. She looks out for them the way a mom would, making sure everyone’s on track and well taken care of.

I also think Katie is protective, the way Demeter is protective of Persephone. She sees it as her duty to nurture and protect her fellow campers, especially her siblings. When she fails to live up to what she perceives to be her responsibility, she beats herself up. Katie is very passionate about family. She prioritizes being there for her friends and family as much as she can. She loves culinary arts, and regularly bakes, cooks, and adds to her recipe book in her spare time. I like to think that she and all the Demeter kids get along really well with the nymphs and satyrs moreso than any other cabin.

Lastly, Katie is very mature. She hardly ever pulls pranks or breaks rules. She’s also very wholesome and “vanilla”. Her sense of humor is very kid-friendly, and you won’t catch her doing things like making out in public or spending a night in the stables with a romantic partner, unlike another couple we know! 😉

As for an arc, here’s what I’m thinking. Demeter kids are less likely to encounter their godly parent than other cabins, because of how distant Demeter is. The kids all feel a little sad about this in various ways, especially Katie, whose father never remarried. Katie occasionally tries to reach out to her mom via prayer but Demeter never responds. Because she loves her siblings and prioritizes family, Katie takes it upon herself to be the “cabin mama”, and looks after her siblings in a similar way that a mother would. This leads to Katie also becoming very protective of them, especially on quests and in battle.

Now, Demeter kids don’t deal with monsters too much, so it doesn’t bother them to not be as skilled or strong in combat. But when battle/war with the Titan army becomes inevitable, they begin to worry that they might not be strong enough. Katie is especially worried prior to the BoTL, because she wants to protect her siblings and get them through the battle alive. She and her siblings do their best, but the Demeter cabin ends up losing the most campers during the invasion, for which Katie feels responsible.

After the battle, Katie becomes preoccupied on how to become stronger in battle so she can protect her siblings; she begins training more and more. In addition, she wants to increase her magical powers beyond growing fruits and cooking food. Unfortunately, Katie still struggles with insecurities about feeling weak, especially when she trains with stronger campers and loses in duels to them.

She becomes desperate and frustrated enough to pray Demeter for help. Katie admits to Demeter in her prayer that she has insecurities about being a child of Demeter. Not only is Demeter distant, but she feels like she’s not as strong as other campers. She begs Demeter for help, some kind of magic item or assistance that will make her stronger. Katie doesn’t think that the prayer will work as Demeter rarely responds, but she tries anyway, reminding Demeter that her kids are family and mothers should look out for their kids.

Demeter is initially silent, which angers Katie. Upon returning to her cabin one day, she finds bags of various seeds from her mother. which angers her even more. These seeds are not special; they are the same plants that Katie has always grown. Katie feels like her mother didn’t help at all, and declares Demeter to be an uncaring mother.

During the battle in TLO, Katie is very nervous about fighting and losing more siblings in battle, and she worries if her training will pay off. Unfortunately, when the battle first starts, the Demeter kids take a few losses. Katie finally snaps, and uses one of her seeds/plants in a way she’s never used it before to take down some monsters.

Surprised by this undiscovered power, Katie continues experimenting with her gifted seeds, and ends up discovering a bunch of new ways to use the plants in battle and protect her siblings. The Demeter kids take her cue and begin doing the same with their seeds, turning their assigned tunnel into a jungle and defeating the monsters.

Katie eventually realizes that Demeter gave her those seeds as a reminder that Demeter kids have always been strong and that they have to grow their own strength. Katie’s insecurities about being weak begin to fade away, and she and her siblings kick butt in the remainder of the battle.

Now, I don’t ship Tratie (Travis and Katie), but a cute Tratie moment would be if during one of the final skirmishes, Travis gets into trouble and is about to get killed, but Katie pulls off some awesome plant magic and protects him. Travis thanks Katie and is surprised that she’s looking out for him, and Katie tells him that even though he’s kind of immature and annoying, she still cares about all her friends and would never let him die on her watch.

- Lee Fletcher: Lee’s narrative is kind of hard because he has even less of a personality and lines of dialogue in the original books than Katie does. However, I am going to base his arc off the fact that he’s an Apollo kid and some of the things Apollo mentioned in ToA about not remembering his children.

Now, as far as counselors go, we already have an archery kid (Michael Yew) and a healer kid (Will Solace). We don’t really have a music, poetry, or prophecy kid who’s lead the cabin. However, I want to stick with archery for what I’m imagining with Will’s arc. However, since the kids can have multiple interests or powers, I think it’s okay for Lee to be a good archer AND a good something else. I’m leaning towards poetry because we’ve already seen a lot of music-related powers in ToA. So poetry-related skills would be a little different. Here we go!

So in my mind, Lee’s arc is all about trying to get his father’s attention. I imagine Lee’s backstory like this: he came to camp when he was pretty young, like maybe 8 or 9. However, it took a really long time for Apollo to claim him (think a year or two). Most of the campers suspected that he was an Apollo kid due to his good archery skills and interest in poetry, and saw his claiming as just a formality, but unfortunately, the claiming took a while to come. In fact, unclaimed Apollo kids who arrived at camp after Lee were claimed before him.

After he was claimed, Lee was excited to finally know where he belonged. However, he couldn’t help but feel like Apollo didn’t care about him or live him as much as his other kids. While other Apollo kids received quests, had their prayers answered by Apollo, or even got to meet him once or twice, Lee has never met Apollo or received any quests from him directly.

Lee missed the pre-TLT trip to Mount Olympus because he was helping another camper out with one of their quests. Lee decides to try and gain his father’s attention/respect by becoming the best he can be at his skills. He trains hard to become one of CHB’s best archers and his poetry is incredible; he has a special poetry book full of his best work. Lee’s siblings (and other friends at camp) love him and really look up to him, especially Michael Yew. I like to think that the two could be close, and regularly train at the archery range together. But while Lee appreciates his siblings’ love and attention, it doesn’t make up for Apollo’s absence.

If I remember correctly, Apollo drops Percy, Thalia, and the Hunters off at CHB before leaving in Titan’s Curse. Lee hears about this after the fact, and is so angry about him missing such a close chance to finally interact with his father in a meaningful way. As Apollo continues to ignore Lee, Lee grows more bitter over the years, despite his siblings and friends continuously trying to cheer him up. He even writes some sad poetry to express his feelings. When some of the campers start to talk about joining Kronos prior to BoTL, Lee genuinely considers going with them, as he wonders what makes the gods worth fighting for.

Just as he is deciding to leave, he has a heartfelt talk with some of the siblings in his cabin, including Michael Yew and Will Solace. Lee realizes how much he loves his siblings and friends at CHB and how much they’ve supported him. He decides that while the gods might not be worth fighting for, his friends and siblings certainly are. Lee enters BoTL, ready to defend the camp with his life, and that’s exactly what happens. He takes on more monsters than he can handle to protect his siblings, and ends up being taken down.

His siblings grieve him deeply and promise to never forget the hero he was. As an epilogue to Lee’s story, I know this didn’t explicitly happen in ToA, but I like to think that one of his siblings brought up Lee to Lester/Apollo while Lester was at CHB during The Hidden Oracle. Perhaps they even show Apollo Lee’s poetry book. As Apollo reads through the book, he’s very impressed, but notices that the poems get sadder and sadder, and are referring to Apollo not caring about Lee. Apollo notices the last page of the book is empty and asks what happened. The kids reveal to Apollo that Lee died in the BoTL before he could finish the book. It devastates Apollo to discover that Lee died believing that Apollo didn’t care about it; Apollo spends a long time feeling like an awful father.

At the end of ToA, Apollo honors some of his kids who have died recently, including Lee and Michael, by writing a heartfelt memorial poem on the last empty page of Lee’s poetry book. The end of the poem also honors the Apollo kids who are still alive, and Apollo ends the poem with a few lines where he promises to contact his children more. While Apollo’s affection came far too late, Apollo wants Lee to know that he was an awesome kid, and that Apollo is proud of him and all of his children.

- Michael Yew: Michael Yew is another hard one. While he definitely has more of a personality than Lee or Katie, it’s hard to think of an arc for him that matches his personality and the theme of his death. But here’s what I’m thinking (sorry if it’s not great!): Michael is known for being on the shorter side, but offering lots of attitude to compensate for his height. He also holds on to that chariot dearly, only letting it go when he realized that the battle was more important.

So here’s an arc: Michael dreams of being a great hero, the kind that people praise for their strength and wit during battle and talk about for years to come. However, when most people think of heroes, they think of big strong macho guys, not little guys like Michael. Michael is insecure about his stature and physique, so he tries to compensate through his personality and his battle skills. In addition to his attitude, Michael is slightly cocky and arrogant. He puts himself on a pedestal, tries to act like more than what he is. He can also be a little reckless in battle; he occasionally ignores the danger of a situation if it means getting to have his heroic moment.

Michael trains hard with Lee and becomes a great archer. He’s not quite as good as Lee, but he’s still pretty good. Now, Michael got claimed much faster than Lee did and he was on the pre-TLT trip to Olympus where he got to meet his dad, so Michael knows Apollo cares about him. However, while Michael has helped others on their quest, he’s never had a chance to lead his own. He dreams of this, as it would be a chance to show off his skills and his leadership.

After Lee’s death, Michael becomes the new leader of the Apollo cabin, a role he takes seriously as he continues to try and prove himself. However, Michael’s attitude and arrogance come into play again a little bit, always looking for a chance to shine. His siblings tell him that he’s doing a little too much, but Michael doesn’t listen.

When the summer of TLO comes and quests are thrown out the window in favour of the raids, Michael is actually excited, because the chance that he will get to lead raids like he’s always wanted is more likely. However, the leadership thing doesn’t really work out because other counselors who already have experience leading (Annabeth, Percy, Clarisse, etc.) usually take charge. However, in the quest with the Ares cabin, Michael finds his moment to shine and ends up being a major hero in the battle. As he finally gets his moment of glory, Michael feels that as the “hero” of the raid, the chariot is his to keep, but as we know, Clarisse disagrees. The argument plays out the same way it did in canon, while emphasizing Michael’s arrogance.

As the campers are getting ready to leave for Manhattan as per Percy’s request, some kids in the Apollo cabin suggest to Michael that he should give Clarisse the chariot. When Michael demands to know why, his siblings tell him that it’s critical for the Ares cabin to be there if they go into battle, and that the chariot and his personal glory as a hero is not worth their absence.

At first, Michael disagrees, but then he does some self-reflecting not only on the chariot, but also on the qualities of a true hero. He really doesn’t want to let it go because the chariot is like a symbol of personal glory to him. However, he realizes that trying to shine as a hero isn’t the most important thing in the world; what matters is all the campers coming together. He tries to make peace with Clarisse by the chariot, but as it happens in canon, Clarisse holds on to her grudge, and Michael gets mad at her.

The battle begins and Michael’s on the bridge with his siblings. Michael is trying his best to lead and takes on the bulk of the monsters, but they’re struggling a lot and a lot of his siblings are getting hurt, even killed. In that moment, Michael doesn’t feel like much of hero; he feels like he’s losing and that the battle is impossible. Thankfully, Percy and Annabeth show up and things play out as they did in the books, right up until the beginning of the bridge scene. Michael’s siblings are trying to get to safety on the Manhattan side of the bridge, and Michael knows that he should probably get down and join them. However, he notices that the bridge is weak and comes up with a brilliant plan. Michael realizes that if the plan works, they’ll earn a win over Kronos by stopping him and his army from crossing over. Not only will this save them, but it’ll be a plan that Michael came up with. It’s a heroic moment that Michael has trouble resisting, even after his self-reflection from earlier.

Percy tells Michael to go but Michael ignores the request and informs Percy about the bridge. While Percy considers the plan and then goes to execute it, Michael has a split second chance to get off the bridge. But he’s so caught up in seeing his plan work out and watching the bridge collapse, that he doesn’t notice the cables giving way underneath him. He falls and smacks his head on one of the metal rods on the bridge, which renders him unconscious so that he doesn’t scream when he falls silently into the water. He ends up drowning In the river.

When Michael Yew’s death is confirmed, his siblings honor him as a hero. However, when they give their euology, they emphasize that what made Michael a great hero wasn’t necessarily how cool he was in battle. It was his better moments, like comforting Lee, and giving up the chariot if it meant getting Clarisse to come. This is what he is remembered for.

Sorry, I know this arc is kind of lame. I also know that it implies Michael is to blame for his death. However, I just couldn’t think of a reason as to why Michael would stay on the bridge long enough for it to collapse and take his life. Even as he fell, he could have jumped or even resurfaced in the water and yelled for help. The logistics of his death are really sketchy, so I did what I could.

- Will Solace: So out of all the tertiary characters in PJO, Will is the most fleshed out due to his newfound importance within the Solangelo ship. However, I’m going to be honest: I do not like Will’s canon personality. Therefore, I’m going to deviate from canon big-time and cook up a different Will in this post.

When I envision a boy who’s into healing/medicine, I imagine a much softer and sweeter person who pushes people when they need to be pushed, but in a gentle loving way (so more therapeutic). I also envision Will as a slightly flirty guy who enjoys romance a lot, and fantasizes about his ideal relationship all the time. Lastly, given his role as a son of Apollo and his light-related powers, my imagined arc for Will is all about toxic positivity, and his challenges dealing with the darker sides of being a half-blood.

Additionally, this version of Will Solace is a fairly sheltered kid. He lives in a part of the country where there isn’t much monster activity and crime/tragedy etc. He grew up in a relatively happy family…no significant trauma, abuse, neglect, relationship issues, etc. As a result, Will is a pretty optimistic, happy-go-lucky person who’s almost never in a bad mood. He always looks for the bright side in everything.

However, while Will’s optimism is generally a good thing, he sometimes falls into the trap of toxic positivity, where he pushes away darker topics and serious conversations in favour of keeping things light. This initially makes him a hard person to have nuanced conversations with, as he tends to dodge the issue at hand. Will also does this with himself. Whenever he feels sad or dark feelings, he refuses to do emotional reflection. He just bottles up whatever he’s feeling and forces himself to be “happy”.

Will is forced to confront the darker aspects of demigod life and life in general when he arrives at CHB the first time. As he talks to new friends and siblings about their backgrounds and learns more about the gods and the Greek world, he realizes there’s a lot of dark conflicts going on around him. In addition, as a healer, demigods don’t just come for healing with physical injuries. They also tend to talk about their emotional scars as well.

As much as Will cares for his siblings and friends. he finds all of the trauma overwhelming, and pushes it away as much as possible with toxic positivity. To him, anything can be fixed by just choosing to be happy and focusing on positive things. His siblings try to point out this toxic positivity and ignorant bliss, but Will doesn’t understand at first. To him, there’s nothing wrong with choosing to focus on happy things instead of dwelling on difficult feelings.

However, as the conflict with Kronos progresses, more battles happen, and more and more demigods get injured and killed. Campers open up about their grief of losing friends to death or to Kronos’ army, and Will finds it harder and harder to keep acting like these issues aren’t happening. All the feelings he’s bottled up come spilling out in BoTL (a recurring theme in this post, as you’ve noticed). Following the battle, there are a lot of dead demigods to assess, and a lot of injured demigods to try and heal. The healers from the Apollo cabin are working overtime and are struggling to attend to everyone. Will tries his absolute best to save as many demigods as possible, but some of the injuries are just too grave to fix.

The worst is Lee Fletcher. Will is tasked with trying to save his older half-brother and Will overextends himself trying to fix Lee’s injury. Unfortunately, it was never going to work as Lee was already almost dead anyway. After watching his brother die, Will’s first reaction is to do what he’s always done: bottle up the bad feelings. His siblings notice this and tell Will that it’s okay to not be positive all the time, and sometimes the best healing comes from facing sad and dark feelings instead of running from them. Will finally breaks down and sobs, letting out all the fears and worries about the dark side of being a demigod that he has kept inside over the years. His siblings give him advice on how to handle and overcome these dark moments.

Between BoTL and TLO, Will starts to change. He doesn’t lose his optimistic outlook, but he stops running away from difficult topics and conversations. He slowly becomes one of the best healers at camp not just for physical injuries, but because he’s now able to talk to people about emotional stuff as well.

This comes in handy during TLO after Michael Yew dies and the Apollo cabin is an emotional mess after losing another counselor within a year. Will is very nervous about being the new counselor; he’s not a renowned archer like Lee Fletcher or Michael Yew and doesn’t think that he will be as useful in battle. However, Will finds his groove as the battle progresses. His archer siblings take care of the battle stuff while he focuses on healing, and using his newfound coping skills, he’s able to console his siblings and keep the cabin (and camp!) together emotionally until the war is won.

These coping skills that Will has learned within this arc complement his future relationship with Nico. Nico’s status as a child of Hades causes people to fear him because of the creepiness of Hades’ domain and Nico’s powers. However, Will is one of the few campers that has no issues with Nico because Will has gotten better and better with confronting uncomfortable things. In addition, his therapeutic skills come in handy when talking to Nico about his trauma and emotional hardships. Rather than the snappy/angry Will that we get in BoO, we have a softer Will who validates Nico’s feelings and experiences, but gently pushes him to see that he is cared for and that there are people who want to be his friend, especially Will.

- Jake Mason: Jake Mason’s arc is all about living in the shadow of Charles Beckendorf.

As the anchor of the camp, Charlie is not only loved by all the other campers, he’s loved by his siblings. People admire his personality, his engineering skills, his looks, everything. As a result, the Hephaestus kids start using Charlie as the standard to live up to, especially when they’re building inventions. “What would Beckendorf do?” quickly becomes the motto of the cabin.

Jake Mason has mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Charlie is a great guy and totally deserves this kind of praise. And Jake really admires him too. On the other hand, as the next oldest sibling, Jake feels a lot of pressure to be just like Charlie and to do everything the way Charlie would do it. Jake has a hard time with this because he’s not as talented as Charlie and he has a different way of doing things.

This becomes a major issue in TLO after Beckendorf dies and Jake becomes the new cabin counselor. Not only is Jake grieving, but now he has to lead his cabin mates in war while they’re all grieving as well. Since everyone misses Charlie, Jake feels a TON of pressure to be Beckendorf 2.0, and he’s not very good at it. His siblings don’t mean to add to the pressure; they just really miss Charlie and are accidentally projecting that onto Jake. Things come to boil during the battle of Manhattan when Jake tries to build and use an invention that Charlie designed. Unfortunately, Jake did not build it correctly and the invention ends up failing, leading to the Hephaestus kids nearly losing the skirmish and needing to be rescued by other campers.

After this, Jake goes to sulk. Nyssa Barrera and Will come after him, and he talks to them about all the pressure he’s been feeling to be just like Charlie. Will tells Jake that he knows how he feels - Will has also worried about not being enough like Lee or Michael. Will also tells Jake that he can’t be anything other than himself, and that he should focus on what he is good at instead of what Charlie was good at, just like how Will focused on his healing. Nyssa apologizes to Jake on behalf of the cabin for putting so much pressure on him to be just like Charlie, and she tells Jake that they appreciate him exactly as he is. She also supports Will’s message of focusing on what he can do.

Jake takes this advice and builds his own invention his way, instead of the way Charlie would have done it. When it’s time for battle, the invention seems like it’s going to fail at first, but it ends up pulling through, and the Hephaestus kids win the skirmish. Jake grows a lot in confidence and leads the cabin through the rest of the battle using his own style of leadership instead of trying to copy Beckendorf.

- Drew Tanaka: So like many fans, Drew’s canon character disappoints me because I’m tired of all the girly girls in this franchise being depicted as mean or shallow with no additional depth. I’m okay with Drew starting out as mean/rude girl but I want there to be more to her character.

My arc for Drew is her struggle with Silena’s betrayal. Prior to Drew’s first arrival at camp, she struggled with making true friends. Most of her friendships were based on shallow things, like wanting to be pretty and popular. This changes when she comes to CHB and meets some of the nicer girls in the Aphrodite cabin, including Silena. Silena is incredibly sweet: she looks out for all the girls in the cabin, is always willing to give a helping hand, is always offering a shoulder to cry on, is always willing to give her siblings advice about beauty, fashion, romance, and is just a good friend in general.

Despite Drew’s more blunt personality, she enjoys spending time with Silena because Silena shares her interests but also offers her a friendship with kindness and love. Silena’s motto of “spreading love and beauty” makes Drew admire her a lot. Drew and Silena grow really close as they get older; they’re practically besties and hang out together when Silena isn’t with Beckendorf. They shop together, do each other’s makeup and hair, help each other pick out clothes, bedazzle their weapons together, etc. They talk about everything under the sun; light-hearted stuff like makeup and clothes, and deep stuff like their family backgrounds and the gods maybe not being so great. Lastly, there are these matching charm bracelets that the girls share. One of the charms on the bracelet is of two girls holding hands. Silena and Drew both have this matching charm as a symbol of their friendship.

Aside from Charlie, Drew is the only other camper to suspect weird behavior with Silena as the story progresses. During one of their more serious conversations, Silena says some things that make it sound like she’s siding with Luke and the Titan army. This is because Silena is feeling insecure about her spying and is secretly trying to seek validation for her actions. Drew finds this odd and shuts Silena down; as far as Drew is concerned, Kronos is evil and there’s no siding with him. Drew is surprised that Silena would even bring this up. After all, Kronos/Luke has harmed a lot of demigods and as a sweetheart, Silena should show more empathy about that. Silena feels bad about getting shut down and doesn’t bring up the topic again.

During Silena’s death in the canon story, Drew was not present. However, in this version of her arc, she is present when Silena dies. Drew is shell-shocked and heartbroken when Silena reveals that she is the spy; she can’t believe that her sister would betray everyone at camp like this, including her own siblings. When Clarisse insists that Silena is a hero, Drew is the is the first to openly push back against this narrative. She argues back and forth with Clarisse about the extent and the awfulness of what Silena has done, including the fact that the spying led to Charlie’s death and the harm of other campers. She vows that she will never view Silena as a hero, and runs away from the scene in tears.

When Silena’s shroud is being burned at the end of the battle, Drew hangs back and doesn’t follow her cabin to burn the shroud, a symbol of her refusal to forgive Silena. Clarisse tries to talk to her about it, but Drew shuts her down. When Drew becomes the new cabin counselor, she does everything in her power to get rid of Silena’s influence; she changes a bunch of cabin rules and traditions that Silena had implemented. This makes Drew’s siblings upset, but Drew doesn’t care. She doesn’t want to be reminded of Silena whatsoever and she doesn’t believe in honoring traitors.

At the end of the summer before she goes home, Drew is standing alone in the cabin. She looks at the friendship charm on her bracelet, and thinks about everything that happened with Silena that summer. She thinks about how much she valued Silena for her kindness and true friendship, only to find out that Silena was betraying her and the camp all along. Drew starts to cry and rips the charm off her bracelet in anger. She tosses it in the garbage and leaves camp for the summer.

Drew’s arc concludes in HoO when Piper comes along. In order to have Drew’s arc play out how I want it, some of Piper’s story has to change. However, I’m not interested in the HoO characters for this post, so I won’t go in depth on how Piper’s arc changes, but just know that this version of Piper is also a deviation from canon. In this version of the story, things are still messy in the Aphrodite cabin, with Drew having changed a lot of cabin rules. and with her personality souring a lot since last summer. Prior to Piper’s quest, things play out similarly to how they did in the books but this time, with more emphasis on how Drew’s heartbreak regarding Silena is influencing her behavior.

When Piper returns from the quest, rather than having that classic “new girl stands up to mean girl moment”, Piper insists on figuring out why Drew acts the way she does. A heated argument occurs between the two girls until Piper says the phrase “spreading love and beauty”. This reminds Drew of Silena and Drew breaks down in tears. She reveals to Piper that Silena used to say something similar, and finally opens up about her heartbreak regarding Silena. Drew specifically mentions that she brought back the heartbreaking tradition because Silena’s betrayal made her very pessimistic about things like true love. Piper, Drew and the Aphrodite siblings have a heartfelt conversation about love, heartbreak, and why Silena might have done what she did. After the convo, Drew is not quite ready to call Silena a hero, but she has a lot more empathy towards Silena than she did before.

Drew’s arc ends with some of the Aphrodite kids revealing that they saw the charm that she tossed out last summer and decided to hang on to it. Drew accepts the charm back, symbolizing her finally making peace with Silena’s actions and death, and forgiving Silena to some extent. She peacefully offers the counselor position to Piper, stating that she (Drew) could use a break, and that Piper would make a great counselor. In addition, Drew helps Piper reinstate some of Silena’s cabin traditions.

- Malcolm Pace: Malcolm’s arc is inspired by the idea that he is a good battle strategist and the fact that kids who academically excel often struggle with perfectionism.

Like most Athena kids, Malcolm is pretty good with all academic subjects, but his favorites are modern history, especially warfare and military conflicts. In particular, he likes to study the battle strategies used during those conflicts. Malcolm’s goal is to become one of the best battle strategists at Camp Half Blood. While his siblings are good at coming up with plans for smaller monster encounters, Malcolm focuses more on large-scale battles. He studies formations, battlefield weapons, military strategies, and other things.

Malcolm’s personality is the following; he’s generally a kind person, but he can be a little snooty at times, like most Athena kids. He doesn’t make fun of anyone for being uneducated, but he does get annoyed when he hears dumb ideas. He’s also very passionate about academia, and his idea of fun is always book or learning-related, like study dates, exploring libraries, watching history movies, etc. Malcolm is also incredibly studious; while other campers are pulling pranks or riding canoes, he’s analyzing battle elements.

Malcolm’s desire to be a top strategist stems from two things:

1) He really wants to impress his mother. Malcolm has never met her, and he wants her to be proud and impressed by him the first time she meets him. Malcolm knows how much Athena admires wisdom and good planning, and him leading the camp to victory in an epic battle using good strategy would be the perfect way to stand out to Athena. He would be a hero not just in terms of strength and prowess, but also in terms of being smart and clever.

2) With the arising conflict with Kronos, battle is becoming more and more likely. Malcolm knows the camp will need help with preparing for battle, and he wants to be the one to do it. Yes, a big part of it is pride and impressing his mom, but he does genuinely care about the camp and wants to protect them.

As the story progresses, Malcolm gets a couple of chances to show off his knowledge starting in SoM against the monsters invading camp; he does pretty well and his plans help the campers take down the monsters. Malcolm is proud of himself, but in his eyes, these are just small conflicts. He wants to prove himself in a real major battle.

He gets his chance when BoTL rolls around and the campers learn of a possible invasion. While Malcolm is of course afraid for the camp, he knows that this is his major chance to prove himself as a strategist by outwitting the Titan army. While Percy and co. are on the quest, Malcolm is planning like crazy. He’s scouting the area around Zeus’ fist, he’s analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each cabin, he’s looking at the placement for canons and other battlefield weapons, he’s mapping out offensive and defensive strategies.

The day of the invasion arrives, and Malcolm believes that he’s ready and that his plans will lead to victory. Unfortunately, Malcolm misses a few details in his planning due to stress and overworking himself. In addition, he has not planned for certain things with the Titan army, such as Kampe. As a result, Malcolm’s plan starts to fall apart partway through the battle. He tries his best to salvage it, but it doesn’t work out, and this leads to the deaths of a few campers.

After the battle, Malcolm is devastated and feels that he failed big time. However, because of pride, he is too ashamed to acknowledge what went wrong and refuses to talk to anyone about his plan falling apart. He decides to just ignore the whole thing and pretend that it never happened.

Unfortunately, Malcolm is forced to confront his failure when Athena chooses to visit him for the first time at the end of the summer when everyone has gone home. Athena is visiting Malcolm out of concern for his mistakes made during the invasion. Athena feels that these mistakes were very avoidable and were a big oversight on Malcolm’s part. She is even moreso disappointed that Malcolm has chosen to ignore the whole thing. She tells Malcolm that she has high expectations for him and wants to him to wisen up, as more battles will come and Malcolm will need to get it together. After Athena vanishes, Malcolm cries; he imagined his first meeting with Athena being a much happier one, but all she did was express disappointment, which makes Malcolm feel like a huge failure.

Over the next year, Malcolm’s perfectionism kicks in and he goes overboard with the studying and analyzing; he refuses to do almost anything else, not even sleep. In addition, he becomes hypercritical of himself, beating himself up for every mistake, even the little ones. His siblings, especially Annabeth, become concerned, but he doesn’t listen. He refuses to fail again, and will do anything to show Athena that he can do this. Unfortunately, this lack of balance isn’t good long term, and Malcolm starts to slip. During the raids in the summer of TLO, he has a hard time focusing in battle and starts making more and more mistakes, which he beats himself up for.

This vicious cycle comes to a boil during the battle of Manhattan. When the campers realize that they’re going to engage in another big battle to defend Manhattan all by themselves, Malcolm realizes how important strategy is going to be and how this will be a second chance for him. In addition, Annabeth will be staying with Percy for the battle, so it’s up to Malcolm to lead the cabin. However, Malcolm isn’t feeling very confident. His strategist skills have felt weak for some time, and he isn’t sure if he can lead the cabin to victory.

When the fighting initially starts, he does okay but is feeling very stressed. During one of the skirmishes midway through the battle, another one of Malcolm’s plans fail, causing him to finally snap and cry out of frustration. When his siblings try to comfort him, he reveals to them that Athena visited him last summer to express disappointment about his failures and he hasn’t had faith in his plans since. His siblings reassure him by sharing some of their own failures with him and reminding him that failure/mistakes are a normal part of gaining wisdom. They tell him that no matter how many mistakes he makes, he is still a smart guy and an awesome strategist.

Malcolm feels very comforted by his siblings, and regains a bit of confidence again. Instead of running away from his failures this time, he sits down and thinks about what is causing his plans to fail, analyzing what went wrong and what went right. He comes up with a new series of plans for the rest of the battle that end up working really well, and Malcolm becomes happy again as he feels he has gained back his mojo.

At the end of the battle, Annabeth congratulates Malcolm and says that he did a fantastic job. At the end of the summer, he gets another visit from Athena, who expresses pride in him for his work during the battle. She reiterates how important it is to not run from one’s mistakes and to keep learning from them, she reiterates that this is wisdom. Malcolm is happy to finally hear his mom say that she’s proud, and goes on to become an excellent strategist.

- Butch Walker/Lou Ellen Blackstone/Clovis: (different minor god kid perspectives)

These mini-arcs are based on different perspectives and experiences the minor god kids could have. We already had Ethan, who joined Kronos army immediately after learning who his godly parent was.

Butch: Butch can be an example of a minor god kid who came to Camp Half Blood and decided to support the gods in the war. This was not an easy decision because the demigods use Iris’ domain for communication all the time, but don’t see fit to give her cabin, something Butch finds disappointing. However, he’s made a lot of good friends at camp and couldn’t imagine siding against them. In addition, rainbows are often a sign of peace, so the idea of carrying out a war doesn’t sit well with him.

Lou Ellen: Lou can be an example of a minor god kid who is initially at CHB, but decides to switch sides. Lou feels that despite being a powerful goddess, Hecate doesn’t get enough respect. When Hecate switches sides, she calls out to Lou to join her and Lou does. However, Lou is one of the campers that Connor and Travis talk to about how Kronos doesn’t really care for them. When Lou realizes this, she questions fighting for Kronos and decides to switch back to CHB, much to Hecate’s frustration. After the war, Lou and Hecate speak about what happened and reconcile.

Clovis: Clovis can be an example of a minor god kid who has known his demigod parent for some time and has always sided with Kronos from the start. When he’s not sleeping, he’s very busy with doing favours for Kronos/Morpheus including helping them recruit demigods by sending messages in people’s dreams or putting enemies to sleep in battle (similar/identical to what happens in one of my favourite PJO fanfics, Daughter of Wisdom. I can’t remember the author’s name at this time but it should come up if you Google it).

In line with the idea that Kronos doesn’t truly care about demigods, Clovis starts being overworked at some point, which exhausts him more and more. He asks for breaks and rest time, but the army doesn’t care; he has work to do. Clovis grows more annoyed with the army over time, even debating quitting. When the titans lose the war but minor kids are welcomed to camp, Clovis feels a sense of relief, as he can now rest and feel safe/welcome.

Aaaaaaaand that’s it! If you read all the way to the end, thank you! I know this was a very long post 😂 Anyhow, I really enjoyed this creative exercise and coming up with story arcs for these characters. If you liked any of the ideas, please let me know. I like writing and want to write my own story someday, so feedback on which arcs were good would be helpful. Thanks!

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multishippingtrashfire · 2 years

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For the IceMav prompts/headcanons

Ice and Mav, after the first movie, become really close, and eventually Ice thinks they're dating and Mav thinks they're just good friends bc Goose and him were close and affectionate, but Mav wants more w Ice

Hi Anon, thanks for this idea!

Post-Mission, After Ice and Mav shake hands, Mav just thinks he’s gained a new friend/ally. Meanwhile, Ice thinks he is completely and totally in love.

From then on, whenever they’re at the mess hall, Ice always sits with Mav. If they’re stateside, Ice makes tons of plans with Mav, like watch sports, going to the bar, going the beach, playing volleyball, reading flight material etc. Mav thinks Ice has just become his new bestfriend, and it’s nice to not be alone after losing Goose and Charlotte (who’d decided to be friends with after they stopped dating)

In Ice’s mind, he’s taken Mav on several dates and it seems like Mav reciprocates his advances, so they’re dating. He started with small touches to Mav’s hands and then started resting his hand on Mav’s lower back. He pays when they go out to dinner. He swings his arm around the back of Mav when they sit next to each other on the couch. He draped his jacket over Mav’s shoulders. In Mav’s mind, this is all perfectly in line with the amount of touching and care that Goose gave him, so Ice was just another excellent friend that Mav was lucky to have in his life.

He wants to make their relationship to be more physical, but he knows that Mav needs sometime. On one of their dates at a bar, Mav (with a few drinks in him) said how in his next relationship, he wants to the take the physical aspect slowly, just so he can really know the person; Ice was thankful for the head’s up and it didn’t deter him.

Mav on the other wasn’t sure how to deal with the fact that he was slowly but surely falling in love with his very straight, new bestfriend. And I mean, honestly, Mav never stood a chance. Ice was tall, alarmingly handsome, very confident and had a kind heart with a level head. He was the perfect man to be honest. But Mav can’t ruin this new friendship, he had been feeling so alone since Goose’s death and he couldn’t go back to that feeling.

But then Charlotte AND Carole said some of those “outings” as “friends” sounded a lot like dates. And that some the touching that was occurring was way more…romantic with Mav then Goose had ever been. And that maybe Mav should consider that Ice wasn’t as “straight” as Mav thought.

And Mav really hopes so, because he’s kind of wanted kiss Kazansky since he saw him smirking behind his aviator sunglasses at the bar.

Ice is painfully sexually frustrated, but also the best boyfriend. He won’t pressure Mav at all and believes the ball to be entirely in Mav’s court. So while after a day playing football on the beach, Ice is taking painfully cold showers and is especially familiar with his right hand.

Of course, eventually, Carole tells Mav to be brave and just ask Ice because, at this point, it was going to drive Maverick and her crazy if they didn’t find out where Ice’s head was. So Maverick thinks he’s starting with a simple question when he asks Ice “Are you dating anyone?”.

And Ice looks at him like he’s grown a third head and says “uh….I thought I was dating you?”

And Maverick mourns all the months he could’ve been fucking Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky

#tom kazansky #tom iceman kazansky #icemav #ice x mav #headcanons #top gun #top gun maverick #top gun: maverick #pete maverick mitchell #pete mitchell #nick rambles #ask nick #My writing #prompt fill

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bnha-more-like-bnh-gay · 1 year

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Tw: izuku’s self sacrificial tendencies and low self esteem

Izuku being so self sacrificial and just 1000% willing to die for his friends, and really just for anyone, and his friends are so fucking stressed about it :/

Like. It’s so unhealthy, but this kid is just willing to die to protect his friends and genuinely doesn’t understand why it freaks them out. He one time tells them point blank, “I’d die for you” and doesn’t understand why they’re like, “maybe let’s not do that????” He’s just so used to people not caring if he dies, and he thinks that it’s an okay/healthy way to show love and affection

Like, I imagine it is most detrimental with kiri, Shouto, Iida, Uraraka, Aoyama, and tsu. Like kiri is so insistent on telling izuku how manly he is, and how he admires him, and he starts to see how little izuku values his own life and it freaks him out. Like, izuku just doesn’t understand why they’re all telling him to stop and slow down, or why he needs to not jump into fights without backup. But instead keeps telling them that he’d be fine if he died protecting his friends, and it’s so earth shattering to them all

Shouto understands a bit more where izuku is coming from, but he is just so terrified of losing his first friend. Todoroki “ride or die” Shouto does NOT approve. He tries to stop izuku from putting up with bakugou’s bullshit too. He can see how bakugou impacts izuku’s mental health, and he’s the first one to try and separate them and keep izuku out of harms way. Because he knows what being around someone who torments you does to a person, and izuku, who’s so idiotically brave and kind, who sticks his nose in other people’s business for the sake of heroism and wanting them to feel safe, fucking deserves to have the same kind of annoying, amazing, really fucking odd help and support. And if Shouto can provide it, then of course he will

Iida has seen first hand how willing izuku is to jump in to protect his friends-they all have, but I’m talking about the hosu incident-and he’s so grateful for izuku helping him there, but Jesus does it terrify him how izuku just keeps doing it with no regards for his own life. He almost lost tensei, he can’t lose izuku

Uraraka knows how strong izuku is, they all do, but this dude is stressing her the fuck out with his lack of self preservation. She needs her best friend alive, thank you??? She admires him so much in the beginning, his bravery and heroic personality, and that continues, but she’s coming to realize that some of that bravery comes from such a horrible place of not caring if he lives or dies and she’s horrified

Aoyama. The fucking guilt he has right now. Because he knows where izuku is coming from to some degree, and he knows that it’s partially his fault. That if he wasn’t in cahoots with the L.O.V., izuku wouldn’t be so. Like this. He’s not stupid, he knows he’d still be like this. But he wouldn’t have the added pressure of wanting to protect Aoyama, his friend. And Aoyama doesn’t know what to do because he has to help keep his parents safe, but holy shit, what if izuku actually gets killed??

Tsu is rational, but she’s also good at looking at things from other people’s perspectives. But it just hurts so much to see how izuku views his self worth. She understands to a degree, because he grew up with pretty shitty influences (bakugou, the entirety of Aldera middle school, etc.), but she also does. Not. Get. It. She doesn’t want to get it. She loves her friends, and she knows they’re strong, hell, she’s strong as hell, but it’s just terrifying that this 16 year old, who is one of her best friends, who has saved all of their lives several times, is just so. Lackluster when it comes to keeping himself safe.

Mic (because it wouldn’t be one of my rants if I didn’t include my desire for this man to adopt me, but since that can’t happen, we project into also wanting him to adopt izuku) is just so devastated that this kid, a fucking child, a baby has to fight in a goddamn war. This is ridiculous. But just that he’s also so willing to die for literally anyone???? He’s seen where that got Oboro, and fuck if it doesn’t terrify him that, what if the green bean gets irrevocably hurt?? He’s such a kind, and thoughtful, and smart kid, but he’s also so fucking stupid. He doesn’t even mean it as an insult, it’s just so frightening that this child he’s supposed to be protecting is taking it upon himself to try and fix this major issue that has gotten multiple adults, pro-heroes, killed, maimed, and otherwise injured. AND HE IS A 16 YEAR OLD WITH A SHIT LOAD OF TRAUMA. FUCK. And he can’t even do much to try and keep him out of harms way! Hell, the kid isn’t even in his homeroom! But the war is coming and he can’t keep any of the kids away from it, and that’s even worse.

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thetypedwriter · 2 months

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Divine Rivals Book Review

Divine Rivals Book Review by Rebecca Ross

I have a feeling this book review might be short and sweet (quite unusual for me).

Divine Rivals is one one of those books that I avoided reading because it had so much hype. It’s been topping the New York Times Bestseller’s List for weeks and I just…couldn’t believe that it was worth all the attention it was getting.

I was wrong, but in my defense, the last book I read with tons of praise and accolades was Fourth Wing and that book was certainly not worth the recognition in any way, shape, or form.

Divine Rivals, however, to my utmost surprise, was a super enjoyable read, probably one of the best that I’ve read in awhile.

My school librarian (I work at a high school) finally convinced me to read it as she flew all the way up to Washington to attend Rebecca Ross’ book signing and couldn’t stop singing its praises.

As a fellow YA reader inspired by her dedication, I finally bought Divine Rivals with lingering reluctance. Very quickly though, that reluctance turned into relief and then that relief transitioned into a rave review. That brings us to the present.

Divine Rivals is a true enemies-to-lovers. I feel like YA has been so over saturated with enemies-to-lovers lately, but they’ve all been subpar and disappointing.

The so-called “enemies” stage lasts all of five minutes before they immediately become lovers. Divine Rivals actually was a true enemies-to-lovers, and a good one at that.

Additionally, the main characters, Iris and Roman, don’t suddenly change their feelings for one another overnight. It’s a slow realization of coming to terms that the vitriol they felt for each other was always a razor’s edge away from love.

They’ve always had passion, always driven each other, and that is what makes the best enemies-to-lovers: the deliberate and almost imperceptible change of hating one another to loving one another and then realizing it’s not all that different in the end.

Speaking of Iris and Roman, I like them as characters. Were they the best, most amazing characters of all time? No. But they were genuinely good.

Iris is passionate, caring, and brave. Roman is dedicated, persistent, and loving. My only gripe is that I do think Iris and Roman are a little too perfect.

The worst thing Roman did was fall asleep while his little sister was sleeping, only to have her drown. While this is terrible, it was also an accident. It wasn’t actually anything intentional on Roman’s part.

I do think Iris has more moments of selfishness perhaps, especially when thinking about Forest and how she’s been left alone, but even then it’s very understandable and not even that bad to begin with.

They’re both almost unflinchingly brave, kind, and altruistic, which is quite bothersome, but in this case it’s not a huge gripe that I have.

Other than the actually good enemies-to-lovers story device, my other favorite part of the novel was the plot, which astonished me, especially considering that this is a war novel.

I don’t like war. It’s violent, brutal, and heart-wrenching. Thinking about it, I don’t believe I’ve actually read a YA novel centered around war before.

For that reason, I appreciated its uniqueness, especially in the sense that Roman and Iris were war correspondents and not soldiers.

I thought that was an interesting detail to include, one for the better as then we got to see the cruelty and ferocity of war, but it didn’t take up the entire book and we got to explore other avenues as well—like the support side of war, their life before the war, etc.

Iris looking for her missing-in-action older brother was a great plot point as well, one that really drove her character and fueled a lot of her actions. Roman’s motivations were a bit weaker, as the unwanted arranged marriage as a device is a bit overused in my opinion.

He essentially just followed Iris because he liked her, but it would have been good if he had other reasons to motivate him other than his feelings for Iris.

The other characters in the novel are fine and play their roles well. However, I will make the blanket statement that they don’t really matter in any significant way.

Marisol, Attie, any of the soldiers—they’re stock characters without too much development.

But that’s okay. While I would have liked a little more development of Attie’s and Iris’ friendship, the focus really is on Roman and Iris and I accept that.

One facet of the novel I really liked was the small, almost easy-to-forget casual moments of magic. Fantasy elements are present throughout the whole novel, but they’re small, curious tidbits instead of huge game-changing elements—until the very end at least.

For example, the whole war is between two gods. You get this backstory as a reader that there used to be hundreds of gods, but that humans banded together to kill them.

Eventually, only the most powerful gods remained until they were murdered as well, put to rest, and buried in graves…until now. Two gods, Enva and Dacre, have risen and are ranging war, gods with a twisted past and even more twisted feelings.

The backdrop of the war is unique and interesting, but never too heavy. You get some exposition here and there, the occasional myth that crops up, but that’s it.

I cannot state how much I appreciate Ross’ world-building here. It’s light, but intriguing. It molds the story, but doesn’t require massive amounts of chapters of mundane explanation.

It’s perfectly well-executed.

Even the magic part is interesting. It’s mentioned here and there that magic exists, but in small, unceremonious doses. An odd door here, an alley there, a magical typewriter—nothing huge, but instead these small details that just add to the world and make it special.

I have a feeling that we’re going to learn more about the gods, their backstory, and the magic system in the next book and I can’t wait.

One of the only things that downgraded this book for me was the ending. Spoiler alert for moving forward, as I will be discussing the conclusion in intricate detail.

It is beyond frustrating to me when authors take the whole book to finally get two characters together, two characters that they know their readers are rooting for and can’t wait to see, and then finally deliver it only to shatter it one second later.

For instance, it takes Roman and Iris nearly the whole book to come to terms with their feelings and be shaped by world events before they finally unite in holy matrimony (literally). It’s beautiful. As a reader you are overjoyed at finally having reached this point.

Then, through flimsy excuses, Ross separates the two almost immediately with the insinuation that Roman will turn into Dacre’s war puppet and they will once again have to fight to find each other and be together. It’s my guess that this will take the entire next book.

It is so baffling and aggravating to me when authors do this. We want to see Iris and Roman together. That’s why we’re reading. Let me see their relationship blossom. Just because they got married doesn’t mean the story is over.

Marriage is hard. Let me see them navigate this new stage of their relationship. That would be so interesting and just as complex.

When you separate them literally a few hours after they get married we get to see nothing.

What is the point?

You’ve undermined all the progress you’ve made throughout the whole book and now we’re back at square one.

Iris literally is back in Oath, her hometown, living in the apartment where she started, working a journalist’s job.

It is beyond excruciating to feel like the progress, feelings, and events of the first book are all but wiped away just so that Ross can have something to write about again?

I’ve said it before and I'll say it again: couples can get together and still be interesting. It’s not just about getting together, but staying together.

Urgh.

Up until the ending, I was so into this book. While the ending didn’t ruin things, it really annoyed me to know that we will now take the whole next book to find Romana and he probably won’t even be his full self.

I can see it all clearly laid out. If this is not the case, I will be pleasantly surprised, but I don’t count on it.

I didn’t even get into the bit of Iris not recognizing Roman and mistaking him for Forest, but I’ll leave at: it was stupid and not believable, even with circumstances presented.

In general, other than the ending, Divine Rivals is fantastic. The morsels of magic that leave you wanting more, the successful enemies-to-lovers with a payoff (until it’s immediately ripped away from you), the background of war and raging gods—it’s all sublime in the best way possible.

Recommendation: If it gives you any indication on how I felt about this book—I already started reading Ruthless Vows and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it and devour it from beginning to end.

Score: 8/10 (would have been higher without the idiotic and cliched ending).

P.S. (Turns out my book review was not short and sweet. Whoops.)

#book blog #book review #book recommendations #ya fiction #book rec #popular fiction #books #popular books #top books #favorite books #divine rivals #rebecca ross #iris winnow #letters of enchantment #book thoughts #8/10

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monstersandmaw · 10 months

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i saw your post about feeling like it isn't worth it to write cuz of reblogs lacking etc and wanted to let you know that even if they're not interacting with it, somebody out there saw it and enjoyed it, or even needed it.

i feel a bit bad for dragging my feet on this, am sorri, but i wanted to say thank you for your writing, the way you build up your little worlds and scenes and characters, and fill them with this genuine little warm and cozy feeling that you can just curl up in. (and pull off plot beats and subtle hints like a pro. :})

because i stumbled across your stories when i was at a severe low point, trying to patch myself up mentally after an abusive mess. and your stories, your writing, all the warmth and coziness and genuineness and just how sweet and intimate you craft relationships- it helped. deeply. it helped remind me what a good healthy and loving relationship looks like, what i should look up to and gauge a future one on, what i shouldn't bend on just because someone doesn't like it - and yes, i know, you're not the sole arbiter of relationship standards, please don't worry - but it still helped so much then. it reminded me that the hell i went though wasn't normal, wasn't on me, and i kept going thru your stories to remind me on the worse days. and those bad days kept coming less, because reminding me eventually gave me a small little constant flame of understanding and hope and relief with all this. and so your writing means and represents so fucking much to me. so thank you. so much.

obviously one person's experience doesn't make up for that work-to-appreciation ratio, or even a tiny number. but i hope knowing that for someone, (maybe even many someones), your writing represents more than just regular reading fodder- helps lessen the feeling of writing not being worth it for you. even if it's a tiny tiny bit.

I don’t have enough words for how lovely and kind (and brave) this is of you, Anon. Thank you.

I never mean to guilt trip people into reblogging, and only ever mean it as a general rule to encourage people who don’t know or aren’t sure about the etiquette, or to remind people who just comment ‘more pls’ without any other effort/nuance.

For those like this sweet Anon who don’t have the spoons or the energy or the time or whatever, you absolutely carry on as you are. It’s always so hard making posts which try to get people fired up about reblogging because I know it’s also going to look like I’m pressuring the quieter folk to do something they’re not comfortable with etc.

Know that at the heart of it, you’re all welcome here, whether you’re lurking and chilling out, or reblogging left right and centre.

Thank you for taking the time and effort out of your day to reassure me with this, Anon, and I hope you know you’re as treasured and valued as anyone else who contributes to this community simply by being here with us to enjoy all the creations people share.

Take good care of yourself, and goodnight from a very warm room somewhere in the south of England :). 👻💤

#sweet anon #and even though fiction shouldn’t be taken as a guide for real life it can help show you what your priorities are and what sorts of things #you want out of life #so if something I wrote helps you learn about yourself #then I’m honoured

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eregyrn-falls · 2 years

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Earlier I read a post (reblogged by @scribefindegil) that was about how people criticize stories that feature children having to fight the Big Evil themselves, and often these are criticisms of “child soldiers” and “where are the parents”, etc. I admit, I’ve had that criticism of some works, myself; and the post is making the point that the people most likely to criticize those aspects of that kind of story aren’t the actual target audience. Which I get!

I’m mentioning that and linking to the post because I did not want to append this in a reblog of it, since this is not meant to be a refutation of the point, or anything. It’s just that reading that reminded me of a thing that I Really Like About Gravity Falls, and it seemed like a good jumping off point for summarizing those thoughts. (In this, a week where we’re celebrating GF leading up to the 10th anniversary.)

You all will recognize the sequence above, of course!

I came to Gravity Falls as an adult; and, while I love Dipper and Mabel, and love watching their adventures and their growth, they weren’t my point of identification with the series. (I’m putting that as an “and” and not a “so” or “therefore”, because I think it’s perfectly valid for adults who watched and loved the series to identify with Dipper and Mabel! I’m just saying this from my own perspective.)

Gravity Falls, obviously, is a balancing act (in the first season especially) with allowing the kids to have all kinds of adventures, some of which are Very Hairy, while keeping the main “parental” / adult authority figure (Stan) sidelined from those events for various reasons. And the thing is, that worked for me. While you are watching Season 1, I think, the impression you get is that Stan might be oblivious to some of the supernatural stuff Dipper and Mabel are dealing with; and at least, that’s what the kids believe. (Of course we know Stan has his own deal going on and we don’t know what that is; and I know people watching S1 really question whether Stan is as oblivious as he sometimes seems.)

That works better for me than “the adults all know about the Big Evil (or the Big Problem or what have you), but they feel they cannot do anything about it and so they will not do anything about it”.

In Stan’s case, of course, we finally get an explanation for his whole deal, and THEN the show addresses his absence from some of the supernatural problems. He hangs a lantern on it by saying that he thought pretending he didn’t know would keep the kids from finding out, and keep them safe. (Who knows if that really would have worked, had Dipper not found Journal 3? I mean, probably not. But Stan did not know that Dipper had a source telling him all about a bunch of the supernatural stuff, in his hands.)

Anyway -- what we see during Season 1 is that Dipper and Mabel are very capable of dealing with things themselves. They’re brave and resourceful. They’re not stepping up because the adults won’t, or can’t. In fact, despite Dipper’s protests, they spend S1 hiding most of their adventures from Stan. (Or certainly not bringing him into their confidence; until the very end.)

But what I love is that even though Dipper and Mabel are very brave and resourceful, when push comes to shove (and when circumstances align), an adult steps up, and helps them with problems they can’t (and probably shouldn’t be) handle on their own. (See Stan’s entrance in “Scary-oke”, above.)

This is echoed of course at the end of the series. Once again, we get Dipper and Mabel asserting their bravery and confidence in the idea that they can deal with Bill. And indeed, they’d just been demonstrating in a bunch of ways that they CAN fight Bill and leave a mark on him. But I was just so, so grateful that when they said, “Save yourselves! Run! We’ll take care of Bill!” Stan and Ford immediately protest this.

The adults aren’t going to leave the Big Evil to the kids to defeat, because the adults are too afraid, or too pessimistic, or whatever. The adults WANT to intervene, and they are prevented from doing so.

Again, that works for me, because it allows the kids to take action, and contribute, without the narrative having them do so because there’s no other way, or no other choice.

And in the end, of course, it comes back to the adults stepping up -- to deal with the problem that originated with them, a problem that is indeed too big for the kids to defeat.

And yet, the narrative comes back and allows the kids one more huge moment of agency and triumph, where their optimism and actions ARE responsible for completing the narrative’s happy ending.

I’m not saying that every narrative has to be like this! I just wanted to ramble a bit about something I really like about Gravity Falls and the way it handles the empowerment of its kid protagonists, alongside involving adults who do take responsibility and step in to help or to accomplish things that, really, the kids shouldn’t be left alone to deal with.

#gravity falls #stanford pines #stanley pines #mabel pines #dipper pines #bill cipher #meta #long post

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rainachain · 2 years

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Web of Misfortune-- [An Unhinged Miraculous Ladybug Fanfic]

My notes for an unhinged Miraculous Ladybug fanfic that'll probably never be made:

This was a fic that I was going to make, but there was a slight issue with it-- I am very behind the Miraculous episodes. No joke, I have no clue who the current superheroes are (aside from Marinette and Adrien obviously) and all the shit that’s happened in the seasons.

But anyway, if I had watched all of it, then this is probably what I would have created with that knowledge:

(Warning: Contains unhinged and unhealthy themes such as stalking and obsessive behavior. I do NOT condone this behavior whatsoever, please take care of yourself.)

Post Length: 15 pages/7.3k+ words (VERY long post) Do not keep reading if you don't want to scroll through a lot of unhinged writing stuff.

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Web of Misfortune

[M!Yandere!Marinette x F!Reader x F!Yandere!Adrien]

Summary: Upon returning to France, a teenage girl accidentally became a superhero and is now tasked with the immense responsibility of protecting Paris from supervillains. Luckily, there’s two seasoned superheroes to help show her the ropes of the job. However as time passes, she notices that the partners she admires slowly begin to behave strangely towards her-- not to mention the two classmates that seem fixated on her during her civilian life. Amidst the crime-fighting, the stress and anxiety, and growing unease for her partners-- instead of joy and excitement from this miraculous opportunity like it’s all supposed to be, it feels like instead she’s getting tangled up in a big, sticky web of misfortune.

“Won’t you step into my web?”

About the Mc:

A high school student. She used to live in France as a kid, where she was best friends with Adrien and Chloe (I know this sounds a bit cliche just bare with me). At some point, she had to move away to another country as a kid but at the start of the fic, she’s moving back to Paris, France and is enrolling to the school there.

Personality-wise: tries to be kind to others but stress does sometimes get the better of her; book-smart but not very street-smart; warm and friendly when you talk to her but never approaches you on her own, etc. Overall, kind and friendly but also shy and struggles with self-esteem. The biggest obstacle for the Mc is really herself-- her own fears and anxieties. Although she desperately tries not to, and goes through most of the day not dwelling on it, there are certain times during the day where she does reflect on her own self-worth as a person and agonizes over her interactions with people that day. She worries about whether she irritates people, whether they’re secretly annoyed by her shyness and slight social anxiety, how unbefit she is to be a superhero, etc. But when her classmate smiles at her and warmly greets her, she smiles back and for that moment, the fear disappears. It’s a mix of accepting who she is, but also doubting herself.

When the Mc became a superhero, she had a hard time accepting it. The Mc was initially very hesitant when it came to her responsibilities, and didn’t want to fight the villains due to her fear-- cowardice even. I imagined a scene where there’s a supervillain attacking the city and her kwami is encouraging her to fight but the Mc is just hiding away in an alleyway, completely petrified and refusing to move. Until eventually, after enough encouragement from her kwami, the Mc reluctantly tries to fight the supervillain and despite being very clumsy and bad at fighting, those kind superheroes-- a boy in a red suit with black spots(Marion-- M!Marinette), and a girl in a black suit with cat ears(Adrianne-- F!Adrien)-- reassured her and offered to teach her. Throughout the fic, I wanted to make the Mc grow more confident in her abilities and slowly grow from a shy, scared, cowardly person to a brave, courageous superhero who despite still having underlying fear about the whole superhero business, she still steps up to fight and put her life on the line because she realizes that it’s her moral obligation as a superhero to protect the city and its citizens, and she refuses to let her fear and anxiety prevent her from doing the thing that gives her a new-found purpose.

“I… I’m scared. What if I mess up and cause more harm than help? What if I let the city down?…I didn’t ask for any of this. I hate fighting, I hate having people look to me for help, and I hate how I’m forced to do this! But I suppose, those people in danger… they also didn’t ask for any of this too, huh?” -- Mc

In terms of the Mc and love, I think she’d understand the obvious signs due to having watched too many rom-coms but aside from that, she has next to no experience with love. Probably wouldn’t know if someone was flirting with her tbh.

“It would be nice to make some friends. I just hope they won’t get annoyed with me-- no, it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine. Just smile and don’t be weird. There has to be someone in this class who’ll like me, right?” -- Mc

About the Mc-- Superhero:

Holder of a locket necklace that is inhabited by the spider miraculous-- Uttu. In order to activate, the Mc must say “Threads out”; to deactivate is “Threads in”. The Mc turns into a spider-themed superhero called White Spider (or Araignee Blanche?), who has the ability of impersonation. Her superhero weapon was originally going to be a tambourine which would have been absolutely perfect, but then I found out that Rose already had that weapon so instead the Mc uses a hula hoop, which she can use along with spiderwebs to do some real acrobatic stuff (aka spiderman shit).

Just like how Ladybug’s (now “Misterbug”) special ability is Lucky Charm and Chat Noir’s (now “Chat Noire”) is Cataclysm, the Mc’s special ability would be “Tarantella”-- basically the Mc performs the Italian Tarantella dance (which is why I wanted her to have the tambourine weapon because that’s the instrument they use!) in order to wrap a supervillain in webs, allowing her to transform into that villain. From then on, it’s up to the Mc to use the villain’s abilities to her advantage while also having to adjust to the villain’s foreign fighting style. This is not as easy as it sounds, and initially the Mc will struggle a lot with this ability because it does require a certain “fluidity” in order to quickly get accustomed to new abilities, fighting styles, movement, everything. Not just that, but it also requires time for her teammates to get accustomed to her ability as well because after all, it would be very confusing fighting a villain when your teammate also appears like a carbon-copy of that villain-- save for the locket necklace aka the Mc’s miraculous. To summarize, the Mc’s special ability allows her to impersonate anybody-- typically used for supervillain fights-- which includes their weapon, abilities, voice and appearance, etc.

“Okay, how do I use this parasol-- wait Chat Noire it’s me! It’s White Spi--!” -- Mc

I thought about whether to give the Mc a de-evilizing ability like Marinette (Marion) does and I think I will-- just hear me out. Spiderwebs are associated with dreamcatchers due to the whole “weaving” element and the purpose of a dreamcatcher is to “capture the bad dreams” while allowing the good dreams to pass on. Naturally, I thought about the Mc using her web spinning abilities to create a makeshift dreamcatcher out of her hula hoop to capture the akumas. However, I do think that the most the Mc would be able to do is just that-- capture the akumas, not actually purify like Marion because that’s not what dreamcatchers do! I actually imagined this scene in the fic where the Mc would continue to capture the akumas because Marion would be skipping superhero work for some reason(!) or whatever, and at some point, her web would be so full of captured akumas just wrapped up in the spiderweb, barely twitching, until she tries to capture a fourth or fifth akuma and the web just snaps and all the akumas fly free from the web. Imagine that, having a bunch of akumas flying around for Hawk Moth to use. Imagine the pure chaos that would create for the heroes lmao.

The Mc’s main color was going to be white-- like her superhero costume was going to be white with black spiderwebs-- because it was a color that hadn’t really been claimed by the other characters to my knowledge, and I thought it would fit in perfectly with Misterbug’s red and Chat Noire’s black colors.

“Alright, you can do this. Just believe in yourself and don’t freak out-- ack! Oh god, why me? Okay, okay, it’s just one villain. Here we go-- nope, nope, nope!” -- Mc

About the Spider Miraculous:

A fan-made miraculous I created just for this fic. I legit spent a solid night looking up all current miraculous so that I knew which animals were taken, and then come up with an original one.

The spider miraculous Kwami is named Uttu-- inspired by the Sumerian goddess with the same name-- and she resides in the locket necklace. Personality-wise, Uttu was going to be more of a motherly figure to the Mc, very patient and wise. When the Mc’s anxiety takes over, and she becomes too petrified to fight the supervillains (when she was still new to the whole thing), Uttu was going to be the one to calm her down, reassure her, and encourage her. She would also try her best to look after the Mc, since she’s the only spider miraculous holder that doesn’t abuse her powers for evil/petty reasons. Uttu does secretly contain a mischievous, and malicious side to her but it only comes out occasionally-- a few moments of good-hearted mischief with the Mc, and a few moments where she secretly harbors malice for her past, irresponsible holders. Part of me thinks that Uttu lowkey resents Master Fu for handing her miraculous out willy-nilly without any consideration for her. Likewise, overtime Uttu would grow to despise Marion and Tikki once she notices the toxic and unhealthy behavior(!) Marion exhibits around her holder, Mc.

“I remember my past holders, and how irresponsible, petty, and selfish they were. I trusted Fu, I really did. But to put me in the hands of people like them… but you’re different. You fear my miraculous, yes that is true. However the reason that you are afraid, is because you understand the weight of the responsibility you hold. My power is not some plaything, and protecting this city is not some mere game-- you understand that. You are worthy, and for as long as you are my holder, I will always lend you my power, and protect you.” -- Uttu

About the Genderbend Aspects:

When I was initially brainstorming this fic, I knew right away that I wanted a female interest along with the male interest. What can I say, it’s more fun that way lmao. However this raises the question-- if I wanted a male and female interest then why genderbend the characters in the first place? Here’s why:

Even though I’m not caught up at all, I have seen a few analytical videos about Miraculous and something that caught my eye was Marinette. Or rather, the way that the show writes off Marinette’s creepy, borderline stalker behavior as “cute” and “funny”. Now take this all of this with a grain of salt. After reading a bit more about Marinette and watching the clips that showed her problematic behavior I was like “okay yeah I see what they mean”, but it also gave me writing inspiration. I immediately thought about Marinette as an unhinged yandere, just going all-in on her obsessive and stalker tendencies. But then I thought, “hmm, what if the reason some people don’t see her behavior as that bad is because she’s a girl?” Which gave me the idea: what if Marinette was genderbent? It’s like that one thing-- if you swap the genders of people and the behavior/action seems bad, then it is bad regardless of gender (ex. when a woman ab*ses a man vs when a man ab*ses a woman). Once you swap Marinette’s gender, the “cutesy” problematic behavior that the show brushes off suddenly seems really bad, and genuinely creepy and unhinged. So naturally, I preferred this Marinette (Marion) for entertainment purposes, and I really wanted to highlight these toxic and unhealthy traits. (I don’t condone this behavior whatsoever, I just think it makes some really good reading material) And since Marinette was going to be genderbent, I thought it would be fun to genderbend Adrien as well, to have that female interest to satisfy the gay in me. After all, with all of my works, I write for myself so I don’t really give a shit if others don’t like it.

It’s more fun that way.

Because I wanted to lmfao.

About Marinette:

Instead of Marinette, this genderbent version of herself was going to be called “Marion”. Likewise, I don’t know for sure what his superhero name would be. Instead of Ladybug, it would probably be “Misterbug” or something even though that was Adrien’s superhero name that one time he used the ladybug miraculous lmao.

According to my notes, I had two options lined up for Marion’s character:

Marion will be in “love” with Adrianne for the first part of the fic. He’ll act the way Marinette does in the show-- creepy but innocent-looking. Eventually, the Mc will do nice stuff that makes Marion obsess over her instead and craziness ensues.

Marion is in love with Mc from the beginning of the fic, due to Mc being the one to do the umbrella scene instead of Adrianne. So right from the get-go, Marion does creepy actions but looks so innocent while doing so (and it’s very subtle) that nobody bats an eye, even the Mc. Craziness still ensues.

Marion doesn’t exactly “love”, but rather he obsesses just like Marinette from the show. He becomes obsessed with the idea of something, and he idealizes it to the point where it is severely disjointed from reality. And the real kicker is that he believes that this behavior is normal-- whether it is due to genuine naivety or him subconsciously trying to justify his actions.

“What? I’m not stalking her-- I know the schedules of all my friends so it’s fine! …Why are you looking at me like that?” -- Marion

Unhealthy behavior aside, Marion is insecure deep down, and before “falling in love” he should first learn to love himself. Not just that, but Marion does feel immense pressure and stress under the weight of being the guardian of the miraculous. So when you add Mc to the equation-- someone kind who tries to help Marion love himself and share the burden of guardianship with him…!

“You really mean that? You’ll always be there for me? That makes me so happy… I hope you’ll always be my partner. Even if Chat Noire leaves us, even if we’re against the entire world-- as long as you’re here with me, I’ll fight anything. You’re the only one I need, and I hope that someday… I’ll be the only one you need too.” -- Misterbug

Back to Marion’s unhealthy behavior, he would obsess over the Mc. Stalking her, getting jealous, keeping track of her personal plans, would probably break into her home and abuse his powers when it comes to her. But he would try to keep these actions as subtle as possible, as to not arouse suspicion. Would probably even occasionally abandon superhero work just to check up on Mc and panic when he can’t find her. In short, Marion in love with Mc would just be an unhinged yandere who’s main traits are his obsessive, stalking, deceiving, controlling, and jealous behavior, and his love is smothering-- almost suffocating-- for the Mc. When he notices Adrianne starting to act more protective of the Mc-- around him of all people as though he’s the threat-- that irritates Marion. When Marion realizes that the love Adrianne holds for Mc goes beyond platonic and enters romantic (wouldn’t think that Adrianne would be bi/gay for Mc), that’s when all hell breaks loose. From then on, just constant attempts to sabotage Adrianne and keep Mc to himself. Ladybug boy be wack.

“I noticed you’re spending a lot more time with Adrianne lately. You know, she probably just feels bad for you. What, you didn’t notice? That’s okay, you’ll always have me. I do really like you, you know. And seeing you with Adrianne, it makes me feel so… ah, don’t worry about it! You have nothing to worry about.” -- Marion

About Adrien:

Instead of Adrien, this genderbent version of himself was going to be called “Adrianne”. Instead of Chat Noir for her superhero name, it would probably be “Chat Noire”, that’s literally it lmfao.

In this fic, Adrianne was childhood friends with Mc and Chloe. They met as little kids, with Mc being middle-class compared to the two. In fact, she met them by complete accident. But they all bonded and became friends. After Mc moves away, this causes Adrianne to become saddened by her departure while Chloe angrily dismisses her, while being hurt deep inside-- abandonment issues for both of them? By this point, Adrianne’s only friend before starting high school is Chloe. Adrianne knows that Chloe isn’t perfect, but she’s oblivious to the extent of her cruelty. Despite being friends with her since childhood, Adrianne isn’t very interested in Chloe’s affection. She’s one of the very few people who is on friendly terms with Chloe despite her spoiled attitude, even in front of others because of something I wanted to expand upon in this fic-- their parental issues.

Adrianne’s daddy issues and Chloe’s mommy issues. Both of them are neglected by their respective parent, trying to do what they can to make them proud. But they never receive that approval/attention and it hurts them deeply. Adrianne and Chloe can bond over this. They have and will continue to do so.

“Father doesn’t like me spending a lot time with other people, he says they’re a bad influence on me… but that’s not true! You, Nina, and Chloe, you all care about me, and help me! I wouldn’t want to lose you guys ever!” -- Adrianne

Adrianne has a desire to be loved, which makes her vulnerable. Of course this could stem back to Gabriel not really showing any love, her dislike of being alone, on top of her not being able to make contact with a lot of people, so she would try to seek out love like with Misterbug. To reference Cyrus the Great’s video, the reason why Adrien (or Adrianne here) is in love with Ladybug (Misterbug) is because Misterbug’s the only true friend she has, Adrianne finally has a healthy relationship. And yet time after time, Misterbug rejects her and although she tries to hide it, it does slowly chip away at her. I think Adrianne has to put on this facade that she’s happy and fine with how things are when in reality, she just wants to be free-- to have the freedom to make her own decisions. But most importantly, she wants to connect with other people. To be with the people she wants to be-- with her friends-- and to experience a reciprocated love.

So when the Mc tries to interact with her, and rebuild their friendship from when they were children, it would definitely mean something. Yes, Adrianne is still upset and hurt from when Mc abandoned(!) her as kids but as time goes on, it starts to matter less and less. If the Mc supports Adrianne and becomes someone who she can let down her “perfect” facade and allow herself to be vulnerable with, then that would mean so much to Adrianne. Most people view her as someone perfect-- they idealize her while ignoring her flaws. But the Mc sees through that and is accepting of everything that Adrianne is. Adrianne struggles, she struggles with connecting to Gabriel for example, and she struggles with dealing with her emotions due to being emotionally abused. But Mc is someone who she can be free with, and soon enough bits of Chat Noire, who’s basically just a suppressed version of Adrianne, starts to leak through.

“How did you know that I wasn’t happy? Guess I’m that obvious to you, huh? It’s just that-- everybody always thinks that I’m this perfect girl but I’m not. And for some reason, whenever I do struggle with something, it’s like I’m disappointing them. Like it’s my fault that I’m not good enough. Huh? What do you mean it’s not my fault? You really mean that? Wow… Finally, after all these years, I don’t have to worry anymore. Thank you.” -- Adrianne

At some point, Adrianne will feel something for Mc. It slowly grows from a platonic type of love to a more romantic kind. Even though they’re both girls, it doesn’t matter. It feels right, and that’s what is important. Adrianne is very protective of Mc, especially against a certain ladybug-themed superhero who’s acting more strange towards her. The Mc’s safety and happiness is Adrianne’s highest priority. Even though she has unhealthy ways of dealing with her emotions, especially when it comes to Mc and love, Adrianne is more stable and less unhinged than Marion. Despite this, she’ll still feel jealous when she sees Mc acting too friendly to another person, which makes her feel insecure, and she lowkey dislikes it when White Spider (Mc) rejects her affections. Side note, Adrianne as Chat Noire probably has her own "m'lady" equivalent nickname for White Spider. Maybe "my cherie" or something?? Idk man. In summary, Adrianne’s love for Mc is her being overprotective-- sacrificial even-- over the Mc, being a bit jealous, and when shit hits the fan, she becomes more willing to temporarily put her morals aside to do what is necessary to protect Mc. She’d also crave reciprocated affection and attention from the Mc too (and affirmations that this time, she won't leave her side).

“As long as I can be beside you, and see your smile, then that’s enough for me. You’ve brought me so much light-- you’re the key to my gilded cage and I am eternally grateful to be your friend. I’ll always protect you from all harm, I promise. We’re partners after all! Me and you, the cat and the spider! Maybe one day, we can finally remove our masks and truly be with each other…!” -- Chat Noire

About the Other Characters:

To make things more fun and chaotic for me, I decided to genderbend other characters too. So:

Alya—> Alan

Nino—> Nina

Chloe—> Cole/Clo (??? no idea if she’s going to be genderbent tho, tbd)

Lila—> Lilo (no clue, tbd)

Rose—> Ross

Juleka—> Julien (dang it Juleka why you have a difficult name to bend??)

Luka—> Luka (no clue, tbd)

Kagami—> Kagami (no clue, tbd)

I didn’t decide on anything for Luka or Kagami, since there’s some interesting outcomes that could emerge with either option, and also I’ve literally never seen an episode with them *clown emoji*.

Actually I did watch some clips and analysis summaries about Luka dating Marinette so one idea I had was: what if at some point Mc and Luka begin dating? Like they date, and it’s actually a healthy relationship because the Mc is caring and considerate of him, like she understands the faint abandonment issues Luka has with his dad and she tries to be there for him. Until Marion and Adrianne catch wind of this and something bad(!) happens. Additionally, Luka and Marion could have a history together where they dated, but then it becomes kinda neglectful and full of lies on Marion's part and that’s where the Mc steps up to offer some advice. No idea about what to do with Kagami though. *shrug*

“It’s okay Luka. I’m here for you.” -- Mc

I also don’t know whether to genderbend Chloe or not, or Gabriel too. Probably wouldn’t change much tbh.

“Buzz off! I don’t want to hear it, got that?! We’re not friends anymore! You should have just stayed back home…” -- Chloe

About the Plot:

Alright, here’s what y’all are probably waiting for. This fic was going to be a lot darker than the original show, with psychological and sociological elements that I like to incorporate into my fics, and all characters would be aged up to around 17-18.

The biggest issue I’ve always had with this fic was the plot. Part of the reason has to do with the show itself, how there isn’t really a main plot. Every episode is just a different supervillain and Hawk Moth failing to get the miraculouses and that’s it lmao. So yeah, kinda hard to create an overarching plot for this, at least for me. But still, here’s an attempt:

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The Mc would return to Paris and get adjusted to life and school there. Shortly after, she receives the Spider miraculous and becomes a (reluctant) superhero. Mc meets Misterbug and Chat Noire, looking up to them as mentor figures. Meanwhile as a student, Mc tries to reconnect with Adrianne and Chloe, partially due to them being childhood friends and the other part being her sensing the sadness in Adrianne.

“Um, hello! You’re Adrianne, right? Do you remember me…?” -- Mc

From then on, it’s quite simple. Mc as a student is just trying to befriend Adrianne and Chloe, Chloe lowkey bullies her because resentment, and Mc gets adjusted to life in France again. Mc as a superhero is trying to get more proficient at fighting supervillains, while her relationship with Misterbug and Chat Noire continues to grow. From Adrianne’s perspective, she feels intrigued by Mc’s attempt to reach out to her, and decides to reciprocate the friendship since she sees no harm in it. From Marion’s perspective, it depends on which option I choose for him. Either he’s obsessed with Adrianne and sees Mc trying to befriend her as an annoyance which may nor may not involve retribution, or he’s already obsessed with Mc and becomes jealous of Adrianne for stealing her attention, and hates Chloe for bullying Mc, which also may or may not involve retribution.

If Marion is obsessed with Adrianne initially: it would be very interesting to see him go against Mc. I can imagine Marion being irritated by Mc suddenly trying to befriend Adrianne, while simultaneously hating Chloe for stealing Adrianne’s attention. When Marion’s obsession goes too far, maybe Mc and Chloe would put their differences aside and work together to help Adrianne. It would be very interesting interactions, especially between Mc and Chloe because Chloe has reasons to treat Mc the way she does-- she views Mc leaving her as a betrayal, an abandonment. Mc could realize that, and apologize for that, since she acknowledges that it was her fault for ignoring how her departure affected her childhood friends.

“I hate you, but I hate Marion more. So I guess I’ll help you deal with Marion-- but I’m only doing this for Adrianne okay? So don’t get the wrong idea! …I just don’t want anything bad to happen to her.” -- Chloe

"Is something wrong? If you two don't have anything to say, then if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere very important to be." -- Marion

Lila would then get introduced to the fic and just reck shit up. If I wanted to give the Mc some convoluted connection to her, I would write that Mc as a kid moved to Italy and met Lila there (and that’s where she lived for most of her life) and idk she did something that made Lila pissed and now Lila wants vengeance or whatever. Either that, or they don’t know each other and being transfer students is the only thing they have in common. But then Mc does something that pisses Lila off (maybe exposing her lies?) and thus she becomes her enemy. Maybe Mc sees Lila lying to Adrianne or something and tells her off which Lila does not appreciate, and seeing Adrianne agree with Mc embarrasses her. Or idk, I don’t remember this Lila shit. It is then that Marion’s unhingedness starts to truly shine through, and Adrianne starts to view Mc as a friend.

After the Lila fiasco, things continue. Mc and Adrianne are now proper friends, Mc and Marion also start to hang out too. Also at some point, Chloe finally comes to terms with her feelings about Mc and finally manages to forgive Mc for leaving her, and apologize for treating her badly. Basically Mc is making friends. Mc, Misterbug, and Chat Noire are also becoming a strong team. Marion/Misterbug becoming more obsessed and unhinged (and jealous of either Adrianne or Mc depending on option), while Adrianne/Chat Noire likes Mc and starts to feel something stronger grow.

“It’s funny Plagg. I really like her, I do! Even though we’re friends, why do I still feel something else for her? It’s like there’s this weird feeling, and I can’t control it… Maybe this pounding in my chest-- could it be happiness?” -- Adrianne

And then Luka and Kagami get introduced. I think it would be really interesting to have that little plotline of Mc and Luka dating, after enough bonding of course. Maybe Marion and Luka dated prior to this (along with Adrianne and Kagami?) as some sort of mind game over the Mc. Anyway, showing a genuinely healthy relationship would really stand out against the unhealthy behavior and unhingedness (of Marion mainly). Personally for me, I like to add some ‘normalcy’ to my fics to contrast against the unhinged elements-- makes the unhealthy parts more powerful imo. But since happy endings don’t exist in my fics (most of them lmao), something bad would happen to Luka. Probably caused by Marion. Although Adrianne probably did something a bit fucked up too-- courtesy of a bit of moral degradation. But anyway yeah it would just create a lot of chaos and if Marion was obsessed with Adrianne initially: this is probably when he would switch obsessions, from Adrianne to Mc. For Adrianne, this is when she would realize that the strange feeling she feels is love, and when she sees the Mc with Luka, it creates a new, ugly feeling within her-- jealousy. Jealousy, which leads to rather unsavory actions. Once Luka is “dealt with” that’s when shit hits the fan.

“H-how could this happen? Luka… W-who would do this to you? I swear, I’ll find out who did this. Someone who would do something this cruel and vile… Luka, tell me, does vengeance count as a heroic action?” -- Mc

A saddened and depressed Mc is not the most stable Mc. She’s always tired, stressed-out, anxious, and snaps at people out of frustration. She tries to apologize for her hurtful actions, but it’s not always accepted and the guilt adds to the weight on her shoulders. But luckily for her, there’s two people to pick up the pieces: Marion and Adrianne. Silently listening to her woes and troubles. At this point, Marion and Adrianne realize the other’s feelings for the Mc. From now on, it’s just a constant fight for her love. Adrianne tries to keep Mc away from Marion, while Marion tries to keep Mc close to him. I don’t know if Misterbug and Chat Noire would know each other’s true identity-- probably? It would definitely spice things up and add to the chaos. But of course, Mc wouldn’t know their true identities. Or maybe eventually she would? *shrug*

“There, there, it’s okay. I got you. Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind? If there’s anything I can do to help you, anything at all, just tell me and I’ll do it. If it’s revenge that you want, then allow me to dirty my hands for you.” -- Misterbug

“Are you alright? You look like you haven’t slept in days… Why don’t you go take a nap? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the teacher doesn’t know. Me? Oh I’m fine-- I’m more worried about you! Listen… Maybe you should take tomorrow off. I’m serious, don’t go to school tomorrow.” -- Adrianne

Whilst all of this is happening, Mc is secretly trying to figure out what happened to Luka-- if I chose to go through with his plotline. Uttu is also there, giving advice to the Mc. Uttu senses the corrupt desires of Marion and Adrianne (well more Marion tbh) and voices her worries to Mc who takes them to heart.

“Be wary, be clever, be brave. No matter what, do not let yourself become prey to the demons hiding in daylight. Mind my words, or else they will wrap you up in their web and never let you go.” -- Uttu.

I wonder if at this point, Marion and Adrianne would confess their feelings to really make things chaotic now. Imagine it, Marion, or Misterbug, takes Mc to someplace private. He reveals his true identity-- that he’s Marion-- and confesses his eternal love to her. Mc is just so shocked, while Marion grows ever more desperate for an answer-- for a sign that she reciprocates his feelings-- anything. But when she declines, Marion could swear that he feels his heart break right then and there. He’s so heartbroken that he barely even notices Mc leaving him, a conflicted expression on her face. Tikki asks him what’s wrong. Marion ignores her. His unhealthy, toxic behavior is now blatant, and obvious. Almost as though he wants the Mc to notice him-- notice what she’s done to him…

“I love you. There, I said it! I love you, I really do! I’ve been watching you, and I’ve seen how kind and brave you are-- more than any other person I know. You’ve always been so gentle and caring to me that I don’t want to lose you, ever. I want you by my side, whether we’re fighting bad guys together or we’re studying at school. So? Do you… accept? …Oh. Oh. Did I do something wrong? No, of course not! So why…? Are you really just going to leave me like that? …No, I won't allow it. I will make you mine, one way or another.” -- Marion

I feel like Mc still hasn’t moved on from Luka, and she doesn’t feel that way for Marion anyway due to how Marion treated her in the past and also how suspicious his behavior is around her. Mc runs somewhere, then bumps into Adrianne who comforts her. Mc lets herself be held by Adrianne, relieved that there’s someone she can depend on. Adrianne comforts her, tells her kind, assuring words… which slowly changes into her telling Mc how much she means to her. Mc slowly realizes what’s going on, and is too late to stop it. Adrianne reveals that she’s Chat Noire, and after proving it with such a happy, beautiful smile on her face, Adrianne confesses her romantic love to Mc. Mc, too shocked and overwhelmed, also tearfully refuses and runs away.

“Shh, that’s okay. Just rest, okay? You’ve been through so many things, and you’ve had to endure it all while dealing with us too. It’s okay, you don’t have to take on that burden alone anymore. I got you. You’re just so strong, and kind, and selfless… it’s some of the many things I like about you. Ever since you’ve entered my life all those years ago, you’ve brought me so much happiness. Even now, after you left me, that feeling hasn’t gone away. Instead, it grew so much that it took me a while to realize what it is now. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I love you.” -- Adrianne

Anyway a bunch of crazy shit happens, Marion acts even more unhinged and creepy as fuck while Adrianne also starts to lose herself. Seeing Mc run away from her kinda resonates with her fear of being alone + abandonment issues so Adrianne does start to get unhinged too. Despite this, she still tries her best to protect Mc first and foremost even though Mc’s kinda on-edge about everything now. Wait I forgot to say what Hawk Moth is doing while all this shit is happening. Probably just doing what he always does, akumatizing people and yada yada. I wonder if the Mc would get akumatized too, I mean she is going through a lot of negative emotions especially after something bad happens to Luka. Also, I wonder if Gabriel would notice the changes in his daughter, like how Adrianne is spending more and more time with Mc. Honestly I don’t know what butterfly man is doing lmao.

The ending of the fic would have at least three endings: an ending with Marion; an ending with Adrianne; and an ending for the Mc. No idea what the big, epic climax would be-- another reason why I couldn’t write this fic-- but it would probably be very dramatic and edgy. Hawk Moth would probably akumatize one of the people in each ending too. One last thing, I think at this point, Mc would try to use her miraculous (with Uttu’s urgent pleas) to impersonate someone else just so she can be safe. But of course, they would figure out that it’s her.

“Run. Run, my dear. Search for a sanctuary where they can’t find you and no matter what, don’t look back. Do you understand? Good, now run!” -- Uttu

Marion’s ending would just literally be him keeping the Mc to himself and just obsess over her and suffocate her with his love while half of Paris is in shambles and Adrianne probably dies or something lmfao. Probably gets to keep his ladybug miraculous too while he takes away the Mc’s spider miraculous, also idk who gets akumatized in this ending.

“Finally, I have you all to myself. No one will ever be able to take you away from me now, no one. I love you so much, now we’ll be together forever. Forever, and ever, and ever, all mine.” -- Marion

Adrianne’s ending is just her dragging Mc with her to get away from an akumatized Marion and then an epic fight happens between her and Marion. Marion probably dies or something idk because I like tragedy (or maybe still alive but arrested? He gets to watch the love of his life pair up with his now arch-nemesis which has gotta sting), but Adrianne is also kinda injured too. Mc is all like omg you risked your life to save me and Adrianne is just happy she’s fine. After all the dramatic stuff and crying, Mc and Adrianne get together, and I hope Adrianne gets help because she’s not good with dealing with her emotions. Maybe Mc will encourage her and support her *shrug*. Master Fu would probably want their miraculouses back, but upon discovering that Marion’s gone and there needs to be the new guardian, they kinda become the new ones or something idk.

“I-I’m so glad… That you’re f-finally safe. Oh, please don’t cry for me. I-I’m okay… I love you. I will always love you, there will never be anyone else that could even come close to you. So please don’t cry for me. I’m happy that at least in this lifetime… I'm not alone anymore.” -- Adrianne

Mc’s ending is her rejecting both Marion and Adrianne (Marion’s too crazy, Adrianne will only get hurt). Some big epic fight probably plays out, a lot of unhinged stuff and dramatic yelling for the Mc maybe. Hawk Moth probably causes more chaos, maybe he akumatizes both Marion and Adrianne who knows? At the end, I don’t really know what would happen to Marion and Adrianne. No matter what happens, Marion and Adrianne lose their miraculous, and idk what else would happen to them. Mc either tries to get therapy from all the shit that’s happened and tries to live a happy life or if Luka is still alive, maybe they get back together???? Idk, you can really tell how much thought I put into these endings lmfao.

“So you were the one who hurt Luka… did you really expect me to forgive you after everything you’ve done? Marion, you need help. A lot of it. And Adrianne… I’m sorry but I also can’t give you what you want. You took part in what happened to Luka and I can’t accept you for that. I still care about you but… I don’t like you in that way. I hope both of you find happiness in your lives, I truly do. Goodbye, and I’m sorry.” -- Mc

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I don’t know why, but part of me prefers the “Marion obsessed with Adrianne first” option. Firstly, it would be refreshing to read a fic where Marinette actually initially dislikes the Mc instead of immediately wanting to become her friend (not that it’s bad or anything). Secondly, I think it would be interesting as the reader to see how Marion’s obsession can affect others. Imagine being the enemy of an obsessed yandere. They try to sabotage you, keep you away from the one they love, turn people against you, etc. All the while pretending to be your acquaintance, smiling at you while the thoughts in their mind paints a more sinister picture. Scary, isn’t it? Mc can sense some darkness lurking underneath Marion’s friendly smile, but it’s only when too many awful coincidences match up, and she catches a glance of his darkened gaze that she realizes that it’s all on purpose. He’s trying to take her out. And all just because she’s trying to get close to Adrianne? All the more reason to get closer to her then.

But what happens when Marion’s obsession for Adrianne fades away, and instead shifts itself over to the Mc? I think it would be even more frightening because you the reader knows the things that Marion does for the one he loves. Therefore, you know just how far he’s willing to go. You know the full extent of his obsession and how it puts others in danger. The Mc knows this too, but she doesn’t know that now he’s doing it for her. She just thinks that it’s nice that Marion no longer considers her a threat, that they’re finally becoming friends, nothing more. But Adrianne knows. When she realizes that Marion, who was once obsessed with her, is now focusing his obsession onto the Mc? That scares her. Now she’s the enemy, but more importantly, now she needs to protect the Mc. A Marion who’s obsessed with Mc from the start is cool, but I think this one is more interesting just because it offers a lot more different dynamics especially between Mc and Marion. But that’s just me. *shrug*

Imagine if Marion actually temporarily teamed up with Hawk Moth, with their obsessions for their loved ones being the only thing they have in common. Just an interesting thought.

What if there was another Lila side plot where she figures out that Mc is White Spider (Tarantella is an Italian dance-- Lila is Italian, probably thought it was strange that Mc was able to dance the same dance that a superhero does) and then probably blackmails Mc. Then, when someone close to Mc (Marion/Adrianne/Luka??) tries to confront Lila, Lila tells them the truth about Mc’s identity and they’re like omg I can’t believe it, and now they know the Mc’s secret. Just a thought.

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Ta-daaa!!! That’s the end of the notes!! I kinda wish I had the energy to properly write this fic because it would slap so much but: I don’t have the time to get caught up to the show; there’s just too many possibilities and options for this fic that I’m too ‘paralyzed by choice’ to really decide on anything; I heard the fandom’s kinda toxic and I ain’t interested in that shit; this fic would probably be a good 500 pages tbh and that’s too much for me lmfao.

Sorry if this was a bit hard to read/understand, it was kinda hard for me to articulate all this chaos so sorry about that.

So yea, that’s my unhinged Miraculous Ladybug fanfic. If you enjoyed reading this, that makes me happy! Once again, just to reiterate, I write for myself first and foremost, and for the people on the internet second. I just wanted to post this primarily to share my spider miraculous + Mc spider superhero out there, and then I was like ok might as well share the entire fic.

Ok that’s all buh-bye!

#miraculous ladybug #ml #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ml ladybug #chat noir #fanfic #long post #genderbend #marinette x reader #adrien x reader #reader #obsession #yandere

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